Picasso, Richter and Hockney Earn Largest Sums at Art Basel Switzerland 2026
1June 24, 2026
The 2026 edition ofArt Basel’s Switzerland fair came to a close on Sunday, and in a follow-upreporton the results, Art Basel said that the top-selling offerings of the six day event included Pablo Picasso’sLe peintre et son modèle dans un paysage,which Hauser & Wirth sold for $35 million. Rounding out the top three were Gerhard Richter’sAbstraktes Bild (940-7), 2015, which sold for $20 million, andStudio Interior #2, 2014 by recently-deceased luminaryDavid Hockney; the acrylic-on-canvasrenditionof Hockney’s Los Angeles art-making space sold for $8.5 million.
Another stunning Picasso,Satyre, Pan et nymphe, 1938, sold for $6–6.5 million at Almine Rech. Hauser & Wirth scored another win with Cy Twombly’sOn Returning from Tonnicoda, 1973, which they sold for $5 million. In terms of female artists, Louise Bourgeois’sCouple, 2002 was sold by Xavier Hufkens for $2.2 million, and Helen Frankenthaler’sSudden Wave, 1982 went for $3 million at Thaddaeus Ropac.
“There is more disparity in the market than in previous years,” Haily Widrig, the founder of Art Partners Advisory, commented to Artnews. “There seems to be a go-big-or-go-home attitude at the booths.”
All told, the fair included contributions from 290 galleries hailing from a total of forty-three different countries, and representatives from over 270 museums and foundations were also in attendance.
In the last couple of years—following a 2022 peak of $67.8 billion—the global art market’s annual sales have quelled somewhat, per the 2026 Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, which was published in March of this year. However, Art Basel also said that in 2025, the global art market had risen 4 percent from the previous year, bringing in a total of $59.6 billion.
Speaking on Art Basel 2026, co-founder of PPOW gallery Wendy Olsoff said in a statement that “it finally feels like the art market is finding more stable ground, with collectors looking beyond trends and speculation and instead acquiring works that seriously grapple with ideas that thoughtfully reflect our current moment.
“Galleries that have consistently championed diverse voices with conviction and a clear point of view are also being rewarded,” Olsoff continued. “After all, these are the spaces where radical cultures are nurtured and promoted — in plain sight.”