“Before the Hammer Falls: Phillips Turns Milan into the Prelude of the Autumn Art Market”

Milan becomes the stage of anticipation. Between the diamond dust of Warhol’s Giorgio Armani and the shimmering sensuality of Flora Yukhnovich’s My Body Knows Un-Heard of Songs, Phillips transforms its Milan preview into more than a display — it is a statement. A dialogue between eras, icons, and desires, where Pop’s mythology meets the pulse of the contemporary. From Accardi’s historic gestures to Kovařík’s mythic force, the exhibition traces the evolving grammar of value, visibility, and vision — revealing how, before the hammer falls, art already tells us everything about the world to come.

INSIDE THE AUCTION

Charlotte Madeleine CASTELLI

10/7/20253 min read

Milan awakens with a subtle tremor. Auction previews have become a ritual in themselves — quiet signals that precede decisive moves, the strategies yet to unfold, the tension of figures rising in the air. It is precisely within this liminal zone that Phillips positions itself, transforming the city into a stage for anticipation. From September 22 to 26, the auction house unveiled an exclusive selection of highlights from its upcoming Modern & Contemporary Art sales in London and New York — a suspended interlude where the light of the catalogues begins to cut through the dusk of estimates.

At the heart of this preview stands an unmistakable icon: Andy Warhol’s Giorgio Armani (1981), a portrait rendered in diamond dust and silkscreen ink on canvas, estimated between £600,000 and £800,000. It is a work that unites two modern mythologies — the visionary elegance of Armani and the pop genius of Warhol — into a single gesture that feels both celebratory and elegiac, especially following the recent passing of the designer. The timing is emblematic: Warhol’s market remains remarkably strong. According to the latest Artprice reports, the artist achieved an annual auction turnover of over £114 million in 2024, a +1.7% growth that secures his position among the top five most traded artists worldwide, with the majority of sales concentrated in the United States. His demand stretches across tiers, from accessible prints to masterpieces commanding record sums — such as the legendary Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964), which fetched over $195 million at Christie’s in 2022, setting an enduring benchmark for postwar art.

Alongside Warhol’s glimmering presence, Phillips presents one of the most significant voices of a new generation: Flora Yukhnovich, whose My Body Knows Un-Heard of Songs (2017) merges delicacy and tension, irony and sensuality. Estimated between £900,000 and £1.5 million, the painting embodies Yukhnovich’s signature synthesis — a revision of the rococo language through a distinctly contemporary and feminine lens. Born in 1990, the British artist has seen her works appear at auction over fifty times, every piece in painting, every sale above £10,000. More than ninety percent of her transactions have occurred in the UK, culminating in a total auction turnover surpassing £200,000 in 2024 — modest yet steadily ascending. Her record stands at £2.69 million, achieved at Sotheby’s in 2022, confirming her place as one of the fastest-rising names in contemporary art.

But Phillips’ Milan presentation goes beyond individual stars. It weaves a coherent curatorial narrative, bridging generations and sensibilities. Historic names like Carla Accardi, represented by a rare 1954 museum-level work, appear in dialogue with contemporary visions such as Vojtěch Kovařík, whose monumental Laocoön expands the classical myth into a muscular, painterly synthesis that feels both timeless and urgent. The exhibition’s design, refined and deliberate, reflects Phillips’ intention to stage not merely a preview of commercial highlights, but a broader reflection on the visual and structural dynamics shaping today’s art world.

As Margherita Solaini, Specialist and Associate Director of Contemporary Art at Phillips, remarked, the selection offers not just a glimpse of the upcoming London and New York sales, but also a meditation on the rising prominence of women artists on the global stage — a presence that is no longer symbolic, but foundational, guiding the visual and conceptual research of our time.

Beneath the surface of this elegant prelude, a clear message unfolds: Milan is no longer an outpost of the international art market — it is a node, an interlocutor where the currents of value, desire, and visibility converge. The act of previewing here becomes a gesture of strategy and recognition, allowing Italian collectors and institutions to sense the vibrations that will soon resonate through the global auction season. Between Warhol’s glittering legacy and Yukhnovich’s luminous emergence, the Phillips preview in Milan captures an essential transition — from memory to momentum, from the myth of Pop to the poetics of the contemporary. In that suspended moment before the hammer falls, art reveals itself once again as the perfect measure of anticipation.