Kim Whanki's 'Blue Point' Sold for 7.8 Billion Won at Hong Kong Auction... 3rd Highest Price for Korean Artwork at Auction

Christie's Hong Kong Auction on the 26th... First Appearance in 5 Years
All Top 10 Modern Art Auction Prices Are 'Kim Hwan-gi'

A 1971 work by painter Kim Whanki, a blue monochrome point painting, was sold for about 7.8 billion KRW at Christie's Hong Kong auction. It ranks third among Korean paintings ever traded at auction, with all top 10 spots held by Kim Whanki's works.

Kim Whanki, 9-XII-71 #216, oil on canvas, 127 x 251cm. 1971. [Photo by CHRISTIE]

At the '20th and 21st Century Evening Sale' held on the 26th at Christie's Hong Kong headquarters, Kim Whanki's work ‘9-XII-71 #216’ was sold for 46 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 7.8194 billion KRW, excluding fees). The estimated price range was about 7.75 billion to 11.2 billion KRW.

Christie's Hong Kong announced that the price including fees for the work was 56.035 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 9.55564 billion KRW).

The Kim Whanki piece sold that day became the third most expensive Korean painting, following 'Universe,' which was sold for about 13.2 billion KRW (15.3 billion KRW including fees) at Christie's Hong Kong in November 2019, and '3-II-72 #220,' sold for 8.53 billion KRW at Seoul Auction Hong Kong in May 2018.

Until early this year, works by painter Lee Jung-seop held the 10th place. However, in the auction held last March, the rankings were overturned, and now Kim Whanki's works occupy all positions from 1st to 10th.

Lee Hakjun, CEO of Christie's Korea, explained, "‘9-XII-71 #216’ features a bright blue tone and is an attractive work where you can see Kim Whanki’s process of painting the base color, drawing lines on top, and then applying dots."

The blue monochrome point painting by Kim Whanki, sold for 7.8194 billion KRW that day, was created in 1971, the same year as ‘Universe,’ which set the record for the most expensive Korean artwork at 13.2 billion KRW. Measuring 251 cm in width and 127 cm in height, the painting features blue dots extending outward in a semi-circular spiral pattern, gradually expanding.

This auction was the first held at 'The Henderson,' the newly relocated Christie's Hong Kong headquarters, and it continued to set auction records.

Christie's recently expanded and relocated its Asia headquarters to The Henderson Tower, a state-of-the-art new building in central Hong Kong designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

At the evening sale, besides Kim Whanki, Korean artist Lee Sungja’s 1963?65 work 'Memories of Hidden Trees' was sold for 8 million Hong Kong dollars (including fees 10.055 million Hong Kong dollars, approximately 1.7 billion KRW based on the hammer price), setting the artist’s highest auction record. Additionally, Lee Bae’s 'From Fire - Do 5' found a new owner at 1.3 million Hong Kong dollars (including fees 1.638 million Hong Kong dollars, approximately 280 million KRW based on the hammer price).