{"id":2007399,"date":"2026-06-22T21:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007399"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:36:43","slug":"top-10-sales-at-art-basel-2026-by-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007399","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Sales at Art Basel 2026, by Value"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tWith the close of business on Sunday, the 2026 edition of Art Basel in Switzerland is a wrap. For most collectors, it\u2019s time to jet off to Mallorca\u2014though for the true diehards, there\u2019s always another convening point. (The London sales or Upstate Art Weekend, anyone?)<\/p>\n
\n\tComing off two lackluster years, the first half of 2026 had stronger than expected activity. The May sales showed robust bidding across categories, with truly stellar results for museum-grade trophy works. That gravitation toward the high end was apparent at fairs across the first half of 2026, and the flagship Art Basel fair was no different. As Haily Widrig, founder of Art Partners Advisory, told\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0after the first VIP preview day last week, \u201cThere is more disparity in the market than in previous years. There seems to be a go-big-or-go-home attitude at the booths.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tStill, Art Basel and the participating galleries asserted that the middle market, as well as the emerging sector, showed healthy activity at the event, with the fair sending out a long list of reported sales in that band.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor those that are wondering what sold at the high end, take a look at our top 10 below.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\n
Louise Bourgeois, Couple<\/em>, 2002<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
Sold For:<\/strong> $2.2 million at Xavier Hufkens<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Yves Klein, Untitled<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
Sold For: <\/strong>\u20ac2.25 million ($2.57 million) at Xavier Hufkens<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Lynne Drexler, Untitled<\/em>, 1960<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: White Cube (Frankie Tyska)\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold For:<\/strong> $2.5 million at White Cube<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Pierre Soulages, Peinture 146 X 97 cm, 31 janvier 1954<\/em>, 1954<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Guillaume Onimus\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
Sold For: <\/strong>$3 million at Thaddaeus Ropac<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Helen Frankenthaler, Sudden Wave<\/em>, 1982<\/h2>\n
\n
Sold For:<\/strong> $3 million at Thaddaeus Ropac<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Cy Twombly, On Returning from Tonnicoda<\/em>, 1973<\/h2>\n
\n
Sold For: <\/strong>$5 million at Hauser & Wirth<\/p>\n
\n\tAn image of the work can be seen here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Pablo Picasso, Satyre, Pan et nymphe<\/em>, 1938<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Hugard & Vanoverschelde\/\u00a92026 Succession Picasso\/Courtesy Almine Rech\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold For: <\/strong>$6\u2013$6.5 million at Almine Rech<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
David Hockney, Studio Interior #2<\/em>, 2014<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Gray and Art Basel\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
Sold for: <\/strong>$8.5 million at Gray<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
Sold For:<\/strong> $20 million at Hauser & Wirth<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\n
Pablo Picasso,\u00a0Le peintre et son mod\u00e8le dans un paysage<\/em>,\u00a01963<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Art Basel\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sold for:<\/strong> $35 million at Hauser & Wirth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Office_approx_21_x_14_cm_ABB26__Messeplatz__Messeplatz_Project__N_HiRes.jpg?w=1024″] With the close of business on Sunday, the 2026 edition of Art Basel in Switzerland is a wrap. For most collectors, it\u2019s time to jet off to Mallorca\u2014though for the true diehards, there\u2019s always another convening point. (The London sales or Upstate Art Weekend, anyone?) Coming off two lackluster years, the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2007399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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