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.

The $53 M. Wingate Collection Comes to Sotheby’s, Led by a $25 M. Giacometti

The collection of modern and contemporary art assembled by David and Shoshanna Wingate over seven decades will be sold at Sotheby's in New York and London on May 19 and 20. The sale, comprising over 50 works by artists like Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, and Wassily Kandinsky, is estimated to fetch between $37 million and $53 million, led by Giacometti's sculpture "La Clairière (Composition avec neuf figures)" with an estimate of $18 million to $25 million.

The Women Defining Printmaking at the 2026 IFPDA Print Fair

The 2026 IFPDA Print Fair opened at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, placing a significant spotlight on the contributions of women artists to the medium. High-profile offerings include a new release by Laura Owens from Crown Point Press, Louise Bourgeois’s "Spirals" woodcut series presented by Carolina Nitsch, and large-scale sculptural works by Joan Hall and Orit Hofshi. The fair demonstrates the technical breadth of modern printmaking, ranging from traditional woodcuts to unique, hand-embellished compositions and experimental collaborations between artists and master printers.

Éliane Radigue, Electronic Music Pioneer, Dies at 94

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Éliane Radigue, a pioneering French composer and electronic music visionary, has died at the age of 94 in Paris. A student of musique concrète founders Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, Radigue became renowned for her meditative, long-form compositions created primarily on the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer. Her work, deeply influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, focused on the subtle, sculptural qualities of sound and "barely perceptible" sonic shifts.

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Galleries Sprüth Magers and Skarstedt have announced joint representation of artist George Condo, ending his six-year partnership with Hauser & Wirth. Condo has a long history with both galleries: he first showed with Monika Sprüth in 1984 and was represented by Skarstedt from 2004 to 2019. The announcement comes after a two-venue exhibition earlier this year that involved both Sprüth Magers and Hauser & Wirth. Condo's market remains strong, with recent auction sales exceeding $6 million and a current retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.

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Christopher Kulendran Thomas, an artist who has been building his own neural networks for over a decade, is showing new paintings and a video installation at Gagosian's Upper East Side location, with concurrent exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and upcoming at the New Museum. His series 'Peace Core' uses AI trained on Sri Lankan painters to generate compositions that are hand-painted onto canvas, depicting Mullivaikkal beach—the site of a 2009 massacre of Tamil civilians during the Sri Lankan civil war. The Gagosian show also features a 24-screen video installation that algorithmically remixes American TV footage from the morning of September 11, 2001, before the attacks became visible.

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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.

Raghu Rai obituary

Raghu Rai, the renowned Indian photographer known for capturing his country's post-independence history through singular, enduring images, has died at age 83 from cancer. Rai's career spanned six decades, during which he documented events from the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster to the Bangladesh war of independence, and photographed figures including Indira Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama. He joined Magnum Photos in 1977 after being invited by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and worked as a staff photographer for the Statesman and as picture editor for India Today.

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Nicolas Party's exhibition "Dead Fish" at Karma gallery in Chelsea, New York, features approximately 40 postcard-sized oil-on-copper works and a mural of three dead fish, a departure from his usual large-scale pastel paintings. Only 10 of the works were for sale, priced between $165,000 and $205,000, and all sold quickly. The show includes replicas of his earlier compositions, described as a "retrospective in miniature," with many pieces drawn from his archive and not available for purchase.

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Tony Bechara, a Puerto Rican-born artist known for his intricate multicolored grid paintings and his long tenure as board chair of El Museo del Barrio, died on his 83rd birthday. His death was confirmed by the museum, though no cause was given. Bechara spent decades creating labor-intensive canvases built from thousands of hand-painted quarter-inch squares, exploring randomness and controlled chaos. Beyond his studio practice, he served as board chair of El Museo del Barrio for 18 years, was a trustee at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Brooklyn Rail, and championed the work of painter Carmen Herrera, helping to secure her a Whitney Museum survey in 2016.

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The Museum Brandhorst in Munich has opened "Five Friends," a major exhibition exploring the interconnected creative and personal relationships among John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly. Spanning 180 works from the late 1940s through the 1970s, the show includes paintings, sculptures, costumes, musical scores, photographs, and letters, beginning with Cage's silent composition 4'33" and Rauschenberg's White Painting. It is the first exhibition to bring these five figures together, drawing on loans from Cologne's Museum Ludwig and U.S. institutions, and coincides with the centenary of Rauschenberg's birth.

