Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

salvador dali necklace sea sothebys surrealism sale

A Salvador Dalí-designed necklace, the Swirling Sea Necklace, sold for €736,600 ($858,500) at Sotheby's 'Surrealism and Its Legacy' auction on October 24, doubling its pre-sale estimate. The 18-karat gold piece, inlaid with diamonds, a cultured pearl, and sapphire and emerald beads, was conceived by Dalí in 1954 and first owned by São Schlumberger, a frequent patron of the artist. The necklace had previously sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $665,000 to Anne Schlumberger, who died in April, prompting its return to auction.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 17 link 1 artist

canaletto 2026 christies old masters sale

A Canaletto painting titled *Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day* (ca. 1754) will lead Christie’s Old Masters sale in New York this February 2026, with an estimate of over $30 million. The monumental canvas, commissioned by the King family (later Earls of Lovelace), is the last known version of this subject by the artist. It last sold at Christie’s 20 years ago during the Champalimaud Collection sale, setting a record. The work will tour exhibitions in New York, Hong Kong, and London before returning to New York for a pre-sale exhibition.

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article culture schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

barnett newman mayoral run new york city

A new biography titled *Barnett Newman: Here*, written by art historian Amy Newman, reveals that the Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman ran for mayor of New York City in 1933—long before he became a famous artist. At age 28, with no paintings to his name, Newman campaigned on a vague, socialist-utopian platform that included a free city-run art school, waterfront parks, cleaner waters, and public ownership of utilities. He ran specifically to oppose the spread of Communism among intellectuals, but he admitted he did not expect to win. He lost, and his candidacy became a family joke.

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article local schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 16 link 3 artists

stretch of downtown manhattan renamed jean michel basquiat way

A stretch of Great Jones Street in downtown Manhattan between Bowery and Lafayette has been officially renamed "Jean-Michel Basquiat Way" in a ceremony co-organized by the Basquiat estate and the New York City Council. The street naming honors the late artist, who lived and worked in a second-floor space at 57 Great Jones Street from 1983 until his death in 1988, a property he rented from Andy Warhol. The event featured remarks from Basquiat's sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, along with city officials and cultural figures.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 21 link 19 artists

fata morgana nicola trussardi massimiliano gioni hilma af klint

"Fata Morgana," an exhibition organized by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi at Palazzo Morando in Milan, presents works by 78 artists past and present who embody Marcel Duchamp's idea of the artist as a "mediumistic being." The show includes nuns, mediums, psychiatric patients, and contemporary stars like Marianna Simnett and Rosemarie Trockel, alongside avant-garde icons such as Man Ray and Duchamp himself. Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Daniel Birnbaum, and Martha Papini, the exhibition explores creativity as compulsion, featuring drawings by James Tilly Matthews, séance photographs by Stanisława Popielska, and works by Madge Gill and Emma Jung, among others.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 29 link 15 artists

phillips london evening sale frieze results

Phillips’s Frieze Week evening sale in London totaled £10.33 million ($13.88 million) across 22 lots, a 32% decline from last year’s £15.1 million on 31 lots. The sale was 82% sold by lot and 84% by value. Highlights included a new world auction record for Emma McIntyre, whose painting *Seven Types of Ambiguity* (2021) sold for £167,700, and strong results for Martha Jungwirth and Flora Yukhnovich. However, major lots by Banksy, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat underperformed or failed to sell, and four lots went unsold, including works by Andreas Gursky and Sigmar Polke.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 24 link 43 artists

kochi muziris biennial artist list

The Kochi-Muziris Biennial, South Asia's largest contemporary art biennial, has announced the 66 artists from over 20 countries participating in its 2025 edition, titled “For The Time Being.” Running from December 12 to March 31 across venues including Aspinwall House and Pepper House in Kochi, India, the event features around 50 new commissions and a theme centered on the body, memory, and temporality. The announcement comes after the 2023 edition was marred by controversy, with more than half of its 90 artists signing a public letter alleging communication breakdowns, unpaid fees, and production issues, as well as the Kerala government reportedly pulling out of a deal to acquire the main venue.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

canterbury cathedral graffiti art hear us controversy

A graffiti art installation titled "HEAR US" has been unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England, created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacqueline Creswell. The works, which appear directly on the cathedral's walls, pose spiritual and social questions such as "What is the architecture of heaven?" and "Why are you indifferent to suffering?" The project emerged from community workshops asking "What would you ask God?" and involves marginalized communities including the Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent individuals, and the LGBTQIA+ population. The installation is approved by the cathedral and runs through January 18, though it has already sparked widespread online backlash.

