Picasso’s ‘Buste de femme’ Leads the Hong Kong Auctions at HK$196.7 With Robust Results Across Houses

Led by the highly anticipated Picasso painting Buste de femme (1944), Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on Friday, September 26, in Hong Kong closed just shy of a white-glove result with an HK$565,649,000 ($73,038,183) total, giving a strong start to the season for the fall marquee evening sales, now beginning in Asia before moving to London and New York. Just days earlier, Hong Kong had been plunged into darkness by Typhoon Ragasa, one of the most powerful storms to hit the city in recent years, leaving residents without power and in fear for more than 30 hours. Yet the chaos did little to dampen buyers’ enthusiasm.

Phillips followed on September 27 with a white-glove auction (100 percent sold and 100 percent sold by value), generating HK$160 million ($20.5 million) across 20 lots offered in the evening sale. Sotheby’s then closed the first Asia chapter of the fall season, totaling HK$335,701,000 ($43,040,000) in its evening sale—a result comfortably within the presale estimate of HK$247.5-365.7 million ($31-47 million) and 13 percent higher than the April 2025 auctions. Looking more closely at the most notable results, they reveal quite a bit about the current state of the market in Asia and beyond, ahead of the busy October and November sales in London and New York.

With 92 percent of all lots sold, Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sale achieved a hammer total 116 percent above the low estimate. The headline Picasso—a painting of Dora Maar, one of his most coveted subjects—exceeded expectations after a tense 15-minute bidding battle, selling for HK$196,750,000 ($25,184,000) and more than doubling its HK$110 million high estimate. The result set a new auction record for Picasso in Asia and underscored how the recent blockbuster Picasso exhibition at M+, the largest in the region in decades, helped fuel demand for the artist’s work.

Fierce competition also greeted the evening’s second top lot, Zao Wou-Ki’s deep red 1963 canvas, which sold within estimate for HK$85,200,000 ($11,001,263). While many of the remaining works in the 38-lot sale cleared their low estimates, one stood out: a bright, saturated landscape by Italian artist Salvo, which sparked genuine excitement among regional buyers to fetch HK$5,080,000 against an estimate of HK$800,000-1,500,000. In recent years, Salvo has found particular favor with Asian collectors, curiously rediscovered through comparisons to contemporary artist Nicolas Party.

Other highlights included Picasso’s Nu assis appuyé sur des coussins (1964), which sold for HK$32,220,000 ($4,160,337); Claude Monet’s Printemps à Giverny, effet d’après-midi (1885), which sold for HK$37,100,000 against an estimate of HK$33,000,000-55,000,000; and a pumpkin painting by Yayoi Kusama, which realized HK$34,660,000 ($4,475,396). Lucy Bull’s kaleidoscopic abstraction 8:50 landed close to its high estimate at HK$4,699,000 (around $600,000), while Marc Chagall’s flower composition against a black backdrop nearly doubled its presale estimate at HK$15,140,000 ($1,937,000). Cézanne’s Fillette also performed strongly, fetching HK$8,255,000 against an estimate of HK$3,500,000-5,500,000.

“Strong bidding demonstrates our ability to price fairly, and works by Chinese, Southeast Asian, Korean and Japanese artists were all 100 percent sold,” noted Ada Tsui, head of the 20th/21st Century Evening Sale Asia Pacific, in a post-sale statement. Only three works failed to find buyers during the session: Adrian Ghenie’s Self-Portrait in Villa Borghese, a Bernard Buffet, and David Hockney’s double-canvas oil Table with Conversation.

The Hong Kong auctions continued throughout the day and online, bringing Christie’s by Monday, September 29, a combined total of HK$817,277,400 ($105,529,147). The sell-through rate by lot was 96 percent, and the average hammer price was 121 percent above the low estimate. The Day Sales alone saw a 97 percent sell-through by lot, with hammer results averaging 136 percent above the low estimate.

Notably, Christie’s also reported a significant presence of new and younger buyers driving results: 20 percent of participants in Hong Kong were new to the auction house, more than half of them Millennials. This younger crowd was reflected not only in the manga-inspired styles dominating the sale, but also in the strong prices for rising contemporary names, particularly those who recently had major—and often sold out—presentations in the region or abroad.

