Zao Wou-Ki Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

Juin-Octobre 1985 (1985) set Zao Wou-Ki's current auction record when it sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in September 2018. This monumental triptych, measuring 2.8 by 10 metres, represents one of the artist's largest and most ambitious works, as is one of the latest works on this list. As its title suggests, the work was created over five months during his Infinity period. The painting exemplifies Zao's mature style with sweeping brushstrokes suggesting a cosmic landscape. From the collection of Taiwanese businessman Chang Qiu Dun, and previously on display at Raffles Singapore between 1986 and 2005, its record-breaking sale underscored the growing appetite for Zao's work among Asian collectors. The piece embodies Zao's multicultural philosophy that "everybody is bound by a tradition; I am bound by two," and showcases his synthesis of Chinese spiritual landscape painting and Western abstraction.

29/09/64 (1964) achieved this impressive result at Christie's Hong Kong in May 2022, marking a significant increase from its previous sale price of £13.5M in 2017. This large-scale canvas, nearly 3.5 metres wide, exemplifies Zao's celebrated Hurricane period of the 1960s, characterised by explosive cloud- and rain-like energy and dynamic composition. Its strong colours, high contrast, and suggested movement embody Zao’s statement that "painting is a battle." The work's deep blues and turbulent brushwork create a sense of meteorological turbulence, reflecting Zao's interest in capturing the essence of nature's forces rather than its outward appearance. The painting's date-as-title, typical of Zao, commemorates a specific day's artistic exploration, with each stroke appearing both deliberate and spontaneous.

04/01/79 (1979) sold at Beijing Yongle International Auction Company in December 2020, achieving this impressive result for a work from Zao's transitional period between his Hurricane and Infinity phases. The piece captures Zao’s evolution from chaotic and tumultuous towards meditative - refocusing his interest on expansive spaces and atmospheric effects. The work's strong performance at a mainland Chinese auction house highlights the growing domestic market for Zao's work following China's economic liberalisation. By the day of this painting’s creation, in 1979, Zao had achieved international recognition with major exhibitions throughout Europe, America, and Asia.

29/01/64 (1964) achieved more than £5million above its high estimate at Christie's Hong Kong in November 2017, continuing the pattern of exceptional performances for Zao's works from the 1960s. The characteristic dynamic brushwork of this piece, in warm gold and amber tones with powerful black calligraphic strokes, creates a sense of movement and energy that defines Zao’s mature style. The work applies traditional Chinese compositional principles to abstract subject matter, balancing out areas of intense activity with more open spaces. Before 2017, the work had remained in a private collection after being acquired directly from the artist himself, and exhibited only briefly at the Palais Bénédictine in 2005. As such, its appearance at auction stirred up a lot of collector interest.

Triptyque 1987-1988 (1988) sold at Christie's Hong Kong in May 2019, exceeding its high estimate and achieving this strong result for another of Zao's important large-scale works. The triptych format allowed Zao to create a panoramic vision that reflects his interest in spatial depth and atmospheric effects. The composition, with its flowing forms and ethereal quality in blues and yellows, paid homage to Claude Monet’s Nymphea paintings and the colourful works of Henri Matisse. The result is the feeling of looking out from a dark space onto a vast, bright landscape. It was created during his mature period after achieving international recognition, demonstrating a practised handling of light and space through layers of luminous colour. Its success at auction is also partly due to the work’s exceptional provenance, travelling the globe consistently between 1988 and 2016.

14/12/59 (1959) achieved 170% of its high estimate at Christie's Hong Kong in May 2018. This piece was created between Zao’s Oracle Bone period, from 1954-59, and Hurricane period of the 1960s, and features a powerful central composition with dynamic brushwork in fiery oranges and reds contrasted against areas of darker tones. It was around this time that Zao did away with formal titles, stating "I only give the date. I am not a poet. Titles are restrictive." 14/12/59 was created during a time of personal and creative transition, after his divorce from his first wife and subsequent trip to the US to learn about Pop Art in 1957, and therefore reflects his deepening engagement with Western artistic trends.

Et La Terre Était Sans Forme (1956-57) sold at Poly Auction Hong Kong in March 2018. Predating Zao’s transiting to numeric titles, this work translates to "And the earth was without form." The biblical reference alludes to the primordial state of creation, a theme that reappears throughout Zao's career - in this piece, the golden palette and explosive central focus evoke celestial phenomena and cosmic, superhuman forces. At this point, Zao was choosing to title all of his works in French. He openly refuted the label of “Chinese painter,” choosing initially to align himself with the likes of Paul Cézanne and Matisse, particularly in his earlier representational work. After discovering the abstract symbolism of Paul Klee, however, Zao’s characteristic style came into its own, becoming more abstract and symbolic from that point forwards. Despite this alignment with Western art, Zao credited Paris with his rediscovery of his Chinese roots, and, alongside Chu Ten-Chun and Wu Guanzhong, was dubbed one of the Three Musketeers of Chinese art.

Painted on Zao’s 42nd birthday, 13/02/62 (1962) sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2021. This piece forms part of Zao’s Hurricane period, and exemplifies the dynamic energy and compositional balance that characterised his mature style, featuring a powerful interplay of fiery reds against a seemingly sparse, barren landscapes of white and black. This colour scheme was significant for Zao, appearing in only a few of his final paintings, reflecting themes of passion, love, and strength on the night before Valentine’s Day, but also reflecting the chaos and fire of the primordial world. The texture and contrast used also reflects Zao's full immersion in abstract painting following his visits to the US, particularly the influences of artists such as Franz Kline and Adolph Gottlieb.

20/03/60 (1960) achieved this result at Sotheby's Hong Kong in July 2020. This was a pivotal year for the global auction market, when, despite an overall downturn due to the global pandemic, Hong Kong’s share increased by nearly 25%. This moody, atmospheric composition, with layered brushwork in deep greens, yellows, and browns, reflects Zao's interest in capturing emotional states rather than literal representations. The painting had been kept fairly consistently out of the public eye. It was exhibited at the Museum Folkwang in Essen in 1965, and then acquired by a private collector in Monaco in 1984. Its appearance at auction in 2020 was the first time since that collectors had access to purchase or even view the piece.

Selling for almost exactly the same price, at Christie’s Hong Kong, just two days after the sale of 20/03/60 (1960), 18/11/66 (1966) rounds off this top 10 list. The painting was acquired directly from the artist and, despite featuring in multiple exhibitions since 2003, had never come up for sale before. It was no surprise, therefore, that the work exceeded its estimate by more than £1million. The piece featured in many Zao Wou-Ki retrospectives around the globe, including at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Bridgestone Museum of Art in Tokyo. Like all of the works on this list, the sale of 20/03/60 (1960) in 2020 proved Zao Wou-Ki’s position as one of the world’s best-loved artists.