The Facts
Phillips will offer its New York November Modern & Contemporary Art Sales, with the Evening Sale on November 17, 2026, and Morning and Afternoon Sessions on November 19, 2026. The Evening Sale carries an estimate in excess of $70.4 million across 23 lots, a nearly 50% increase in value from the previous year. Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone Tête, estimated at $28–35 million, leads the sale and is billed as the highest-value sculpture ever offered by Phillips. David Hockney’s eight-panel David, Celia, Stephen and Ian, London, 1982 and Frank Stella’s Port Tampa City are also among highlights, with nearly 90% of Evening Sale works appearing at auction for the first time.
The Signal
The sale’s emphasis on fresh-to-market material and decades-long private collections gives collectors a rare test of depth in the Modern and Post-War market, particularly for museum-grade sculpture and large-scale painting. Modigliani’s Tête, with most of his stone heads already in institutions, is positioned as a trophy asset that could reset Phillips’ sculpture benchmark; Hockney’s 1982 multi-panel portrait arrives ahead of his Tate retrospective, adding timely art-historical context. The 50% increase in low estimate suggests Phillips is betting on scarcity and provenance rather than volume, a strategy that will be watched closely as the November sales unfold.
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- Artists: Amedeo Modigliani, David Hockney, Frank Stella, Clyfford Still, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Mark Grotjahn, Lisa Yuskavage, William Kentridge, Miyoko Ito
- People: Robert Manley, Peggy Guggenheim, Harold Rosenberg, Robert Mnuchin, Agnes Gund, Celia Birtwell, David Graves, Stephen Buckley, Ian Falconer
- Auction Houses: Phillips
- Museums: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shiga Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Locations: New York
- Prices: $70.4 million, $28–35 million
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