Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Feb 3, 2026 visibility 25 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

epstein files art deals loans llcs

Thousands of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice reveal that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was the hidden architect behind billionaire Leon Black's multi-billion dollar art investment and financial strategy from 2012 to 2017. Epstein managed Black's vast collection, valued at $2.7 billion in 2016, setting up LLCs, negotiating loans and commissions with major auction houses and galleries, and deploying the art for tax and estate planning.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 32 link 47 artists, 9 galleries

frieze london 2025 big galleries report strong sales afternoon

Frieze London 2025 opened with strong VIP preview sales, as major galleries reported brisk business by early afternoon. Thaddaeus Ropac sold a Robert Rauschenberg work for $850,000 and a Tony Cragg sculpture for $420,000, while Hauser & Wirth moved multiple pieces including a George Rouy for £275,000 and an Ellen Gallagher for $950,000. Gagosian sold a new Lauren Halsey sculpture before noon, and White Cube reported six sales. The fair's layout, which places mega-galleries at the back to encourage foot traffic to smaller booths, returned by popular demand.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 18 link 18 artists, 2 galleries

frieze seoul asian galleries asia pivot

Frieze Seoul returns for its fourth edition at Coex from September 3 to 6 with 120 galleries, maintaining last year's scale. Asian galleries now represent 64 percent of exhibitors, up from 48 percent, signaling a stronger regional identity. Notable non-returning galleries include Blum, Karma, and Neugerriemschneider. Meanwhile, Kiaf Seoul will run concurrently with 176 exhibitors, and Art021 Group suspended its 2025 Hong Kong show after a single edition. Gallery Weekend Beijing concluded its ninth edition with a new invitation-only model, and several Asian-rooted artists are featured in London Gallery Weekend. New institutions opened, including the Photography Seoul Museum of Art and the Naoshima New Museum of Art, while the inaugural Bukhara Biennial program was announced.

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trending_up market schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 25 link 6 artists

Botticelli Painting Banned from Export Will Stay in the UK

A Botticelli painting, *The Virgin and Child Enthroned* (1470s), previously placed under an export ban to keep it in the UK, has been acquired by the Klesch Collection. The work, valued at £10.2 million, will remain in England through a three-year loan to the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. The painting was bought in 1904 by Harriet Sarah Jones Loyd (Lady Wantage) from Italian dealer Elia Volpi, who had acquired it from the Magherini Graziani family.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 20, 2026 visibility 32 link 5 artists

A Trove of Vivian Maier’s Photographs Could Rewrite Her Market

A collection of 206 sold-out estate prints by photographer Vivian Maier is being offered as a single lot in Artnet's Important Photographs auction, with an estimate of $1–1.5 million. The trove, which includes gelatin silver and archival pigment prints from the 1950s to 1980s, represents a rare opportunity to acquire a comprehensive group of her work that is no longer available through primary market galleries.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 14 link 5 artists

ashmolean museum acquires fra angelico painting

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has raised $4.48 million ($5.8 million) to acquire Fra Angelico's early Renaissance painting "The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and the Magdalen" (1420s). The work had been in a private British collection for two centuries and was nearly sold to a foreign buyer until the U.K. government imposed an export deferral in January 2024, giving time for a domestic buyer to step in. The acquisition was completed via a private treaty sale at a discounted price, funded by over 50 donors including chairman Lord Lupton, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and the Headley Trust.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 22 link 9 artists

museum launches public appeal to buy rare barbara hepworth sculpture

The Hepworth Wakefield museum, supported by the Art Fund, has launched a public appeal to raise £3.8 million ($5 million) to acquire Barbara Hepworth's rare 1943 sculpture *Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red*. The work was purchased by a private collector at Christie's London in March 2024 for the same amount, but the UK government imposed a temporary export ban in December 2024, citing its outstanding historical and aesthetic significance. The museum has until August 27 to raise the remaining £2.9 million; the Art Fund has already contributed £750,000. If the goal is not met, the collector may export the piece.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 4, 2025 visibility 18 link 16 artists

william dobson acquisition

A rare self-portrait by 17th-century British painter William Dobson has been jointly acquired by London's Tate and the National Portrait Gallery for £2.37 million ($3.2 million), setting a new record for the artist. The painting, considered the first known self-portrait by a British-born painter, was created in the late 1630s and last sold at Bonhams London in 2016 for just over £1.1 million. It will go on view in London before embarking on a national tour in 2026.

