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.
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.
One of J.M.W. Turner's earliest oil paintings, *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol*, painted when he was 17, will be auctioned at Sotheby's London with an estimate of £200,000–£300,000. The work had been misattributed for decades and sold last year at Dreweatts for just £600–£800 as a work by a follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson, before cleaning revealed Turner's signature. The painting was originally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793 and had not been publicly displayed for 167 years.
Citigroup is selling its Mexican retail banking operation, Citibanamex, along with a collection of approximately 2,000 Mexican artworks dating from the 18th century to the present. The collection includes works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Leonora Carrington, and Remedios Varo, and is considered the most important private painting collection in Mexico. Citibanamex has stated the collection is an integral and indivisible part of the sale and will not be sold separately.
London's auction houses held seven sales of Modern British art this week, achieving £22.3 million (including buyer's premium) against a presale estimate range of £21.3 million to £31.7 million. A total of 547 of 705 lots sold, a 77.6% sell-through rate. Bonhams struggled, with half its top lots unsold, including a Henry Moore bronze estimated at £1–2 million, but Pyms gallery and art adviser Wentworth Beaumont bought key works below estimate. Sotheby's raised £6.4 million, led by Edward Burra's *Striptease, Harlem* (1934) at £842,500, and a Paul Nash watercolor tripled its estimate to £212,500. Christie's achieved the highest total at £12 million, topped by Barbara Hepworth's *Figure (Sunion)* (1960), bought by Pyms gallery for over £800,000.
Hundreds of items from filmmaker David Lynch’s personal estate are being auctioned by Julien’s in Los Angeles, with online bidding already exceeding $56,000. The nearly 450 lots include movie props, musical gear, Polaroids, and more, spanning Lynch’s career. Top-performing items include his personalized director’s chair (bidding at $15,000), a red curtain from Twin Peaks ($2,750), a photo of a nuclear explosion from Twin Peaks: The Return ($6,000), a personal 35mm print of Eraserhead ($7,000), a vintage boomerang sofa ($4,500), and a signed Man Ray photograph ($3,500). The sale also features musical instruments from his home studio, such as a custom five-neck Ferrington guitar and a Roland synthesizer. The auction officially ends on June 18 and is held in collaboration with Turner Classic Movies.
Mari-Claudia Jiménez, a prominent figure in the international art market and former chairman and president of the Americas at Sotheby's, has joined global law firm Withers to launch Withers Art and Advisory, a hybrid legal-art advisory practice based in New York. The new venture will provide collectors, estates, and institutions with integrated market advice and legal counsel on acquiring and holding art, combining real-time market insight with transactional legal expertise. Jiménez, a barred attorney, has overseen landmark deals including the restitution and sale of five Kazimir Malevich paintings, the $106.5 million sale of Picasso's *Nude, Green Leaves and Bust*, and the record-breaking $922 million Macklowe collection auction.
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.
Doyle Auctions will sell over 300 lots from the estate of Mary Tyler Moore, including memorabilia from her iconic television shows, collected artworks, and furnishings from her homes in New York and Greenwich, Connecticut. The auction follows a Beverly Hills preview from May 16 to 20 and takes place at Doyle New York on June 4. Highlights include sketches by Al Hirschfeld, photographs by Annie Leibovitz, works by Peter Max and Mimmo Paladino, pre-Columbian pottery, and the golden "M" from *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* (estimated at $5,000 to $8,000).
Christie's 21st-century evening sale in New York on Wednesday night totaled $96.5 million, surpassing last year's $80.3 million, though the auction was characterized by caution, few fireworks, and a reduced number of lots. The headline event was Marlene Dumas's painting *Miss January* (1997) selling for $13.6 million with premium, setting a new auction record for a living female artist. The work, estimated at $12–18 million, was guaranteed and sold to a client bidding through Christie's deputy chairman Sara Friedlander; Miami collectors Don and Mera Rubell were the consignors. Other notable results included new records for Simone Leigh, Emma McIntyre, and Louis Fratino, while the top lot was Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Baby Boom* (1982) at $23.4 million. Four of 43 lots were withdrawn, and several works failed to sell, including an Ellsworth Kelly canvas with a $2 million low estimate.
Rago/Wright's Postwar and Contemporary Art sale in New York will take place on May 21, 2025, featuring over 200 lots of 20th- and 21st-century works including painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture. Highlights include Nick Cave's *Soundsuit* (2010), Deborah Butterfield's *Red* (1992), Cindy Sherman's *Untitled #416* (2004), Tom Wesselmann's *From Nude Painting Print* (1988/1989), and Bernard Buffet's *Bouquet jaune fond orange* (1966), with estimates ranging from $70,000 to $150,000. Previews will be held in New York and Lambertville, New Jersey from May 13 to May 21.
