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
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
NewsBanksy
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
NewsArt market
How did Adrian Ghenie conquer the art market?
The Romanian painter’s prices have increased 160-fold over the past decade. But who, or what, is behind this steep rise?
NewsArt market
Supply wrung out? End of term feel to London Impressionist and Modern art auctions
Sotheby's sale fell below estimate while Christie’s provided some cheer, showing there is still money in Monet – but only the right one
BlogDiary of an art historian
Do not allow art to cleanse crimes
The art world has yet to tackle issues around works like Picasso’s $115m child-prostitute portrait
NewsArt market
Damien Hirst’s former manager Frank Dunphy to sell art collection
Sotheby’s auction includes personal works by Hirst gifted to Dunphy, or sketched on the back of restaurant menus
NewsArt law
New York judge orders two Schiele works sent to Christie’s, where they could be auctioned
But the watercolours are currently at the centre of a closely watched restitution lawsuit
NewsArt Basel 2018
Show and sell: the added value of a museum exhibition
How soon is too soon? Private collectors are selling off works as little as a few weeks after lending them to high-profile shows
NewsLaw
Daughter sues her father over Jean-Michel Basquiat painting
Belinda Neumann-Donnelly claims the work could have made an extra $15m if Hubert Neumann had not tried to block its sale
NewsMuseums
German museum and auctioneer Im Kinsky tussle over looted glass goblet
Object was returned to consigner not museum from where it was looted at the end of Second World War
NewsAuctions
Dinosaur skeleton previously unknown to science auctioned in the Eiffel Tower
Aguttes sold the fossil to an anonymous buyer, who may name the new species, despite protests from paleontologists
NewsArt market
Are Sergei Skripal sanctions hitting Russian buying and selling at UK auctions?
Hostile relations between Russia and the West following attempted poisoning of former MI6 spy may dampen bidding at London's Russian sales
NewsArt market
Zao Wou-Ki dominates Hong Kong auctions
Chinese-French Modern master continues to lead Chinese Modern art market
NewsAuctions
Tom Thomson sketch hidden in Canadian basement sells for C$480,000 at auction, more than double its high estimate
The work’s owner, a retired nurse, chose not to attend the sale in person due to nerves “in case it was worth something”
NewsAuctions
Stored in a basement, Canadian woman’s painting turns out to be Tom Thomson sketch
The work is due to be auctioned in Toronto with a high estimate of $135,000—and will fund a Mediterranean cruise for the owner and her friend
NewsArt market
Christie’s reintroduces contemporary art to its London summer calendar
Still no evening auction, but blue-chip artists make way for fresh talent in new day sale format
NewsArt market
Women speak out about the gender pay gap at UK auction houses
Blaming an ingrained culture, auction houses vow to correct imbalance in women’s pay and representation in the highest ranks
NewsAuctions
Berkshire Museum’s $8.1m Norman Rockwell leads American art auctions, despite deaccessioning controversy
The US artist dominated the top prices during New York sales series, where the commercial appeal of attractive subjects showed through in prices
NewsArt market
Second tranche of Aristophil's manuscripts collection to be sold in Paris, but will it flood the market?
After a difficult first series of auctions last December, Drouot holds more sales in June to disperse holdings of bankrupt French firm
NewsArt market
Out with the old in with the new, with a side of Bacon, at Phillips and Christie's $528.8m auction night
New record for Joan Mitchell as fresh artists join the $10m-and-up club—but Bacon and Basquiat still dominate top prices in New York
NewsArt market
Kerry James Marshall sets $21m record for a living African American artist at Sotheby's sale
Rapper P. Diddy identified as buyer of the Chicago-based painter's Past Times
NewsArt market
Christie’s $416m Impressionist and Modern art sale reaffirms bullish market for top material
Even without a $150m-plus headliner, the auction topped rival Sotheby’s by $100m thanks to deeper, more even bidding
NewsArt market
Nahmads confirm Picasso’s $115m flower girl will go to Paris
Dealing dynasty says that the painting bought in the Rockefeller sale will be loaned to the Musée d’Orsay
NewsArt market
Modigliani nude leads Sotheby's $318.3m Impressionist and Modern auction
Sex sells—but only if it is guaranteed
NewsArt market
Object lessons: our picks from this week's evening auctions in New York
Highlights include works by Cady Noland, Kerry James Marshall and Lyonel Feininger
NewsArt market
Rockefeller collection 100% sold at Christie’s New York
Leaning on romance of Rockefeller name and its appeal to international and first-time buyers, the auction house triumphed in its marathon week of sales
NewsArt market
Online sales, Asia and guarantees: auction house chiefs on the future of the business
The heads of Christie's, Bonhams and Phillips speak on market shifts, challenges and why they believe their model will succeed
Podcast
Podcast episode 31: The $646m Rockefeller sale. Plus: should big galleries subsidise smaller ones?
We drill down into the big numbers from the Post-Impressionist and Modern sale in New York with Georgina Adam, talk to Professor Rachel Pownall about the wider market and look at a small gallery housed in Piccadilly Circus Tube station.
NewsAuctions
Christie’s to sell second Monet from the Gare Saint-Lazare series after Rockefeller auction
Painting is “one of the most important” by the Impressionist artist to be sold in London in the past 20 years
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
Doug Woodham