---
title: "Thierry noir: results at LLB Auction"
source: LLB Auction
canonical: https://www.llb-auction.com/artists/thierry-noir
currency: EUR
price_basis: hammer, excluding buyer's premium and VAT
scope: results at this auction house only
---

# Thierry noir

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Born | 1958 |
| Nationality | French |
| Movements | street art |
| Lots offered at LLB Auction | 5 |
| Lots sold | 4 |
| Range of prices realised | €500 to €9,000 |
| Median price realised | €500 |

## Lots

| Work | Medium | Sale | Date | Estimate | Hammer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Untitled | Acrylic and marker on board | Contemporary Art Summer 2026 | 7 July 2026 | €500 to €1,000 | €500 |
| Untitled | Acrylic and marker on board | Contemporary Art Summer 2026 | 7 July 2026 | €500 to €1,000 | €500 |
| Untitled | Acrylic and marker on board | Contemporary Art Summer 2026 | 7 July 2026 | €500 to €1,000 | €500 |
| Lot 76. Thierry Noir, The consistency of my actions pushes me to the front of the stage (2026) | Painting | Contemporary Art Spring 2026 | 26 May 2026 | €10,000 to €15,000 | €9,000 |
| Lot 77. Thierry Noir, Freedom Is The Key (2020) | Painting | Contemporary Art Spring 2026 | 26 May 2026 | €1,500 to €3,000 | Not sold |

## About Thierry noir

### Life and work

Thierry Noir is a French painter and muralist, born in 1958 in Lyon. In January 1982 he moved to West Berlin, arriving with little more than two suitcases, and settled in a squat close to the Wall in the Kreuzberg district. From 1984 he began painting directly on the western face of the Berlin Wall, working with a few flat colours and one continuous line so he could finish a section quickly and avoid the attention of border guards, a method he later called Fast Form Manifest. Over the following years he covered several kilometres of the barrier with his brightly coloured heads and simplified figures, becoming one of the first artists anywhere to treat a wall of that kind as a canvas rather than a backdrop. After the Wall came down in 1989, painted sections entered public and private collections in several countries, and in 1990 he was among the artists invited to repaint a preserved stretch that became the East Side Gallery. He has continued to live and work in Berlin, carrying the same visual language across paintings, murals, prints and public commissions.

### Disciplines and the market

Noir works across unique acrylic paintings on canvas or board, murals, and limited edition screenprints, and the three categories are valued differently once they reach a saleroom. Large paintings on canvas have brought the strongest results at auction. Numbered screenprints from series such as East Side Heads sell for less than a painting of comparable size, reflecting their larger edition size, and small works on paper or cardboard studies settle lower still. LLB Auction has offered five lots by the artist, four of which found buyers, a pattern that matches the steady but modest demand seen at the international houses. A seller should always be clear about which of the three categories a work belongs to, since a painting, a mural fragment and a print run are not comparable on price.

### What a specialist examines

For a painting or a work on paper, a specialist looks at the signature, usually reading NOIR, its placement, and whether it is consistent with the date claimed for the work. Provenance carries particular weight for anything described as a fragment of the Berlin Wall itself, since documented sales of removed sections with no real connection to the artist's own murals have circulated publicly since 1990. A clear paper trail back to the moment of removal matters more than any accompanying paperwork on its own. For prints, the edition number and the publisher named on the sheet are checked against what is known about the series, since suites such as East Side Heads were issued in different states and colourways over time. Exhibition history, when it can be traced to a gallery or museum record, helps place a work within the artist's output. Typical condition points include paint stability on canvas that has been kept or shown outdoors, and browning or fading on paper or card stored badly.

### Market position

At auction, paintings and prints by Noir have sold at several international houses in recent years. Bonhams sold "On se connait depuis le lycee, on a pas beaucoup change" for £21,760 in June 2023, "The energy of the dance floor comes straight back to my ears" for £14,080 in November 2024, the screenprint "The Energy of the Moment Takes Us Through the Night" for £6,400 in December 2024, and a screenprint from the East Side Heads series for £2,304 in September 2024. Phillips sold "Fred cherche un bar sympathique" for £17,640 through its Wired online sale in May 2022. Artcurial in Paris sold "Promenade sous les tilleuls," a work on cardboard from 1990, for €1,706 in December 2024. Taken together these results show a public market spanning France and the United Kingdom, with paintings on canvas reaching well beyond ten thousand pounds and prints settling in the low thousands.

