Phillips London to Auction 78 Affordable Works by David Hockney

On September 13, 2022, Phillips will hold a dedicated auction at its Berkeley Square headquarters in London featuring 78 lots of David Hockney's lithographs, iPad drawings, and domestic prints, deliberately excluding his high-end oil paintings. The most expensive lot is 'Afternoon Swimming' (1979) with a pre-sale estimate of £250,000–400,000. This strategy aims to attract collectors who cannot afford Hockney's multi-million-dollar canvases. The sale coincides with heightened museum interest: Hockney's series 'The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020'—116 iPad works created during lockdown—was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Art Institute of Chicago until January 2023. Until September 18, the Biennale de Nice presents 'Un paradis retrouvé' at the Musée Matisse, pairing Hockney with Matisse. Market activity remains strong: Christie's will offer 'Early Morning, Sainte Maxime' (1969) in its 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on October 13, and Sotheby's Hong Kong sold '30 Sunflowers' (1996) for approximately €14 million in July 2020, one of the highest prices for a living Western artist in Asia. Hockney's auction record remains $90.3 million for 'Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)' at Christie's New York in 2018, surpassed by Jeff Koons' 'Rabbit' ($91 million) at Sotheby's New York in 2019.