ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Sotheby's and Christie's London Evening Sales Total £246.5 Million

market-auction · 2026-05-04

On March 6 and 7, 2018, Christie's and Sotheby's conducted evening auctions for Post-War and Contemporary Art in London, collectively achieving £246.5 million. Christie's auction on March 6 garnered £137.5 million, marking the highest total for a European auction, with a sell-through rate of 92% by lot. Highlights included Andy Warhol's self-portraits, which sold for £19.9 million, and Basquiat's Multiflavors at £10.5 million. New records were established for Mark Bradford, Kelley Walker, and Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva. Sotheby's auction on March 7 brought in £109 million, with Peter Doig's The Architect's Hoe leading at £13.2 million. Additionally, Lucio Fontana's Concetto Spaziale sold for £4.3 million, while three lots were withdrawn at the last moment.

Key facts

  • Christie's London evening sale on March 6, 2018, totaled £137.5 million, a European record for the sector.
  • Sotheby's London evening sale on March 7, 2018, totaled £109 million.
  • Andy Warhol's six self-portraits sold for £19.9 million at Christie's.
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat's Multiflavors sold for £10.5 million at Christie's.
  • Peter Doig's Charley's Space sold for £9.5 million at Christie's.
  • Peter Doig's The Architect's Hoe in Ravine sold for £13.2 million at Sotheby's.
  • Gerhard Richter's Gelbgrun sold for £9.5 million at Sotheby's.
  • Christopher Wool's Untitled (2007) sold for £9.1 million at Sotheby's.
  • Mark Bradford set a record with Bear Running from the Shotgun at £3.8 million.
  • Kelley Walker set a record with Black Star Press at £573,000.
  • Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva set a record with L'Incendie I at £2 million.
  • Lucio Fontana's Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1963) sold for £4.3 million at Sotheby's.
  • Michelangelo Pistoletto's Amanti sold for £2.2 million at Sotheby's.
  • Alberto Burri's Ferro T sold for £5 million at Christie's.
  • Peter Halley set a record with Yellow Cell with Triple Conduit at £513,000.
  • Jason Rhoades set a record with Down Under at £345,000.
  • A series of ten Warhol Marilyn Monroe prints sold for £2.3 million at Sotheby's.
  • Banksy's Bacchus at the seaside sold online for £550,000.
  • Warhol's Birth of Venus was unsold at £3.6 million at Christie's.
  • David Hockney's work was unsold at £4.5 million at Christie's.
  • Three lots were withdrawn: Danh Vo's Alphabet, Ed Ruscha's Mount Something, and Calder's Three White Dots on Orange Stack.

Entities

Artists

  • Andy Warhol
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat
  • Peter Doig
  • Francis Bacon
  • Mark Bradford
  • Kelley Walker
  • Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva
  • George Condo
  • Jackson Pollock
  • Lucio Fontana
  • François-Xavier Lalanne
  • Cy Twombly
  • Louise Bourgeois
  • Donald Judd
  • Alberto Burri
  • Rudolf Stingel
  • Adrian Ghenie
  • Josef Albers
  • Gerhard Richter
  • Christopher Wool
  • Yayoi Kusama
  • Albert Oehlen
  • Hurvin Anderson
  • Cecily Brown
  • Laura Owens
  • Michelangelo Pistoletto
  • Luciano Fabro
  • Francesco Lo Savio
  • Alighiero Boetti
  • Peter Halley
  • Jason Rhoades
  • Richard Prince
  • Damien Hirst
  • Antony Gormley
  • Banksy
  • David Hockney
  • Howard Hodgkin
  • Sergio Camargo
  • Danh Vo
  • Ed Ruscha
  • Alexander Calder
  • Lucian Freud
  • Sam Gilliam
  • Henry Taylor
  • Jennifer Guidi
  • Beatriz Milhazes
  • Martin Kippenberger
  • Joan Mitchell
  • Jonas Wood
  • Sean Scully

Institutions

  • Christie's
  • Sotheby's
  • Fondazione Donald R. Sobey
  • Phillips
  • Kunstmuseum Basel
  • Art Basel
  • Art Basel Unlimited
  • MUDEC
  • Baltimore Museum of Art
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
  • Guggenheim Museum New York
  • Hauser & Wirth
  • Lévy Gorvy
  • David Zwirner
  • Emilio Mazzoli
  • NABA

Locations

  • London
  • United Kingdom
  • Basel
  • Switzerland
  • New York
  • United States
  • Milan
  • Italy
  • Hong Kong
  • China
  • Asia

Sources