christies 21st century evening sale totals november 2025 1234762509

Christie's 21st-century evening sale on Wednesday, November 2025, achieved a hammer total of $99.7 million on 44 lots, within the pre-sale estimate of $87.5–$127 million. With fees, the final total reached $123.6 million. The sale opened with 18 lots from the collection of Chicago philanthropists Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson, featuring works by Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and Diego Giacometti. A Giacometti coffee table sparked a seven-minute bidding war, selling for $4.53 million. Three artist records were set: Firelei Báez ($1.1 million), Olga de Amaral ($3.1 million), and Joan Brown ($596,500). Only one work, by Cecily Brown, failed to sell.

christies 21st century evening sale women artists records 1234762523

Christie’s 21st-century evening sale on Wednesday set new auction records for women artists Firelei Báez, Joan Brown, and Olga de Amaral. Báez’s painting *Untitled (Colonization in America, Visual History Wall Map, Prepared by Civic Education Service)* (2021) sold for $1,111,250; Brown’s *After the Alcatraz Swim #2* achieved $596,900; and Amaral’s *Pueblo H* (2011) soared to $3,125,000—more than double her previous record. The sale also set records for a neon/sculptural work by Glenn Ligon and a three-dimensional work by Richard Prince.

timothee chalamet michael heizer city vogue 1234760574

Actor Timothée Chalamet visited Michael Heizer's monumental Land art installation *City* in the Nevada desert for a profile in *Vogue*. The article, tied to Chalamet's upcoming film *Marty Supreme*, includes his brief remarks on the artwork and photographer Annie Leibovitz, who shot his portraits at the site. The piece also quotes art critic Kristen Swenson's reflections on the sensory experience of *City*, which opened in 2022 after decades of construction.

mfa bostons historic restitution five new louvre arrests made and more morning links for october 30 2025 1234759428

Five additional suspects have been arrested in connection with the October 19 Louvre heist, in which thieves stole jewels worth €88 million ($102 million) from the museum in broad daylight. The arrests occurred in the Paris region, with one main suspect among them; three of the four-man team are now in custody, while one remains at large. Separately, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has agreed to return two ceramic works by enslaved potter David Drake to his descendants, marking the first time the museum has restituted art taken under slavery in the 19th century United States. One vessel will remain on loan to the MFA, while the other, Drake's Poem Jar, has been repurchased by the museum with a "certificate of ethical ownership."

louvre admits stolen jewels are not insured art basel ubs collecting report shows growing influence of women and gen z and more morning links for october 23 2025 1234758550

The Louvre has admitted that jewels stolen from its collection in a daylight smash-and-grab robbery on Sunday are not privately insured, leaving the French state liable for the full $102 million loss if the items are not recovered. The heist targeted jewels once owned by Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, and a leaked audit revealed the museum's security systems were "outdated and inadequate." French officials have struggled to track the thieves, and the culture ministry confirmed that the state acts as its own insurer for works in their usual place of conservation, meaning no reimbursement will be made if the jewels remain missing.

amy sherald talks canceled smithsonian show 60 minutes 1234757994

Painter Amy Sherald has revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview with Anderson Cooper that she pulled out of her solo exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery because the museum considered removing her painting of a Black transgender Statue of Liberty, titled "Trans Forming Liberty." Sherald stated that the Smithsonian secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch III, proposed replacing the painting with a video discussing trans issues that would include anti-trans views, which she deemed unacceptable censorship. The exhibition, "American Sublime," was originally organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and last shown at the Whitney Museum; it is now expected to open at the Baltimore Museum of Art on November 2.

hauser amp wirths uk profits drop 1234755773

Hauser & Wirth's UK subsidiary reported an 87% decline in pretax profit for 2024, falling to $1.6 million from $12.5 million the previous year, as revenue dropped by more than half to $91.4 million. The gallery attributed the downturn to a sharp fall in secondary-market sales, which can fluctuate significantly based on a few high-value transactions. The UK entity represents only a small portion of the gallery's global business, which the founders said remained aligned with the prior year's successful performance. Separately, the gallery's hospitality arm, Artfarm Group, posted a wider pretax loss of $24 million despite a 16% rise in turnover.

