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

# Yue Minjun

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Movements | Cynical Realism |
| Lots offered at LLB Auction | 3 |
| Lots sold | 3 |
| Range of prices realised | €1,100 to €1,500 |
| Median price realised | €1,100 |

## Lots

| Work | Medium | Sale | Date | Estimate | Hammer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Untitled (Smile-ism No. 14) | Lithograph | Contemporary Art Summer 2026 | 7 July 2026 | €1,000 to €2,000 | €1,500 |
| Lot 98. Yue Minjun, Untitled (Smile-ism No. 22) (2006) | Print | Contemporary Art Spring 2026 | 26 May 2026 | €1,000 to €2,000 | €1,100 |
| LOT 48. Untitled (Smile-ism No. 22) (2006) | Print | Contemporary Art - February 2026 | 1 March 2026 | €1,000 to €2,000 | €1,100 |

## About Yue Minjun

### Life and work

Yue Minjun was born in 1962 in Daqing, in Heilongjiang province in the north east of China, into a family that worked the oil fields. He trained in oil painting at Hebei Normal University, spent a period as an electrician, and painted portraits of his co-workers while employed on deep sea drilling. In 1989 he saw a painting by Geng Jianyi of the artist's own laughing face, and in 1990 he moved to the artists' village at Hongmiao in the Chaoyang district of Beijing. From that point the laughing figure, based on his own likeness, mouth wide and eyes shut, became effectively his whole subject. Critics grouped him with Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi and Zhang Xiaogang under the label Cynical Realism, coined by Li Xianting. He has never accepted the term and does not argue about it. He still works in Beijing.

### Disciplines and how they differ

One image, several carriers, and they do not price alike. The oil paintings are the primary market and the only part of the output that has ever reached headline levels. From 1999, when he was invited to the Venice Biennale, he began casting the same figure in bronze, and the sculptures form a second market. Watercolours and drawings sit below those. Then come the editions, and that is where LLB Auction operates. All three lots handled here have come from Smile-ism, a series of lithographs published in 2006 in editions of forty five, printed in the United States by Museum Collections Editions and issued through Art Issue Editions in New York. Three were offered here and three sold.

### What a specialist examines

The signature is in Latin script, Yue Minjun or yueminjun run together, normally at the lower right, with the edition number in pencil at the lower left. The Smile-ism sheets run to roughly ninety by one hundred and ten centimetres, and the series is numbered up to twenty eight, so the plate number and the subtitle that goes with it need to be read off the sheet rather than guessed from the image. Because the editions are small and the sheets large and usually framed, condition questions are the ones that follow large unglazed paper: cockling, light staining at the edges of an old mount, and fading, since these are colour lithographs that have often hung in daylight. Check the publisher's and printer's credit, which distinguishes an edition sheet from an exhibition poster carrying the same laughing head. No body reviews works under this name for sellers, so the paperwork a consignor holds carries the weight.

### Market position

The distance between the paintings and the paper is the thing to hold in mind. At Bonhams in San Francisco in November 2006 the oil on canvas Great Solidarity of 1992, two metres square, made USD 309,750. The editions are another order entirely. At Bonhams in Hong Kong in May 2014 an impression of Untitled (Smile-ism No. 15), numbered 29 of 45, made HKD 36,250. A colour lithograph of 1993, Happiness, signed and numbered from an edition of one hundred, printed by Idem in Paris and published by the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, made GBP 1,024 at Bonhams in London in November 2025. An impression of Smile-ism No. 20 offered at Bonhams in Hong Kong in May 2013 found no buyer at all. The Smile-ism sheets sold here in 2026 landed below that 2014 Hong Kong level, which is worth knowing before a reserve is set. Each figure includes the buyer's premium as the house prints it.

### What a seller should have ready

The sheet photographed complete with all four margins, and the signature and edition number in close detail, since both are in pencil and both are easy to lose in a framed shot taken through glass. The plate number within the series and its subtitle if one is printed. Sheet and image measurements in centimetres. The publisher's or printer's credit line and any blindstamp, photographed in raking light. If the work is a painting or a bronze rather than a sheet, the purchase history matters far more, and anything from a named gallery should be produced in full.

## Market at LLB Auction

| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Sell-through | 100% |
| Record hammer | €1,500 (Untitled (Smile-ism No. 14)) |
| Hammer vs low estimate | 1.23x |
| Lots above high estimate | 0 |

### Prices by medium

| Medium | Offered | Sold | Lowest hammer | Median hammer | Highest hammer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Print | 2 | 2 | €1,100 | €1,100 | €1,100 |
| Lithograph | 1 | 1 | €1,500 | €1,500 | €1,500 |

### Year by year

| Year | Offered | Sold | Total hammer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 3 | €3,700 |

## 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 | 20 November 2006 | Great Solidarity (1992) | US$309,750 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14043/lot/6145/ |
| Bonhams | 17 May 2014 | Untitled (Smile-ism No.15, Your smile is an Umbrella in the Rain) (2006), numbered 29/45 | HK$36,250 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21939/lot/655/ |
| Bonhams | 20 November 2025 | Happiness (1993), signed and numbered 27/100 | £1,024 (premium) | https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/31102/lot/114/ |

## Career

### Cautions

- Everything LLB Auction has offered under this name has come from Smile-ism, a set of lithographs published in 2006 in editions of forty five. Prices reported for the oil paintings, such as the USD 309,750 paid for Great Solidarity at Bonhams in 2006, say nothing about what a sheet from that edition is worth. (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14043/lot/6145/)
- The print market under this name has softened. An impression of Smile-ism No. 15 numbered 29 of 45 made HKD 36,250 at Bonhams in Hong Kong in May 2014, well above what comparable sheets have realised in Europe more recently. (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21939/lot/655/)
- Sheets from this series do fail. An impression of Smile-ism No. 20, also numbered 29 of 45, was offered at Bonhams in Hong Kong in May 2013 against an estimate of HKD 30,000 to 50,000 and did not sell. (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20954/lot/835/)
- The Smile-ism sheets are signed in Latin script at the lower right and numbered in pencil at the lower left, and the printer's credit reads Museum Collections Editions. A sheet without pencil numbering carrying the same laughing head is likely to be an exhibition poster rather than an edition impression. (https://www.phillips.com/detail/yue-minjun/HK090223/44)
- The same motif appears across oil paintings, bronzes, watercolours, lithographs and collaborative editions made with other artists. Identify which of those a work is before comparing it to any published price, because the bands do not overlap. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Minjun)
- These are large colour lithographs, commonly framed and hung. Fading, cockling and staining at the edge of an old mount are the recurring condition faults and are read hard by specialists in this material. (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/31102/lot/114/)

### Exhibitions

| Exhibition | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile | Queens Museum of Art, New York | 2007 |
| China, the body everywhere? | Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille | 2004 |
| Die Neue Kunsthalle II, collection presentation | Kunsthalle Mannheim | 2003 |
| Venice Biennale, first bronze versions of the laughing figure | Venice Biennale | 1999 |

## Comparables

Comparable price band (middle half of hammer prices here): €1,100 to €1,500


## Sources

- LLB Auction catalogue (Proprietary)
- Wikipedia contributors, Yue Minjun, CC BY-SA 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Minjun
- Wikidata contributors (CC0): https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1132877
- Bonhams (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21939/lot/655/
- Phillips Auctioneers (all rights reserved, cited under quotation): https://www.phillips.com/artist/10975/yue-minjun

## Valuations
Request a free valuation: https://www.llb-auction.com/sell