Among them was Emma McIntyre, who debuted her new representation with David Zwirner in Hong Kong during Art Basel earlier this year; her untitled abstraction sold for HK$381,000 ($48,800) against an estimate of HK$150,000-250,000. Joseph Yaeger’s small, textured painting of a boy climbed to HK$609,600 ($78,000) from an estimate of HK$100,000-200,000, building on the momentum after his sold-out show at Antenna Space in Shanghai and its current waiting list on primary. Yu Nishimura’s Fall, a suspended landscape from 2022, sold close to its high estimate at HK$444,500 ($56,900), well above the price the consignor likely paid at Crèvecœur just a few years ago, before the Japanese artist joined Zwirner’s roster this year. Korean artist Guimi You, now debuting her solo at Lehmann Maupin in New York and increasingly difficult to access on primary, also impressed: her Blue Studio fetched HK$304,800 ($39,000) against an estimate of HK$120,000-220,000, reflecting her steady rise since her 2021 Make Room show in L.A.

Also selling well above its estimate was Eva Helene Pade’s mystical painting, which soared to HK$533,400 against an estimate of HK$50,000-100,000. She recently appeared on Thaddaeus Ropac’s website after participating in a curated group show in London, a sign that collaboration may be on the horizon. Japanese artists tied to Kaikai Kiki or working in the manga-inspired aesthetic also posted strong results, including AYA TAKANO, Izumi Kato, Javier Calleja and the ever-present Takashi Murakami.

On the contemporary blue-chip side, Yoshitomo Nara’s puffy character Mumps (1993) sold for HK$10,160,000 ($1,311,888), while George Condo’s The Showgirl (2008) landed just above its high estimate at HK$9,525,000 ($1,229,895). A red-dot pumpkin painting from 1991 by Kusama exceeded its HK$18,800,000 high estimate, selling for HK$21,240,000. In the 20th-century segment of the Day Sales, Zao Wou-Ki’s Petit pont et l’eau coule (Small Bridge) from his Parisian period achieved HK$13,920,000 ($1,797,389). Another Hockney abstraction sold for HK$27,340,000 ($3,530,217), while Chagall’s dreamlike horseman composition brought HK$8,255,000 ($1,065,909).

Jacky Ho, Senior Vice President, deputy head of department, 20th and 21st Century Art, Christie’s Asia Pacific, confirmed “strong engagement from collectors globally in our sales, with Greater China leading the activity from across Asia, which shows the strength of this market. Our selection of works was strategically global in scope and embraced a rich variety of art from across Asia, which was very well received, with pieces by Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese and Korean artists all 100 percent sold.”

Strong results also came from Phillips’ Evening Sale on September 27, which marked the house’s 10th anniversary in Asia with its Hong Kong auctions. Across both the Evening and Day Sales, the total reached HK$217,721,163 ($27,977,169). The Hong Kong Evening Sale was also among the first in which Phillips tested its newly introduced Priority Bidding system, a buyer’s premium structure rewarding early participation with lower rates. The experiment paid off: of the 116 lots sold across the two sales, more than half (54 percent) went to buyers who placed priority bids before the auction began. Nearly two-thirds of the Evening Sale comprised fresh-to-market works; in a post-sale statement, Meiling Lee, head of Modern & Contemporary Art, Asia, said that, “in a more measured market, we have remained focused and adaptable—curating thoughtful sales and delivering solid results for our clients, culminating in a 100 percent sell-through rate.”

The evening’s leading lot was Yoshitomo Nara’s Pinky, which fetched HK$56 million ($7.2 million) after intense bidding, surpassing its high estimate of HK$55,000,000 with fees. Painted in 2000, shortly after Nara returned to Japan from his studies in Germany, the work epitomizes his synthesis of “cuteness” drawn from Japanese manga and anime with the psychological ambivalence and expressive intensity informed by German Neo-Expressionism. The result follows a milestone year for the artist, capped by his major retrospective at London’s Hayward Gallery, which closed in August after traveling from the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden. Another Nara work, Untitled (1990), sold just above the low estimate for HK$11,505,000 ($1,478,393), while in the Day Sale, his Kleine Taucherin auf der Wolke (1996) realized HK$1,677,000 ($215,495). A portfolio of 16 color Xerox works on paper also sold for HK$2,000,000.

