František Kupka's painting Nepopisný prostor was sold at auction for a price that, according to Czech media, is a new record for a work by this painter.
František Kupka's painting Nepopisný prostor was sold for an amount that, according to the daily Novinky.cz, exceeded the upper limit of the catalogue estimate of six to eight million euros and also the painter's previous world record. Reports of the auction appeared on 26 October 2026.[1][2]
The work
It is an oil on canvas from a key period of Kupka's work, when he turned away from depicting external reality. According to the Sotheby's catalogue, the painting originally bore the title Raisons graphiques and its first form is documented in 1913; the painter later reworked it, simplified the coloured shapes and enlarged the empty space in the middle of the canvas.[1] The painting was exhibited in Prague at Kupka's show at Mánes in 1946 and afterwards many times abroad.[1][2]
Previous records
The previous world record was held by the painting Tryskání II (Le Jaillissement II), which sold in London in 2021 for 8.81 million euros, at the time roughly 230.8 million koruna.[1][2] The Czech auction record is the painting Početí (Conception / Danae), for which a buyer paid 126.5 million koruna including the premium in 2024 at an auction by Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery.[1][2]
František Kupka is regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. A major collection of his works, about two hundred pieces, is held in the Czech Republic by Museum Kampa in Prague; another group of works is owned by the National Gallery Prague.[1][2]
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Chronology
- — František Kupka's painting Nepopisný prostor (Indescribable Space) sold at auction for 217 million crowns, a new record for the painter. iDNES.cz Novinky.cz