Christie's March evening for Modern British and Irish art made £11.6 million on King Street, led by Frank Auerbach's Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent.
Frank Auerbach’s Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent led Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art Evening Sale at Christie’s King Street in St James’s on Wednesday 18 March 2026. The evening made £11,639,000.
Christie’s gave Modern British and Irish art an evening of its own as its 20th/21st Century series in London continued. The auctioneer sold 24 of the 25 lots, and Henry Moore’s Head of a Girl was the one left unsold.
Auerbach died in 2024. His painting, made in 2004 and 2005, sold for £2,002,000 against an estimate of £1.5 million to £2 million.
Lynn Chadwick’s Back to Venice, cast in 1988, made £1,636,000. Venice is the city where he won the Grand Prix for Sculpture at the Biennale. Barbara Hepworth’s Curved Form of 1960, carved from a single piece of walnut, made £1,016,000.
Ben Nicholson’s 1938 (white relief) sold for £660,400 against an estimate of £300,000 to £500,000.
Peter Phillips’s Motorpsycho/Ace of 1962 came to auction for the first time, from the collection of the curator Enrico Crispolti. It made £254,000 against an estimate of £100,000 to £150,000.