The art market is gearing up for a high-stakes spring season with major estate collections from S.I. Newhouse and Robert Mnuchin slated for auction at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, collectively valued at over half a billion dollars. Meanwhile, London’s spring marquee sales showed strong momentum, with Christie’s and Sotheby’s reporting significant year-over-year increases in their evening sale totals, despite a more modest performance from Phillips.
Frieze Los Angeles 2026 opened amid concerns over the city's cooling art market, following a wave of gallery closures and a shift toward nomadic dealer models. Despite the economic downturn and the lingering shadow of previous regional fires, the fair week saw a resurgence of energy with 32,000 attendees and significant blue-chip sales, including a $3.75 million Ed Ruscha at Gagosian and a $2.8 million Njideka Akunyili Crosby at David Zwirner. The week was characterized by a mix of high-end commerce at the Santa Monica Airport and grassroots vitality at satellite events like Felix and the newly launched Post-Fair.
The Los Angeles art scene is navigating a complex recovery as it prepares for Frieze Los Angeles 2026. The city is grappling with the lingering trauma of devastating wildfires that destroyed significant private collections, alongside economic instability caused by massive layoffs in the entertainment industry and recent political unrest. This combination of environmental and financial crises has led to a notable market downturn, resulting in the closure of several high-profile galleries including Blum, Tanya Bonakdar, and Sean Kelly.
Artnet News published its quarterly list of the most exhibited living artists in U.S. museums for December 2025, compiled by tracking temporary exhibitions across hundreds of institutions. The list ranks artists based on the number and type of shows they appear in, prioritizing career retrospectives, dedicated exhibitions, and biennial appearances. Among the top artists featured are Marie Watt, whose touring print exhibition "Storywork" and numerous group show appearances earned her a high ranking, and Jeffrey Gibson, known for his installation at MASS MoCA. The article notes that Watt also won the $250,000 Heinz Award in September 2025.
Artnet News has published a list of the ten most expensive female artists at auction, based on data from the Artnet Price Database. The article highlights recent record-breaking sales, including Frida Kahlo's *El Sueño (La Cama)* (1940), which sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's, and Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* (1997), which realized $13.6 million at Christie's, making Dumas the most expensive living woman artist. The list features artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Bridget Riley, Cindy Sherman, Vija Celmins, and Cady Noland, with auction records ranging from $4.9 million to $9.7 million.
Art Basel 2025 saw cautious buying despite optimistic statements from major dealers like Pace's Marc Glimcher, who claimed sales velocity was as vigorous as any year. However, collector attendance was thin, with American attendance down for the second year running due to trade tensions and geopolitical concerns. Deals were closing at 20 to 30 percent below asking prices, confirming a buyer's market. Sales ranged from a $245 collectible Labubu figurine by Kasing Lung to works by Wei Libo, Joyce Joumaa, Lonnie Holley, Joan Jonas, Hao Ling, Sarah Lucas, and Rosemarie Trockel, with most activity under $1 million.
The Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center have jointly acquired Nan Goldin's *Stendhal Syndrome* (2024), a slideshow-based video work with an original soundtrack. The acquisition was funded by the Curators’ Council Fund for Women Artists and the Jean MacMillan Southam Fund at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The work will make its Canadian debut at the Vancouver Art Gallery. First presented at Gagosian's New York gallery in September 2024 as part of Goldin's exhibition "You never did anything wrong," the piece pairs two decades of the artist's photographs with a personal voiceover, exploring the emotional power of art. It features images of classical, Renaissance, and Baroque masterpieces from institutions such as the Galleria Borghese, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Prado, interwoven with portraits of Goldin's friends, family, and lovers.
Los Angeles-based painter Lauren Quin has joined Pace Gallery, following the closure of her previous gallery Blum & Poe earlier this summer. Her first exhibition at Pace's Los Angeles space is scheduled for 2026, and her work will also appear in the gallery's booth at Frieze Seoul next month. Quin, known for densely layered abstractions, has been on a rapid ascent since earning her MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2019, with her paintings held by major institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Walker Art Center, and the Hirshhorn Museum. Pace founder Arne Glimcher, a longtime supporter, gave Quin a solo show at Pace-affiliated 125 Newbury in 2024, which she credits as a turning point in her practice.
Two major New York art fairs—NADA New York and Independent—opened this week alongside Frieze and TEFAF, marking a crowded spring fair season. Despite a recent market downturn, both fairs reported strong attendance and early sales. NADA's executive director Heather Hubbs noted high-quality visitors and positive feedback on the new venue, while Independent founder Elizabeth Dee cited a 20% increase in opening-day attendance and robust buying from collectors and institutions. Sales ranged from lower-priced works under $50,000 to six-figure transactions, with galleries like Vielmetter Los Angeles, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, and Fleisher/Ollman Gallery reporting significant sales.