british museum ball international partnerships 1234755018

The British Museum in London has announced a new fundraising event called the British Museum Ball, scheduled for October 18, with a pink theme inspired by the colors and light of India, tied to its exhibition 'Ancient India: Living Traditions.' The gala will be co-chaired by Isha Ambani, a patron of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, and will feature a silent auction, music by Anoushka Shankar and Jules Buckley, and a guest list including Zadie Smith, Naomi Campbell, Idris Elba, Miuccia Prada, and others. Proceeds will support the museum's international partnerships and its goal of making its collection more accessible worldwide.

picasso museum paris expansion sculpture park plan 1234754431

The Musée Picasso-Paris has announced a €50 million ($59 million) transformation plan, including a new wing for temporary exhibitions and a redesigned garden that will connect with the nearby Square Léonor-Fini. The project, scheduled for construction from 2028 to 2030, will double the museum's temporary exhibition space to 8,600 square feet and create a 25,000-square-foot sculpture park featuring around 10 Picasso sculptures, free to the public without a museum ticket. The museum plans to remain open during construction, which will be funded through patronage raised by a foundation hosted by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, with a significant donation from the Picasso family.

art market open door policy jeff magid 1234753579

Jeff Magid, a New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City–based art collector, plans to open Cuernavaca Tres, a public art foundation in Mexico City, in 2026. In an opinion piece for ARTnews, he argues that the current downturn in the art market—marked by declining sales and gallery closures—is not due to economic cycles or financialization, but rather a simple mismatch: there are more galleries, auctions, fairs, and artists than ever, while the number of buyers has not kept pace. Magid criticizes the luxury retail model adopted by many galleries, which prioritizes exclusivity and status signaling, and contends that this approach fails to attract enough new collectors to sustain the market.

tim blum unplugs from the gallery machine 1234746678

Tim Blum, co-founder of the influential Blum & Poe gallery, is stepping away from the traditional gallery model after more than 30 years. He told ARTnews that the decision was driven by burnout with the relentless cycle of art fairs, openings, and obligations, not by financial strain. His Tokyo and Los Angeles locations will close after summer exhibitions, and a planned New York space may not open as a conventional gallery. Blum will instead pursue a more flexible model involving special projects and collaborations, while continuing to buy and sell art personally.

art basel 2025 blue chip galleries sales trend 1234746767

ARTnews analyzed publicly reported sales from five blue-chip galleries—Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube, and David Zwirner—at Art Basel 2025, finding a combined total over 35% lower than in 2024, around 8% below 2023, and just over 20% down from 2022. The high-water mark was $204 million in 2024, boosted by eight-figure works from Hauser & Wirth. Meanwhile, the number of artists sold by these galleries rose steadily from 109 in 2022 to 157 in 2025, indicating a shift toward broader, less concentrated inventory. Dealers reported mixed sentiments, though seven-figure deals still occurred, and some noted that market uncertainty has led to more scattershot presentations with wider price ranges.

bob rennie donation national gallery art canada morning links 1234745311

Vancouver-based art collector Bob Rennie has donated 61 artworks valued at C$22.8 million ($16.8 million) to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The donation includes works by Ai Weiwei, Mona Hatoum, Dan Graham, and Rodney Graham, and the museum has named a space after the Rennie family, with plans for at least one more. In other news, the Orange County Museum of Art is exploring a merger with the University of California, Irvine, and its director Heidi Zickerman will step down in December. Critics are blasting a digital projection of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Wrapped Reichstag onto the German parliament, calling it an 'aesthetic outrage.' Additionally, Iván Argote's pigeon sculpture Dinosaur on the High Line Plinth inspired a Pigeon Fest in New York, and rare copies of Lincoln's 13th Amendment and Emancipation Proclamation are heading to auction at Sotheby's.

rijksmuseum condom erotic print 1234744150

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has announced that a rare condom dating from 1830 will go on display in its print room as part of an exhibition on 19th-century sex work and sexuality. The nearly 200-year-old condom, likely made from a sheep's appendix and featuring an erotic image of a nun and three clergymen with the inscription "Voilà mon choix" ("This is my choice"), is one of only two such surviving objects and was purchased by the museum at auction six months ago.

