Christie's London auctions hit record £218.6 million

Christie's held a record-breaking auction evening in London during Frieze week, generating a combined total of £218.6 million from two major sales. This figure represents a 103 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The Monsoon collection, assembled over four decades by fashion entrepreneur Peter Simon, sold for £107.5 million. This marks the highest total ever achieved for a single-owner collection at Christie's in London. Notable pieces from this collection included Francis Bacon’s ‘Figure in Movement’ (1978), which sold for £17.185 million.

In the 20th and 21st-century art sale, Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Das bunte Leben’ (1907) emerged as the most expensive work, selling for approximately £31.56 million (roughly $41.8 million). The auction also set world records for seven different artists, including female artists Bridget Riley and Liubov Popova.