Sotheby's London Contemporary Evening Auction Totals £47.6M, Ser Serpas Sets Record

Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Auction in London on October 16, 2025, achieved £47,560,640, the highest for an October evening sale since 2023, up 25% from £37.6 million in 2024. The top lot was Francis Bacon's Portrait of a Dwarf (1975), selling for £13.11 million after nearly 20 minutes of bidding. Other highlights included Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (The arm) (1982) at £5.53 million, Andy Warhol's Four Pink Marilyns (Reversal Series) (1986) at £4.326 million, and Lucio Fontana's Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1964) at £2.785 million. A bidding war erupted for Lucy Bull's 9:59 (2021), which sold for £1.26 million, four times its estimate. The session opened with Ser Serpas's Untitled (2022), which set a new auction record for the 30-year-old artist at £27,940. Serpas had recently exhibited at Kunsthalle Basel in June 2025. Notable unsold lots included Hurvin Anderson's Marlene's Big Sister, and works by Richard Serra, Daniel Richter, and Matthew Wong. The auction featured about 30 lots, with many starting below low estimates and extended bidding times. The sale followed Christie's and Phillips auctions, and Sotheby's will continue with sales in Paris and New York.