Sotheby's

auction house

Interiors of former Whitney Museum building landmarked ahead of Sotheby's move-in

Marcel Breuer's Brutalist gem on the Upper East Side is to undergo a partial renovation as part of its auction house revamp

Art marketanalysis

Sotheby’s $51.8m Saunders collection falls short, but still breaks Old Masters record

The sale achieved a 62% sell through rate and made new auction records for Luis Meléndez and Frans Post

Aboriginal art returns to Sotheby’s New York two years after pioneering dealer Tim Klingender's death

The auction house holds its first dedicated sale of Indigenous Australian art since the passing of Klingender, who was instrumental in developing the market for this category

‘Halo effect’ of powerful art dealers’ collections boosts Sotheby’s sale

Works from the estate of Barbara Gladstone and the home of Daniella Luxembourg—plus a litter of Lichtensteins—energised 15 May marquee auction of post-war and contemporary art

Magna Carta ‘copy’ once sold at Sotheby's is an original, say UK professors

The document was consigned to the auction house in 1946 then, later the same year, purchased by Harvard Law School for just $27.50

$70m Giacometti bombs at patchy Sotheby’s Modern art auction

The prize lot, a bust depicting the artist’s brother Diego, failed to attract bidders during the $186.4m sale

Why is the art market turning Gulf-wards?

As China’s market drops, auction houses and dealers have been following the money to Saudi Arabia

UK government bans export of £10m Botticelli painting

The work was previously held in a private collection for 120 years

Dealer Daniella Luxembourg to sell $30m of art from personal collection at auction

The sale at Sotheby's New York next month includes works by Lucio Fontana, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alexander Calder and Claes Oldenburg

Diaryblog

Snap! Miles Aldridge takes polaroid pics at Sotheby’s

Maurizio Cattelan was among those papped—all for charity

Art marketanalysis

Slim Hong Kong evening sales at Christie's and Sotheby's draw solid results for a 'tough season'

Both auctions represent significant decreases from previous sales seasons, but strong sell-through rates and increased bidding from mainland China indicate signs of recovery

Sotheby's to sell art belonging to Brazil's Lady of the Resistance

The journalist and collector Niomar Moniz Sodré Bittencourt, who established the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, was exiled after speaking out against Brazil's military dictatorship

The big art world slowdown, Dutch culture funding crisis, Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow—podcast

What’s behind the new, more measurement approaches to programming at museums, art fairs and more? Plus, a chat about current tensions around culture in the Netherlands and a close look at one of the most famous depictions of a wintery landscape

The Saunders collection will be a real test of the Old Master market

Due to be sold at Sotheby's New York in May, the group of works includes pieces by Guardi and Canaletto and is billed as the "most valuable single-owner collection of Old Master paintings ever to appear at auction"

London contemporary art auctions kick off with £5.4m record for Lisa Brice, despite geopolitical chaos

Last night's sale at Sotheby's, which totalled £62.5m, also included a £4.3m Banksy sold by blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus

Sotheby's secures most valuable single owner collection of Old Master paintings to come to auction

Around 60 works estimated for a total of $80m to $120m from the collection of Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders will be offered in New York this May

Records set for Arab artists at Sotheby’s debut Saudi Arabia auction

The “Origins” sale totalled $17.28m and achieved a sell-through rate of 67% by lot

New York Old Masters sales fall just short of expectations at Christie’s and Sotheby’s amid ‘tough’ market

At this year’s winter auctions, the two big houses saw ‘a mixed bag and mixed results’

Designer handbags and Damien Hirst: Sotheby’s 'casts wide net' for inaugural Saudi Arabia auction

Blue-chip fine art, jewellery and sports memorabilia all on offer in the Diriyah sale—the first to be held by an international auction house in the country

Sotheby’s made $6bn in 2024—but sales dropped for second consecutive year

Overall sales fell by 23% compared to 2023, though the private division grew

Opinioncomment

Comment | Sotheby’s fees fiasco displays terrible timing and a miscalculation of market dynamics

The auction house's swift reversal of its recently overhauled premium structure is an admission of how wrongly it read the runes, writes Melanie Gerlis

New York takes first step towards landmarking Breuer building's interior

Sotheby’s, which bought the former home of the Whitney Museum last year, promises to respect the building’s “architectural significance” in its upcoming renovations

UK export bar placed on rare 17th-century Fairhaven Panels worth £1.6m

Museums must match the price of the pearl and shell piece which sold at Sotheby’s last year

Sotheby's does a U-turn on new fees structure

Less than a year ago, the auction house reduced buyer’s premium and tried to introduce a flat 10% vendor's commission to avoid bartering. It did not prove popular with sellers

Fuller picture of Sotheby's mass layoffs emerges

Staff cuts at auction house come as $1bn deal with Abu Dhabi wealth fund closes 

Anny Shaw. With additional reporting by Anna Brady

Crypto investor eats Cattelan banana he bought for $6.2m

Justin Sun, who purchased the work just last week, also pledged to buy 100,000 bananas from the vendor who originally sold the fruit for $0.25

Art marketanalysis

Beyond the banana: Sotheby's contemporary art night nets a modest $112m

Despite Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian selling for a staggering $6.2m, The Now and contemporary auctions in New York made 63% less than last year

‘The world's most expensive banana’: Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian fetches $6.2m at Sotheby’s New York

The buyer, the collector and crypto investor Justin Sun, immediately vowed to eat the banana

Art marketanalysis

Sotheby's New York delivers white glove auction of Sydell Miller collection but patchy Modern evening sale

Kicking off November's marquee evening sales, the house brought in a total of $268.6m from 49 lots