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.

frieze london preview 2025

The 23rd edition of Frieze London opens next Wednesday with its VIP preview in Regent's Park, featuring 168 galleries from 43 countries. The fair arrives amid a subdued art market, with dealers favoring conservative, recognizable works by established names rather than betting on younger artists. Notable presentations include Modern Art showing Sanya Kantarovsky's stoneware sculptures, Lehmann Maupin presenting Do Ho Suh's translucent installations, and Gagosian featuring Lauren Halsey's sculptural tribute to South Central Los Angeles. Hauser & Wirth highlights rising star George Rouy alongside other artists, while White Cube focuses on the natural world with works by Marguerite Humeau, Howardena Pindell, and Sara Flores.

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.

Frieze New York Kicks Off with Seven-Figure Sales and High Energy: ‘It’s a Fiesta’

Frieze New York kicked off its preview day at the Shed in Manhattan with strong sales and high energy, as many attendees arrived fresh from the Venice Biennale. Galleries reported brisk presales and early placements, with White Cube selling major works by El Anatsui and Antony Gormley for seven-figure sums, and other dealers like James Cohan Gallery nearly selling out their booths. Collectors, advisors, and celebrities including Anderson Cooper, Michael Stipe, and Leonardo DiCaprio were spotted, while the Brooklyn Museum made acquisitions through the new Sherman Family Foundation Acquisition Fund.

7 New Art Books to Step Into Spring

Artnet News has curated a selection of seven significant new art book releases for the spring season, highlighting diverse subjects from historical archives to contemporary memoirs. Featured titles include a deep dive into Frida Kahlo’s private sanctuary, 'Casa Roja,' authored by her descendants; a curatorial history of Hong Kong’s avant-garde art scene by Oscar Ho Hing-kay; and a vibrant exploration of color in contemporary art featuring works by Yayoi Kusama and Tomás Saraceno.

calvin tomkins dead marcel duchamp new yorker

Calvin Tomkins, the legendary New Yorker writer who chronicled the contemporary art world for over six decades, has died at the age of 100. Joining the magazine's staff in 1960, Tomkins became the preeminent profiler of his era, translating complex aesthetic shifts and avant-garde movements into accessible, witty, and insightful prose. His career-defining focus on art began unexpectedly in 1959 with a chance interview with Marcel Duchamp, sparking a lifelong fascination with the creative process.

art world los angeles report

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.

orchid dinner waterkeeper alliance

The New York art scene was bustling with events this week. The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Orchid Dinner at the Plaza Hotel, featuring elaborate floral designs and guests like Martha Stewart and Sigourney Weaver. Meanwhile, Sotheby's hosted the Art for Water benefit auction for the Waterkeeper Alliance, with works by Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha, and the New Museum celebrated the opening of a major Raymond Pettibon exhibition.

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.

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.

art trends 2026

Art critic Ben Davis reflects on the cultural landscape of early 2026, identifying a chaotic aesthetic defined by AI-generated imagery, esoteric Nazi dog whistles, internet trolling, and gaudy luxury, which he calls the "Chaotic Style." He also discusses the muted response to the 2025 Fall of Freedom initiative, the ongoing credibility crisis of liberal institutions over Gaza, and the need for serious AI criticism that moves beyond dismissing it as "slop."

fog design and art fair 2024

The FOG Design and Art Fair celebrated its 10th anniversary with a buoyant 2024 edition at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, opening January 18. The fair saw brisk sales, including a Jim Hodges canvas sold for $115,000 at Gladstone Gallery and multiple works by Anicka Yi, Yayoi Kusama, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner. Tina Kim Gallery sold works by South Korean artists Kim Tschang-Yeul and Ha Chong-Hyun, as well as two Pacita Abad pieces, with one fetching $200,000 to $250,000. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) acquired several works for its permanent collection via the FOG Forum Fund, including pieces by Maria Pergay, Duyi Han, and Katie Stout.