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trending_up market schedule May 13, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

artnet auctions 20th century art 2

Artnet Auctions is hosting its '20th Century Art' sale, now live for bidding through March 19, 2025. The sale features a curated selection of portraits by leading 20th-century artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, Niki de Saint Phalle, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Alex Katz. Highlights include Saint Phalle's playful sculpture 'Tête de Femme' (1982), Picasso's abstract graphite drawing 'Homme au chapeau jouant de la guitare' (1914–1915), and Lichtenstein's Ben-Day dot print 'The Art Critic' (1996).

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trending_up market schedule Jan 19, 2026 visibility 25 link 11 artists, 10 galleries

5 Artists on Our Radar in January 2026

Artsy's January 2026 edition of 'Artists on Our Radar' highlights five emerging visual artists: Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, Xiaochi Dong, and Bobbye Fermie (with two others implied). Deloumeaux, born in Guadeloupe and based in Paris, paints solitary figures exploring identity and displacement; his work is featured in a group show at Loft Art Gallery in Marrakech and he has a solo show upcoming at Musée de la Parure de Marrakech. Xiaochi Dong, a Shanghai-born artist trained in classical Chinese painting, creates intimate works evoking gardens and ecosystems, currently in a two-person exhibition at Albion Jeune in London. Bobbye Fermie, an Amsterdam-born London-based artist, produces dreamlike watercolors and collages, with works available at Wilder Gallery.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 3, 2025 visibility 20 link 13 artists, 8 galleries

‘The government understands what is at stake’: Italian art world weighs in on tax cut at Artissima

The Italian parliament reduced VAT on art sales from 22% to 5%, the lowest rate in Europe, a move announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government. The tax cut was celebrated at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, where politician Federico Mollicone noted it had been over 30 years in the making. The contemporary art fair Artissima, holding its 32nd edition in Turin, became the first Italian fair to test the new tax policy. Italian dealers reported positive effects, including easier deal closures and increased sales to both Italian and European collectors, with some galleries experiencing their best opening day ever.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 27, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 23 link 2 artists

Sotheby’s Sets 12 Records for South Asian Artists in a Single Sale

Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art auction in New York achieved a total of $22.1 million with 100% of lots sold, setting 12 new auction records for artists from the region. The sale was headlined by Vivan Sundaram's 1967 painting 'Inbetweeness,' which sold for $896,000 and more than doubled his previous annual auction total, and M.F. Husain's 'Second Act,' which fetched $5.1 million.

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trending_up market schedule May 19, 2026 visibility 1 link 15 artists

Modern Art + Design Draw Active Bidders At Eldred’s

Eldred’s auction house held its Modern Art + Design sale on May 7, featuring 245 lots of art, furniture, decorative arts, rugs and collectibles. The sale achieved a total of $221,740 with an 81% sell-through rate, driven by active phone, online, and absentee bidding. Top lots included a Tiffany Studios Nautilus table lamp that sold for $23,040 (more than three times its estimate), a Handel reverse-painted glass table lamp that reached $10,880 against a $800–$1,200 estimate, and Frank Stella’s “Aiolio” from his “Imaginary Places III” series, which fetched $17,920. An abstract oil on canvas by Manabu Mabe also performed strongly, selling for $14,080.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 3, 2026 visibility 22 link 1 artist, 4 galleries

Spain’s galleries are protesting against high taxes—can Arco Madrid help voice their concerns?

The 45th edition of Arco Madrid, Spain’s premier contemporary art fair, is set to host 206 galleries from 36 countries at the Ifema convention centre. While the fair remains a vital commercial hub, it is currently overshadowed by a nationwide protest from Spanish galleries against the country's 21% VAT on art purchases. This tax rate is among the highest in Europe, significantly outpacing neighbors like Portugal and France, leading to concerns about international competitiveness and the classification of contemporary art as a luxury elite product.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 27, 2025 visibility 18 link 2 artists

A quartet of key art market players join forces to form ‘super group’ consultancy

Four prominent art market figures—Ed Dolman, Brett Gorvy, Patti Wong, and Phillip Hoffman—have launched a new consultancy called New Perspectives Art Partners. The group, which also includes Dolman's son Alex, aims to provide a white-glove, case-by-case service for top-tier clients, covering buying and selling art, estate management, financing, and insurance. Each member brings specialized expertise and geographic reach across Europe, America, the Middle East, and Asia, and they will maintain their existing roles in their own businesses.

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