![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/imgi_14_Auctioneer-and-Senior-Client-Advisor-Yu-Ge-Wang-selling-Philip-Gustons-Mirror-Head.-Christie.jpeg\")
Christie\u2019s sales on June 25 brought \u00a325.7 million ($34 million), with the sale of the Zabludowicz collection achieving \u00a315.5 million ($20.5 million). CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2026<\/p>\n\t\tChristie\u2019s sales on June 25 brought \u00a325.7 million ($34 million), with the sale of the Zabludowicz collection achieving \u00a315.5 million ($20.5 million). CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2026<\/p>\n
The London sales opened with a record-setting \u00a3393.4 million night for Sotheby\u2019s<\/a>, led by the benchmark-shattering \u00a3273.6 million Lewis sale, which became not only the most expensive single-owner collection sold at auction but the highest result for an evening sale in Europe in more than a decade. It was a tough act to follow for the other major houses, particularly given that in 2024, Christie’s<\/a> restructured its summer season in London, limiting its marquee sales to October and March. Its summer sales also integrate categories while emphasizing broader cross-collecting strategies rather than relying on blockbuster evening auctions built around a few star lots or artist names. Yet it did have one thing going for it: a major consignment from the Zabludowicz Collection\u2014one of the most influential art holdings in the U.K., estimated at \u00a315 million.<\/p>\n Anita and Poju Zabludowicz<\/a>\u2019s collection played a key role in the British art scene at a pivotal moment in its evolution. Today comprising more than 5,000 works, many acquired directly from artists\u2019 studios, it is anchored in the British art scene of the 1990s and the rise of the Young British Artists, but extends to international artists the couple acquired early and who are now firmly established on the global stage. According to rumors, after years of championing emerging talent, they decided to sell as they grew apart from an art world whose dynamics they no longer recognized. (Or not. They and their daughter were spotted at Art Basel<\/a> week, looking at work.)<\/p>\n The dedicated single-owner sale, Beyond Ordinary \u2013 Then. Now. Next. Works from the Zabludowicz Collection<\/a> on June 25, squarely met its presale estimate, closing with a satisfying \u00a315,448,081 ($20,453,259), with an 89 percent sell-through rate by lot and 97 percent by value, with three lots guaranteed and after three of the 56 lots were withdrawn (33, 37, 52). The top lot, Philip Guston<\/a>\u2019s 1977 work Mirror Head, sold just above its low estimate for \u00a33.9 million.<\/p>\n Among the work by British artists, Antony Gormley<\/a>\u2019s Cloud XXXII, dated 2000 and acquired by the couple from his show at White Cube<\/a> that same year, sold for \u00a3381,000, also just above its low estimate of \u00a3300,000, while Damien Hirst<\/a>\u2019s I Love You (1994-1995) squarely met its estimate, selling for \u00a3762,000. Mark Bradford<\/a>\u2019s Father South and Elsewhere also met expectations, selling for \u00a31.27 million, as did Rashid Johnson<\/a>\u2019s Untitled Broken Crowd (2021), which landed at \u00a3952,500 against a \u00a31.2 million high estimate. An additional Johnson sold a few lots later for \u00a3111,760, surpassing its \u00a360,000-80,000 estimate. An iconic Richard Prince<\/a> Cowboy, dated 1994, surpassed its high estimate, selling for \u00a31,575,000. Originally debuting at Barbara Gladstone<\/a>, the work was acquired by the couple from Thomas Dane<\/a> for the Zabludowicz Collection in 2003.<\/p>\n The Zabludowicz sale opened with a work by Lubaina Himid<\/a>\u2014who\u2019s representing the U.K. in Venice this year\u2014which sold just above estimate at \u00a333,020, followed by a Henry Taylor<\/a> portrait that surpassed its high estimate to sell for \u00a3190,500. Doubling its estimate was the shimmering Hurvin Anderson<\/a> abstraction from his celebrated Lower Lake series, which achieved \u00a3133,350 (est. \u00a360,000-80,000), while the three-meter-long Rose Wylie<\/a> landed around its high estimate after fees, selling for \u00a3292,100 and setting a new record for the artist. Records were also set for Anj Smith<\/a>, whose work doubled its high estimate, selling for \u00a335,560, and for Jakub Julian Zi\u00f3\u0142kowski<\/a>, whose last lot sold for \u00a356,680 against its \u00a330,000 high estimate. That painting was included in Massimiliano Gioni<\/a>\u2019s Venice Biennale exhibition, \u201cIl Palazzo Enciclopedico, Volume I,\u201d as well as in a survey of Polish art at the Museum of Modern Art<\/a> in Warsaw in 2014, before being acquired that same year by the Zabludowicz family from Hauser & Wirth<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Post-War to Present<\/a> sale that followed generated an additional \u00a310,217,515, with 88 percent sold by value and an 81 percent sell-through rate across its 79 lots, after five withdrawals. Leading the sale was Cecily Brown<\/a>\u2019s The Haunter (2010), coming to auction just as the artist is being celebrated with a show at the Serpentine Gallery. The layered abstraction eventually sold close to its high estimate for \u00a32.7 million.