Still in 'war mode': Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art reopens with exhibitions about conflict

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) has reopened with a weekly rotating post-ceasefire program called 'Art and War,' following weeks of bombardment that forced its closure and prompted emergency efforts to protect its collection. The program began with works by American Pop artists James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana, and this week features three works from Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman series, focusing on Spain. Museum director Reza Dabirinezhad described the challenges of safeguarding the collection during US-Israeli strikes, including removing 80% of the oil from Noriyuki Haraguchi's installation 'Matter and Mind' (1977) to prevent fire risk, and protecting outdoor sculptures by Henry Moore, René Magritte, and Max Bill.

Private Sales Are Surging as Auction Houses Lean into Exclusive, Experience-Led Selling

Sotheby's and Christie's are increasingly turning to private, invitation-only sales to move high-value artworks, bypassing the traditional auction model. Sotheby's recent "The Apartment" exhibition in London, featuring works by David Hockney, George Condo, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold half its $40 million inventory before the public even saw it. Christie's reported that its three most expensive paintings sold in 2025 were all private transactions, with the house trading $1.5 billion privately last year—nearly a quarter of its global sales.

christies anime manga new york sale

Christie’s is launching its first New York auction dedicated to Japanese anime and manga, titled "Anime Starts Here: Japanese Subculture Reimagines Tradition." Scheduled for March 18–31 during Asian Art Week, the online sale features over 40 lots including original production cels from Hayao Miyazaki’s films, manga drawings by Tezuka Osamu, vintage Godzilla posters, and Hokusai prints. Most items are priced accessibly, with many estimates falling below $3,000.

ken griffin basquiat stephen friedman gallery

London's Stephen Friedman Gallery is facing serious financial difficulties, with its 2024 financial reports overdue and its 2023 accounts revealing a loss of £1.7 million. The gallery, which recently expanded with a large new London space and a New York outpost, is reliant on external financing and negotiations with creditors to continue operating, casting significant doubt on its future viability.

london courtauld new contemporary art galleries blavatnik

London’s Courtauld Gallery will open two new contemporary art galleries at its Somerset House campus, funded by a £10 million ($13.8 million) gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The top-floor spaces, originally built as a display area for the Royal Society in the 18th century, are expected to debut in 2029. The donation brings the foundation’s total support for the Courtauld to £20 million ($27.5 million), following earlier backing for the museum’s 2021 renovation. The new galleries will be programmed in part by students in the Courtauld’s curating master’s program and will host exhibitions connecting historical and contemporary art.

kenny schachter 2026 predictions van gogh private sale

Kenny Schachter offers his predictions for the art world in 2026, set against a backdrop of political chaos and rapid AI development. He forecasts only a marginal uptick in global art sales, which he estimates will exceed $57.5 billion, and warns that luxury goods—bags, watches, fossils—are increasingly encroaching on art fairs, auctions, and exhibitions. Schachter criticizes Sotheby's for blurring the lines between auction house, museum, and gallery, citing its traveling "Icon" show as a spectacle of price tags rather than art scholarship.

trump white house morisot walmart

Vanity Fair published a two-part feature with unprecedented imagery of the Trump administration, shot by photographer Christopher Anderson. Diet Prada annotated the photos, highlighting that a floral still life by French impressionist Berthe Morisot, titled *Peonies* (1869), appears behind press secretary Karoline Leavitt and is currently available as a print through Walmart. The painting belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which lists it as not on view and declined to comment on whether it is on loan to the White House. The Trump administration has not responded to inquiries about the artwork's provenance or whether it was newly installed or left over from a previous administration.

november marquee auction sales midpoint analysis

Christie's and Sotheby's November marquee auctions in New York generated a combined $1.4 billion, with Sotheby's achieving a record $706 million from a double-header sale. The highlight was Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" (1914–16), sold for $236.4 million from the collection of late cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder, becoming the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction. Christie's Monday sale brought in $690 million, falling short of its $731.5 million high estimate but still marking a 42% increase over its equivalent sale last November.

