AUCTION PREMIERE | London Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction | Sotheby's

Why It Matters

The auction’s robust results reaffirm London’s role as a premier hub for high‑value modern art, while the funding model supports the next generation of artists through the Royal Academy’s tuition‑free postgraduate initiative.

Key Takeaways

• Sotheby's London auction opens 2026 with strong modern, contemporary works
• Highlights include Lewis collection School of London and Hockney landscape debut
• Buyer’s premium tiered: 28% up to £1.5m, 22% to £6m, 15% above
• Warhol pieces fetched £450k–£2.55m, indicating robust demand among collectors
• Proceeds support Royal Academy’s tuition‑free postgraduate program and public initiatives

Summary

Sotheby’s kicked off its 2026 London modern and contemporary evening auction on March ... in partnership with Sabby’s International Realty, marking the start of a busy auction calendar and setting the tone for the year’s global art market.

The catalogue featured a quartet from the Lewis collection, David Hockney’s first English landscape, a monumental Barbara Hepworth sculpture, Bridget Riley’s late curve series, and Glenn Brown’s sole self‑portrait. Works from the Royal Academy, a German avant‑garde collection anchored by Luchia Fontana, and a private modernist selection including a Monet garden and a Fernand Léger machine‑age piece were also on view.

During the live sale, bidders pushed Joseph Albers’ color‑theory canvas to £650,000, Warhol’s small‑dollar‑sign work sold for £450,000, and his iconic Flowers fetched £1.4 million. The Warhol reversal series climbed to £2.55 million, while a Barbara Hepworth sculpture settled at £750,000. Sotheby’s announced a tiered buyer’s premium—28 % up to £1.5 million, 22 % to £6 million, and 15 % beyond.

The strong prices underscore continued appetite for post‑war modernism and marquee contemporary names, bolstering confidence in the European market ahead of the summer season. Proceeds will fund the Royal Academy’s tuition‑free postgraduate programme, linking commercial success to public‑sector art education.

Original Description

Join us from our London sale room to watch the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, presented by Sotheby's International Realty. Beginning with the trailblazing innovations of Impressionists, the sale spans the birth of Modernism through to the evolution of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, continuing into the 21st century with examples by many of today's most influential and celebrated artists. Watch as works by Monet, Degas, Fontana, Warhol, Freud, Bacon, Magritte and more come under the hammer.

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