Donald Judd Value: Top Prices Paid At Auction

Judd’s fascination with serial progression is evident in Untitled (DSS 42) (1963), a pivotal work exploring space, colour, and form. This piece is part of a small series that inspired his renowned Stack and Progressions series. Combining wooden stacks painted in cadmium red with iron surfaces, the work marks Judd's shift from painting to sculpture and wall relief. DSS-42, the largest in the series, set his auction record at £8.85 million in 2013. Judd's meticulous material choices highlight the opulence and conceptual depth of his minimalist art.

Celebrated as a key piece in Judd's formative sculptural practice, these DSS sculpture works combine wood, iron, and cadmium red to create a three-dimensional wall relief. Untitled (DSS 25) (1962) is the first of five created, marking Judd's shift from painting to exploring the possibilities of sculptural materials. As a pivotal example of Judd's rise in the art world, this sculpture is one of only two to appear on the secondary market, achieving over £8 million in June 2020. It represents Judd's exploration of form and materiality, solidifying his esteem in the art world.

This Untitled (1969) sculpture made its second auction appearance, having emerged from a private collection in Germany. Judd's work, which combines industrial materials, form, and pure colour, strives to embody perfection through the precise relationship between individual pieces, creating a unified whole. The voids between these objects become irrelevant as they come together seamlessly. In November 2023, this sculpture sold for £6.3 million, reaffirming its status and relevance in Contemporary art.

This copper and plexiglass artwork, featuring Judd's signature cadmium red, is one of his most iconic creations, widely held in museums globally. Created in 1965, this series of stacked works is conceptually intricate, exploring the relationship between object, wall, floor, and viewer. The precise installation process and interaction with space are crucial, creating a unique visual experience. Judd's experiment with colour and material continued throughout his career. Untitled (1989), from this series, achieved £6.4 million at Christie's in November 2012, underscoring its significance in his oeuvre.

Untitled (1993) stands at 68 centimetres tall, continuing Judd’s exploration of form and material experimentation. This stacked sculpture, crafted from brass and forest green acrylic, reflects Judd's ambition to push beyond his earlier use of copper. The interplay of colour and natural sheen creates a striking visual effect, evoking the abstract colour mastery of artists like Mark Rothko and Howard Hodgkin. Comprised of ten distinct parts, this sculpture transcends traditional abstraction, achieving a harmonious whole. Untitled sold for just over £6 million at Sotheby’s in May 2018.

Gleaming brass edges frame each rectangular form, enclosing two green Plexiglas planes on the top and bottom edges. These planes allow room light to pass through, creating varying optical effects depending on the viewer's position–a method Judd used to incorporate the viewer into his sculptural practice. This work first appeared at Christie’s in November 2014, selling for £4.7 million. It reappeared in November 2019, also at Christie’s, surpassing its initial value with a sale price of £5.1 million.

Part of Judd's stack series, this work features ten stainless steel units combined with fluorescent yellow Plexiglas–a rare colour for this series. It recently resurfaced from a private Beverly Hills collection, where it had been held since 1984, and was sold at Phillips in 2024 for £3.8 million. This sale highlights the ongoing demand and relevance of Judd's Stacks works in the art market.

Untitled (77-4 I Bernstein) (1977) represents the pinnacle of Judd's vertical stacked sculptures, consisting of ten parts crafted from galvanised iron and transparent blue plexiglass. This work highlights Judd's mastery of form, with each material–brass, copper, iron–carefully balanced in size and spacing. The interplay of metals and coloured plexiglass creates a captivating light effect. Judd emphasised that his work asserts its existence through its physical presence, free from allusion. This piece reached £4.9 million at Christie’s in May 2007, showcasing the continuing influence and demand for Judd's stacked sculptures.

This artwork, crafted from galvanised iron, represents Judd's continued exploration of his Stacks series, showcasing his innovative approach to color and material. In this piece, the use of opaque blue acrylic sheets, a departure from the translucent acrylics used in his earlier works, creates a distinct visual effect with a different radiance. Untitled (1989) highlights Judd's relentless ambition and creativity, recently fetching over £4 million at Sotheby's in May 2023, placing it among his top-selling pieces.

Judd's vertical stacks, often described as “regal,” skilfully define space using alternating volumes of positive and negative form. This particular piece features galvanised iron framing with dark blue Plexiglas front panels, creating a unique interplay of materials and colours. While Judd insisted his works stand independently of illusions or allusions, viewers often experience a paradoxical effect, as the industrial and transcendental elements evoke personal memories or emotions. This Untitled piece exemplifies Judd's mastery and fetched over £4 million at Sotheby's in October 2020.