records fall during 706 million night at sothebys turbocharged by blue chip lauder trove

Sotheby's achieved a record-breaking $706 million auction night at its new global headquarters in the Breuer Building, New York, the highest total in the auction house's 281-year history. The sale was propelled by the collection of late art patron Leonard A. Lauder, whose 24 pieces sold for $527.5 million, led by Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914–16) which fetched $236.4 million, becoming the second-priciest artwork ever sold at auction. A subsequent contemporary and ultra-contemporary art sale added $178.5 million.

sothebys charles stewart supply and demand

Sotheby's CEO Charles Stewart told CNBC that the art market has entered a new phase this fall, with supply finally catching up with demand after months of strong bidder activity. New York's marquee auction houses are preparing for sales expected to total more than $1.4 billion, a roughly 50% jump from last year, driven by major consignments including the estate of Leonard Lauder (55 works valued at over $400 million, led by Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer) and collections from Jay and Cindy Pritzker. Christie's highlights include a Monet Nymphéas, a David Hockney portrait, and a Mark Rothko, each estimated at $40–60 million.

ex christies chief jussi pylkkanen works trends watch auction season

Jussi Pylkkanen, former Christie's chairman, analyzes the upcoming New York 20th and 21st Century Art sales, noting a return to market confidence after strong European auctions in London and Paris aligned with Frieze and Art Basel Paris fairs. Christie's London posted its best October sales since 2018, Sotheby's had its most valuable Paris season, and a Picasso portrait sold for $37 million at Hôtel Drouot. The season shows a shift from speculative buying toward established artists like Bacon, Freud, Picasso, and Klimt, with 27 works valued over $10 million, led by Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer* from the Leonard Lauder collection, estimated to exceed $150 million at Sotheby's.

sothebys newly relocated to the breuer building reintroduces itself to new york

Sotheby's has relocated its New York headquarters to Marcel Breuer's iconic Brutalist building on Madison Avenue, formerly home to the Whitney Museum, the Met Breuer, and a Frick Collection outpost. After a renovation by Herzog & de Meuron that restored original gallery proportions and upgraded infrastructure, the auction house is inaugurating the space with a series of exhibitions featuring three major single-owner collections—Leonard A. Lauder, Cindy and Jay Pritzker, and Exquisite Corpus—estimated at over a billion dollars. Highlights include Gustav Klimts from the Lauder trove, a Van Gogh still life from the Pritzker collection, a Frida Kahlo painting expected to set a record for a woman artist, and a Basquiat work in the contemporary evening sale.

kaws take over new york botanical garden

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has announced that artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly) will take over its 250-acre landscape in 2027 with a large-scale, unnamed exhibition featuring his iconic sculptures such as Companion, BFF, and Chum. The show follows the model of NYBG's 2021 "Cosmic Infinity" exhibition by Yayoi Kusama, which drew around 845,000 visitors. The announcement also coincides with NYBG's current "Van Gogh's Flowers" display and a planned 2026 orchid show by Mr. Flower Fantastic.

how did van gogh influence matisse

The Van Gogh Museum has acquired Henri Matisse's 1905 painting *Olive Grove in Collioure* to illustrate Vincent van Gogh's influence on modern art. The work, painted 15 years after Van Gogh's death, shows Matisse's adoption of van Gogh's expressive, anti-naturalistic color and brushwork. The museum pairs it with van Gogh's *Trees in the Garden of the Asylum* (1889) to highlight how Matisse transformed van Gogh's reed-pen drawing techniques into his own Fauvist style. Matisse first encountered van Gogh's work in 1897 through Australian painter John Russell, who gave him a van Gogh drawing that Matisse hung in his Paris apartment alongside works by Cézanne and Gauguin.

Can Tefaf Maastricht Keep Up with the Experience Economy?

Can Tefaf Maastricht keep up with the experience economy?

