Hernan Bas (b. 1978, Miami) is one of the most distinctive figures to emerge from the resurgence of figurative painting in the early 2000s. Largely self-taught, Bas developed his practice outside traditional academic frameworks, cultivating a visual language that is both literary and highly stylized. He gained early institutional recognition in Miami, notably through the Rubell Museum, before rapidly establishing an international presence. Working between the United States and Europe, Bas has built a career defined by consistency, refinement, and intellectual depth. Bas typically mixes elements of the real landscapes of his youth and adolescence with other, stranger elements informed by the artist’s various interests in mythology, cinema and paranormal phenomena. Within Bas’s dream-like and dark landscape, one can extract fragments of meaning that may reference a nostalgia for childhood fantasies, coming of age adventures, anxiety surrounding the adolescent experience, and burgeoning sexuality.
Introduction
Growing up in a small backwater town in upstate Florida, a place that American artist Hernan Bas described as living in an episode of the X-Files, the artist enjoyed a unique childhood that was littered with paranormal sightings and other bizarre encounters with the unearthly. These formative years, coupled with an affinity for the nefarious yet decadent writings of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde, fomented a practice that displays a penchant for morbidity, isolation and off-kilter humor that are made manifest in compositions weave together stories of adolescent adventures and the paranormal with classical poetry, religious stories, mythology and literature.
“A lot of my work [is about] having a curiosity about everything, and a lot of that curiosity lends itself to mysteries of unknown and the paranormal world”
At the core of Bas’s work lies a recurring protagonist: the adolescent male figure, often portrayed as a dandy, an outsider, or a contemplative dreamer. These figures inhabit ambiguous, often lush environments that oscillate between reality and fiction, functioning as psychological extensions of their inner worlds. Drawing on 19th-century decadent literature, particularly the writings of Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans, Bas constructs compositions that resemble visual narratives—dense with references, irony, and subtle humor. His work explores themes of identity, performance, sexuality, and alienation with a refined sense of ambiguity, favoring suggestion over explicit declaration.
Painterly Language and Recurring Themes
Bas’s technique combines acrylic, ink, and mixed media on canvas or paper, resulting in surfaces that balance precision and spontaneity. His compositions are built through layered applications, where fine, illustrative details coexist with more fluid, painterly passages. This tension between control and looseness gives his work its distinctive vibrancy. His palette often relies on muted tonalities punctuated by unexpected chromatic accents, reinforcing the psychological complexity of his scenes. The interplay between drawing and painting, structure and improvisation, situates his work at the intersection of narrative illustration and contemporary abstraction.
Color plays a crucial role: muted tonalities are punctuated by unexpected chromatic accents, reinforcing the emotional ambiguity of his scenes. There is a constant tension between control and spontaneity, between illustration and painterly abstraction, which gives his work its particular vibrancy.
Bas’s oeuvre is not structured around rigid “series” in the traditional sense, but rather around evolving constellations of themes and motifs:
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The Dandy Figure: A recurring archetype embodying both refinement and alienation.
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Nature as Theater: Forests, gardens, and tropical landscapes become stages for psychological drama.
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Adolescence and Transformation: A liminal moment charged with desire, anxiety, and self-invention.
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Coded Queer Narratives: Subtle yet pervasive, reflecting identity through metaphor rather than declaration.
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Humor and Irony: Titles and situations often introduce a playful, sometimes absurd dimension that counters the melancholic tone.
Institutional Presence and Recent Exhibitions
Bas’s work has been widely exhibited internationally, with a strong presence in both American and European institutions. His exhibitions have included presentations at the Brooklyn Museum, the Bass Museum of Art, and the Kunstverein Hannover. More recently, his work has been featured in exhibitions across major European venues and included in curated group shows exploring contemporary figuration and identity. His paintings are held in prominent public collections, further consolidating his institutional relevance and long-term critical recognition.
Hernan Bas’ works are held in numerous prestigious public collections around the world, including: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Saatchi Collection, London; Samuso: Space for Contemporary Art, Seoul; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; and the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Gallery Representation
Hernan Bas is represented by leading international galleries, most notably Victoria Miro and Lehmann Maupin, both of which have played a significant role in shaping and sustaining his international career. Through exhibitions across London, Venice, New York, Seoul, and beyond, these galleries have ensured consistent visibility and engagement with major collectors and institutions. This level of representation reflects the strength and stability of his position within the contemporary art market.
Earlier in his career, Hernan Bas was supported by key galleries including Fredric Snitzer Gallery in Miami, where he first gained critical visibility, and Perrotin, which contributed to expanding his reach within the European market.
Hernan Bas’s work stands apart within the broader resurgence of figurative painting through its intellectual density and literary sensibility. By merging historical references with contemporary concerns, identity and self-representation, he has constructed a universe that is both timeless and acutely relevant. His paintings function as psychological tableaux in which elegance conceals tension and beauty coexists with unease. In this subtle balance lies the enduring strength of his practice: a sophisticated meditation on identity, performance, and the complexities of belonging in the modern world.
PART I: SUMMARY
Auction Market Overview
2025 AUCTION STATISTICS
Turnover: USD 3,976,158
+ 49.5% vs. 2024
# Lots sold: 24
Sell-Through Rate: 86%
MARKET SEGMENTATION
COMING SOON
Highest Price Achieved at Auction:
The Bats and the Barn Bridge, 2008
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 30 November 2022
HKD 11,250,000 / USD 1,441,385
Hernan Bas occupies a strong and stable position within the contemporary figurative painting market. His works appeal to a wide spectrum of collectors, from established institutions to younger buyers drawn to narrative-driven, identity-focused art. His paintings, particularly large-scale canvases featuring his signature figures, command significant attention at auction and in the primary market. Works on paper, more intimate in scale, offer an accessible entry point while maintaining the conceptual richness of his practice. Importantly, Bas’s market has shown resilience, supported by consistent gallery placement, institutional validation, and a recognizable visual identity that distinguishes him within a competitive field of contemporary figurative painters.
Auction Summary
2025 Auction Highlights
12 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 3,371,848. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price was achieved by Conceptual Artist #6, a painting dated 2022, that sold at Phillips in London, on 16 October 2025, for GBP 412,800 (USD 553,150).
2025 Top 3 Lots
2 lot sold for more than USD 500,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,082,352, representing 32.1% of the total turnover for 2025 so far.
Furthermore, 12 Works on Paper sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 604,311. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price has been achieved by Nightmare, a drawing dated 2024, that sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong, on 28 September 2025, for HKD 1,032,000 (USD 132,650). 2 lots sold for more than USD 100,000 generating a cumulative turnover of USD 234,756, representing 38.8% of the total turnover for 2025.
2024 Auction Highlights
10 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 2,511,622. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 83%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in New-York, on 21 November 2024 for Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), a painting dated 2012, that sold for USD 693,000.
2024 Top 3 Lots
2 lots sold for more than USD 500,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,221,130, representing 49% of the total for 2024.
Furthermore, 7 Works on Paper sold at auction in 2024. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 88%. The highest price was achieved by a group of 7 drawings dated 2000, from the Rosa de la Cruz Collection, that sold at Christie’s online, on 18 July 2024 for USD 30,240.
2023 Auction Highlights
6 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 2,842,401. With no lot failing to sail, the sell-through rate is 100%. Only one lot sold over USD 1 million, the top lot of 2023, The Hillside must know it, a painting dated 2011, sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong for HKD 8,255,000 (USD 1,051,605).
2023 Top 3 Lots
The top 3 lots generated a cumulative turnover of USD 2,425,852 representing 85.3% of the total turnover of 2023, they all sold in Hong-Kong, 2 of them at Phillips.
2022 Auction Highlights
9 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 4,284,167. With one lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 90%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong on 30 November 2022, when The Bats and The Barn Bridge, a painting dated 2008, sold for HKD 11,250,000 (USD 1,441,383), the new auction record for the artist. 2 lots sold over USD 1 million.
2022 Top 3 Lots
The Top 3 lots generated a cumulative turnover of USD 3,252,827, representing 75.9% of the total turnover for 2022. The top 5 lots sold in Hong-Kong, 3 at Christie’s, 1 at Sotheby’s and 1 at Phillips.
2021 Auction Highlights
10 lots sold at auction in 2021 for a total turnover of USD 2,710,978. With no lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 100%. The highest price was achieved at Sotheby’s in New-York on 18 November 2021, when Night Fight, a painting dated 2008 sold for USD 746,000.
