{"id":272664,"date":"2025-09-26T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/?p=272664"},"modified":"2025-10-02T11:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:28:01","slug":"pablo-picasso-zao-wou-ki-david-hockney-claude-monet-lead-lavish-lineup-at-hong-kong-art-auctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/news\/pablo-picasso-zao-wou-ki-david-hockney-claude-monet-lead-lavish-lineup-at-hong-kong-art-auctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pablo Picasso, Zao Wou-Ki, David Hockney, Claude Monet Lead Lavish Lineup At Hong Kong Art Auctions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Buste de Femme” by Pablo Picasso (Christie’s) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s biggest auction houses host international art sales at their Hong Kong headquarters semiannually. As of this year, their springtime sales take place during Art Basel Hong Kong<\/a>. This fall, for the first time, Christie\u2019s, Sotheby\u2019s, and Phillips\u2014the big three houses\u2014are also holding their autumn modern and contemporary auctions this weekend, in the wake of Typhoon Ragasa. Art by top dogs like Andy Warhol, KAWS, Takashi Murakami and more are set to hit the block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, the Hong Kong fall auctions have offered temperature checks. Last year they were the first major art sales to happen after the American election. This year, they mark the art world\u2019s first sales after a summer rife with gallery closures. Yes, last week\u2019s Pauline Karpidas sale<\/a> broke records, but that was a special, once-in-a-lifetime type of sale. Last fall\u2019s Hong Kong results were lackluster, as were<\/a> this spring\u2019s. So, it will be interesting to see how this week goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Twelfth Painting” by David Hockney (Christie’s)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christie\u2019s kicks the party off with a 20th\/21st Century Evening Sale on Friday. Pablo Picasso\u2019s \u201cBust de femme\u201d (1944), immortalizing his muse Dora Maar, leads the rockstar lineup with an estimate of $11,060,488 to $13,632,695. The auction debut of Chinese-French abstractionist Zao Wou-Ki\u2019s 1963 painting \u201c17.3.63\u201d follows, with an estimate of $9,002,723 to $11,574,930. David Hockney<\/a>, Claude Monet, and Louis Vuitton collaborator Yayoi Kusama will also appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Christie\u2019s will host a 20th Century auction led by Hockney\u2019s \u201cThe Twelfth V.N. Painting \u201c (1992) (est. $1,929,155 – $2,572,206), which has never hit the block\u2014then a 21st Century auction, headlined by Kusama\u2019s acrylic painting \u201cPumpkin (C)” (1991) (est. $1,774,822 – $2,417,874). While the 20th Century auction has historic names like the Old Master J.M.W. Turner and self-taught Filipino-American Pacita Abad, almost all of its 79 lots are by dead artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Hung Down” by Loie Hollowell (Phillips) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By comparison, all but one of the 65 lots in their 21st Century sale were made by artists who are still evolving. That includes established legends like Alex Katz and George Condo (of Kanye West album cover fame) and ascendant hotshots like landscape painter Shara Hughes (who sold out her New York solo show this month) and sensual Danish painter Eva Helene Pade, the top outperformer<\/a> from Sotheby\u2019s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction in Hong Kong last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sotheby’s, meanwhile, is already getting warm by hosting a brooding, sex-positive group show titled \u201cEROS\/THANATANOS<\/a>.\u201d Guests must be 18 and older to see the spectacle, which they\u2019re calling a gesamkunstwerk<\/em>\u2014or total artwork. The show pairs a custom playlist<\/a> with haunting paintings like Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s \u201cThin in the old\u201d (1986) and evocative sculptures like a warped figure by Zeng Fanzhi, dubbed<\/a> \u201cone of China\u2019s most acclaimed\u2014and expensive\u2014living artists.\u201d All of the art is on sale, which means you could nab Jeff Koons\u2019s \u201cDirty – Jeff on Top\u201d (1991)\u2014a life-sized sculpture of the artist having sex with his first wife\u2014to spice up your living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Dirty” by Jeff Koons (Sotheby’s) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Sotheby\u2019s will host a Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, led by iconic Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Wait \u2018til the Night Comes\u201d (2012) (est. $8,359,671 to $10,931,878.) Fun fact, there\u2019s an entirely different painting under this work, proof that artists change their mind. And, worth noting, this piece sold for more than its current high estimate with Christie\u2019s in 2019<\/a>\u2014the same year that Christie\u2019s initiated their habitual fall Hong Kong auctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Zao Wou-Ki\u2019s \u201cPaysage vert\u201d (1950) could reign supreme in Sotheby\u2019s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction, with an estimate of $643,051 to $1,028,882. Down the ballot, rising names to look out for at this sale include dreamy Chinese “half-stractionist” Li Hei Dei (who set her auction record of $179,506 with Sotheby\u2019s in Hong Kong this March) and American artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase (who had a lovely pop-up show at Acne Studios in New York this May.