Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Dec 12, 2025 visibility 22 link 18 artists

best art world movies 2025

Artnet News has published a roundup of the best art world movies of 2025, highlighting films that explore the anxieties, ambitions, and contradictions of the contemporary art scene. The selection includes Kelly Reichardt's heist film *The Mastermind*, about a man stealing Arthur Dove paintings from a museum; the satire *Auction*, which follows a Parisian auctioneer discovering a long-lost Egon Schiele; the documentary *Art for Everybody*, reexamining Thomas Kinkade's legacy; and Ira Sachs's *Peter Hujar's Day*, a gentle portrait of the photographer's daily life. Spike Lee's *Highest 2 Lowest* also features, marking his entry into the old-guard canon.

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article culture schedule Dec 4, 2025 visibility 20 link 6 artists

pantone color of the year white

Pantone has announced 11-4201 Cloud Dancer, a soft shade of bright white, as its 2026 Color of the Year. This marks the first time the company has chosen a white hue since launching the initiative in 1999, following last year's Mocha Mousse. The decision, announced by Pantone Color Institute vice president Laurie Pressman, is framed as a symbol of calm and a desire for a fresh start in a frenetic society, drawing comparisons to Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist compositions and Robert Ryman's white paintings. The announcement has sparked debate over its cultural and political implications, with critics noting the choice's potential elitism and its resonance amid ongoing racial tensions.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 1, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists

rediscovered rubens painting sells france

A long-lost painting by Peter Paul Rubens, unseen for four centuries, was sold at auction in Versailles for €2.94 million ($3.4 million), nearly double its high estimate. Created in 1613, the work depicts Jesus Christ on the cross and was discovered in a private Paris townhouse by auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat. The painting was authenticated by German art historian Nils Büttner through X-ray imaging and pigment analysis, and its provenance traces back to the 19th-century French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 12 link 9 artists

triceratops gros delettrez dinosaur sale

Parisian auction house Gros and Delettrez is offering a 66 million-year-old Triceratops prorsus skull on December 11, with an estimate of €300,000–€500,000 ($345,615–$576,025). The specimen, which surfaced from Wyoming's Lance Formation, is exceptionally complete with over 70 percent of its original bones and all three original horns intact. This marks the auction house's first dinosaur offering and will christen its new Rive Gauche headquarters, with the skull going on view on December 9 alongside works by Pablo Picasso and Pierre Soulages.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 24, 2025 visibility 13 link 4 artists

family says firm funding its legal battle for stolen paintings sought control of lawsuits

The son of late Palestinian businessman Uthman Khatib, Prince Castro Ben Leon, is suing LitFin Capital, the Prague-based litigation funder that financed his family's legal battle to recover 135 Russian avant-garde paintings allegedly stolen by Israeli Russian Mozes Frisch. The paintings, attributed to El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, and Wassily Kandinsky, are valued at $323 million. A Paris court secured the works in January after they were seized from Paris-based authenticators ArtAnalysis, which had been holding them for Frisch. Castro claims LitFin is now refusing to pay legal bills unless it gains control of the lawsuits, violating their funding agreement. LitFin denies the allegations, stating it has always honored its contractual obligations.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 22 link 16 artists

sothebys surrealism modern auction november 2025 new york

On Thursday night, Sotheby’s concluded a week of evening sales with a three-part modern art auction that achieved $304.6 million, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $211.3–$289.3 million. The evening featured 13 works from the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, which sold for $109.5 million, followed by the 'Exquisite Corpus' Surrealist sale from Selma Ertegun’s collection totaling $98 million, and a multiple-owner modern art auction that brought in $97 million. The standout was Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait *El sueño (La cama)* (1940), which sold for $55 million, setting records for Kahlo, a Latin American artist, and a female artist at auction. Vincent van Gogh’s *Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens)* (1887) achieved $62.7 million after a seven-minute bidding war.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 17 link 9 artists

churchill painting hudsons bay company auction

The Hudson's Bay Company, a historic Canadian department store chain that declared bankruptcy in March, began selling off its art collection. On November 19, 27 paintings from the retailer's trove were auctioned by Canadian auction house Heffel, all selling well above estimate. The top lot was an impressionistic painting of a Marrakech street by Winston Churchill, which sold for $1.5 million, more than tripling its low estimate. Other notable sales included Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith's 'Lights of a City Street' at $691,250 and works by William von Moll Berczy and Charles Pachter.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

park avenue armory 2026 program marina abramovic

The Park Avenue Armory in New York has announced its 2026 program, headlined by the US premiere of Marina Abramović's provocative performance piece "Balkan Erotic Epic" on December 8. The four-hour work, centered on nude fertility rituals rooted in Balkan traditions, will be joined by other multidisciplinary works including Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's sound installation "clinamen," Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" conducted by Alan Pierson, a Simon Stone production of "The Cherry Orchard" set in modern-day Seoul, and a Benjamin Millepied dance piece based on Romeo and Juliet. All performances will take place in the Armory's Drill Hall.

