FeatureAuctions
Going, going, gone online: Europe's auction houses go digital
Online-only auctions may tend to focus on the lower end of the market, but they are key to expanding clientele. We survey ten auction houses to find out their strategy
AnalysisAuctions
Hockney double portrait sells for £37.7m, accounting for half of Christie’s contemporary sale in London
Overall results are down 42.7% on last year, but European buying remains strong despite Brexit
NewsDeaccessioning
UK local authority's plan to dispose of 90% of works in its collection rings alarm bells
Art Fund raises concerns about consignment of 152 works to auction by Hertfordshire County Council
NewsArt market
Keep the Monet flowing: trim but efficient Sotheby's sale starts London's pre-Brexit Impressionist and Modern art week
£63m auction total is half that of last year, but bidding from Asia and Russia helps make new record for Oskar Schlemmer and a Venetian view by Monet
NewsObject lessons
Object lessons: from Egon Schiele's nod to Gustav Klimt to black magic by René Magritte
Our highlights from upcoming fairs and auctions
NewsMuseums
SFMoMA to sell a Rothko estimated at $35m to $50m
Proceeds would go toward acquisitions that “address art historical gaps’’
NewsFakes & copies
Nuremberg prosecutor seizes 63 Hitler works from auction house on forgery suspicions
Twenty-six of the seized works were to be auctioned at Auktionshaus Weidler tomorrow
NewsAuctions
The Fine Art Society closes Mayfair gallery after 142 years with 'emotional' sale at Sotheby’s
Sculpture of Peter Pan and painting by Gluck were among the stars of five-hour long auction
NewsObject lessons
Object lessons: from a heart-shaped meteorite to a censored image of Joséphine Baker
Our highlights of works being sold over the next fortnight
NewsArt market
Drawings prove the main draw for collectors at New York’s Master Week sales
Sotheby’s sees strong sales for works on paper by Rubens and Carracci while interest in masterworks by female artists slowly rises
NewsFakes & copies
Hitler watercolours seized as suspected fakes
Three landscapes signed A. Hitler were offered for sale at Berlin’s Auktionshaus Kloss
NewsAuctions
Dutch Royal family’s decision to auction $2.5m Rubens drawing at Sotheby's sparks criticism
Calls are growing to give Dutch museums first refusal but Dutch prime minister says it is a ‘private matter’
NewsArt market
Life lessons: what the art market learned from 2018
Georgina Adam speaks with three leading art world figures on the key events of last year and what 2019 may hold
NewsArt market
A monumental work by Marie Antoinette’s portraitist will headline Sotheby’s Female Triumphant sale
Major works by 14 women artists are expected to dominate Sotheby’s Masters Week offerings and bring more 'diverse' collectors
AnalysisThe Year In Review
2018 in the market: the price is right for pale males
David Hockney was latest white male artist to set a record this year
AnalysisThe Year In Review
Market stunts predict the future… and evoke the past
The Leonardo and Banksy auction spectacles suggested a future in which marketing triumphs. But was it ever thus?
AnalysisThe Year In Review
From counting muddles to collective cuddles: the art world's highs and lows of 2018
The people, places and things that had a year to remember—or to forget
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh's portrait of a prostitute coming up for sale
Christie’s, more discreetly, entitles it “Portrait de femme”
NewsArt market
Glenn Gould’s Bach hits the auction block
The late pianist’s 1981 annotated score of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is the first of his manuscripts to come to market
NewsAuctions
How a Roman sarcophagus—going on sale this week—was emptied for a pug
Skeleton of young man was evicted to make way for the body of the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos's pet dog
NewsArt market
Record set in Canada for Nobel Prize-winning doctor and artist Frederick Banting
A painting of the University of Toronto lab where he co-discovered insulin goes for ten times its high estimate in Toronto
AnalysisAuctions
The highs and lows of New York ‘gigaweek’
Hockney made the headlines, but other artists made waves—or flopped—at November’s auctions
NewsArt market
Auction house pulls seven objects from American Indian sale amid protests
Native American official calls planned auction of the items “unconscionable”
NewsBen Uri Gallery
Ben Uri museum advisory board resigns en masse over Sotheby’s sale of works from the collection
Nicholas Serota and Norman Rosenthal say that selling off the works is a “grave mistake”
NewsAuctions
Phillips and Bonhams see strong sales on smaller lots
The auction houses' bottom lines suffered from unsold lots in their contemporary sales, continuing a trend of top-lot discernment during New York’s fall sales
Podcast
David Hockney: exclusive interview with the world's most expensive living artist
We talk to David Hockney about Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which broke an auction record this week, selling at Christie's New York for $90.3m with fees. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.
