Georg Baselitz Auction Prices and Value Guide

Georg Baselitz auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 1,756 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Georg Baselitz auction prices: quick answer

Georg Baselitz auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Georg Baselitz
Source records
1,756
Market update
2026-02-06

Artist context

About Georg Baselitz

Georg Baselitz (born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony) is a German painter, sculptor, and printmaker who ranks among the most influential European artists of the postwar era. After studying at the Hochschule für bildende und angewandte Kunst in East Berlin and the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin, he adopted the pseudonym Baselitz in 1958, taking his birthplace as his surname. He emerged in the 1960s with bold, figurative paintings that defied the prevailing abstraction of the period. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down—a signature inversion that shifted emphasis from subject matter to the physical act and materiality of painting. Associated with Neo-Expressionism and the revival of figurative painting in late twentieth-century Europe, Baselitz draws on influences ranging from Soviet-era illustration and Mannerism to African sculpture. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Neo-ExpressionismNew FigurationOil paintingWoodcut and linocut printsEtching and engravingWatercolor and gouacheInverted figurative compositionsPortraits and self-portraitsAnimals and mythological figures

Common works and media

Baselitz works most often encountered at auction include large-format oil paintings featuring inverted figures and landscapes, bold woodcut and linocut prints (some in color, many monochrome), etchings, watercolors, gouaches, and pastel drawings. Sculptural works—primarily carved and painted wood—are rarer but appear periodically. Subjects include inverted portraits and self-portraits, animals, eagles, and references to German history and myth. His prints are frequently editioned and may appear across multiple auction categories.

Market and appraisal context

Georg Baselitz maintains one of the deepest and most liquid auction markets among living Post-War German artists, with 1,077 catalogued lots and 773 priced records spanning 1998 to April 2026. The price distribution is exceptionally wide: from €20 at the low end (small prints and multiples) to €18,450,000 for top-tier inverted oil paintings. The interquartile range runs from approximately €1,400 to €54,000, with a median of €9,375—indicating that while headline-grabbing seven-figure results occur at Christie's and Sotheby's, the bulk of market activity consists of prints, works on paper, and smaller paintings sold through German and Swiss regional houses. Liquidity is strong and stable, with 82 priced lots in both the trailing and prior 12-month windows. The top-ten auction houses by frequency include Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Kunsthaus Lempertz KG, Grisebach, Koller Auctions, Karl & Faber, Henry's Auktionshaus, Auctionata Paddle8 AG, and TGP Auction, reflecting a dual-tier market: blue-chip evening sales for major oils, and a robust mid-tier and entry-level segment for editioned prints and works on paper handled primarily by German-speaking houses.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Post-War and Contemporary Art
  • Prints and Multiples
  • Oil painting
  • Woodcut and linocut prints
  • Etching and engraving

Value drivers

  1. Medium: large-scale oil paintings command the highest values; woodcuts and editioned prints are more accessible entry points
  2. Period: upside-down paintings from the 1970s onward and early Hero paintings are particularly sought after
  3. Provenance and exhibition history: works with museum exhibition records or distinguished provenance carry significant premium
  4. Edition and condition matter for prints: early woodcuts in good condition with full margins are valued above later editions
  5. Attribution: works signed with the pseudonym 'Baselitz' date from 1958 onward; earlier works under the name Hans-Georg Kern are rare
  6. Medium: large-scale oil paintings on canvas command the highest values (Christie's realized £693,000 and $226,800 for individual oils in late 2024); woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings trade in the hundreds-to-low-thousands range; after-the-artist editions and plates sit at the entry tier

Appraisal caveats

  • Market values vary widely by medium, scale, date, and provenance; no single price range characterizes the artist's auction performance
  • The artist is living and continues to produce work, which may affect supply dynamics for earlier periods
  • Price records span multiple currencies (EUR, GBP, USD, CHF); cross-currency comparisons are approximate and do not account for exchange-rate fluctuations over the 1998–2026 period
  • The €18.45M maximum reflects a single outlier sale and is not representative of typical auction results; the median price of €9,375 is a more useful central tendency for the overall record

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Georg Baselitz

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Georg Baselitz worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Georg Baselitz artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.