Christie’s has officially set the tone for the autumn art market, kicking off Frieze Week in London on October 14 with a display of market resilience and historical significance. The auction house achieved a combined total of £218.6 million ($287.5 million) across its evening sessions, marking its most successful slate of autumn sales in London this decade. This performance, characterized by back-to-back auctions at the King Street headquarters, saw a dramatic rebound compared to the previous year, with revenues surging by over 103 percent against the October 2025 results.
The evening was defined by two distinct yet complementary events: the highly anticipated sale of Monsoon: The Peter Simon Collection and the broader 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. Together, these auctions provided a comprehensive look at the health of the high-end art market, with the evening’s crowning achievement being the sale of Wassily Kandinsky’s 1907 masterpiece, Das bunte Leben (The Colorful Life), which fetched £31.6 million ($41.5 million).
The momentum generated by Christie’s was notable when compared to its primary rival, Sotheby’s, which held its own Contemporary Evening Auction the following night. Christie’s evening totals stood at more than four and a half times the £46.0 million ($61.0 million) realized by Sotheby’s, underscoring a significant shift in the competitive landscape for this year’s Frieze season. Across the two sales, seven new artist records were established, with four of those benchmarks set for female artists, highlighting a diversifying collector interest in both historical and contemporary spheres.
A Fashion Founder’s Vision: The Monsoon Collection
The night began with the offering of the private collection of Peter Simon, the British retail mogul who founded the iconic brand Monsoon in 1973. Simon, an avid collector for over four decades, curated an assemblage that Christie’s described as a testament to his adventurous spirit and sophisticated eye for color. The origins of this collection are deeply rooted in Simon’s formative years, specifically a transformative road trip he took as a young man from London to Rajasthan. The vibrant textiles, intricate patterns, and local fashions he encountered throughout Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan became the aesthetic bedrock of his Monsoon retail empire, and that same sensibility informed his acquisition strategy in the art world.
Reflecting on the decision to part with such a significant portion of his life’s work, Simon remarked that it gave him “great pleasure to now offer part of my collection to others, freeing my mind and my walls to start in a new direction.”
The results of the single-owner sale were exceptional. The collection, which was heavily guaranteed, carried a presale estimate of £78.7 to 115.1 million ($103.5 to 151.3 million). It ultimately sold 40 of its 41 lots for a total of £107.5 million ($141.4 million). In terms of market performance, this stood as the most lucrative single-owner collection ever sold at Christie’s London. With a 98 percent sell-through rate by lot and 99 percent by value, the auction signaled strong buyer confidence, with 43 percent of the lots successfully exceeding their high presale estimates. The only work to remain unsold was Frank Auerbach’s 1967 portrait, Head of Miss Steinberg.
The highlight of the Monsoon collection was undoubtedly Francis Bacon’s 1978 oil and pastel work, Figure in Movement. Simon had acquired the canvas in 2006 from the dealer Ivor Braka. The work belongs to a poignant series Bacon produced in the wake of the tragic death of his partner, George Dyer, and it carries a prestigious exhibition history, having been featured in the Tate Gallery’s seminal 1985 Bacon retrospective. Under the gavel of Christie’s Chief Auctioneer Adrien Meyer, the work realized £14.5 million ($19.1 million), landing just above the lower end of its £14 to 18 million estimate.
Broadening Horizons: Records and Benchmarks
While the marquee names drew significant attention, the evening’s most dynamic bidding occurred deeper in the catalogue, where several under-represented or historical figures saw their market positions transformed.
Ljubov Popova, the visionary Russian Cubo-Futurist who passed away at the young age of 35, saw her 1918 work, Painterly Architectonic, become a focal point of the evening. After an intense, eight-minute bidding war, the work achieved £7.6 million ($10.0 million), more than four times its low estimate of £1.8 million. Similarly, Bridget Riley’s Streak 2 (1979)—a painting with a provenance that includes the renowned Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection—reached £5.2 million ($6.9 million).
David Bomberg also enjoyed a landmark moment when his 1929 painting San Miguel, Toledo, Afternoon soared to £3.3 million ($4.3 million), nearly tripling its high estimate and more than doubling the artist’s previous auction record. Other notable benchmarks were achieved by Barbara Hepworth, whose The Hands and the Arm (1948) set a record for her paintings at £537,600 ($706,968), and the Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera, who realized £307,200 ($403,982). Additionally, Hurvin Anderson’s Last House (2013), which had been displayed at Tate Britain only weeks prior to the auction, fetched £5.7 million ($7.5 million), nearly triple its low estimate.
Kandinsky’s Masterpiece Takes Center Stage
As the final lot of the Monsoon collection found a buyer, the atmosphere in the room shifted for the transition into the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. This session, featuring 51 catalogued lots with a combined presale estimate of £88.5 to 128.9 million ($116.4 to 169.5 million), served as the anchor for the week. Despite five withdrawals, including works by high-profile artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Louise Bourgeois, and Paula Rego, the auction maintained strong momentum. Of the 46 remaining lots, 39 sold, representing a solid 84.8 percent sell-through rate and generating £111.1 million ($146.1 million).
The undeniable highlight of the entire Frieze Week was the sale of Wassily Kandinsky’s Das bunte Leben (1907). The painting, a vivid panorama of Russian folklore featuring pilgrims, lovers, and a funeral procession, dates back to the pivotal year Kandinsky spent in Paris with Gabriele Münter. The work possesses a complex and harrowing history: it was sold in occupied Amsterdam in 1940 and subsequently spent nearly five decades on loan to the Lenbachhaus in Munich. Following its restitution in June 2023 to the heirs of German-Jewish collector Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann, the work made its highly anticipated return to the market. Estimated at £18 to 25 million ($23.7 to 32.9 million), it hammered at £27 million ($35.5 million), ultimately selling for £31.6 million ($41.5 million) to a telephone client represented by Maria Los, Christie’s head of client advisory for the Americas.
The evening also saw the debut of Piet Mondrian’s Composition III (Komposition No. XIII) (1920) at auction. The work realized £25.2 million ($33.2 million), comfortably within its £20 to 30 million estimate. Given that Mondrian completed only eight paintings in 1920—five of which are held by major institutions such as the Tate, MoMA, and the Stedelijk—this was a rare opportunity for private collectors. Additionally, David Hockney’s Dog Painting 17 (1995), an intimate portrait of his dachshund Stanley, saw competitive bidding from four parties, eventually selling for £3.5 million ($4.6 million), well above its £1.5 to 2.5 million estimate.
Not every lot succeeded, however. Andy Warhol’s 5 Deaths Twice II (1963) fell short of its expectations, selling for £4.4 million ($5.7 million) against a £6 to 8 million estimate, while Cy Twombly’s Untitled (1971) failed to reach its reserve and was bought in.
The evening concluded with further record-setting moments, including Igshaan Adams’s The certainty of being a rose (ii) (2026), which realized £96,000 ($126,244) to benefit Artists for Climate Action, and a record for a Gerhard Richter tapestry, with Abdu (2009) fetching £1.2 million ($1.5 million). With the conclusion of the day sales, which added an additional £34.1 million to the house’s tally, Christie’s finished its five-sale London run with a grand total of £252.7 million ($332.8 million). The auction house now looks forward to continuing its autumn momentum with the Modern British and Irish Art Evening Sale, featuring Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Eos), and forthcoming sessions in Paris.