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cCan\u2019t Wait \u2018til the Night Comes\u201d by Yoshitomo Nara (Sotheby’s)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Phillips is celebrating their 10-year anniversary in Asia. To celebrate, they\u2019re hosting a stocked evening event on Saturday and a larger daytime one on Sunday. Nara headlines the former, where \u201cPinky\u201d (2000) is expected to fetch $7,690,000 to $10,260,000 in its auction debut. Two impressive single-owner collections will also appear\u2014a cache of works by Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thu, and another collection of Zao Wou-Ki paintings, hidden from public view for 75 years. American-Japanese sculptor Ruth Asawa, who has a retrospective opening at New York\u2019s MoMA next month, will make her first Hong Kong auction appearance\u2014alongside rising talents like Chinese abstractionist Yuan Fang and American transcendentalist Loie Hollowell. The houses did their part sourcing hot artworks to sell. Now, let\u2019s see if the bidders will do theirs.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The “Big Three” auction houses\u2014Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christie’s\u2014are also selling pieces by Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and more.","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":272676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_comments":false,"tpd_coauthor":[],"tpd_feed_delay":{"delay_type":"default"},"is_tpd_lists_single_post":false,"tpd_featured_posts_arr":"","tpd_franchise_content":"","hide_featured_img_single_post":true,"msn_featured_video":[],"_msn_custom_title":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-09-26T09:00:09Z","apple_news_api_id":"6471b742-be09-40e6-a52a-c9daa60d7410","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-02T15:25:27Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AZHG3Qr4JQOalKsnapg10EA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"tpd_featured_video":[],"tpd_sponsored_post_logo":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_link":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_width":0,"tpd_sponsored_enable_nofollow":true,"tpd_disable_incontent_ads":false,"tpd_disable_right_rail_ads":false,"tpd_disable_after_content_ads":false,"tpd_disable_header_ads":false,"tpd_disable_sticky_footer_ads":false,"tpd_disable_video_ads":false,"tpd_disable_outbrain":false,"tpd_affiliate_disclaimer":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,24],"tags":[3351,130,384,2606,488,26,5171,7453,22276,24321,5,19755,19701,538,23095,24320],"coauthor":[],"feeds":[],"class_list":["post-272664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-entertainment","tag-andy-warhol","tag-art","tag-auctions","tag-christies","tag-collectibles","tag-entertainment","tag-hong-kong","tag-jeff-koons","tag-kaws","tag-loie-hollowell","tag-news","tag-pablo-picasso","tag-phillips","tag-sothebys","tag-takashi-murakami","tag-yoshitomo-nara"],"apple_news_notices":[],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Pablo-Picasso-bust-de-Femme-Promo-428x241.jpg","coauthors":[],"primary_category":{"term_id":75,"name":"News","slug":"news","taxonomy":"category","url":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/news\/"},"fimg_url_thumb":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Pablo-Picasso-bust-de-Femme-Promo-428x241.jpg","featured_img_medium":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Pablo-Picasso-bust-de-Femme-Promo-788x444.jpg","author_name":"Vittoria Benzine","author_avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_link":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/author\/vittoria-benzine\/","post_categories":["News"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272664"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273248,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272664\/revisions\/273248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272664"},{"taxonomy":"coauthor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthor?post=272664"},{"taxonomy":"feeds","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feeds?post=272664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}