Yoshitomo Nara's In the Milky Lake / Thinking One (2011), one of the artist's largest paintings, is set to be offered through the Fair Warning app on November 19. The work carries an estimate of $10 million to $15 million.
Measuring 8.5 by 6 feet, it is the largest Nara painting ever to appear at auction. Its central figure--a child with closed eyes, partly submerged in pale water--has a notably calm, introspective presence. The painting has remained in private hands for 14 years.
The work will be on view in Chelsea, New York, from November 6 to 19, in an exhibition space designed to evoke a Japanese temple. Nara's auction record is $24.9 million, set in 2019 for Knife Behind Back. A related painting, In the Milky Lake (2012), sold for $12.8 million in 2023.
With its monumental scale and reflective mood, the painting brings a distinctive contemporary voice to the auction calendar. Its reception may further shape how collectors engage with Nara's work and with contemporary art more broadly.
