Nara's knife-wielding kid and Kim's water drops head to a Seoul auction

K Auction in Seoul will sell 118 works on 25 November, from Yoshitomo Nara's defiant child to Kim Tschang-yeul's water drops, estimated at 12.6 billion won.

13 Nov 2026, 04:042 min read

A gallery wall in Seoul showing a painting of a big-headed child holding a small knife beside a canvas of glistening water drops. — Image: 연합뉴스

A big-headed child with a sideways glare and a tiny knife in one hand is about to go under the hammer in Seoul. It's one of 118 works in K Auction's next sale, and the whole lot is estimated at around 12.6 billion won.

What's going on? 🎨

K Auction announced on 13 November that it will hold the sale on 25 November at its headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam (Seoul's upmarket art district).

The headline piece is Yoshitomo Nara's "Slash with a Knife", made with acrylic and coloured pencil on paper. The child tilts their head and squints out of green eyes, looking rebellious yet innocent. Layers of pink, orange and yellow soften the background. The title borrows from a song by the Japanese punk band The Star Club. Bidding starts at 1.7 billion won.

Who else is on the wall?

Kim Tschang-yeul, Korea's famous "water drop" painter, is well represented. His 1976 oil on linen "Water Drops BAA N°5" is estimated at 1.3 to 1.8 billion won, and three more of his water drop paintings are in the sale.

Kim Whanki's 1969 "Untitled", painted while he lived in New York, is estimated at 760 million to 1.5 billion won. Blue lines cross the canvas in a cross shape, with red and ochre patches where they meet.

There are also seven works by Lee Ufan, pieces by 1970s Korean experimental artists such as Lee Kun-yong and Lee Kang-so, and works by Yayoi Kusama, Yun Hyong-keun, Chun Kyung-ja, Chang Ucchin and Chung Sang-hwa. On the traditional side, you'll find Jeong Seon's "Landscape with Figures" and a letter written by the Joseon-era scholar Yi Hwang (Toegye).

Why does this matter?

Both headline artists have a track record. In 2019, Sotheby's Hong Kong sold Nara's "Knife Behind Back" for about HK$195 million, a record for the artist. Kim died in January 2021 at 91, and his water drop paintings have drawn strong auction interest since.