Hong Kong's September autumn auction season continued with Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction on 28 September, which totaled HK$335 million (US$43.1 million). Of the 40 lots offered, 38 found buyers, achieving a strong 95% sell-through rate, with eight works surpassing the HK$10 million mark.
Leading the sale was Yoshitomo Nara’s 2012 painting Can’t Wait ’til the Night Comes, which sold for HK$79.9 million (US$10.3 million) including premium to a private Asian collector. The work was prominently featured as the poster image for NARA Yoshitomo: a bit like you and me..., a major touring exhibition that traveled from the Yokohama Museum of Art to Aomori and Kumamoto.
Among the evening's highlights was a group of five works by Roy Lichtenstein – a rare appearance for the Pop artist in Asian auctions. The selection, comprising two drawings, two paintings, and a sculpture, brought in a combined HK$46.4 million (US$5.9 million). All five pieces, long held in Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein's personal collection, were making their auction debut.
Lot 18 | Yoshitomo Nara | Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes, acrylic on canvas
Painted in 2012
193.6 x 183 cm
Provenance (Supplemented by The Value):
- Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
- Private Collection (acquired from the above)
- Christie's, Hong Kong, 23 November 2019, Lot 54A (Sold: HK$92,875,000)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$65,000,000 - 85,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$65,500,000
Sold: HK$79,900,000
Nara's signature portrayals of wide-eyed, emotionally complex young girls remain highly sought after in the Asian market. Several of his works have crossed the HK$100 million threshold, cementing his position as one of the most valuable Japanese artists at auction.
The 2000s marked Nara’s international breakthrough. His first major solo exhibition in Japan, I Don't Mind, If You Forget Me (2001–2002), drew massive crowds – especially younger audiences – as it toured from the Yokohama Museum of Art. Major museum shows in the United States and Europe soon followed, establishing his global presence.
Knife Behind Back (2000) | Sold: HK$195,696,000, Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2019 (Auction record for the artist)
Can’t Wait ’til the Night Comes was painted in 2012, following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011. The disaster – which left more than 450,000 people homeless and claimed over 18,000 lives – profoundly impacted Nara, who has deep ties to Japan’s northeastern region. Initially, he stopped painting altogether. But after months of reflection and community engagement, he returned to the studio with renewed purpose.
The works that followed marked a shift in tone and technique. The once-defiant expressions of his girls softened. Figures were now often cropped at the bust. His palette expanded, and his surfaces took on a luminous, meditative quality – built up through slow, layered washes of color. Sometimes, he would spend months on the monochromatic background of a single canvas.
Yoshitomo Nara
The making of Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes
Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes took nearly a year to finish.. Beneath its surface lies an entirely different painting – a child holding a two-leaf sprout, a peace symbol Nara had used for years. But after the earthquake, the image took on a new weight.
"How many children have I depicted holding a futaba sprout...?", Nara asked. "I don't think many people have noticed that the nuclear plant in Fukushima is located in a place called Futaba."
Rather than erase the original image, Nara painted over it. The sprout-bearing child became a ghostly, vampire-like figure with pale skin and faint fangs; the transformation mirrored his own nocturnal working schedule – he typically painted from midnight until dawn, alone in his studio with punk music playing.
Lot 17 | Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959) | Sprout the Ambassador, acrylic on cotton mounted on FRP
Executed in 2001
55 x 55 x 9.5 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Zink & Gegner, Munich
- Private Collection
- Sotheby's, London, 22 June 2007, Lot 404
- Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$9,000,000 - 15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$14,800,000
Sold: HK$18,431,000
Another highlight of the sale was Sprout the Ambassador, a circular painting from the early 2000s that features a child holding a sprout – Nara’s painterly response to a visit to Auschwitz the year before the work was created.
The work belongs to the first batch of his iconic Ambassador series and is one of only six circular acrylic-on-cotton compositions mounted on FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic) featuring this motif. It is also the only piece in the series at a household-friendly scale, with most others measuring over one meter in diameter.
Bidding for the lot opened at HK$8 million. After a competitive round involving at least four collectors, CC Xichu Wang (Head of Business Development for Greater China) placed the winning bid of HK$14.8 million on behalf of a collector from Mainland China. Including buyers' premium, the final price was HK$18.4 million (US$2.4 million).
Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Lot 10 | Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) | Vista with Bridge, acrylic, oil and graphite on canvas
Executed in 1996
190.5 x 452.8 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: HK$28,000,000 - 35,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$25,000,000
Sold: HK$30,875,000
Aside from works by Nara, one of the most anticipated segments of the evening was a group of five pieces by Roy Lichtenstein. The offering followed the white-glove sales of works from the couple's collection at Sotheby’s New York and London earlier this year.
