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Aboriginal Art > Aboriginal Art Styles > Western Desert Art > Balgo Art > Wimmitji Tjapangarti > Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value

Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value and Auction results

Works Offered at Auction: 66
Sale Rate: 61%
Highest Sale: $65,000 AUD
Median Sale Price: $18,000 AUD

This page documents the auction history and market values of Wimmitji Tjapangarti paintings. For his biography, painting style, cultural significance and role in the development of Balgo Art, see the main Wimmitji Tjapangarti Aboriginal artist page

Wimmitji Tjapangarti paintings are relatively rare on the secondary market, with the strongest works achieving prices above $30,000 AUD and his auction record reaching $65,000 AUD. His most valuable paintings tend to be large, densely worked compositions from the late 1980s and early 1990s with strong Warlayirti Artists provenance, important exhibition histories and well-documented connections to his Country. 

Wimmitji was one of the foundational senior artists of the Balgo painting movement, but his painting career was comparatively short and his output limited. He began producing public acrylic paintings in the early 1980s, became a major figure at Warlayirti Artists from the late 1980s, and had largely ceased painting by the early 1990s as his eyesight deteriorated. This scarcity, combined with his cultural authority and highly individual painting style, helps distinguish the best examples in the market.

Auction results vary considerably. Major works with exceptional provenance have realised $30,000–$65,000 AUD, while many smaller or less significant paintings have sold between roughly $4,000 and $20,000 AUD. Subject, date, size, condition, provenance, Warlayirti documentation, exhibition history and visual quality can all have a substantial effect on value.

If you own a Wimmitji Tjapangarti painting and would like an opinion on its value, or are considering selling it, please contact me with clear photographs of the front and back, dimensions and any Warlayirti Artists certificates, labels or provenance you have.

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Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value 1989

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Kutakutal, with dense white dotting, concentric circles, elongated forms and bold red, yellow, black and ochre shapes representing his birthplace Country near Well 33.

Kutakutal (Artist’s Birthplace Near Well 33), 1989

Size
100 × 76 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 26 June 2000, Lot 89

Price Realised
$18,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Kutu, showing densely dotted rectangular sites, circular forms and red ancestral figures and pathways across yellow, ochre, black and white fields.

Kutu, 1989

Size
120 × 60 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 26 July 2004, Lot 69

Provenance
Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) for Warlayirti Artists (cat. 425/89); Dreamtime Gallery, Queensland; The Sam Barry Collection.

Price Realised
$30,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's The Artist's Country at Kurra, with dense white dotting, concentric circles, winding pathways and irregular pink, red, ochre, black and green forms.

The Artist’s Country at Kurra, Near the Canning Stock Route, 1989

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Fine Aboriginal and Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 17 June 1996, Lot 161

Provenance
Acquired from Cooee Aboriginal Art, Sydney.

Price Realised
$8,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled, 1989, with dense ochre and white dotting, winding bands, circular sites and elongated forms across a richly patterned composition.

Untitled, 1989

Size
90 × 60 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Lawson~Menzies, Aboriginal Art, Sydney, 22 November 2006, Lot 92

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists (cat. 106/89); Private Collection, NSW.

Price Realised
$19,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country (Yirrawilli), with winding red and ochre ancestral pathways, circular waterhole forms and dense white, yellow and red dotting across the desert landscape.

Artist’s Country (Yirrawilli), 1989

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Mossgreen Auctions, The Alan Boxer Collection of Australian Indigenous Art, Melbourne, 17 March 2015, Lot 9

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia (cat. 636/89); Chapman Gallery, Canberra; The Alan Boxer Collection, Canberra.

Price Realised
$40,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Water Dreaming, with concentric waterhole forms, elongated ceremonial shapes and dense white dotting across a red, ochre and brown ground.

Water Dreaming, 1989

Size
91 × 61 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 26 July 2004, Lot 68

Provenance
Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) in 1989 for Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia; Dreamtime Gallery, Brisbane; The Sam Barry Collection.

Price Realised
$17,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Women's Dreaming, with concentric circles, branching figures, elongated forms and dense red, white and ochre dotting across the canvas.

Women’s Dreaming, 1989

Size
119.5 × 60.5 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Deutscher~Menzies, Fine Aboriginal Art and a Collection of New Ireland Malagan Sculptures, Melbourne, 27 June 2000, Lot 131

Price Realised

$8,000 AUD

 

Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value 1990

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Wilatarnpalpar, with dense earth-coloured dotting, rectangular sites, winding pathways and concentric forms arranged across the canvas.

Wilatarnpalpar, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Deutscher and Hackett, Important Aboriginal Art from the Laverty Collection, Sydney, 8 March 2015, Lot 61

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills; Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne; Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 30 June 1997, Lot 74; Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney.

Price Realised
$38,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country, 1990, with long red pathways, circular sites and dense fields of yellow, white, ochre and red dotting across the canvas.