Sotheby's held a marathon night of three sales in New York, totaling $186.1 million in contemporary and ultra-contemporary art. The evening began with single-owner sales from the collections of the late dealer Barbara Gladstone and veteran dealer Daniella Luxembourg, both achieving 'white glove' results with no buy-ins. The main sale featured 42 lots, led by Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Untitled* (1981), which sold for $16.4 million. Overall, 66 of 69 lots sold, with a 94% sell-through rate, though the total fell short of the $234.6 million achieved in the equivalent sale last year.
Cowley Abbott's spring live auction, 'Select Masterworks of Canadian and International Art,' will take place on May 28, 2025, featuring over 90 lots. Highlights include works by Marcelle Ferron (Sans titre, 1964, est. $300,000–$400,000), Andy Warhol (Ladies and Gentlemen (Ivette and Lurdes), 1975, est. $70,000–$90,000), Emily Carr (Fir Trees, ca. 1935, est. $275,000–$375,000), Henri Le Sidaner (L’Escalier, Beauvais, ca. 1900, est. $100,000–$150,000), and Fernand Léger (Composition, 1950, est. $30,000–$50,000). The sale spans Pop art, Canadian Modernism, Post-Impressionism, and abstraction.
Sales in the decorative-art category—including design objects, furniture, jewelry, and watches—dropped nearly 42% year on year in 2024, netting $3.3 billion, the lowest total in a decade. The average price of a decorative artwork at auction fell 39.5% to $13,010, also the lowest since 2014. Sotheby’s and Christie’s remained nearly tied, with Sotheby’s edging ahead by $72.9 million. Europe led regional sales with $1.3 billion, followed by Asia at $1 billion and North America at $898 million.
Sotheby's Modern art evening sale in New York generated $186.4 million in total sales after fees, but the headline was the failure of Alberto Giacometti's 1955 sculpture *Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego)*, estimated at $70 million, which failed to receive a single bid. Despite the high-profile flop, Sotheby's walked away with $34.4 million in buyer's premium net of fees paid to third-party backers, and because it did not guarantee the Giacometti, it faced no financial risk from the unsold lot. The top seller was Pablo Picasso's *Homme assis* (1969), which sold for $15.1 million with fees. The sale's sell-through rate was 76.9 percent, and the hammer total of $152 million fell $88.3 million below the presale low estimate.
Sotheby's modern art evening sale in New York on Tuesday night achieved $186.4 million with buyer's premium across 60 lots, with a sell-through rate of 83.3%. Top lots included Pablo Picasso's *Homme assis* ($15.1 million), Georgia O'Keeffe's *Leaves of a Plant* ($13 million), and a new auction record for Paul Signac's *Saint-Georges. Couchant (Venise)* ($8.1 million). However, the sale was overshadowed by the failure of Alberto Giacometti's *Grande tête mince*, a 1955 bronze bust estimated north of $70 million, which went unsold after bidding stalled at $64 million.
A rare Frank Lloyd Wright lamp, the Double-Pedestal lamp, sold at Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction on May 13 for $7.5 million, far exceeding its $3–5 million estimate after an 11-minute bidding war. Designed in 1902 for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Illinois, the lamp is one of only two surviving examples; the other remains in the house’s collection. The sale set a new auction record for a Wright work, surpassing the previous high of $2.9 million for a 1902 ceiling light sold in 2023.
A 1955 bronze bust by Alberto Giacometti, estimated at $70 million, failed to sell at Sotheby's modern evening auction in New York on May 13, 2025. The sculpture, from the estate of real estate magnate Sheldon Solow, was offered without a guarantee and bidding reached $64 million before the lot was pulled after four minutes, likely because the reserve price was set above that amount. Auctioneer Oliver Barker presided over the sale, which Sotheby's CEO Charles Stewart described as an organic auction moment despite the lack of a sale.
New York's marquee auction season begins this week, headlined by Christie’s offering the $250 million art collection of Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio, including Pablo Picasso’s *Femme à la coiffe d’Arlésienne sur fond vert (Lee Miller)*. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has released the grant application for the 61st Venice Biennale, introducing tighter deadlines and new ideological guidelines. Separately, Sotheby’s Hong Kong has postponed an auction of ancient Indian gemstones linked to the Buddha.
