‘Money! Glamour! Yachts! But not for me!’ Adrian Searle relives 30 glorious years as our chief art critic

Adrian Searle, the outgoing chief art critic for The Guardian, reflects on his 30-year career by recounting a vivid, personal montage of the art he has witnessed. He describes unforgettable encounters with works ranging from Vermeer's intimate paintings to Fiona Banner's suspended jet fighter, Roger Hiorns's crystal-filled flat, and Emily Jacir's poignant project on Palestinian displacement, highlighting how these experiences blend memory, story, and direct observation into a critic's life.

Cecily Brown: ‘I was too shy to talk to all these super cool kids like Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst’

Cecily Brown is preparing for her first major museum exhibition in her native London at the Serpentine Gallery, titled 'Picture Making'. The show features new and old paintings, monotypes, and drawings inspired by Kensington Gardens, marking a significant return for the artist who left for New York in the 1990s. Despite her commercial success with Gagosian and inclusion in major museums, she expresses nervousness about the critical reception.

art basel miami beach 2025 changed fair map

Art Basel Miami Beach 2025 has introduced significant changes to its floor plan, including a shift in shared booth arrangements. In the Nova section for young galleries, only two galleries—Isabel Aninat and Espacio Valverde—are sharing a booth, while the main sector now features multiple pairings, such as Andrew Kreps with Anton Kern, March with Parker, and Galatea with Isla Flotante. The Positions sector for solo presentations has moved to a regular gallery booth area, replaced by the new Zero 10 initiative for digital art. The map reflects a reduced footprint for the main sector, possibly responding to a volatile market for contemporary art.

Marian Goodman’s Gerhard Richters Total $78.8 Million in $162.7 Million Christie’s Sale

Christie’s 21st-century evening sale in New York on Wednesday achieved $162.7 million, its highest total in the category since 2021. The sale featured eight works from the collection of the late dealer Marian Goodman by Gerhard Richter, which together sold for $78.8 million, nearly half the evening’s haul. Richter’s photorealistic candle painting *Kerze (Candle)* (1982) hammered at $30 million, below its $35 million low estimate, but still set a new auction record for the series. Other Richters performed strongly, with six of seven exceeding high estimates, including *Mohn (Poppy)* (1995) at $20.1 million. A modest Basquiat work on paper, *Asbestos*, sold for $6.54 million, and one lot by Ed Ruscha was bought in.

Phillips Modern & Contemporary Sale Nets $115.2 M., With Strong Results for Women Artists

Phillips’ modern and contemporary art evening sale on Tuesday achieved $115.2 million against a presale estimate of $84.2 million, its highest since 2022. All 40 lots sold, with standout results for works by living artists like Joseph Yaeger, whose painting fetched $477,300 against a $60,000 estimate, and Anna Weyant, whose work sold for $980,400. Works by 20th-century female artists including Lee Bontecou, Olga de Amaral, and Helen Frankenthaler also exceeded expectations, with Bontecou’s pastel setting a record for a two-dimensional work by the artist at $4.3 million.

Christie’s Double-Header Totals $1.1 B., With Several Trophy Works Notching New Records

Christie’s held two evening sales on Monday—the S.I. Newhouse collection and a 20th-century art sale—that together generated $1.1 billion across 64 lots. The Newhouse tranche alone made $630.8 million, bringing the cumulative total of the collection to over $1 billion, making it likely the most expensive collection ever sold at auction after Paul Allen’s $1.7 billion blockbuster. Top lots included Jackson Pollock’s *Number 7A, 1948* at $181.2 million (the fourth most expensive painting ever sold at auction), Constantin Brâncuși’s *Danaïde* at $107.6 million, and a Mark Rothko work at $98.4 million.

