With €137.6 million, Christie’s Paris week sets a record for the 20th/21st Century category in France. Added to London, it brings the October season to €474 million, ahead of Christie’s sales in New York in November.
Christie’s France brought together €137.6 million ($154.5 million, £115.8 million) across its four 20th/21st Century sales of the Paris week. The total is up 46% year on year and is the Maison’s best result in France in this category. Christie’s France had not seen a comparable week of sales since the Yves Saint Laurent sale, in 2009.
Combined with London, the result of the thirteen sales reaches €473.9 million, 67% more than in 2025. In Paris, more than 1,000 bidders from 59 countries took part, and half of the lots were sold above their high estimate. Between London and Paris, fifteen artists achieved a new record.
The week opened with the Durand-Ruel sale: Generations of Vision, which totalled more than €41 million with 100% of lots sold. This private collection is the most important in the 20th/21st Century category ever sold by Christie’s in Paris. Bord des falaises à Pourville by Claude Monet, kept by the Durand-Ruel family for more than a hundred and forty years, led the sale at €12,785,000.
Two French records followed: Jeunes filles au bord de la mer by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sold for €5,839,000, and Un Verger by Alfred Sisley, at €3,704,000.
The 20th/21st Century: Paris Evening Sale, including Thinking Italian achieved €66,014,000, with 91% of lots sold. The Thinking Italian section, which was celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, accounts for €26,464,200 of it. Concetto Spaziale, Mezzogiorno in Piazza S. Marco by Lucio Fontana reached €6,815,000, ahead of Minoutcha by Amedeo Modigliani, sold for €6,205,000. On the contemporary side, Ode to Love by Jeff Koons set a French record at €3,155,000.
The day sales of 23 October extended the momentum. Modern Art totalled €17,927,296, with 86% of lots sold, driven by several results for Renoir and Picasso and by works from the Marlene and Spencer Hays collection. Contemporary Art, which notably brought together works from the Antonio Homem Sonnabend collection, achieved €11,985,920, with 85% of lots sold.
New York closes the season in November
The 20th/21st Century series ends in New York, from 17 to 20 November, with the Fall Marquee Week. Betonte Ecken by Wassily Kandinsky, dated 1922-1923, is estimated there at $60 to $80 million. Untitled (Leonardo and His Five Grotesque Heads), a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat made in 1983, is estimated there at around $30 million. The Heroes and Lovers collection, whose overall estimate stands at around $100 million, will be presented the same week.
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