The article examines the growing role of artist estates in the art market, particularly for smaller and emerging galleries. While mega-galleries like Hauser & Wirth have long profited from managing blue-chip estates, a new wave of smaller galleries is now turning to overlooked and under-researched artists who died without established legacies. These galleries invest in building archives, cultivating institutional relationships, and reintroducing artists to contemporary audiences, often at more accessible price points with significant room for growth. Examples include Gunia Nowik Gallery working with the estate of Polish artist Krzysztof Jung and Gianni Manhattan representing Estonian sculptor Anu Põder.
The late Toronto collectors Morton and Carol Rapp have donated over 450 artworks by 203 artists to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) from their estates. The gift includes major Pop art works: 13 screen prints by Andy Warhol, including four Marilyn Monroe portraits (1967); works by Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg (including the sculptural print 'Teabag' from 1966), David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein; plus Barnett Newman's 1964 lithograph 'CANTO XVIII', marking the Abstract Expressionist's debut in the collection. The donation also features photography by Yinka Shonibare and Kara Walker. The couple, who began supporting the AGO in 1966, had previously donated 474 works, bringing their total contribution to nearly 1,000 pieces.
Self-taught artist Jet Le Parti has launched Sibyl, a Los Angeles-based cultural platform and research-led advisory that operates outside the traditional gallery system. Drawing on his background in neuroscience and philosophy, Le Parti developed Sibyl as an extension of his independent practice and previous ventures like Base 36 and Relaispunkt. The platform functions as a private collection and advisory service, leveraging direct relationships with collectors to bypass traditional intermediaries and formalize a network built on artistic trust.
On the VIP day of Frieze London 2025, Tate acquired three new works by female artists for its collection: Lubna Chowdhary's ceramic and wooden sculpture *Assembly* (2025) from Jhaveri Contemporary, Barbara Walker's drawing *End of Affair II* (2025) from Victoria Miro, and Madge Gill's *Untitled (Venus Mid Heaven)* (1920-30) from the Gallery of Everything at Frieze Masters. The purchases were made through the Frieze Tate Fund, which provides £150,000 in philanthropic support, previously funded by Endeavor and now by Mari, Ariel Emanuel's newly formed company that recently acquired Frieze.
Art advisor Ralph DeLuca, in his column "Street Smarts" for Cultured, analyzes the struggling photography market. He notes that photography auction sales have plummeted from a peak of $230.5 million in 2014 to just $116.9 million in 2024, attributing the decline partly to smartphones making photography seem effortless. DeLuca, who owns over 20,000 photographs, argues this downturn presents a rare buying opportunity for collectors to build museum-quality collections at lower prices.
Christie’s marquee evening sales in London achieved a combined total of £197.5 million ($263.8 million), characterized by a steady, prearranged atmosphere rather than high-stakes drama. The auction house relied heavily on financial safety nets, with a 52 percent year-over-year increase in third-party guarantees ensuring the sale of 21 key lots. While the event featured a theatrical unveiling of a new rostrum designed by Sir Jony Ive, the actual bidding remained largely conservative and focused on blue-chip stability.
A group of artists including Mickalene Thomas, Tammy Nguyen, and Richard Prince are donating works to a Sotheby’s contemporary art day sale next month, with proceeds expected to exceed $1 million. All funds will go toward making Yale University’s MFA art program tuition-free. The sale features works by Yale alumni both historical—Walker Evans, Josef Albers—and contemporary, such as Dominic Chambers and Do Ho Suh, whose $200,000–$300,000 piece is among the lots. The highest-estimated work is a Richard Prince photograph from his “Spiritual America” series, valued at $500,000–$700,000.
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) has secured a major promised gift of over 150 modern and contemporary artworks from collectors Penny Cooper and Rena Rosenwasser. This significant bequest focuses exclusively on women artists, featuring works by major figures such as Louise Bourgeois, Julie Mehretu, and Kara Walker. To celebrate the acquisition, the museum is launching "Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection," an exhibition showcasing 65 pieces that trace the impact of second-wave feminism on artistic production.
Artnet News and Morgan Stanley have released an analysis of the global art market, examining auction performance by artists from different regions over the past decade. The report breaks down sales by region—North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East—and by genre categories including Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern, Postwar and Contemporary, and Ultra-Contemporary. Key findings show that North American and European artists dominate the market, while African-born artists have seen notable but uneven growth, and Asia-Pacific-born artists have experienced a marked decline.
Frieze London 2025 opened with VIP day sales reflecting a cautious but resilient market. Gallerists reported solid sales, including Michael Landy's 'Multi-Saint' (2013) sold to the Walker Art Gallery for €125,000, and blue-chip works at Frieze Masters such as René Magritte's 'Le domaine enchanté' (1953) for $1.6m and Gabriele Münter's 'The Blue Garden' (1909) for SFr2.4m ($3m). Dealers noted a shift from speculative frenzy to more considered buying, with collectors taking longer to decide but still investing in quality works. The fair saw strong attendance, including wealthy individuals who had left London due to UK tax changes returning to buy.
