From Schiele to Banksy: What to Watch at the London Spring Sales

The auction market’s first major test of the year arrives this week in the form of London’s mid-season sales. Sotheby’s kicks its London Sales series off on Tuesday, March 4, with its Marquee Evening Sale, followed by Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on Wednesday, March 5, and Phillips’ Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Thursday, March 6. The auctions take place at a moment when the British pound sterling has surged to its highest level in months, bolstered by stronger-than-expected economic growth in the U.K. Meanwhile, concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have nudged investor confidence further toward Britain.

March’s top lots range from a standout work by Egon Schiele, Knabe in Matrosenanzug (Boy in a Sailor Suit), with a high estimate of £1.5 million in Christie’s 20th/21st Century auction to Banksy’s Crude Oil (Vettriano), consigned from the collection of blink-182 founding member Mark Hoppus, with a high estimate of £5 million. Observer has identified several other lots to watch next week, whether for their exceptional quality, rarity or significance in marking pivotal moments in an artist’s market and career.

Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Man with Glasses III at Christie’s

One of the most closely watched lots of the Christie's Evening Sale will be Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Man with Glasses III (estimate: £6-9 million), which comes to auction fresh from its inclusion in the National Portrait Gallery’s major Bacon exhibition that closed in January. Coming from a significant private British collection, the work has been described as a cornerstone of a pivotal moment in the artist’s career and has been extensively exhibited worldwide. Featured in seventeen major international retrospectives in addition to the recent London survey, it also served as the cover image for the catalog of “Francis Bacon/Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone” at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 2013.

The painting’s deeply expressive composition presents a man’s face in a state of violent disintegration, with bold, visceral brushstrokes emerging from the darkness of its background. Bacon’s technique leaves raw portions of canvas exposed, playing against the work’s epidermal texture. The rough, gestural application of skin-like color, agitating in thick impasto, heightens the psychological intensity of this tormented figure, exemplifying Bacon’s relentless exploration of the human condition—torn between the harrowing tensions of the psyche and the instinct to escape repressive societal constraints.

“The painting embodies all of the complex brilliance of the artist who once declared his passion for the mouth and his desire to paint it as Monet had mastered the sunset,” Katharine Arnold, Christie’s Vice Chairman 20th/21st Century Art and Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Europe, told members of the press. “From his screaming Popes and howling animals to the enigmatic grins of his cast of friends, the mouth was not only the source of the existential scream but the site of sensuality, laughter and conversation.”

Notably, Portrait of Man with Glasses III was painted in 1963, a year marked by two major milestones in Bacon’s career—his first museum retrospective at Tate London, which opened in late 1962, and his first major U.S. exhibition at the Guggenheim at the end of 1963. Last May, Francis Bacon’s 1966 portrait of his lover sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $27.73 million.

Banksy’s Crude Oil (Vettriano) at Sotheby’s

As mentioned above, Sotheby’s is auctioning a seminal Banksy work, Crude Oil (Vettriano), from the collection of blink-182 founding member Mark Hoppus. The painting is returning to the market after years with a striking estimate of £3-5 million—it originally debuted in Banksy’s groundbreaking 2005 exhibition “Crude Oils: A Gallery of Remixed Masterpieces, Vandalism and Vermin,” where the artist took direct aim at British pop culture’s commercialization of art. This particular work reinterprets Jack Vettriano’s The Singing Butler (1992), a romanticized image of a couple dancing on a windswept beach, serenaded by a butler—a scene that has since become a staple of mass-market reproductions in the U.K.

Banksy disrupts the idyllic moment with his signature brand of social critique, injecting symbols of environmental collapse and economic disparity. Behind the couple, a sinking oil liner looms in the distance, while two men in hazmat suits wheel a barrel of toxic waste. A well-dressed financier, seemingly fresh from Bond Street, stands nearby with an umbrella, as if futilely shielding the couple from disaster. “We loved this painting since the moment we saw it. Unmistakably Banksy, but different. We bought it because we loved it. It’s borne witness to our family over these past dozen years. It hung over the table in London where we ate breakfast, and our son did his homework,” Hoppus said in a statement. He and his wife plan to use part of the sale’s proceeds to expand their collection, support emerging artists and contribute to charitable causes close to their hearts.

Joan Mitchell’s Canada II at Phillips

A three-meter-long triptych by Joan Mitchell is set to lead Phillips’s Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale with a high estimate of £5 million. Mitchell’s expansive Canada II is distinguished by a muted, introspective palette dominated by brown and gray brushstrokes that swirl across the canvas in a lyrical yet turbulent composition. Bold strokes of black and brown contrast against a textured white and beige background, creating a rhythmic interplay that evokes both autumnal landscapes and the cyclical shifts of nature as they transition into winter.