2021 Top 3 Lots
Top Lots
#1. The Bats and the Barn Bridge, 2008
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 30 November 2022
Estimated: HKD 9,000,000 – 15,000,000
HKD 11,250,000 / USD 1,441,385
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Bats and the Barn Bridge, 2008
Mixed media on linen laid on panel (diptych)
Each: 213 x 152.5 cm (83 7/8 x 60 inches) (2)
Overall: 213 x 305 cm (83 7/8 x 120 1/8 inches)
#2. The Overly Prepped Boy (or The Approaching Glacier)
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 25 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,800,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 9,810,000 / USD 1,249,697
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Overly Prepped Boy (or The Approaching Glacier), 2010
Acrylic, ink and silver leaf on linen
72×60 inches (183 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated (on the reverse)
#3. The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 30 March 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,500,000 – 8,500,000
HKD 8,255,000 / USD 1,051,606
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemporar… Lot 9 March 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Acrylic airbrush and block print on linen
183.2 x 213.5 cm (72 1/8 x 84 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘”The hillsides must not know it” HB 2011’ on the reverse
#4. The dead line, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 6 October 2023
Estimated: HKD 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
HKD 6,350,000 / USD 810,908
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 21 October 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The dead line, 2011
Acrylic, airbrush, block print and screen print on linen
244×275 cm (96 1/8 x 108 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 11’ lower right
#5. Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Sotheby’s New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 746,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Initialed HB and dated 08 (lower right)
PART II: AUCTION RESULTS
2026 Auction Results
Stumped, 2012
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 29 March 2026
Estimated: HKD 2,200,000 – 4,000,000
HKD 2,816,000 / USD 359,640
Hernan Bas 赫爾南 · 巴斯 | Stumped 難題 | Modern & Contemporary Evening
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Stumped, 2012
Mixed media on canvas
84×72 inches (213.4 x 183 cm)
Signed in artist’s initials, titled and dated 2012 (on the reverse)
Bone China, 2017
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 March 2026
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 2,200,000
HKD 2,159,000 / USD 275,735
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Bone China | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Bone China, 2017
Acrylic on canvas
60-1/8 x 48-1/8 inches (152.6 x 122.2 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 17’ (center right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled, and dated ‘HB 2017 “Bone China”‘ (on the reverse)
The overthinker in a thicket, 2006
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 48,260 / USD 64,470
The overthinker in a thicket, 2006
Oil and mixed media on panel
12 x 10-1/8 inches (30.5 x 25.7 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 06’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 06 overthinker in a thicket’ (on the reverse)
2025 Auction Results
FOR PAINTINGS ONLY
12 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 3,371,848. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price was achieved by Conceptual Artist #6, a painting dated 2022, that sold at Phillips in London, on 16 October 2025, for GBP 412,800 (USD 553,150).
2025 Top 3 Lots
2 lot sold for more than USD 500,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,082,352, representing 32.1% of the total turnover for 2025 so far.
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#1. Conceptual Artist #6, 2022
Estimated: GBP 300,000 – 500,000
GBP 412,800 / USD 553,150
READ MORE IN FOCUS SECTION
Titled and dated
‘HB 2022 Conceptual Artist #6 (by combining different grave rubbings he invents lives that never existed)’
on the reverse
#2. The Hideout, 2008-2009
Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 529,200
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Hideout | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Hideout, 2008-2009
Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel
84×72 inches (213.4 x 182.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 09’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled, and dated again ‘HB 2008-2009 The Hideout (or the other Runaway painting)’ (on the reverse)
USD 500,000
#3. Case study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector), 2014
Phillips Hong-Kong: 27 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
HKD 3,429,000 / USD 437,370
READ MORE IN FOCUS SECTION
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale
Acrylic on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 14’ lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 2014 “Case Study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector)”‘ on the reverse
#4. Colored plastic complex of noise + dance + joy, 2009
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 March 2024
Estimated: HKD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
HKD 3,402,000 / USD 437,275
Colored plastic complex of noise + dance + joy, 2009
Acrylic on linen laid on panel
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 09’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled, and dated
‘colored plastic complex of noise + dance + joy HB 2009’
(on the reverse)
#5. Two cowards at the monument to courage, 2010
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 292,100 / USD 391,415
READ MORE IN FOCUS SECTION
Two cowards at the monument to courage, 2010
Acrylic, airbrush, household gloss, metallic paint and block print on linen
72 x 60 1/8 inches (182.8 x 152.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated
‘HB 2010 Two Cowards at the monument to courage’
(on the reverse)
#6. Rotten Apple, 2009
Sotheby’s London: 16 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 254,000 / USD 340,360
READ MORE IN FOCUS SECTION
Rotten Apple | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Rotten Apple, 2009
Acrylic on canvas on board
48×60 inches (121.9 x 152.3 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 09 (lower left)
#7. Supercut (look 1), 2019
Sotheby’s New-York: 26 February 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 190,500
Supercut (look 1) | Contemporary Curated | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Supercut (look 1), 2019
Acrylic on canvas
20×16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 19 (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated 2019 (on the reverse)
#8. The Hero Centaur, 2005
Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2025
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 165,100
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Hero Centaur | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Hero Centaur, 2005
Oil on panel
36×48 inches (91×122 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 05” (lower left)
Signed with the artist’s initials again
Titled and dated again “THE HERO CENTAUR HB 05” (on the reverse)
#9. Super Cut, 2019
Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 107,100
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Super Cut | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Super Cut, 2019
Acrylic on linen
14×11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 19’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘HB 2019 Super Cut’ (on the reverse)
USD 100,000
#10. Knife Passage (Mason), 2007
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 69,850 / USD 93,600
Knife Passage (Mason), 2007
Oil and metallic paint on linen
14×11 inches (35.5 x 27.7 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 07’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Knife Passage (Mason) HB 07’ (on the stretcher)
#11. Supercut (Look 2), 2019
Phillips Hong-Kong: 27 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 800,000
HKD 609,600 / USD 77,755
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale
Supercut (Look 2), 2019
Oil on canvas
Further signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘”Supercut (look 2)” HB 2019’ on the reverse
#12. That Path, So Scary, 2007
Phillips New-York: 21 November 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 49,020
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session
Mixed media on canvas over panel
20×16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “that path, so scary HB 07” on the reverse
Lots Passed
Two Interiors, 2020
Christie’s New-York: 30 September 2025
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
PASSED
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Two Interiors | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Two Interiors, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal and pigment on canvas
84 x 108 1/8 inches (213.5 x 274.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 20’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘Two Interiors HB 2020’ (on the reverse)
2024 Auction Results
FOR PAINTINGS ONLY
10 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 2,511,622. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 83%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in New-York, on 21 November 2024 for Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), a painting dated 2012, that sold for USD 693,000.
2024 Top 3 Lots
2 lots sold for more than USD 500,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,221,130, representing 49% of the total for 2024.
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#1. Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), 2012
Christie’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 693,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill) | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), 2012
Acrylic, airbrush and block print on linen
108×96 inches (274.3 x 243.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB12’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled, and dated again ‘Tartini’s Dream (the devils trill) HB 2012’ (on the reverse)
#2. The Primordial Soup Theory (Homosexual), 2010
Christie’s London: 9 October 2024
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 403,200 / USD 528,130
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Primordial Soup Theory (Homosexual) | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Primordial Soup Theory (Homosexual), 2010
Acrylic, airbrush and household gloss on linen
60×48 inches (152.3 x 121.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB ’10’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘The primordial soup theory (Homosexuals) HB 2010’
(on the reverse)
USD 500,000
#3. Trying to fit in, 2004
Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2024
The Rosa de la Cruz Collection Evening Sale
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 390,600
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Trying to fit in | Christie’s (christies.com)
GUARANTEED
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Trying to fit in, 2004
Oil, acrylic and gouache on panel
31×24 inches (78.7 x 61 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 04 trying to fit in’ (on the reverse)
#4. The Make-Shift Fountain
K Auction Seoul: 24 April 2024
Estimated: KRW 210,000,000 – 300,000,000
KRW 253,000,000 / USD 184,440
HERNAN BAS
The Make-Shift Fountain
Acrylic on linen
30×22 inches (76×56 cm)
Signed and dated on the lower right
#5. Do You Know How Beautiful You Are?, 2004
Christie’s New-York: 1 October 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 163,800
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Do You Know How Beautiful You Are? | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Do You Know How Beautiful You Are?, 2004
Oil, acrylic and gouache on panel
32 x 23 7/8 inches (81.3 x 60.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 04’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘HB 04 do you know how beautiful you are’
(on the reverse)
#6. The Hailstorm (he’s been through this before), 2013
Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 1,600,000 – 2,600,000
HKD 1,270,000 / USD 162,591
https://www.phillips.com/detail/hernan-bas/HK010224/124
HERNAN BAS
The Hailstorm (he’s been through this before), 2013
Acrylic, silkscreen and airbrush on linen
60 x 47 7/8 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 13’ lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 13 “The hailstorm (he’s been through this before)”‘ on the reverse
#7. A Rising Fever, 2015
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 May 2024
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 1,260,000 / USD 161,311
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), A Rising Fever | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
A Rising Fever, 2015
Acrylic on linen
50×40 inches (127.1 x 102.1 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 15’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘a rising Fever HB 2015’ (on the reverse)
#8. The Paper Crown Prince, 2005
Christie’s New-York: 17 May 2024
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 107,100
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Paper Crown Prince | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Paper Crown Prince, 2005
Water-based oil on panel
11 7/8 x 10 inches (30.2 x 25.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 05’ (lower right)
#9. Things Fly About, 2006
Phillips New-York: 15 May 2024
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 90,000
USD 76,200
Hernan Bas – Modern & Contemporary Art … Lot 318 May 2024 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Things Fly About, 2006
Oil and mixed media on panel
10×12 inches (25.4 x 30.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 06” lower right
#10. Untitled (Dating Pool), 2003
Phillips New-York: 20 November 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 44,450
Hernan Bas – Modern & Contemporary… Lot 353 November 2024 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Untitled (Dating Pool), 2003
Water-based oil on panel
30×40 inches (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
Lots Passed
The Haunted House Keeper, 2020
Christie’s Shanghai: 7 November 2024
Estimated: CNY 2,600,000 – 4,600,000
PASSED
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Haunted House Keeper | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Haunted House Keeper, 2020
Acrylic and distemper on linen
84 1/4 x 107 7/8 inches (214 x 274 cm)
Initialed and dated ‘HB 20’ (lower right)
Titled, initialed and dated ‘The Haunted house keeper HB 2020’ (on the reverse)
Mystery Bouf (or, the kingdom after the flood), 2009
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 September 2024
Estimated: HKD 4,800,000 – 8,800,000
PASSED
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Mystery Bouf (or, the kingdom after the flood) | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Mystery Bouf (or, the kingdom after the flood), 2009
Acrylic on canvas over panel
72 x 95 5/8 inches (182.9 x 243 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 09’ (lower right)
Signed with artist’s initials, titled and dated
‘Mystery Bouf (or, the kingdom after the flood) HB 2009’ (on the reverse)
2023 Auction Results
FOR PAINTINGS ONLY
6 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 2,842,401. With no lot failing to sail, the sell-through rate is 100%. Only one lot sold over USD 1 million, the top lot of 2023, The Hillside must know it, a painting dated 2011, sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong for HKD 8,255,000 (USD 1,051,605).