Remembering Pat Steir, one of the 20th century’s late-blooming great artists

Pat Steir, the acclaimed American painter known for her Waterfall series, died in Manhattan on 25 March at age 87. The article traces her career from early struggles as a freelance illustrator and art director, through her transformative encounter with Sol LeWitt in the early 1970s, to her eventual emergence as a major figure in contemporary painting. It highlights her teaching at CalArts and Parsons, her involvement with feminist and artist-run institutions like Heresies and Printed Matter, and the pivotal moment in the early 1980s when she cut up a reproduction of a Jan Brueghel the Elder flower painting into 64 panels, repainting each in a different historical style.

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.

Picasso Painting That Cost S. I. Newhouse a MoMA Board Position Heads to Christie’s for $55 M.

Christie’s New York will auction 16 masterpieces from the collection of late Condé Nast magnate S. I. Newhouse on May 18, with an estimated total of $450 million. The highlight is Pablo Picasso’s Cubist painting *Homme à la guitare* (1913), estimated at $35–55 million, which Newhouse acquired in 2000 for $10 million after MoMA sold it from its collection. Newhouse, then a MoMA board member, violated museum policy by buying the work and subsequently resigned from the board.

Georg Baselitz obituary

Georg Baselitz, the German painter and sculptor known for his provocative, expressionistic works and his iconic upside-down paintings, has died at the age of 88. The article traces his life from his childhood in war-torn Germany, through his early career as a rebellious artist in divided Berlin, to his rise as an international art star. It highlights his 1961 manifesto poster "Pandemonium I," his rejection of American abstraction, and his controversial 1963 exhibition that was raided by police for its explicit content.

Twombly Foundation to Exhibit Rare Rauschenberg Works at Gagosian

The Cy Twombly Foundation is presenting six rarely seen early works by Robert Rauschenberg at Gagosian's new Upper East Side gallery in New York. The exhibition includes a fragile 1950 assemblage of twigs and glass, a cyanotype made with his then-wife Susan Weil, a 'Black Painting' from around 1952, and a 1961 assemblage, offering a unique glimpse into a period of the artist's output that he largely destroyed.

Gagosian to Open New Upper East Side Gallery with a Duchamp Show, a Rarity in a Commercial Setting

Gagosian is set to inaugurate a new ground-floor gallery space at 980 Madison Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with a major exhibition of Marcel Duchamp opening April 25. The show features rare replicas of the artist’s most famous readymades, including the 1964 versions of 'Fountain' and 'Bicycle Wheel,' the latter of which is noted as the only version not currently held by a museum. The exhibition returns Duchamp to the same building where he showed with Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery in 1965 and coincides with a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.

Shoptalk: New Guggenheim Director Melissa Chiu on How She Got the Job

Melissa Chiu has been appointed as the new director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, transitioning from her long-standing leadership at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The appointment was the result of a confidential search led by Mariët Westermann, the Guggenheim’s overall director and CEO, who determined that the expanding global "constellation" of museums required a dedicated leader for the New York flagship. Chiu will officially assume the role in September, just ahead of the highly anticipated opening of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in 2025.

100 Masterpieces to See at the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has released a curated guide to 100 essential masterpieces within its massive one-million-square-foot campus. The selection spans global art history, ranging from ancient Egyptian mummies and Greek statues to iconic American sculptures like Edward Kemeys’s bronze lions and Narcissa Niblack Thorne’s intricate miniature rooms. The list is designed to help visitors navigate the museum's vast collection by grouping works by their physical location within the galleries.

More Than 300 Yayoi Kusama Works Take Over a German Museum

The Museum Ludwig in Cologne has launched a major retrospective of Yayoi Kusama's work to mark its 50th anniversary. The exhibition features over 300 pieces, including sculptures, paintings, and installations, and spans her entire career from a childhood drawing to a newly commissioned Infinity Room. It also debuts several works in a museum setting and spreads beyond the gallery walls to the museum's roof.