8 artists poised to break out in 2026

Artnet News asked four curators and four art advisors from around the world to each select one artist they believe is poised to break out in 2026. The article profiles the first two of eight artists: Indonesian artist Bagus Pandega, known for kinetic plant-based installations, who has had solo shows at Kunsthalle Basel and Swiss Institute New York; and Max Hooper Schneider, a Los Angeles-based artist creating aquarium-like works blending organic and artificial materials, recently exhibited at 125 Newbury gallery in New York.

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.

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.

centennial market analysis joan mitchell

A centennial market analysis of Joan Mitchell reveals that an untitled 1979 abstract work by the artist was the most expensive artwork on offer at Art Basel Miami Beach, priced at $18.5 million by Gray gallery. The article examines Mitchell's auction performance, noting that her record stands at $29.2 million set in 2023, and that three paintings have sold for over $20 million since then. Despite these strong results, her auction highs still trail behind male Abstract Expressionist contemporaries like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

here are 6 of the worst art works we saw all year

Artnet News published a year-end roundup of the worst artworks of 2023, as selected by its writers and editors. The list includes Meta's AI-art chatbot experiments on Instagram, which cloned celebrity likenesses into cringe-worthy avatars like Snoop Dogg's 'The Dungeon Master' and Kendall Jenner's 'Billie,' alongside Refik Anadol's 'Unsupervised' at MoMA, criticized as shallow tech spectacle. Other entries include a poorly received Picasso-themed exhibition and additional works deemed ill-conceived or badly executed.

affordable art fair bargains

The Affordable Art Fair opened its latest New York edition on March 30 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, featuring 72 galleries from six continents. The fair, now in its 15th year in New York, offers artwork priced between $100 and $10,000, with at least half of each booth's inventory under $5,000. Highlights include Lucy Sparrow's felt grocery items for $100, Orson Kartt's mixed media prints for $250, and Yann Guitton's oversized $20 bill artwork. The fair also offers themed tours such as “Female Voices” and “Finds Under $500.”

want one of bob thompsons enigmatic paintings the best time to buy was yesterday

Artnet News reports on the rising market for African American painter Bob Thompson, who died at 28 in 1966 but produced thousands of works in a five-year span. His vibrant, narrative paintings—inspired by Old Masters, Greek mythology, and Modernism—have long influenced artists and curators, yet only recently commanded high auction prices. In 2024, all 16 lots offered sold, totaling $4 million, with a record $1.26 million for *Music Lesson* (1962) at Christie’s. The article traces his career from Louisville to Europe, his estate history with dealer Michael Rosenfeld, and current interest from collectors and institutions like the Whitney Museum and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

frieze new york 2025 preview

Frieze New York 2025 is set to take place at the Shed in Manhattan, bringing together over 65 contemporary art galleries from more than 25 countries. The fair coincides with major institutional shows at the Guggenheim, Whitney Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the recent reopening of the Frick Collection after a $220 million renovation. Notable galleries include Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, and David Zwirner, alongside international dealers like Goodman Gallery and Kurimanzutto. The Focus section, curated by Lumi Tan, features 12 young galleries. On the eve of the fair, Frieze itself was sold by Endeavor to former CEO Ari Emanuel for a reported $200 million.

yves klein painting sells for 21 4 m at christies paris

A 14-foot-wide Yves Klein painting, *California (IKB 71)*, sold at Christie’s Paris for €18.4 million ($21.4 million), setting a new auction record for the artist in France. The work, the largest format Klein made in his signature International Klein Blue, was the cover lot of the house’s *Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian* sale and had been in the same New York collection since 2005. Christie’s recently uncovered that the painting stopped in New York en route from Paris to California, where it appeared in a show with dealer Leo Castelli.

one takeaway from art basel it remains a buyers market

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.

week in art holiday party edition

This article from Artnet News recaps a series of holiday parties and galas in the New York art world during December 2016. Highlights include the New York Botanical Garden's 18th Annual Winter Wonderland Ball, attended by Anne Hathaway, Tinsley Mortimer, and Andrew Warren; artnet's own holiday party featuring the Bumbys and a magician; ACRIA's 21st Annual Holiday Dinner honoring the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and actress Judith Light; and Project for Empty Space's Winter Bacchanal Benefit, which presented the first Badass Art Woman Awards to curators Rujeko Hockley, Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, and Deana Haggag.

