Auctions

Dalí and Gala with their 'heads full of clouds' go up for sale at Bonhams

Work will be offered without guarantee from the collection of the late Modernist composer Giancinto Scelsi

Sale prices soar past estimates at auction of decorator Mario Buatta's estate at Sotheby's

Christie's also holds its own at an auction of American furniture and folk art

Diaryblog

Artist creates black-faced portrait of Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini

Current bid for re-imagined image of the controversial party leader stands at €45,000 in online auction

Damien Hirst medicine cabinet bought for £600 goes on sale for over £1m

Softer YBA market faces test as collection amassed by London bond trader goes under the hammer at Phillips next month

Sotheby’s to auction three Nazi-looted works restituted to Jewish collector’s heirs

Two paintings by Signac and one by Pissarro are expected to fetch as much as £20m

Want to buy a Van Gogh? Sotheby’s has four works with (relatively) modest estimates

Unseen for 25 years, they all come from a very private American collector

a blog by Martin Bailey
Art marketanalysis

Jitters and reasons to be cheerful: art market experts give their 2020 predictions

Faced with economic uncertainty, turmoil in Hong Kong, Brexit and a shrinking auction market, the art trade has some justifiable anxiety about the coming year

Interviews by Georgina Adam
Art marketgallery

The top ten auction results of 2019—and the art market trends they reveal

We look back at the biggest art sales of the year, which reveal a concentration on New York over London and a continued dominance of 20th century male artists

Two Van Goghs sold from the recovered hoard of an Italian fraudster

One painting was hidden in a Parma cellar, leading to the discovery of the Tanzi Treasure

a blog by Martin Bailey

Amy Cappellazzo becomes head of expanded Fine Arts division as Sotheby's restructures

While her role grows to cover departments such as Old Masters, second global division will include luxury objects and decorative art, jewellery and wine

Art marketanalysis

'Christmas dinner without the turkey': little festive cheer at Sotheby's Old Masters sale

December auction generates less than half the total of last year's sale, with several lots failing to sell

Art marketanalysis

Tiepolo and Giovanni di Paolo spark excitement in underpowered Christie’s Old Master sale

Auction raised more than last year but supply still limited as Brexit-dominated general election looms

Rare Tahitian painting by Gauguin sells for €9.5m at Artcurial in Paris

Te Bourao II, which went to an international collector, was on loan to the Met in New York for ten years

Object Lessons: the best of London Art Week

From a miracle scene seized by Nazis to a pensive painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, our pick of highlights from this week's auctions and fairs

Portrait commissioned by Charles Dickens, unseen for a century, goes on sale at Sotheby's London

The artist William Powell Frith 'almost collapsed' at the honour of being commissioned by the famous writer to paint his heroine Kate Nickleby

Rediscovered Rubens to star in Sotheby's Old Masters sale in New York

Painting depicting the Holy Family in an evening landscape has been owned by a Manhattan family for more than 60 years

At $6.8m, Picasso hits the high mark at Toronto sale

Portrait of Dora Maar eclipses other auction offerings at Heffel

Art marketanalysis

Randomness rules New York's $42m American art sales

Small works won out at Sotheby's and Christie's as top lots went for their low estimates or were withdrawn

Auctionsanalysis

New York's autumn sales were subdued but not necessarily septic

Overall sales were down by around 30% but beyond the disappointing headline figures, women and minority artists shone

Banksynews

Banksy’s The Drinker withdrawn from Sotheby’s sale after rival artist claims ownership

Sculpture—estimated at £1m—was removed from the street by Andy Link in 2004 but later “liberated” from his East End garden

Banksynews

Artist who ‘kidnapped’ Banksy's The Drinker claims ownership ahead of Sotheby's sale

Andy Link says sculpture for which he demanded £5,000 in ransom was later stolen from him. Banksy’s former dealer says otherwise

Podcastspodcast

Anselm Kiefer interview. Plus, New York auction 'gigaweek'

We talk to German artist Anselm Kiefer about his new works inspired by String Theory and ask expert Scott Reyburn why the art market is treading water. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793

Hammer Time: Sotheby's picks up the pace during a sluggish art week with $270.7m contemporary art sale

Record prices were set for Charles White, Brice Marden, and Wayne Thiebaud, while a Clyfford Still painting prompted a prolonged bidding war

Hosted and directed by Margaret Carrigan. Filmed and edited by Travis Wood. Produced by Helen Stoilas

Carved from a youth centre's walls, Keith Haring mural sells at Bonhams New York for $3.86m

The Grace House Mural becomes the first and only such site-specific work by the artist to be sold at auction