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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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New York's spring auction season concluded with a dramatic five-day marathon across Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips, generating a combined $2.2 billion. Sotheby's led with $1.17 billion in total sales, fueled by Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914–16) from the estate of Leonard A. Lauder, which sold for $234.6 million—a single work accounting for 20% of Sotheby's total. Christie's followed with $962.6 million, and Phillips added $92.1 million. Notable highlights included Frida Kahlo's *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) achieving $54.7 million, a new record for the artist and the highest price for a female artist at auction in raw dollars, and a triceratops fossil named Cera selling for $5.4 million at Phillips.

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New York's November 2025 auction season is set to feature at least $1.67 billion in art across Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips, a 54% increase in estimates from the same period last year. The season is dominated by major estates, including Leonard Lauder's $400 million trove at Sotheby's with Klimt paintings and Matisse bronzes, Cindy Pritzker's collection featuring a Van Gogh, and anonymous Surrealist works. Christie's offers $736 million in low estimates from collections like Robert and Patricia Weis, Elaine Wynn, and Stefan Edlis. Phillips remains risk-averse, focusing on established names. The market shows a flight to quality, with emerging art reduced and delegated to day sales, while ultra-contemporary segments contract.

top 10 german art collectors

Artnet News has published a list of the top 10 German art collectors, coinciding with the opening of Art Cologne 2015. The list includes notable figures such as Frieder Burda, who opened his own museum in Baden-Baden; Nicolas Berggruen, the "homeless billionaire" who favors contemporary American and German artists; Christian and Karen Boros, who display their collection in a repurposed Berlin bunker; industrialist Reinhold Würth, whose collection spans from Renaissance to contemporary; former dealer Désiré Feuerle, known for his eclectic mix of Khmer sculpture and contemporary art; and Hasso Plattner, co-founder of SAP and a major collector of Impressionist and modern works.

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.

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David Hockney’s 1965 painting 'English Garden' is returning to the auction block at Sotheby’s London with an estimate of £2.5 million to £3.5 million ($3.4 million to $4.7 million). Painted while Hockney was teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the work is recognized as his first English landscape and has been held in a private collection for nearly thirty years. It was last sold at auction in 1997 for just £89,500.

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As the fall auction season returns to New York, Christie’s and Sotheby’s are preparing for evening sales amid an uneven art market. The article reveals key consignors behind major lots, including a Frida Kahlo painting from 1931, estimated at $6–8 million, owned by Miami-based Francisco and Fiorella Pérez Díaz, and three French Post-Impressionist works from the collection of the late Argentine patron Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier. The market context includes underwhelming results at Art Basel in Switzerland but strong attendance at Frieze London and Art Basel Paris, with collectors showing willingness to spend only on exceptional, well-priced works.

Art Industry News: November 1, 2021

art industry news nov 1

The global art landscape is undergoing significant shifts, from the cultural erasure facing Afghan artists under Taliban rule to a surge in grassroots restitution efforts led by organizations like the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign. Meanwhile, major institutional moves include the appointment of Julieta González as artistic director of Brazil’s Inhotim and the opening of the Nesr Art Foundation in Luanda, Angola, which aims to bolster the local contemporary art scene through residencies and private collection displays.

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A 51-page document released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files appears to catalog the extensive private art collection of billionaire collector and former MoMA board chair Leon Black. The document, which lists works by masters from Michelangelo to Picasso under corporate entities linked to Black, reveals valuations and details of a collection largely kept from public view, including works held as promised gifts to major museums like MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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A rare Jean-Antoine Watteau drawing, never before publicly exhibited, and a major Jean-Honoré Fragonard painting will be auctioned at Christie’s Paris on March 25. The works come from the collection of the late Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, a banker and absinthe magnate who assembled a world-class trove of 18th-century French art over 40 years. The Watteau, *Actor Holding a Guitar Under His Arm*, was previously known only from a black-and-white photograph in the artist’s catalogue raisonné and is estimated at €600,000–800,000. The Fragonard, *The Happy Family*, from the 1770s, carries an estimate of €1.5–2 million. The sale also includes works by Hubert Robert, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, and Marie-Suzanne Roslin, with total estimates reaching €5–8 million.