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article news schedule Oct 1, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

tina turner statue tennessee bad public art

A 10-foot-tall statue of Tina Turner was unveiled in her hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee, on Saturday, September 29, 2025. Created by sculptor Fred Ajanogha, the work has sparked widespread online outrage for its distorted depiction of the late pop star, with critics comparing it to a caricature and noting its bizarre proportions, unnatural hair, and toothy grin. The statue has been condemned by both right-wing commentators and comedians like Kevin Fredericks, who likened it to other infamous public art failures.

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article policy schedule Sep 27, 2025 visibility 22 link 11 artists

george soros trump open society foundations investigation

The Trump administration has escalated its attacks on billionaire philanthropist George Soros, with the Justice Department calling for an investigation into his Open Society Foundations. The foundations, which provide substantial grants to artists and human rights organizations globally, are accused of potential racketeering, wire fraud, and material support for terrorism, based on allegations from the conservative Capital Research Center. Soros, a major Democratic donor, has previously been targeted by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who claim the foundations fund leftist protests. The Open Society Foundations have awarded $100,000 fellowships to numerous prominent artists, including Firelei Báez, Yto Barrada, and Nicholas Galanin, and provided $1.2 billion in funding in 2024 alone.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 8 link 3 artists

banksy loan dispute brandler metamorfosi

John Brandler, a British street art specialist, loaned three Banksy works to Metamorfosi, a Rome-based touring exhibition company, for shows in Italy and Switzerland. After a two-year contract expired and was extended with a monthly fee, Brandler claims Metamorfosi has fallen behind on payments and has not returned the artworks, including the mural "Season's Greetings" (2018), "Heart Boy," and "Computer Robot." Another Banksy dealer, Acoris Andipa, says he is owed £45,000 for curatorial services. Metamorfosi disputes the claims, stating it has paid monthly installments and attempted to return the works, blaming storage issues for the delay.

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article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

basquiat biopic samo lives filming the east village tompkins square park

Filming has begun on the long-awaited Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic *Samo Lives* in New York City's East Village, specifically around Tompkins Square Park. Directed by Julius Onah and starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Basquiat, the film was first announced in January 2022 but faced delays. Grainy photos from local blog EV Grieve suggest an actor has been cast to play Andy Warhol, Basquiat's friend and collaborator. The production is shooting in the neighborhood where Basquiat once lived and worked, including his former studio at 57 Great Jones Street.

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article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists

david lynch daughter la compound

Jennifer Lynch, daughter of the late artist and filmmaker David Lynch, revealed on Reddit that her father's will stipulates his Los Angeles compound must be sold immediately as a single property, with proceeds split evenly among his four children. The 2.3-acre Hollywood Hills property, listed at $15 million, includes a 10-bedroom home, pool, editing suite, and lime-green kitchen countertops. Jennifer expressed that the family would prefer to keep the property but must follow David's instructions to avoid any sibling feeling less loved.

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article news schedule Aug 19, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

ai weiwei ukraine front line kyiv installation

Ai Weiwei has traveled to Ukraine's eastern front, visiting Kharkiv under Russian bombardment and meeting soldiers, poets, and cultural figures resisting the invasion. He documented the trip on Instagram with stark images and was photographed in black fatigues marked "Khartiia," a volunteer unit now part of Ukraine's National Guard. His next project is a major installation in Kyiv titled "Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White," opening September 14 at Pavilion 13, a renovated Soviet-era hall, commissioned by Ribbon International.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 28, 2025 visibility 11 link 6 artists

priority bidding phillips

Phillips auction house announced a new fee structure for fall 2025 called "priority bidding," which offers lower buyer's premium rates to bidders who place written bids at least 48 hours before a live sale. The move aims to encourage early engagement and generate more spirited bidding, while also providing certainty for sellers. The house is simultaneously raising its standard buyer's premium to as high as 29 percent on works up to $1 million, making it the highest among major auction houses. CEO Martin Wilson, who took over in January, hopes the program will mitigate risk and shore up sales of mid-priced works.