Phillips’ Evening Sale opened strongly, with the first two lots beating expectations under competitive bidding. Hong Kong artist Firenze Lai’s work more than doubled its estimate to achieve HK$477,300, while Miriam Cahn continued her strong market moment in Asia: her dramatic and spiritually dense flüchtling, 17/18′ 12’02 sold for HK$1,290,000 against an estimate of HK$800,000-1,200,000.

Other top lots included Zao Wou-Ki’s monumental canvas 27.01.86 (1986), which sold for HK$29.8 million ($3.82 million), just shy of its low estimate, and Pablo Picasso’s drawing Femme nue allongée, which sold for 1.5 times its high estimate at HK$1,806,000. The drawing is one of five horizontal, monochrome works at the center of a distinctive collaboration between Picasso and British collector Douglas Cooper for sandblasted murals at his Château de Castille in southern France.

Two of Asia’s most internationally acclaimed female artists also performed well. Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Net (2017) sold within estimate for HK$12,725,000 ($1,635,163), while Ruth Asawa’s hanging reticular sculpture achieved HK$4,128,000 ($530,448), just above its high estimate and marking the artist’s Hong Kong auction debut. The result comes as her first extensive retrospective closed at SFMOMA and prepares to open at MoMA in New York on October 19, 2025, before traveling to the Guggenheim Bilbao (March 20 – September 13, 2026) and Fondation Beyeler (October 18, 2026 – January 24, 2027).

Phillips also set a new record for French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, who has become particularly strong among Asian collectors. His Black Tornado (2017), a twisted spiral of chrome-painted aluminum and steel, sold for HK$1,677,000 ($215,495) against an estimate of HK$1,000,000-2,000,000, surpassing his previous record of $152,400.

Other notable Evening Sale results included Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series 1999 No. 2 (1999), which achieved HK$10,285,000 ($1,321,623); Izumi Kato’s Untitled (2022), which sold above its low estimate for HK$2,193,000 ($281,801); and Hao Liang’s Butterfly City (2010), which underperformed below its low estimate at HK$2,838,000. Lucas Arruda’s Untitled (from the series Deserto-Modelo) (2013) exceeded expectations at HK$3,096,000 ($397,836), while Tom Wesselmann’s iconic Smoker #17 (1975) sold just above the low estimate at HK$13,945,000 ($1,791,933), the third highest result of the evening.

In the Day Sale, competitive bidding focused on Vietnamese modernist Mai Trung Thứ. Two works from 1971 exceeded or doubled their estimates, selling for HK$2,193,000 ($281,801) and HK$1,806,000 ($232,071). Her secondary market has surged in the past year, further underscored when her La calligraphie (1964) sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong the following day for HK$5.33 million ($685,600), more than twice its low estimate. The result reflects renewed global interest in Vietnamese modernism and artists tied to the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, as collectors and institutions increasingly embrace non-Western art histories and Southeast Asia gains momentum on the international art market

Sotheby’s Evening Sale on September 28 presented a strong mix of modern and contemporary works by in-demand artists, closing with 95 percent of the 40 lots sold and over a third exceeding their high estimates.

The sale opened with fireworks on the contemporary side. Li Hei Di’s There Was One Summer Returning Over and Over; There Was One Dawn I Grew Old Watching more than doubled its estimate to sell for HK$2,667,000 ($341,376), setting a new record for the rising artist, who joined Pace earlier this year (her previous record was $179,500 in March). Indonesian painter Christine Ay Tjoe also saw strong results: her 2020 work Space of Shoots sold for HK$2,413,000 ($308,864), three times its HK$600,000-800,000 estimate, after 13 bids drove the price up. Another canvas by Ay Tjoe from 2009 reached HK$6,223,000 ($799,000). Ay Tjoe recently had a debut presentation with White Cube in its New York space, further fueling her market moment: between July 2024 and June 2025, sixteen works sold across seven auction houses in four countries, generating a combined $7 million.