NewsAuctions
Nobel Prize-winning doctor’s painting of the lab where he discovered insulin goes on sale in Toronto
Dr Frederick Banting wanted to take up art full-time, but he was killed in a plane crash during the Second World War
NewsArt market
African American artists sweep Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale in New York
With only two lots unsold, the auction house nets $362.6m in evening of avid bidding
PreviewArt market
How high will Hockney go and can his soaring market last?
A double pool portrait, estimated at $80m and offered at Christie’s with no reserve, could set a record for the most expensive work by a living artist
NewsArt market
Record $91.9m sale of Edward Hopper’s Chop Suey buoys confidence at Christie’s American art sale
At $317.8m, the Ebsworth evening sale becomes one of the top five most valuable collections ever sold at auction
NewsArt market
Top lots go unsold at New York's Impressionist and Modern sales, proving a discerning but 'not doomsday' market
Monet carries Christie's evening sale while a Magritte shines at Sotheby's, marking an auction record for the Surrealist painter
NewsArt market
Guarantees: the next big art market scandal?
Third-party auction deals have made some people very rich—but they may be bad for the market in the long run
CommentArt market
Common mistakes of rookie auction guarantors
Guarantees can be lucrative, but in the face of savvy competition, novices can get burnt when backing works as a third-party
NewsArt market
Ambitious estimates hamper Christie's $279.2m Impressionist and Modern art sale as Van Gogh goes unsold but Monet is on the money
New York auction topped by Monet's Le bassin aux nymphaés, sold to an Asian buyer at $31.8m
NewsAuction record
Holy grail of folk ceramics made by 19th-century snake handler breaks auction record
The “snake jug” shattered the previous record for Anna Pottery, a niche favourite of Americana collectors
CommentAuctions
Contemporary art’s value may be on the rise, but it comes at a greater cost
Chicago’s aborted effort to sell Kerry James Marshall’s public work teaches us something about the transactional nature of today’s culture
NewsLaw
US court orders collector to repay Sotheby’s $1.2m for Parmigianino fake
The judgement comes after two experts found the painting was made with modern synthetic pigments
NewsAuctions
Sotheby’s withdraws painting that Pierre Bergé ‘maintained was by Manet’
The work was one of 18 to have been placed under a court order following a financial dispute unrelated to the auction
NewsArt market
Villa Grisebach to sell founder’s collection to raise funds for new Museum of Exile
Two-day auction will include works by Picasso, Matisse, Egon Schiele, collected by Bernd Schultz over six decades
AnalysisArt market
Will the market for AI art take off?
With no auction precedent and little primary market data, Christie's sale of a work made by an algorithm tests demand
NewsArt market
Christie's to offer major works from the Klapper collection that could fetch more than $50m
The 20-lot sale spans the auction house's New York and London locations and includes works ranging from Old Master paintings to a Monet
NewsAuctions
Writer and ceramicist Edmund de Waal’s famed netsuke collection to go on long-term loan to Vienna—and under the hammer
The Japanese carved toggles feature in his 2010 memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh's garden painting set to make $40m auction record for Paris period
Now being sold by a London-based collector at Christie's New York, the work will probably go to Japan or China
NewsAuctions
Banksy renames shredded painting Love Is In the Bin as work sells to winning bidder after a week of negotiation
Girl With Balloon canvas ‘self-destructed’ live at Sotheby’s last week in one of the most publicised stunts in auction history
NewsArt market
Abraaj Group liquidators to sell 200 works from art collection at Bonhams
Middle Eastern and South Asian works owned by embattled Dubai-based private equity firm carry much lower estimates than prices paid a decade ago
BlogIn the frame
Ye made this work famous—and you can buy it
NewsArt market
Plucky Brits: Banksy self-destructs and Jenny Saville makes £9.5m record for a living female artist
Just when we thought Frieze week was all over, twists and turns provide high drama at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale on Friday night
NewsFrieze London 2018
Contemporary art market cools as confidence drops
Brexit and Trump's trade war with China are affecting the mood of buyers
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s 'Banksy-ed' as painting 'self-destructs' live at auction
Girl with a Balloon (2006) had just hammered at £860,000
NewsArt market
British artists dominate Christie's patchy £71.1m sale, as over-priced Koons and Richter fail to sell
