‘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.

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.

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 $1.1 Billion Night Signals a Stunning Rebound for the Art Market

Christie’s achieved $1.1 billion in sales during a single evening auction on Monday, marking a dramatic rebound from the previous year when the three major New York auction houses combined sold that amount over the entire May season. The sale featured trophy works from the collections of S.I. Newhouse and Agnes Gund, with Jackson Pollock’s *Number 7A (1948)* selling for $181.2 million and Mark Rothko’s *No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)* fetching $98.4 million. Despite the strong overall results, seven of the 16 works in the Newhouse sale hammered below their low estimates, and Constantin Brancusi’s *Danaïde* failed to reach its $100 million estimate, indicating price resistance even for top-tier art.

Christie's nets $1.1bn from back-to-back S.I. Newhouse and 20th century evening sales in New York

Christie's held back-to-back evening auctions in New York, featuring the esteemed S.I. Newhouse collection and a 20th-century evening sale, achieving a combined total of $950 million (or $1.1 billion with fees). The Newhouse sale was a white-glove affair, 100% sold, though entirely backed by third-party guarantees. Highlights included Constantin Brancusi's bronze 'Danaïde' (1913) selling for $107.5 million with fees, a record for the artist, and Pablo Picasso's 'Tête de femme (Fernande)' fetching $48.3 million. Other top lots included works by Piet Mondrian, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Jackson Pollock, with many going to anonymous telephone bidders.

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.

Rare ‘Ocean Dream’ Diamond Sells for Record $17.3 Million at Christie’s

A rare 5.5-carat blue-green diamond known as the 'Ocean Dream' sold for $17.3 million at Christie’s Geneva jewelry sale, setting a record for a fancy vivid blue-green diamond at auction. The sale far exceeded its presale estimate of $9 million to $13 million after a 20-minute bidding battle. In other auction news, Sotheby’s New York sold over $433 million worth of art in its contemporary art sales, including 11 pieces from the Robert Mnuchin collection. Meanwhile, London’s Wellcome Collection agreed to return around 2,000 sacred Jain manuscripts to the Jain religious community under a new restitution framework, acknowledging they were acquired unethically. Several art fairs were announced, including Zero 10 curated by Trevor Paglen at Art Basel in Switzerland, CAN Art Fair Ibiza’s fifth edition, and Art-o-rama’s 20th edition in Marseille. Notable gallery news includes the bankruptcy and closure of French gallery Air de Paris after 36 years, and Carine Karam becoming director of Opera Gallery’s New York outpost. Hong Kong’s M+ and Paris’s Centre Pompidou announced a multi-year strategic alliance, and New York’s Frick Collection entered a three-year partnership with Louis Vuitton.

France Passes Landmark Restitution Law for Looted Art

France has passed a landmark restitution law for looted art, marking a significant shift in the country's approach to addressing Nazi-era confiscations and colonial-era acquisitions. The legislation establishes a legal framework for returning artworks and cultural objects to their rightful owners or heirs, streamlining a process that previously required case-by-case parliamentary approval. This law is expected to accelerate the return of thousands of items held in French museums and public collections.

The Marcel Duchamps That Got Away: On Collecting His Work and the Sprawling MoMA Show

The article recounts the author's personal experience as a collector who passed up the opportunity to buy a complete set of Marcel Duchamp's readymades at a 2002 Phillips de Pury and Luxembourg auction. The set, editioned by dealer Arturo Schwartz in 1964, included iconic works like *Fountain* and *Bicycle Wheel*, but the sale was a financial failure, with many pieces bought-in or selling for far below expectations. The author later acquired some of the unsold works privately. The piece is framed around the concurrent Duchamp exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and Gagosian.

Artist Foundations’ Net Worth Has Nearly Tripled to $9 B., Led by Cy Twombly Foundation’s $1.5 B. in Art and Assets

New research from the Aspen Institute’s Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative (AEFI) reveals that artist-endowed foundations in the U.S. now control roughly $9 billion in assets, nearly triple the $3.5 billion reported in 2011 and up 17% from $7.7 billion in 2018. The Cy Twombly Foundation leads with $1.5 billion in art and assets, followed by foundations for Alexander Calder, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, and Robert Rauschenberg, each holding over $500 million. The data, drawn from public tax forms, shows that just five of roughly 500 foundations account for more than half the total, with most established by postwar American artists born before 1931.

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.