Headlining the evening was Yoshitomo Nara’s Can’t Wait ’til the Night Comes, one of the largest canvases from his “Children of the Night” series and among his most ambitious works. The piece sold just within estimate for HK$79,900,000 ($11.9 million) to a collector in Asia under a third-party guarantee and irrevocable bids. More heated action surrounded Nara’s Sprout, the Ambassador (2001), which exceeded its high estimate at HK$18,431,000 ($2,369,121) after a five-minute contest among four bidders, ultimately going to a Mainland Chinese collector. Other Japanese names also held strong: Takashi Murakami’s Flower Parent and Child achieved HK$12,575,000 ($1,616,390), while Kazuo Shiraga’s gestural abstraction realized HK$11,965,000 ($1,537,981).

Unusual and rare offerings also outperformed expectations. Banksy’s signed Vest, one of only three from his Gross Domestic Product homewares line, sold for HK$4,826,000 against an estimate of HK$2,200,000-3,200,000. The lower half of a Roman marble figure of Aphrodite (2nd century A.D.), acquired from Axel Vervoordt, achieved HK$2,540,000.

Roman sculpture also featured in Sotheby’s EROS/THANATOS – Gesamtkunstwerk II, the latest installment of its highly curated selling exhibitions theatrically staged in the new underground space in Central, which opened just a year ago. The preview and exhibition drew more than 15,000 visitors in the two weeks leading up to the sale, engaging audiences with a mix of modern and contemporary art, Old Masters, Chinese calligraphy, and rare manuscripts exploring themes of desire, transgression, and mortality. Among the highlights was a poetic work on paper by Louise Bourgeois, which set a new record for the artist in that medium, selling for HK$7,874,000 ($1,012,124) against an estimate of HK$6.2-8.2 million.

Another notable result worth mentioning—and watching—came from Lalan’s 1966 painting The Earth is Far Away, which realized HK$3,556,000 ($456,000), comfortably above its HK$1,400,000-2,400,000 estimate though still shy of her record $3,003,669 for La mère de nuage at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2024. Long overshadowed, Lalan is emerging as a rediscovered pivotal figure among 20th-century Chinese modernists—not only as a rare female voice but also as an innovator whose lyrical abstractions parallel those of her former husband, Zao Wou-Ki. The only Zao in this sale, a warm 2004 abstraction in pink and orange acquired directly from the artist, sold just above its low estimate at HK$10,745,000.

Five lots from the Collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein also sold, achieving a combined HK$46,369,000 ($5,960,271). Most other works landed within or slightly above estimate, with just two casualties: a Rashid Johnson collage that failed against an HK$3,000,000-4,000,000 estimate, and a piece by the lesser-known expressionist Affandi.

Sotheby’s continued its Hong Kong run with the Modern & Contemporary Day Sale, bringing the total to a combined HK$112,191,800 ($14,421,134), closing comfortably within the auction house’s expectations. The session set a new Asia record for Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzù, whose Emy sulla sedia surpassed its high estimate at HK$508,000 ($65,298). The top lot, Lee Ufan’s Response, exceeded its high estimate of HK$6,604,000 ($848,878) after a competitive four-bidder contest. All five Zao Wou-Ki works sold within or above estimate, including Ships, which soared to HK$1,587,500 ($204,057) after 30 bids drove it far beyond its HK$180,000-300,000 range. The sale also marked Jaume Plensa’s auction debut in Asia, with one of his instantly recognizable Alabaster Heads reaching HK$2,540,000 ($326,492) after 16 consecutive bids, tripling its HK$700,000-1,000,000 estimate.

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Picasso’s ‘Buste de femme’ Leads the Hong Kong Auctions at HK$196.7 With Robust Results Across Houses

More in Auctions

Sports Art Has Carved a Market Niche But Rarely Makes It into the Museum Canon

Will Trophy Estates Jolt an Auction Market on the Rocks This November?

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How Third-Party Guarantees Are Quietly (But Significantly) Rewriting the Rules of the Art Auction

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