In a year of staggering changes and banner headline news, from the election of a new American president to the unraveling of a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the art market had its own rollercoaster ride of record-shattering marks and stomach-churning declines.

Thanks to the seismic upheavals in the world equity markets, some newbie collectors, such as Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, burst upon the auction and art fair stage last spring only to disappear just as quickly.

Without them, the auction houses’ stated goal of continued growth through tapping new collectors in Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union fell silent and vanished like Bernie Madoff’s billions. Instead, the houses now face a bleaker picture: a round of sobering layoffs and restructuring, the word “guarantee” stricken from the lexicon (it’s the equivalent of “sub-prime mortgage” to the banking community), and a new realism that immunizes market watchers to the comforting chimes of specialists spinning a falling market as one that is masterpiece driven and ideally suited for seasoned collectors long sidelined by the recent wild surge of prices.

The picture will get clearer in early February with the new year’s first significant rounds of Impressionist, modern, and contemporary art auctions in London. Until then, here’s a quick review of the some of the most memorable lots of 2008.

On the Money

Edvard Munch, "Vampire (Love and Pain)"

$38,162,500 (est. in excess of $30 million)

Lot 21, Sotheby’s New York Impressionist & Modern Art Sale, November 3

An undisputed and decidedly sexy masterwork from the Norwegian prince of angst, this iconic composition from 1894, depicting a woman with long, flaming red tresses biting the neck of a submissive male, made a record price in a falling market. The unfettered wealth of oil-rich Norway has flung Munch’s star higher in the past few seasons, though this contest, with at least four suitors chasing the prize, including the winner from Texas, eclipsed the previous mark of $30,841,00, set by "Girls on a Bridge" (1902) at Sotheby’s New York in May 2008. It didn’t hurt that the painting had been on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1996, marinating in value as the world at large sputtered to a financial halt. It is possible to argue that Munch is not in the class of, say, Picasso or other mythic moderns, but the instantly famous work, which the artist reprised in later years with feebler results, stands out as a world-class highlight of the auction season.

Overvalued

Francis Bacon, "Triptych" (1976)

$86,281,000 (est. in the region of $70 million)

Lot 33, Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Art Sale, May 14

Shortly after it was exhibited in the blockbuster Francis Bacon retrospective at Tate Britain, this Greek myth–infused masterwork was acquired by trophy-hunter Roman Abramovich for upward of $86 million, making it the fourth most expensive painting to sell at auction, behind two Picassos and a Gustav Klimt. But despite its blazing power, "Triptych" is no match to Bacon’s earlier and bone-chilling "Study from Innocent X" (1962), which sold at Sotheby’s New York in May 2007 for a then record $52,680,000. The artist’s new record feels particularly bloated in light of the shocking buy-in in November 2008 at Christie’s New York of the artist’s rare, full-figure "Study for Self-Portrait" (1964), which tanked at a chandelier bid of $27.5 million (est. in the region of $40 million). No doubt, it’s a record that will stand for some time to come.

Overvalued

Claude Monet, "Le bassin aux Nymphéas" (1919)

£40,921,250/$80,451,178 (est. £18–24 million)

Lot 16, Christie’s London Impressionist & Modern Art Sale, June 24

Price seemed no object for this stunning and large-scale (39 1/2 by 79 1/8 inches) cover lot from 1919, a rare signed and dated nympheas from Monet’s late period. London-based art advisor Tania Buckrell Pos of Arts & Management International outgunned fierce telephone competition for the darkly luminous abstraction, and the final sale price shattered the artist’s record, set one month earlier at Christie’s New York by the more art historically significant "Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil" (1873), which earned $41,481,000. It’s a stunning work — but double the record for Monet? Chalk it up to the over-exuberance of billionaire trophy hunters. Of course, provenance also helped, especially that of one-time owner Norton Simon, the California industrialist/philanthropist who sold the painting at Sotheby’s New York in May 1971 for $320,000, at a time when there wasn’t any buyer’s premium. You might call that the good old days.

Overvalued

Jeff Koons, "Balloon Flower (Magenta)" (1995–2000)

£12,921,250/$25,752,051 (est. in the region of £12 million)

Lot 12, Christie’s London Post-War & Contemporary Art Sale, June 30

Lots of hoopla and sophisticated auction-house marketing, including poshly displaying this nine-ton, high-chromium stainless steel monument from 1995–2000 on the manicured grounds of St. James Square adjacent to Christie’s headquarters, made this sale a high summer event. Christie’s guaranteed the seller, Dallas collector/philanthropist Howard Rachofsky, a secret minimum in the region of the undisclosed estimate for the chance to make a killing. Alas, the work elicited what appeared to be a single bid against the reserve, disappointing both vendor and guarantor and prompting some wags to claim that Christie’s could have gotten more if they’d figured out a way to install the huge sculpture on water, as Rachofsky had done behind his spectacular Richard Meier mansion. Though impressive in scale and in its unrelenting ambition, the record-making sculpture pales next to more important Koons works such as 1988’s "Michael Jackson and Bubbles," which broke an auction record when it sold for $5.6 million at Sotheby’s New York in May 2001.

Undervalued

Philip Guston, "Beggar’s Joys" (1954–55)

$10,162,500 (est. $14–18 million)

Lot 30, Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Art Sale, November 11

Sotheby’s bet that a top-rate Guston could fetch the price of a middle-of-the road Rothko failed miserably as this guaranteed lot sold for millions below its estimate. It seems the house overlooked the fact that Guston is virtually unknown in Europe, at least in comparison to the pantheon of expired Ab-Ex colleagues such as de Kooning, Pollock, and Rothko. The work set a record for the under-appreciated American artist nevertheless, easily hurdling the previous record, set at Christie’s New York in May 2005 when "The Street" from 1956 made $7,296,000. Plus, the savvy buyer got a relative bargain, and the seller, the collector and insurance magnate Donald Bryant, made a killing, given that he bought the luminous and beautifully executed 1954–55 canvas at Christie’s New York in November 1996 for a then-record $1.7 million. The work sold in the salesroom to San Francisco art adviser Mary Zlot, who is known to counsel Bay Area billionaires Charles Schwab and George Roberts.