2023 Top 3 Lots
The top 3 lots generated a cumulative turnover of USD 2,425,852 representing 85.3% of the total turnover of 2023, they all sold in Hong-Kong, 2 of them at Phillips.
XXXXXXXXXX
#1. The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 30 March 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,500,000 – 8,500,000
HKD 8,255,000 / USD 1,051,606
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemporar… Lot 9 March 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Acrylic airbrush and block print on linen
183.2 x 213.5 cm (72 1/8 x 84 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘”The hillsides must not know it” HB 2011’ on the reverse
USD 1 million
#2. The dead line, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 6 October 2023
Estimated: HKD 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
HKD 6,350,000 / USD 810,908
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 21 October 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The dead line, 2011
Acrylic, airbrush, block print and screen print on linen
244×275 cm (96 1/8 x 108 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 11’ lower right
#3. Secret Hideout of the Flamingo Gang (Abandoned Paddle Boats), 2014
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
HKD 4,410,000 / USD 562,988
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Secret Hideout of the Flamingo Gang (Abandoned Paddle Boats), 2014
Acrylic on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 14’ (lower left)
#4. Supercut (Look 11), 2019
Sotheby’s London: 13 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 139,700 / USD 170,199
Supercut (Look 11) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Supercut (Look 11), 2019
Acrylic on linen
14 1/8 x 11 inches (35.8 x 28 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 19 (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated 2019 (on the reverse)
#5. HOAX REVELED: the Devil of Deckheart Manor caught on film, 2013
Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2023
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 163,800
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
HOAX REVELED: the Devil of Deckheart Manor caught on film, 2013
Acrylic and silkscreen on linen
60×48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 13’ (lower left)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘HB 2013 HOAX REVEALED!: the devil of Deckheart Manor caught on film’ (on the reverse)
#6. Super Cut, 2019
Sotheby’s New-York: 9 March 2023
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 82,550
Super Cut | Contemporary Curated | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Super Cut, 2019
Acrylic on linen
14×11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed with the initials HB and dated 19 (lower right)
Signed with the initials HB, titled and dated 2019 (on the reverse)
2022 Auction Results
FOR PAINTINGS ONLY
9 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 4,284,167. With one lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 90%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong on 30 November 2022, when The Bats and The Barn Bridge, a painting dated 2008, sold for HKD 11,250,000 (USD 1,441,383), the new auction record for the artist.
2022 Top 3 Lots
2 lots sold over USD 1 million. The Top 3 lots generated a cumulative turnover of USD 3,252,827, representing 75.9% of the total turnover for 2022. The top 5 lots sold in Hong-Kong, 3 at Christie’s, 1 at Sotheby’s and 1 at Phillips.
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#1. The Bats and the Barn Bridge, 2008
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 30 November 2022
Estimated: HKD 9,000,000 – 15,000,000
HKD 11,250,000 / USD 1,441,383
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Bats and the Barn Bridge, 2008
Mixed media on linen laid on panel (diptych)
Each: 213 x 152.5 cm (83 7/8 x 60 inches) (2)
Overall: 213 x 305 cm (83 7/8 x 120 1/8 inches)
#2. The Overly Prepped Boy (or The Approaching Glacier), 2010
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 25 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,800,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 9,810,000 / USD 1,249,697
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Overly Prepped Boy (or The Approaching Glacier), 2010
Acrylic, ink and silver leaf on linen
72×60 inches (183 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated (on the reverse)
USD 1 million
#3. The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead), 2010
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 17 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 3,200,000 – 4,800,000
HKD 4,410,000 / USD 561,747
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead), 2010
Acrylic, airbrush, household gloss and block print on linen
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Initialed and dated 10; initialed, titled and dated 2010 on the reverse
#4. Who Told Them We Were Coming?, 2013
Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 3,528,000 / USD 449,443
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemporary… Lot 5 June 2022 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Who Told Them We Were Coming?, 2013
Oil on canvas
72×60 inches (183×152 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated ‘HB 2013 “who told them we were coming?”‘ on the reverse
#5. A Splinter, 2010
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 30 November 2022
Estimated: HKD 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
HKD 2,520,000 / USD 323,999
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
A Splinter, 2010
Acrylic, airbrush, household gloss and block print on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with artist’s initial and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed again, titled and dated ‘HB 2010 A Splinter’ (on the reverse)
#6. The Start of Something New, 2004
Christie’s online: 20 July 2022
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 126,000
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978), The Start of Something New | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
The Start of Something New, 2004
Oil, gouache, graphite and resin on board
31 x 23 1/2 inches (78.7 x 59.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 04’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘the start of something new HB 04’ (on the reverse)
#7. Invocation of the Cross, 2007
Christie’s online: 8 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 25,000 – 45,000
EUR 52,920 / USD 56,836
Hernan Bas (N. 1978), Invocation of the Cross | Christie’s (christies.com)
Hernan Bas (N. 1978)
Invocation of the Cross, 2007
Oil and acrylic on canvas
14×11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 07’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled and dated again ‘invocation of the cross HB 07’ (on the reverse)
#8. Lending Oneself to Nature, 2006
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 30 November 2022
Estimated: HKD 220,000 – 420,000
HKD 352,800 / USD 45,202
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Lending Oneself to Nature, 2006
Mixed media on canvas
12×9 inches (30.5 x 23 cm)
Signed and dated ‘HB 06’ (lower right)
Signed, titled and dated ‘HB ’06 lending oneself to nature’ (on the stretcher)
#9. Stroll, 2006
Sotheby’s London: 15 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 25,000
GBP 27,720 / USD 30,989
Stroll | Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Stroll, 2006
Acrylic, gouache and oil on canvas
12×9 inches (30.5 x 22.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 06
2021 Auction Results
10 lots sold at auction in 2021 for a total turnover of USD 2,710,978. With no lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 100%. The highest price was achieved at Sotheby’s in New-York on 18 November 2021, when Night Fight, a painting dated 2008 sold for USD 746,000.
