Millon has taken full control of Pierre Bergé & Associés, becoming its sole shareholder. The auction house, founded in 2002 and restructured two years ago by Alexandre Landre after judicial recovery, will now operate under Millon's financial, logistical, and commercial backing while retaining its Avenue Kléber address and operational team.
Millon reprend Pierre Bergé & Associés
The Millon Auction Group has acquired Pierre Bergé & Associés (PBA), becoming the sole shareholder of the historic house founded in 2002. This acquisition follows a turbulent period for PBA, which was placed in receivership in 2023 and briefly owned by Alexandre Landre after being embroiled in a high-profile antiquities trafficking scandal. Under the leadership of Alexandre Millon and newly appointed Managing Director Marc Chochon, the firm plans to return to Drouot and focus on prestigious collections and rare books.
Legendary auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen offers insights into interpreting auction data, such as price estimates and results, to navigate the current transitional art market. He advises buyers to think critically about value and scrutinize auction house-provided figures.
Elaine Holt has stepped down as Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia at Sotheby's after just one year in the role. Jasmine Prasetio, Managing Director of Sotheby's Southeast Asia, will temporarily assume leadership of the Modern and Contemporary Art department in Asia, relocating from Singapore to Hong Kong. Alex Branczik, Chairman and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art, Europe, will continue to oversee the Asia team remotely from London. Holt, a well-known figure in Asian modern and contemporary art, previously spent a decade at Christie's and held roles at Opera Gallery and Ravenel before joining Sotheby's in July 2024.
Virág Judit Gallery and Auction House will hold its 18th Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale on May 19, 2026, at the Budapest Music Center. The auction will feature a selection of works from the post-war and contemporary periods, with a public exhibition running from May 4 to May 18, 2026 (closed on May 17), daily from 10 am to 6 pm at the gallery.
According to the 2025 art market trends, Impressionist and Modern art generated $4.7 billion in auction sales, a 29.5% increase from 2024, overtaking Postwar and Contemporary art to become the year's largest auction segment. Meanwhile, Ultra-contemporary art continued its decline, and Old Masters gained ground, signaling a broader shift in collector behavior toward established, blue-chip works.
This article is a profile of Cara Zimmerman, who serves as the Head of Outsider Art at Christie's. It discusses her role, background, and the growing prominence of the Outsider Art category within the major auction house.
Farsettiarte has announced its upcoming online auction, Time Auction N.275, focusing on Modern and Contemporary Art and Prints. The sale is scheduled to conclude on April 18, 2026, following a bidding period that begins on March 25. Prospective buyers are advised that lots are available for viewing by appointment only at the Prato-based auction house, as no public exhibition will be held for this digital-first event.
Bukowskis Stockholm
Bukowskis in Stockholm has announced its upcoming live auction, 'Contemporary Art & Design 670 - day 1,' scheduled for April 21, 2026. The sale features a curated selection of works ranging from the mid-20th century to the present, showcasing both Swedish and international artists and designers across a diverse array of media and styles.
Tbilisi is set to host its first-ever international auction dedicated to Georgian modern and contemporary art. The event aims to showcase a diverse range of works from established masters to emerging local talents, providing a formal platform for Georgian artists to reach global collectors and investors.
The Kansong Art Museum in Seoul has launched a special exhibition titled "Cultural Defense of the Nation: The Spirit of Our People Preserved Through Faith," showcasing 46 significant artifacts reclaimed by collector Chun Hyung-pil during the Japanese colonial period. The centerpiece of the show is a rare 18th-century white porcelain bottle decorated with underglaze blue, iron-red, and copper-red, which Chun famously acquired at the Gyeongseong Art Club auction in 1936. He outbid a prominent Japanese dealer with a record-breaking bid of 14,580 won—a sum equivalent to the price of 15 houses at the time—to prevent the treasure from leaving Korea.
Capitolium Art has announced its upcoming "Modern & Contemporary Art - Selected" auction, scheduled to run from April 1st to April 15th, 2026. The sale, hosted in partnership with Artsy, features a curated selection of traditional modern and contemporary works subject to a 26% buyer’s premium plus an additional 5% platform fee for online bidders. The terms outline specific logistical requirements, including a 10-day payment and collection window and the application of Italian Artist’s Resale Right (Droit de Suite) fees.
Hong Kong's major auction houses—Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips—concluded their March sales series with strong results, demonstrating resilience in the Asian art market. The sales were characterized by a high sell-through rate, robust bidding, and a notable shift towards collecting driven by deep knowledge and passion rather than pure speculation.
The contemporary art market just concluded a high-stakes week of auctions in New York, totaling approximately $60 million in sales across various houses. While the figures indicate a stabilized market compared to the post-pandemic boom, the results were characterized by cautious bidding and a reliance on guaranteed lots to ensure success.
The article, published by Vogue Singapore, promotes a Sotheby's auction event focused on female artists from Southeast Asia and beyond. It highlights the opportunity to acquire works by these artists at their finest, suggesting a curated selection that emphasizes the region's artistic talent. The piece appears to be a promotional feature tied to a specific Sotheby's sale, likely timed to coincide with art market trends or a dedicated auction series.
Sotheby’s held a high-profile evening auction featuring major works of modern art, drawing significant attention from collectors and the art world. The event was characterized by record-breaking bids and a theatrical atmosphere, with several iconic pieces selling for tens of millions of dollars, underscoring the enduring appeal of blue-chip modern masters.
Phillips auction house will debut a new category called "Out of This World" within its Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 18 in New York, headlined by "Cera," a 66-million-year-old juvenile Triceratops skeleton. The specimen, excavated in 2016 from South Dakota's Hell Creek Formation, is the first full juvenile Triceratops ever discovered and the first Triceratops of any kind to appear at a U.S. auction in over a decade, with an estimate of up to $3.5 million. The sale also includes other natural-history rarities such as a large gold nugget and a fossilized marine reptile.
The article discusses the current state of the global art market, highlighting the phenomenon of 'fatigued buyers' and rapidly shifting trends. It provides an overview of market dynamics, noting that collectors are showing signs of exhaustion due to the fast pace of changing tastes and the overwhelming volume of art being produced and sold.
The article argues that AI's most transformative impact on the art market will not come from generating new artworks or NFTs, but from streamlining back-office operations like logistics, insurance, provenance checks, and shipping. It notes that only 3.4% of the $1.7 trillion in privately held art is traded annually, and that antiquated processes deter younger buyers. By automating these friction-heavy tasks, AI could unlock billions in liquidity, potentially raising the turnover rate to 4.4% and injecting over $17 billion into the ecosystem.
The article reports that the art market is experiencing a significant downturn, with sales in a deep slump. It highlights declining auction results and weakening demand across major sectors, reflecting broader economic pressures on the art world.
A new three-story glass gallery called Kodl Contemporary is set to open in Prague by the end of 2025. Located on Dvořákovo nábřeží near the Fairmont Golden Prague Hotel, the space was conceived by Jakub Kodl, the youngest member of the prominent Czech art collector family behind Galerie Kodl auction house. The glass cube design is intended to maximize natural light for displayed works, and the gallery aims to showcase contemporary Czech art to an international audience.