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  • Christie’s and Sotheby’s Close 2025 With a Market Rebound Fueled by Luxury and New Buyers

    Dynamo Phyllis Kao led Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction, which scored a $178.5 million result with strong participation from Asia. Julian Cassady Photography / Ali

    After a challenging 2024—marked by a 25 percent contraction in the auction market—both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are closing 2025 with a clear rebound, according to newly released year-end results. Sotheby’s reported projected consolidated sales of $7 billion for 2025, a 17 percent increase over 2024. Christie’s, on a similar upward trajectory, expects to finish the year with $6.2 billion in global sales, up nearly 7 percent from last year’s $5.8 billion and broadly in line with its 2023 total. Following a slow start dampened by subdued May auctions, both houses regained momentum after the summer as the market strengthened, culminating in a multibillion-dollar fall season across London and New York.

    While the blockbuster results of November’s marquee sales may not be sufficient on their own to signal a full recovery—concentrated as they are at the very top of the market—the broader picture reflected in these year-end numbers offers more substantial grounds for optimism. This year’s gains were driven not only by fine-art trophies but also by the continued rise of luxury collectibles and design—categories that are proving especially effective at attracting new buyers, often younger and from emerging markets, and ultimately broadening the base of the market overall.

    Sotheby’s record year, led by trophies and luxury

    Sotheby’s recorded a 26 percent year-over-year increase in auction sales to $5.7 billion, with a sharp acceleration in the second half of the year, which brought in 59 percent more than the same period in 2024. Private sales contributed an additional $1.2 billion, slightly below the prior year but still substantial.

    Fine art sales generated $4.3 billion in revenue for the auction house in 2025, marking a 15 percent increase from the previous year’s downturn. The rebound was fueled by the exceptional quality of consignments secured for the fall season, including record-breaking masterpieces such as the $236.4 million Gustav Klimt—the most expensive work ever sold by Sotheby’s—and the $54.7 million Frida Kahlo, which set a new record for a work by a female artist.

    November’s inaugural sales at the Breuer delivered the year’s biggest revenue surge, with six white-glove auctions totaling $1.173 billion in just a few days. Single-owner collections played a decisive role, including the $527.5 million Lauder collection in New York and the $137 million Karpidas collection earlier in London—high-profile consignments that helped lift market sentiment at a critical moment. “Our strong performance in the second half of the year demonstrates clear momentum in our markets, driven by more high-quality, major collections meeting Sotheby’s record levels of buyer demand,” confirmed Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart.

    At the same time, Sotheby’s “Another World” strategy—transforming its major regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Paris and now the iconic Breuer building into cross-category boutique destinations—is beginning to deliver tangible results. The luxury sector is becoming increasingly central to the business, generating $2.7 billion in revenue, up 22 percent year-over-year and surpassing $2 billion for the fourth straight year.

    Luxury is also emerging as a primary driver of market expansion, capable of attracting younger collectors while opening doors to new and rising markets. This was underscored by Sotheby’s successful $133 million Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi, whose cross-category luxury offerings drew collectors from 35 countries. Of those bidding, 28 percent were new to Sotheby’s and nearly one-third were under the age of 40.

    The $10.1 million sale of Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin in Paris this summer focused attention on both the rising value and estate-planning complexities of luxury collectibles. Sotheby’s also reported a record year for watches, with a $42.8 million white-glove December auction in New York immediately following Collectors’ Week. That sale was led by the record-breaking complete four-piece set of the Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000, which sold for $11.9 million.

    Jewelry maintained strong momentum in Abu Dhabi and globally, with sales up approximately 18 percent. Meanwhile, RM Sotheby’s automotive division exceeded $1 billion in revenue for the first time, propelled by multiple records—including a 1994 McLaren F1 (chassis 014), the most expensive McLaren ever sold at public auction, and the highest-priced new Ferrari ever to hit the auction block during Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week.

