Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 40 link 36 artists, 1 gallery

The 20 Most Expensive Artworks Hitting the Auction Block This Season

The May 2026 New York auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips will feature 20 high-value lots priced at $30 million or more, including works by Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, and others. The sales are staggered around the Venice Biennale and Frieze New York, with Sotheby’s holding its contemporary evening auction on May 14 and Christie’s its 20th-century sale on May 18. Notable consignments come from the estates of S.I. Newhouse, former MoMA board president Agnes Gund, and dealer Marian Goodman.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 4, 2025 visibility 25 link 35 artists, 9 galleries

at miami basel dealers notch seven figure sales digital art draws crowds 2723568

Art Basel Miami Beach opened its VIP preview on Wednesday with strong early sales, including multiple seven-figure deals. Major galleries like Hauser & Wirth, White Cube, Gladstone, and Pace reported significant sales, with a $3.9 million George Condo painting leading the pack. The fair introduced a new digital-art section called Zero 10, featuring works by Beeple, which drew large crowds. Collectors such as Craig Robins, Mera and Don Rubell, Norman Braman, and Beth Rudin DeWoody were among the early attendees, and the event featured high-profile works by Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan.

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trending_up market schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 13 link 26 artists, 5 galleries

How to Buy Minimalist Art

Artsy Editorial offers a guide on buying Minimalist art, explaining the movement's core principles of geometric shapes, limited color palettes, and material reduction. The article highlights key artists such as Carl Andre and Polly Apfelbaum, and emphasizes that Minimalism focuses on the idea behind the work rather than the artist's technical skill.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 4, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

warhol muhammad ali 18 million art basel miami beach sale 1234765235

Lévy Gorvy Dayan sold Andy Warhol's 'Muhammad Ali' (1977) for $18 million during the VIP preview of Art Basel Miami Beach. The painting, autographed by Ali and formerly owned by Richard L. Weisman, was displayed just a few hundred feet from the Miami Beach Convention Center, where Ali defeated Sonny Liston in 1964. The consignment was kept secret until ten days before the fair, and the work drew crowds of buyers and admirers, including Ali's sons and figures connected to Warhol's 'Athletes' series.

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trending_up market schedule May 14, 2025 visibility 13 link 36 artists, 4 galleries

At Sotheby’s, a $70M Giacometti Fails to Sell While Works By Munch and Cézanne Ignite Buyer Excitement

Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction on May 13, 2025, achieved $186.4 million in sales but was overshadowed by the failure of its headline lot: Alberto Giacometti’s hand-painted bronze bust *Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego)*, estimated at $70 million. The work, consigned by the Soloviev Foundation, went unsold after minimal bidding, lacking a guarantee or irrevocable bid. Other highlights included a strong performance by Edvard Munch and Paul Cézanne works, with 40% of lots exceeding high estimates. Notable sales included Georgia O’Keeffe’s *Leaves of a Plant* ($12.97 million) and Alexander Calder’s *Four Big Dots* ($8.285 million), both fresh to market.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 2, 2025 visibility 7 link 9 artists

castle where renoir summered hits market 2650723

The Château de Wargemont, a 19th-century seaside castle in Normandy where Pierre-Auguste Renoir summered and painted, has been listed for sale by Sotheby’s International Realty for €4 million ($4.5 million). The 17-room property, set on 25 acres, is the last great Impressionist site still in private hands and retains original features including Renoir’s dining room mural The Two Hunts, the only in-situ decor by an Impressionist. Renoir was invited there by diplomat and banker Paul Bérard, and the estate appears in several of his works, including Les rosiers à Wargemont (1879), which sold for $7.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2004.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 12, 2026 visibility 29 link 11 artists, 2 galleries

Art Card: Helen Frankenthaler at the Milwaukee Art Museum (Hand Signed by Helen Frankenthaler) , 1985

A rare, hand-signed offset lithograph invitation card from a 1985 Helen Frankenthaler exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum has surfaced on the market. The two-sided card, which served as an invitation for the show "Frankenthaler, Works on Paper, 1949-1984," was signed by the artist in ink during her talk at the opening reception on October 3, 1985. It is currently presented in a double-sided frame to preserve the integrity of the signature and the exhibition text.

