Hong Kong’s Spring Auctions Rebound to $164.9 Million as Art Basel Week Returns
Hong Kong’s auction calendar has learned to move in lockstep with Art Basel. For the second year running, Christie’s, Phillips, and Sotheby’s scheduled their marquee spring evening sales to coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong, and the results suggest the alignment is becoming a reliable engine for demand.
Across the three houses’ modern and contemporary art evening auctions, the combined total reached $164.9 million. The figure represents a notable recovery from last autumn’s $136.3 million — the lowest combined result in eight years — and it also surpasses last spring’s comparable $139.9 million.
Christie’s set the pace on March 27, when its evening sale realized HK$655.7 million ($83.8 million). The auction coincided with the house’s 40th anniversary in Asia, and the catalog leaned into a tightly edited selection of modern works described as appearing on the market for the first time. (All prices include fees unless otherwise indicated.)
The top lot was German artist Gerhard Richter (b. 1932)’s “Abstraktes Bild,” offered with a third-party guarantee and sold for HK$92.1 million ($11.77 million). Close behind was Chinese artist Sanyu (1901–1966)’s “Cheval agenouillé sur un tapis (Kneeling Horse on Carpet),” which brought HK$63.94 million ($8.17 million) after what Christie’s described as active bidding across multiple telephone lines.
At a post-sale press conference, Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s newly appointed president of Asia Pacific, framed the evening as a confidence signal. “We were almost 120 per cent above our low estimate, which is a good sign of the market’s health — clients were bidding above estimates and actively chasing works at auction,” he said, pointing to participation from collectors across the region.
The sale also produced several artist records. Among them: “Blick Von Der Höhe (A View From the Heights),” a Balinese landscape by German artist Walter Spies (1895–1942), which achieved HK$59.06 million ($7.55 million). Another benchmark came from the Old Masters category, where Dutch painter Johannes Goedaert (1617–1668)’s “Flowers in a Chinese Porcelain Vase, with Butterflies and Other Insects” reached HK$10.1 million ($1.29 million). In contemporary art, a new high was set for German artist Lenz Geerk (b. 1988) when “Couple on a Fresco” sold for HK$2.1 million ($275,000).
Christie’s executives emphasized that the week’s crowded calendar makes attention itself a scarce commodity. “With at least five auctions taking place this week alongside Art Basel Hong Kong, it’s not easy to capture collectors’ attention,” said Erica Chang, deputy chairman of Christie’s Asia Pacific. She added that Spies, in particular, tends to arrive with built-in momentum: “But every time a work by Spies appears, it tends to reset the artist’s record.”
For Cristian Albu, Christie’s head of 20th- and 21st-century art, Asia-Pacific, the evening’s performance validated a longer-term shift toward a more curated approach. “For years, we have aimed to put together a sale that prioritizes quality over quantity,” he said. “I am gratified that the audience has finally appreciated and responded to that shift.” Christie’s trimmed the catalog to 37 lots, down from 41 the previous year, and still posted a 17 percent increase over its March 2025 evening sale total.
Sotheby’s followed on March 29 with an evening sale at the Maison at Landmark Chater, totaling HK$548.4 million ($70.3 million). The house maintained a 100 percent sell-through rate with last-minute withdrawals, including two works by Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi (b. 1964) and one by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929). Even so, the night’s narrative centered on a single trophy lot: American painter Joan Mitchell (1925–1992)’s “La Grande Vallée VII.”
The Mitchell sold to an online bidder for HK$129.1 million ($17.6 million), making it the top lot of the Asian season and setting a new high for the artist in the region. Sotheby’s also reported record prices for British-Singaporean sculptor Kim Lim (1936–1997), as well as Chinese artists Yang Fudong (b. 1971) and Fan Yang-tsung, and Japanese painter Kameda Bōsai.
Taken together, the week’s totals suggest that Hong Kong’s spring auctions are regaining some of their pre-slowdown rhythm — not through sheer volume, but through carefully positioned works that can still command attention amid the fair’s gravitational pull.