### Preparing a valuation request

For any painting, print or mural fragment attributed to Noir, a seller should gather the original invoice or bill of sale, clear photographs of the front, the signature, and the reverse, and note the exact medium, support and dimensions. For a claimed Wall fragment, documents tracing where and when it was removed matter more than any certificate offered alongside it, given how many pieces have been sold since the 1990s with no real connection to the artist's murals. For a print, the edition number, the publisher and any paperwork from the print run should be kept together with the work. A condition report noting cracking, flaking, fading or past restoration, together with a record of any exhibition or publication the piece has appeared in, will strengthen a valuation request.

## Market at LLB Auction

| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Sell-through | 80% |
| Record hammer | €9,000 (Lot 76. Thierry Noir, The consistency of my actions pushes me to the front of the stage (2026)) |
| Hammer vs low estimate | 0.97x |
| Lots above high estimate | 0 |

### Prices by medium

| Medium | Offered | Sold | Lowest hammer | Median hammer | Highest hammer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acrylic and marker on board | 3 | 3 | €500 | €500 | €500 |
| Painting | 2 | 1 | €9,000 | €9,000 | €9,000 |

### Year by year

| Year | Offered | Sold | Total hammer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 | 4 | €10,500 |

## Public auction records

Results published by other auction houses, cited from the linked sources. Not results of LLB Auction.

| House | Date | Work | Price (basis) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonhams | 10 December 2024 | The Energy of the Moment Takes Us Through the Night (2024) | £6,400 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29915/lot/60/thierry-noir-french-born-1958-the-energy-of-the-moment-takes-us-through-the-night-screenprint-in-colours-2024-on-wove-paper-signed-and-numbered-4850-in-pencil-published-by-the-artist-the-full-sheetsheet-1000-x-1000mm-38-38-x-39-38in/ |
| Bonhams | 19 November 2024 | The energy of the dance floor comes straight back to my ears (2023) | £14,080 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29913/lot/107/thierry-noir-born-1958-the-energy-of-the-dance-floor-comes-straight-back-to-my-ears-2023/ |
| Bonhams | 26 September 2024 | Blue Head, from East Side Heads (2014) | £2,304 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29911/lot/174/thierry-noir-french-born-1958-blue-head-from-east-side-heads-screenprint-in-colours-2014-on-card-signed-and-numbered-0625-in-white-crayon-published-by-howard-griffin-prints-london-the-full-sheet-framedsheet-687-x-518mm-27-x-20-38in/ |
| Phillips | 3 July 2024 | Daniel a achete des nouvelles chaussures de sport. Il est pret a courir le marathon. Des demain s'il le faut | £4,064 (premium) | https://www.phillips.com/detail/thierry-noir/UK090224/113 |
| Phillips | 27 June 2024 | An incredible burst of energy spreads around the market square | £25,400 (premium) | https://www.phillips.com/detail/thierry-noir/UK010424/133 |
| Phillips | 7 June 2024 | Jazz | £2,286 (premium) | https://www.phillips.com/detail/thierry-noir/UK030324/408 |
| Bonhams | 29 June 2023 | On se connait depuis le lycee, on a pas beaucoup change (2012) | £21,760 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28785/lot/138/thierry-noir-b-1958-on-se-connait-depuis-le-lycee-on-a-pas-beaucoup-change-2012/ |
| Artcurial | 5 December 2024 | Promenade sous les tilleuls (1990) | €1,706 (premium) | https://www.artcurial.com/en/sales/6043/lots/27-a |
| Phillips | 18 May 2022 | Fred cherche un bar sympathique | £17,640 (premium) | https://www.phillips.com/detail/thierry-noir/UK090222/17 |