david hammons artist book hauser wirth 1234743679

David Hammons has released a "post-exhibition catalogue" through Hauser & Wirth Publishers, six years after his 2019 survey at the gallery's Downtown Los Angeles location. The 12-by-12-inch, nearly 7-pound volume contains hundreds of images—installation shots, artwork reproductions, and ephemera—but no text whatsoever: no table of contents, essays, titles, dates, or page numbers. The book functions more as an artist's book than a traditional exhibition catalog, presenting Hammons's work in a raw, unapologetic sequence that resists scholarly interpretation.

leonard blavatnik james dyson idan ofer rich list uk 2025 1234742626

The Sunday Times's 2025 'Rich List' shows that Top 200 collector and art patron Leonard Blavatnik's net worth fell by more than £3.5 billion to £25.725 billion, dropping him to #3 on the UK wealth ranking. The list includes over a dozen collectors from ARTnews's 2024 Top 200 Collectors list, such as James Dyson, Idan Ofer, Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, Alan Howard, and Mohammed Mahdi al-Tajir, with Ofer noted as one of the top five individuals whose wealth rose most. Other figures mentioned include Simon Reuben, John Fredriksen, Sri Prakash Lohia, Lakshmi Mittal, Elton John, and former Christie's stakeholder Joe Lewis.

moma curator jodi hoptman hilma af klint botanical drawings 1234741702

MoMA has acquired a rare portfolio of 46 botanical drawings by Hilma af Klint, created between 1919 and 1920, and will present them in an exhibition titled “What Stands Behind the Flowers” from May 11 to September 27. Curator Jodi Hauptman discusses how the drawings reveal af Klint’s dual approach—traditional figuration alongside abstract diagrams—and her deep engagement with the natural world, including newly discovered evidence that she worked as a professional scientific illustrator for a mushroom specialist.

national gallery sainsburg wing reopening gabriele finaldi 1234741454

London's National Gallery has reopened its Sainsbury Wing after a three-year, $113 million renovation, timed to the museum's 200th anniversary. Director Gabriele Finaldi, who was knighted this year, oversaw the project, which was designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf and faced criticism from original architect Denise Scott Brown. The revamped wing features a light-filled foyer, 17 galleries with no prescribed route, and a rehang titled “The Wonder of Art.” The museum also acquired a mysterious painting by an unknown artist, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels (1500–10), for $20 million through Sotheby's.

Arthur Jafa: ‘America has always been a demonic state. And we love it’

The article covers the exhibition "Helter Skelter: Richard Prince and Arthur Jafa" at the Prada Foundation’s Ca’ Corner della Regina in Venice, curated by Nancy Spector. It brings together over 50 works by Prince and Jafa in a call-and-response format, exploring themes of appropriation, race, violence, and American identity. The show pairs Prince’s iconic rephotographed images and Jafa’s video work "Love Is The Message, The Message is Death" (2016) with new and existing pieces, including Jafa’s "Big Wheel II" and Prince’s "Blasting Mats."

Van Gogh Museum in funding mediation with Dutch government following threats of closure

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has entered mediation with the Dutch government after initiating legal proceedings to secure additional public funding for a major renovation. The museum, which plans a three-year, €104m renovation starting in 2028, claims it could be forced to close unless its annual subsidy increases by €2.5m. The Dutch government, facing a budget deficit, considers the current €8.5m subsidy sufficient and argues the museum should contribute more itself. Mediation talks are making progress, and legal proceedings have been postponed indefinitely, with both sides aiming to conclude before summer.

What is a botanical curator? Rahel Kesselring takes on inaugural role at Fondation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland has appointed Rahel Kesselring as its inaugural botanical curator, a newly created position supported by the Chanel Culture Fund. Kesselring, a former research associate at Humboldt University, will develop a hybrid curatorial programme focused on the museum's park and surrounding ecosystems, aiming to integrate botanical knowledge with artistic practice on a practical, material level.

New catalogues reveal Royal Collection's vast sculpture holdings—and Queen Victoria's acquisition spree

A new four-volume catalogue, authored by former royal surveyor Jonathan Marsden, documents approximately 1,800 sculptures in the Royal Collection. The publication reveals the unsystematic nature of the collection's growth, driven by royal tastes and historical opportunities, and highlights significant discoveries like a previously unknown bronze satyr by Benvenuto Cellini.

