Wolfgang Tillmans Auction Prices and Value Guide

Wolfgang Tillmans auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 822 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Wolfgang Tillmans auction prices: quick answer

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

Artist
Wolfgang Tillmans
Source records
822
Market update
2026-02-16

Wolfgang Tillmans market snapshot

Wolfgang Tillmans shows very deep auction liquidity with 606 tracked lots. Median realized sale is around $7,500. Category concentration is still broad or sparse. Last 12 months recorded 86 sales. Latest recorded sale: 2025-12-16.

Realized price distribution

  • Under $1,000 (9.8% · 44 sales)
  • $1,000 to $10,000 (47.1% · 212 sales)
  • $10,000+ (43.1% · 194 sales)
Median sale (last 12 months)
$5,080
Sales recorded (last 12 months)
86
Median shift vs prior year
0.0%
Latest recorded sale
2025-12-16

Artist context

About Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans (born 1968, Remscheid, Germany) is a German fine-art photographer and artist whose wide-ranging practice spans portraiture, landscape, still life, and abstract imagery. He studied at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Design from 1990 to 1992 and has become one of the most influential photographers of his generation. In 2000, Tillmans was awarded the Turner Prize, the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the honour. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, and Centre Pompidou. Tillmans is recognised for his continual investigation into the foundations of the photographic medium, producing images that blur the line between documentary observation and experimental abstraction. He lives and works in Berlin and London, maintaining an active international exhibition schedule with recent solo presentations at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2025) and Regen Projects, Los Angeles (2026).

Contemporary PhotographyPhotography (chromogenic prints, inkjet prints, silver gelatin prints)PortraitureStill lifeLandscape and aerial viewsAbstract and cameraless photography

Common works and media

Tillmans works primarily in photography, producing chromogenic (c-type) prints, inkjet prints, and silver gelatin prints in sizes ranging from intimate to mural-scale. Common subjects include portraits of friends, musicians, and cultural figures, still lifes, aerial and landscape views, nightclub and youth culture scenes, and abstract cameraless photographs. His practice also extends to artist books, posters, and multi-panel installations. Collectors may encounter both unique prints and limited editions, with edition sizes varying by project and period.

Market and appraisal context

Wolfgang Tillmans maintains a deep and actively traded secondary market with 680 recorded auction lots, of which 487 carry realised prices spanning from 1999 to April 2026. The price distribution is wide: the median sits at approximately $6,930 while the 75th percentile reaches $27,500, and the top-end exceeds $1.75 million, reflecting the gap between small editioned prints and large-scale unique or low-edition works on Dibond. Blue-chip houses dominate the upper tier—Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips account for the highest prices—while regional European houses such as Kunsthaus Lempertz, Grisebach, Van Ham, Adams Amsterdam, and Forum Auctions provide consistent mid-market liquidity. Recent activity shows 48 priced lots in the trailing 12 months, down from 69 in the prior period, indicating a modest cooling in volume but continued institutional demand for signature series. The strongest recent results are led by Einzelgänger II (Christie's London, March 2026, £165,100) and Heatwave (Christie's New York, November 2025, $76,200), both large inkjet prints mounted on Dibond. Works from recognised series such as Paper Drop, Silver, and Faltenwurf consistently trade above the median, while smaller chromogenic prints, exhibition posters, and artist books typically realise between €150 and €3,000.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Contemporary Photography
  • Photographic Prints (chromogenic / C-prints)
  • Inkjet Prints on Dibond
  • Silver Gelatin Prints
  • Artist Books and Ephemera

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • Edition sizes and printing techniques vary significantly across Tillmans's career; collectors should verify specific edition details for each work.
  • Tillmans produces both unique and editioned prints; appraisal value differs substantially between these categories.
  • No specific auction price ranges are cited here as public source data in the collected pack does not include realized prices.
  • Price data covers 487 of 680 recorded lots; 193 lots lack realised prices (bought-in, withdrawn, or post-sale data unavailable), which may skew the observed distribution toward successful sales.

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 Wolfgang Tillmans

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Wolfgang Tillmans 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 Wolfgang Tillmans artwork?

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