Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 18 link 5 artists

gustav klimt portrait of elisabeth lederer auction record 1234762083

Gustav Klimt's 'Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer' (1914–16) sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby's New York on November 18, 2025, after 20 minutes of bidding. The painting, which started at $130 million, was won by a phone bidder represented by Sotheby's specialist Julian Dawes, with the hammer price at $205 million. The work was the highlight of the Leonard A. Lauder Collection sale, a 55-work trove valued at over $400 million, and proceeds will go to the Lauder trust. The portrait had been restituted after Nazi-era confiscation and was acquired by Lauder in the mid-1980s.

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article culture schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 21 link 7 artists

peter hujar day biopic ira sachs 1234762238

Filmmaker Ira Sachs has released a new film titled *Peter Hujar's Day*, based on a 1974 audio recording and subsequent book by writer Linda Rosenkrantz. The film captures a single day in the life of photographer Peter Hujar, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1987, as he recounts mundane details and artistic anxieties to Rosenkrantz. Starring Ben Whishaw as Hujar and Rebecca Hall as Rosenkrantz, the movie adapts a transcript Rosenkrantz rediscovered and published in 2021. Sachs describes the project as an exploration of portraiture, light, and emotion, contrasting with his earlier, more turbulent film *Passages*.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

leonard lauders klimt painting fetches sothebys 2713549

A Gustav Klimt painting, *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914), sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the most expensive work ever sold at Sotheby’s as well as the most expensive Modern artwork at auction. The work was part of a sale dedicated to the collection of the late art patron Leonard Lauder, who died in June at age 92. The bidding lasted about 20 minutes, with Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker opening at $130 million; the winning bid of $205 million came from Sotheby’s staffer Julian Dawes, representing a phone client. The sale included two dozen works from Lauder’s trove, which also featured three Klimt paintings and six Henri Matisse bronzes.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 9 link 9 artists

christies 20th century art november new york by the numbers 2715393

Christie’s fall auction season in New York opened with a robust evening sale of 20th-century art on Monday night at Rockefeller Center, achieving a total of $690 million after fees. The sale featured an 18-lot offering from the private collection of Robert and Patricia Weis, followed by the main 20th-century auction. The top lot was Mark Rothko’s *No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)* (1958), which sold for $62 million, while Claude Monet’s *Nymphéas* (1907) brought $45.5 million. The sale had a 95 percent sell-through rate, with 55 of 80 lots guaranteed, and strong in-person bidding provided a boost of market confidence after months of art fair cancellations and gallery closures.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

jewel venice biennale show crystal bridges 2714681

Singer-songwriter Jewel, a Grammy nominee and former sculpture student, will debut her first solo exhibition titled "Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost" at Salone Verde in Venice from May 10 to November 22, 2025, coinciding with the 62nd Venice Biennale. The show, presented by Crystal Bridges Museum of Art and organized by curator-at-large Joe Thompson, features new paintings, sculptures, tapestries, installations, and sound works exploring feminine power, climate change, and universal connection. Highlights include a massive plaster sculpture of a pregnant woman created with artist Patrick Bongoy, a glass installation produced at the Toledo Museum of Art, and works incorporating data from NASA, NOAA, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

california attorney general nazi looted picasso madrid 1234762075

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has re-entered the long-running legal battle over a Camille Pissarro painting, *Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain* (1897), which was sold under duress by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to a Nazi appraiser in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks. The painting is now held by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Cassirer family has sought its return for decades. A new California law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September allows exceptions for property taken as a result of political persecution, and Bonta is now defending the state's authority to compel the return of stolen art to victims connected to California.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 18 link 14 artists

the phillips collection to deaccession georgia okeeffe arthur dove georges seurat 1234761918

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is proceeding with plans to auction major works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby's on November 20, despite sharp backlash from former curators, members of the Phillips family, and the museum's non-governing members body. The works—including O'Keeffe's *Large Dark Red Leaves on White* (estimate $6–8 million), Seurat's conté crayon drawing ($3–5 million), and Dove's *Rose and Locust Stump* ($1.2–1.8 million)—are considered central to founder Duncan Phillips's vision. Director and CEO Jonathan Binstock argues the proceeds will fund a permanently restricted endowment for commissioning new work by living artists, acquisitions, and collection care, aligning with Duncan Phillips's belief in supporting contemporary practitioners.