2021 Top 3 Lots
#1. Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Sotheby’s New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 746,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Initialed HB and dated 08 (lower right)
#2. Minimalism (cracking the code), 2019
Phillips Hong-Kong: 30 November 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
HKD 3,780,000 / USD 484,808
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 10 November 2021 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Minimalism (cracking the code), 2019
Acrylic on linen
152.6 x 122 cm (60 1/8 x 48 in)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 19’ lower left
Further signed with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated ‘”minimalism (cracking the code)” HB 2019’ on the reverse
#3. Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway), 2008
Phillips New-York: 3 March 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 352,800
Hernan Bas – Editions & Works on Paper Lot 380 October 2021 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway), 2008
Acrylic on linen
40 x 30 1/8 inches (101.6 x 76.5 cm)
signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 08” lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated “Downhill at dusk (The Runaway) HB 08” on the reverse
#4. To Make a Pond Reflect Twice, 2010
Christie’s New-York: 11 November 2021
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 300,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
To Make a Pond Reflect Twice, 2010
Acrylic and ink on canvas mounted on panel
35 x 28 1⁄8 inches (88.9 x 71.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials and dated again ‘HB 2010’ (on the reverse)
#5. A Rising Fever, 2015
Phillips Hong-Kong: 7 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 2,142,000 / USD 276,059
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contempora… Lot 111 June 2021 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
A Rising Fever, 2015
Acrylic on linen
50×40 inches (127 x 101.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 15’ lower right
Further signed with artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘”a rising fever” HB 15’ on the reverse
#6. The Unlikely Winner, 2015
K Auction Seoul: 23 July 2021
Estimated: KRW 200,000,000 – 300,000,000
KRW 253,000,000 / USD 238,341
HERNAN BAS
The Unlikely Winner, 2015
Acrylic on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed and dated on the lower right
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse
#7. Untitled, 2004
Sotheby’s New-York: 30 September 2021
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 151,200
Untitled | Contemporary Curated | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Untitled, 2004
Oil on wood panel
31 1/4 x 23 3/4 inches (79.4 x 60.3 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated 04
Signed with artist’s initials, titled and dated 04 on the reverse
#8. In the future, crystals will mean everything, 2006
Sotheby’s New-York: 30 September 2021
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 75,600
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
In the future, crystals will mean everything, 2006
Oil on canvas
20×16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials; titled and dated 06 on the stretcher
#9. The Harlequin, Stage Fright, 2006
Christie’s online: 21 July 2021
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 60,000
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978), The Harlequin, Stage Fright | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
The Harlequin, Stage Fright, 2006
Acrylic, oil and gouache on panel
12×10 inches (30.5 x 25.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 06’ (lower right)
#10. Ceremony (A. Crowley Sect), 2007
Phillips London: 13 July 2021
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 18,900 / USD 26,170
Hernan Bas – New Now London Lot 40 July 2021 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Ceremony (A. Crowley Sect), 2007
Acrylic on linen
11 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches (30.4 x 22.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 07’ lower right
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Ceremony (A. Crowley Sect) HB 07’ on the stretcher
PART III: FOCUS
Monumental
Conceptual Artist #6 (by combining different grave rubbings he invents lives that never existed), 2022
Estimated: GBP 300,000 – 500,000
GBP 412,800 / USD 553,150
Titled and dated
‘HB 2022 Conceptual Artist #6 (by combining different grave rubbings he invents lives that never existed)’
on the reverse
Miami-based artist Hernan Bas is celebrated for his intricately layered and coded works centered around themes of sexuality and identity. Known for incorporating diverse references, spanning the occult, mythology, and religion, The Conceptualists offered Bas the opportunity to explore his idiosyncratic interests in depth. Emerging in 2021, Bas’s series envisions individuals engaged in esoteric and obsessive pursuits, loosely inspired by the hobbies pursued during the pandemic. For Conceptual Artist #6 (by combining different grave rubbings he invents lives that never existed), his passion is grave rubbing, a practice consisting of gently rubbing the surface of the headstone with a soft tool, such as charcoal, to capture the raised design and inscription. Surrounded by the product of his hard work, the protagonist gazes toward the viewer from behind his desk, accompanied by the accoutrements of his practice.
Bas is renowned for producing works with extraordinary narrative detail and this work is no exception. Working in acrylic paint with a bold palette of blues, reds, and greens, Bas favors this medium for its rapid drying time, which enables him to build the depth and layers that define his painterly approach. The large-scale composition is rich in iconographic motifs, giving a crowded effect that is further emphasized by the framing and cropping of architectural details —the door, chandelier, and surrounding artworks. The work’s symbolic program operates on multiple levels. Beyond the obvious morbid associations of headstones, skulls, skeletons, and angel wings, a black crow reinforces these themes while mirroring the artist’s pose and gaze. This avian motif continues with the pink caged bird perched atop the desk—a pointed symbol of constrained freedom. Such darkly playful elements remain characteristic of Bas’s artistic approach. Bas’s iconographic details also serve to elevate the status of conceptual art; the grand interior setting visualized in the ornate chandelier and patterned carpet, alongside the depiction of bound volumes and avian imagery evoke scholarly importance and historical grandeur.
“I started making characters doing bizarre things and called them conceptual artists as a way to excuse their behaviour and to poke fun at art itself—conceptual art is always the butt of jokes.”
Left: Johann Georg Platzer, The Artist’s Studio,1740s-1750s, The Cleveland Museum of Art. Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund by exchange 2012.41
Right: Henri Matisse, L’Atelier Rouge, 1911, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence
Conceptual art is a movement which privileges the idea or process behind an artwork over its physical form. Bas’s work embodies a tension between conceptual and representational forms of artmaking; whilst his fictive artists create conceptual work, the paintings representing them remain invested in the pictorial art object. Addressing this juxtaposition, Bas notes that the series offered him the opportunity to produce conceptual art without the pressure of authorship. Bas operates through a dual elevation; he dignifies conceptual art forms by exploring them representationally while simultaneously legitimizing his imagined protagonists by designating them as conceptual artists. By framing his characters’ eccentric pursuits as conceptual art, Bas validates and champions interests that might otherwise be dismissed as peculiar. This repositioning establishes conceptual art as a sanctuary for creative behavior and queerness—where ‘queer’ signifies not sexual orientation specifically, but rather a permissive, liberating space beyond conformity’s constraints. Through this framework, Bas redefines absurdity and obsession as foundational elements of artistic practice, challenging conventional fine art hierarchies. Art critic James Voorhies suggests that by synthesizing conceptual and representational art practices, Bas pioneers a ‘conceptual painting’ practice.
“Their unusual interests aren’t in the shadows anymore, and they appear to be comfortable in their curious self-made worlds.”
Although Conceptual Artist #6 invokes portraiture through its central figure, the emphasis falls on the conceptual work being produced rather than the artist himself, made visually manifest through evidence of creative activity including tape, paper, and numerous artworks. This approach recalls the centuries-old tradition of artist studio paintings. Johann Georg Platzer’s eighteenth-century painting The Artist’s Studio provides a resonant example, featuring a similarly dense composition with artworks covering the walls and the floor. Similarly, Henri Matisse’s stylistically radical L’Atelier Rouge with its depiction of the artist’s workspace in the Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux and the now iconic paintings and sculptures which he created within it extend this tradition into the modern age, anticipating the more conceptual approaches of artists such as Marcel Duchamp in his 1935-41 assemblage La Boîte-en-valise. Though the traditional oil painting format stands in contrast to the monochromatic grave rubbings, there is a meaningful parallel between the creative space of these artists. Through such art historical references, Bas further elevates conceptual art forms, grounding contemporary practice within historical precedent.
Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), 2012
Christie’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 693,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill) | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill), 2012
Acrylic, airbrush and block print on linen
108×96 inches (274.3 x 243.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB12’ (lower right)
Signed again with the artist’s initials, titled, and dated again ‘Tartini’s Dream (the devils trill) HB 2012’ (on the reverse)
Melding fantastical natural worlds with memories from his youth, Hernan Bas constructs enthralling tableaus that speak to ideas of nostalgia, wonder, and the paranormal. Tartini’s Dream (The Devil’s Trill) is a densely layered canvas that highlights the artist’s ability to coax intrigue and an absorptive narrative out of an intricate landscape. Growing up in north Florida, the marshlands and tangled foliage were an integral part of the artist’s childhood, and their brooding mystery is infused in works like the present example.
“A lot of my work [is about] having a curiosity about everything, and a lot of that curiosity lends itself to mysteries of unknown and the paranormal world.”
Tapping into the haunting unknown of the dark forest and pairing it with references to the supernatural, Bas is able to create paintings that balance contemporary concerns with historical richness.
Tartini’s Dream is a monumental composition that envelops the viewer into its densely packed foreground. Piles of upended stumps and spider-like logs seem to float in a marsh made of vaporous paint and dripping, expressive areas of color. Visually enthralling, each construction is reminiscent of both piled driftwood and a burst of energy, its tendrils expanding outward from the center only to dive back into the painterly depths. The background is rendered in multifaceted hues of deep purple, smoldering orange, murky aqua, silver, and crimson which makes the gold, copper, and bright yellow of the tumbling limbs stand out all the more starkly. Barely visible within this tangle are two figures. Closer to the foreground, a boy in green sits languidly on a log, his forehead pressed against a fist as he slumps into repose. In the back, a young man in a reddish shirt plays the violin. He raises the instrument up as if trying to project his tune toward his companion further afield. The connection between the two creates a succinct scene where a story is being told but the viewer is not yet privy to the subject.
“I do like the idea that everything is contained—the entire narrative, within the frame of the canvas; but paintings that I consider to be successful are always on the verge of falling apart. To me, that’s the fun of it—the imminent collapse, and also the challenge.”
Bas’s composition is on the verge of breaking through the borders of the canvas, yet it is reined in by the frozen moment between the two men at its center.
Odilon Redon, Mystery, circa 1910. Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Photo: The Phillips Collection, Washington, USA / Acquired 1925 / Bridgeman Images.
Herman Bas takes the title of the present example from a work of music by the early eighteenth century Italian composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini. Perhaps his most famous work, his “Violin Sonata in G Minor” is mostly commonly referred to as “The Devil’s Trill Sonata”. Characterized by its technical difficulty, it was said to have arisen from a dream Tartini had. The devil appeared to him, a wandering violinist, and asked to be taught. After just moments, the devil deftly created a spellbinding and magnificent composition which he played for Tartini – leaving him breathless, melancholic. The musician awoke with an intense motivation to record this complex and extraordinary tune.
Thomas Lawrence, Satan as a fallen angel, 1797. Private Collection. Photo: HIP / Art Resource, NY.