    Sports collectibles continue to attract bidders, but the standout among today’s collectibles may be dinosaurs, as demonstrated by the juvenile Ceratosaurus that soared to $30.5 million at Sotheby’s—more than seven times its low estimate.

    The Design category also continues to gain traction and importance, with 65 percent growth over last year. It closed with a $50.2 million auction earlier this month—the highest total ever for the category—led by Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, which reached a record-setting $31.4 million.

    Taken together, these categories are central not only to sustaining the market but to reshaping Sotheby’s identity—from a traditional auction house catering primarily to connoisseurs into a broader luxury-experience destination capable of attracting bidders across multiple price tiers. This represents a key strategy in today’s market. By expanding participation and transaction volume, Sotheby’s can continue to drive revenue growth even as the ability to consistently secure multimillion-dollar fine-art masterpieces—this season included—remains neither guaranteed nor sufficient on its own to support headline results year after year.

    A Christie’s auctioneer gestures from the podium as Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) and its multimillion-dollar currency conversions are displayed on large screens before a packed salesroom.A Christie’s auctioneer gestures from the podium as Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) and its multimillion-dollar currency conversions are displayed on large screens before a packed salesroom.
    Adrien Meyer sells the top lot of The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G Ross Weis, Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) for $62,160,000. Christie’s

    At Christie’s, the right pricing strategy met sustained bidding

    Christie’s also reported what CEO Bonnie Brennan described as a “healthy and successful year,” with total auction revenue rising 8 percent to $4.7 billion. Combined with $1.5 billion in private sales—representing approximately 24 percent of the total—this brought the auction house’s global sales for 2025 to $6.2 billion, a 7 percent increase from the previous year.

    One of the clearest indicators of how sustained bidding aligns with pricing strategy on the auction-house side is sell-through and sold-by-lot performance—an obsession of Christie’s global director Alex Rotter, as he recently revealed in an interview with ARTnews. Christie’s reported a sell-through rate of 88 percent and a hammer-to-low estimate index of 113 percent, both notably higher than in 2024.

    The Americas remained Christie’s leading market, accounting for 41 percent of total sales with $2.584 billion in value after a 15 percent year-on-year increase. That growth was largely driven by standout consignments in New York, including the $272 million Leonard & Louise Riggio collection in May and the $223 million collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis. The latter was topped by Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), which sold for $62.1 million and helped push November’s marquee sales to a record $964.5 million—the highest in three years.

    The MEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) also expanded its share of Christie’s global total, rising from 32 percent in 2024 to 36 percent in 2025, with $1.435 billion in sales. Asia-Pacific, by contrast, declined for the second consecutive year, generating $686 million—5 percent less than the year before—and now accounts for 23 percent of Christie’s global business. Sales for Asian Art and World Art were also down 6 percent this year.

    The 20th and 21st century category remains Christie’s core revenue driver, generating $2.859 billion in 2025, a 6 percent increase from the previous year. However, the Classics and Old Masters segments posted even stronger growth, generating $285 million and $182 million, with increases of 15 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Leading the Old Master category was Canaletto’s Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, which sold in July in London for a record-setting £31.9 million ($43.9 million).

    Meanwhile, the importance of the Luxury and Automotive markets continues to rise. Luxury sales reached $795 million, up 17 percent from 2024, while automotive sales through Gooding Christie’s totaled $234 million—an increase of 14 percent and the highest-grossing year in the company’s history.

    Crucially, luxury is proving to be Christie’s most effective tool for attracting new and younger buyers. It accounted for 38 percent of new bidders in 2025, outperforming even the 20th and 21st century category, which contributed 33 percent. Asia-Pacific buyers in particular were highly engaged, with regional president Rahul Kadakia noting that they contributed 37 percent of global Luxury auction spend. This underscores the strong potential of Eastern markets—especially Southeast Asia—when engaged through categories aligned with their growing and increasingly affluent populations.

    Christie’s also saw increased engagement from the Indian diaspora and broader participation across the Asia-Pacific region, which remains one of the strongest growth opportunities alongside rising spending power in the Middle East, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

    For Christie’s—as for all the major auction houses—sustaining revenue growth hinges on expanding the market: both by tapping rising geographies and by attracting new generations of collectors capable of growing with the brand.

