The DDRE Luxury Edit
Frieze Masters 2026: Mila Boettcher’s Must-Sees
Frieze Masters returns to London, bringing together exceptional works that span centuries of art history. For this year’s Art Edit, DDRE advisor and art dealer Mila Boettcher shares her personal highlights, from Lucio Fontana’s radical reimagining of the canvas to Lynn Chadwick’s striking sculptures, Andy Warhol’s playful illustrations and a remarkable 17th-century still life. A considered guide to the works, stories and discoveries that make this year’s fair worth a closer look.
Hauser & Wirth, Booth D01 | Concetto Spaziale, Attesa
Lucio Fontana: Opening the Canvas to Infinite Space
Lucio Fontana changed the possibilities of painting with a single, deliberate cut. In Concetto Spaziale, Attesa, the incision transforms the canvas from a flat surface into an opening onto the space beyond, challenging the boundaries between painting, sculpture and architecture.
This was the essence of Spatialism, Fontana’s vision for an art that could respond to new ideas in science, technology and the dimensions of space. The cut is both radical and restrained, drawing attention to what lies beyond the visible surface. At Frieze Masters, the work offers a reminder of how a deceptively simple gesture can redefine an entire medium. For those wishing to explore his practice further, Hauser & Wirth’s Lucio Fontana: Spatialism. Pioneering the Contemporary runs in Hong Kong until 19 December 2026.
Osborne Samuel | Short Horn, 1954
Lynn Chadwick: A Bull That Holds Your Gaze
Constructed from iron and composition, Lynn Chadwick’s Short Horn distils the presence of a bull into a striking arrangement of angular form and raw material. Unique in its execution, the sculpture was exhibited at the 1956 Venice Biennale, where it was acquired by Belgian critic and collector René Gaffé.
The work’s story continues in Gaffé’s own words. Writing about the sculpture in his home, he recalled the powerful beast seeming to watch him silently each morning. It is a telling response to Chadwick’s work, which gives an abstracted animal an unmistakable sense of character and quiet intensity. Chadwick went on to win the Biennale’s International Sculpture Prize that year, cementing his place among the leading British sculptors of his generation.
Lyndsey Ingram | 25 Cats, 1954
Andy Warhol: The Cats That Started It All
Long before his iconic pop art portraits, Andy Warhol was making a name for himself as a commercial illustrator. 25 Cats is an early example of his distinctive blotted-line technique, combining the spontaneity of hand-drawn illustration with a playful sense of character. The book features a procession of cats, sixteen of them named Sam, alongside the memorable One Blue Pussy.
Created as a promotional gift for clients, these charming illustrated books reveal a more intimate side of Warhol’s practice. Beneath the humour lies the graphic instinct that would later define his visual language: bold lines, repetition and an ability to turn everyday subjects into compelling images.
HAUSER & WIRTH, BOOTH D01
Jan Brueghel the Elder: A Still Life Reimagined
Painted around 1607, Jan Brueghel the Elder’s Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase reflects the extraordinary precision and botanical detail that helped establish floral still life as a genre in its own right. Once part of the Rothschild collection, the painting was seized by the Nazis before being restituted to its rightful owners, giving its beauty a history marked by loss and recovery.
At Frieze Masters, the work is displayed alongside Perfume, a contemporary response by British artist Flora Yukhnovich. The conversation between the two paintings bridges four centuries, bringing Brueghel’s meticulous observation into dialogue with Yukhnovich’s expressive, fluid approach to paint. The historic work reportedly sold for £5 million on the fair’s opening day, underscoring the enduring appeal of masterpieces that connect art history with a living artistic conversation.
