1978

Industrialist and art collector Kenneth G. Heffel founded Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc. in a former Royal Bank of Canada heritage building on Granville Street in South Granville's gallery row. Charismatic Kenneth Heffel became known for buying and selling the finest works of art by Canada's pre-eminent artists.

1980

A pivotal exhibition of the Fannin Hall Collection, The Group of Seven and Their Contemporaries, took place from February 29 to March 22. The show was of museum quality, with numerous works considered to be national treasures. During the 1980s, several exhibitions of the Group of Seven and their Contemporaries took place.

1981

Kenneth Heffel made headlines when he acquired Lawren Harris's Arctic canvas South Shore, Baffin Island for a record price of $240,000. At the time, it was the most valuable painting to sell at auction in Canada.

Two Claude Monet waterlilies paintings, Nympheas and Nenuphars, were exhibited at the gallery.

Exhibition: Victor Vasarely, paintings, April 9 - 25.

During the 1980s, international artists such as American abstract painters Dan Christiansen, Larry Zox and Dan Christensen, as well as the sculpture of Antoniucci Volti were shown.

1987

After nearly a decade in the fine art business, Kenneth Heffel passed away, and sons David, then 25 and Robert, 23, carried on the family business.

1987 ~ 1995

David and Robert Heffel established Heffel Gallery Limited in 1987. From 1987 to 1995 they held numerous successful exhibitions of important artists such as David Alexander, B.C. Binning, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, W.J. Phillips, Heike Ruschmeyer, W.P. Weston, Peter Aspell, David Blackwood, Alex Colville, E.J. Hughes, Jack Humphrey, Jean McEwen, Guido Molinari, Toni Onley, Tony Scherman and Claude Tousignant, to name a few of many.

1989

Exhibition: Alex Colville, paintings and preparatory drawings for important paintings.
Exhibition: Guido Molinari: Four Decades of Art, paintings.

1990

Exhibition: E.J. Hughes: Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours, November 3 - 29.

1991

Exhibition: W.P. Weston, paintings,watercolours and drawings.

1992

Exhibition: Heike Ruschmeyer: Berlin '92, September 19 - October 10, paintings.
Exhibition: Joe Andoe: New Work, November 12 - December 12.

1994

Exhibition: Fine Examples: Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and Walter J. Phillips, September 17 - October 1.

1995

Heffel Fine Art Auction House, a division of Heffel Gallery Limited, was established. A goal was set to attain a $1,000,000 dollar value sale within five years, and it was achieved in this first sale.

1999

Heffel applied the innovations of Internet technology to the art business, and in September, launched Heffel.com Online Auctions.

Exhibition: Jack Weldon Humphrey, Paintings of the Thirties and Forties, July 17 - 31.

Heffel began holding their live ballroom auctions semi-annually in both the spring and the fall.

2000

In Heffel's Spring Live Auction, Emily Carr's important canvas War Canoes was sold for $1,018,750. The most valuable work to be sold at auction in Canada that year, the painting set a record price for the artist, as well as being the most valuable painting by a Canadian female artist to be sold at auction.

David and Robert Heffel were selected for Business in Vancouver's 40 Under 40, an annual list of 40 people under 40 years old who have achieved success in business.

2002

Expansion took place to Eastern Canada. An office was established in Ottawa and a Toronto gallery opened at 13 Hazelton Avenue in Yorkville, as part of Heffel's strategy to position itself as a national auction house.

Heffel began previewing the live auction artwork in the newly opened Toronto gallery, in addition to the Vancouver auction preview.

2003

Heffel was a finalist in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards in the Media and Entertainment category.

In November, Heffel held their first live auction in Toronto. Since 2003 Heffel has divided their live auctions between Vancouver and Toronto, with the spring sale taking place in Vancouver and the fall sale taking place in Toronto.

2004

Heffel emerged as the leading auction house in Canada. In the May live sale in Vancouver, Emily Carr's sublime canvas Quiet sold for a record price of $1,121,250, breaking Heffel's previous record for a Carr painting. Along with breaking the E.J. Hughes auction record with the painting Fishboats, Rivers Inlet, which sold for $920,000, Heffel's $8.4 million dollar November auction in Toronto also broke the record for the highest dollar value fine art auction in Canada.

Since 2004, Heffel has remained in the top spot, dominating the Canadian art market.

2005

In January, Heffel opened a gallery in Montreal on Sherbrooke Street, further expanding their national presence.

Heffel began previewing the live auction artwork in the newly opened Montreal gallery, in addition to the Vancouver and Toronto auction previews.

Heffel's $12.4 million dollar fall auction on November 24 in Toronto shattered their previous record for the largest dollar value auction held in Canada. It also broke the auction record for Maurice Cullen - the stunning canvas The Bird Shop, St. Lawrence Street sold for $1,495,000, tripling Cullen's previous record.