    The demographic shifts are promising. In 2025, 46 percent of new bidders and buyers were millennials or younger, up roughly 5 percent from the previous year. The female client base also grew by about 10 percent. These trends align with wealth management forecasts and the 2025 Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting, which found that high-net-worth women outspent their male peers by an average of 46 percent on art and antiques in 2024. Women were also more likely than men to collect digital works, pieces by unknown artists, and emerging talent—pointing to both rising influence and evolving preferences that are reshaping the market.

    All of this is unfolding in the context of the so-called “Great Wealth Transfer,” as economists forecast trillions of dollars passing from older generations to younger ones, boosting disposable income and discretionary spending among buyers already demonstrating a strong interest in collecting. Women are projected to inherit a substantial share of this wealth—some estimates suggest up to 70 percent—and by 2030, they are expected to control trillions in investable assets, a dramatic rise compared to previous decades.

    Equally critical to attracting new buyers is the diversification of offerings across price points and categories, paired with technology designed to reach a generation that lives and buys online. In 2025, 63 percent of Christie’s new buyers made their first purchase online, where the average price (excluding wine) rose 14 percent year-on-year to $22,700.

    Christie’s plans to continue investing in tech through 2026, including its collaboration with Dubbl on the Christie’s Select app for Apple Vision Pro, which offers immersive, spatial auction previews, and the ongoing Art+Tech Summits.

    But attracting new buyers is only half the equation. Retention and long-term engagement—especially with younger collectors—are equally important. New buyers acquired in 2024 returned in 2025 and increased their total spend by 54 percent, with 22 percent purchasing in a different category from their original acquisition. These figures point to encouraging momentum not just for Christie’s but for the broader art and collectibles market, suggesting that even amid recalibration, a more diverse audience is emerging—one ready to support the market’s next chapter, even as tastes and trends continue, as always, to evolve.

    Christie’s and Sotheby’s Close 2025 With a Market Rebound Fueled by Luxury and New Buyers

    Elisa Carollo

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  • In Its Best Week Since 2021, Sotheby’s Hit $1.173B With a $54.7M Kahlo Finale

    On November 20, Sotheby’s generated a combined total of $304.6 million between the Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection, Exquisite Corps and Modern Evening sales. Julian Cassady Photography / Ali

    Of the $1.6 billion of art expected to change hands during this year’s November sales, $1.1 billion was secured by Sotheby’s when the evening sales concluded on the 20th. When tallied with the Day sales the following afternoon, the auction house’s fall marquee week sales had generated a total of $1.173 billion—the second-highest total ever after the $1.33 billion achieved in November 2021 at the height of the contemporary and ultracontemporary markets.

    Following the success of the Leonard A. Lauder sale, which delivered a $527.5 million Evening total and a clean 100 percent sold rate for the $3.8 million Day sale offering (est. $3.2 million), Sotheby’s completed a full white-glove, three-sale marathon. It opened with The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection Evening Auction, which totaled $109.5 million, followed by the $98.1 million Exquisite Corpus sale and a $97 million Modern Evening auction. Driving many of the lots was strong participation from Asia, which accounted for 30 percent of total bidding, a reminder that Asian collectors respond enthusiastically when true quality comes to market.

    Most importantly, if 2021 belonged to the contemporary and ultracontemporary frenzy, these marquee sales showed a clear pivot. Buyers turned toward art-historical touchstones by the most established names in Modern art or toward figures long overlooked and now undergoing reassessment. Across the November sales, Sotheby’s sold $843 million of Modern works, the highest total ever for the category in a single season. Prestigious provenance and strong storytelling were key in this inaugural auction round at the Breuer building for Sotheby’s, with single-owner collections accounting for 72.5 percent of the week’s total ($828,244,220 of $1.173 billion). And in the contemporary segment, it was the artists with the strongest institutional foundations who rose to the top.

