MIAMI BEACH — Looking beyond the ever-changing roster of art transactions at the now-10-year-old Art Basel Miami Beach — bar none, America’s best contemporary art fair — I have put together a personal top 10 of favorite works spotted during the opening hours follows. There is no hierarchy or ground rule here, just a spot on ‘I like it’ reaction to an object that is truly worth celebrating, glimpsed among thousands of others.

Lucian Freud, “The Painter’s Mother” at Acquavella Galleries, New York

The 1972 oil on canvas captures a handsome, bright-eyed woman, rendered in a cropped, head-and-shoulders’ view. Her gaze is averted and inward, as if trying to escape her son’s unrelenting gaze.

“The Painter’s Mother” is believed to be one of nine paintings Freud did of his mother before her death in 1989. Priced at five million dollars, the compelling portrait by the late and great Freud demands — and deserves — close attention.

Robert Delaunay, “Equipe de Cardiff” at Adler & Conkright, New York

An undisputed historic gem from 1922, the beautifully executed pastel on paper of four rugby players leaping in the air is one of the artist’s signature images. Fresh to the market, it was acquired before 1941 by a Parisian paint store owner who befriended a number of artists. Robert Delaunay’s wife, Sonia Delaunay, used to make children’s clothes for the collector’s children.

Priced at over a million euros, “Equipe de Cardiff” hangs alongside a postcard-sized study of the same action-packed subject, but from 1913 and executed in ink on paper. That work had an asking price of $50,000.  

Andy Warhol, “Little Electric Chair” at van de Weghe Fine Art, New York

For the finicky Warhol aficionado, concerned with the crispness of the silkscreen, this eerie and deadly image from 1964 stands out. Suffused in green, the canvas focuses on the empty electric chair in the center of the room. In the background, an overhead sign commands SILENCE. (In some versions of this image, because of the screen, these letters aren’t visible.)

The painting is priced at $5.5 million.

Cindy Sherman, “Untitled (Film Still #4)” at Skarstedt, New York

There are a number of Shermans around the fair and this ultra-grainy 1977 work, depicts the artist costumed in a ‘50s-styled suit, her page boy haircut topped by a tiny hat. She’s leaning against a door in an otherwise empty hallway, the harsh light silhouetting her figure in a kind of film noir haze.

At just 16 by 20 inches, the gelatin silver print comes from an edition of one. It sold for $400,000, according to gallerist Per Skarstedt.

Pedro Figari, “Conversation (Entredicho)” at Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York

Originally exhibited at the Venice Biennial of 1942, this painting from the early 1900s resembles in part an interior scene by Vuillard. But the clusters of women featured in the ornately furnished reception room are busy fixing their elaborately coiffed hair and waving fans. A coral-colored couch and richly textured wall in a lipstick shade of pink electrifies the room.

The painting is priced at a seemingly modest $75,000.    

Tatsuo Miyajima, “Warp Time With Self No.4” at SCAI The Bath House, Tokyo

Stunnily lit with programmed LED lights that endlessly flicker in a sea of primary numbers, Miyajima’s 2010 mirrored steel sculpture exudes a hypnotic power. It is a truly nique work, priced at $180,000.

Otto Piene, Licht Ballett (Light Drum) and Licht Ballett (Light Sattelite)” at Moeller New York+ Berlin

A founding member of the short-lived but wildly influential Zero Group, Piene’s chrome, glass, and electric light contraption from 1969 is a trailblazing kinetic work. When turned on, it choreographs a veritable ballet of light.  Conceived together, the two Piene works here are on offer at $140,000 or individually for $95,000 and $45,000.

Andreas Gursky, “Prada I” at Spruth Magers, London/Cologne

Possibly, one of the artist’s most important images, a large-scale (5 by 10 foot) view of a fastidiously lit luxury shoe display from 1996 is truly epic, both in scale and ambition. Originally printed at a smaller scale, Gursky chose “Prada I” to expand his range with the Diasec method.

Priced at €650,000, the photograph had two reserves on Wednesday.

Daniel Buren “Peinture acrylique blanche sur tissue raye blanc et bleu” at Kamel Mennour, Paris

The large-scale blue-and-white vertically striped sewn work from November 1969 is absolute museum quality, executed when the artist was dirt poor, relying on his mother to sew the strips of fabric together in order achieve New York School scale. Only two of the regimented stripes are painted in white acrylic, and on close inspection, one can easily see the tiny holes made from the needlework.

Done largely in reaction to the School of Paris conservatism then still captivating the French capital, Buren eventually made big waves with his radical approach. At the Kamel Mennour booth, as Buren preferred, the painting isn’t hung on the wall, but rests on its frame, lightly leaning against the support.

MoMA is currently exhibiting a small group of similar works from 1971 and this earlier example found an American buyer for approximately $500,000.

Luc Tuymans, “Rocket Scientist” at Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

A new work by Tuymans is always something to behold and this fairly menacing oil on canvas rates high in conveying the artist’s fascination with history. The ghostly head and shoulders of a man from 2011, posed under the halo of a desk lamp, alludes to an unnamed Nazi scientist who, apparently, had a fascination with UFOs.

It sold to an American collector in the vicinity of $500,000.

To see images of some of the works featured in this article, click on the slide show.