Executed in 1975, the work belongs to a period of significant critical and creative evolution for Mitchell, following her breakthrough solo exhibition at the Whitney the previous year and preceding her first show with dealer Xavier Fourcade, who originally sold this painting. The Canada series reflects the artist’s fast-shifting impressions of the cold, drawn from various trips with her longtime partner Jean-Paul Riopelle to his native Canada, layered with memories of winters spent in the Midwest. Notably, Canada II is the second in a numbered series of five works that translate Mitchell’s visceral responses to the physical sensations, embodied memories, and emotional resonance of the Canadian landscape. Another painting from the series, Canada I, is held in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim in New York. The present owner acquired Canada II on the secondary market from Kohn Gallery in 2018.

Amadeo Modigliani’s Portrait de Lunia Czechowska at Christie’s

Christie’s will also auction a striking portrait by Amedeo Modigliani, painted circa 1917-1918, Portrait de Lunia Czechowska. The subject, Lunia Czechowska, was one of Modigliani’s dearest friends—a Polish expatriate, the daughter of a persecuted patriot and the wife of Kazimierz Czechowski, a childhood friend of Léopold Zborowski, the artist’s longtime dealer. The painting elegantly weaves together a series of historical references, drawing from the Mannerist elongation of necks and feminine forms seen in Parmigianino, while the thick impasto and vivid red hues imbue her body and garments with the physical intensity reminiscent of Titian.

Czechowska was a favored subject of Modigliani’s between 1916 and 1918. She captivated the artist with her ethereal features and enigmatic presence. He reportedly pursued a romantic relationship with her, though it never materialized. “I was always the mysterious woman to him,” she told William Fifield in a 1970 interview. “The Sphinx, Cleopatra, there were things he did not know.” But the two remained close even after Modigliani met Jeanne Hébuterne, his young muse and the future mother of his child, in 1917.

Over the past year, Modigliani’s market has shown steady demand, with sales totaling $1,043,415 across five lots. In October 2023, Sotheby’s auctioned a similar portrait, Paulette Jourdain, which realized $34.8 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Now coming to auction at Christie’s, Portrait de Lunia Czechowska has already been secured by a third-party guarantee.

Yoshitomo Nara’s Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky Lake)  at Sotheby’s

Timed to Yoshitomo Nara’s major survey, which debuted at LACMA before traveling to the Guggenheim in Bilbao and now the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, Sotheby’s is offering a quintessential work in its Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction. Featuring one of Nara’s signature young female protagonists, Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky Lake) from 2005 encapsulates both the cuteness and innocence that define his oeuvre while marking a pivotal moment in his artistic evolution. Created during a transitional period when Nara moved beyond the flat, manga-inspired figures of his early career toward more soulful and psychologically complex subjects, the work is distinguished by the girl’s shimmering eye, which appears to hold an entire world within it. For Nara, the eyes serve as a bridge between inner and outer realms, fostering a deeper sense of empathy between the viewer and the subject.

Nara’s “rainbow” or “starry” eyes first emerged in his practice in 2004, making this work one of the earliest examples. Of the seven large-scale “big-headed girl” paintings he created between 2004 and 2005, more than half are already held in museum collections, further underscoring the significance of Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky Lake). As the highest-value lot in Sotheby’s March 4 sale, the painting carries a pre-sale low estimate of $6 million and is backed by both a guarantee and an irrevocable bid. Last April, Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold a similar 2017 painting, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, for 95,959,000 HKD (approximately $12.4 million). However, Nara’s market has softened since its peak in 2021, with a 32 percent decline in 2024 compared to the previous year. This sale will serve as a test of whether the momentum of his major retrospective can reinvigorate demand.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Pattya at Phillips

One of the most anticipated highlights of Phillips’ evening sale is a rare meditative drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pattya, created in 1984 at the height of his meteoric rise. His ascent had begun in 1982 with his debut at Annina Nosei in New York, quickly followed by solo shows with Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles and Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich, culminating in his inclusion in Documenta 7 in Kassel that same year as the youngest participating artist. Unlike his more frenetic compositions, this drawing offers a rare window into a moment of tranquility—an introspective pause from the whirlwind of fame and global recognition he had achieved in just a few years. It reflects Basquiat’s need to process the relentless pace of his new life, filled with international travel, celebrity encounters, and artistic breakthroughs.

The work was directly inspired by a transformative trip through Japan and Thailand before Basquiat landed in the glamorous Swiss ski resort of St. Moritz with his close collaborator Lee Jaffe, an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and photographer who had also been a member of Bob Marley’s band in the mid-1970s. Jaffe’s photographs of Thailand appear to have influenced Pattya, capturing a serene seaside landscape infused with a subtle undercurrent of unease. Even in this seemingly idyllic setting, Basquiat conveys a sense of precarity and psychological restlessness, his signature raw energy still present in the fragile tension of the composition.