It is not difficult to see why this story would have been so inspirational for Bas. Tartini’s attempts to match the magnificence of the ‘Devil’s Trill’ is a beguiling metaphor for every artists pursuit of the perfect artwork. The ultimate composition is always tantalizingly visible in the creator’s mind, yet, just out of reach. And indeed, this broader interest in tales of the supernatural and paranormal is key to an understanding of Bas’s oeuvre, as is the knowledge of his adolescence in Florida. Drawing upon these two elements in the present example, the artist creates perplexing arrangements of trees that resemble synapses bursting with information. Trying desperately to remember the formative experiences of his past and fuse them with new energy, Bas covers his surface in intricate detail like Tartini grasping at the fading threads of his dream.
The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 30 March 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,500,000 – 8,500,000
HKD 8,255,000 / USD 1,051,606
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemporar… Lot 9 March 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The hillsides must not know it, 2011
Acrylic airbrush and block print on linen
72 1/8 x 84 inches (183.2 x 213.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘”The hillsides must not know it” HB 2011’ on the reverse
Hernan Bas’ paintings feature complex compositions that are rich in detail and texture, frequently layering images and patterns that create a sense of depth and movement within the canvas. This is augmented by a fluid, gestural brushwork with which his characters are rendered – often in a loose, expressive style that emphasizes their emotional states.
The present lot, painted in 2011, is a resonant example of this singular practice. Orphaned in a desolate and barren landscape, a lone figure has his back turned, his face obscured in forbidden knowledge. The world around him has seemed to have been left to rot, with fauna fanning itself out and trees fumbling new roots over dilapidated settlements. An annihilating sky lies heavy over this chaos, where Bas’ brushwork goes from loose to abstracted. The observation of nature (despite being harrowing) is one of precision, an almost preternatural intuition that borders into the supernatural, recalling the attuned forms of David Hockney.
The dead line, 2011
Phillips Hong-Kong: 6 October 2023
Estimated: HKD 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
HKD 6,350,000 / USD 810,908
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 21 October 2023 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The dead line, 2011
Acrylic, airbrush, block print and screen print on linen
96 1/8 x 108 1/4 inches (244×275 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 11’ lower right
The enigmatic paintings of Hernan Bas offer a contemporary take on traditional portraiture, imbuing his adolescent subjects with a palpable psychological tension. Working in mixed media, Bas renders the faces and bodies of androgynous youths in minute detail, yet places them against flat, undefined backgrounds that create an intriguing sense of dislocation. Infused with ambiguous symbols and references, his works draw out timeless existential themes of youthful experience. The present lot, The dead line was exhibited at the artist’s landmark exhibitions, including Hernan Bas: The Perennial affairs at Galerie Peter Kilchmann in 2011 and his major 2012 retrospective, Hernan Bas: The Other Side, at the Kunstverein Hannover. Bas’ dreamlike composition draws viewers into a contemplation of their own inner psychological landscapes. He uses both natural and imagined landscapes to surround subjects with evocative environments that align with or counterpoint their inner states of mind and being. The settings become an important part of the overall narrative and symbolic meaning of his paintings. As exemplified in The dead line, the solitary figure walks precariously along a thin line, holding onto a bamboo stick as his point of balance. The figure appears languid and moody, yet the symbolic use of bamboo in this painting reflects the underlying metaphor of resilience and personal growth that emerges from the vulnerability of life and the inevitability of death.
In traditional Chinese art, four esteemed plants are known as the ‘Four Gentlemen,’ each representing virtues idealized in Confucian thought. But of these botanical metaphors, it is the bamboo that is most revered. With stalks remaining erect and verdant through winter’s barrenness, the bamboo exemplifies strength and tenacity. Yet its hollow stems symbolize modesty and honesty, an uprightness aligned with Confucian ideals. While the plum, orchid, and chrysanthemum each convey singular nobility, the bamboo synthesizes multiplicity – at once firm yet flexible, constant yet hollow, thriving in adversity yet humble in manner – the bamboo elegantly balances contradiction, proving integrity can partner flexibility, resilience can flourish through restraint. i
Zheng Xie, Misty Bamboo on a Distant Mountain, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
In the same way that Chinese paintings of plants are seen as reflections of human characters, the isolated, lonely figures in Bas’s paintings reflect the solitary nature of death. They are often positioned in contemplation or preparation for the transition. In The dead line, death is treated as a passage or transition, not an end. The line symbolizing the fragility of life, a state of uncertainty that we all face growing up. By bridging a line between the haunting architecture in the background and descending towards the bamboo field in the foreground while the figure is positioned in between, Bas creates a liminal quality, a space in-between that evokes a sense of the threshold. Drawing inspiration from 18th and 19th century Gothic literature, art, architecture, and aesthetics, Bas deftly adapts its key motifs to capture the emotions and passions of contemporary youth culture. Often set against shadowy voids or architectural ruins, Bas’s subjects exhibit a melancholy so characteristic of the Gothic sensibility.
“I don’t like to think of it as portraiture at all. I’ve been quoted as describing it as the state of where you don’t really know what or who you are. Or back to literature, a Catcher in the Rye type of thing. It’s all there. And I’ve always been drawn to that sort of in-between. I mean, no one wants to read a book where the character is so easily understood and defined.”
In the backwaters of Florida, where paranormal sightings haunted his childhood like episodes of the X-Files, Bas cultivated his penchant for the macabre. The writings of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Oscar Wilde—nefarious yet decadent—fomented his fascination with morbidity, isolation, and eccentric humour. The predominance of subdued greys, taupes, browns, and faded hues in the present painting evokes a sense of nostalgia and the ephemeral, fleeting nature of youth. The colours seem gently weathered or aged, reflecting on adolescent years as a transient moment. Bas’ witty use of pun for the title of the painting, The dead line further alludes to the ephemeral nature of life itself.
Large (72×60)
Two cowards at the monument to courage, 2010
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 292,100 / USD 391,415
Two cowards at the monument to courage, 2010
Acrylic, airbrush, household gloss, metallic paint and block print on linen
72 x 60 1/8 inches (182.8 x 152.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated
‘HB 2010 Two Cowards at the monument to courage’
(on the reverse)
Museum Oskar Reinhart am Stadtgarten, Winterthur. Digital image: © 2025 DeAgostini Picture Library/Scala, Florence.
Bas’s oeuvre is suffused with references to literature, and the present painting forms part of a series of works exhibited collectively in 2010 under the title The Hallucinations of Poets. These sublime, escapist canvases explored the preoccupations of Dark Romanticism, and the series was the first by the artist to directly engage with poetry. In these works Bas channels Poe, Melville, Hawthorn and Dickinson, envisioning nature as a shadowy spiritual force steeped in mystery and foreboding. Echoing Poe’s haunting poem ‘Dream-Land’ (1844), the present work brims with ‘Bottomless vales and boundless floods, / And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods’. Across the canvas, sprawling life mutates and hypertrophies in uncanny excess. Bas loved ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books as a child, and with works such as the present he offers myriad and overlapping routes through the painting, inviting the viewer to continue its narrative in their mind.
The sleep of reason produces monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), 1799.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Digital image: Image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
“I think that overwhelming fear and fascination with the unknown, with what the forests “held”, is embedded in a lot of my work.”
Case study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector), 2014
Phillips Hong-Kong: 27 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
HKD 3,429,000 / USD 437,370
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale
Acrylic on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 14’ lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 2014 “Case Study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector)”‘ on the reverse
American artist Hernan Bas has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary painting, by redefining the influence he draws from Les Nabis through a different lens. The present lot Case Study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector) is an example of the artist exploring the liminal space of youth, where figures are hovering between innocence and experience, enacting theatrical rituals of self-discovery. Through lush, highly detailed composition, realistic colours and dynamic brushwork, the artist has created a scene open for endless interpretation.
Hernan Bas occupies a singular position in contemporary art, merging historical art and literature movements with provocative, queer-inflected narratives that challenge the conventional representations of masculinity and desire. To elaborate, Bas has taken influence from the late 19th century Decadent movement, which greatly values aesthetic hedonism. This theory values the aesthetic aspect in the daily appreciation of life itself, such as seen in Bas’ works and the observations in his figures. The other influence is the Les Nabis, who played a key role in transforming modern art from academic to more unrestrained, symbolistic forms. Bas has defiantly maintained a commitment to the medium of painting while infusing it with contemporary concerns. This fusion of avant-garde wits with contemporary ambiguity is what makes Hernan Bas truly stand out, and earned him widespread acclaim. Bas’s work resonates not only within the art world but also in broader cultural conversations about identity, performance, and the fluidity of meaning, securing his place as a vital voice in 21st-century painting.
The present lot Case Study (Harvey, Palmist/glove collector) exemplifies Bas’ thematic exploration of characters engaged in obsessive pursuits that blur the line between eccentricity and conceptual art practice. The protagonist, Harvey, is portrayed standing in front of a taxonomical display of gloves collection arranged methodically on the wall in the background. This painting masterfully explores the construction of identity through collected objects, suggesting how personal obsessions can transform into meaningful aesthetic statements when framed appropriately. Perhaps an allusion to the act of collecting itself, Bas has incorporated a painting on the wall next to it – a back-facing man with gruesome skin, alluding to the morbidity and beauty of the Decadent movement. Interestingly, the dual-identity of Harvey as both a ‘palmist’ and a ‘glove collector’ creates a fascinating conceptual tension. Palmist reads lines of hands to divine the future, whereas glove-collecting preserves the action of covering up hands. As the lines of hands reveal life traces, and Harvey as a palmist needs to cover it up. There is thus a poetic dialogue between presence and absence, meaning and absurdity. This duality reflects Bas’ ongoing interest in characters caught between various thresholds, such as convention versus esoteric personal pursuits.
