Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Nov 26, 2025 visibility 6 link 5 artists

art bites andy warhol perfume scents 2709247

This article explores Andy Warhol's lifelong passion for perfume, detailing how the Pop Art icon collected and wore fragrances, created his own scent called "You're In / Eau d'Andy" in 1967, and produced screen-prints of Chanel No. 5 bottles as part of his "Ads" series in 1985. It notes that the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh holds his half-used bottles, referred to as his "Permanent Smell Collection," and that his love of scent was tied to his Catholic upbringing and work as a window display designer.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 10 link 19 artists

art bites plein air painting history 2711050

The article traces the history of plein air painting, beginning with French painter Pierre Henri de Valenciennes in the 1780s, who created one of the earliest known outdoor oil sketches on the banks of the river Rance in Brittany. It follows the evolution of the practice through British painter John Constable, the Barbizon school in France, and the revolutionary impact of John G. Rand's invention of the paint tube in 1841, which enabled artists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to capture light and atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 4 link 3 artists

rembrandt print drawer auction 2718031

A rare Rembrandt counterproof print, "The Goldweigher" (1639), was discovered in a Victorian chest in the Norfolk studio of the late theater designer Alan Barlow. His son, Edward Barlow, found the print while sorting through the studio and initially assumed it was a common reproduction. After examination by Cheffins auction house, it was identified as an original preparatory print, with reversed orientation, a Strasbourg lily watermark, and black chalk lines indicating Rembrandt's hand. It will be auctioned on December 3 with an estimate of £10,000–£20,000.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 3 link 5 artists

rodin egypt art collection show isaw 2717783

The Musée Rodin has brought Auguste Rodin's collection of ancient Egyptian art to the United States for the first time, in an exhibition titled "Rodin's Egypt" at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). The show presents about 60 objects across two galleries, including Egyptian artifacts Rodin collected from the 1890s onward, alongside a dozen of his own sculptures. Curated by Bénédicte Garnier and Roberta Casagrande-Kim, the exhibition highlights Rodin's deep engagement with Egyptian art and features loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as objects tied to the Brummers family of art dealers.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 10 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

warhol bardot clemente bar 2717670

Artnet News' Wet Paint column reports on a special auction held at Clemente Bar in New York, where Fair Warning—an app founded by former Christie's executive Loic Gouzer—sold an Andy Warhol portrait of Brigitte Bardot for $14.5 million ($16.7 million with fees). The event, hosted by Gouzer and curator-advisor Lolita Cros, featured former Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen and attracted a crowd of high-net-worth individuals, including Greek shipping magnate George Economou, dealer David Mugrabi, artist Tony Shafrazi, and other art-world figures. Bidding started at $7 million, and the winning bid came from an anonymous phone bidder.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 12 link 1 artist

california revives nazi looted pissarro cassirer case 2717210

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion on November 17 to intervene in the Cassirer family's two-decade-long restitution case for a Camille Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis. The artwork, *Rue Saint Honore, Apres Midi, Effet De Pluie* (1897), is owned by Spain's Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had previously ruled that Spanish law applied, allowing the museum to keep the painting, but California's Assembly Bill 2867, signed into law in September, now seeks to apply California law to protect victims of art theft. The case has been sent back to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for reconsideration.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 10 link 14 artists

frida kahlo el sueno sothebys auction 2690737

Frida Kahlo's painting *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) sold at Sotheby's New York for $54.7 million on Thursday night, setting a new auction record for any artwork by a female artist. The sale, which lasted under five minutes, exceeded the previous record held by Georgia O'Keeffe's *Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1* ($44.4 million in 2014). The painting was backed by an irrevocable bid and came from the collection of Selma Ertegun, offered as part of a Surrealist group titled "Exquisite Corpus." Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's head of Latin American art, placed the winning bid on behalf of a client.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 10 link 10 artists

sothebys modern pritzker exquisite corpse auction results 2716914

On Thursday night, Sotheby’s held a three-part sale of Impressionist, Modern, and Surrealist art at the Breuer Building in New York, generating $304.6 million against a cumulative estimate of $218.8 million to $301.2 million. The smallest sale, 13 lots from the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, achieved a “white glove” result with $109.5 million, led by Vincent van Gogh’s *Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes)* (1887) which sold for $62.7 million. The Surrealist offering, “Exquisite Corpus,” from the collection of Nesuhi and Selma Ertegun, featured Frida Kahlo’s *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) which set a record for the artist at $54.7 million, becoming the most expensive work by a woman artist at auction (nominal price).