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article policy schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 22 link 3 artists

french art world opposes proposal new taxes

Two French parliamentarians, Jean-Paul Matteï and Philippe Juvin, have proposed a new tax regime on art as part of France's 2026 budget, which would make France the only major art market to impose a wealth tax on the mere possession of artworks. The French art world has strongly opposed the proposal, with 27 signatories including Art Basel, auctioneer Drouot, visual artists' rights organization ADAGP, the Association for the International Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF), and the Comité Professionel des Galeries d’Art (CPGA). Critics argue the tax is technically unenforceable, would drive collectors away, and harm the broader art ecosystem.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

pablo picasso dora maar portrait sells 37 million

A previously little-known Pablo Picasso portrait of Dora Maar, titled *Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar)* (1943), sold for $37 million at Lucien Paris auction house on October 24, 2025—nearly four times its $9.5 million estimate. The painting had been owned by the same family since 1944 and was shown publicly for the first time in 80 years at Hôtel Drouot before the sale. Auctioneer Christophe Lucien called it the highest auction price for any artwork in France this year.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 14 link 7 artists

sothebys records highest ever totals in france for surrealist and modern sales during art basel paris week

Sotheby's Paris achieved record-breaking totals for surrealist and modern art auctions during Art Basel Paris week, with combined sales of €89.7 million ($104 million) across its Surrealism and Its Legacy and Modernités sales—a 50 percent increase over the same event last year. The top lot was Amedeo Modigliani's *Elvire en buste* (1918-1919), which sold for €27 million ($31.3 million), the highest auction price for a painting by the Italian artist in France and the most valuable work ever sold by Sotheby's Paris. Other highlights included Modigliani's *Raymond* (1915) at €10.6 million, René Magritte's *La Magie Noire* (1934) at €10.7 million, and a complete set of Pablo Picasso's *Séries 347* etchings, which set a French auction record for any print by the artist.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

christies modern british and irish evening auction in london nets 23 m marking 20 percent increase on 2024s sale

Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London on Wednesday achieved £17.3 million ($23 million), a 20 percent increase over the equivalent sale in 2024. The top lot was Barbara Hepworth’s *The Family of Man (Figure 9, The Bride)* (1970), which sold for £3.9 million ($5.2 million). The sale had a 90 percent sell-through rate by value and 81 percent by lot, with 39 percent of works exceeding their high estimates, though the total fell short of the £22.6 million high estimate. Other notable results included Hepworth’s *Vertical Wood Form* (1968) at £1.4 million, Stanley Spencer’s *The Meeting* (1933) at the same price, and Bridget Riley’s *Dendera* (1983-2002) at £1.2 million.

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candle obituary schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 17 link 15 artists

robert wilson memorial silence

A memorial for the late theater visionary Robert Wilson was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Harvey Theater, featuring a 30-minute period of silence as requested by Wilson before his death at age 83. The gathering drew luminaries including Philip Glass, Rufus Wainwright, Laurie Anderson, ANOHNI, Christopher Knowles, Joan Jonas, and Paula Cooper, none of whom spoke during the main program. The silence was punctuated by shifting lighting and a recorded ringing telephone, followed by remarks from William Campbell, chairman of Wilson's Watermill Center, and Joseph Melillo, former BAM executive producer.

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article news schedule Sep 25, 2025 visibility 9 link 4 artists

french artist invader lawsuit julien auctions street art

French artist Invader, whose real name is Franck Slama, sued the parent company of Julien Auctions for copyright infringement, theft, and violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act. The lawsuit claims 15 of his original mosaic artworks were stolen from their installation sites worldwide—including Tokyo, Paris, and other French locations—damaged or distorted, and then offered in the auction house's "Street Art: Paint & Pavement" sale on September 25. Invader demanded the works be removed, and a U.S. District Court in California granted a restraining order halting the auction of those pieces. The auction house's co-founder Martin Nolan defended the sale, arguing that street art created in public spaces transfers ownership to those who lawfully acquire it.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

unknown pablo picasso painting dora maar for sale

A Pablo Picasso painting of Dora Maar, titled *Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar)*, has been consigned to the Paris auction house Lucien Paris after not being seen publicly for 80 years. Painted in 1943 and last exhibited in 1944, the work was inherited by the anonymous seller from a grandparent. It is currently on view at Hôtel Drouot and will be auctioned on October 24 with an estimate of approximately $9.5 million. Photographic evidence of the painting appears in 1944 photos by Brassaï of Picasso’s studio.