Blink and You’ll Miss It! 3 New York Shows With Painfully Short Runs

Blink and You’ll Miss It! 3 New York Shows With Painfully Short Runs

Three notable New York gallery exhibitions are operating on exceptionally short timelines, defying the current standard of month-long runs. These include "Ryan Foerster: Going Green" at Kerry Schuss Gallery, a presentation of Robert Mnuchin's collection at Mnuchin Gallery, and a show by the Japanese artist collective ME at Reena Spaulings Fine Art, each on view for only a matter of days.

paint drippings art industry news mar 9

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.

Louise Nevelson Sculpture at Long Island Synagogue for Sale

louise nevelson sculpture long island synagogue for sale

Temple Beth El, a synagogue in Great Neck, New York, has announced the sale of a monumental 55-foot-long Louise Nevelson sculpture titled "The White Flame of the Six Million." Commissioned in the 1960s as a Holocaust memorial and functional Torah ark, the white-painted wood installation has served as the centerpiece of the congregation's sanctuary for over 50 years. Due to dwindling membership and a decision to sell the synagogue property, the congregation is seeking a new home for the massive work.

victoria dugger freak flag

Artist Victoria Dugger has launched her third solo exhibition, "Freak Flags," at Sargent’s Daughters in New York. The show features six mixed-media works that reimagine the American flag through a maximalist, Southern Gothic lens, utilizing materials like gingham, glitter, nipple tassels, and barbed wire. Drawing inspiration from Jasper Johns’s iconic flag paintings, Dugger’s versions replace traditional colors with hot pinks and bright greens, with several displayed upside down to signal national distress.

richter christies london hong kong

Christie's will offer three major paintings by Gerhard Richter in its March evening sales in London and Hong Kong. The London sale on March 5 features the 1984 photo-painting 'Schober (Haybarn)', estimated at £6 million, and a 1991 'Abstraktes Bild' abstract work, estimated at £4.5-6.5 million. The Hong Kong sale on March 27 will offer a larger 1991 'Abstraktes Bild', estimated at HK$78-98 million ($10-13 million), coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong.

paint drippings art industry news feb 2 spanish dealers

A series of significant developments occurred across the global art industry this week. Expo Chicago announced a scaled-back edition under new director Kate Sierzputowski, while the Outsider Art Fair revealed its exhibitor list. A long-lost Renaissance portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola resurfaced at the Winter Show. Christie's will sell the collection of the late MoMA trustee Barbara Jakobson, featuring works by Jeff Koons and others. Bonhams made a key hire, and Sotheby's priced a major art-backed securitization. In gallery news, Alissa Friedman returned to Salon 94, Mary Cork joined Lehmann Maupin London, and several artists gained new representation, while New York's Francis Irv gallery announced its closure.

larry gagosian jasper johns interview

Larry Gagosian has opened a major exhibition of Jasper Johns's crosshatch paintings from 1973 to 1983 at his Upper East Side gallery in New York. In a forthcoming Gagosian Quarterly interview, Gagosian explains his motivation simply: he wanted to look at the works. The show features key pieces including all six versions of "Between the Clock and the Bed" (1981), borrowed from top-tier collectors and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Gallery of Art. Gagosian recounts first encountering the crosshatch paintings in 1976 at Leo Castelli's gallery, before he had met Johns, through his connections with Merce Cunningham and John Cage.

paint drippings art industry news jan 26

This week's art industry roundup covers major developments across auctions, galleries, and institutions. Christie's will auction René Magritte's 'Les grâces naturelles' (ca. 1961) as the star lot of its Art of the Surreal evening sale in London on March 5, with an estimate of £6.5–9.5 million. Zona Maco in Mexico City has announced 241 exhibitors for its 22nd edition, including a new section called Forma. The London Art Fair reported strong sales for British women abstract painters, while Vienna's Spark Art fair canceled its 2025 edition for a strategic pause until 2027. In gallery news, Amy Sherald signed with Creative Artists Agency, and several other artist-gallery representation changes were announced. The U.K. government pledged £1.5 billion to support cultural organizations from 2025 to 2030, and Tarek Atoui was named the next Turbine Hall commission artist at Tate Modern.