Researchers Identify Enslaved Boy in Joshua Reynolds Painting

Researchers in the U.K. have identified the enslaved boy depicted in Joshua Reynolds's 1748 painting of Royal Navy lieutenant Paul Henry Ourry. For centuries known only as "Jersey," the boy has been identified as George Walker, also called Boston Jersey, through baptismal and admiralty records. Walker was baptized at age 15 in Westminster in 1752, served on HMS Monmouth and HMS Deptford, and was discharged in 1753, after which his fate remains unknown. The research, a collaboration between the National Trust, the National Gallery in London, and Royal Museums Greenwich, also used scientific analysis to reveal Reynolds's original compositional intentions.

The Paradoxical Delights of South America’s Biggest Art Fair

The 22nd edition of SP-Arte has opened at the Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion in São Paulo, featuring 180 exhibitors. As Latin America’s largest art fair, the event continues to serve as a critical bridge for 'South-South' artistic relationships, drawing international curators like the Met’s Brinda Kumar. Despite a slightly smaller footprint than previous years, the fair showcases a robust selection of Brazilian talent alongside international galleries navigating the country's complex market.

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The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired and restored Luis de Morales's "Christ Carrying the Cross" (c. 1565), a 16th-century Spanish Renaissance painting. The work, which had been covered in discolored varnish and enlarged with wooden strips, was carefully conserved by Getty conservator Kari Rayner, who removed non-original paint to reveal the artist's original composition. The painting first appeared at auction in 2021 at Nagel Auktionen, initially attributed to Morales's studio with a €10,000 estimate, but later sold for €1.2 million before the Getty acquired it from the Daniel Katz Gallery.

Allison Katz’s Playful Paintings Hide Serious Ideas in Plain Sight

Painter Allison Katz, who lived in New York for seven years but hasn't shown in Manhattan for over a decade, returns with a major debut solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth's Wooster Street location. Titled "Outta the Bag," the show features a suite of New York–centric paintings, including depictions of the city's museums and skyscrapers, as well as an ironically small "Big Apple" composition, marking a significant moment for the mid-career artist.

At the Guggenheim, Carol Bove Bends Metal—and Minimalism—to Her Will

At the Guggenheim, Carol Bove Bends Metal—and Minimalism—to Her Will

A major new exhibition of Carol Bove's work has opened at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Titled "Carol Bove: The séance isn't over," the show features over two dozen of the artist's large-scale sculptures, many crafted from delicately arranged steel tubing and precariously balanced metal plates. The installations are strategically placed within the museum's iconic rotunda, creating a dynamic conversation with the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed spiral.

A $35 M. Warhol, a $45 M. Basquiat, and More: Who’s Selling The Top Works in the May Sales?

The article reports on the upcoming May marquee sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, detailing high-value consignments from major collections. Christie’s will offer works from the estates of S. I. Newhouse (including a Brâncuși sculpture and a Jackson Pollock painting, each estimated at $100 million), former MoMA board president Agnes Gund (a Rothko estimated at $80 million), and the late dealer Marian Goodman (a Gerhard Richter estimated at $50 million). Sotheby’s counters with a Rothko from the collection of the late Robert Mnuchin (estimated at $100 million) and works from David and Shoshanna Wingate, including a Giacometti sculpture. The article also reveals previously unnamed consignors for top lots, such as collector John Sayegh-Belchatowski for a $45 million Basquiat and the Moore family for an Elizabeth Peyton painting.

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David Hockney has launched a critique against the prevalence of abstract art while debuting his latest exhibition, "A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting," at the Serpentine Galleries. The 88-year-old artist, recovering from an infection at his Kensington studio, presented a nearly 300-foot-long frieze of iPad drawings depicting the seasonal shifts of his Normandy gardens. The show emphasizes Hockney's commitment to figurative representation and observation, utilizing new stippling techniques and reverse-perspective compositions.

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Artnet News has curated a selection of 15 unusual and art-themed gifts available at museum shops worldwide, ranging from a snake-embroidered brooch inspired by Cartier at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to a 'Souls in Purgatory' magnet from the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, a traditional palm-leaf fan from Al Ain Museum in Abu Dhabi, a gilded sewing kit from the Neue Galerie in New York, and a CD of a Hanne Darboven composition from the Dia Art Foundation. Each item is presented with its price, source museum, and a brief explanation of its appeal, often tying back to specific exhibitions or artworks.

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Christie’s will sell over 70 works from the collection of Arnold and Joan Saltzman during its fall marquee sales in November, with a group estimate exceeding $70 million. The modern art collection includes pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Edvard Munch, František Kupka, Robert Delaunay, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore. The top lot is Léger’s 1914 painting *Composition (Nature Morte)*, estimated around $20 million, from his celebrated 'Contraste de formes' series. Other highlights include Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture *Reclining Woman: Elbow* (1981), estimated at $9–12 million, and Henri Matisse’s *Femme au chapeau fleuri* (1923), estimated around $10 million. The collection, built over 60 years, will be featured in Christie’s 20th century evening sale on November 17 and day sales on November 18.