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun and entertainment mogul David Geffen are locked in an escalating legal battle over Alberto Giacometti's sculpture *Le Nez*. Sun purchased the work for $78.4 million at Sotheby's in 2021, but claims his former art adviser Sydney Xiong fraudulently sold it to Geffen for $10.5 million in cash and two paintings, using forged documents and fictitious lawyers. Sun filed suit in New York in February; Geffen countersued in April, calling the allegations "bizarre and baseless" and accusing Sun of "seller's remorse." Sun's legal team now asserts that Xiong has been detained in China since February, while Geffen's camp points to inconsistencies in Sun's story and his broader financial and legal troubles.
Smith and Partner, a London-based art investment firm, has been accused of defrauding over a thousand investors out of $11 million through a scheme involving high-pressure sales of limited edition art prints with promises of future returns that rarely materialized. The company, founded by Austrian citizen Peter Paul Adam in 2015, faced complaints from 2020 onward, leading to its bank freezing accounts and an investigation by British Trading Standards. Liquidators are seeking $17 million in compensation, and a High Court judge has upheld asset freeze orders against former director Luke Sparkes and his company Zeno Fine Art, which allegedly inflated print prices by nearly 500 percent.
An Oklahoma bankruptcy court ruled on April 28 that Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, will be sold for $1.4 million to McFarlin Building LLC. The sale concludes a two-year legal saga involving previous owner Cynthia Blanchard, who acquired the building for $10 in 2023 but failed to follow through on promised renovations, leading to a bankruptcy auction with no additional bids beyond McFarlin's baseline offer. The new owner, Macy Snyder-Amatucci, plans to revive the building as a hotel and residences.
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.
Frieze, the international art fair group, has been sold to Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood power broker who previously owned it through Endeavor. Emanuel acquired Frieze via a new, unnamed company from his former entertainment conglomerate, which was recently taken private by Silver Lake. The deal, valued at approximately $200 million according to sources, includes all seven fairs, Frieze magazine, and the No. 9 Cork Street exhibition space. Simon Fox will remain CEO. The sale comes just days before Frieze New York’s 2025 edition and follows months of speculation about the fair's future ownership.
Wayne Thiebaud's 1961 painting *Pie a la Mode* will headline Bonhams' 20th and 21st century sale in New York on May 14, with an estimate of $1.2 million to $1.8 million. The work, which depicts a lone slice of pie with melting ice cream against a stark black background, is making its auction debut after six decades in a private collection. The 25-lot sale also includes works by Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, Fernando Botero, Joel Shapiro, and Ernie Barnes.
The sale of Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Fräulein Lieser* (1917), which fetched €35 million ($37.51 million) at im Kinsky in Vienna in 2024, has collapsed after the anonymous Hong Kong buyer withdrew. The buyer had attempted to negotiate indemnification settlements with all known heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser for 60% of the sale proceeds, but one heir refused to sign, causing the deal to fall through. The auction house now faces estimated losses of at least €1.5 million ($1.7 million).
The foundation overseeing the Emil G. Bührle collection has reached a settlement with the heirs of Jewish collector Max Silberberg over Édouard Manet's painting *La Sultane* (c.1871), allowing the work to remain on view at the Kunsthaus Zurich. Bührle, a German Swiss industrialist who profited from arms sales to Nazi Germany and used slave labor, amassed a collection now known to include many Nazi-looted artworks. The settlement follows a 2021 report by Raphael Gross finding that over a quarter of the 205 loaned works likely belonged to Jewish owners, sparking public protests and artist Miriam Cahn's withdrawal of her works from the museum.
Untitled Art, the contemporary art fair, is returning to Houston for its second edition this October. To kick off plans, the fair has commissioned two artist projects that will be unveiled at the city's 39th annual Art Car Parade.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem is highlighting the work of its curatorial team, specifically focusing on how Lydia Peabody, Lan Morgan, and Ruthie Dibble are revitalizing the institution's collections. A primary focus is the exhibition 'Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone,' where Peabody integrated contemporary photography and video by artist Gisella Torres to create a dialogue with Lewis’s 19th-century neoclassical marble sculptures. Other initiatives include Lan Morgan’s 'Beyond the Broom' project, which uses short films to showcase a community-focused perspective of Salem beyond its 'witch city' reputation.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opened its new David Geffen Galleries, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in collaboration with SOM, for a summer preview before the building's official opening in April 2026. The 110,000-square-foot exhibition space, elevated on seven pavilions and made of concrete and glass, was opened to the public for three days with performances by 120 musicians. The preview also includes outdoor sculptures, commissioned artworks by Mariana Castillo Deball and Sarah Rosalena, and new dining and retail spaces.