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article news schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

anish kapoor lists 56 leonard street apartment new york

Artist Anish Kapoor is selling his New York apartment at 56 Leonard Street in Tribeca for $17.75 million. The 3,576-square-foot unit on the 47th floor features four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, private outdoor spaces, and a travertine marble bath. The building, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, houses a smaller version of Kapoor's famous sculpture Cloud Gate at its base. Kapoor purchased the apartment for roughly $14 million in 2016 and previously listed it for about $18 million last year. The listing is held by Serhant's Krista Nickols and Martin Garcia.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 24 link 3 artists

taipei dangdai nixes 2026 edition

Taipei Dangdai Art and Ideas, the annual art fair in Taiwan's capital, will not hold its 2026 edition as organizers pause to conduct a strategic evaluation of the fair's model, timing, scale, and format. The decision follows a prolonged contraction in the art market and comes days after the Art Dealers Association of America canceled its long-running Art Show in New York. The fair, which first launched in 2019 and held its sixth edition in May, had seen its exhibitor numbers decline from over 90 to around 50 this year. Co-director Robin Peckham left after the 2025 edition, and the fair's parent organization, the Art Assembly, has removed material about previous editions from its website, with its Instagram account apparently disabled.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 15, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

phillips pollock painting lawsuit david mimran

Phillips auction house has filed a lawsuit against David Mimran, a film producer and son of billionaire Jean Claude Mimran, alleging he failed to pay $14.5 million for a Jackson Pollock drip painting (ca. 1948) that sold at a New York auction in November 2024. Mimran had agreed to a third-party guarantee for the work, which sold for $15.3 million with fees, but according to Phillips, he sought an extension and then claimed he could not pay. The auction house is seeking nearly $15 million including interest.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 15 link 7 artists

marie antoinette pink diamond christies

A 10.38-carat fancy purple-pink diamond known as the Marie-Thérèse diamond, linked to Marie Antoinette's only surviving child, sold for $14 million at Christie's New York on June 17, far exceeding its $3–5 million estimate. The jewel, reworked by Joel Arthur Rosenthal into a ring with a fleur-de-lis motif, was originally part of a tiara and passed through generations of European royalty before being sold at Sotheby's Geneva in 1996. The auction also featured the Blue Belle, a sapphire necklace estimated at $8–12 million.

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article culture schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

28 years later antony gormley angel of the north

The article examines the appearance of Antony Gormley's iconic 1998 sculpture *Angel of the North* in the zombie film *28 Years Later*. The Cor-Ten steel work, which towers 66 feet tall near Gateshead, appears in an overgrown field as a symbol of post-apocalyptic abandonment, reflecting the film's themes of failed quarantine and societal collapse. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland use the sculpture to critique conservative British politics, with the film's ending making explicit reference to a British celebrity posthumously accused of rape.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 16 link 4 artists

ai weiwei major installation ukraine

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei will debut a major new installation in Kyiv, Ukraine, this fall at Pavilion 13, a Soviet-era glass exposition hall that recently reopened as a cultural venue after renovation by architectural firm Forma. The work, titled *Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White* (2025), features metal spheres inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's mathematical illustrations, encased in camouflage fabric thinly painted white, exploring themes of concealment, reality, and war. Commissioned by the nonprofit Ribbon International, the installation will be on view from September 14 to November 30, 2025, alongside a site-responsive intervention by Berlin-based artist Sam Lewitt.

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article culture schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 13 link 14 artists

no artists arent the winners of the new gilded age

The article critiques the current art market frenzy in New York, where fairs and auctions dominate the scene, and argues that the relationship between art and money is being misrepresented in mainstream media. It cites recent op-eds by David Brooks, Tyler Cowen, and Matthew Yglesias, who suggest that wealth inequality benefits artists by boosting the financial returns of fine art. The author counters that these commentators conflate the art market with artists' livelihoods, ignoring the precarious reality most artists face.

