Gross sales aren’t simply buoyant at Frieze this week—London’s public sale homes additionally noticed their strongest leads to years, signaling renewed confidence on the high of the market. Kicking off the motion, Christie’s twentieth/twenty first Century London Night Sale on October 15 achieved a sturdy £106,925,400 ($142,852,000), marking the public sale home’s greatest Frieze Week night sale in additional than seven years. The overall was up 30 % from final yr, with 92 % bought by lot and 90 % bought by worth. Katharine Arnold and Keith Gill, vice-chairmen of twentieth/twenty first century artwork, Christie’s Europe, reported getting into the week with confidence and “rigorously priced materials,” noting a “spirited and well-attended” public viewing at King Road. “We’re proud to have realized such a stable final result throughout Frieze Week, a second that highlights the power and cultural vitality of London’s artwork scene,” they informed press.
Main the sale was Peter Doig’s monumental Ski Jacket (1994), which bought for £14,270,000 ($19,064,720) in opposition to a £6,000,000-8,000,000 estimate after greater than 13 minutes of fierce bidding between six contenders. Carrying a third-party assure, the portray had been acquired in 1994 by Danish collector Ole Faarup, and one hundred pc of the proceeds will now go to his basis. This uncommon association additionally helped Christie’s safe two extra Doigs, regardless of the artist having turn out to be a uncommon presence at public sale.
With an intensive exhibition historical past, Doig’s Nation Rock (1998-1999) almost hit seven figures in sterling—although it comfortably did so in {dollars}—reaching £9,210,000 ($12,304,560). A 3rd, extra summary and closely textured work, additionally acquired by Faarup in 1994, bought a couple of heaps later simply shy of its excessive estimate at £635,000. The sturdy outcomes coincided with the opening of Doig’s new present on the Serpentine in London, additional fueling demand.
Christie’s night opened with a standout outcome for Domenico Gnoli, whose hyperrealistic portray fetched £977,000, doubling its low estimate. Instantly after, a extra impressionistic panorama by René Magritte landed at £762,990—nicely above expectations—reinforcing each continued momentum for the artist and the broader power of surrealism. Later within the sale, Magritte’s drawing La veillée (The Vigil) exceeded its £500,000 excessive estimate, promoting for £812,800.
Picasso, as traditional, delivered reliable outcomes, with a number of works promoting above or inside estimate, together with the £2,002,000 oil and ink on panel Chevalier, pages et moine. The trendy and impressionist choices additionally carried out inside expectations, largely as a result of high quality of the fabric: a Marc Chagall portray fetched £2,246,000, whereas a lyrical bucolic scene by Nabis painter Maurice Denis bought for £1,697,000. In the meantime, a horizontal summary work by Hurvin Anderson exceeded expectations, fetching £3,222,000.
The sale additionally set a number of new world public sale data, underscoring the continued momentum for girls artists and long-overlooked names being rediscovered. Paula Rego’s Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” (1995) soared to £3,466,000 ($4.63 million), setting a brand new landmark report for the artist. Suzanne Valadon’s Deux nus ou Le bain (1923) adopted with a £1,016,000 ($1.36 million) report. Modern sculptor Annie Morris’s Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) achieved £482,600 ($644,754), whereas Danish artist Esben Weile Kjær set his first public sale report with Aske and Johan the other way up kissing in Energy Play at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND (2020), which bought for £25,400 ($33,934).
Among the many few unsold works of the evening have been Yoshitomo Nara’s drawing Haze Days, which did not discover a purchaser at its formidable £6.5-8.5 million estimate, and a grey monochrome by Gerhard Richter—even with the artist opening a significant survey on the Fondation Louis Vuitton throughout Paris Artwork Week. A black Blinky Palermo additionally went unsold, whereas a colourful however barely much less iconic Nicholas Celebration work, Tree Trunks, was withdrawn forward of the sale.
Notably, Christie’s reported that 56 % of patrons within the night sale got here from Europe, the Center East and Africa, with solely 28 % from the Americas and 16 % from the Asia-Pacific area. This confirms revived demand within the regional market, as additionally evidenced earlier within the day by the heavy attendance at Frieze.
