London’s Frieze Week Record Breakers

London’s marquee auction houses just concluded a blockbuster week of contemporary art sales, coinciding with the Frieze art fair. In a series of evening auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, high-net-worth collectors witnessed the strongest London sale totals in years, driven by spirited bidding on blue-chip masterpieces and rising stars alike.

The overall mood was upbeat, with near-record auction totals and sell-through rates around 90%, signaling robust demand and renewed confidence at the top end of the art market. Below, we recap key highlights from each auction house and analyze emerging trends in the market.

Christie’s – Frieze Week Evening Sale Delivers Seven-Year High

Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on 15 October realized a total of £106.9 million (∼$142.9 million) – the house’s best Frieze Week evening result in over seven years. This impressive total landed within pre-sale expectations and was 30% higher than the equivalent sale last year. The auction achieved a 92% sell-through by lot, reflecting carefully curated offerings and strong buyer appetite. Christie’s specialists noted the sale was “spirited and well-attended,” crediting realistic pricing and high-quality material for the solid outcome. Standout lots included:

• Peter Doig, Ski Jacket (1994) – Sold for £14.27 million (≈$19.1 million) against a £6–8 million estimate after a 13-minute bidding battle among six contenders. This monumental painting, freshly consigned from Danish collector Ole Faarup’s collection, nearly doubled its high estimate amid fierce competition.

• Peter Doig, Country Rock (1998–99) – Realized £9.21 million (≈$12.3 million), comfortably within its £7–10 million estimate range. This result coincided with the opening of Doig’s new show at London’s Serpentine, further fueling demand for the artist.

• Paula Rego, Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s Fantasia (Triptych, 1995) – Achieved £3.5 million, setting a new auction record for Rego’s work. The vibrant pastel piece soared past its £2–3 million estimate, underscoring the strong market for women artists.

• Domenico Gnoli, Untitled (Woman’s Hair) (1969) – Fetched £977,000, more than double its low estimate. This hyperrealist painting’s outperformance highlights sustained collector interest in surreal and Pop-influenced works.

• Modern market highlights: Blue-chip modern works provided steady support. A Marc Chagall painting of a pastoral scene fetched £2.25 million, and a Pablo Picasso oil on panel realized £2.0 million, both selling above their low estimates – reaffirming that high-quality Impressionist and Modern pieces remain dependable stores of value.

Christie’s reported broad international bidding, with 56% of buyers hailing from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 28% from the Americas. Notably, only 16% of buyers were Asian, indicating that European and U.S. collectors drove much of the action this week. The sale’s success – up nearly one-third from last year’s total – suggests the market may be rebounding from the subdued seasons of the past two years. As Christie’s co-heads Katharine Arnold and Keith Gill observed, the results highlight “the energy and cultural vitality of London’s art scene” during Frieze Week.

Sotheby’s – Momentum Continues with Bacon Leading the Sale

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 16 October was led by a sensational Francis Bacon canvas, bolstering a sale that totaled £47.6 million (about $63.5 million). While this was roughly half of Christie’s mega-sale the night before, Sotheby’s result was at the high end of its pre-sale estimate range and 25% higher than the equivalent sale last year. In fact, it marked Sotheby’s strongest October evening sale since 2023 – a noteworthy feat given that the auction house had already staged two major London evening sales earlier in the year. The sale saw 89% of lots find buyers, sustaining the strong momentum Sotheby’s has built in recent seasons. Standout lots included:

• Francis Bacon, Portrait of a Dwarf (1975) – Hammered at £13.1 million (about $17.6 million with fees), soaring above its £6–9 million estimate after a dramatic 17-minute bidding war. Multiple phone bidders and an in-room bidder vied for this rare Bacon (split from a larger composition), pushing the price well past expectations and underscoring continued appetite for top-tier post-war British art.

• Lucy Bull, 9:59 (2021) – Achieved £1.26 million (more than double its £500,000 high estimate). At least five bidders – many from Asia – chased this large-scale abstract painting by the rising Los Angeles artist, reflecting the red-hot demand for younger contemporary painters, especially female artists.

• Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (The Arm) (1982) – Sold for £5.53 million (≈$7.0 million), squarely within its presale estimate. This result for a 1982 Basquiat (a seminal year in the artist’s career) signals that blue-chip 1980s works continue to trade at solid price levels with global buyer interest.