Artist’s Country, 1990

Size
120 × 90 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 26 June 2000, Lot 87

Provenance
Painted at Balgo Hills for Warlayirti Artists in 1990; acquired from an exhibition presented by Gallerie Gabrielle Pizzi at King Street Gallery, Sydney, in 1992; Private Collection, Sydney.

Price Realised
$10,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Dingo and Rainbow Snake Dreaming, with winding red ancestral pathways, dingo paw-print forms, circular sites and dense red, yellow, white and black dotting.

Dingo and Rainbow Snake Dreaming, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Bonhams, The Grundy Collection, Sydney, 26 June 2013, Lot 90

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills), Western Australia (cat. 20/90); Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne; Lawson~Menzies, Sydney, 30 May 2006, Lot 58; Reg Grundy AC OBE and Joy Chambers-Grundy Collection.

Price Realised
$34,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled (Artist's Country), with rows of rectangular and circular dotted forms divided by dark red pathways across an ochre, white and brown composition.

Untitled (Artist’s Country), 1990

Size
119 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 28 June 1999, Lot 94

Price Realised
$20,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country, with dense yellow, white and red dotting surrounding circular rockholes, claypan forms and winding ancestral pathways.

Artist’s Country, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 29 June 1998, Lot 209

Provenance
Gallerie Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$28,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Father's Country, with long parallel red and ochre pathways, circular sites and dense white and yellow dotting across the composition.

Artist’s Father’s Country, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal, African & Oceanic Art, Sydney, 9 November 1998, Lot 152

Price Realised
$20,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled, 1990, with dense yellow, white and red dotting, circular sites and winding red pathways extending across the composition.

Untitled, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

Auction
Lawson~Menzies, Aboriginal Art, Sydney, 30 May 2006, Lot 58

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists (cat. 20/90); Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$65,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Nyinmi, showing red ancestral pathways linking circular sites through dense fields of white, yellow and pink dotting, with green and red ancestral forms.

Nyinmi, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Mossgreen Auctions, Australian Indigenous & Oceanic Art, Day 1, Melbourne, 22 July 2014, Lot 118

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia (cat. 435/90); Songlines Across Australia Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$18,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled, 1990, with broad dark green pathways winding between circular sites and densely dotted yellow, ochre, white and red areas of Country.

Untitled, 1990

Size
112 × 83 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Joel Fine Art, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 5 June 2007, Lot 46

Provenance
Painted in 1990 for Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$18,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled (Artist's Country), 1990, with dark red pathways connecting circular sites through densely dotted fields of yellow, ochre, white and grey.

Untitled (Artist’s Country), 1990

Size
100 × 75 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 29 June 1998, Lot 116

Price Realised
$16,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Tingarri, 1990, with concentric circles, curved ancestral forms and dense fields of fine dots in ochre, white, red, green and brown.

Tingarri, 1990

Size
118 × 89 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Leonard Joel, Fine Art, Melbourne, 22 March 2022, Lot 89

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia; Private Collection, United States of America.

Price Realised
$14,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Wilatarnpalpar, 1990, with red pathways linking rectangular and circular waterhole forms through densely dotted yellow, ochre, white and red Country.

Wilatarnpalpar, 1990

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 30 June 1997, Lot 74

Provenance
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$12,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value 1991

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled, 1991, with broad red ancestral forms and pathways surrounded by circular sites and dense yellow, white, green and ochre dotting.

Untitled, 1991

Size
100 × 51 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Christie’s, Modern Aboriginal Art, Sydney, 12 October 2004, Lot 57

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills, Western Australia; Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$25,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Kipara (Bush-Turkey) at Yirrawilli, 1991, with parallel red pathways, circular sites and densely dotted ochre, yellow and white forms.

Kipara (Bush-Turkey) at Yirrawilli, 1991

Size
100 × 76 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 28 June 1999, Lot 95

Price Realised
$12,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled (Artist's Country), 1991, with branching red tracks connecting circular ceremonial sites through densely dotted yellow, ochre, white and green fields.

Untitled, 1991

Size
115 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Bonhams, Important Australian Art, Sydney, 25 November 2020, Lot 22

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$20,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country, 1991, with red pathways dividing densely dotted rectangular sites and circular forms in yellow, ochre, white, green and black.

Artist’s Country, 1991

Size
100 × 76 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 20 July 2009, Lot 45

Provenance
Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) in 1991; Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills; Private Collection; Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 28 November 1995, Lot 601; The Thompson Marecaux Collection of Balgo Paintings.

Price Realised
$25,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Travels of Tingari Beings at Kuta Kuta, 1991, with circular sites connected by red pathways and triangular and irregular forms densely outlined in yellow, white, black and ochre dots.

Travels of Tingari Beings at Kuta Kuta, 1991

Size
100 × 75 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 30 June 1997, Lot 75

Provenance
Painted at Balgo Hills; accompanied by a Warlayirti Art certificate.

Price Realised
$3,600 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value 1992

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Pilyarpa, North of Jupiter Well, 1992, with irregular dotted sites and concentric forms arranged across a broad red field bordered by pink, ochre, white and green patterns.