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article culture schedule Sep 15, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

newly discovered snail named after picasso

An international team of malacologists has discovered 46 new species of Southeast Asian microsnails, all under the genus Anauchen. One of them, Anauchen picasso, is named after Pablo Picasso because the angular patterns on its 3mm-wide shell resemble Cubism. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys, based on fieldwork in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and comparisons with specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 11, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

lost jesus painting peter paul rubens paris mansion osenat

A long-lost painting of Jesus Christ's crucifixion by 17th-century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, titled *Christ on the Cross* (1613), was discovered in a Parisian mansion by auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat last September. The large Baroque work, measuring 42 by 29 inches, was authenticated by German curator and art historian Nils Buttner, chairman of the Centrum Rubenianum, through X-ray imaging and pigment analysis. It will be auctioned by Osenat's auction house in Fontainebleau on November 30, with no estimate yet released.

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article culture schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 13 link 4 artists

georges seurat a sunday on la grande jatte why so important 2

Georges Seurat's Post-Impressionist masterpiece, *A Sunday on La Grande Jatte* (1884–86), is analyzed in depth for its revolutionary technique and historical context. The painting depicts weekend day-trippers in a Parisian park, employing pointillism—which Seurat called divisionism or *peinture optique*—to fix modern life in a chromatic eternity. Influenced by his academic training under Henri Lehmann (a student of Ingres) and Michel Eugène Chevreul's color theory, Seurat used tiny dots of color that blend in the viewer's eye, merging science with art. The work was preceded by *Bathers at Asnières* (1884), which shares the same landscape and thematic concerns, together portraying both sides of the Seine.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 11, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

man ray rediscovered

A rediscovered watercolor sketch by Man Ray, created in 1913 when he was in his early twenties, has resurfaced after decades in an attic and sold for £18,000 ($24,000) at Dreweatts auction house in Newbury, England, on July 10. The work, titled *Nude Playing Musical Instrument [Study for “Tapestry Painting”]*, is a preparatory study for a lost larger oil-on-linen tapestry and offers rare insight into the artist's pivotal transition from traditional painting to avant-garde experimentation inspired by European modernism encountered at the 1913 Armory Show.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 9, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

ed sheeran paintings jackson pollock heni

Singer Ed Sheeran is presenting a series of abstract paintings titled the “Cosmic Carpark Paintings” at Heni Gallery in London, with the exhibition opening this Friday. The works, made by dripping and splashing paint onto canvases placed on the floor, closely resemble Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. Sheeran’s foundation is selling prints for £900 each, with 50% of proceeds benefiting UK schools. Sheeran told the Guardian he painted in a disused Soho car park during tour downtime, and the gallery’s press release describes the works as “inspired by celestial patterns” without mentioning Pollock.

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article culture schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 18 link 9 artists

lorde virgin vinyl photograph talia chetrit

A revealing photograph of singer Lorde from the vinyl edition of her new album *Virgin* has gone viral, sparking debate on social media. The image, credited to artist Talia Chetrit, shows Lorde in see-through pants without underwear, echoing the album's cover—an X-ray of her pelvis by Heji Shin. Chetrit, known for exploring power dynamics and sexuality in her work, previously photographed Lorde for a single cover. The photo has drawn comparisons to Chetrit's earlier self-portraits and has been discussed in the context of nudity and illusion in art.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists

lempicka rafaela nude auction

Tamara de Lempicka's portrait of her lover, *La Belle Rafaëla* (1927), sold for £7.47 million ($10.05 million) at Sotheby's London Modern and Contemporary Evening Sale on June 24. The work, estimated at £6–9 million, hammered just above its low estimate to a buyer in the room. It had last appeared at auction in 1985, when it sold for $242,000, then a record for the artist. The painting depicts Rafaëla, a sex worker Lempicka encountered in Paris's Bois de Boulogne, who became her lover and muse.