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Offered at auction for the first time with an estimate of £2-3 million, Pattya was previously held in the personal collection of Basquiat’s friend and collaborator Andy Warhol. The work was featured in the seminal 2013 exhibition “Jean-Michel Basquiat” at Gagosian in Hong Kong, the first solo presentation of his paintings in the region. Basquiat’s market remained strong throughout 2024, with notable results across both works on paper and paintings—just last May, Phillips achieved $46,479,000 for his Untitled (ELMAR) from 1982. However, Phillips later failed to place his Self-Portrait triptych, which carried a $15 million high estimate, in its November sale. That same auction season, Christie’s set a new record for the artist’s works on paper when an untitled portrait fetched $23 million. The Christie’s drawing, also from the 1980s, measured over five feet tall, featured a more elaborate use of color and line, and, most significantly, was included in Basquiat’s major retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2019. Against this backdrop, the sale of Pattya will be a key test for Basquiat’s works on paper in the current market.

Egon Schiele’s Knabe in Matrosenanzug (Boy in a Sailor Suit) at Christie’s

Another major highlight of Christie’s marquee evening sale is a rare and historically significant work on paper by Egon Schiele, Knabe in Matrosenanzug (Boy in a Sailor Suit), depicting a young boy dressed as a sailor. This seminal piece comes to auction as part of a restitution agreement, having previously belonged to Fritz Grünbaum, the celebrated cabaret performer, writer, and actor who was an outspoken opponent of Nazism. Grünbaum assembled a prestigious collection of 400 works spanning Old Masters and contemporary artists of his time, including more than eighty pieces by Schiele. Following Austria’s annexation to the Reich in 1938, the Nazis seized his collection, and both Grünbaum and his wife perished in concentration camps.

Offered with a high estimate of £1.5 million, the work is priced in line with secondary market sales at major fairs like TEFAF and auction results in recent years. However, this gouache stands out for its remarkably vibrant use of color and expressive lines, setting it apart from many comparably priced works. A similar Schiele watercolor from 1914, Friederike Beer in gestreiftem Kleid mit erhobenen Armen (Friederike Beer in Striped Dress with Raised Arms), sold at Galerie Kornfeld Auktionen AG in Austria for a hammer price of $1,945,411, while a double-sided work from 1910, featuring a portrait on the front and two female nudes with drapery on the back, achieved $2.23 million at Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Works on Paper Sale in New York on November 11, 2023.

Proceeds from the sale will support the Grünbaum Fischer Foundation’s mission to uplift performing artists, with a portion also benefiting the children’s charity project “Kinderoase.”

Three rare works by Paul Delvaux at Christie’s

The market for Surrealist art has been on a steady rise over the past two to three years, bolstered by major museum exhibitions such as the expansive “Surréalisme,” which celebrated the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s First Surrealist Manifesto. The exhibition, which recently closed at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, will next travel to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, the Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid, the Kunsthalle in Hamburg and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In step with this momentum, Christie’s has dedicated an entire sale to the movement this season, The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale, which will immediately follow the 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on March 5.

Leading the sale are three major works by Belgian artist Paul Delvaux, a longtime Surrealist whose market has recently been rediscovered by international collectors. The three paintings—Les belles de Nuit (1936; estimate: £500,000-£1,000,000), La Ville Endormie (1938; estimate: £1,200,000-£1,800,000), and Nuit de Noël (1956; estimate: £1,000,000-£2,000,000)—are coming to auction for the first time after remaining in the same collection for 30 years. Few works of this caliber by Delvaux ever appear on the market. “They are from the best years of his oeuvre and stand as a testament to his enduring legacy within the Surrealist movement,” Olivier Camu, Christie’s Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, told the press.

Together, the three paintings unfold like a Surrealist triptych, offering signature examples of Delvaux’s unique blend of lyricism, melancholia, and mystery. His influences are evident—René Magritte and Salvador Dalí loom large, as do the dreamlike architectures of Giorgio de Chirico, Renaissance painting, and Neoclassical design. Delvaux’s characteristic longing for an idealized past emerges in these scenes of women lost in time, suspended in motion, walking languidly or standing still, their gazes vacant. Shadowy classical courtyards, nocturnal cityscapes and lunar atmospheres deepen the paintings’ sense of mystery, evoking a profound in-between state that perfectly encapsulates the era’s Surrealist sensibility. Delvaux’s current auction record stands at £7.3 million ($10.7 million), achieved by Le Miroir, which sold at Sotheby’s London in 2016.