Total Winning Bid Amount at Nine Auction Houses Reaches 31.35 Billion Won in Q3
Lee Jungseop's "Cow and Child" Sells for 3.52 Billion Won
The total winning bid amount in the domestic art auction market for the third quarter of this year rebounded significantly, increasing by about 32% compared to the same period last year.
According to the "2025 Q3 Art Market Analysis Report" released on October 29 by the KAAAI, the corporate-affiliated research institute of the Korea Art Appraisal Research Center, the total winning bid amount at nine domestic art auction houses in the third quarter of this year was approximately 31.35 billion won. This represents an increase of about 7.6 billion won (31.99%) compared to the third quarter of last year (23.75 billion won).
In the third quarter of last year, the total had decreased by about 26.2% year-on-year, but this time, a rebound was achieved.
Among the two major auction houses, K Auction saw its total winning bid amount rise by 59.5% to 16.37 billion won, while Seoul Auction also recorded an increase of 23.7%, reaching 10.54 billion won.
However, the total number of lots offered was 4,599, a decrease of 23.9% compared to the same period last year (6,045 lots). This was due to the sale of a large number of high-priced, large-scale works.
In September, Lee Jungseop's "Cow and Child," which was auctioned at K Auction, fetched 3.52 billion won, marking the highest winning bid for the third quarter. Park Sookeun's 1959 work "Mountain" also sold for 1.2 billion won. In contrast, last year, the only work that sold for more than 1 billion won was Yayoi Kusama's "Pumpkin" (2.9 billion won).
The report stated, "The proportion of high-priced artwork transactions has increased significantly as a result of both quantitative contraction and qualitative growth in the auction market," and explained, "Rather than a recovery of the art market, this reflects a process of selection and concentration within the market structure, with intensifying polarization and higher prices." It further interpreted, "The concentration of demand on major artists and works appears to entail mid- to long-term uncertainties."
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