Sotheby's

auction house

The pull of Palm Beach proves irresistible for blue-chip galleries—but for how long?

Lehmann Maupin and Paula Cooper are the latest to join dealers like Acquavella and Pace in setting up seasonal spaces in the Sunshine State

Podcastspodcast

Has coronavirus helped unmask the real prices of art?

Plus, JMW Turner at the Tate and John Stezaker on Bruegel

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Georgina Adam. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Giacometti, De Chirico and Alfa Romeo cars lead Sotheby's $283m New York sales after major museum works abruptly pulled

Following weeks of controversy, the Baltimore Museum of Art withdrew two paintings just hours before the auction while many other works sold near low estimates

Baltimore Museum of Art calls off sale of Warhol, Still and Marden after outcry

Last-gasp decision after talks with the US museum directors association comes just before a Sotheby’s auction

US Association of Art Museum Directors sends a warning note to its members on deaccessioning

As works head to market, organisation reminds members that its relaxed rules were not adopted to “incentivise” art sales

Sotheby's sale of Israeli museum artefacts delayed after government pressure

Criticism in Israel reached an apex when President Rivlin called for the state to prevent the London auctions

Assailing leadership, two former board chairmen say they are rescinding $50m in planned gifts to Baltimore Museum of Art

Two artists also step down as board trustees amid turmoil over plans to deaccession three paintings

Responding to outcry, Baltimore Museum of Art board chair defends deaccessioning decision

“The greatness of the BMA’s collection does not live within three individual paintings,” she says as the sale of a Warhol, Still and Marden approaches

Revealed: sellers of £7.6m Banksy were London collectors who provided venue for artist's 2005 Crude Oils exhibition

As part of the deal, Roland and Jane Cowan acquired the faux Impressionist canvas from the artist—it sold last night at Sotheby's

Sotheby's to offer monumental Giacometti bronze in rare 'sealed bid' sale with a minimum bid of $90m

Last sold at auction for $4.9m, offers on the work will be reviewed ahead of the auction house's contemporary and Impressionist and Modern art evening sales on 28 October in New York

Former trustees and donors ask state to block sale of three important works by the Baltimore Museum of Art

Letter asks Maryland attorney general and secretary of state to investigate planned deaccessioning of a Warhol, Still and Marden

Coveted Van Gogh bouquet to be sold at Sotheby's New York, valued at $18m

Chequered past: from the Bear Skin to the Nazis, a once-restituted painting is now coming up for auction

a blog by Martin Bailey

Brooklyn Museum steams ahead on deaccessioning

After netting $4.2m for a Cranach, the museum plans to sell off works by Monet, Dubuffet, Degas, Miró and Matisse

Palm Springs Art Museum will deaccession a work by Helen Frankenthaler at Sotheby's

The work carries an estimate of $2.5m to $3.5m and will help the museum cope with its financial struggles amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Stolen Mao Zedong scroll worth $300m found cut in half after being resold for $65

Hong Kong police have arrested three men in relation to a $645m heist that included calligraphy by the Communist leader and other revolutionary art and ephemera

Gerhard Richter painting becomes most expensive western work ever sold at auction in Asia

The $29.2m painting sold at Sotheby's last night in a live-streamed contemporary art sale that took place in Hong Kong as Christie's held its marquee sale in New York

Auctionsinterview

Hong Kong dealer Johnson Chang on selling his collection and rethinking art for a new era

The collector and gallerist explains why he moved his central Hong Kong gallery and is parting ways with some of his favourite works at Sotheby's this week

Baltimore Museum of Art will sell important paintings by Warhol, Still and Marden

Acting on relaxed rules, it will use the funds for collection care and salary increases as well as diverse acquisitions

Judy Chicago's Birth Project series work will benefit Planned Parenthood as reproductive healthcare comes under renewed threat

With a high estimate of $350,000, the sale of "Trinity Birth Quilt" at Sotheby's Choice Works charity auction event could reset the artist's auction record

Art marketanalysis

V.S. Gaitonde's £3.4m record-breaking painting leads strong South Asian sales season

Glut of collections have come to auction this month, with strong results for lesser-known Indian Modernists broadening a narrow market

This $80m Botticelli could be one of the most expensive portraits ever sold at auction

The painting, to be offered at Sotheby's New York in January, is estimated to sell for 100 times more than the owner paid for it in 1982

Hedge fund manager Alexander Klabin buys stake in Sotheby's financing arm

Now the chairman of Sotheby's Financial Services, Klabin was previously approached to back a competing offer to block last year's buyout of the auction house by Patrick Drahi

Will US Congress finally pass anti-money laundering legislation?

A recent Senate report found that secretive art market enables sanctions circumvention

Sotheby’s teams up with the Keith Haring Foundation to auction Haring’s personal collection for charity

All works—by artists such as Basquiat, Warhol and Rammellzee—will make their auction debut in the sale, which is expected to make $1m for the LGBTQ nonprofit the Center

Booksnews

German library buys 400-year-old album of drawings by European royalty for €2.8m

Art dealer Philipp Hainhofer's 16th-century "friendship book" contains inscriptions from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and Cosimo de’ Medici

Sotheby's racks up $2.5bn of sales so far this year—down 26% on 2019

Value of private sales at auction house remain around the same as last year at $575m but number of online auctions more than doubles

Restituted Renaissance battle scene highlight of Sotheby’s pick-and-mix £150m evening sale

Six works were withdrawn by nervy vendors just before the start but Rembrandt to Richter sale still totalled nearly £150m, topped by a £22.3m Joan Miró

Banksynews

Banksy triptych—estimated at £1.2m—to be sold at Sotheby's in aid of Palestinian hospital

Artists has donated the works, which were previously on display in his Walled Off hotel in Bethlehem