The 39th Tefaf Maastricht fair opened, showcasing high-quality pre-20th century art and antiques, from Monet paintings to a 1st-century Egyptian vase. However, the fair faces an existential question about the relevance of older art in a market where Old Masters specialists are declining and contemporary art sales are volatile.

van gogh roulin portraits mfa boston

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has opened "Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits," the first exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's portraits of the Roulin family—the local postman Joseph Roulin, his wife Augustine, and their children. The show brings together 14 of Van Gogh's 26 depictions of the family, including loans from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The exhibition was inspired by a 2018 conversation between curators Nienke Bakker and Katie Hanson, who realized no show had ever focused on this working-class family that was so central to Van Gogh's portraiture.

gust klimt 100 million club

Sotheby's is offering Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" (1914-1916) from the estate of the late collector and philanthropist Leonard Lauder with an asking price exceeding $150 million. The consignment also includes two Attersee landscapes valued at over $70 million and $80 million respectively, potentially generating over $300 million from just three lots. This sale follows Ronald Lauder's record-setting $135 million private purchase of Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" in 2006, and is guaranteed to set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the current $108.8 million benchmark.

Dark Mode: Inside the Art Market’s Private Auction Playbook

A secret, invitation-only auction for a single Andy Warhol portrait of Brigitte Bardot was held at a private bar in New York on November 19, 2025, during the major public auction week. Organized by the online platform Fair Warning and presided over by former Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen, the event attracted elite collectors and resulted in a $16.7 million sale, making it the most expensive Warhol of the season.

Paris Dealer Kamel Mennour Buys Galerie Malingue, Founded Over Five Decades Ago

Parisian art dealer Kamel Mennour has acquired the historic Galerie Malingue, taking over its prestigious 4,300-square-foot showroom on Avenue Matignon. The purchase represents a generational shift, with the younger dealer assuming control of a space founded over fifty years ago by Daniel Malingue, known for its focus on Impressionist, Surrealist, and modern masters.

First Look: See What’s Inside the Met Gala’s “Costume Art” Exhibition

Vanity Fair art and style correspondents Nate Freeman and José Criales-Unzueta preview the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute spring exhibition "Costume Art," which inaugurates the Condé M. Nast Galleries. The exhibition arrives amid controversy over the Met Gala being sponsored by Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Jeff Bezos, leading to boycott calls and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipping the event. Despite this, Anna Wintour and Met director Max Hollein announced the gala raised a record $42 million. Head curator Andrew Bolton presents fashion as art, pairing garments with artworks like Warhol's Skull and Sarah Lucas's Nud Cycladic 9.

Across the Major Houses, Hong Kong’s March Sales Confirm a New Collecting Maturity

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.

Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum (PAM), the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest, has recently completed a significant 100,000-square-foot expansion to enhance its public and gallery spaces. The museum's diverse collection of over 50,000 objects is particularly noted for its holdings in Native American art, English silver, and graphic arts. Current highlights include the Joe and Shelley Voboril Gallery’s focus on Plains regional works and the 'Conductions: Black Imaginings II' series of in-gallery activations.

Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum is featured in a travel guide or promotional article on the Travel Portland website. The article likely highlights the museum's collections, current exhibitions, or visitor information as part of promoting tourism in the city.

8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in January

Galerie magazine has curated a list of eight must-see solo gallery shows across the United States for January, highlighting exhibitions from coast to coast. Featured artists include Jeff Koons at Gagosian in New York, where he presents monumental stainless-steel sculptures of gods and goddesses alongside layered paintings, and Giorgio Griffa at Casey Kaplan, whose survey "Consistently Through Variation" spans five decades of his process-driven work. Other notable shows include Julian Schnabel at Mnuchin Gallery and Marisol at Matthew Marks Gallery in Los Angeles.

All we want for Christmas: The Art Newspaper 2025 gift guide

The Art Newspaper has published its 2025 Christmas gift guide, featuring a curated selection of art-related presents. Suggestions include art supplies from London's historic L. Cornelissen & Son, Japanese Irojiten color pencils, and cookbooks like "The Kitchen Studio: Culinary Creations by Artists" and the out-of-print "The Museum of Modern Art Artists' Cookbook." The guide also includes fantasy gift lists from Frieze and Art UK, with items such as Alexander Calder playing cards and a Tom of Finland cushion from House of Voltaire, alongside more unusual ideas like a sponsorship deal for a Victorian loo or a Lego Louvre heist set.

