Auctions

Futurist masterpiece by Umberto Boccioni could sell at Christie's for up to $4.5m

A different version of the sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space sold at the auction house in 1975 for $41,000

'Close to Raphael' Madonna sells for €1.27m at Vienna’s Dorotheum

A leading Italian art historian attributed it to Raphael and associates before the sale

Banksynews

Banksy painting of chimps as MPs sells for record £9.9m at Sotheby's

Nicole Eisenman, Jean-Michel Basquiat and a dozen Italians help weather the Brexit storm

Auctionsanalysis

New artists to the block bring excitement to Phillips Contemporary evening sale in London

New record set for Alex Katz, but less-familiar names also exceed expectations

Auctionsanalysis

Selling off the Gloucestershire Gustons: Jeremy Lancaster collection kicks off Frieze Week auctions

Christie's sale in London totals £23m with Modern British artists rubbing shoulders with international post-war names

The blue chip delusion: why investors should be wary of the brand name lure

Art is pitched as an asset class, but even big-name artists are not guaranteed to hold their value, let alone turn a profit

Art marketcomment

Global recession looms—but there's a new twist

Burgeoning private museums offer cause for hope among economic uncertainty and geopolitical turbulence

Pre-Columbian auction in Paris goes ahead in face of protest from Guatemala and Mexico

Although one Mayan relief was withdrawn, the Mexican government condemned the "illegal" sale but auctioneer Millon defends it as "perfectly legitimate"

US-China trade war and protests bring uncertainty as Hong Kong auction houses head into busy autumn season

Sweeping demonstrations are putting people off buying art, but relations with the US are likely to have a greater long-term effect

Podcastspodcast

Top of the Pods: Leonardo—the Salvator Mundi saga

We revisit interviews about the headline-making auction of the famous painting, its origins and its present whereabouts

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

'Olyvia's soirées': adviser launches private selling events in format devised by Adam Chinn

Olyvia Kwok launches series of invitation only events in London and New York offering financing against big-ticket works for collectors looking to circumvent auctions

Female painters steal the limelight at Phillips contemporary evening sale in London

Market is not “as effervescent as it was”, but £36m total is the auction house’s highest in June for over a decade despite disappointing results for Modern works

Flipping the Bacon: Sotheby's £69m post-war and contemporary sale lacks fizz

A £16m Francis Bacon self-portrait and a record for a little-known German artist enliven an otherwise dry sale in London as totals fall 40% on last year

Fresh talent breathes life into slim £45m postwar and contemporary evening sale at Christie’s London

Records set for Tschabalala Self and Kara Walker as a new wave of works by contemporary artists come to auction—bucking the pale, male and stale status quo

Van Gogh’s gun, 'most famous weapon in art history', sells for €162,500

The discovery of the revolver suggests it was suicide, not murder

Pridenews

Swann Auction Galleries joins in Stonewall celebrations with its first Pride sale

Salesroom hopes that capitalising on the trend for curated auctions will help to generate a renaissance in an underserved market

Object lessons: from an ancient Roman mosaic to an Art Deco icon of the LGBTQ+ movement

Our pick of items from auctions and fairs around the world over the next fortnight

Sikh Empire collector hopes to open dedicated museum

The London-based collector Davinder Toor holds one of the most significant collections of Sikh works in the US and the UK

Auction prices: the elephant in the room at Art Basel

The first rule of art fairs is don't talk about auctions—but sometimes they can benefit artists and their dealers

Ethicsanalysis

The only way is ethics: the art world's 'networks of undue influence'

Ethics specialist Piergiorgio Pepe claims the power in the art industry is still held in the hands of a few

'Selling everything but the wallpaper'—auction reopens old wounds over Barnes legacy

Barnes Foundation’s sale of founder’s items follows nominal payment for lease of valuable land

More grief for Aristophil investors as French government seizes hundreds of documents

Around 18,000 people invested in the now bankrupted company's manuscripts collection, but state says many items of historical importance should never have been sold

Sotheby’s to hold the first major Aboriginal art sale in the US in November

The auction house cites increasing interest in Aboriginal art among US collectors and institutions

Auctionsanalysis

Edward Hopper's over-priced ode to Shakespeare goes unsold as market for American art proves capricious

Christie's American art sales this week realise a new record for Hartley but Sotheby's struggles to get the pricing right on Hopper's Shakespeare scene

Podcastspodcast

Should museums sell works of art? Plus, activism at the Whitney Biennial

After the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's sale of its Rothko, we discuss the principles that guide deaccessioning in the US and speak to activists about the Whitney vice-chairman's problematic link to a weapons manufacturer

San Francisco museum's Rothko sells for $50m as Sotheby’s closes bumper week of New York auctions

Dana Schutz’s record broken twice in one night at Phillips then Sotheby's, while the bidder behind the $91m Koons Rabbit buys Lee Krasner painting for $10m

Rabbit hops to a record $91m at Christie's as Jeff Koons once again becomes the world's most expensive living artist

Post-war and contemporary sale in New York also produced a big sale for Robert Rauschenberg and new records for Louise Bourgeois and Jonas Wood

Monet's glowing haystacks set alight Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art sale with a new £97m record

Market is alive and kicking at the top for prime Impressionist works, though Bouguereau's uncomfortably placed, 19th-century Bacchanalian scene failed to sell