Christie’s London achieved a robust £197.5 million ($265 million) across a triple-header of evening sales, including the 20th/21st Century, Art of the Surreal, and the Vanthournout Collection auctions. The evening was headlined by a record-breaking £26.3 million sale of Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture 'King and Queen', alongside new auction highs for Surrealist artists Toyen and Dorothea Tanning. Despite some pre-sale withdrawals and a marathon four-hour runtime, the house achieved a 96 percent sell-through rate by lot.
These results serve as a significant rebuttal to concerns that London’s art market is declining due to shifting tax laws and geopolitical instability. Following a strong showing at Sotheby’s earlier in the week, the high sell-through rates and record prices suggest that top-tier collectors remain committed to the UK capital. The performance of the Surrealist category and rare modern masterpieces indicates that high-quality provenance continues to drive liquidity even in a cautious global economy.