Auction Watch: Phillips Hammers £12.2 Million 13% Above Last Years Sale

Phillips' Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale delivered a mixed performance, hammering 34% below its low presale estimate. While auction results often surpass the low estimate once fees are factored in, even with fees, the sale still fell 15% short of expectations. Despite this, the auction house had no apparent difficulty securing consignments, offering 29 lots - the same amount as last year's sale and only ten fewer than Sotheby’s. The average estimate of works saw a significant 40% increase compared to the previous year. However, buyer response to higher-value offerings remained subdued - mirroring trends seen at Sotheby’s and Christie’s - with over half of the lots (54%) selling below estimate or going unsold. Only two lots exceeded expectations, and notably, these were the lowest-valued pieces in the sale (£20,000–£35,000). This reinforces a broader trend observed across both prints and originals at live auctions early in the sales calendar, where lower-valued works continue to attract the most competitive bidding. Despite these challenges, the sale still outperformed last year’s hammer total by 13%, marking a positive start for Phillips’ first major auction of the year.

Here are the results:

Basquiat Performs With Two Works At Phillips

Women artists had a notable presence across the March London auctions, a fitting highlight in the lead-up to International Women’s Day. Leading Phillips’ evening sale was Joan Mitchell’s triptych Canada II (1975), the highest-estimated lot at £3-5 million. While positioned as the star lot, the painting hammered below expectations at £2 million, ultimately achieving £2.7 million with fees.

Jean-Michel Basquiat also saw strong results, with Pattaya (1984) making its auction debut. This seascape - once part of Andy Warhol’s personal collection - features a boat floating on deep blue waters beneath an orange sky, framed by loosely drawn architectural lines. The work hammered at £1.35 million, reaching £1.68 million with fees. Another standout Basquiat piece, an Untitled (1982) drawing on paper, exemplifying his signature raw, expressive figuration, met expectations. Hammering 20% above its low estimate at £480,000, it achieved £609,600 with fees - nearly doubling its last auction result in 2018.

Kusama’s Yellow Pumpkin Achieves Over £600,000

Two works by Yayoi Kusama were featured in the sale, delivering mixed results. INFINITY-NETS [APPGF] (2017) fell short of expectations, hammering at £600,000 - 14% below its low estimate - before achieving £762,000 with fees. In contrast, Pumpkin (2006), a classic yellow depiction in a horizontal format, performed more steadily. The piece met expectations, hammering at £500,000, squarely within estimates, and achieving £635,000 with fees.

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Banksy and Christopher Wool Deliver Strong Results

Banksy’s Kids On Guns (2004), an editioned canvas of 25, saw a strong performance in its second auction appearance. Originally sold in 2007 for £102,500, the work hammered at three times that amount, achieving £508,000 with fees. While there has been ongoing discussion about a softening in Banksy’s market, high-value works continue to command strong prices - this result landing second to the auction record for this spray-painted edition set in 2022.

Also performing well was Christopher Wool’s Untitled (1997), featuring the words “YOU MAKE ME” stenciled on aluminum. Making its auction debut, the work exceeded expectations, hammering at £730,000 and achieving £927,100 with fees - surpassing its £800,000 high estimate.

For a deeper dive into the results, explore our full auction reports covering Christie’s and Sotheby’s sales.