Pilyarpa, North of Jupiter Well, 1992

Size
90.5 × 61 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 24 July 2007, Lot 56

Price Realised
$24,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Grass Seed Dreaming, 1992, with red pathways dividing fields of orange, yellow and cream, filled with dark blue clustered forms, concentric circles and densely dotted motifs.

Grass Seed Dreaming, 1992

Size
98 × 73.5 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Leonard Joel, Fine Art, Melbourne, 21 March 2023, Lot 63

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Western Australia; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$11,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled (Tingari Story), 1992, with circular sites linked by red pathways through irregular fields of yellow, pink, blue, green, black and white dotting.

Untitled (Tingari Story), 1992

Size
91 × 61 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Sydney, 29 July 2003, Lot 195

Provenance
Painted at Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills) for Warlayirti Artists; Private Collection, Melbourne.

Price Realised
$15,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country (Wantjanmurra), 1992, with red pathways linking circular sites through fields of red, yellow, orange, pink and white dotting, representing rockholes, creeks, hills and bilby burrows.

Artist’s Country (Wantjanmurra), 1992

Size
120 × 85 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Mossgreen Auctions, The Peter Elliott Collection, Day 2, Sydney, 31 August 2015, Lot 208

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Western Australia; Hogarth Galleries, Sydney.

Price Realised
$32,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Untitled, 1992, showing two large circular sites connected to geometric compartments and pathways, densely dotted in red, yellow, orange, pink, white and earthy tones.

Untitled, 1992

Size
120 × 60 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Bonhams, The Laverty Collection: Contemporary Australian Art, Sydney, 24 March 2013, Lot 43

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Wirrimanu (Balgo Hills), Western Australia; Private Collection, Perth; Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, Lot 77; The Laverty Collection, Sydney.

Price Realised
$12,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Wati Kutjarra (Two Men) at Nardu Diitji, 1992, with numerous concentric circular forms and irregular shapes linked across a densely painted field of red, yellow, orange, white and black.

Wati Kutjarra (Two Men) at Nardu Diitji, 1992

Size
101 × 50.5 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on linen

Auction
Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, 24 June 2002, Lot 149

Price Realised
$12,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti Value 1993-1995

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Kunkutjarra Near Yakka Yakka in the Great Sandy Desert, 1995, with concentric circular forms and linked motifs across broad fields of red, orange, brown and white.

Kunkutjarra Near Yakka Yakka in the Great Sandy Desert, 1995

Size
50 × 75 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Lawson~Menzies, Aboriginal Art Auction, Sydney, 23 November 2004, Lot 61

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills, WA; painted 1995; certificate no. 204/95.

Price Realised
$4,600 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Artist's Country (Kunkutjarra), 1993, an intensely coloured painting of interconnected circular and irregular forms in pink, red, yellow, orange, purple and white representing features of Country.

Artist’s Country (Kunkutjarra), 1993

Size
106.5 × 73 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Mossgreen Auctions, The Peter Elliott Collection, Day 2, Sydney, 31 August 2015, Lot 195

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Western Australia; Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney.

Price Realised
$9,000 AUD

Wimmitji Tjapangarti's Inulputja, near Jupiter Well, 1993, with interlocking areas of vivid blue, green, red, yellow and black forming an abstract map-like depiction of Country.

Inulputja, near Jupiter Well, 1993

Size
90 × 60 cm

Medium
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Auction
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers in association with Newstead Art, Indigenous Fine Art Auction, Sydney, 5 May 2026, Lot 2

Provenance
Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills, WA (cat. 514/93); Cooee Art, Sydney, NSW.

Price Realised
$4,400 AUD

About This Artist Value Page

The headline auction statistics at the top of this page — including the number of works offered, sale rate, highest recorded sale and median sale price — are calculated from the auction records reviewed for this artist.

Everything below those figures should be regarded as a curated and subjective selection rather than a complete record of the artist’s auction history.

This is not a database of works sold. For comprehensive Australian art auction records and market data, I recommend the Australian Art sales Digest

I select works primarily to show the variety, development and quality of an artist’s work. I favour works with good-quality images over those represented by small or poor auction photographs, and I naturally include paintings that I find particularly interesting or useful in understanding the artist. Although I try to choose representative examples from different periods, subjects, sizes and price levels, these choices inevitably introduce bias.

The highest auction results also require caution. An artist’s three, four or five strongest results may be for exceptional works that entered Australian or international public collections or attracted unusually strong institutional and collector competition. Such prices should not automatically be regarded as representative of the broader market for that artist.

These pages are part of my continuing education in Aboriginal art and are intended primarily for people who enjoy the art and want to explore the variety and evolution of an artist’s work. Apart from the headline auction statistics, the selection, commentary and interpretation on this page are subjective and should not be relied upon for valuation, investment, insurance, taxation or other commercial purposes.

All images featured in this article are presented strictly for educational and informational purposes.

This website may include copyrighted material for which specific authorization has not been obtained from the copyright owner.

All such images are presumed to be the intellectual property of the respective artist or their estate, and are used in accordance with principles of fair dealing or fair use under applicable copyright law.

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