A £17.6M Bacon headlined at Sotheby’s
Led by a £17.6 million Francis Bacon, Sotheby’s Modern Night Public sale closed at $63.5 million. Whereas the whole was lower than half of Christie’s the evening earlier than, the comparability wants context: this was Sotheby’s third main London night sale since March—whereas it was Christie’s first of the season. Sotheby’s has already staged two main white-glove gross sales this yr—the £101 million Karpidas assortment public sale in September and the £84 million Summer season Night Sale—that means that with final evening’s outcomes, the home has now bought £233 million price of contemporary and up to date artwork in London since March. Furthermore, the £63.5 million complete marked the very best October night sale outcome since 2023, up 25 % from the earlier yr.
“Frieze is at all times a particular time for London, with so many collectors on the town whose presence we at all times really feel in our gross sales,” Ottilie Windsor, co-head of latest artwork, Sotheby’s London, informed Observer. “It was nice to have them with us tonight and to see a lot stay motion within the room, serving to maintain the sturdy momentum we’ve constructed over the previous few seasons right here.”
The Francis Bacon outcome got here after 20 minutes of suspense and fierce bidding throughout a number of telephone specialists and a bidder within the room, pushing the ultimate worth to almost double its £6-9 million estimate. In U.S. {dollars}, the hammer plus charges rose to $17.6 million. For comparability, the final notable Bacon—Portrait of Man with Glasses II—bought at Christie’s in March for £6,635,000 ($8.4 million), and that work was virtually a 3rd smaller. One other, smaller Bacon, nearer in scale to Christie’s instance, bought right here for £5,774,000 ($7.3 million). Bacon’s report nonetheless stands at $142.4 million, set at Christie’s New York in 2013 along with his triptych Three Research of Lucian Freud.
The sale opened sturdy, with stable outcomes for a number of youthful up to date artists who’ve just lately drawn each market and institutional consideration. At lot one, a portray by Ser Serpas landed at £27,940 ($35,700)—slightly below estimate however nonetheless sufficient to set a brand new public sale report for the artist. The California-born painter, who studied in Switzerland and gained early recognition there, was just lately included in a MoMA PS1 exhibition and held a solo present at Kunsthalle Basel through the June festivals.
Two of the most popular rising names in latest auctions—pushed largely by Asian demand and restricted primary-market availability—adopted. An summary by Emma McIntyre, now a Zwirner favourite, bought for £50,800 ($65,000), and Yu Nishimura achieved the identical worth. Each works carried estimates of £40,000-60,000, reflecting the tight competitors at this stage.
In between, a 2009 portray by Hernan Bas acquired from Perrotin bought simply above its low estimate, more likely to its guarantor, at £254,000 ($323,000). Momentum continued for Lucy Bull, whose kaleidoscopic abstraction from 2021—initially acquired from Paris gallery Excessive Artwork—greater than doubled its high estimate of £500,000 ($635,000), touchdown at £1,260,000 ($1.6 million) after being chased by 5 bidders, most from Asia.
Total, the public sale confirmed the continued power of the marketplace for girls artists, all of whom bought above estimate. Sotheby’s additionally posted sturdy outcomes for Paula Rego: her pastel on paper Snow White Taking part in along with her Father’s Trophies bought inside estimate for £900,000 (about $1.15 million), whereas Jenny Saville’s charcoal examine exceeded its excessive estimate, promoting for £533,000 (round $675,000).
Amongst different notable six-figure outcomes, a monumental El Anatsui bought simply shy of its excessive estimate at £1,999,000 (about $2.53 million). Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (The Arm) from 1982—a pivotal yr within the artist’s rise—landed squarely inside estimate at £5,530,000 (roughly $7 million). Andy Warhol’s 4 Pink Marilyn (Reversal) adopted, promoting inside estimate for £4,326,000 (about $5.5 million).
The masters additionally held agency. Each of Auguste Rodin’s monumental sculptures from his seminal sequence The Burghers of Calais bought inside estimate to a collector within the room: Jean de Fiennes, vêtu, Grand Modèle achieved £762,000 ($1 million), whereas Pierre de Wiessant, vita, Grand Modèle, vêtu bought for £889,000 ($1.2 million).
