Frieze London 2026 and the Big Auctions

Frieze London and Frieze Masters run from 14 to 18 October in The Regent's Park, and the week brings London's biggest art auctions of the autumn. A Mondrian never sold at auction goes on sale on 14 October at £20 million to £30 million, alongside the first Hockney dog painting ever offered. Further afield, a $180 million Van Gogh and a record-chasing Monet follow.

London art auctions this week

14 October. Piet Mondrian's Composition III, painted in 1920 and unseen in public for 25 years, is estimated at £20 million to £30 million. It is the most important Mondrian offered in Europe since 2009. Mondrian finished only eight paintings that year; five are in museums, including Tate and MoMA, and this is one of three still in private hands. It belonged to the American architect Armand P. Bartos and his wife, Celeste. The Mondrian auction record is $51 million, set in New York in 2022.

Mondrian's Composition A, 1919–20, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome: one of his 1920 group now in museums, not the painting for sale. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the same sale, David Hockney's Dog Painting 17, his 1995 portrait of his dachshund Stanley asleep on a cushion, is estimated at £1.5 million to £2.5 million. None of his dog paintings has been to auction before.

15 October. Banksy's anti-Brexit installation Keep Ou T, a painted metal gate from 2019, is estimated at £1.2 million to £1.8 million.

The Mondrian and the Hockney are on view in London from 8 October, and auction viewings are free to anyone.

Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026: dates, times and tickets

Frieze London shows 172 galleries from 42 countries this year, and Frieze Masters covers art made before 2000. Wednesday 14 October is the invitation-only preview, and the public can visit from 1pm on Thursday 15 October, when Frieze London closes at 5pm and Frieze Masters at 7pm. On Friday and Saturday both fairs open from 11am to 7pm, and on Sunday from 11am to 6pm.

Tickets are online only, for a set time, with no re-entry on general admission. General admission is £48, or £92 for both fairs, and prices vary by day. Frieze London is at the south end of the park, off Park Square West, and Frieze Masters is at the north-east corner near London Zoo. A free shuttle bus runs between them about every 15 minutes.

Frieze Sculpture 2026: free in The Regent's Park

Frieze Sculpture is free and needs no ticket. Eleven artists are showing in the park's English Gardens until 1 November, curated for the fourth year by Fatoş Üstek. One standout is Warrior Figure by the Sri Lankan-born artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran: a two-metre, two-faced figure built by hand in clay, cast in bronze and painted, drawing on Hindu and Buddhist images of a figure that guards a place.

PAD London, 1-54 and the Affordable Art Fair

Three more fairs run the same week. PAD London fills Berkeley Square in Mayfair from 13 to 18 October with historic and contemporary design and collectible objects, and is open to the public from Thursday 15 October; tickets are £30, or £15 for students. The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair is at Somerset House from 15 to 18 October, with public days from Friday to Sunday; tickets are £32, or £18 for concessions, and children 12 and under go free. The Affordable Art Fair is in Battersea Park from 14 to 18 October, with 116 galleries and original work priced from £100 to £10,000. Advance tickets are £15 until 11 October, or £13 for concessions, and under-16s go free; booking fees are extra and prices rise after the advance period.

Stand-out artists at PAD London and the Affordable Art Fair

PAD London's 18th edition brings 66 galleries from 15 countries, seven of them new. Among the newcomers, Durazzo and Georges Lenfant pair post-war paintings by Marina Apollonio, Yaacov Agam and Titina Maselli with high jewellery, all built around the circle. Lloyd Choi Gallery from Incheon brings South Korean artists working with material and heritage, and Initio from Saint-Ouen shows Eastern European design, including work by Rebeka Rácz and Kim Moltzer.

At the Affordable Art Fair, the fair director Hugo Barclay's picks include Charles Inge, an Isle of Wight painter who spent 30 years in advertising before picking up a brush again (Pigment Gallery); Itamar Yehiel, a Berlin artist who makes leaves entirely from hand-stitched thread (Ronen Art Gallery); and Hisako Ohkochi's sculpture carved from Japanese cedar (Systema Gallery).

Ticket prices compared

Frieze: £48, or £92 for both fairs (prices vary by day)

Affordable Art Fair: £15 in advance (£13 concessions, under-16s free)

PAD: £30 (£15 students)

Frieze Sculpture and auction viewings: free

Van Gogh auction record: the $180 million painting

In New York on 18 November, Van Gogh's Châtaigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Blossom), painted at Auvers-sur-Oise in May 1890, two months before his death, is estimated at around $180 million. The Van Gogh auction record is $117 million, set in 2022 by Orchard with Cypresses. Châtaigniers en fleurs was last shown in public in 1964.

Vincent van Gogh, Châtaigniers en fleurs, 1890, the painting being sold. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

It leads twelve paintings from the Argentine collection of Nelly and Carlos Blaquier, estimated at about $450 million, including Cézanne's Arlequin at around $120 million. There is a London story here: the couple bought seven of the twelve from the Lefevre Gallery on Bruton Street in Mayfair in the 1970s, and five were shown in London this week.

Monet's Iris: a French record?

In Paris on 22 October, Monet's Iris, painted at Giverny in 1924–25, is estimated at €22 million to €30 million, the highest estimate ever given to a painting at auction in France. At 160 by 180 centimetres it is the largest of his late iris paintings to reach the market, and it has never been shown in public. It comes from the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, who bought it through the dealer Katia Granoff after Granoff acquired it from Monet's son, Michel. The Monet auction record is $110.7 million, set in 2019.

Monet, Les Iris, about 1924–25, private collection: from the same late period, not the painting for sale. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

What it means if you are selling

Every one of these works is new to the market or unseen for decades, with a clear history, and that is what has drawn the strongest bidding all year. If you own work that has stayed in a family or a private collection for a long time, that history is part of its value. Our art valuation page explains how we assess a work from photographs, and selling at auction sets out how the sale, its date and its estimate are agreed. Neither commits you to selling.