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article news schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

orange county museum of art merger uc irvine

The University of California, Irvine has announced it is exploring a merger with the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) in Costa Mesa. A nonbinding letter of intent has been signed, and a definitive agreement is being developed pending approval by the University of California Board of Regents, which is expected to vote on the merger in the fall. The news comes less than two months after OCMA director and CEO Heidi Zuckerman announced her departure, and as the museum prepares to open its California Biennial.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 12 link 3 artists

art market minute jun 16

Art Basel, the world's largest art fair, returns from June 17 to 22 amid ongoing market contraction and geopolitical instability. Meanwhile, Sotheby's London will auction the private collection of legendary art patron Pauline Karpidas in a 250-lot sale this September, estimated to fetch a record-setting $81 million. Additionally, Frieze will relocate to a new venue in Seoul for its fourth edition in the South Korean capital.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

sothebys picasso ceramics

Sotheby's London held a 'white glove' sale of 126 one-of-a-kind ceramics by Pablo Picasso, all from the collection of his granddaughter Marina Picasso. The auction achieved a 100% sell-through rate, generating £12.3 million ($19.4 million), with the top lot—a painted goat-shaped vase titled *Cabri* (circa 1947)—selling for £485,000, nearly quadrupling its estimate.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 11, 2025 visibility 25 link 85 artists

2025 bienal de sao paulo artist list

The Bienal de São Paulo has announced the 120 artists for its 2025 edition, titled “Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice,” opening September 6 at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion. Curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, the selection was inspired by bird migration patterns and rivers, aiming to avoid nation-state classifications. Notable participants include Isa Genzken, Firelei Báez, Wolfgang Tillmans, Forensic Architecture, and 19 Brazil-based artists, alongside 20 deceased figures such as Bertina Lopes and Ernest Cole.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

new institute of sexology celebrates history of erotic art film photography

The Wellcome Collection in London has opened a new exhibition titled "The Institute of Sexology," celebrating the history of erotic art, film, and photography. The show features a wide range of objects including archival material, ethnographic and medical artifacts, erotica, and works by contemporary artists such as John Stezaker, Sharon Hayes, Zanele Muholi, and Timothy Archibald. It highlights pioneers of sexology like Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, and Marie Stopes, and marks the first exhibition after the institution's £17.5 million expansion, inaugurating a new gallery for large, year-long shows.

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article news schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 19 link 4 artists

us pavilion 2026 venice biennale dissident right art hos

The United States has not yet announced its pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale, but a controversial proposal has emerged from far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin, who pitched a "dissident-right art hos" pavilion to Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Darren Beattie in April 2025. The proposal, reported by the New Yorker, comes amid a delayed application process and changes to the pavilion's guidelines, which now emphasize a "non-political character" and remove previous language about diversity. The application deadline is July 30, with a $375,000 grant awarded by September, leaving an unusually short timeline for production.

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article news schedule Jun 2, 2025 visibility 8 link 2 artists

banksy marseille lighthouse

Banksy has unveiled a new street artwork in Marseille, France, located on Rue Félix Fregier. The piece features a painted lighthouse and the stenciled text “I want to be what you saw in me,” set beside a sidewalk bollard whose shadow the lighthouse mimics. The artist posted the work on Instagram, where it quickly garnered over 800,000 likes. The mural marks a notably introspective and emotionally vulnerable departure from Banksy’s typically satirical or politically charged style.

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article policy schedule May 19, 2025 visibility 9 link 1 artist

smithsonians african american history museum removed objects

Two lenders to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) reported that their objects were removed from the museum’s galleries earlier than expected, raising concerns about the influence of President Trump’s recent executive order targeting “anti-American content” in Smithsonian museums. Amos C. Brown, a civil rights activist and pastor, lent a 1880 book on Black history and his father’s Bible, which Martin Luther King Jr. carried during protests; the museum cited the loan’s May expiration as the reason for removal. Liz Brazelton, who lent the diary of her great-great-grandfather—a lawyer who worked on behalf of Solomon Northup—said the diary was returned in March, six months before a 10-year loan agreement was set to end in September, with the museum citing an “internal gallery rotation schedule.” At least 32 objects have reportedly been removed, though the museum denied planned removals.

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