Auction houses globally are experiencing a slowdown in 2025 – declining high-end art sales have been reported across the board, inspiring headlines that proclaim softened results, cooling periods, and market shrinkage. However, it appears that collectors in Hong Kong didn’t quite get the memo, as the top three most valuable art pieces put up for auction in Asia this year were all sold in the city, with one even breaking Asia records.
Of all the international auction houses active in Hong Kong, it seems Christie’s had much to celebrate this year. Towards the end of last month, Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sale offered Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme (1944) as one of its highlight lots, with an estimate of $86 million to $106 million. An intense bidding war broke out over Buste de Femme but the hammer eventually came down for $196.75 million, smashing Christie’s estimate and setting a new Asia record for the Spanish painter’s works.
Buste de Femme is one of several portraits Picasso created depicting French Surrealist photographer and artist Dora Maar, who served as his muse. Painted during the close of World War II, the expressive brushwork and bursts of vibrant, intense colour appear to convey a sense of hope, in contrast to the muted works from previous years.

At the same auction, 17.3.63 by Zao Wou-Ki realised $85.2 million, sitting snugly within its realistic estimates of $70 million and $90 million. Nonetheless, Zao’s fiery painting was among the three most highly valued works to be sold in Asia this year, outstripping other pieces from the same sale event, including Claude Monet, Yayoi Kusama, David Hockney, Marc Chagall, Walter Spies, and Yoshitomo Nara. 17.3.63 is a rare expression of Zao’s artistic sensibilities, as only 18 of these ‘red canvases’ from the same era, style, and size exist. Zao’s travels between Paris and New York and his strong collaborations with galleries that championed his work inspired a more forceful energy in his painting approach in the 1960s, resulting in influential pieces such as this crimson-red piece.

Earlier this year in March, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night) was presented by Christie’s as the leading lot of its 20th/21st Century Evening Sale in Hong Kong. Estimated to fetch between $95 million and $125 million, the piece ended up selling for $112.62 million, making it the most valuable work presented at auction in Asia that season. Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night) is praised as an exemplar of the artist’s unmistakable technique, compositional awareness, and thematic nuances.
What a hat trick for Christie’s in Asia – our eyes are trained on what’s to come in 2026.
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