Titian, Man with a Glove, 1520 / Collection of the Louvre
The present lot’s formal qualities showcase Bas’ technical abilities which combines meticulous detailing with expressive brushwork. Particularly noteworthy is the textural contrast between the smooth treatment of the walls, the detailed rendering of the gloves, and the more impressionistic handling of the figure, demonstrating Bas’ ability to modulate his techniques to create psychological depth. The meticulously depicted portraiture is reminiscent of the work Man with a Glove by the Renaissance master Titian. In Titian’s work, the glove was included as a fashion statement at the time. Also regarded as a form of self-expression, the present lot exemplifies the artist’s critically acclaimed exploration of characters whose peculiar obsessions might be recontextualized—a theme that has garnered significant attention in his 2023-2024 exhibition The Conceptualists at Victoria Miro. After five centuries, artists have experimented with numerous approaches in male portraiture, yet Hernan Bas’s work re-engages with Titian’s legacy by infusing classical composition with contemporary queer subjectivity—transforming the Renaissance ideal of restrained elegance into a modern exploration of ambiguity, desire, and performative identity.
The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead), 2010
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 17 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 3,200,000 – 4,800,000
HKD 4,410,000 / USD 561,747
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead), 2010
Acrylic, airbrush, household gloss and block print on linen
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Initialed and dated 10; initialed, titled and dated 2010 on the reverse
Dreamlike and expressive, Hernan Bas’s The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead) imagines an ambiguous temporal space, a twilight zone that is one part surreal and one part nostalgic. The artist’s brushstrokes build a sublime vista in which a solitary figure sits, surrounded by fantastical overgrowth in colors reminiscent of decomposing vegetation and chemical spills. At points Bas’s dense color work threatens to engulf this figure, at once intoxicating, beautiful and threatening. Inviting the viewer into the heady and mysterious landscape of the canvas, one can extract fragments of the romantic and nostalgic fantasy and coming of age adventures characteristic of Bas’s distinctive oeuvre. The chromatic vibrancy embellishes and destabilizes, with Bas’s composition in a state of dynamic flux that suggests something of the transience and uncertainty of adolescence. Bas’s characteristic androgynous male figures, depicted betwixt youth and adulthood, exist in a state of transformation, the present work representing the meeting point between desire, self-discovery and magical thinking.
Since his inclusion in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, Bas has received widespread acclaim for his paintings in which history and fantasy mix. Bas’s magical landscapes are pulled from his vast range of references, from 19th century poetry to paranormal television, an inquisitiveness which Bas has described as defining much of his artistic practice.
Who Told Them We Were Coming?, 2013
Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
HKD 3,528,000 / USD 449,443
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contemporary… Lot 5 June 2022 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Who Told Them We Were Coming?, 2013
Oil on canvas
72×60 inches (183×152 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated ‘HB 2013 “who told them we were coming?”‘ on the reverse
Who Told Them We Were Coming? initially strikes you as a commentary on urban decay, with the angular row of houses that crown the composition appearing more like the razor-sharp mandible of the Cthulhu. Yet the artist’s fascination lay more in the product rather than the process of the deindustrialization he witnessed in Detroit, drawn to the abandoned, ‘haunted’ houses that lined the former capital of the automotive industry.
Swinging the double-edged sword that is his practice, elegance and desolation are balanced in Bas’ sumptuous rendering of color and form; a balance that recalls the peculiar forms of the American modernist, Charles Burchfield. The figure to the right of the composition is found isolated and enveloped by the cacophony of bleeding tones, ethereal beings, and an ever-encroaching phalanx of creaking mansions. In this work Bas projects, a sinister vision of an existential danger, the cause, effect and outcome left ambiguous. Bas alludes to a clairvoyant dimension within his painting, a supernatural presence. Within this composition, the artist triggers feelings of nostalgia for shared childhood fantasies and coming of age adventures. As such, it is a stage of life shrouded in uncertainty and malaise, a mood reinforced through Bas’ choice of color palette. The tones remain noticeably desaturated and overcast with grey hues, comparable to a pervasive veil of angst that looms over our very being, both internally and externally, which is in turn signified by the house and exterior surroundings. Dark crooked houses in the background juxtaposes the warm reds and greenery in the foreground, further adding to a sense of cognitive dissonance. A prism of coded desire and self-discovery, the current work is representative of Bas’ much explored theme of introspective reveries.
Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Sotheby’s New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 746,000
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or My Merry Way, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Initialed HB and dated 08 (lower right)
Dreamlike and expressive, Hernan Bas’s Night Flight or Midnight Migration, or my Merry Way presents a sublime vista of untethered solitude and nostalgic reflection, a twilight zone of near-adulthood and awakening sexuality. Amalgamating the mundane and fantastical, the surreal vista depicts a single figure poised upon a deteriorating ledge, typifying the reoccurring motif of a young male isolated within an abundance of nature that characterizes the best of Hernan Bas’s romantically inflected oeuvre. The subtle abstraction and chromatic vibrancy create a sense of flux within the composition, symbolizing the emotional uncertainty of adolescence and burgeoning romance. Bas synthesizes the storytelling of the Aesthetic and Decadent literary periods, art historical references, and grand gestural figuration to explore coded themes of homosexuality, identity, love, and solitude. The masterful maelstrom of vibrant brushstrokes and over-saturated hues imply the notion of transformation and sensual ambiguity, the private world of the present work represents a prism of coded desire, romance, and self-discovery.
Medium
Rotten Apple, 2009
Sotheby’s London: 16 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 254,000 / USD 340,360
Rotten Apple | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Rotten Apple, 2009
Acrylic on canvas on board
48×60 inches (121.9 x 152.3 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 09 (lower left)
Executed in 2009, Hernan Bas’ Rotten Apple presents a sublime vista of untethered solitude and moral reflection. Amongst a masterful maelstrom of vibrant brushstrokes and saturated hues, Bas’ postlapsarian scene collapses and mesmerizes in its kaleidoscopic dreamlike expanse. Recalling the Fall of Man as told in the Book of Genesis, the protagonist at the heart of the composition perches under a tree, his arm outstretched holding the rotten fruit, offering it to a neighboring crow. Where Adam and Eve submitted to their temptations and ate the forbidden fruit, altering their future, Bas’ Rotten Apple alludes to a similarly transformative moment.
Painted with vigorously gestural brushstrokes, the present painting moves with a violent dynamism that conveys Bas’ depiction of transition. The landscape melts away though features remain discernible – a dilapidated windmill in the distance, a grounding and centering tree that anchors the composition, with luscious foliage throughout that nods to the Garden of Eden. That comparable works are held in such prestigious collections as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C, is a testament to Bas’ status as one of the most important painters of a generation.
LEFT: Vasily Kandinsky, Landscape with Factory Chimney (Landschaft mit Fabrikschornstein), 1910. Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York City.
RIGHT: Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia ego, 1638. Louvre Museum, Paris.
Central to Bas’ broader practice is his exploration of queerness, adolescence, and the spaces in which personal narratives intersect with collective history. Drawing inspiration from nineteenth-century Symbolist literature, the Decadent movement, and queer aesthetic traditions, Rotten Apple sits within Bas’ wider output that often features androgynous male figures depicted in states of melancholic reverie or caught in ambiguous rituals of transition. In this respect, the lone figure in Rotten Apple may be read as an avatar of what Bas terms “fag limbo;” a concept he uses to describe the transitional, often precarious state between youth and adulthood (Robert Hobbs, “Hernan Bas’ ‘Fag Limbo’ and the Tactics of Reframing Societal Texts,” in Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection, pp. 55-56). Positioned amongst the mass of electric vegetation, the vacant expression on Bas’ figure recalls the late nineteenth century Les Nabis style, particularly the decadent art of Caspar David Friedrich. Both Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and The Ash Tree (At Once a Voice Arose Among the Bleak Twigs Overhead) seem to suggest a scene which is both romantic and fragile, much like the process of maturing. Bas’ contemporary version of history painting thus illustrates a coded language of mystery and subversive symbolism.
Caspar David Friedrich, Abtei im Eichwald, 1809-1810. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Born in 1978 and raised in Florida, the ethereal dreamscape Bas illustrates is inspired by his lifelong fascination with mythology, religion, paranormal and cult phenomena. Within Bas’ landscape, one can extract fragments of meaning that may reference a nostalgia for childhood fantasies, coming of age adventures, anxiety surrounding the adolescent experience, and burgeoning sexuality. Bas’ contemporary version of history painting illustrates a coded language of mystery and subversive symbolism.
“The very terms: suspicion, mystery, clues, secrets, etc., are closely tied to any gay youth’s experience. It describes the need to cover it up (one’s sexuality). To keep it cloaked to solve these mysteries, to express the charm of ambiguous sexuality.”