yu nishimura

Yu Nishimura, a Japanese painter born in 1982, is experiencing a rapid rise in the art world, marked by major gallery shows in New York and Paris in 2025, a record auction price of $711,200 for his work "thicket" (2020) at Sotheby's, and an upcoming institutional exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations Foundation in Paris in 2026. His paintings, which blend landscape, still life, and figuration with layered washes and melancholic tension, have attracted representation from David Zwirner, Sadie Coles HQ, and Galerie Crèvecoeur, with collectors and institutions increasingly drawn to his quiet, introspective style.

top lots david hockney

David Hockney's double portrait *Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy* (1968) sold for $44.34 million at Christie's New York on November 17, 2025, just shy of its $50 million high estimate. The sale ranks among the highest prices ever for the artist at auction. The article also reviews Hockney's top five auction results, including *The Splash* (1966), which fetched $29.92 million at Sotheby's London in 2020, and *Nichols Canyon* (1980), which sold for $41.07 million at Phillips New York in 2020. All five of Hockney's most expensive works have sold within the past seven years, reflecting sustained demand for his early and mid-career masterpieces.

the art world in 2025

Artnet News staff reflects on the most impactful stories of 2025, covering a wide range of topics from institutional shifts and devastating wildfires to market sensations and conceptual art. Key pieces include Ben Davis's analysis of the art world's 'post-woke' turn, Sarah Cascone's report on Los Angeles artists losing homes in the Eaton Fire, Katya Kazakina's tale of a David Hockney painting yielding a 7,000 percent return at Christie's, Andrew Russeth's coverage of Richard Prince's seven-hour deposition video, Kate Brown's profile of Friedrich Kunath, and Annie Armstrong's introduction of the 'red-chip' art market driven by hype and crypto.

what defined 2025 curators pick the years best art

Several international curators and museum directors, including Connie Butler of MoMA PS1, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Julieta Gonzalez of the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Madeleine Grynsztejn of MCA Chicago, selected artworks that they believe define 2025. Highlights include Ayoung Kim's video installation 'Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0º Receiver' (2024), Beeple's 'Regular Animals' premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach, and Kerry James Marshall's painting 'Haul' (2025) from his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts. Julieta Gonzalez also pointed to a broader constellation of practices emphasizing collectivity, ecological thinking, and Indigenous cosmologies rather than a single emblematic work.

2025 art obituaries

Artnet News has published its annual roundup of art world figures who died in 2025, honoring a diverse range of individuals including museum directors, painters, curators, philanthropists, and an archaeologist. Among those remembered are Julia Alexander, former director of the Yale Center for British Art; Sylvain Amic, recently appointed to lead the Musée d'Orsay; philanthropist Wallis Annenberg; abstract painters Timothy App and Jo Baer; curator Leonid Bazhanov; and Tony Bechara, painter and former director of El Museo del Barrio.

the worst art we saw in 2025

Artnet News editors and writers compiled a list of the worst art of 2025, calling out works they found lazy, cynical, overhyped, or ethically dubious. Highlights include Flora Yukhnovich's site-specific painting installation at the Frick Collection, which critics deemed middling and out of place among the museum's historic masterpieces; Jeff Koons's eight-foot-tall Hulk (Tubas) sculpture, sold for $3 million at Frieze New York and described as an obnoxious trophy piece; and actor Adrien Brody's interactive gum wall installation, which invited visitors to stick chewed gum onto a canvas.

best artworks 2025

Artnet News editors and journalists compiled their annual roundup of the best artworks seen in 2025, highlighting standout pieces from around the world. Among the featured works are Richard Serra's monumental steel sculpture "East-West/West-East" (2014) in the Qatari desert, Emma Ferrer's painting "You Will Return the Evil to Its Steppe (Homage to Josefa de Óbidos)" (2024) shown at New York's Sapar Contemporary, and Kerry James Marshall's "The White Queens of Africa: Colette" (2025) from his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Art. Each artwork is accompanied by a personal reflection from the journalist who encountered it.