bing crosby collection sothebys auction

The private collection of Hollywood icons Kathryn and Bing Crosby sold at Sotheby's for $6.7 million on December 18. The white-glove auction, held at Sotheby's new Breuer Building location on Manhattan's Upper East Side, surpassed its pre-sale high estimate of $6.3 million, with two-thirds of the lots exceeding their high estimates. The nearly 200-lot sale featured fine art, furnishings, and collectibles, with the top lot being Alfred James Munnings' painting *On the Moors* (1914), which sold for $1.2 million. Other highlights included works by Charles Marion Russell, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Corot, as well as nearly 50 lots of Fabergé items that achieved $2 million in sales.

collectors reveal key advice part ii

Artnet News published part two of a two-part series featuring advice from 11 experienced collectors. Among them are comedian Cheech Marin, who began collecting Chicano art in the 1980s and opened the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture in Riverside, California in 2022, and Kiran Nadar, founder of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in India, who with her husband has amassed over 15,000 works. Marin emphasizes trusting instincts, building relationships with artists, seeing art in person, and warns about storage space becoming an addiction. Nadar advises staying open and curious, and not hesitating to explore the unfamiliar.

17 New Artist Auction Records Set in May 2026

New York's spring auction week, starting May 18, 2026, saw record-breaking sales led by Christie's, which realized over $1.1 billion across two opening night sales. Major estate consignments from Condé Nast owner S.I. Newhouse, MoMA trustee Agnes Gund, dealer Marian Goodman, and financier Robert Mnuchin fueled the market, resulting in 17 new artist auction records.

expo chicago sales vip day report

The thirteenth edition of Expo Chicago opened its VIP preview at Navy Pier with a streamlined floor plan and a focus on emerging talent. Despite a generally slow global art market, exhibitors reported strong early sales, including Nashville-based artist Annie Brito Hodgin’s debut outside her home state and Wenhui Hao’s near-sell-out presentation with Half Gallery. The fair’s decision to reduce the number of exhibitors from 170 to 130 was widely praised by dealers for improving the quality of presentations and making the event more navigable for collectors.

major native art collection plans upstate new york space

The Gochman Family Collection, a significant patron of Indigenous art, has announced plans to open two new exhibition spaces totaling 10,000 square feet in Katonah, New York. Scheduled to debut this fall, the venues will showcase selections from a rapidly growing collection of over 750 works by Native artists from the U.S. and Canada. To lead this expansion, the organization has appointed Laura Phipps, a former associate curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, as its inaugural director.

matisse acquavella spring 2026

Acquavella Galleries in New York will present a major exhibition, 'Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony,' from April 9 to May 22, 2026. The show assembles 50 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper spanning half a century, including the complete 'Back' series and significant loans from private collections and major museums.

raquelin mendieta ana mendieta estate administrator dead

Raquelín Mendieta, the longtime administrator of the estate of her sister, artist Ana Mendieta, died on October 24 in Miami at age 79 due to a long illness. Raquelín took charge of Ana's legacy after the artist's death in 1985, organizing a retrospective at the New Museum in 1987 and partnering with Galerie Lelong in 1991 to establish a market for Ana's work. Under her stewardship, Ana's art was acquired by major museums like the Whitney Museum and included in over 600 group shows and 55 solo exhibitions, including 16 museum retrospectives.

Matisse Is a Crowd-Pleaser. Here’s What the Crowds Rarely Get to See

Acquavella Galleries in Manhattan has unveiled a major exhibition featuring over 50 works by Henri Matisse, many of which are rarely seen pieces drawn from private collections. This comprehensive survey includes paintings, drawings, and sculptures that span the artist's prolific career, offering a unique glimpse into works that typically remain behind closed doors.

A Joan Mitchell diptych and a rare stack by Donald Judd: our pick of the May auctions

The Art Newspaper highlights five major lots from New York's May 2025 auctions. Phillips offers Joan Mitchell's diptych 'Plain' (1989), estimated at $5-7 million, from the collection of late Miami art patron Tina Hills. Christie's presents Donald Judd's rare copper and red Plexiglas 'Untitled (Stack)' (1969), estimated at $10-15 million, from the Minimalist collection of the late Henry S. McNeil Jr. Sotheby's leads with Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)' (1983), estimated above $45 million, and Mark Rothko's 'Brown and Blacks in Reds' (1957), estimated at $70-100 million from the collection of late dealer Robert Mnuchin.