The marketplace for Lucio Fontana additionally confirmed indicators of restoration—a minimum of for main works. His uncommon blue 14-slashed Concetto spaziale, Attese bought simply above estimate at £2.8 million (about $3.7 million) following a fierce bidding conflict amongst 4 potential patrons. The deep blue of the canvas was impressed by Yves Klein’s IKB pigment—however Klein’s personal Untitled Fireplace Color Portray (FC 28), which appeared one lot earlier, surprisingly went unsold after failing to fulfill its £1.8-2 million estimate ($2.3-2.5 million), regardless of each an irrevocable bid and a assure.
Different unsold works of the evening included work by Frank Auerbach and Daniel Richter. Nonetheless, Sotheby’s achieved a wholesome 89 % sell-through price by lot.
On October 17, Sotheby’s additionally staged a single-owner sale of 17 iPad drawings by David Hockney from his celebrated sequence The Arrival of Spring. The outcomes have been outstanding: the group doubled its excessive estimate to succeed in £6.2 million ($8.3 million), reaching a white-glove sale and setting a brand new public sale report for the artist. With this outcome, Sotheby’s London has now introduced in £240 million (roughly $304 million) since March. Notably, American patrons accounted for 40 % of the purchasers within the Hockney sale, underscoring the continued international demand for blue-chip British artists.
A £2,374,000 Basquiat tops Phillips’ London Night Sale
On October 16 at 5 p.m., Phillips hosted its London Trendy & Modern Night Sale, reaching a complete of £10,332,200 ($13,884,410) throughout 22 heaps. The public sale was extra modest—and fewer profitable—than the others, posting a 32 % drop in comparison with final yr after 4 heaps did not promote and 4 others have been withdrawn earlier than the beginning. The night was led by a brand new public sale report for Emma McIntyre: Seven sorts of ambiguity (2021) bought for £167,700 ($225,355) from a modest £50,000-70,000 estimate, edging previous her earlier report of $201,600 set in Could 2025 at Phillips Hong Kong. The second-highest lot of the evening was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pestus) (1982), which comfortably met its pre-sale estimate at £2,374,000 ($3,190,181).
As soon as once more, up to date girls artists confirmed their momentum at Phillips, reaching a excessive level after Emma McIntyre’s record-setting outcome when Flora Yukhnovich’s My Physique is aware of Un-Heard of Songs (2017) fetched £1,276,000 ($1,714,689) in opposition to a £900,000-1,500,000 estimate.
Opening the sale was a purple-and-pink abstraction by Martha Jungwirth—now a well-known presence throughout Thaddaeus Ropac’s honest cubicles—which exceeded expectations at £180,600. A couple of heaps later, an early work by Sasha Gordon bought simply shy of its excessive estimate at £116,100. Demand for Gordon has been reignited by her blockbuster solo debut at Zwirner in New York, which made her the youngest artist represented by the mega-gallery. Painted in 2019 throughout her research, Drive By means of marks a transitional second in her shift towards the extra discursive, cartoon-inflected model that catapulted her into the worldwide highlight.
Later within the sale, Noah Davis’s Mitrice Richardson (2012) discovered a purchaser inside estimate at £451,500 ($606,726), whereas Derek Fordjour’s Regatta Sample Examine (2020) fetched £528,900 ($710,736), surpassing its excessive estimate of £500,000. Different notable outcomes included Sean Scully’s Wall of Mild Summer season Evening 5.10 (2010), which achieved £967,500 ($1,300,127) in opposition to a £600,000-800,000 estimate, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Gospel Yodel (Salvage Sequence), which bought for £709,500 ($953,426), greater than doubling its £350,000-550,000 estimate. A 2012 sculpture by Bernar Venet fetched £516,000 ($693,401) from a £250,000-350,000 estimate, reflecting the artist’s rising demand—notably in Asia.
Not the whole lot landed. A Warhol-inspired Banksy portrait of Kate Moss, estimated at £700,000-1,000,000, did not discover a purchaser, whereas a cacophonic summary work by Sigmar Polke from 1983-84 additionally went unsold, probably attributable to its overly formidable £600,000-800,000 estimate relative to present market demand for the artist.
For Olivia Thornton, Phillips’s head of contemporary and up to date artwork, Europe, the general constructive public sale mirrored “the vibrancy of latest accumulating” and reaffirmed London’s enduring magnetism: “London stays the cultural crossroads of the worldwide artwork market.”
Extra in Auctions