This article is a sales listing for a collaborative artwork by Raymond Pettibon and Chris Johanson, titled "You're Not Worth Much" (2017), hand-signed by Pettibon. The listing includes a biography of Pettibon, detailing his career, exhibitions, and gallery representation by David Zwirner, as well as his influences and major museum shows.
The Dallas Museum of Art acquired six works from the 2026 Dallas Art Fair, held April 16–19 at the Fashion Industry Gallery in the Dallas Arts District. The acquisitions, made possible by the Dallas Art Fair Foundation + Dallas Museum of Art Acquisition Fund, include pieces by Nicole Eisenman, Gloria Klein, Caroline Monnet, Hasani Sahlehe, and Raymond Saunders. Selections were made by DMA curators including Dr. Vivian Li, Ade Omotosho, Dr. Emily Friedman, Dr. Nicole R. Myers, and director Brian Ferriso. This marks the tenth year of the fund, which has added 78 works to the museum's permanent collection since 2016 through over $1 million in donations.
Two Brazilian women, Fernanda Mazzuco and Luciana Solano, run Art in Brackets, a consultancy and art advisory firm based in New York. For the first time, they have opened a public exhibition space on Walker Street in Tribeca, featuring a collective show centered on the African diaspora and transatlantic connections. The exhibition includes works by artists such as Santídio Pereira and Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt, with prices ranging from $3,800 to $140,000. The company, founded in 2022, connects collectors with Brazilian and Latin American artists, operating as 'wall curators' in partnership with various galleries.
A hand-signed original exhibition poster by the late conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, titled "A Means to an End" (2006), has been made available for purchase through ArtWise in Brooklyn. Created for Weiner’s solo exhibition at Le Musée de Sérignan, the color offset lithograph features the artist's signature in black pen and exemplifies his career-long investigation into language as a sculptural medium. The work is priced at $700 and includes a certificate of authenticity from the gallery.
During Frieze London, multiple acquisition prizes and awards were announced, including the Tate Frieze Fund (supported by a private patron) which purchased works by Lubna Chowdhary and Barbara Walker for £150,000. The inaugural Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation Prize was awarded to Alex Margo Arden, while the Arts Council Frieze Acquisitions Fund grew to £90,000, acquiring works by Sarah Ball, Olu Ogunnnaike, Vanessa Raw, and Liorah Tchiprout. Other acquisitions included works by Michael Landy and Shaquelle Whyte for the Walker Art Gallery, and the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Prize went to Bogdan Ablozhnyy. Offsite, the Circa 2025 prize was won by Adham Faramawy for a film addressing the migration crisis.
Christie’s Paris has announced two major contemporary art auctions scheduled for late 2023, consisting of a live sale on December 6 and an online sale running from November 28 to December 8. The auctions feature over 200 lots with a combined global estimate of €8.5 million to €12.3 million, highlighted by two previously unseen paintings by Pierre Soulages and works by Jean Dubuffet and Georges Mathieu. A significant portion of the online sale is dedicated to "A Lifetime Collection," a prestigious private Parisian collection featuring works by David Hockney, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Combas.
Entertainment executive and art collector Hassan Smith, manager to John Legend and advisory board member for the Atlanta Art Fair, shared insights into his collecting philosophy ahead of Frieze Los Angeles. His extensive collection spans art history from Rembrandt and Picasso to contemporary Black masters like Sam Gilliam, Rashid Johnson, and Deborah Roberts. Smith recently added a large-scale painting by Patrick Eugène to his holdings, noting that he relies on a mix of instinct and professional networking to make quick acquisition decisions.
Entertainment executive Hassan Smith has curated a deeply personal art collection in his North Atlanta home that bridges historical mastery with contemporary Black identity. His holdings range from a 17th-century Rembrandt drawing in the kitchen to iconic photography by Gordon Parks and contemporary works by artists like Ferrari Sheppard and Derek Fordjour. The collection is characterized by its integration into daily family life, featuring a Basquiat-inspired aesthetic that begins at the front door.
The Walker Guest House, a 1953 architectural pavilion designed by Paul Rudolph, has been transported from Florida and reassembled inside the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. It is being offered for sale for $2 million as part of the Basic.Space L.A. high-design shopping event, complete with original furnishings and architectural drawings.
MUUS Collection has acquired the archive of American photographer Todd Webb (1905–2000), adding approximately 15,000 prints, 50,000 negatives, ephemera, and his extensive journal to its holdings. Webb is known for his evocative postwar images of New York and Paris, as well as his travels across the American West, Great Britain, New Guinea, and Africa. The archive documents his relationships with key figures such as Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Walker Evans, and Berenice Abbott, and will join works by Rosalind Fox Solomon, Larry Fink, and Deborah Turbeville in the collection.
The original painting for the 1977 Star Wars movie poster, created by artist Tom Jung, sold for $3.9 million at Heritage Auctions, becoming the most expensive object associated with the Star Wars franchise to date. The acrylic and airbrush artwork served as the half-sheet poster for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and features a triangular composition of characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader. The painting was consigned by Melissa, daughter of producer Gary Kurtz, and surpassed the previous record for movie poster art.