Leading the group was Vista with Bridge, which sold for HK$30.9 million (US$3.9 million). Executed in 1996, the work belongs to Landscapes in the Chinese Style, a series developed during his later career that comprises 21 paintings, two prints, two sculptures, and numerous preparatory drawings. Key examples from the series are held in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Also featured were Scholar’s Rock, a stainless steel sculpture from the same series; Water Lilies with Japanese Bridge, a reinterpretation of Claude Monet’s iconic composition executed in silkscreen on stainless steel; and two study drawings, Reflections on Girl and Bonsai Tree.
Roy Lichtenstein | Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Lot 9 | Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) | Water Lilies with Japanese Bridge, screenprinted enamel in colours on processed and swirled stainless steel, with painted aluminium frame
Executed in 1992, this work is number 5 of 7 artist's proofs aside from the numbered edition of 23, published by Saff Tech Arts.
211.3 x 146.7 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$5,800,000
Sold: HK$7,620,000
Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Lot 12 | Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) | Reflections on Girl (Study), coloured pencil and graphite on paper
Executed circa 1989
25.4 x 34.9 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,800,000
Sold: HK$3,175,000
Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Lot 11 | Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) | Bonsai Tree (Study), cut painted paper, acrylic, marker and graphite on foamcore
Executed in 1992
152.4 x 101.9 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,400,000
Sold: HK$3,048,000
Art ©️ Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Lot 8 | Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) | Scholar's Rock, painted stainless steel
Executed in 1997, this work is the artist’s cast from an edition of 6.
71.1 x 43.5 x 22.2 cm.
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Thence by descent to the present owner
Estimate: HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,300,000
Sold: HK$1,651,000
Other Highlight Lots and Artist's Auction Records:
Lot 16 | Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) | Buste d'homme, oil on corrugated cardboard
Executed on 7 May 1969
72.4 x 49.8 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (no. 013010) (acquired directly from the artist by 1970)
- Annibale Scotti Casanova Collection, Rome
- Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2003)
- Christie's, London, 28 February 2017, lot 37 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$15,500,000 - 25,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$16,500,000
Sold: HK$20,505,000
Lot 27 | Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985) | Les fleurs de l'amour ou Les iris, oil on canvas
Executed in 1948
51 x 61 cm
Provenance:
- Mrs. Emily McFadden-Staempfli, New York (acquired by 1966)
- Sotheby's, Tokyo, 3 October 1969, lot 357
- Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Estimate: HK$9,500,000 - 14,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$16,000,000
Sold: HK$19,895,000
Lot 15 | Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) | Flower Parent and Child, fiber reinforced plastic, urethane paint, stainless steel, wood base
Executed in 2021, this work is unique
Flower parent: 252 x 147 x 94 cm
Child: 78 x 46 x 48 cm
Flower bouquet: dimensions variable
Wood base: 15 x 196 x 178 cm
Provenance:
- Hong Kong Gallery Limited | Perrotin, Hong Kong
- Private Collection
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$8,000,000 - 16,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$10,000,000
Sold: HK$12,575,000
Lot 21 | Kazuo Shiraga (1924 - 2008) | Untitled (T44), oil on canvas
Executed in 1962
116.4 x 80 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Stadler, Paris
- Private Collection, Europe
- Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
- Private Collection (acquired from the above)
- Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 2 October 2016, Lot 1043
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$9,500,000
Sold: HK$11,965,000
Lot 26 | Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013) | 12.02.2004 - Vague rouge blanc bleu, oil on canvas
Executed on 12 February 2004
150 x 162.5 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Estimate: HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$8,500,000
Sold: HK$10,745,000
Lot 6 | Louise Bourgeois (1911 - 2010) | À Baudelaire (#5), etching, watercolour, gouache, ink and pencil on paper (Auction record for a work on paper by the artist)
Executed in 2008
150.5 x 101 cm
Provenance:
- Kukje Gallery, Seoul
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$6,200,000 - 8,200,000
Hammer Price: HK$6,200,000
Sold: HK$7,874,000
Lot 1 | Li Hei Di (b. 1997) | There Was One Summer Returning Over and Over; There Was One Dawn I Grew Old Watching, oil on linen (Auction record for the artist)
200 x 160 cm
Provenance:
- Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
- Private collection
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: HK$700,000 - 1,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,100,000
Sold: HK$2,667,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Sale: Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction
Date: 28 September 2025
Number of Lots: 40
Sold: 38
Unsold: 2
Sale Rate: 95%
Sale Total: HK$335,701,000 (US$43.1 million)