• Andy Warhol, Four Pink Marilyn (Reversal) (1979–86) – Realized £4.33 million (≈$5.5 million), in line with expectations. Warhol’s iconic imagery remains a reliable draw; the price for this late-series Marilyn print underscores a stable market for Pop Art classics.

• High notes in varied mediums: The sale confirmed strength across mediums. A monumental El Anatsui metallic tapestry hammered just shy of its high estimate at £1.999 million. Two large Auguste Rodin bronze sculptures from The Burghers of Calais series each found buyers around the £750k–£890k mark. Meanwhile, a delicate Paula Rego pastel drawing achieved £900,000 (≈$1.15 million)and a Jenny Saville charcoal study fetched £533,000 – both comfortably above their estimates, reflecting healthy demand for works on paper by major artists.

Sotheby’s specialists noted the electric atmosphere, crediting Frieze Week for bringing a critical mass of collectors to London: “Frieze is always a special time…with so many collectors in town…and so much live action in the room,” said Ottilie Windsor, Sotheby’s London co-head of contemporary art. The evening’s success was broad-based, from new auction records for emerging names (the opening lot by Ser Serpas set a record at £27,940) to strong prices for established women artists – every female artist in the sale beat its estimate. A few lots did go unsold (e.g. a pricey Yves Klein painting failed to meet its reserve), but overall the auction’s high sell-through rate and above-estimate results for 74% of offerings pointed to depth of bidding and confident buying. Sotheby’s also capitalized on the Frieze Week buzz with a special single-owner sale the following day: 17 digital iPad drawings by David Hockney from his The Arrival of Spring series. In an exciting white-glove sale (100% sold), the group doubled its high estimate to total £6.2 million, setting a new auction record for Hockney’s works on paper. Notably, American buyers accounted for 40% of the winning bids in the Hockney sale – a reminder of the global reach of London’s sales, even for works by British artists.

Phillips – Boutique Sale Highlights Emerging Talent and Select Blue-Chips

Phillips rounded out Frieze Week with its London Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 16 October, a more intimate 22-lot affair that realized £10.33 million (∼$13.88 million). This total was down about 32% from last year’s Frieze-week sale at Phillips, reflecting a tighter selection and a few high-value lots that didn’t materialize this season. Despite four unsold lots (and four withdrawn prior), the sale posted a respectable 82% sell-through rate by lot. Phillips’ team put a positive spin on the results, noting the “vibrancy of contemporary collecting” on display and affirming that London remains a “cultural crossroads of the global art market,” per Phillips’s European head of contemporary art, Olivia Thornton. Standout lots included:

• Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Pestus) (1982) – Top lot of the evening, sold for £2.374 million (≈$3.19 million), neatly within its £2–3 million estimate. While more modest than the blockbuster Basquiats seen in New York sales, this work on paper’s result shows that demand for Basquiat’s output remains global and resilient.

• Emma McIntyre, Seven types of ambiguity (2021) – Achieved £167,700 (over 3× its low estimate), setting a new world auction record for the young Los Angeles-based painter. This small abstract canvas, estimated at just £50k, incited competitive bidding and signals collectors’ eagerness for emerging female artists (McIntyre’s previous auction high was $201k earlier in 2025).

• Flora Yukhnovich, My Body Knows Un-Heard of Songs (2017) – Fetched £1,276,000 (≈$1.71 million)against a £900k–1.5m estimate. This strong price for the British millennial painter – known for her lush, Rococo-inspired abstractions – confirms she’s sustaining momentum as one of the UK’s hottest young talents in the secondary market.

• Sean Scully, Wall of Light Summer Night 5.10 (2010) – Brought £967,500, exceeding its £600k–800k estimate. The solid result for this large-scale abstract work illustrates continued demand for established mid-career painters in the mid-seven-figure range.

• Robert Rauschenberg, Gospel Yodel (Salvage Series) (1984) – Realized £709,500, more than double its high estimate of £350k.This 1980s canvas by the late American master far outperformed expectations, indicating that well-chosen works by postwar icons can spark vigorous bidding even in a smaller sale.

Collectors were selective at Phillips – a Banksy portrait of Kate Moss (est. £700k–1m) and a large Sigmar Polke abstraction (est. £600k–800k) went unsold amid cautious bidding. However, the lots that did sell often beat their estimates, and several other contemporary names saw success: Flora Yukhnovich and Sasha Gordon both garnered strong prices (Gordon’s 2019 Drive Through canvas brought £116,100, near its top estimate), while works by Derek Fordjour (£528,900) and Bernar Venet (£516,000) each exceeded expectations. In Phillips’s view, the sale’s curated mix and results “reflect the vibrancy of contemporary collecting” in London, even at a smaller scale. The house now turns to its day sale and upcoming New York auctions, carrying forward the Frieze Week energy.

