PHILLIPS’ MORNING AND AFTERNOON SESSIONS OF MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART ACHIEVE
$30.5 MILLION, A 40% INCREASE FROM MAY 2025
New World Records Achieved for Harald Slott-Møller, Edvard Erikson,
Kikuo Saito, and Woody de Othello
Works from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Are 100% Sold
Across the May Auctions in New York Amid Strong Global Demand
New York, 21 May 2026
Morning and Afternoon Sessions Total: $30,542,170 / £22,738,761 / €26,284,381
Combined Auction Total for the Week: $145,758,870 / £108,515,612 / €125,451,809
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Lots Sold: 241 | Lots Offered: 266 |
Sold by Lot: 91% | Sold by Value: 92% |
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Harald Slott-Møller Summer Day (Sommerdag), 1888 Estimate: $30,000–50,000 Sold for $1,290,000 |
Richard Prince High Times, 2017 Estimate: $600,000–800,000 Sold for $838,500 |
Annie Dolan and Patrizia Koenig, Co-Heads of the New York Morning & Afternoon Sessions of Modern & Contemporary Art, jointly said, “Following a ‘white glove’ Evening Sale on Tuesday, we were thrilled to carry that momentum into today’s Morning and Afternoon Sessions of Modern & Contemporary Art, which achieved a 40% increase from May 2025. The sale opened to great enthusiasm with a white glove offering of works from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. As the sale continued, strong prices were realized for works by women artists, including March Avery, Emily Mason, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan, whose work The girls take their places achieved nearly $170,000 against an estimate of $80,000, while Emma Webster’s End of the Day sold for $193,500, more than doubled the estimate. Latin American works across both sessions performed strongly as well, including Beatriz Milhazes' Paraty and two works by Olga de Amaral. Exceptional results were also seen across notable collections. A Life in Color: Property from the Estate of Tina Hills performed particularly well, led by Louise Nevelson’s Mirror Shadow XXXXVII, which sold for more than five times its estimate, as well as a single-owner grouping of works titled "Gesture" by Second Generation Abstract artists, led by a new auction record for Kikuo Saito. Competitive bidding defined American Spirit: Property from the Tanenbaum Family Collection, another white glove offering in which Robert Henri’s 1902 painting The Rain Storm—Wyoming achieved more than ten times its estimate.”
Jeremiah Evarts, Deputy Chairman, Americas, Senior International Specialist, Modern & Contemporary Art, said, “It has been such a privilege to present the extraordinary Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. to our community of collectors over the spring season, and serving as the auctioneer in today’s Morning Session was a wonderful full-circle moment. Ambassador Loeb’s collection is undisputedly the most important private collection of Danish art ever assembled, and the global participation we witnessed today is a testament to its rightful significance within the art historical canon. Today, new world records were achieved for Edvard Erikson and Harald Slott-Møller. Slott-Møller’s stunning Summer Day (Sommerdag) sparked an unforgettable bidding war lasting more than six minutes, ultimately selling for $1.3 million against an estimate of $30,000 to a bidder on the phone with Senior International Specialist Takako Nagasawa. We are also proud to announce that, in addition to two works in the Evening Sale earlier this week, several works from today’s auction have found new homes in esteemed institutions around the globe. With 100% of the lots from Ambassador Loeb’s collection having sold in this week’s auctions, we remind those joining us that the final portion of the group will be sold in an online sale, taking place from 26 May to 2 June.”
Top Ten Lots
|
Lot |
Description |
Estimate |
Price Achieved |
|
103 |
Harald Slott-Møller, Summer Day (Sommerdag), 1888 |
$30,000–50,000 |
$1,290,000 |
|
322 |
Richard Prince, High Times, 2017 |
$600,000–800,000 |
$838,500 |
|
138 |
Roy Lichtenstein, Small Wall Explosion, 1965 |
$500,000–700,000 |
$645,000 |
|
139 |
Robert Rauschenberg, Climb (Urban Bourbon), 1993 |
$500,000–700,000 |
$619,200 |
|
190 |
Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1966 |
$150,000–200,000 |
$580,500 |
|
125 |
Edvard Eriksen, The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue), circa 1910–1913 |
$12,000–18,000 |
$541,800 |
|
309 |
Beatriz Milhazes, Paraty, 2001-2002 |
$300,000–500,000 |
$516,000 |
|
310 |
Olga de Amaral, Escrito V, 2003 |
$400,000–600,000 |
$503,100 |
|
330 |
Lee Ufan, With Winds, 1986 |
$250,000–350,000 |
$490,200 |
|
156 |
Marc Chagall, Jeune homme et chèvre, 1926–1927 |
$400,000–600,000 |
$464,400 |
New Auction Records
|
Lot |
Description |
Estimate |
Price Achieved |
|
103 |
Harald Slott-Møller, Summer Day (Sommerdag), 1888 |
$30,000–50,000 |
$1,290,000 |
|
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*previous record price: $71,986 set in 1995 |
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125 |
Edvard Erikson, The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue), circa 1910–1913 |
$12,000–18,000 |
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|
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*previous record price: $150,916 set in 2008 |
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128 |
March Avery, Molly in the Gazebo, 1982 |
$30,000–40,000 |
$141,900 |
|
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*previous record price: $43,309 set in 2005 |
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130 |
Kikuo Saito, Cerise, 2009 |
$80,000–120,000 |
$245,100 |
|
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*previous record price: $175,000 in 2004 |
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314 |
Woody de Othello, At Night I Can’t Sleep, 2018 |
$20,000–30,000 |
$54,180 |
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*previous record price: $20,320 set in 2025 |
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