3 million jeff koons hulk sells on buoyant first day at frieze new york

At the VIP opening of Frieze New York on Wednesday, dealers reported strong sales despite economic uncertainty from Trump administration policies and trade war threats. The fair, recently sold to Hollywood powerhouse Ari Emanuel, returned to the Shed in Hudson Yards with 67 exhibitors. Gagosian Gallery generated the most buzz, selling one of three Jeff Koons Incredible Hulk sculptures—polychromed steel works priced around $3 million each—and placing a hold on another. Other notable sales included works by Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Tomie Ohtake, Sheila Hicks, Liza Lou, and Gertrude Abercrombie, with galleries like James Cohan, Galeria Nara Roesler, Thaddaeus Ropac, Karma, and Hauser & Wirth reporting brisk business.

consignors revealed new york auctions may 2025

The article reports on the upcoming May 2025 marquee auctions in New York at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, which carry a combined low estimate of about $1.2 billion—similar to last year. However, the market faces headwinds from U.S. trade wars, stock market volatility, high interest rates, and ongoing global conflicts. Major consignors include estates (Len Riggio, Anne Bass), living patrons (Tiqui Atencio, Norman Braman), dealers (Daniella Luxembourg, Barbara Gladstone, Enrico Navara), and institutions (SFMOMA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Phillips Collection). Notable lots include Sheldon Solow’s $70 million Alberto Giacometti at Sotheby’s and Riggio’s $50 million Mondrian at Christie’s. Collector Peter M. Brant is revealed as the seller of Basquiat’s Baby Boom (1982) and a John Currin painting at Christie’s.

Marian Goodman’s Prized $65 Million Collection Lands at Christie’s

Christie’s has announced the sale of the private collection of the late legendary art dealer Marian Goodman, who passed away in January at age 97. Estimated to bring in approximately $65 million, the collection is headlined by a group of significant works by Gerhard Richter, an artist Goodman championed for four decades. The centerpiece of the auction is Richter’s 1982 painting "Kerze (Candle)," which carries a high estimate of $50 million and will lead a series of dedicated sales in New York this May.

Mother Exhibition Palazzo Reale Milan

mother exhibition palazzo reale milan

Milan’s Palazzo Reale has launched "The Great Mother," a massive exhibition exploring the evolution of motherhood and female power throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Curated by Massimiliano Gioni and produced by the Nicola Trussardi Foundation, the show features over 400 works by 127 international artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, and Rineke Dijkstra. The exhibition spans 29 halls, juxtaposing avant-garde historical works with contemporary installations to examine how gender roles and the maternal image have been constructed, challenged, and reclaimed.

Gerhard Richter Supports New Admission Fee for Cologne Cathedral

gerhard richter cologne cathedral admission fee

Cologne Cathedral, Germany’s most-visited landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage site, has announced it will begin charging tourists an admission fee starting this fall. The decision comes as the institution faces rising operating costs and depleted financial reserves following the pandemic, despite its recent surge in popularity on platforms like TikTok.

roberts projects esmaa mohamoud cristin tierney debbi kenote

The art world saw significant roster changes and leadership appointments this week, including Roberts Projects announcing representation of Esmaa Mohamoud and Cristin Tierney adding Debbi Kenote. Notable institutional moves include Charles Chemin being named Artistic Director of the Watermill Center and Julia Siemon stepping into a newly created Deputy Director role at the Bard Graduate Center. Additionally, the mid-season auction market showed unexpected strength, highlighted by Jeff Koons’s 'Winter Bears' selling for $7.6 million at Christie’s.