dib bangkok opens critical turning point thai art scene

Dib Bangkok, Thailand's first international-standard contemporary art museum, opened on December 20 with a festive and dramatic inauguration in Bangkok. Founded by the late industrialist and art collector Petch Osathanugrah and completed by his son Purat "Chang" Osathanugrah, the museum debuted with the exhibition "(In)Visible Presence," curated by Ariana Chaivaranon and Dr. Miwako Tezuka, featuring 81 works by 40 artists from the museum's collection. The opening included a visceral performance by Marco Fusinato, where Chang struck a wall with a baseball bat to complete the artwork, symbolizing a "big bang" for Thailand's cultural landscape.

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A newly released document from the Department of Justice’s Jeffrey Epstein files has linked billionaire collector Leon Black to a $27.7 million inventory of Southeast Asian antiquities, some of which may be looted. The records indicate that Black acquired high-value Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnamese artifacts, including a $7 million bronze Shiva sculpture that matches the description of a piece handled by the late, indicted antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford. While Black’s representatives state he never dealt with Latchford directly and acquired the works through a reputable dealer, correspondence suggests Latchford was involved in facilitating sales to Black through intermediaries.

sothebys offers lost artemisia gentileschi masterpiece

A long-lost painting by the 17th-century Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, titled *Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy*, has been rediscovered and will be auctioned at Sotheby's in Paris on June 26. The work, previously known only from a single black-and-white photograph, was found in a private collection in the south of France and has not been publicly seen for 80 years.

tiffany birches irises sale christies

Christie's will auction a collection of Tiffany Studios glassworks on December 12 at its Rockefeller Center headquarters, led by works from the collection of literary agent Albert Zuckerman. The star lot is the landscape window "Birches and Irises" (estimate $400,000–$600,000), alongside a daffodil chandelier ($300,000–$500,000) and a tulip floor lamp ($100,000–$150,000). The sale also includes pieces from other private collections, such as a rare landscape floor lamp estimated at $500,000–$700,000.

Inside ‘Prince of Prints’ Jordan Schnitzer’s Sprawling Collection

Jordan Schnitzer, the Portland-based philanthropist often called the 'Prince of Prints,' recently provided a rare tour of his massive 50,000-square-foot art warehouse. The facility utilizes a sophisticated 'floating bin' logistics system, similar to those used by major retailers, to manage over 22,000 works, including extensive holdings by Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, and Richard Prince. Schnitzer’s foundation operates as a lending library, frequently shipping works to museums and hosting educational tours for students from districts where arts funding has been eliminated.

sfmoma fisher collection galleries reinstallation

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has announced a major reinstallation of its Fisher Collection galleries, titled “Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10,” opening April 18, 2026. The overhaul will feature 250 artworks by 35 modern and contemporary artists across 60,000 square feet of gallery space, organized by thematic and monographic floors. The project is led by curator Ted Mann and chief education officer Gamynne Guillotte. The Fisher Collection, a 100-year loan from the Fisher Art Foundation, includes blue-chip works by Alexander Calder, Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, and others, assembled by Gap Inc. founders Donald and Doris Fisher.

art basel paris vip preview sales report

Art Basel Paris opened its VIP preview on Wednesday, following a new invite-only preview called Avant Première on Tuesday. Major galleries reported strong sales, including Hauser & Wirth's $23 million Gerhard Richter abstract, the highest reported sale at the fair. Other notable sales included Julie Mehretu's $11.5 million painting at White Cube, a $4.7 million Bruce Nauman neon at Hauser & Wirth, and a $2.5 million Marlene Dumas painting at David Zwirner. Dealers noted that the staggered two-day opening helped spread out crowds and allowed collectors to return for the official VIP day, with many describing the fair as the most successful edition in Paris to date.

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V. Joy Simmons, a Los Angeles-based physician and longtime art collector, opened her Baldwin Hills home to ARTnews for a tour of her extensive collection. The house features over 150 objects, including stained-glass windows by Varnette Honeywood and Joyce Dudnick, a site-specific column installation by Lauren Halsey, and works by Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, and Carrie Mae Weems, among many others. Simmons began collecting in the 1970s with a $50 lithograph by Catlett and has since built a collection that spans generations of Black artists, often juxtaposing older and younger artists in her displays.