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trending_up market schedule May 5, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

MoMA acquires works featured in monumental Adam Pendleton installation

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has acquired the 35 individual paintings, drawings, and video works that comprised Adam Pendleton's monumental installation *Who Is Queen?* (2019-21), which was on view in the museum's atrium from 2021 to 2022. The installation explored Pendleton's conceptual framework of "Black Dada," a term he first outlined in his *Black Dada Manifesto* (2008), and included works such as *Notes on the Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond VA (Figure)* (2021), a film reflecting on the 2020 racial justice protests. The acquisition marks a significant institutional commitment to Pendleton's practice, which continues to evolve in his current exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.

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trending_up market schedule May 6, 2025 visibility 9 link 7 artists, 5 galleries

Tefaf New York wish list: objects and treasures to suit every collector’s taste

Tefaf New York presents a curated wish list of objects and treasures catering to diverse collector tastes. Highlights include Lee Bontecou's monumental mixed-media sculpture 'Untitled (1980-2001)' shown by Ortuzar and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, a rare René Magritte collage from 1926 offered by Di Donna Galleries, an ancient Egyptian bronze Osiris statue from David Aaron, and an Aboriginal painting by Mantua Nangala from Salon 94. Each piece is accompanied by price estimates and provenance details, reflecting the fair's focus on high-quality, historically significant works.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 7 link 5 artists

rare m c escher works auction 2660493

A cache of M.C. Escher drawings and prints, created during his time in Italy and later, fetched a stunning total of $7.8 million at Christie’s on July 22, quadrupling its low presale estimate. The auction, titled 'The Art of Infinity,' featured 65 lots, with nearly every work on paper surpassing the previous record for an Escher work in the medium. The top lot, *Reptiles* (ca. 1943), sold for $529,200—five times its low estimate—while *Relativity* (ca. 1953) achieved $504,000, ten times its low estimate. The sale largely came from the collection of Robert Owen Lehman Jr., a documentary filmmaker and member of the Lehman banking family.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 25, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 23 link 6 artists

A $30 Million Trove of Minimalist Masterpieces Is Heading to Christie’s

The estate of the late collector Henry S. McNeil Jr. is bringing his significant collection of Minimalist art to auction at Christie's in New York this spring. The trove, assembled over decades and lived with in a Philadelphia townhouse, includes major works by Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt, and is expected to fetch around $30 million.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 4 link 3 artists

collector sues sothebys modigliani painting authenticity 1234762782

Collector Charles C. Cahn, Jr. has filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleging the auction house refuses to resell a painting attributed to Amedeo Modigliani that he purchased in 2003 for $1.55 million. The work, titled *Portrait de Leopold Zborowski* (1917), was consigned under a 2016 agreement allowing Cahn to resell it within 15 years, but Cahn claims Sotheby’s raised authenticity concerns and failed to respond to his recent attempts to consign the piece. He is seeking $2.67 million in damages.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 20, 2025 visibility 6 link 1 artist

sasan ghandehari lawsuit christies picasso auction guarantee 1234749641

Collector Sasan Ghandehari has filed a lawsuit against Christie’s in the High Court of England & Wales, alleging the auction house failed to disclose that a Picasso painting he guaranteed was owned by a man convicted of drug-related charges. The work, Picasso’s *Femme dans un rocking-chair* (1956), was offered in a February 2023 London evening sale with a third-party guarantee from Ghandehari’s company, Brewer Management Corporation (BMC). Ghandehari claims Christie’s told him the owner was José Mestre Jr., but the painting actually belonged to his father, José Mestre Sr., who was sentenced to nine years in prison after 202 kilos of cocaine were found on a cargo ship in 2010. The lawsuit seeks to cancel the guarantee contract and recover a £4.8 million partial payment.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 6, 2026 visibility 9 link 4 artists

phillips modern contemporary sale london 2751222

Phillips’s Modern and contemporary evening sale in London concluded with a total of £13 million ($17.3 million), marking a 16 percent decline compared to the previous year's equivalent auction. The sale was led by Andy Warhol’s "Mao" and Vilhelm Hammershøi’s "Interior of Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table," both of which fetched £1.6 million including fees. Despite the overall contraction in total sales, the auction saw a significant breakout for Danish painter Anna Ancher, whose work "Young Girl Reading a Letter" sold for £154,800, tripling its high estimate and setting a new auction record for the artist.

