Sotheby's added to London's Frieze-week auction calendar with a contemporary evening sale that brought 37 works of predominantly American and European art to market, achieving £45.9 million, around $61 million, against a presale estimate of $52.3 million to $73.5 million. The total landed comfortably within expectations, delivering what one market account described as a respectable result for an event that never quite ignited.

The standout lot was Willem de Kooning's Untitled (1977), a mature abstraction that sold for $12.9 million, the most ever paid for the artist's work at a European auction. Behind it came an iconic Gerhard Richter squeegee abstraction, Abstraktes Bild (1992), which had appeared in the artist's celebrated 2025-26 exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and sold for $8.8 million. A dark Mark Rothko, Untitled (1969), realised $4.9 million. Both the Richter and the Rothko rewarded their consignors: the Richter had been bought for $5.7 million at Christie's in London in October 2011, while the Rothko had been acquired for just $264,000 at Christie's in New York in May 1992.

In terms of volume, Georg Baselitz dominated the sale, accounting for five of the 34 works that ultimately crossed the block. Three lots were withdrawn before the sale, including a mixed-media canvas by Anselm Kiefer, a pill cabinet by Damien Hirst and one of six paintings by Leon Kossoff depicting London's Willesden Junction.

The sale formed part of a crowded London auction week coinciding with Frieze London and Frieze Masters, with Christie's and Phillips also staging evening sales. Christie's had reported almost £219 million across two London evening sales on 14 October, led by a £31.56 million Kandinsky, while Phillips's modern and contemporary evening sale took £14.8 million. Sotheby's did not immediately comment on the result.