Auctions

Can Instagram bring the big auction houses into the digital age?

Christie's and Sotheby's are starting to embrace what the social media platform has to offer

Monet's $70m water lilies float to the top of Sotheby's three-auction marathon

The evening of sales in New York totalled $439.6m, with Basquiat's Versus Medici topping the contemporary art offering at $50.8m and a new record for Leonor Fini

Hands up who's bidding for classic post-war art? Picky response to Anne Marion's all-American collection reflects market's shifting tastes

Sotheby's auction of the Texan rancher's collection totalled $157.2m and set new records for Kenneth Noland, Larry Rivers and Richard Diebenkorn

Spotty performance for unseen Yayoi Kusama paintings at Bonhams New York—but works on paper soar off the block

Pieces came from the collection of late New York heart surgeon who befriended the artist in the 1960s

Access denied: British auction house executives refused US visas to travel for marquee New York sales week

But the show goes on at Sotheby’s and Christie’s with a mixture of in-person and remote bidding, while British dealers are getting creative in the Big Apple

A $93.1m Basquiat and reams of records for hot young names kicks off New York auction week at Christie's

The $210.4m sale included new highs for contemporary artists like Mickalene Thomas, Jordan Casteel and Lynette Yiadom Boakye, while some established names fell flat

Leonardo da Vinci's bear pawtrait could make record for drawing by the artist

The work is expected to fetch up to £12m in a live sale at Christie's London this July

Charles I disposed of this Van Dyck portrait when he signed the sitter's death warrant. Now it is up for sale at Christie's

The 17th century painting of the Earl of Strafford, recently discovered to have been in the Royal collection, is expected to sell for up to £5m in London in July

Artists are expected to give away their work for charity. This new auction platform aims to give them something back in return

The Stand has been launched by former Sotheby's boss and will give 70% to artists, 20% to charity

Crypto-creep accelerates as Sotheby's accepts Ether and Bitcoin for $5m Banksy painting

The sale this month will be the first time the auction house has accepted cryptocurrency as payment for a physical work of art

Taxidermy flying kittens, Irish giants and Queen Victoria's knickers: the world of Viktor Wynd

The artist, writer and dealer is selling a selection of bizarre pieces from his London-based Museum of Curiosities on 6 May

Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu’s greatest work is much loved by the art market—but it should mean more to art history too

Editions of the Anyanwu sculpture always attract attention at auction, but the legacy of the work and its maker are largely ignored both in his home country and the international art scene

Gettin' biddy wit it: Will Smith handprint painting to appear alongside works by Hockney and Picasso in Dubai auction

Charity sale is in aid of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's "100 Million Meals" campaign

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

From heartstrings to purse strings: nostalgia and the art market

Sometimes the wistful memory of time long past is all one needs to spend a few hundred thousand.

Phillips starts 2021 sales with a 17% leg up on last year

Despite the “headwinds” of Covid-19 and an extended UK lockdown, the firm raised £24.8m in its three-city livestreamed auction

NFTnews

A grey single-pixel 'work' sells for $1.3m at Sotheby’s maiden NFT sale

Over 3,000 bidders purchased nearly 24,000 digital works in a three-day, multi-facted sale on Niftygateway

'Good reasons to believe this is a new Caravaggio': specialists cautiously vouch for €1,500 painting pulled from Spanish auction

Government does not want to repeat ‘export mistake’ of 1970s when another work by the Old Master ended up in the US

Christie’s to auction a slice of NFT history for $9m this May

Larva Labs created 10,000 CryptoPunks three years ago—and gave away most of them

Anny Shaw. , additional reporting by Anna Brady

Boo to NFTs! Hang on, think of no customs fees

As Brexit makes buying anything from Europe almost impossible, purchasing questionable digital art is almost tempting

Who bought the €13m Van Gogh? Britain’s second richest family

Montmartre painting was auctioned twice by Sotheby’s, after a bidder failed to have the necessary cash

a blog by Martin Bailey

Selling, selling, sold...and sold again. The truth about the bungled sale of a Van Gogh at Sotheby's

Rare painting of a Montmartre street scene sold three times in the same auction

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

In bidding confusion at Sotheby’s, unseen Van Gogh initially sells for €16.2m but is then resold for €13m at end of auction

Cross-category relay sale brought in $176.2m against high estimate of $120.5m and culminated with surprise Basquiat announcement

Sacha Jafri reveals the backbreaking process of creating 'world's largest painting' that sold for $62m

The work sold to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Andre Abdoune and all proceeds will be donated to four charities fighting child poverty

Victorian watercolours by trailblazing British feminist and social justice campaigner come up for auction

Ewbank Auctions in England has estimated the amateur paintings by Josephine Butler at around £250 each