## Career

### Cautions

- Painted sections of the Berlin Wall carrying Noir's work have circulated on the open market since 23 June 1990, when 33 painted sections were sold at the Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo, so provenance tracing a piece back to a specific wall segment matters. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Noir)
- Noir's screenprints are published in signed and numbered editions, several through Howard Griffin Prints in London, and sell for markedly less at auction than his unique acrylic paintings on canvas. (https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29911/lot/174/thierry-noir-french-born-1958-blue-head-from-east-side-heads-screenprint-in-colours-2014-on-card-signed-and-numbered-0625-in-white-crayon-published-by-howard-griffin-prints-london-the-full-sheet-framedsheet-687-x-518mm-27-x-20-38in/)
- Signed, numbered screenprints from series such as East Side Heads trade well below unique acrylic paintings at auction; a 2014 screenprint sold for £2,304 in September 2024 while a 2012 acrylic on canvas by the same artist sold for £21,760 in June 2023, so a listing should always state whether a work is a unique painting or a numbered edition print. (https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29911/lot/174/thierry-noir-french-born-1958-blue-head-from-east-side-heads-screenprint-in-colours-2014-on-card-signed-and-numbered-0625-in-white-crayon-published-by-howard-griffin-prints-london-the-full-sheet-framedsheet-687-x-518mm-27-x-20-38in/)
- In June 1990, sections of Wall bearing Noir's murals were auctioned at the Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo by parties who had removed them from Berlin; a work attributed to Noir from that period should carry a documented chain of custody rather than a seller's account alone. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Noir)

### Exhibitions

| Exhibition | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Heads | Sotheby's, New Bond Street, London | 2022 |
| WALL (with Stik) | Imperial War Museum, London | 2019 |
| A Retrospective | Howard Griffin Gallery, London | 2014 |
| The VU Wall (with Stik) | Village Underground, Shoreditch, London | 2013 |
| Wall Along Wilshire | Wende Museum, Los Angeles | 2009 |
| Baroque the Streets | Dulwich Picture Gallery, London | 2013 |
| Thierry Noir: A Retrospective | Howard Griffin Gallery, London | 2014 |
| Thierry Noir: Heads | Sotheby's, New Bond Street, London | 2022 |
| Thierry Noir: Techno | Christie's, King Street, London | 2023 |
| Thierry Noir: Gold | Phillips, 432 Park Avenue, New York | 2024 |
| Thierry Noir: Rush Hour | Phillips, Hong Kong and Tokyo | 2025 |

### Authentication bodies

- Thierry Noir Catalogue Raisonne Project (https://thierrynoir.com/catres/): Ongoing project run from the artist's own archive, recording paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and commissions from 1984 to the present and taking submissions of unlocated works from collectors.

### Catalogue raisonné

- Thierry Noir Catalogue Raisonne, Thierry Noir Studio: https://thierrynoir.com/catres/

## Comparables

Comparable price band (middle half of hammer prices here): €500 to €9,000

Related artists: Victor Vasarely, Invader, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Keith Haring, C215, Kan/Dmv


## Sources

- LLB Auction catalogue (Proprietary)
- Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Noir
- thierrynoir.com (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://thierrynoir.com/
- Bonhams (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.bonhams.com/
- Phillips (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.phillips.com/
- Sotheby's (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-catalogues/thierry-noir-heads
- Howard Griffin Gallery (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://howardgriffingallery.com/exhibitions/thierry-noir-a-retrospective/
- Street Art London (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://streetartlondon.co.uk/walls/stik-thierry-noir/
- Urban Kultur Blog (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://urbankulturblog.com/2017/10/15/wende-museums-wall-project/
- Creative Boom (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/thierry-noir-and-stik-unite-to-paint-original-sections-of-the-berlin-wall-to-mark-30-years-since-its-fall/
- Bonhams (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.bonhams.com
- Artcurial (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.artcurial.com
- Phillips (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.phillips.com
- Phillips (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://exhibitions.phillips.com
- Thierry Noir (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://thierrynoir.com
- Howard Griffin Gallery (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://howardgriffingallery.com
- Sotheby's (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.sothebys.com
- Wikidata contributors (CC0): https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q932665

## Valuations
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