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 8 link 13 artists

who was felix vallotton 2715786

A painting by Swiss-French artist Félix Vallotton, *Femme couchée dormant (Le Sommeil)* (1899), sold for $2.8 million at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday night, exceeding its high estimate of $2.5 million. The work was part of the Pritzker Collection sale, which also featured masterpieces by Van Gogh, Matisse, and Gauguin. Vallotton’s auction record remains at nearly $4.5 million, set by *Cinq heures* (1898) at Christie’s London in late 2023.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 10 link 10 artists

louvre couture mfa houston fashion exhibition 2716957

The Louvre's blockbuster exhibition "Louvre Couture," which drew over one million visitors in Paris, has opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). The show pairs high-fashion garments and accessories—from Yves Saint Laurent to Jacquemus—with artworks and decorative objects, illustrating how designers draw from art history. The Houston edition features 36 objects from 23 designers, including pieces by Jean Paul Gaultier, Iris van Herpen, Schiaparelli, and a John Galliano-designed Dior gown, displayed across two buildings and over a dozen galleries.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 10 link 13 artists

magritte bucksbaum collection sothebys sale 2698202

At Sotheby’s Modern evening auction, René Magritte’s 1942 painting *Le Jockey perdu*—which the artist considered a turning point in his career—sold for over $12.3 million, exceeding its high estimate. The work was part of a group of ten consignments from the estate of shopping mall magnate Matthew Bucksbaum and his wife Carolyn “Kay” Bucksbaum, influential collectors and philanthropists who met on a blind date in 1952. Alongside works by Salvador Dalí, Jean Dubuffet, Paul Klee, and Joan Miró, the evening sale netted more than $25 million, with remaining pieces appearing in subsequent day sales.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists

frank lloyd wright usonian home jackson mississippi 2663742

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has acquired Fountainhead, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian home in Jackson, Mississippi, for $1 million. The residence, built in 1954 for oilman J. Willis Hughes, is one of only four Wright homes in the state and the only one listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was sold by the estate of late architect Robert Parker Adams, who had restored the property after purchasing it in 1980. The museum plans to preserve the home and open it to the public as a cultural destination.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 17 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

the push to preserve nina simones childhood home just got a 6 million boost thanks to venus williams and adam pendleton 2307161

The childhood home of legendary singer and activist Nina Simone in Tryon, North Carolina, has been fully restored after nine years of effort by an artist coalition led by Adam Pendleton, alongside Julie Mehretu, Rashid Johnson, and Ellen Gallagher. The restoration, completed with a $6 million boost from a charity auction and gala co-hosted by tennis star Venus Williams and Pace Gallery, preserved the 650-square-foot clapboard house to its 1933–1937 condition, including historically accurate materials, an ADA ramp, geothermal climate control, and a century-old magnolia tree named “Sweetie Mae.” The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund announced the completion, and the property remains closed to the public while community programming and ethical cultural tourism are being planned.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 7 link 5 artists

art bites barbie museum collection 2436091

Mattel and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) have announced a five-year global partnership, launching their first collaborative collection of seven MoMA-inspired Barbie dolls. The debut lineup includes a Van Gogh Barbie featuring a gown inspired by *Starry Night* (1889), alongside other dolls drawing from iconic artworks. This new collection follows Mattel's earlier 2015 Museum Collection, designed by Linda Kyaw, which included Barbies styled after works by Gustav Klimt, Leonardo da Vinci, and Vincent van Gogh, such as a Da Vinci Barbie modeled after the *Mona Lisa* and a Klimt Barbie based on *Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I* (1907).

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 10 link 12 artists, 1 gallery

phillips modern contemporary november dinosaur 2716370

Phillips’s Modern and Contemporary art evening sale in New York on Wednesday achieved $67.3 million, a 24.4% increase over last year’s total but far below the $154.6 million record set in 2023. The 33-lot sale landed at the top end of its pre-sale estimate, with Francis Bacon’s *Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer* (1967) selling for $16 million as the top lot. Notably, the auction included dinosaur bones for the first time—a juvenile triceratops skeleton nicknamed Cera—which proved a lucrative draw, while a painting by rising British artist Jadé Fadojutimi and a gold nugget called “The Thunderbolt” both failed to sell. Only one new artist record was set, for Firelei Báez at $645,000.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 8 link 4 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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 7 link 5 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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 6 link 2 artists

basquiat crowns peso neto sothebys auction 2697577

An early Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981), sold for $48.3 million at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale on Tuesday night, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $35–45 million. The work, making its auction debut, was created when Basquiat was 21 and features his signature motifs of crowns, black faces, and cartographic lines. Bidding lasted five minutes, with Sotheby’s chairman for China Jen Hua winning on behalf of a phone client. The painting had been held in three private collections over four decades and was previously exhibited at Basquiat’s first solo show at Annina Nosei, documenta 7, the Whitney Museum, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 6 link 7 artists

