Victoria Kleiner, Head of Art Due Diligence and Digital Art Expertise
Full Steam Ahead at the London Spring Sales
The success of the Modern and Contemporary sales in London last week provided another boost to an art market that was already buoyed by an impressive performance in New York during the November Marquee auctions.
The total across the 3 main houses - including Day Sales - was approx. GBP 420 million, a strong performance that saw a 63.9% increase in sales over the equivalent auction series in March 2025. Despite wider political and economic turmoil, the pre-sale views were busy and vibrant. Sotheby’s reported receiving 6,000 visitors to its view, leading into a packed evening sale which was standing room only.
Sotheby’s started the week strongly by achieving the exceptionally rare feat of a ‘white-glove’ various owner sale, in which every work sold. Whilst these are much more common for highly sought after single-owner sales, it is at least 2 decades since Sotheby’s saw a full sell through rate for a various owner sale, and auctioneer Oliver Barker looked thrilled to be presented with the coveted pair of white gloves at the end of the sale.
Leading the night at Sotheby’s was a group of works from the collection of Joe Lewis, around which there had been much interest prior. A Francis Bacon self-portrait doubled its low estimate to sell for GBP 16 million to achieve the top price of the sale. Somewhat more surprising was the price that was achieved for a Leon Kossoff depiction of a swimming pool, also from the Lewis collection, which smashed the artist’s previous record at auction to sell for GBP 5.2 million after being pursued by 10 bidders, 7 times its high estimate.
Strong prices were also achieved for Alberto Giacometti’s ‘Femme Debout,’ which sold for GBP 5.1 million, and ‘Une Muse’ by Constantin Brancusi, which sold for GBP 3.6 million. Sotheby’s also held a small sale the following day of David Hockney’s I-Pad drawings, all of which sold above their high estimate, and which was well time to co-ordinate with the Hockney exhibition that opened at the Serpentine this week.
Christie’s scored the major single-owner collection of this sale series, offering the works of esteemed Belgian collectors Roger and Josette Vanthournout. Highlights from their Evening sale included a Francois-Xavier Lalanne Frog, which sold for GBP 914,000 against an estimate of GBP 250-350,000, and Pablo Picasso’s ‘Nu debout et femmes assises’, which soared above its estimate of GBP 3-5 million to achieve GBP 7 million. Picasso also performed well in Christie’s dedicated ‘Art of the Surreal’ Evening sale that same night, when an oil from the Renker collection sold for GBP 2.6 million against an estimate of GBP 600-800,000.
A Miro oil from the same collection also performed well, achieving GBP 4.8 million again an estimate of GBP 1.5-2.5 million. The highlight of the various owner Evening sale that followed was the extraordinary record price achieved for Henry Moore’s ‘King and Queen’, which sold for GBP 26.3 million against an estimate of GBP 10-15 million.
Christie’s three Evening sales were 96% sold by lot and 98% sold by value, exceptionally strong figures that bode well for continuing market recovery. Overall, the results across the board were highly encouraging with regards to continuing market recovery, especially given wider economic uncertainty.
It looks like it is time for the ‘buyer’s’ market of the last few years to become a ‘seller’s’ market, with exciting consequences for the next series of New York sales in May, and the wider art market in general.