The Hailstorm (he’s been through this before), 2013
Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 1,600,000 – 2,600,000
HKD 1,270,000 / USD 162,591
https://www.phillips.com/detail/hernan-bas/HK010224/124
HERNAN BAS
The Hailstorm (he’s been through this before), 2013
Acrylic, silkscreen and airbrush on linen
60 x 47 7/8 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 13’ lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 13 “The hailstorm (he’s been through this before)”‘ on the reverse
For Hernan Bas, the title phenomenon of The Hailstorm (he’s been through this before) has the disorienting, inescapable violence of a modern battlefield. Though his paintings usually focus on young men with deep, mysterious narratives, this work’s protagonist is especially hard to read: sitting on a toppled tree in the distance, his face totally concealed by a wide hat, he is barely visible behind the foreground, where something or someone seems to have been crushed by the weather’s sheer elemental force. Long, bright hailstone streaks cover the grimy landscape, filled with roughly-surfaced rocks and foliage; among it spatters of red and black, and the trails of rocks sped across the ground, suggesting that the storm has brutalized something or someone. The boy ignores all this with monk-like calm while staring into the turbulent distance, and a larger mystery remains over what has happened, besides a sense of déjà vu implied in the work’s name: it suggests he is not just enduring more bad weather, but repeating lives and deaths to some degree.
Caspar David Friedrich, Das Eismeer (The Sea of Ice), 1823-1824
This combination of mysterious, powerful forces has a personal resonance for the artist, who grew up in upstate Florida. One of the states most given to extreme weather such as heatwaves, hurricanes, and lightning, his isolated woodland town fed a strong appetite for the paranormal: ‘it was kind of like living in “The X Files.” There were constant UFO sightings, Bigfoot, ghosts. My older sister was a witch-in-training, you could say. There was an occult section at the library…I love finding those little avenues between my different influences, that all have the same path in common -the path being a general understanding that world isn’t just what’s here’.
Charles E. Burchfield, December Storm, 1941-1960
This later expanded into an appreciation for the rich, smoky atmospheres of Southern Gothic , and the decadent fantasies of Baudelaire and Wilde, whose work Bas has referenced alongside the sharper rural poetry of Robert Frost. Among his visual influences, he has cited Charles E. Burchfield, whose more traditional landscapes became marked by tempestuous pictorial violence and an absence of human figures -but, for him, were inhabited by a ubiquitous spiritual presence. He shares this belief with another Bas favorite, Caspar David Friedrich, whose Romantic works infuse the natural world with an inhuman stillness and power -an uncanny throughline that carries into Bas’s more lush, fluid, and frequently disorienting painting style. Though neither gods nor monsters appear in the given work, a sense of something much stronger and less comprehensible than mere weather is hard to ignore.
Trying to fit in, 2004
Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2024
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 390,600
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Trying to fit in | Christie’s (christies.com)
GUARANTEED
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Trying to fit in, 2004
Oil, acrylic and gouache on panel
31×24 inches (78.7 x 61 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘HB 04 trying to fit in’ (on the reverse)
Painted in 2004, contemporaneous to the artist’s inclusion in the Whitney Biennial, trying to fit in is a masterful example of Hernan Bas’ painterly vision of a queer sublime. Rendered in evocative brushstrokes, the painting depicts a flock of vivid flamingos and a single, elegant boy who apes their pose. All appear relaxed despite a darkening sky whose blue-slate tones are mirrored in the water beneath. Drawing on photographic fashion campaigns by the likes of Bruce Weber as well as the Floridian landscape of his youth, Bas’s paintings of this period are at once serene yet charged; they seem to exist on a precipice of sorts. In trying to fit in, his languid, handsome protagonist occupies an evanescent world outside reality, where man and nature commune in tranquility even as storms crackle overhead.
Born in Miami where he still lives, Bas has long been influenced by the excess and nihilism of the late eighteenth century’s Romantic period. In pellucid washes, he paints candy-colored pinks, tropical greens, aching blues, and formally, his canvases call to mind those of Elizabeth Peyton. Like Peyton, his figures, too, are willowy, waif-like, and introspective. Whereas Peyton’s visual iconography is tied to an urban milieu, Bas, however, locates his men within a sublime nature.
Claude Monet, Water Lillies, 1916. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
To create his paintings, Bas pulls from a variety of reference points, from nineteenth-century caricatures and classic films to Andy Warhol, Andy Goldsworthy, and the artist’s own memories. In his earliest days, he looked to the decorative paintings of the French Impressionists, particularly those of Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, whose flat, rich colors echo those in the present work.
Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway), 2008
Phillips New-York: 3 March 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 352,800
Hernan Bas – Editions & Works on Paper Lot 380 October 2021 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway), 2008
Acrylic on linen
40 x 30 1/8 inches (101.6 x 76.5 cm)
signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 08” lower right
Further signed with the artist’s initials
Titled and dated “Downhill at dusk (The Runaway) HB 08” on the reverse
In Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway) by Hernan Bas, a male figure drapes a fabric sac over his shoulder as he navigates through a luscious tropical environment. The shimmering wetland springs with abounding vegetation and a luring body of water that together burst in colorful exuberance. Bas’ works prominently feature young men in mysterious landscapes or interior settings that evoke fantasized realms suspended in time and the metaphysical. Painted in 2008, the present work teems with swaths of paint and natural abundance, inviting us into a sensorial reverie while drawing us to the subject with deep sensitivity. Favoring the past in drawing inspiration for his work, Bas channels his influences into highly expressionist contemporary paintings that embody the dynamic balance between abstraction and figuration through a personal lens. Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway) represents the canvas of Bas’ artistic temperament, exemplifying the vision for his paintings that characterize his distinctive practice and compelling presence in the art world.
“I have always related my paintings as being a stage in and of themselves, the curtains having just parted to reveal a scene where something is about to unfold…”
Bas views painting as theatrical, relating the relationship as a work of art meant to draw out a kind of discovery or emotion within the viewer. Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway) is a masterful performance of Bas’ rich painterly language, guiding the eye to relish the lustrous colors and thickly applied impasto that appear to ooze out of the canvas and envelop us into a kaleidoscopic, dreamlike landscape. For Bas, Downhill at Dusk (The Runaway) reflects “the characters often overlooked in the theater: the outcasts and vagabond waifs of numerous productions throughout the stage’s history. Often the filler for the production (the background singers, and street extras), I wanted to elevate the role of these characters to the forefront, never the star but essential to the story.” The figure in the present work encapsulates Bas’ identification with the waif and dandy, characters often depicted in his works, and the coming of age that comes with the quest for meaning and identity.
Works on Paper
2026 Auction Results
yes, yes I’ve heard that too…, 2013
Phillips New-York: 28 February 2026
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 61,920
WORK ON PAPER
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art
HERNAN BAS
yes, yes I’ve heard that too…, 2013
Acrylic on paper
30-1/8 x 22-1/2 inches (76.5 x 57.2 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 13” lower left
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “HB 2013 yes, yes I’ve heard that too…” on the reverse
2025 Auction Results
12 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 604,311. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price has been achieved by Nightmare, a drawing dated 2024, that sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong, on 28 September 2025, for HKD 1,032,000 (USD 132,650). 2 lots sold for more than USD 100,000 generating a cumulative turnover of USD 234,756, representing 38.8% of the total turnover for 2025.
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#1. Nightmare, 2024
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 2,000,000
HKD 1,032,000 / USD 132,650
WORK ON PAPER
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 24’ lower left
#2. Well Aged, 2005
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 76,200 / USD 102,108
WORK ON PAPER
READ MORE IN FOCUS SECTION
Well Aged, 2005
Oil, acrylic, gouache, charcoal, sand and glitter on paper
30 1/4 x 22 5/8 inches (76.8 x 57.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 05’ (lower left)
USD 100,000
#3. Private Bouquet (Clear/Red), 2015
Bonhams London: 3 April 2025
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 53,740 / USD 70,110
WORK ON PAPER
Bonhams : HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) Private Bouquet (Clear/Red) (Executed in 2015)
Acrylic, silkscreen, airbrush, colored pencil, chalk and oil pastels on paper
71 7/8 x 25 3/8 inches (182.5 x 64.3cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 15’ (lower right)
#4. The Conductor, 2006
Sotheby’s New-York: 16 May 2025
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 57,150
WORK ON PAPER
The Conductor | Contemporary Day Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
The Conductor, 2006
Oil, acrylic, gouache and graphite on paper
26 1/4 x 20 inches (66.7 x 50.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 06 (lower right)
#5. The Giant (Grooming), 2005
Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 47,880
WORK ON PAPER
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), The Giant (Grooming) | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
The Giant (Grooming), 2005
Oil on paper
30 1/8 x 22 3/8 inches (76.5 x 56.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 05’ (lower right)
#6. Untitled, 2005
Sotheby’s New-York: 16 May 2025
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 35,560
WORK ON PAPER
Untitled | Contemporary Day Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Untitled, 2005
Oil, acrylic and gouache on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches (28.6 x 25.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 05 (lower right)
The River of Wine, 2004
Sotheby’s New-York: 1 October 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 35,560
WORK ON PAPER
The River of Wine | Contemporary Discoveries | 2025 | Sotheby’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
The River of Wine, 2004
Mixed media on paper
13 5/8 x 13 inches (34.6 x 33 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 04 (lower right)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated 04 (on the verso)
#7. Private Bouquet (5), 2015
SBI Art Auction: 8 March 2025
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 5,060,000 / USD 34,245
HERNAN BAS
Private Bouquet (5), 2015
Acrylic, silkscreen, airbrush, colored chalk pencil, oil pastel on paper
30 x 22 1/2 inches (76.2 x 57.2 cm)
Signed with initials “HB” and dated
#8. Laying Back, A Little Moby Dick in the Net, 2003
Phillips New-York: 28 February 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 33,020
HERNAN BAS
Laying Back, A Little Moby Dick in the Net, 2003
Water-based oil on paper
11 1/4 x 10 inches (28.6 x 25.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 03” center left
#9. Untitled, 2003
Phillips London: 10 April 2025
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 19,050 / USD 24,420
Hernan Bas New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art
Untitled, 2003
Graphite and watercolor on paper
#10. Peace and Parrots (Luke Halpin), 2005
Grisebach Berlin: 6 June 2025
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 15,000
EUR 16,510 / USD 18,910
HERNAN BAS (Miami 1978 – lives in Miami)
“Peace and Parrots (Luke Halpin)”, 2005
Acrylic, watercolor and ink on wove paper
12 x 10 3/8 inches 30.5 × 26.5 cm)
Monogrammed and dated lower right with brush in green: HB 05
#11. L’etrate, 2005
Phillips New-York: 14 May 2025
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 12,700
Hernan Bas Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “L’etrate HB 05” on the reverse
2024 Auction Results
PRELIMINARY
7 lots sold at auction in 2024. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 88%. The highest price was achieved by a group of 7 drawings dated 2000, from the Rosa de la Cruz Collection, that sold at Christie’s online, on 18 July 2024 for USD 30,240.
