Kim Whan-ki painting fetches $8.4m, giving market much-needed boost

Christie’s NY auction sale makes '19-VI-71 #206' Korea's 2nd most expensive artwork

“19-VI-71 #206” by Kim Whan-ki (Christie's Images LTD. 2025)

The Korean art market, only beginning to show signs of recovery, gained much-needed momentum Monday when Kim Whan-ki’s painting set another record at Christie’s evening sale in New York.

Titled “19-VI-71 #206,” the Korean art master's painting fetched $8.4 million at Christie’s New York 20th Century Evening Sale, falling short of the highest auction price fetched by a Korean artwork. Also by Kim, “05-IV-71 #200 (Universe)” sold for HK$88 million ($11.3 million) in 2019 at a Christie’s auction held in Hong Kong.

With Monday's sale, Kim occupies the top five spots in terms of price fetched for Korean artworks sold at domestic and international auctions.

“Kim’s work (on Monday) was sold at around the midpoint of the estimated price range of $7.5 million to $10 million,” an official from Christie’s told The Korea Herald on Wednesday.

The sale provided a lift to a Korean art market that is slowly beginning to bounce back after a prolonged downturn.

“It is still difficult to say that the market is rebounding, but we are beginning to see signs of recovery,” Chung Joon-mo, CEO of the Korea Art Authentication & Appraisal Research Center, told The Korea Herald.

“Given the challenges in the global market, it is true that it’s hard to predict how much the market will recover next year, and the Kim Whan-ki painting offered at Christie’s this time could have even set a new record had the market been in better shape.”

According to recent data provided by the research center, total sales across nine major Korean auction houses reached approximately 31.3 billion won in the third quarter, a 32 percent increase from the same period in 2004, which was 23.75 billion won.

The painting sold Monday at Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale was created in 1971 during the artist’s late years, when his signature full-dot style reached its artistic peak. Composed of radiating dots in various shades of blue and emerald green and inspired by the blue sea and sky, it expresses an infinite sense of space expanding into the universe.

Kim’s poetic dotted paintings later paved the way to dansaekhwa, an art movement known for its monochrome style led by a group of Korean artists in the 1970s.

“This outstanding sale in New York is a demonstration of the global importance of Kim Whan-Ki’s work,” Christie’s said in a statement.

“‘19-VI-71 #206’ is a masterpiece showcasing the pinnacle of Kim’s spiritual and technical maturity. Its creation year of 1971 and large size, exceeding 200 centimeters, alone make it an extremely rare work.”

The global auction house hauled $574.7 million in hammer sales, with 76 lots sold from a total of 79 lots on Monday. The highlight included Mark Rothko’s “No 31(Yellow Stripe),” which sold for $53.5 million.