Auctions

'Why the sudden deregulation of New York's auction houses could lead to a more transparent art market—and a more opaque one too'

With old codes now dispensed of, my hope is to lobby for new oversights that could enforce stricter and clearer rules

What does New York’s abrupt winding back of auction house regulations mean for the art market?

The houses say they will not change their practices, but the move could mean more opaque bidding and guarantees

Can Ernie Barnes score again? A sale at Bonhams may hold the answer

After his record-shattering sale at Christies in May and the announcement of gallery representation, can Ernie Barnes hold on to the momentum?

Frieze Week in New York: mammoth auction sales and a shifting art fair landscape

Plus, the Albers Foundation plans a Senegal space, and a golden Indian manuscript at the British Library

Hosted by Ben Luke. With guest speaker Benjamin Sutton. Produced by David. Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

American museums try to cash in as deaccessioning truce expires

This month’s New York auctions brought mixed results for museums that sold off works just as pandemic exemptions ended

Late artist Ernie Barnes finally scores gallery representation—and a new auction milestone

Andrew Kreps Gallery and Ortuzar Projects have announced they will co-represent the artist’s estate

Paintings rescued from Ukraine—by being rolled up in drainpipes—offered in Sotheby's humanitarian fundraising sale

Artists and dealers have donated works to the online auction raising money for the International Rescue Committee in Ukraine

New York City removes rules governing auction houses in bid to stimulate business

But firms say they will continue to operate policies and practices that promote transparency

Christie's aims to raise $1m for Ukraine in string of benefit sales

In April and May, the auction house will sell works to support the World Monuments Fund, Médecins Sans Frontières and CORE, the relief organisation founded by Sean Penn

Christie’s uses hologram technology to take a $20m Degas sculpture on tour

The hologram, produced by the Los Angeles-based company Proto, is currently on view at Christie’s San Francisco and will next be transported via the cloud to Hong Kong

With a $20m estimate, this Louise Bourgeois spider is the most expensive sculpture offered at auction in Asia

Spider IV will be offered at Sotheby's Hong Kong contemporary evening sale later this month

Three accused in New Zealand art auction political donations scandal

Claims centre on five paintings bought by Chinese businessman Yikun Zhang for a combined $60,000 in a charity sale held by the country’s Labour Party in 2017

Picasso’s muse as sea creature—will it break $100m at Sotheby's New York sale?

Femme nue couchée was shown in Tate blockbuster exhibition in 2018

Rodin's The Thinker to sell for up to €14m

Christie's Paris will offer the posthumous cast of the famous bronze at auction in June

A surfeit of riches: a good time to sell art, despite the war?

From the $200m Warhol Marilyn at Christie's to the second part of the Macklowe sale at Sotheby’s, the May auctions in New York will be bigger than ever—against the odds

Newly attributed Michelangelo drawing expected to make €30m at Christie’s Paris next month

Formerly attributed to “the school of Michelangelo”, experts now say the nude sketch is by the master's own hand

Philip Guston painting could make $30m, potentially breaking the artist's auction record

The sale at Sotheby's New York in May will coincide with the delayed opening of the controversial exhibition Philip Guston Now in Boston

Has the art market recovered? A deep dive into the Art Basel/UBS report

Plus, an exhibition about wartime hideouts in Poland and Ukraine, and Mondrian’s final work Victory Boogie Woogie

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Melanie Gerlis. Produced by Julia Michalska, David. Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

A Van Gogh letter is coming up for auction: €250,000 for a single sheet of paper

Vincent writes philosophically about his mental illness, a year after mutilating his ear

a blog by Martin Bailey

Louvre suspends sale of Chardin's record-breaking strawberries

The French museum is now seeking funds to buy the still-life painting, which was sold last week by Artcurial to a US dealer for €24.3m

Degas, Monet and Rothko among Texan philanthropist Anne Bass’s trove, expected to sell at Christie’s for $250m

Only two of the 12 works have been guaranteed, an oddity in the recent string of high-profile single-owner sales

Art Basel/UBS report: Global art market bounces back to above pre-pandemic levels—but recovery is uneven

Asian spending continues to grow, particularly at auction, while the UK’s market share shrinks to historic lows as Brexit woes linger

Two lots withdrawn from Christie’s antiquities sale after possible ties emerge to dealers known to traffic in illicit artefacts

The artefacts were flagged by Christos Tsiogiannis, who has, since 2006, been identifying looted antiquities through photographic archives of suspected and convicted dealers in plunder

The original NFT? Sotheby's to offer a receipt for an invisible work by Yves Klein for €500,000

The French conceptual artist made nine "empty zones" in the last three years of his life, which could be purchased only with pure gold

Bonhams continues acquisitions spree with purchase of Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen

The firm bags a second Scandinavian auction house as sector consolidation continues

Shotgun the Warhol: Christie's to sell Shot Sage Blue Marilyn for $200m

The painting, being sold by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, could become the most expensive 20th century work of art ever sold at auction when it is offered in New York in May