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gavel restitution schedule Jun 23, 2025 visibility 15 link 2 artists

romania secures hold on stolen el greco painting

Romania has secured a 'long-term hold' on El Greco's painting *Saint Sebastian* (1610–1614), which was pulled from a Christie’s New York Old Masters sale in February after the Romanian government claimed the work was unlawfully taken from its national collection. The painting, valued at $7–9 million, was consigned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who acquired it in 2010 from Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier. Romania has initiated litigation through Paris to recover the work, arguing it was illegally removed in 1947 by King Michael I as he fled the Communist takeover.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 12, 2025 visibility 10 link 5 artists

francois xavier lalanne rhinoceros bar sothebys

Sotheby's design sale in New York achieved the second highest auction price ever for a work by French artist François-Xavier Lalanne, with his monumental sculpture desk *Grand Rhinocrétaire II* (1964) selling for $16.4 million—more than triple its $5 million high estimate. The piece, which opens into a fully functional writing desk, sparked a 13-minute bidding battle. Just weeks earlier, another Lalanne work, *Bar aux Autruches* (1967–68), sold for €11.1 million at Sotheby's Paris. The all-time record for Lalanne remains $19.4 million for *Rhinocrétaire I*, sold at Christie's Paris in 2023.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

the gates christo jeanne claude

Artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude developed 'The Gates' for New York City's Central Park in 1979, but the project faced over two decades of bureaucratic hurdles before finally being installed in 2005 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The work consisted of 7,503 steel gates with orange nylon fabric along 23 miles of pathways, using 5,390 tons of steel. Now, on its 20th anniversary, a comprehensive survey titled 'Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City' is being held at the Shed, accompanied by an augmented reality experience via the Bloomberg Connects app.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 21, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

armando marrocco robilant voena

Artnet News spotlights Italian artist Armando Marrocco (b. 1939), whose early career was shaped by Lucio Fontana. After moving to Milan in 1962, Marrocco developed his "Intrecci" series—vibrant monochromatic enamel-on-cardboard works that layer and weave humble materials into substantial objects. The exhibition "Marrocco Twist" at Robilant and Voena in Paris showcases these earliest works, on view through July 22.

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trending_up market schedule May 20, 2025 visibility 19 link 5 artists

art basel qatar

Art Basel is expanding to the Middle East with a new fair in Doha, Qatar, set to launch in February 2026. The inaugural edition will feature around 50 galleries from local and international scenes, held across two venues: M7 and the Doha Design District. The fair is a partnership between Art Basel, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), and QC+, a cultural commerce collective under Qatar Museums. A new artistic director will be announced soon, and the fair aims to scale up over time, with additional art activations in outdoor spaces like Msheireb Museums and Barahat Msheireb square.

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trending_up market schedule May 5, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

lalanne auction london

A rare complete set of Claude Lalanne's green-painted 'Ginkgo' dining suite will be auctioned at Christie's London on June 5, 2025, as part of a single-owner sale from the collection of Baron Diego von Buch. The 12-piece set, sold as four individual lots, is expected to fetch over £1 million ($1.4 million) total, with individual estimates ranging from £100,000 to £300,000 per lot. The sale includes 100 lots from von Buch's homes across Europe, featuring works by François-Xavier Lalanne, Fernand Léger, Fernando Botero, and Lee Ufan.

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rate_review review schedule Apr 29, 2026 visibility 25 link 10 artists, 2 galleries

The tiniest event can tear a hole. Sara MacKillop by Margaret Kross

Sara MacKillop's exhibition "The Cutaway View" at Good Weather in Chicago presents sculptures made from humble analog materials like blank wall calendars, empty shopping bags, and gift wrapping. The London-based artist alters these objects with minimal interventions—such as surgically cut holes in shopping bags to accommodate vinyl records—drawing attention to the ephemera and texture of retail culture. Her series "Calendar Houses" (2021–ongoing) uses archive boxes and wall calendars to create miniature modernist dwellings that critique systems of order and self-optimization.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 22, 2026 visibility 5 link 22 artists, 1 gallery

Interview with Ramuntcho Matta: Brion Gysin: The Last Museum Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris

The article is an interview with Ramuntcho Matta about the exhibition "Brion Gysin: The Last Museum" at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. It explores the life and work of Brion Gysin, a multifaceted artist associated with Surrealism, the Beat Generation, and the invention of the Dreamachine. The exhibition traces Gysin's career through his calligraphy, painting, and multimedia works, including collaborations with William S. Burroughs and Ian Sommerville. A complementary show, "Underwood 2246449-5 (Les diables de Brion)," organized by Matta at New Galerie, features Burroughs's typewriter and related instruments.

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