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trending_up market schedule May 9, 2025 visibility 9 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

Buzz in New York’s art trade during Frieze week masks uncertainties

During New York's Frieze week, over a dozen art fairs opened in four days, creating a bustling atmosphere that masked underlying economic and political uncertainties. Dealers and advisers reported strong preview-day attendance and a palpable energy, with some noting that the crowded calendar and a recent US-UK trade deal helped buoy spirits. However, the art market has not returned to its 2022 peak, with auction estimates down $250 million from 2024 and high interest rates still deterring average collectors.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 27, 2026 visibility 15 link 4 artists

Michael Jackson Accessories Hit the Market Amid Biopic Buzz

GWS Auctions is offering nine pieces of Michael Jackson memorabilia in a May 2 sale, including a signed pair of the late singer's Florsheim loafers. The auction features 734 items from the collection of Prince Lorenzo de' Medici, with highlights such as a crystal-studded white glove from Jackson's 1984 Victory tour and Swarovski-embellished socks from his Dangerous tour. The loafers, authenticated by Jackson's assistant Rosemary Chavira, carry a starting bid of $7,500, and the sale coincides with the record-breaking opening weekend of a new Michael Jackson biopic.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 23, 2025 visibility 1 link 5 artists

rare 19th century image major daguerreotype sale 2632743

Christie's is hosting a 200-lot auction of the Maillet Daguerreotype Collection from June 10 to 26, featuring rare 19th-century daguerreotypes. The collection includes early works by pioneers like Samuel Morse and John William Draper, as well as images of American monuments and everyday life, such as Henry Fitz Jr.'s Washington Monument and Platt Babbitt's Niagara Falls view. The auction highlights the dawn of photography in America, with many images being unique due to the daguerreotype's lack of negatives.

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trending_up market schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 6 link 3 artists

Billionaire Collector Ken Griffin Buys Second Rare Constitution Printing

Billionaire collector Ken Griffin has quietly acquired a second rare first printing of the US Constitution, known as the Van Sinderen copy, through a private deal after it was pulled from a planned Sotheby’s auction in 2022. Griffin, who previously paid $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2021 for another copy, now holds the only two copies of the 1787 document still in private hands. The newly acquired document will go on public display starting May 27 at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, headlining an exhibition titled “The Promise of Liberty” that includes other foundational texts.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 18, 2026 visibility 8 link 2 artists

carolyn bessette kennedy fashion auctioneer wardrobe sale 2746342

Signature items from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's personal wardrobe are being sold at auction by the Fashion Auctioneer. The sale includes four key pieces gifted to her friend Rosemarie Terenzio, such as three cherished Prada coats and a Yohji Yamamoto dress, with estimates reaching up to $30,000. The auction is supplemented by dozens of vintage items from a private collector, some of which were used as wardrobe for the new FX television series 'Love Story,' which dramatizes the couple's relationship.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 24, 2026 visibility 12 link 1 artist

$450 Million Worth of Newhouse Trophies Come to Christie’s

Christie’s will hold a special evening sale in May featuring 16 artworks from the collection of the late Condé Nast chief S.I. Newhouse Jr., valued at a combined $450 million. The works are considered museum-quality trophies from one of the most significant private collections assembled in recent decades.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 25, 2026 visibility 11 link 6 artists

The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr.

The exceptional collection of Minimalist art assembled by Henry 'Hank' S. McNeil, Jr. will be sold at Christie's New York in May. The sale features masterworks by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, and Sol LeWitt, which were famously integrated into McNeil's Philadelphia home, allowing him to live intimately with these significant works.

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trending_up market schedule Mar 3, 2026 visibility 10 link 4 artists

A Francis Bacon self-portrait and a Surrealist avian painting: our pick of the March auctions

Major auction houses in London are preparing for a series of high-profile sales in March, featuring significant works by Francis Bacon, René Magritte, and Osman Hamdi Bey. Highlights include a 1972 Bacon self-portrait gifted to his doctor following a studio injury, a rare Magritte "leaf-bird" painting appearing at auction for the first time in 25 years, and a monumental 19th-century work by Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey being sold by the Penn Museum.

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