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article news schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

stolen banksy print recovered thief sentenced 2536351

A judge at London's Kingston Crown Court sentenced Larry Fraser to 13 months in jail for stealing a Banksy print of the iconic *Balloon Girl* image from Grove Gallery in September 2024. Fraser, who pleaded guilty, used a hammer to break a glass door and stole the print in 36 seconds, hoping to pay off a drug debt. The Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad recovered the artwork within days after Fraser and accomplice James Love stashed it on the Isle of Dogs. Love was acquitted by a jury, claiming he was unaware of the theft until after the fact.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

shanghai art week 2025 2713268

Shanghai Art Week 2025 is underway, anchored by two major concurrent art fairs: Art021 Shanghai and West Bund Art and Design, running from November 13 to 16. West Bund has relocated to a new venue, the West Bund Convention Center designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, featuring over 200 participants including 106 galleries in its main sector. Art021 returns to the Shanghai Exhibition Center with 139 galleries from 22 countries, including 33 first-time participants. The Shanghai Biennale opened early at the Power Station of Art, curated by Kitty Scott under the title "Does the Flower Hear the Bee?" featuring 67 artists and collectives. Meanwhile, alternative events like "Artist's Treat," launched by Xu Zhen in collaboration with Hol Platform and ShanghArt Gallery, are drawing attention in repurposed local spaces.

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article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 13 link 4 artists

pioneer works choke hole performance 2712023

At Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, a drag queen professional wrestling event called Choke Hole, part of artist Raúl de Nieves's exhibition, was disrupted when audience member and performer Chiquitita stormed the stage. She objected to a skit that made light of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations, shouting that 'ICE is not entertainment!' and hurling the microphone into a video screen. The performance, titled ARMAGEDDON, featured an alien queen plot involving nuclear codes and ICE, and Choke Hole later apologized, removing the segment from subsequent shows.

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article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 14 link 2 artists

choke hole ice pioneer works apology 1234761721

Choke Hole, a drag wrestling show, issued an apology on Friday for a controversial ICE-themed segment performed at Pioneer Works, a Brooklyn art center. The event, titled ARMAGEDDON, was held in conjunction with a show by artist Raúl de Nieves and featured a character named Visqueen, a sex robot, who announced that an ICE agent was present to deport an alien queen. Wrestler Candy Pain fought the fictional agent and won, but the performance angered spectators, including trans activist Chiquitita, who confronted the cast and criticized the trivialization of real ICE violence. Choke Hole acknowledged the harm, donated over $3,000 to NYC ICE Watch, and urged followers to contribute.

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person people schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 17 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

friedrich kunath 2702451

Artist Friedrich Kunath, known for his sincere yet absurd paintings, discusses his unlikely friendship with tennis star Reilly Opelka, who is also an art collector. The two share a mutual obsession with each other's crafts—Kunath coaches Opelka in tennis, while Opelka seeks Kunath's insights on artists like Philip Guston. Kunath is preparing for his solo debut at Pace Gallery in New York this November, following his move from Blum Gallery, which closed shortly after. He reflects on the loneliness of both tennis and art, and his creative process, which draws heavily from music and film.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

metallica kirk hammett conan frank frazetta 1234761649

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett is auctioning Frank Frazetta's painting *Conan the Berserker* (1967), which he purchased directly from the artist for $1 million in 2009. The work, originally used as cover art for a paperback edition of Robert E. Howard's novel *Conan the Conqueror*, will be offered in Heritage Auctions' “Hollywood/Entertainment Signature Auction” on December 9–10, with bidding starting at $10 million. The sale follows a record-breaking Frazetta auction in September, when his oil painting *Man Ape* (1966) sold for $13.5 million.

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article news schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

tate staff vote strike inadequate pay 1234761617

More than 150 unionized workers at Britain's Tate museums, represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), will strike from November 26 to December 2 over what they call inadequate pay raises. The strike follows a vote where 98% of members supported action, with 88% turnout. Staff at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives were offered a 2-3% salary increase, which the union argues is below the government's Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance maximum of 3.25%. The action coincides with the opening of the major exhibition "Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals" at Tate Britain on November 27.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

dolce and gabbana exhibition ica miami february 1234761299

Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana announced that its exhibition “From the Heart to the Hands” will travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, opening February 6, 2026, and running through June 14. Curated by fashion historian Florence Müller, the show features over 300 pieces from the brand’s archival and recent collections, including its Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Gioielleria lines, displayed in immersive rooms inspired by art, architecture, folklore, and the dolce vita. The exhibition also includes collaborations with visual artists such as Quayola, Alberto Maria Colombo, Obvious, Vittorio Bonapace, and Felice Limosani.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