Sotheby’s Shatters Records at Its Breuer Debut as a $236.4M Klimt Leads the $706M Evening Sale

Sotheby's held its debut evening sale at the Breuer building in New York on November 18, achieving a record-breaking $706 million total. The highlight was the white-glove auction of Leonard A. Lauder's collection of 20th-century masterpieces, which alone brought $527.5 million. Gustav Klimt's portrait *Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer* (1914-16) sold for $236.4 million, setting a new record for the artist and for Sotheby's Modern category. The evening also included a strong Contemporary sale led by Maurizio Cattelan's golden toilet at $12.1 million, with active bidding from Asian collectors.

Must-see Van Gogh exhibitions in 2026

Several major Van Gogh exhibitions are scheduled for 2026 across Japan and the Netherlands. In Nagoya, the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art hosts "Van Gogh's Home: The Van Gogh Museum" (January–March), featuring 24 paintings and five drawings from the Amsterdam museum. Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum presents "Yellow: More than Van Gogh's Favourite Colour" (February–May), exploring the color yellow through Van Gogh's Sunflowers and works by other artists. A touring exhibition from the Kröller-Müller Museum, "The Grand Van Gogh Exhibition," travels from Kobe to Fukushima and Tokyo with 37 paintings and 20 drawings. The Kröller-Müller Museum itself plans "All Van Goghs" (September 2026–January 2027), reuniting its entire collection for the first time since 1984. Den Bosch's Noordbrabants Museum examines Van Gogh's influence on Jan Sluijters in "Jan and Vincent: About Light" (October 2026–February 2027). Several ongoing exhibitions continue into early 2026, including "Van Gogh and the Roulins" and "Captivated by Vincent" at the Van Gogh Museum, and "Van Gogh and the Potato" in Den Bosch.

The Art Insider's Guide To Frieze London

Sophia Penske, founder of Penske Projects and art advisor at Gagosian Art Advisory, presents an insider guide to Frieze London week (October 13, 2025). The article highlights key gallery exhibitions including Ed Ruscha's new linen paintings at Gagosian Davies Street, El Anatsui's wooden sculptures at Goodman Gallery, Danielle Fretwell's still lifes at Alice Amati, Victor Man's dreamlike works at David Zwirner, Danny Fox's colorful paintings at Hannah Barry, and Lenz Geerk's portraits at Massimo De Carlo. It also previews museum shows like Kerry James Marshall's "The Histories" at the Royal Academy of Arts and mentions satellite fairs and auction previews.

Huge Paris exhibition reveals David Hockney’s love of Van Gogh

A major exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, titled "David Hockney 25," showcases 400 works by the British artist, with a focus on the past 25 years of his career. The show highlights Hockney’s deep admiration for Vincent van Gogh, featuring a section called "The Great Wall" that includes 29 Van Gogh reproductions alongside works by other artists. Key pieces on display include Hockney’s portrait of his partner Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima, inspired by Van Gogh’s "Sorrowing Old Man," and iPad drawings echoing Van Gogh’s sunflower still lifes. The exhibition runs until 31 August.

With new Costume Institute exhibition and galleries, the Met makes powerful statement about fashion's place in museums

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a major new Costume Institute exhibition titled "Costume Art," which runs until January 10, 2027, in the newly designed Condé M. Nast Galleries by Peterson Rich Office. Curated by Andrew Bolton with Stephanie Kramer, Ayaka Iida, and Emily Mushaben, the show features nearly 400 objects from all 19 of the museum's collecting departments, organized around body typologies such as the "Classical Body" and "Aging Body." The exhibition marks a significant institutional commitment to fashion as a central curatorial concern, with the 12,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Great Hall.