<\/p>\n The sale opened with a highly saturated Nicole Wittenberg<\/a> that surpassed its high estimate, achieving \u00a322,860, followed by a Nicolas Party<\/a> still life that also performed very well, fetching \u00a3209,550 over a \u00a340,000-60,000 estimate\u2014presumably more than what the consignor paid when acquiring it in 2014 from Galerie Gregor Staiger<\/a> in Zurich. One of Hockney\u2019s highly sought-after iPad drawings<\/a>, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) \u2013 30 April, also performed extremely well, selling for \u00a3279,400 against its \u00a3150,000 high estimate, following the artist\u2019s death just weeks earlier<\/a>. Aligning nicely with the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, Jonas Wood<\/a>\u2019s Wimbledon #6 sold above estimate at \u00a3177,800, while Tracey Emin<\/a>\u2019s neon met its high estimate, selling for \u00a3101,600. A small, contained Antony Gormley that followed nearly quadrupled its estimate, fetching \u00a3406,400.<\/p>\n Among the other standout results was Vanessa Raw<\/a>\u2019s The Other Night (2026), which reached \u00a325,400 against a close-to-primary estimate of \u00a35,000-7,000. The lot was offered as part of a charity grouping benefitting Arts Emergency, a grassroots organization that opens doors for underrepresented young people with artistic ambitions by connecting them to a network of creative professionals.<\/p>\n Also selling at or above their high estimates were works by established artists such as Lee Ufan<\/a> and Bridget Riley<\/a>; a Julian Schnabel<\/a> fetched \u00a3381,000 against a \u00a3120,000-180,000 estimate. By contrast, the highly anticipated Christo<\/a> study for wrapping the Arc de Triomphe failed to find a buyer at its \u00a3400,000-600,000 estimate, as did a drawing by Basquiat estimated at \u00a3300,000-500,000. A surprise came in the form of Beauford Delaney<\/a>\u2019s Portrait of a Young Man, which fetched \u00a3101,600 against an \u00a380,000 high estimate. The market for the American modernist has grown significantly over the past two decades as museums, collectors and scholars have reassessed his contribution to 20th-century art, particularly through recent surveys at the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Phillips<\/a> Collection.<\/p>\n Some once-very-hot contemporary names also performed above expectations, including an Anthony Cudahy<\/a> portrait, which doubled its high estimate, achieving \u00a312,065. But many works went unsold, particularly in that segment, including pieces by Alex Israel<\/a>, Semyon<\/a>, Jordan Casteel<\/a>, Julian Opie<\/a> and Gilbert & George<\/a> and, on the postwar side, Carl Andre<\/a> and Sheila Hicks<\/a>.<\/p>\n In total, the evening brought Christie\u2019s a combined \u00a325.7 million ($34 million)\u2014the first sale making \u00a315.5 million ($20.5 million) and the second \u00a310.2 million ($13.5 million), short of its $11.4-16 million estimate even after fees.<\/p>\n The Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art Evening & Afternoon Sale<\/a> on June 26 followed the same pattern: no fireworks, though Phillips was more diligent in securing sales and limiting unsold lots, with most works landing within estimates\u2014most toward the low end rather than the high. The sale brought in \u00a311,964,743 across its 90 lots, with 91 percent sold by value and an 84 percent sell-through rate, after four lots were withdrawn ahead of the sale. The priority bidding strategy is clearly still having an effect.<\/p>\n The top lot, the vibrant The Only One with Waves (1991), which David Hockney<\/a> painted during his time in California, sold just shy of its high estimate for \u00a32.4 million after fees, while the white Yayoi Kusama<\/a> INFINITY-NETS (MAE), from 2013, surpassed its high estimate, fetching \u00a31.5 million. Later in the sale, another 2019 Kusama, SPLENDOUR OF STARS CHANGING INTO BLUE, sold for \u00a3322,500.<\/p>\n Once-hot market stars who led evening sales during the fresh-paint speculation years\u2014particularly at Phillips, which built a market around them\u2014had more modest, or perhaps more reasonable, results. A 2024 painting by Jad\u00e9 Fadojutimi<\/a>, acquired by the seller from Gagosian<\/a>, squarely met its estimate, selling for \u00a3425,700 (est. \u00a3300,000-500,000), despite the artist\u2019s work having grown more institutionally grounded beyond market hype, with upcoming shows at the Hepworth Wakefield and the Liverpool Biennial. Meanwhile, Anna Weyant<\/a>\u2019s Chest reached its high estimate, selling for \u00a3206,400\u2014a satisfying result if one overlooks that the consignor acquired it in 2022 at Phillips Hong Kong for HK$4,158,000, approximately \u00a3401,300 at current conversion rates, nearly double the latest result: a clear sign of the artist\u2019s market adjustment.