amoako boafo red dress consignor jesse williams 1234761249

An Amoako Boafo painting, *Red Dress* (2017), has been consigned to Phillips’s upcoming modern and contemporary art day sale by actor and ARTnews Top 200 collector Jesse Williams. The work, estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, depicts Thelma Golden, director of the newly reopened Studio Museum in Harlem. It was previously featured in Boafo’s 2022 solo exhibition “Soul of Black Folks” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. This marks another instance of a work from Williams’s collection appearing at Phillips, following a Noah Davis painting consigned by his ex-wife in 2024.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists

wifredo lam moma retrospective surrealism review 1234761241

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has opened a major retrospective of Afro-Cuban Surrealist painter Wifredo Lam, featuring over 200 works. The exhibition highlights Lam's masterpiece *Grande Composition* (1949), a 14-foot-wide painting recently acquired by MoMA after years of negotiation with a Paris collector. Curated by MoMA's new director Christophe Cherix and Beverly Adams, the show reexamines Lam's career, emphasizing his Afro-Cuban heritage and his use of hybrid figures like the femme-cheval, which reference Lucumí spiritual traditions.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

stolen painting saint francis returned mexico church 1234761129

A painting of Saint Francis of Assisi, stolen from the Church of San Francisco de Asis in Teotihuacán, Mexico, in 2001, has been recovered and returned to the church. The six-foot-tall work, painted in 1747 by an unknown artist, was among 18 artworks taken in a nighttime theft. It resurfaced in 2018 when it was consigned to Mexico City auction house Morton Subastas, whose due diligence with the Art Loss Register flagged it as stolen. The painting, valued at 280,000 Mexican pesos ($15,000), was returned to the church in a ceremony led by Padre Teodoro García Romero.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

thomas kaplan rembrandt lion fractionalize collection 1234760823

Sotheby's hosted a lunch in Paris for billionaire collector Thomas S. Kaplan, who is selling a Rembrandt drawing titled *Young Lion Resting* (ca. 1638–42) from his Leiden Collection. The drawing, with a high estimate of $20 million, will be auctioned in New York in February, with all proceeds donated to Panthera, the wild cat conservation charity Kaplan founded. Kaplan acquired the work in 2005 from the Herring gallery and has kept much of his collection anonymous, but is now stepping forward to support conservation and public access.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 8, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

manny davidson collection sale results sothebys paris 1234760513

Sotheby’s Paris raised €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from two live sales of the Manny Davidson collection this week, with a third online sale still ongoing. The collection, spanning nearly 500 lots, included rediscovered Old Masters, 18th-century gold enamel, and an automaton clock by James Cox. Highlights included Michael Sweerts’s *A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test* (1648–52), which sold for €1.6 million, and Joshua Reynolds’s *Self-Portrait, in doctoral robes* (ca. 1770), which fetched €838,200. The evening sale achieved 83% sell-through by lot, with most buyers from Europe and a third from the US.

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article news schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 16 link 3 artists

teen tourist faces charges after dousing met museum masterpiece 1234760356

A 19-year-old tourist, Joshua Vaurin, allegedly vandalized artworks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on November 3. He threw water at Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's 19th-century painting *The Princess de Broglie* and a 16th-century altarpiece by Girolamo dai Libri, then ripped two tapestries. Vaurin was taken into custody, arraigned on criminal mischief charges, and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. The Met reported minor damage with repairs estimated at $1,000.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 15 link 2 artists

doug aitken first exhibition in india nita mukesh ambani cultural centre 1234760355

Multimedia artist Doug Aitken will present his first exhibition in India, titled “Under the Sun,” opening December 6 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai. The site-specific show, commissioned by NMACC and curated by Roya Sachs and Mafalda Kahane of TRIADIC, spans three floors exploring past, present, and future through hand-carved wooden sculptures, embroidered textiles, a light installation, and Aitken’s film NEW ERA (2018), created in collaboration with over a dozen Indian artisans.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

manny davidson collection sale sothebys paris 1234760156

Sotheby's Paris is selling "The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence," a multi-owner sale of nearly 500 lots spanning Old Masters, 19th-century British paintings, 18th-century gold enamel, and decorative objects. Highlights include a rediscovered Michael Sweerts portrait estimated at €800,000–€1.2 million, a Thomas de Keyser portrait of a silversmith, and a Joshua Reynolds self-portrait study. The sale, which includes an evening auction on November 5 and an online component, was previewed by Sotheby's global head of private sales, Old Masters, Chloe Stead.