‘A fresh look at contemporary culture’: Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East, takes us inside the new London museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is expanding its footprint with the opening of V&A East Museum in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on April 18. Led by Director Gus Casely-Hayford, the new five-story institution joins the recently opened V&A East Storehouse as part of the East Bank cultural quarter. The museum will debut with the "Why We Make" galleries, featuring over 500 objects and new commissions by artists such as Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems, and Thomas J. Price, whose 18-foot bronze sculpture anchors the museum's entrance.

Philadelphia art museums celebrate America's 250th anniversary with blockbuster two-venue show

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have announced a massive collaborative exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists" to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Featuring over 1,000 works, the show spans from colonial-era masterpieces like Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of George Washington to contemporary Indigenous art and modern portraiture by Barkley L. Hendricks. The exhibition will also debut 120 works from the Middleton Family Collection, including significant Hudson River School and American Impressionist pieces.

The story of London's Great Exhibition, as seen through the eyes of artists

Julius Bryant’s new book, the fourth volume in his history of the Victoria and Albert Museum, re-examines the 1851 Great Exhibition through its visual legacy. By analyzing paintings, prints, and ephemera—including the vast archive of Charles Wentworth Dilke—Bryant reconstructs the 'Crystal Palace' experience, highlighting the youth of its organizers and the staggering speed of its construction. The narrative shifts focus away from traditional social theory toward the actual visual evidence of the event, from David Roberts’s massive panoramic paintings to the 235 sculptures that defined the era's artistic output.

From technology to Gen Z collectors, Adrian Cheng shares the key trends in Hong Kong’s art scene

Adrian Cheng, a key figure in Hong Kong's art world, identifies major trends shaping the city's art scene ahead of Art Basel Hong Kong. He highlights the convergence of major art fairs, auction house sales, and new gallery openings during the 'Art March' period, drawing a global audience with high-profile exhibitions by international artists like Mary Weatherford, Nicole Eisenman, and El Anatsui.

joshua johnson 2745691

Joshua Johnson, born into slavery in Maryland around 1763, emerged in the late 18th century as the first documented Black professional artist in the United States. After gaining his freedom in 1782, Johnson established himself in Baltimore as a self-taught portraitist, advertising his services in local newspapers and catering to the city's prominent families. His body of work, consisting of approximately 83 attributed paintings, is characterized by a distinct flatness and three-quarter profile compositions typical of early American folk art.

An Intimate Portrait of Basquiat’s Early Life Returns to Brooklyn

The exhibition “Our Friend, Jean” returns to Brooklyn this May at The Bishop Gallery, coinciding with Frieze Week. The show features twenty artworks alongside personal ephemera and photographs from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s formative years between 1979 and 1980, primarily sourced from the collection of his former roommate Alexis Adler. This iteration includes previously unseen items from Adler’s trove, such as hand-painted garments and postcards, and will be activated by panels featuring Basquiat’s early collaborators.

How Caravaggio’s Dark Masterpieces Mirror the Crimes in Netflix’s Ripley

as seen on ripley netflix caravaggio 2466041

The Netflix series Ripley, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, utilizes the works of Caravaggio as a central narrative and aesthetic device. The show follows Tom Ripley, a grifter who travels to Italy and eventually adopts the identity of a wealthy acquaintance after committing murder. Throughout the series, Ripley encounters several of Caravaggio's masterpieces, including The Seven Acts of Mercy and David with the Head of Goliath, which serve as dark mirrors to his own descent into violence.

The Prints Market Is Having a Moment—Driven by New Collectors and a Taste for the Historic

The prints and multiples market is experiencing a significant transformation, driven by an influx of new collectors and a shift in taste toward historically significant works. Artnet Auctions data shows that 50% of prints and multiples lots sold between 2020 and 2025 went to first-time buyers on their platform. This surge in demand is coinciding with major events like the IFPDA Print Fair and Artnet's own Premier Prints and Multiples sale, which features works from modern masters like Frank Stella and Jeff Koons.