Rare Yoshitomo Nara Work Heads to Auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong

Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Asian art. He is best known for his depictions of children with strikingly large eyes, whose apparent innocence contrasts with defiant expressions, cigarettes, knives and other elements that disrupt the viewer’s first impression. This tension between vulnerability, solitude and rebellion has become one of the defining characteristics of his work.

Nara’s works are represented in major institutional collections around the world, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and The National Museum of Art in Osaka.

Present was created in 1994, during an important period in Nara’s early career. The monumental canvas, measuring approximately 180 × 150 cm, depicts a full-length child dressed in red, striding forward against a turquoise background with a knife in hand.

According to Sotheby’s, among Nara’s works from the 1990s, it is one of only five known examples in which the artist depicted the full figure of his now-iconic protagonist in his increasingly mature visual language.

Present is also the only work within this group in which the child is shown moving forward. The painting was first exhibited in Amsterdam in the year it was created.

The work is particularly significant as a precursor to one of Nara’s most celebrated paintings, Knife Behind Back from 2000. When the work appeared at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2019, it sparked competition among six bidders before selling for HK$195.7 million, approximately US$25 million.

The result established a new world auction record for the artist and remains the highest price achieved for a work by Nara at auction.

Nara’s distinctive figures, however, cannot be understood solely through the aesthetics of Japanese pop culture. The artist studied at the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music before continuing his education at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

His years in Germany, during which he also experienced isolation and solitude, played an important role in shaping his artistic language. Over time, his seemingly simple childlike figures became a vehicle for expressing far more complex emotions – from vulnerability and alienation to defiance and the desire for independence.

The return of Present to the market therefore offers not only an opportunity to witness another significant moment in Yoshitomo Nara’s auction history, but also a glimpse into the formative period in which one of the most recognisable visual languages in contemporary art began to take shape.

The Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction will take place at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on 28 September 2026 at 7:00 PM local time.