Yoshitomo Nara Painting Sells for £7.5 Million in Seoul, Setting New Korean Auction Record
Yoshitomo Nara, Nothing about it (2016). Courtesy Seoul Auctions.
The South Korean art market hit a new milestone earlier this week when two works surpassed the KRW 10 billion (£4.98 million) threshold on a single day.
Leading Tuesday’s historic sale at at Seoul Auction Gangnam Center was Nara Yoshitomo’s Nothing about it (2016), which hammered at KRW 15 billion (£7.5 million), followed by Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (MBOK) (2015), which fetched KRW 10.45 billion (£5.25 million).
The result for Nothing about it shattered the previous record for the highest-priced work of art ever sold at a domestic Korean auction—previously held by Marc Chagall’s Bouquet, which sold for KRW 9.4 billion (£4.7 million) last year.
Nara’s painting, measuring nearly two metres in height, is a rare large-scale canvas in his oeuvre. The work gained international attention during a high-profile preview at Art Basel Hong Kong earlier this month, where its scale and the complexity of the subject’s expression were noted by collectors.
Since their emergence in the 1990s, Nara’s big-eyed girls have become icons of contemporary loneliness. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, however, his works underwent a distinct shift.
The gaze has evolved from the aggressive, mischievous glares of the 1990s into something more soft, meditative and translucent. “Now I take my time and work slowly and build up all these layers to find the best way,” he told Artnews in 2017.
In Nothing about it, the eyes are rendered with multiple layers of kaleidoscopic pigments, suggesting a peaceful internal dialogue rather than outward defiance.
The Japanese superstar’s market remains strong, especially in Asia. This record follows a string of strong performances in recent years, including Can’t Wait ’til the Night Comes (2012), which sold for HKD 79.9 million (£7.7 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in September 2025.
Another Nara work, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (2017), headlined Sotheby’s Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction in April 2024, selling for HKD 95.9 million (£9.3 million).
The other major highlight of the Seoul sale, Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (MBOK) (2015), is a significant example from the artist’s later period.
The comforting image from her childhood is executed in her signature black-and-yellow palette and dense, meticulous polka-dot patterns, characterised by a highly symmetrical and vibrant composition.
The result marks one of the highest prices for a Kusama pumpkin painting in the Korean market, reinforcing the strong regional demand for the artist’s most celebrated motif.
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