A masterful tableau by American painter Joan Mitchell sold for HK$137.4 million ($17.6 million) at Sotheby’s modern and contemporary evening sale in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 29. The sale marks the top lot sold across the Hong Kong spring auctions in Hong Kong at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips, and is the most expensive work by a woman artist sold at auction in Asia. All prices include fees.
The painting, La Grande Vallée VII (1983), sold a few hairs above its low estimate of HK$110 million ($14.3 million) to an online bidder. It last sold at Christie’s in New York in July 2020 for $14.5 million, just below its high estimate of $15 million.
La Grande Vallée VII is a part of the artist’s series of the same name; a suite of 21 works executed in breathtaking succession between 1983 and 1984. Mitchell’s “Grande Vallée” series is considered one of her most celebrated bodies of work. It was produced at the apex of her career and is indicative of her signature style, which is marked by short, frenetic brush strokes and vivid hues. Mitchell made the works in response to memories a friend’s cousin relayed to her shortly before their death of a childhood spent in the idyllic French countryside. The artist had also lost her own sister recently before, and thus painted what she conceived of as a grand, sunlit valley that would allow for joy and grief to intertwine with rich color.
March 2026 marked the first time that Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips aligned their auction calendars in Hong Kong, which all took place during Hong Kong Art Week. At Christie’s, their spring 20th/21st century spring auctions realized a total of HK$886.9 million ($113.4 million), and a 100 percent sell-through rate. Top lots of that sale include Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1991), which sold for HK$92.1 million ($11.8 million), and Cheval agenouillé sur un tapis (circa 1950s–60s) by Sanyu (Changyu), which more than doubled its low estimate and sold for HK$63.9 million ($8.2 million).
Meanwhile, a world auction record was achieved for the late German painter Walter Spies, whose Blick von der höhe (A view from the heights) (1934), sold for HK$59.06 million ($7.5 million).
At Phillip’s, their evening and modern & contemporary art sales totaled HK$88.6 million ($11.3 million), which was 30% above the sales’ total high estimate. Top lots from their spring auctions include Liu Dan’s Dictionary (2011), which set a new auction record for the artist and sold for HK$11.5 million ($1.5 million); Bloodline Series – Father and Daughter (2005), by Zhang Xiaogang, which sold for HK$6.7 million ($856,612); and Yayoi Kusama’s Sunset Afterglow inside My Heart (2020), which sold for HK$6.5 million ($823,665).
Following Mitchell’s La Grande Vallée VII, the most expensive lots across the three sales overall are as follows:
- Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1991) sold for HK$92.1 million ($11.8 million) at Christie’s.
- Mark Rothko’s No. 10 (1949) sold for HK$66.8 million ($8.5 million) at Sotheby’s.
- Sanyu (Changyu)’s Cheval agenouillé sur un tapis (circa 1950s–60s) sold for HK$63.9 million ($8.2 million) at Christie’s.
- Walter Spies’s Blick von der höhe (A view from the heights) (1934) sold for HK$59.06 million ($7.5 million) at Christie’s.
- Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (2015) sold for HK$49.7 million ($6.34 million) at Sotheby’s.