norman rockwell president white house paintings auction 2 2704973

A four-panel suite of paintings by Norman Rockwell, titled *So You Want to See The President!* (1943), sold for $7.2 million at Heritage Auctions on November 14. The work, which hung in the White House for decades, was bought by the White House Historical Association, marking its most expensive acquisition to date. The sale followed a bitter ownership dispute among descendants of the original commissioner, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's press secretary Stephen T. Early, with a federal judge ruling in favor of the current owner, William Elam, in 2023.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 17 link 20 artists, 4 galleries

paint drippings art industry news nov 14 2713592

This week's art industry roundup covers major developments across auctions, galleries, and art fairs. Highlights include $1.6 billion in art heading to auction at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips in New York; the sale of the 'Mellon Blue' diamond for $25 million at Christie's Geneva; and the Vanderbilt jewels achieving $4.2 million at Phillips Geneva. In galleries, Sperone Westwater faces possible closure or transformation after 50 years, while Upsilon Gallery opens a new space in Milan. The IFPDA Print Fair expands to include drawings and rebrands, and Abu Dhabi Art will relaunch as Frieze Abu Dhabi next year. The Gallery Climate Coalition reports significant emissions reductions among its members.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 10 link 15 artists

dirty looks fashion exhibition 2709059

A new London exhibition, "Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion," opens at the Barbican Art Gallery, exploring how designers have used dirt, distress, and imperfection as acts of defiance and new forms of beauty. Curated by Karen Van Godtsenhoven, the show features over 60 designers from Alexander McQueen and Maison Margiela to emerging upstarts, tracing moments like the rise of anti-fashion in the 1980s and trends like bogcore. It runs until January 2026 and is the Barbican's first fashion-focused show in eight years.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 15 link 20 artists

kevin mcgarry reviews jason faragos even 300996

Kevin McGarry reviews the debut issue of *Even*, a new print art journal launched by *Guardian* contributor Jason Farago during Frieze New York. Named after a phrase from Marcel Duchamp's *The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even*, the magazine is a small, paperback-sized publication that prioritizes text over images, positioning itself as an antidote to market-driven art discourse. The first issue features a lengthy essay on artist Joan Jonas by Elisabeth Lebovici, timed to Jonas's U.S. pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, and a piece by Zachary Woolfe on the Björk exhibition at MoMA. McGarry critiques the journal's ambition to revitalize art criticism, noting that while its goals are lofty, the content sometimes falls back on familiar artspeak.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 13 link 9 artists

whitney open plan fifth floor 391610

The Whitney Museum of American Art is launching a new program called "Open Plan" in its fifth-floor galleries from February 26 to May 14, 2016. The program will feature a series of solo projects by artists including Andrea Fraser, Lucy Dodd, Michael Heizer, Cecil Taylor, and Steve McQueen, each presenting work for a short duration in the museum's largest column-free gallery space. The initiative aims to showcase the newly opened Renzo Piano-designed building's full potential and encourage repeat visits.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 11 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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 13 link 4 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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 8 link 2 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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 7 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

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.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 7 link 9 artists

renoir drawings exhibition morgan 2671263

A woman in Pennsylvania purchased a nude charcoal sketch for $12 at a local auction, later discovering it was a Pierre-Auguste Renoir drawing now potentially worth six figures. This fall, the Morgan Museum and Library will present "Renoir Drawings," the first exhibition dedicated to the artist's works on paper since 1921, bringing together over 100 drawings, pastels, watercolors, and prints. The show is organized thematically, covering Renoir's academic studies, sketches of modern life, and portraits, and will reunite finished works with preparatory drawings, including major loans from the Musée d'Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 7 link 7 artists

consuelo kanaga brooklyn museum 2669306

The Brooklyn Museum has opened "Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit," a major solo exhibition dedicated to the pioneering American photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1978). The show features nearly 200 works drawn from the museum's extensive collection of 2,000 negatives and 340 prints, gifted by Kanaga's third husband, artist Wallace Putnam. Kanaga, one of the nation's first women photojournalists, is celebrated for her socially conscious images capturing labor activists, the poor, and African Americans under Jim Crow laws, as well as cityscapes, portraits, and still lifes. The exhibition is organized with Madrid's Fundación MAPFRE and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and curated by Drew Sawyer, formerly of the Brooklyn Museum and now at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jul 24, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists

med school class university alabama birmingham art 1890549

The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine has launched a new course, "Prescribing Art: How Observation Enhances Medicine," in collaboration with the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The course tasks junior- and senior-level medical students with analyzing famous artworks by artists including Michelangelo, Paul van Somer, Sir Luke Fildes, Mary Cassatt, and David Levinthal to improve their observational skills and address biases in health care. Developed by associate professor Stephen Russell, the course is an updated version of a 2011 program based on a Yale seminar, expanded this year to focus on bias and tolerance of ambiguity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original