Auction prices

Painting made by The Beatles in a Tokyo hotel sells for $1.7m at auction

The Fab Four all painted a corner each of the psychedelic composition

Jean-Michel Basquiat: a buyer's guide

Basquiat's art market superstardom rose to dizzying new heights in 2021 but auction sales dropped by 50% in 2022

Five years since the $450m Salvator Mundi sale: a first-hand account of the nonsensical auction

At the record-breaking sale at Christie's New York on 15 November 2017, the audience gasped and whooped as if they were at a very exclusive firework display

How does the market judge 'juvenile' work by name-brand blue-chip artists? Two early Warhol paintings are about to find out

Offered next week at Phillip's New York, the works were made during Warhol's student days and bear no resemblance to his signature styles

Banking on the Monets: Christie’s London to Paris relay auctions bring in a solid £203.9m

There were few fireworks in the three-part sale as the froth comes off the top of the market

Art marketcomment

Inflation is soaring in the US and UK—here's what it means for the art market

When prices rise, investors often buy art to lower risk and increase returns. But the market's buoyancy may be short-lived, as experience tells us

Christie's to offer Xu Beihong painting for £41m—highest estimate put on an Asian work by a Western auction house

It could become the most expensive Asian work sold by a Western auction house. Meanwhile, young contemporary names proved popular at last night's Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong

Podcastspodcast

Benin bronzes: looted treasures will return to Nigeria at last

Plus, the newly discovered Van Gogh is sold and artist Rana Begum on Tess Jaray

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. with guest speakers Catherine Hickley and Martin Bailey. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Henrietta Bentall
Art marketanalysis

Neoliberalism is distorting how we see art—is there no alternative?

While today’s art world has been shaped by the prism of price, our current economic model may not be inevitable

Podcastspodcast

The white supremacist art at the heart of the US Capitol

Plus, a $2.2m Batman comic and the artists inspired by political theorist Hannah Arendt

Art marketanalysis

Blue-chip artists move over, here come the red chips

Art as a blue-chip investment has had its day, as buyers chase the latest "red-chip" names