Phillips London's modern and contemporary art sale closed with David Hockney taking the spotlight, as The Only One with Waves (1991) sold for £2.4 million, or about $3.2 million. Painted in Malibu, the canvas presents Hockney's signature wave motif in a flattened visual field, and marked the first major auction appearance of his work since his death in June.
The evening sale was estimated at £9.34 million to £13.4 million and finished close to the lower end of that range, reaching a hammer total of £9.3 million. With fees included, the result rose to £12 million, while 76 of the 90 lots found buyers, producing an 84 percent sell-through rate.
Yayoi Kusama also delivered a strong result, with INFINITY-NETS (MAE) from 2013 selling for £1.5 million, above its high estimate. Other notable names included Jean Dubuffet, Donald Judd, Hsiao Chin and Jadé Fadojutimi, while Andrew Cranston set a new record with Meditation in a Tenement (2023), which achieved £65,000.
A Maqbool Fida Husain oil painting from the 1970s also drew attention, fetching £412,800 after being estimated far lower. Phillips said the sale reflected broad international demand across modern, post-war and contemporary art, with especially strong interest in South Asian works. The results suggest that global collectors continue to value artistic legacy, rarity and cross-cultural relevance in equal measure.