Go Time! Gagosian Christens New Madison Avenue Space With Duchamp Readymades

Larry Gagosian is set to inaugurate a newly overhauled ground-floor gallery at 980 Madison Avenue on April 25, marking a major expansion within his long-time New York headquarters. The debut exhibition features the iconic readymades of Marcel Duchamp, including a rare version of 'Bicycle Wheel' and 'Fountain.' This move follows a period of uncertainty for the dealer after Bloomberg Philanthropies acquired the building, prompting Gagosian to invest significant resources into securing and transforming the street-level space.

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.

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.

los angeles frieze art world jeffrey epstein tod lippy

Artist Tod Lippy is launching a mobile protest piece titled "All Of the Gang" during Frieze Los Angeles, featuring an LED truck that displays emails and documents linking prominent art world figures to Jeffrey Epstein. The project highlights correspondence and associations involving major industry names like Larry Gagosian, Leon Black, and David A. Ross, aiming to confront the public with the industry's perceived complicity and lack of accountability.

gagosian michael heizer

Michael Heizer has unveiled a major exhibition titled "Negative Sculpture" at Gagosian’s West 21st Street gallery in New York. The installation features two massive works, Convoluted Line A and Convoluted Line B, which consist of steel liners filled with crushed red granite embedded into a raised gallery floor. To achieve the artist's vision of negative space without excavating the building's foundation, the gallery undertook a complex two-year engineering project to elevate the entire floor surface, matching the specific concrete hue of Heizer’s Nevada studio.

5 cultural destinations that tell the story of los angeles

Los Angeles boasts a dense museum landscape that reflects the city's unique architectural history and commitment to contemporary art. This guide highlights five essential cultural destinations, including The Broad, which houses the expansive postwar collection of Eli and Edythe Broad within its innovative 'veil and vault' architecture, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, a UNESCO World Heritage site that pioneered California's indoor-outdoor living aesthetic.

frieze los angeles art world grief hope

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.

Somerset's Unlikely Contemporary Art Scene Is a Welcome Departure From the UK's London-Centric Thinking

somersets unlikely contemporary art scene is a welcome departure from the uks london centric thinking

Hauser & Wirth's Somerset gallery, established in 2014 in the rural town of Bruton, has transformed the local area into a significant contemporary art destination. The gallery complex, featuring exhibition spaces, a restaurant, meadow, and educational programs, has catalyzed gentrification and attracted other galleries, trendy hotels, and high-end amenities to a formerly unremarkable settlement.

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.

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.

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.

what is reference baiting art market

At Art Basel Miami Beach 2025, the art market showed a strong turn toward historical references, with galleries like Gagosian featuring Jeff Koons' antique-inspired sculptures and Takashi Murakami's reproductions of Cézanne and Van Gogh. The new Zero 10 sector, named after a 1915 Malevich exhibition, highlighted digital artists such as Beeple and Larva Labs. This trend reflects a broader "flight to quality" in an uncertain market, where collectors seek reassurance by associating emerging or overlooked artists with established historical names.

jeff koons porcelain series gagosian

Jeff Koons has returned to Gagosian in New York with his "Porcelain Series," on view through February 28, 2026, marking his first exhibition with the gallery after four years with Pace. The show features hyper-polished porcelain sculptures and paintings that reference historical European porcelain workshops such as Sèvres, Meissen, and KPM Berlin, as well as 16th-century prints. Koons discusses the high-low dialogue of porcelain, its ties to readymade objects and Duchamp, and his use of advanced scanning and fabrication techniques to transform humble figurines into luxury art.

stop making sense 2025 art market analysis

The article analyzes the chaotic and contradictory state of the global art market in 2025, a year marked by extreme volatility following President Donald Trump's return to office. Key events include strong sales at Frieze Los Angeles in February, a record $13.8 million sale of a painting by M.F. Husain at Christie's, and a sharp downturn after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on major trading partners. Major auctions in May fell far short of expectations, with only $837.5 million hammered against estimates of up to $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, Art Basel expanded with a new Qatar fair, but sales at Art Basel Switzerland dropped over 35% from 2024. The year also saw a wave of gallery closures, including the sunsetting of Blum & Poe.

5 rising artists defined 2025

Artnet News published a roundup of five rising artist profiles that defined 2025, highlighting interviews with Alexandra Metcalf and Chase Hall. Metcalf, a British-American artist, blends 1960s psychedelia, 2000s pop music, and Victorian literature in her multimedia works, and debuted at Art Basel with London's Ginny on Frederick. Chase Hall, a painter who uses hot coffee on cotton, explores race and fatherhood, with a solo exhibition "Momma's Baby, Daddy's Maybe" at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Vienna.