The 2025 edition of TEFAF Maastricht has opened with 277 dealers from 24 countries, showcasing 7,000 years of art history despite significant geopolitical instability in the Middle East. While the fair remains a premier destination for Old Masters and high-end antiques, exhibitors are navigating logistical hurdles caused by regional conflicts and airport closures in major transit hubs like Dubai.
Christie’s announced a projected sales total of $2.1 billion for the first half of 2025, matching its H1-2024 figure. While art categories like Impressionist, modern, and Old Masters saw modest growth—Old Masters sales rose 15% to $55 million—luxury categories (handbags, watches, cars, jewelry) surged nearly 30% to $468 million, now accounting for 22% of the total. Notable sales included René Magritte’s *La reconnaissance infinite* (1933) for £10.3 million and Piet Mondrian’s *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black, and Blue* (1922) for $46.7 million. Guaranteed lots remained low at 1.5%, and the sell-through rate held steady at 88%.
Sotheby's underperformed with the highly anticipated Saunders Collection of Old Masters, which was estimated at $80–120 million but sold for only $65.4 million, falling $14.6 million short of its low estimate. The sell-through rate was a dismal 58%, with 16 of 43 lots failing to sell in the standalone auction. Christie's also saw disappointing results, with a smaller sale totaling $6.89 million, 17% below its low target. The collection, amassed by the late banker Thomas A. Saunders III and his wife Jordan, was billed as the most valuable Old Masters collection ever to come to auction.
WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum has filed a lawsuit against interior designer Remi Tessier, alleging a pattern of fraud including inflated prices and undisclosed commissions. One example involves a $7.8 million Picasso painting where Tessier allegedly received a $600,000 secret commission from the gallery. Separately, the National Museum of Korea faced backlash after posting a photo of its director with music executive Bang Si-hyuk, who is under criminal investigation for alleged stock fraud. The article also reports that Sotheby's has appointed Evelyn Lin as Asia chairman of modern and contemporary art, and that global auction sales of Old Masters rose 24% in the first half of 2025, with younger collectors increasingly buying old paintings.
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.
Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London set a new auction record for Canaletto on Tuesday, when his painting *Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day* (circa 1732) sold for £31.9 million with fees ($43.7 million), far exceeding its £20 million estimate. The work, once owned by Britain’s first prime minister Robert Walpole, drew five bidders and sold to an anonymous phone bidder via Christie’s international director Alice de Roquemaurel. The previous Canaletto record of £18.6 million was set at Sotheby’s in 2005.
Billionaire entrepreneur Thomas S. Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati Kaplan are selling Rembrandt's drawing *Young Lion Resting* (circa 1638-42) from their Leiden Collection, one of the world's largest private holdings of 17th-century Dutch art. Sotheby's announced on November 3 that the work will be auctioned during its Old Masters sales in New York on February 4, 2026, with a pre-sale estimate of $15 million to $20 million. Proceeds from the sale will benefit Panthera, a wild-cat conservation organization co-founded by Kaplan and philanthropist Jonathan Ayers, marking the 20th anniversary of the organization's founding.
The article analyzes the best-selling artworks at auction in the first half of 2025, covering Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern, and Postwar categories. Notable sales include a pair of Francesco Guardi views of Venice that sold for $10.5 million at Sotheby’s New York, a Piet Mondrian abstraction from the estate of Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio that fetched just under $50 million, and a monumental rhinoceros-shaped desk by François-Xavier Lalanne that more than tripled its high estimate after a 13-minute bidding war. The report highlights that Old Masters sales were up 24% year-over-year, while top Impressionist and Modern lots saw lower prices compared to 2024.