    “After years of uneven seasons, this week’s results demonstrate that the often quoted cliche of the three D’s (death, debt and divorce) powering the art market has never been truer,” Mari-Claudia Jimenéz, partner and co-head of Withers Art & Advisory, confirmed. For the industry’s seasoned expert, the abundance of fresh-to-market, extraordinary-quality estate properties inspired buyers to return with gusto to chase the best-in-class works with impeccable histories.

    Sotheby’s evening marathon on November 20 began with the collection of Chicago’s Cindy and Jay Pritzker, who are best known for founding the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979. The sale immediately set the tone of the night, generating $109.5 million across just 13 works against a pre-sale estimate of $73.5 million to $88.5 million.

    Leading the auction was Vincent van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) (1887), a radiant still life from the artist’s Paris period in which a stack of yellow-bound books becomes a portrait of his voracious intellect and humanist curiosity. Boasting an extensive exhibition history, the canvas was pursued for at least seven minutes by five bidders and sold for a record-setting $62.7 million, well above its estimate of around $40 million and setting a new benchmark for any still life by the artist.

    Deep bidding also accompanied the sale of Wassily Kandinsky’s musical watercolor “Ins violett” (Into Violet) from the height of his Bauhaus period, listed as No. 188 in his handlist. Sought by five bidders in a spirited exchange, it more than doubled its high estimate, fetching $2,368,000 (est. $700,000-$1,000,000).

    Other Modern masterworks in the Pritzker collection prompted intense competition. Camille Pissarro’s Bords de l’Oise à Pontoise, dating to the beginning of the artist’s second sojourn in Pontoise in 1872, was pursued by four bidders and achieved $2.5 million against its $1.2-1.8 million estimate. Félix Vallotton’s poetic domestic scene, Femme couchée dormant (Le Sommeil), triggered an animated battle between six collectors on the phones and in the room, pushing it above its $1.8-2.5 million estimate to sell for $2.8 million. The canvas had been acquired by the Pritzkers from Wildenstein & Co., New York, in 1985 and remained with them ever since, as did most lots in the sale.

    Lot 10, the Cubist Nature morte by Fernand Léger, also sparked back-and-forth bidding from five contenders, driving the work to $2,214,000, nearly double its $800,000-$1.2 million estimate. This was followed by a $9,200,000 result for Max Beckmann’s classics-inspired canvas, sought by five bidders, and Joan Miró’s uncanny sculptural reinterpretation La Mère Ubu, which achieved $5,052,000 after a battle between four bidders, landing near the midpoint of its $4-6 million estimate. The bronze had been acquired by the couple in 1980 from legendary dealer Pierre Matisse in New York.

    Another highlight, Henri Matisse’s Léda et le cygne, sold for $10.4 million, meeting its high estimate with fees. One of the very few architectural pieces by the artist—the majority of which are in public spaces or museums—and the first of its kind to appear at auction, the unique work was commissioned in 1943 by Argentine diplomat Marcelo Fernández. Last exhibited publicly during the 1984-85 Matisse exhibition at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, it was acquired the following year by the Pritzkers from Feingarten Galleries in Los Angeles. But Paul Gauguin’s La Maison du Pen du, gardeuse de vache from his Nabis period failed to find enough bidders to meet its $6-8 million estimate, selling instead at its reserve for $4,930,000.

    Frida Kahlo’s $54.7 million record

    The evening continued with a section entirely dedicated to Surrealism, as the movement continues to gain momentum, further ignited by the major Surrealist show that has just opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and as its unsettling aesthetic resonates uncannily with the chaos, sentiments and desire to exorcise it that define our time. In only one night, Sotheby’s placed more than $123 million of Surrealist works, the highest total for Surrealist art ever sold in one evening at Sotheby’s.

