Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild to be a Highlight of Christie's Hong Kong Evening Sale
Christie's begins a year of 40th Anniversary celebrations in Asia and commences the Hong Kong spring season with the announcement of Gerhard Richter's seminal and incandescent Abstraktes Bild (estimate: HK$78,000,000 – 98,000,000 / US$10,000,000 – 13,000,000).
The masterpiece will make its auction debut as a leading highlight of the Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on 27 March 2026, taking place live at Christie's Asia Pacific headquarters at The Henderson during Hong Kong Art Week.
Presented amidst surging global interest in Richter, ignited by the acclaimed retrospective currently on view at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the piece hails from the artist's famed 'Abstraktes Bild' series – one of the most celebrated bodies of work in late 20th century painting. An exceedingly rare example within Richter's oeuvre, it was only in the year 1991 that he painted canvases dominated by the colour red, and the present work is one of just 27, of which three are in institutional collections. Composed of vast stretches of vivid red tones applied in layers through the artist's signature squeegee technique, the work radiates with a palpable sense of warmth and luminosity.
Abstraktes Bild was created at a pinnacle moment in Richter's career, as he ascended to international prominence – following his major touring retrospectives across Europe and America in 1986-1988, and in the same year as his groundbreaking 1991 Tate exhibition. The work reflects a period that shaped the trajectory of Richter's career and affirmed his status as one of the most influential artists of his generation. Boasting exceptional provenance, Abstraktes Bild passed through the hands and was exhibited at Galerie Liliane & Michel Durand‑Dessert—pioneering Paris gallerists celebrated for championing avant‑garde artists.
Main Image: Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild, 1991 (estimate: HK$78,000,000 – 98,000,000 / US$10,000,000 – 13,000,000).