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Spring 2025 auction results at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York showed a mixed market. Major lots like Alberto Giacometti’s *Grande tête mince* failed to sell, and Andy Warhol’s *Electric Chair* was withdrawn. However, top sales included Piet Mondrian’s *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* for $47.56 million, Claude Monet’s *Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule* for $42.96 million, and Mark Rothko’s *No. 4 (Two Dominants)* for $37.78 million. Works by Basquiat, Magritte, Picasso, and Richter also sold well.

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The Fondazione Prada in Milan is hosting “Typologien,” a survey of 20th-century German photography curated by Suzanne Pfeffer of Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK). The exhibition features works by Karl Blossfeldt, Lotte Jacobi, Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Sybille Bergmann, and Candida Höfer, among others, all arranged in dead-on, grid-like typologies. It highlights the formal rules and ethical underpinnings of German photographic traditions, including the influential legacy of Bernd and Hilla Becher and their students from the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

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Christie’s marquee auction on Monday night in New York generated $488.8 million in total sales, led by Piet Mondrian’s 1922 painting *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue*, which sold for $47.6 million—just shy of the artist’s $51 million auction record. The sale featured the Leonard & Louise Riggio collection, the largest single collection of the season, comprising 39 works estimated at $252–326 million; after one withdrawal and one unsold lot, the group achieved $271.9 million. Many high-profile lots, including works by Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, Barbara Hepworth, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol, sold on single bids to third-party guarantors, reflecting a cautious market.

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Marlene Dumas set a new auction record for the most expensive living female artist when her 1997 painting *Miss January* sold for $13.6 million at a Christie’s evening sale. The work, featuring a nude woman with a ghostly white face, was pre-sold with a third-party guarantee. Other women artists also broke personal records that night, including Simone Leigh (sculpture for $5.7 million) and Emma McIntyre (painting for $201,000). However, the top five priciest works of the week were all by men: Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, and Piet Mondrian, with Mondrian’s *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* selling for $47.6 million.

Cathalijn Wouters’s Lyrical Practice Blurs Painting and Drawing

Amsterdam-based artist Cathalijn Wouters has joined the roster of SmithDavidson Gallery. Her practice, which blends painting and drawing through fields of color and linework, is informed by her graphic design training and a pivotal encounter with modern art at the Stedelijk Museum. She describes her process as beginning with drawings and sketches on linen treated like paper, and cites influences ranging from Marcel Proust to Egon Schiele and postwar painting.

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Lady Pink, a pioneering graffiti artist, is creating the inaugural mural commission for MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York. The mural, set to be unveiled on June 26, 2025, features a surreal composition of a stone foot, a subway platform, and the Brooklyn skyline, paying homage to the lost 5Pointz graffiti site. Lady Pink, who began tagging subway cars in 1979 and was included in MoMA PS1's 1981 'New York/New Wave' exhibition, is working on-site with assistants, using both brushes and spray paint.

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The Musée d'Orsay in Paris is undertaking a full public restoration of Gustave Courbet's monumental painting "A Burial at Ornans" (1849–50), 175 years after its scandalous debut at the Paris Salon. The 20-foot canvas will be cleaned, its poorly applied varnish layers thinned, and structural issues addressed—including cracks, tears, and deformations caused by the coarse fabric and heavy impasto. The restoration will also reveal previously hidden border portions of the canvas folded in the late 1800s, potentially adding new details to the composition.

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.

Julie Mehretu Captures Our Contemporary Chaos in Shimmering Abstract Paintings

Julie Mehretu has established herself as a preeminent voice in contemporary abstraction by creating dense, multilayered canvases that synthesize architectural drawings, maps, and media imagery. Her work is characterized by a meticulous accumulation of marks that transform sociopolitical data and historical events into ethereal, gestural compositions. By layering information until it reaches a point of abstraction, she explores how individual and collective identities are shaped by the built environment and global shifts.

Never-Before-Seen Stanley Kubrick Photos Debut in New York

A collection of 18 previously unseen photographs by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick will make its public debut at the Photography Show in New York. Discovered by the Duncan Miller Gallery within a larger archive purchase, these images date back to 1945 when a teenage Kubrick worked as a staff photographer for Look magazine. The series captures candid, late-night scenes within the New York City subway system, utilizing a concealed shutter release to document commuters in their most natural states.