2006

Lawren Harris's iconic oil sketch Mount Lefroy, estimated at $200,000 - 250,000, sold for $1,667,500. Throughout 2006, records continued to fall, and in the November Live Auction, Il était une fois une ville, the most valuable Jean-Paul Riopelle painting to be offered at auction in Canada, was sold for $1,667,500.

April's International Online Auction was the first online sale to achieve over one million dollars, with a total of 1.4 million.

Heffel co-sponsored the National Gallery of Canada exhibition Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon, which traveled in 2006 - 2008 to the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Glenbow Museum, Calgary.

2007

The sale total for the April online auction of international art was $2,445,015, a record for Heffel's online auctions, and was the largest sale of fine art on the internet in Canadian history. On May 23, Heffel surpassed the previous record for the highest grossing auction in Canada, (a record they held), with a $23 million dollar auction. That evening, four lots exceeded one million dollars. Lawren Harris's spectacular painting, Pine Tree and Red House, Winter, City Painting II, sold for $2,875,000, a record for the artist. The fall live sale achieved over $20.1 million dollars. During this year Heffel sold nine of the ten paintings that sold for over $1 million dollars in Canada, and sold over $50 million in live and online auctions. To date, no other fine art auction house in Canada has come close to this annual sales total.

April's International Online Auction achieved an online record for total sales of $2,417,127. During this sale, Zao Wou-Ki's oil on canvas work 5.11.62 sold for $718,750 CDN, the highest-priced work to sell at Heffel online.

Expansion took place in Western Canada when a Calgary office was opened.

2008

Heffel divided their live auction into two sessions: Canadian Post-War & Contemporary art and Fine Canadian Art (primarily Group of Seven and their contemporaries and Canadian Impressionists) - referencing the thematic divisions of global art sales, with each session having its own catalogue.

Despite the financial crisis, Heffel's inaugural sale of Post-War & Contemporary Art was very successful, and once again confirmed Heffel as an innovator in the Canadian art market. Heffel remains dedicated to developing the secondary auction market in Canadian Post-War and Contemporary Art.

Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards chose Heffel as a finalist in the Business Products and Services category.

Heffel was a presenting sponsor of the Joe Fafard exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, which also traveled in 2008 - 2009 to the McKenzie Art Gallery, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Glenbow Museum and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

2009

Heffel held their spring 2009 auction in Vancouver's new Convention Centre West overlooking Coal Harbour. The sale total of $11,505,195 surpassed expectations and was highlighted by Emily Carr's rare canvas Wind in the Tree Tops, which set a record at $2,164,500. This result broke Heffel's previous record for Emily Carr's painting Quiet, set in 2004.

The consignment of the Helen E. Band Estate, inherited from her father, well-known collector Charles S. Band, made the fall 2009 live sale historic. Lawren Harris's extraordinary sketch from this estate, The Old Stump, Lake Superior, sold for a record price of $3,510,000. This surpassed Heffel's previously established record for this iconic Canadian artist and set a new record for a Group of Seven work, again breaking Heffel's own record. The sale achieved $20.9 million, making it the second-highest grossing sale in Canadian art auction history at that time.

Heffel was the only auction house in Canada to sell a painting over a million dollars in 2009, and did so a total of eight times, with four paintings selling for over two million.

2010

Heffel's spring sale attained $22,757,202, becoming the second-highest yielding auction in Canadian fine art history. Important private estates and collections were represented, with works from the Erickson family and estate, the estate of Theodosia Dawes Bond Thornton, and a private philanthropist. Lawren Harris's transcendent canvas Bylot Island I from the Thornton estate sold for $2,808,000. Thirteen artist sale records were broken, including those of Lawren Harris, Bill Reid, A.H. Robinson and Jean Paul Lemieux.

Alex Colville's Man on Verandah sold for $1,287,000, a new record for the artist, as well as a new record for the highest price for a living Canadian artist to sell at auction in Canada, during the fall 2010 live Auction.

2011

For the first time, in the spring live Auction, the Post~War & Contemporary Canadian Art sale total eclipses the Fine Canadian Art sale total.

Jean Paul Lemieux's Nineteen Ten Remembered set a new international auction record for a Canadian Post~War & Contemporary work of art during the fall 2011 live auction, selling for $2,340,000.

Following the fall auction season, Heffel surpasses the 300 million dollar mark in art auction sales since 1995, selling more Canadian art than any other auctioneer worldwide

2012

Heffel maintains offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa. The Heffel team is committed to providing clients with outstanding service. Heffel looks forward to the future milestones that are to come and is thankful for their many loyal clients.