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article news schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 24 link 15 artists

zohran mamdani mayor new york city art world responds 1234760198

Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election, prompting a wave of reactions from the art world. Artists, curators, and critics expressed hope and joy, with figures like Siddartha Mitter calling it a "beacon of civic renewal," while others like Jerry Saltz offered cautious support. Artists such as Aria Dean, Martine Syms, and Salman Toor were involved in his campaign, and El Museo del Barrio was the only institution to officially endorse him. However, some voices, like the market-oriented account Jerry Gogosian, criticized his socialist policies as potentially harmful to the art market.

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article news schedule Nov 3, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

climate activist timothy martin degas sculptures sentenced 1234759911

Timothy Martin, a climate activist with the group Declare Emergency, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smearing paint on a glass vitrine protecting Edgar Degas's sculpture *Little Dancer, Age Fourteen* at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in April 2023. He was found guilty of conspiracy and injury to government property, and must also pay $4,062 in restitution, perform 150 hours of community service, and is barred from entering Washington, D.C. and its museums. His co-activist, Johanna Smith, had previously pleaded guilty and served a 60-day sentence.

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article news schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

talladega college hale woodruff murals partnership 1234759606

Talladega College, a historically Black college in Alabama, has partnered with the Toledo Museum of Art, Art Bridges, and the Terra Foundation for American Art to share six monumental murals by artist Hale A. Woodruff. Painted between 1939 and 1942, the murals depict key moments in African American history, including the Amistad uprising and the Underground Railroad. Under the agreement, the Toledo Museum of Art acquired *The Underground Railroad* (1942), while Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation jointly acquired the three Amistad murals; the remaining two murals stay at the college. All six works will be periodically reunited on campus, ensuring their continued connection to the institution that commissioned them.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

canceled samia halaby exhibition recreated qatar 1234759416

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar has mounted a presentation of seven works by Palestinian artist Samia Halaby that were originally slated for a canceled survey at Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art in December 2023. The university cited “safety reasons” for the cancellation, which Halaby criticized as occurring amid the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The works are displayed in the first gallery of the exhibition “we refuse_d,” curated by Vasif Kortun, which also includes pieces by other artists whose shows were canceled, such as Jumana Manna. Halaby’s paintings span 1980 to 2024 and include the previously unseen “Worldwide Intifadah” (1989) and “Massacre of the Innocents in Gaza” (2024).

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article news schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 12 link 4 artists

gauguin self portrait kunstmuseum basel authenticity report 1234759147

The Kunstmuseum Basel has confirmed that a Paul Gauguin self-portrait, titled *Portrait de l’artiste par lui-même* (1903), is an authentic work by the French painter, despite decades of scrutiny. The painting, held by the museum since 1945, was subjected to scientific analysis—including pigment testing, radiography, and infrared reflectography—at the Bern Academy of the Arts after amateur art sleuth Fabrice Fourmanoir claimed it was actually painted by Gauguin’s friend Ky-Dong Nguyen Van Cam. The tests showed the pigments date to Gauguin’s era, but also revealed overpainting on the face, possibly done between 1918 and 1926, though the museum found no evidence of intentional forgery.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 24, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

oliver jeffers praise shadows 1234757537

Artist and children's book illustrator Oliver Jeffers held a dip performance two days before the opening of his solo show at Praise Shadows gallery in Boston, where he destroyed a portrait of Japanese artist and cancer survivor Yuri Shimojo by submerging it in enamel paint. The invite-only audience watched in silence as the image disappeared, a ritual Jeffers describes as both a death and a birth, exploring themes of memory, loss, and hidden variables. His exhibition also features his "Disaster Paintings," which treat serious subjects like climate change and violence with absurdist humor.

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article news schedule Oct 24, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 artists

chris levine rob munday queen portrait lawsuit 1234758805

British artist Rob Munday has filed a lawsuit against Chris Levine in the High Court, claiming he is the co-creator of two iconic holographic portraits of Queen Elizabeth II—Equanimity and Lightness of Being (2004). Munday alleges that Levine and his company Sphere 9 violated his moral rights by failing to credit him as a co-author, despite a 2005 agreement recognizing joint authorship. The works, commissioned by the Jersey Heritage Trust and held in London’s National Portrait Gallery, were created using holography technology. Levine denies the claims, calling Munday a "technical subcontractor," and says he will fiercely defend his sole authorship. The case follows a separate 2023 dispute between Levine and the trust over unauthorized copies, which was settled with a statement naming Levine as the sole artist commissioned.

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