Richter, Banksy and Hockney head to the block as Phillips opens Frieze Week in London
Gerhard Richter's portrait Mathis leads Phillips's Frieze Week sales in London on 15 October.
The painting comes from the Collection of Marcel Brient, and Phillips has named it as the headline lot for its Evening Sale, the curated top-tier auction the house stages during Frieze Week, the cluster of fairs and sales held around the Frieze art fair in London Phillips press release. Richter, born in Germany in 1932, is known for photo-based painting and abstraction. Brient is a Swiss collector whose holdings have appeared at auction before.
Phillips has organised the London round as Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale at its London gallery. The Evening Sale starts at 5pm BST on 15 October 2026, according to the house's sale page, with the Day Sale to follow on 17 October sale listing. The dates sit inside Frieze Week, when collectors, dealers and curators are already in the city.
Alongside Richter, Phillips said a work by Banksy making its auction debut would feature in the week, plus standout works by David Hockney Phillips press release. Banksy is the anonymous British street artist whose stencilled images circulate widely online. Hockney, born in Britain in 1937, is known for swimming pools, portraits and Yorkshire landscapes. Phillips has not published hammer prices in advance. Hammer price is the bid the auctioneer closes on, before fees.
The wider catalogue mixes established names with newer ones. Yellow Nights by Danish painter Eva Helene Pade carries an estimate, the low-high range published before a sale, of £30,000–£50,000 at Phillips London. A work by British painter Joseph Yaeger is also listed in the Evening Sale sale listing. Estimates do not include buyer's premium, the extra percentage paid to the auction house on top of the hammer.
The sales follow a busy spring for Phillips, the auction house headquartered in London with rooms in New York, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The house reported US$500 million in auction sales in spring 2026. Its May 2026 Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art in New York totalled US$115,216,700, according to subsequent reporting The Art Newspaper. Phillips described that May result as a white-glove sale, industry shorthand for an auction in which every lot offered sells. Every lot sold.
What makes this stand out for a casual follower is the contrast. One room brings together a post-war German portrait with street art and pop-inflected British painting, plus first-time auction appearances for younger artists. For fans, this means the results on 15 October will give a fresh read on what buyers want right now.