#1. Lounging Cranberry Couple; Neopolitan Prada Boy; Strawberry Kate; Strawberry Prada Boy; Thinking Blonde; Vanilla Gucci Boy [Six Works], 2000
The Rosa de la Cruz Collection
Christie’s online: 18 July 2024
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,240
WORK ON PAPER
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Lounging Cranberry Couple; Neopolitan Prada Boy; Strawberry Kate; Strawberry Prada Boy; Thinking Blonde; Vanilla Gucci Boy [Six Works], 2000
SlimFast and graphite on paper
Various sizes
All signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated
#2. The 2014 Mr. General Idea Pageant, 2014
Phillips London: 19 April 2024
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 24,130 / USD 30,000
WORK ON PAPER
Hernan Bas – New Now: Modern & Contemp… Lot 10 April 2024 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
The 2014 Mr. General Idea Pageant, 2014
Watercolor, ink and acrylic on vellum paper
14 x 10 7/8 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 14’ center right
#3. Silver Dollar Wish, from the series A Little Moby Dick In All of Us, 2003
Bonhams LA: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 24,320
WORK ON PAPER
Acrylic on paper
10 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches (26.7 x 29.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials again, titled and dated again ‘Silver dollar wish HB 03 From the series: a little Moby Dick in all of us’ (on the reverse)
#4. Chocolate Erik; Couple; Piombo; Strawberry Hernan [Four Works], 2000
The Rosa de la Cruz Collection
Christie’s online: 4 June 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 18,900
WORK ON PAPER
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978), Chocolate Erik; Couple; Piombo; Strawberry Hernan [Four Works] | Christie’s
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Chocolate Erik; Couple; Piombo; Strawberry Hernan [Four Works], 2000
Graphite and SlimFast on paper
Varying sizes
All signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated
#5. Pompeii I, 2005
Grisebach Berlin: 29 November 2024
Estimated: EUR 15,000 – 20,000
EUR 17,780 / USD 18,750
WORK ON PAPER
HERNAN BAS (Miami 1978 – lives in Miami)
Pompeii I, 2005
Acrylic, graphite, watercolor and plastic mass on paper
14 3/4 × 15 1/8 inches (37.5 × 38.3 cm)
On the backboard with a label from the Victoria Miro Gallery, London
#6. Two Boys, 2003
Bonhams online: 14 February 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 12,800
WORK ON PAPER
Bonhams : HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) Two Boys 2003
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Two Boys, 2003
Water-based oil on vellum
16 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches (42.5 x 34.3 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 03
#7. Untitled 10 From the Series Twinkle Twinkle (or the dirty pictures), 2004
Bonhams online: 14 February 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 12,800
WORK ON PAPER
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Untitled 10 From the Series Twinkle Twinkle (or the dirty pictures), 2004
Graphite, charcoal and acrylic on paper
12×12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated 04
2023 Auction Results
8 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 198,592.
#1. Private Bouquet (8), 2015
SBI Art Auction: 11 March 2023
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 7,245,000 / USD 53,650
HERNAN BAS
Private Bouquet (8), 2015
Acrylic, silkscreen, airbrush, colored chalk pencil, oil pastel on paper
30 x 22 5/8 inches (76.3 x 57.5 cm)
Signed with initials “HB” and dated
#2. The Curtains in the Tree Make Shade, 2005
Bonhams New-York: 16 November 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 35,840
Bonhams : HERNAN BAS (B. 1978) The Curtains in the Tree Make Shade 2005
Acrylic, watercolor, ink and pastel on paper
30 1/4 x 22 5/8 inches (76.8 x 57.5 cm)
#3. Manipulating the self (#2), 2014
Sotheby’s New-York: 6 February 2023
Estimated: USD 26,000 – 35,000
USD 30,000
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Manipulating the self (#2), 2014
Watercolor, acrylic, and graphite on vellum paper
14×11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed
#4. Baby, Let’s Play House, 2010
Christie’s online: 5 July 2023
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 22,680 / USD 28,869
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Baby, Let’s Play House | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Baby, Let’s Play House, 2010
Acrylic, graphite and airbrush on mylar
14×11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 10’ (lower left)
#5. Someone’s in Danger (Luke Halpin), 2005
Christie’s online: 18 July 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 18,900
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Someone’s in Danger (Luke Halpin) | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Someone’s in Danger (Luke Halpin), 2005
Water based oil and graphite on paper
12 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches (31.1 x 26 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 05’ (lower right)
#8. Snow Blow, 2005
Sotheby’s New-York: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 5,000 – 7,000
USD 6,985
Snow Blow | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
HERNAN BAS (b. 1978)
Snow Blow, 2005
Oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink, pastel and graphite on paper
12 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches (30.8 x 30.2 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 05 (lower right)
2022 Auction Results
13 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 461,713.
#1. Untitled (As Yet), 2005
Phillips New-York: 16 November 2022
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 126,000
Hernan Bas – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 423 November 2022 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Untitled (As Yet), 2005
Oil and graphite on paper
30 1/4 x 22 1/2 inches (76.8 x 57.2 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “HB 05” lower left
#2. Study for Listening Party, 2007
Phillips New-York: 9 March 2022
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 65,520
Hernan Bas – New Now New York Lot 28 March 2022 | Phillips
HERNAN BAS
Study for Listening Party, 2007
Oil, acrylic, gouache and graphite on paper
22 3/8 x 30 1/8 inches (56.8 x 76.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “study for “listening party” HB 07″ lower left
#3. Flamingo Kid, 2015
Seoul Auction: 29 November 2022
Estimated: KRW 60,000,000 – 130,000,000
KRW 77,880,000 / USD 59,677
HERNAN BAS
Flamingo Kid, 2015
Acrylic, color pencil and pastel on paper
30 1/8 x 22 7/8 inches (76.5 x 58 cm)
Signed and dated on the lower left
#4. Pompeii IV, 2005
Christie’s online: 21 January 2022
Estimated: HKD 120,000 – 180,000
HKD 400,000 / USD 51,370
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Pompeii IV | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Pompeii IV, 2005
Pastel, watercolor and acrylic on paper
14 5/8 x 15 1/8 inches (37.2 x 38.5 cm)
#7. Lights, Camera, Action, 2002
Seoul Auction: 20 December 2022
Estimated: KRW 25,000,000 – 50,000,000
KRW 29,500,000 / USD 23,354
HERNAN BAS
Lights, Camera, Action, 2002
Mixed media on paper
11 x 9 3/8 inches (28 x 23.5 cm)
#11. Reflecting Pond, 2002
Christie’s online: 14 December 2022
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 11,340
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978), Reflecting Pond | Christie’s (christies.com)
HERNAN BAS (B. 1978)
Reflecting Pond, 2002
Water-based oil on vellum
11 x 91/2 inches (28 x 24 cm.)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘H.B. 02’ (lower right)
Selected Highlights
Well Aged, 2005
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 76,200 / USD 102,108
WORK ON PAPER
Well Aged, 2005
Oil, acrylic, gouache, charcoal, sand and glitter on paper
30 1/4 x 22 5/8 inches (76.8 x 57.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘HB 05’ (lower left)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Digital image: © 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. / Bridgeman Image.
“I think that overwhelming fear and fascination with the unknown, with what the forests “held”, is embedded in a lot of my work.”
The National Gallery, London. Digital image: © 2025 The National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence.