<\/p>\n There were exceptions among rising contemporary names that have become, and remain, inaccessible on the primary market. Francesca Mollett<\/a>\u2019s 2021 painting The Source fetched \u00a333,540 against its \u00a312,000-18,000 estimate, and a Rose Wylie painting\u2014originally acquired at UNION Gallery<\/a> by a Stockholm collection and commemorating Andy Murray\u2019s heroic performance in the 2015 Davis Cup final in Ghent\u2014rose to \u00a3167,700 against its \u00a360,000-80,000 estimate. With paintings already in major public collections including Tate in London, the Arts Council Collection and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Wylie became, earlier this year, the first British woman artist to occupy the Main Galleries for a solo retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.<\/p>\n Other surprises and new highs included Hsiao Chin<\/a>\u2019s energetically charged Inner Light (1966), which fetched \u00a3516,000, more than four times its \u00a380,000-120,000 estimate. The painting was acquired by the current consignor at Sotheby’s<\/a> Hong Kong in 2019 for HK$2,125,000, approximately \u00a3205,000 at current exchange rates. Another painting by Hsiao Chin, In the Depth of Darkness, sold at Bonhams Hong Kong<\/a> on May 31, 2026, for $600,100. The current record for the Chinese-Taiwanese artist stands at HK$7,600,000 (approximately $963,000), set in 2018 at Sotheby\u2019s for his 1964 masterwork La forza della meditazione.<\/p>\n Strong bidding also greeted a work by the highly sought-after Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain<\/a>, whose untitled canvas from 1970 achieved \u00a3412,800 against an \u00a3150,000-250,000 estimate. The consignor acquired it at Christie\u2019s Hong Kong in April 2002 for HK$260,000 (around \u00a325,114). A major inflection point in his market came with the $13.75 million result at Christie\u2019s New York on March 19, 2025, for his 1954 nearly 14-foot painting, offered with a $2.5-3.5 million estimate. Recent results at the Indian auction house Saffronart<\/a>\u2014such as Untitled (Benares), which sold for \u20b915.6 crore ($1.67 million) last April\u2014confirm sustained demand for large, rare canvases with strong Indian subject matter.<\/p>\n The sale opened with a 2023 painting by Scottish \u201cpainter-storyteller\u201d Andrew Cranston<\/a>, which hit its high estimate, selling for \u00a383,850 and setting a new record for the artist. Cranston has gained strong primary-market support in recent years through tastemaking galleries including Karma<\/a>, Modern Art and Ingleby<\/a>, where this canvas was acquired. Two further Cranstons later in the sale also exceeded their high estimates, selling for \u00a319,350 and \u00a333,540, respectively.<\/p>\n Tracey Emin\u2019s market also held firm, with her survey still on view at Tate Modern until the end of August. Coming as the second lot, her gesturally animated canvas I hated you \u2013 I hated you \u2013 I hated you sold close to its high estimate for \u00a3193,500. Acquired from White Cube, the piece was included in the artist\u2019s show at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay in Paris in 2019. One of her neons, More of You (2015), sold above estimate for \u00a361,920.<\/p>\n Other established names performed well. Donald Judd<\/a>\u2019s bisected aluminum box lined with glowing green Plexiglass reached its high estimate, selling for \u00a3528,900, while Katharina Grosse<\/a>\u2019s abstraction O.T. surpassed its estimate, selling for \u00a3258,000. Emily Kam Kngwarray<\/a>\u2019s vibrantly tactile My Country (1995) also surpassed its high estimate, selling for \u00a3103,200, her market fueled by the recent Tate survey. All Banksy<\/a> works exceeded their estimates, with Smiling Copper selling for \u00a3122,500 and the sculpture Bullet Hole Bust achieving \u00a3270,900.<\/p>\n Among the unsold lots were a Bridget Riley canvas, a sculpture by Thomas Houseago<\/a>, paintings by Stephanie Heinze<\/a> and Sterling Ruby<\/a>, and sculptures by Erwin Wurm<\/a> and Tatiana Trouv\u00e9.<\/p>\n![\"Philip](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Philip-Guston-Mirror-Head-1977.jpg\")
Philip Guston\u2019s Mirror Head led at Christie\u2019s, selling for \u00a33.9 million. CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2026<\/p>\n![\"Cecily](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Cecily-Brown-The-Haunter-2010.jpg\")
Cecily Brown\u2019s The Haunter sold for \u00a32.7 million. CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2026<\/p>\n![\"Anj](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Anj-Smith-Awake-from-Yesterday-2006-e1782500054178.jpg\")
Anj Smith\u2019s Awake from Yesterday from 2006 set a new record, selling for \u00a335,560. CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2026
\nA solid night for Phillips, with priority bidding securing buyers<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0803.jpeg\")
David Hockney\u2019s The Only One with Waves led the Phillips sale, selling for \u00a32.4 million. Courtesy Phillips<\/p>\n