On November 27, 1984, conceptual artist On Kawara completed a ritual he had performed nearly every day for two decades: painting that day's date in crisp white sans-serif lettering on a dark canvas.
Part of his long-running Today series, NOV. 27, 1984 appears deceptively simple – just eleven characters marking a single moment – yet it functions as a portal into time, a silent witness to the quiet lives lived alongside history's grand moments.
Exactly forty-one years later, on 27 November 2025, the painting returned to public view at Bonhams’ Modern and Contemporary Art Sale in Hong Kong. After competitive bidding between three collectors, NOV. 27, 1984 sold for HK$8.5 million (US$1.1 million), becoming the top lot of the sale.
The winning bid came from Ryo Wakabayashi, Bonhams’ Senior Specialist for Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia, who was bidding on behalf of his client with paddle 829 – suggesting the work is likely headed to a private collection in Japan.
Auctioneer Marcello Kwan | Head of Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia
Lot 6 | On Kawara (1932-2014) | NOV. 27, 1984, acrylic on canvas and handmade cardboard box with newspaper clipping
Executed on 27 November 1984
66 x 91.5 cm
Provenance:
- Lisson Gallery, London
- Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
- Kohji Ogura Gallery, Nagoya
- Private Collection, Japan
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$6,000,000 - 9,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$6,700,000
Sold: HK$8,513,000
The primacy of the idea or concept behind an artwork is the very heart of Conceptual Art. Emerging in the 1960s, this movement privileges an artwork’s intellectual and philosophical dimensions over its material form. On Kawara stands as a pivotal figure in post-war Japanese Conceptual Art.
Throughout his decades-long career, Kawara had always kept a low profile, declining interviews, absenting himself from his own exhibitions, and marking his presence in the torrent of time solely through daily, persistent artistic creations.
Upon Kawara’s death in 2014, his gallery simply gave a brief announcement that Kawara had lived 29,771 days with no further details offered, showing how numbers and time were the defining themes of his life. Calculating from this figure, the Japanese artist lived to the age of 82.
One of the very few known photographs of On Kawara
On Kawara's studio in New York in 1966
Born in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture, in 1932, Kawara came of age during World War II. The utter devastation wrought by the successive atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki inflicted profound trauma on him. Coupled with the radical transformation of post-war Japanese society, these experiences drove Kawara to meditate on the fundamental questions of “life”, “existence”, and “death”, which form the very core of his oeuvre.
Upon graduating from high school in the 1950s, Kawara relocated to Tokyo and immersed himself in the city’s avant-garde circles. His work from this period consisted primarily of sketches. In 1959, Kawara left Japan with his father for Mexico, which marked a pivotal shift in his artistic journey.
Thereafter, Kawara had been travelling across the globe while deepening his knowledge of modern art, and eventually settled in New York in 1965. The New York art circle at that time was witnessing the ascent of Conceptual Art, rejecting the dynamic, vigorous brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism as powerless and meaningless. Instead, the “concept” itself was deemed the core of creation, and any trace of personal emotion was eschewed.
The works are accompanied by the newspaper clippings from the day of their completion
The signature on the reverse is also an imprint of On Kawara’s existence
It was within this context that Kawara’s Today series of Date Paintings emerged. Each work consists of a piece of monochromatic canvas – blue, red, or grey – bearing only the day’s date in white.
Despite his journeys around the world, Kawara adhered to daily art practice and composed the date in the language, format, and typographic conventions of the place where he was located at the time.
Upon completion of his work, Kawara would fabricate a custom-made cardboard box for each painting, coupled with a clipping from a local newspaper from that day. This act juxtaposes the painting with the real world, adding historical and cultural references beyond the date.
Process of Date Painting
Installation view of the exhibition On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
Kawara imposed a singular rule for his Today series: all works had to be completed within the same day, and any painting not finished by midnight was destroyed. Such a strict rule not only reflects the artist’s extreme self-discipline, but also his profound awareness of the passage of time.
Superficially a repetitive act of daily inscription, the Today series is, in fact, a deep reflection on the very essence of Conceptual Art. Kawara registers his existence through a date and a newspaper clipping alone, responding to the ceaseless flow of time and the nothingness of being through this daily, repetitive practice.
From 1966 to 2013, Kawara produced roughly 3,000 Date Paintings in more than 130 cities worldwide. Among them, a work created during his visit to Hong Kong in 1978 was featured in the retrospective On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, earlier this year.
MAY. 1, 1987 set an auction record for the artist at US$4.2 million in New York in 2014
Kawara’s works are included in the collections of top institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Tate Modern, London. In 2015, the Guggenheim Museum in New York mounted the retrospective On Kawara – Silence, which serves as a testament to Kawara’s significant artistic achievement.
Within the salesroom, MAY. 1, 1987, also from the Today series, set an auction record for the artist at US$4.2 million in New York in 2014, which remains unbroken.
Other Highlight Lots:
Lot 9 | Ewa Juszkiewicz (b. 1984) | Untitled (after Joseph Wright), oil on canvas
Executed in 2020
160 x 125 cm
Provenance:
- Almine Rech Gallery, New York
- Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$4,700,000 - 5,800,000
Hammer Price: HK$5,700,000
Sold: HK$7,243,000
Lot 2 | Wang Guangle (b. 1976) | 160116, acrylic on canvas
Executed in 2016
280 x 180 cm
Provenance:
- Pace Gallery, London
- Private Collection
- Sale: Hong Kong, Christie's, Post-Millennium Evening Sale, 28 May 2023, Lot 26
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$1,600,000 - 2,400,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,600,000
Sold: HK$2,036,000
Lot 11 | André Brasilier (b. 1929) | Harmonie du soir, oil on canvas
Executed in 2017
100 x 73 cm
Provenance:
- Opera Gallery, Hong Kong
- Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$480,000 - 680,000
Hammer Price: HK$480,000
Sold: HK$613,600
Lot 8 | Chun Kwang Young (b. 1944) | Aggregation 05-D059, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper
Executed in 2005
163 x 131 cm
Provenance:
- Sale: Seoul Auction, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Sale - Modern and Contemporary Art Auction,7 October 2008, Lot 00016
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$380,000 - 550,000
Hammer Price: HK$380,000
Sold: HK$486,400
Lot 12 | Zhao Zhao (b. 1982) | Sky 2021-04, oil on canvas
Executed in 2021
150 x 150 cm
Provenance:
- 3812 Gallery, London
- Private Collection, Asia
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$150,000 - 200,000
Hammer Price: HK$140,000
Sold: HK$179,200
Lot 18 | KAWS (b. 1974) | Good Intentions, wood
Executed in 2021; this work is number 67 from the edition of 100
37.5 x 17.8 x 16.5 cm; 20 x 9.5 x 5.1 cm
Provenance:
- KAWSONE
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$120,000 - 180,000
Hammer Price: HK$110,000
Sold: HK$140,800
Auction Details:
Auction House: Bonhams Hong Kong
Sale: Modern & Contemporary Art
Date: 27 November 2025
Number of Lots: 37
Sold: 22
Unsold: 15
Sale Rate: 59%
Sale Total: HK$19,939,040