No, Hockney's £70 Million Sale Was Not a Lasting Record — It Was Broken Six Months Later

In November 2018, David Hockney's 'Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)' sold at Christie's for $90.3 million — roughly £70 million — and headlines rightly called it a record for a living artist at auction. The problem is how that record has since been talked about. Describing it simply as 'the record' implies it still stands. It does not.

Less than six months later, in May 2019, Jeff Koons' sculpture 'Rabbit' sold at Christie's for $91.1 million, surpassing Hockney's figure and becoming the new benchmark. Both the BBC and Artnet reported this clearly at the time. The Hockney sale was a record — briefly. Presenting it as the definitive high-water mark erases what happened next.

To be fair to the original claim, it was technically accurate on the day of the sale. The Guardian confirmed as much in November 2018. The misleading part is not the number itself but the missing word: 'temporary.' Records in the art market move, and a six-month reign is a short one.

It is also worth noting that private sales — deals struck outside of public auctions — may have exceeded both figures without ever being disclosed. Auction records only capture what happens on the public market, so even the Koons figure may not represent the true ceiling for a living artist's work.

This kind of claim spreads because superlatives are sticky. 'Record price' is a simple, exciting fact that travels fast and rarely gets a correction attached to it. When you see auction record claims, always check the date and ask whether the record has since been broken — in the art world, it often has.