    A painting by Frida Kahlo shows a woman sleeping in a yellow bed while a skeletal figure lies on a second bed stacked above her against a cloudy sky background.A painting by Frida Kahlo shows a woman sleeping in a yellow bed while a skeletal figure lies on a second bed stacked above her against a cloudy sky background.
    Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) from 1940 achieved $54.7 million with fees, becoming the most expensive work by a female artist. Sotheby’s

    The dedicated single-owner sale Exquisite Corpus offered works from one of the most distinguished private Surrealist collections, accumulated over four decades, yet kept rigorously unnamed in keeping with the movement’s aura of mystery. Nonetheless, given that many of the lots appeared in the Guggenheim’s 1999 exhibition “Surrealism: Two Private Eyes,” which celebrated the collections of Daniel Filipacchi and record producer Nesuhi Ertegun—who together assembled the most important grouping of Surrealist art in private hands—we can reasonably speculate that the consignor is most likely the Ertegun estate, especially once noticing that several works list in their provenance that they were acquired from the Parisian dealer Daniel Filipacchi, ruling him out as the consignor. Artnews reached the same conclusion, reporting that the 1940 Kahlo was consigned by the estate of Selma Ertegun, who built the collection with her late husband Nesuhi Ertegun. The session closed with a white-glove result of $98.1 million, with 67 percent of works selling above their high estimates.

    The undisputed star of the collection was Frida Kahlo’s masterpiece of mystery and spirituality, El sueño (La cama), which ignited spirited international bidding before hammering at $47 million, or $54.7 million with fees, to Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby’s senior vice president and head of the Latin American art department. The result not only set a new record for the artist but also for any woman artist at auction, surpassing the previous $44.4 million benchmark set by Georgia O’Keeffe in 2014. The mystical canvas had been purchased by the consignor at Sotheby’s in 1980 for $51,000 and remained in the collection since then, marking a return of roughly 107,000 percent.

    Depicting a skeleton floating above the artist as she lies in her bed—herself suspended midair as a fragile terrestrial vessel—Kahlo visualizes what art historian Whitney Chadwick describes as the “Mexican belief in the indivisible unity of life and death.” Considered a key work in Kahlo’s career, where she reached the height of her symbolic and psychological resonance, the canvas boasts a major exhibition history, having appeared in “Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti” (1982-83) at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the Haus am Waldsee in Hamburg, Kunstverein Hannover, Kulturhuset Stockholm, New York University’s Grey Art Gallery and the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City. It also featured prominently in the Guggenheim’s 1999 show “Surrealism: Two Private Eyes,” and in the Tate’s landmark Kahlo survey in 2005, which later traveled to the Walker Art Center and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2007-08.

    We will see this masterpiece again soon in a slate of upcoming exhibitions, including “Frida y Diego: The Last Dream” at MoMA in New York (March 22-September 7, 2026), “Frida: The Making of an Icon” at Tate Modern in London (June 25, 2026-January 3, 2027), “Frida Kahlo—The Painter” at Fondation Beyeler in Basel (January 31-May 17, 2027), and “The Autonomous Gaze” at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, Kunstmuseum Basel, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art and BOZAR Brussels (December 2026–July 2028).

    Another standout of the evening, Salvador Dalí’s jewel-like Symbiose de la tête aux coquillages, captivated several bidders with its hallucinatory power, reaching $4,198,000 (est. $2-3 million) on the phone with an Asian bidder. With a distinguished exhibition history—from the Hayward Gallery’s Dada and Surrealism Reviewed (1978), to Centre Pompidou’s “Salvador Dalí: rétrospective, 1920-1980 (1979-80),” to the Guggenheim’s “Surrealism: Two Private Eyes (1999)”—the work was acquired from Daniel Filipacchi in Paris in 1977 and remained with the consignor ever since, meaning they were also responsible for these museum loans.

    The market for Paul Delvaux also remains strong, with his haunting Composition reaching the high end of its estimate and selling for $3.8 million (est. $2.5-3.5 million).