Francis Bacon's lighter depiction of George Dyer leads auction at £17.5m, with strong prices for Hurvin Anderson, Bridget Riley and Albert Oehlen
NewsFrieze London 2018
Sotheby’s introduces mysterious new symbol in auction catalogues
The curvaceous M indicates a work that is "subject to right of first refusal"
NewsFrieze London 2018
Christie's to auction works by Grenfell victim Khadija Saye
Profits from the sale will support new UK arts education programme in 2019
NewsAuctions
Public art advocates—and the artist himself—speak out against sale of Chicago library’s Kerry James Marshall mural
The work, commissioned in the 1990s for $10,000, is due to be sold at Christie’s, New York for an estimated $10m to $15m
NewsArt market
Auction transfer season: Cécile Verdier of Sotheby's replaces Christie's France president, François de Ricqlès
Move follows a record-breaking breaking year for Paris auctions in 2017
PreviewArt market
Object Lessons: from a polaroid of Basquiat to a Ming dynasty bodhisattvas
Our pick from this week's fairs and auctions
NewsArt market
Young pop-up The Auction Collective claims bidding on art is as easy as buying a book on Amazon
No buyer's premium and bidding paddles on your phone, but founder still believes holding physical auctions is key
NewsArt market
Sotheby's cancels Viel Castel sale after entire collection is bought by a US buyer
The auction of art, antiques and works of art was cancelled an hour after its supposed start time following private deal
NewsArt market
Salvator Mundi’s patchwork provenance now includes a 50-year stop in Louisiana
The work was bought by a Baton Rouge family for about $120 while travelling in London in 1958, the Wall Street Journal reports
PreviewArt market
Object Lessons: from Barbara Hepworth's St Ives bronze to Grant Wood's censored lithograph
Our pick from this week's auctions and fairs
NewsAuctions
A work by Hopper, promised as gift, heads to the auction block instead
Christie's to sell $70m painting once pledged to the Seattle Art Museum
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s to offer landmark paintings by Marsden Hartley and Ludwig Meidner in November
The auction house hopes the works will surpass previous records by several million
PreviewArt market
Object Lessons: from a Venetian glass bowl to an ancient Chinese ritual vessel
Our pick from this week's auctions and exhibitions
NewsAuctions
Bonhams auction house bought by Epiris private equity group
The British auction house brings in former Sotheby’s financial executive Bruno Vinciguerra as part of the deal
BlogIn the frame
Simon de Pury puckers up and Marina talks Trump—but Helga Davis steals the show at the Watermill summer gala
NewsAuctions
Civil rights activist Rosa Parks’s home is on the (auction) block with a $1m-$3m price tag
Detroit house was saved in 2016 by the US artist Ryan Mendoza and Parks’s niece Rhea McCauley
NewsArt market
Christie’s reports record half year sales of £2.97bn
Rockefeller auction plus leap in private and online sales drive 26% increase
NewsClaude Monet
Monet’s lost cat returns home to Giverny
A “purr-fect” ending to the story of the missing pottery object found in the collection of the artist’s secret granddaughter
AnalysisArt market
More than just a pretty face: furrowed brows win at Christie's patchy Old Master sale, but £6.7m sculpture tops paintings
Tacca's Hercules is star of the bronzes, while Carracci's military portrait and Rembrandt's print find favour where Rubens's daughter flounders in £31.1m sale
AnalysisArt market
Guarantees, the Beckham effect and warts-and-all portraits: Sotheby's pulls off a consistent Old Master sale
No big hitters, but overall quality and new buyers from Asia and Latin America buoyed £42.6m auction, with £5.3m record for Canova set in day sale
NewsArt market
Glut of sculpture in London auctions, despite Giambologna withdrawal
Bronze and marble take centre stage during Old Masters sales week, although Dresden Mars returns home without going on the block at Sotheby's
NewsAuctions
German government steps in to buy Giambologna as minister says Bayer should have donated it to ‘people of Dresden’
Sotheby’s withdrew bronze sculpture of Mars from auction at last minute
NewsArt market
London’s contemporary art summer season in flux as middle market comes out on top
Christie’s introduces day sale format and established names give way to new talent
NewsArt market
Lucian Freud’s late reclining nude makes London record at £22.5m
Artist was 80 years old when he began the painting of a former Tate cataloguer
NewsBerkshire Museum
The Berkshire Museum to sell nine more works from its collection
The institution failed to meet its $55m target at last month's auctions
CommentArt market
Why the Christie's and Sotheby's duopoly is impregnable
The auction houses sell more than 80% of works priced over $1m at auction—can an underdog ever wrestle market share away from them?
Martin Gammon