Yoshitomo Nara’s painting "Nothing about it" has set a new record for the highest price ever achieved at a Korean art auction, selling for 15 billion won ($11 million) at Seoul Auction’s Gangnam Center. The sale significantly surpassed the previous record of 9.4 billion won held by Marc Chagall’s "Bouquet de Fleurs." The auction also saw a major result for Yayoi Kusama, whose "Pumpkin" painting fetched 10.45 billion won, marking the second-highest price in Korean auction history.
These record-breaking results signal a potential rebound for the South Korean art market, which has recently experienced a period of stagnation. The fact that contemporary artists like Nara and Kusama are now outperforming canonical masters like Chagall suggests a shift in collector preference toward the 'present over the past.' This momentum, bolstered by high-profile sales of works by Alex Katz and David Hockney, reinforces Seoul's growing status as a critical hub for the international blue-chip art trade.