Market Sentiment and Trends: High Demand, Global Reach, and Generational Shift

Overall, London’s latest contemporary auctions paint a picture of a resilient, recalibrated market. After a couple of seasons of caution, the Frieze Week sales brought totals not seen in years, suggesting that sellers and buyers have adjusted to new price realities and are re-engaging. Sell-through rates hovered around 90% at the major houses, indicating that if works are attractively priced and of good quality, they are finding buyers. Christie’s moved 92% of its lots, and Sotheby’s wasn’t far behind at 89% – robust conversion rates that bolstered confidence. Several key trends emerged from the week’s results:

• Renewed Confidence at the Top – The combined evening sale totals were the highest for a London Frieze Week in several years. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s beat last year’s figures by healthy margins, signaling a rebound in spending at the high end. Collectors chased trophy works (like Doig’s and Bacon’s) with bidding wars lasting 13–17 minutes on top lots, a dramatic vote of confidence in the market’s direction.

• Global Bidding and Shifting Geographies – The bidding pool was truly international, though buyer composition showed some shifts. European, Middle Eastern, and African collectors were especially prominent in London this season (making up 56% of Christie’s buyers), likely buoyed by the local fair buzz. American buyers also had a strong presence – for example, they comprised 40% of purchasers in Sotheby’s Hockney sale and actively vied for evening sale lots – highlighting transatlantic interest. Asian bidding was evident (such as phone bidders on the Doig and Bull pieces), but at 16% of Christie’s buyers, the Asia segment was somewhat muted compared to the peak years. London’s sales showed that global wealth is engaging across regions, even as the mix evolves.

• Generational Shift in Artists Collected – A notable feature was the success of younger and mid-career artists alongside established names. New auction records were set for a number of contemporary artists, particularly female painters in their 30s–40s (e.g. Lucy Bull, Emma McIntyre). Bidding was intense for works by the likes of Bull, McIntyre, Yukhnovich, and Gordon – indicating that a new generation of artists is capturing collectors’ imaginations. This trend coexisted with sustained demand for classic post-war icons (Bacon, Warhol, Basquiat), suggesting collectors are balancing their portfolios with both proven blue-chips and fresh voices.

• Diverse Mediums and Price Points – While big-ticket oil paintings led the headlines, savvy buyers pursued quality across mediums and price bands. Sculptures found buyers at high prices (Rodin bronzes near £800k each; an Anish Kapoor mirror at £580.5k). Works on paper and unique prints fetched strong sums – from Rego’s pastel at £3.5m to Hockney’s iPad drawings averaging ~£365k each – proving that works outside the traditional canvas can command investment-grade prices. In terms of pricing tiers, top-tier pieces in the £10m+ range saw sufficient demand, the £1–5 million “middle market” was selective but steady, and the sub-£1m category was very competitive for trending artists. The broad conclusion is that collectors are willing to spend across categories when the work resonates and estimates are well-calibrated.

• Market Calibration and Positive Tone – Importantly, these sales benefited from a realistic approach by sellers and auction houses. Many lots were priced to sell, sometimes with adjusted (lowered) estimates compared to a few years ago. This calibration translated into fewer disappointments and a high sell-through environment. Auctioneers also made use of third-party guarantees to secure key consignments, which helped ensure headline works found buyers. The result was an upbeat series of auctions that brought a sense of stability and optimism back to the market. As one Christie’s executive noted, evening auctions not only reflect the market but help “determine what values are today”– and this week, those values trended on the higher side of expectations.

In summary, London’s contemporary art auctions this past week offered encouraging news for high-end collectors and advisors. The combination of record-breaking individual sales, high absorption rates, and broad international participation suggests a market in recovery and rotation – where new artistic talent rises while blue-chip mainstays hold their ground. For collectors, the key takeaway is that demand remains strong for quality. Whether one’s interest lies in a 20th-century master or a 21st-century innovator, the fall 2025 London sales demonstrated that buyers are ready to compete for the right work at the right price – and they have the results to show for it.

For more information on any of the artists featured, contact info@guyhepner.com.