Yesha
Senior Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 183
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Zimbabwean contemporary artist Portia Zvavahera has set a new personal auction record after her painting, This is where I travelled [3], sold for £307,200 (approximately US$406,200) at Christie’s in London.
The painting, created in 2020, was sold on October 14, 2026, as part of the Monsoon: The Peter Simon Collection Evening Sale. Its final price, including the buyer’s premium, exceeded the pre-sale estimate of £70,000 to £100,000 by more than four times the lower estimate.
According to Christie’s, the sale surpassed Zvavahera’s previous auction record of £286,258, equivalent to approximately US$355,600, set at Sotheby’s in New York in May 2023. The latest result represents an increase of about 14 percent over her previous record.
The 186-centimetre-square painting combines oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, reflecting the artist’s distinctive approach to colour, pattern and layered imagery.
In its description of the work, Christie’s notes that Zvavahera’s paintings explore dreams and are influenced by her Christian faith and the Shona spiritual traditions in which she was raised in Harare.
The artwork depicts large, colourful figures surrounding smaller beings, with floral patterns and layered colours creating an image that suggests a gathering while leaving the relationships between the figures open to interpretation.
The painting belongs to a series of five major works Zvavahera created during the 2020 lockdown, when restrictions on movement gave new meaning to the idea of journeys and travel.
Zvavahera has developed an international presence through exhibitions and sales at leading auction houses. Her previous record was established in 2023 when Vese Vakanddibata (They all gave me strength), a 2016 painting, sold for US$355,600 at Sotheby’s.
Her latest achievement adds to the visibility of Zimbabwean contemporary art in the international market. However, it is a personal auction record rather than the highest reported auction price for a Zimbabwean artist. Fellow Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai-Violet Hwami achieved a higher reported sale price at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2021.
Zvavahera’s latest sale demonstrates the continued international market for her work and places another Zimbabwean artist in the spotlight during London’s major autumn art auctions.
Source: Christie’s