"Es ist nur die Frage: Bist du reich genug oder nicht?"

A Christie's auction in New York saw Jackson Pollock's "Number 7A" sell for approximately $181 million, contributing to a total of $1.1 billion in sales for the evening. The auction, covered by Vanity Fair and the New York Times, featured intense bidding between figures like Iwan Wirth and Alex Rotter, while names such as Jeff Bezos and Ken Griffin were speculated to be involved. Combined with sales from Sotheby's and Phillips, the week generated around $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, a separate controversy erupted in France over artist Claire Tabouret's new stained-glass windows for Notre-Dame Cathedral, with critics arguing they violate heritage protection laws. Additionally, the Fondation Beyeler faces allegations that a Cézanne watercolor in its current exhibition may be Nazi-looted art from the collection of Jewish paper wholesaler Gustav Schweitzer.

No, the courts have not cleared the way for contemporary stained-glass windows at Notre-Dame

Non, la justice n'a pas laissé la voie libre aux vitraux contemporains de Notre-Dame

The article clarifies that legal challenges against installing contemporary stained-glass windows in Notre-Dame Cathedral are still ongoing, contrary to misleading headlines. Two judicial procedures remain active: an appeal by the heritage association Sites & Monuments after losing a first-instance ruling on procedural grounds, and a separate case contesting the legitimacy of the works themselves. Although an emergency injunction was denied because the judge found no urgency, the core legal arguments—that replacing Viollet-le-Duc's windows is not conservation or restoration—remain strong. The author warns that if the windows are installed before the appeals are resolved, they may later have to be removed at great expense.

claire tabouret criticism notre dame cathedral commission

French figurative painter Claire Tabouret has been awarded the commission to create new stained glass windows for Notre-Dame Cathedral, replacing 19th-century works by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus that survived the 2019 fire. Her designs, featuring multiethnic, multigenerational worshipers during Pentecost, were unveiled in the exhibition "Claire Tabouret: In a Single Breath" at the Grand Palais. The project, chosen by President Emmanuel Macron and Archbishop Laurent Ulrich from 110 candidates, has drawn criticism as an act of vanity and a possible violation of heritage guidelines, though Tabouret and Macron remain undeterred.