ARTnews reports that Stockholm auction house Bukowskis will offer Hilma af Klint's abstract painting *Ser III No. 5* (1920) in a November 19 sale of modern art and design objects.

The work carries an estimate of $600,000–$800,000, and even reaching the low end would shatter the artist's prior auction record, per the article.

According to ARTnews, the painting is one of 85 canvases af Klint produced during a three-month burst of activity in 1920, and has been held by the same unidentified collector since 1995 — a purchase the house says followed a small release of works by her foundation in the early '90s.

The rarity here is extreme: ARTnews says only two af Klint paintings have ever been sold at auction, both more than 30 years ago.

The foundation, citing the artist's own demand that her art not be commercialized, has tightly controlled how the work is shown, which is why even a 2021 David Zwirner exhibition of her 'Tree of Knowledge' series ended with the pieces bought by Glenstone museum rather than traded freely.

ARTnews also notes a potential foundation–Zwirner partnership collapsed after descendants objected, and it was unclear how involved the foundation was in this sale.

Observer's account of London's October sales frames a market 'playing it safe,' concentrating on established names with institutional backing — a backdrop that makes an untested artist like af Klint appearing at auction all the more striking.

Observer reports the Monsoon: The Peter Simon Collection sale brought £107.5 million, led by Francis Bacon's *Figure in Movement* at £17.2 million, with records for Liubov Popova (£7.6 million) and Bridget Riley (£5.2 million).

ARTnews traces af Klint's rise from a relatively obscure figure to a giant of 20th-century art, credited by a hit 2018 Guggenheim retrospective with inventing abstraction, with a Grand Palais survey in Paris earlier this year.

The estate has pursued her unrealized temple concept to house her art outside museums, but no plan has materialized, per ARTnews.