Press | Phillips

PRESS RELEASE

PHILLIPS’ LONDON EVENING SALE OF MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART ACHIEVES £13 MILLION

New World Auction Record Set for Anna Ancher

London, 5 March 2026

Sale Total: £12,964,910 / $17,308,155 / €14,909,647

Lots Sold: 23 | Lots Offered: 27

Sold by Value: 90% | Sold by Lot: 85%

Olivia Thornton, Deputy Chairwoman and Head of Modern & Contemporary Art, Europe, said, “Bidders from 30 countries joined Phillips this evening, demonstrating continued resilience in the market for exceptional works of Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art. The sale presented the first opportunity to acquire Danish masterworks from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr., led by Vilhelm Hammershøi’s Interior of Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table and a new world auction record for Anna Ancher. Andy Warhol’s Mao jointly led the sale and Banksy’s Happy Choppers exceeded its high estimate. The sale opened with Joseph Yaeger’s Tyranny of the rational selling for three times its low estimate, while Tracey Emin’s An Insane desire For you realised £774,000—an especially timely inclusion as London celebrates the artist’s critically acclaimed retrospective at Tate Modern. We now look forward to our Modern & Contemporary Art sale on Saturday.”

Top Ten Lots

Lot	Description	Estimate	Price Achieved
7	Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior of Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table (Interiør med kvinde, der stiller grene i et glas, Strandgade 30), 1900	£1,500,000 - 2,000,000	£1,642,000
15	Andy Warhol, Mao, 1973	£1,400,000 - 1,800,000	£1,642,000
14	Banksy, Happy Choppers, 2006	£1,000,000 - 1,500,000	£1,520,000
10	Harald Sohlberg, Autumn at Leangbukten, Oslofjord (Höst ved Leangbukten, Oslofjord), 1926	£850,000 - 1,300,000	£1,093,000
18	El Anatsui, Zebra Square, 2007	£750,000 - 1,000,000	£967,500
4	Tracey Emin, An Insane desire For you, 2019	£600,000 - 800,000	£774,000
12	Georg Baselitz, Die Wildnis im Zimmer, 1989	£600,000 - 800,000	£645,000
5	Rebecca Warren, Fascia V, 2012	£250,000 - 350,000	£541,800
16	Donald Judd, Untitled, 1987	£380,000 - 500,000	£541,800
11	Anselm Kiefer, Right wing, left wing, 1991	£400,000 - 600,000	£516,000

New Auction Records

Lot	Description	Estimate	Price Achieved
6	Anna Ancher, Young Girl Reading a Letter (Ung pige, der læser et brev), 1902	£30,000 - 50,000	£154,800
	*previous record price: $146,551 set in 2006

*Lot 9 was sold after the lot closed, whilst the sale was ongoing, and is therefore included in the total sale result.

Exchange Rate on 5 March 2026: £1 = US$1.335, €1.15, HK$10.44

05 March 2026

PHILLIPS’ LONDON EVENING SALE OF MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART ACHIEVES £13 MILLION