Featured Image: Francis Bacon, Portrait of Man with Glasses III, 1963 (estimate: £6,000,000 – 9,000,000) will lead the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on 5 March 2025.

Christie’s presents a compelling series of live and online 20th/21st Century Art Sales, running until 12 March 2025. Showcasing a carefully curated selection of works by leading artists - including Francis Bacon, Tamara de Lempicka, David Hockney, Jenny Saville, Bridget Riley, Fernando Botero, René Magritte, Leonora Carrington, Amedeo Modigliani, Franz Marc, and Michael Andrews, among others - the sales will bring together exceptional pieces spanning Post-War, Contemporary, Modern, Impressionist and Surrealist art.

As part of this season, Christie’s is proud to have partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity for its BUILD IT, BEAT IT charitable arts initiative*, featuring 29 artworks by 28 leading contemporary artists. The works will be offered in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 6 March 2025, with proceeds supporting the construction of a world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH in London.

The Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sale returns with an exceptional selection of works spanning groundbreaking Impressionists to Modern masters of the early 20th century. Featuring pieces by Marc Chagall, Alfred Sisley, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Egon Schiele, the auction offers a diverse range of media with estimates from £400 to £550,000.

An exhibition of highlights from the 20th/21st Century Art Sales will be open to the public at Christie’s King Street, London, until 7 March.  Please check christies.com for more details.

20^th/21^st Century: London Evening Sale – 5 March 2025

Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale is a celebration of artistic evolution across two transformative centuries. This season, the auction unites pioneering figures of Impressionist and Modern art, such as Claude Monet and Tamara de Lempicka, with the masters of Post-War and Contemporary art, like Francis Bacon and David Hockney.

Offering a dynamic dialogue between these defining movements, the sale features an extraordinary lineup of artists, including: Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fernando Botero, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Alexander Calder, Justin Caguiat, Marc Chagall, Eduardo Chillida, Francesco Clemente, Robert Delaunay, Tamara de Lempicka, Lyonel Feininger, Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley, Howard Hodgkin, David Hockney, Wassily Kandinsky, Sanya Kantarovsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fernand Léger, Max Liebermann, Franz Marc, Danielle McKinney, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Albert Oehlen, Pablo Picasso, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, Egon Schiele, Christian Schad, Sean Scully, Antoni Tàpies, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and Emmi Whitehorse.

The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale – 5 March 2025

Christie’s is proud to present The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale, a highlight of 20th/21st Century Art London Marquee Week, on 5 March 2025. Since its inception, this prestigious auction has been the only major international sale dedicated annually exclusively to Surrealist and Dada art. Renowned for its exceptional quality, it has remained a cornerstone of the art market, consistently achieving record-breaking results.

The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale once again presents an outstanding selection of works that embody the imagination and innovation of these movements. Leading the auction is Magritte’s enigmatic La reconnaissance infinie (estimate: £6,000,000–9,000,000), a 1933 masterpiece featuring a large white orb floating mysteriously above a mountain landscape.

Other works by Magritte include La lumière du pôle (1926–1927), previously in the collection of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti (estimate: £4,500,000–6,500,000), La femme du maçon (1958) (estimate: £1,600,000-2,400,000), Le faux miroir (1952) (estimate: £1,500,000–2,500,000), a rare gouache variation revisiting his earlier work of the same title, Le stropiat (1948) (estimate: £1,000,000-1,500,000) and L'école buissonnière (1946) (estimate: £500,000-800,000).

The sale will also offer three rare museum quality works by Paul Delvaux from a prestigious private collection, unseen on the market for over thirty years: Les belles de nuit (1936) (estimate: £500,000-£1,000,000), previously in the collection of Edward James and displayed in his iconic surrealist mansion Monkton House, La ville endormie (1938) (estimate: £1,200,000-£1,800,000), and Nuit de Noël (1956) (estimate: £1,000,000-£2,000,000).
Jean Arp’s painted relief masterpiece Amphore infinie (1929) (estimate: £1,600,000–2,400,000), appearing at auction for the first time, and his large white marble sculpture Étoile (1960) (estimate: £1,200,000–1,800,000) complete the offering.

The sale also features two significant works by Max Ernst: Coloradeau de Méduse (1953) (estimate: £700,000–1,000,000), evoking memories of his desert home in Colorado shared with Dorothea Tanning, and sodaliten schneeberger drückethäler (l’énigme de l’Europe Centrale or always the best man wins) (1920) (estimate: £250,000–350,000), one of his most sophisticated painted paper cut art from his dada period, in which a a botanical illustration is transformed into a mystical, poetic composition.

Also represented in the sale are Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington, Francis Picabia, Wolfgang Paalen, Léon Spilliaert, André Masson, Giorgio de Chirico, and Enrico Donati.

The Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale – 6 March 2025

The Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sale – 7 March 2025

Post-War and Contemporary Art Online – 26 February to 12 March 2025

Notes to editors:

*100% of the hammer price for these lots will be paid to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (charity number 1160024) and GOSH has indicated that funds will go towards building the Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH.

*Christie’s shall donate 50% of the buyer’s premium for all lots sold to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

Funds will support the vital cancer care services at GOSH, including the refurbishment of GOSH buildings, upgrading equipment, pioneering research, kinder treatments and offering vital welfare services to our families during their time at GOSH.  *In the event that the needs of the hospital or patients change, GOSH reserves the right to redirect funds for use against the hospital’s most urgent needs.

About Great Ormond Street Children Hospital Charity

Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) stops at nothing to help give seriously ill children childhoods that are fuller, funner and longer. For the hundreds of children from all over the UK who are treated by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) every day, for children with rare or complex illnesses everywhere, for this generation and all those to come.  

GOSH has been transforming the lives of seriously ill children since opening its doors in 1852 and has always depended on charitable support. GOSH Charity funds groundbreaking research into children’s health, cutting-edge medical equipment, child-centred medical facilities and the support services children and families going through the toughest journey of their lives urgently need.  But there is so much more we need to do.  Together with our supporters, we can give seriously ill children the best chance, and the best childhoods, possible. Because we believe no childhood should be lost to serious illness. Join us, visit gosh.org today. 

(Press Release)