    Female Surrealists remain a bright spot. First exhibited in 1953 as part of her solo show at Alexander Iolas in 1958 and formerly in the collection of William N Copley, Dorothea Tanning’s otherworldly Interior with Sudden Joy sold for $3.2 million (est. $2-3 million), setting a new record for the artist. Her previous record, Endgame (1944), achieved $2.3 million at Christie’s last May.

    hanting image of women dressed in white dresses in the darknesshanting image of women dressed in white dresses in the darkness
    Dorothea Tanning’s otherworldly Interior with Sudden Joy sold for $3.2 million (est. $2-3 million), setting a new record for the artist. Sotheby’s

    Highly coveted among collectors are the extremely rare paintings on masonite by Remedios Varo. Created shortly after Varo fled war-torn Europe, marking a pivotal shift in the artist’s storied practice, her Sans titre from 1943 approached the million mark after fees, landing at $952,500 (est. $500,000-700,000). Her current record, Revelación, was set last May at Christie’s at $6.22 million, surpassing her earlier $6.19 million record for Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente) in 2020. Reflecting the growing curatorial effort to decentralize Surrealism beyond Paris, the recent major survey celebrating the movement’s centenary dedicates its final room to a compelling dialogue between Varo and Leonora Carrington.

    Another striking leap came for the French artist, illustrator and long-underrecognized Surrealist insider Valentine Hugo, whose Le Crapaud de Maldoror climbed to $825,555 after seven bidders pushed it far beyond its $150,000-200,000 estimate. And for those who enjoy the footnotes of Surrealist intrigue, the piece dates from the period when Hugo was also romantically entangled with André Breton.

    New attention to Surrealist influences in Latin American modernism also propelled Óscar Domínguez’s La Machine à écrire, which more than doubled its high estimate and sold for $3.7 million (est. $1-1.5 million). More broadly, as institutions work to broaden the canon, overlooked figures outside Surrealism’s Parisian core are gaining the long-overdue recognition they deserve.

    One of them is Austrian-Mexican artist Wolfgang Paalen, a member of Abstraction-Création from 1934 to 1935, who joined the Surrealist movement after relocating to Mexico in 1935 and remained a significant figure until 1942. His revelatory, surreal landscape, Fata Alaska, set a new auction record for the artist at $1,016,000 (est. $350,000-450,000).

    Another double record arrived courtesy of Hans Bellmer, who broke his auction record twice in one night. First, his uncanny gouache Main et Bras achieved $508,000 (est. $100,000-200,000). Then, a rare and intensely erotic oil on canvas—a medium he rarely used, being far better known for his photographs of dolls—nearly reached the million-dollar mark, fetching a record-setting $942,000 (est. $300,000-400,000). “The starting-point of desire, with respect to the intensity of its images, is not in a perceptible whole but in the detail,” Bellmer wrote in his anatomy of image. “The essential point to retain from the monstrous dictionary of analogies/antagonisms which constitute the dictionary of the image is that a given detail, such as a leg, is perceptible, accessible to memory and available, in short, is real.” It is a reflection that perfectly encapsulates the tension between fascination and horror, erotism and violence that animates all his seductive yet unsettling work.

    A $97 million Modern Evening

    The evening concluded with the core offering of the Modern Evening auction, which across its 29 lots generated $97 million, surpassing the pre-sale estimate of $71.1-101.9 million. One of the evening’s most anticipated lots, René Magritte’s Le Jockey Perdu, led the sale, achieving $12.3 million after fees. The exquisite gouache encapsulates Magritte’s signature play with visual paradoxes, maintaining the sense of spatial disorientation and uncanniness—alongside the sly playfulness—that runs through his entire oeuvre. First conceived as a papier collé in 1926, the motif was quickly followed by an oil of the same title, which headlined the artist’s first one-man exhibition in 1927 at Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels. Evidently fascinated by the theme, Magritte returned to the image of the lost jockey in multiple gouaches and oils throughout his career. The work came from the collection of the late real estate magnate Matthew Bucksbaum and his wife Carolyn, whose group of works in the sale brought a combined total of $25.2 million.

    Despite the nearly three-hour marathon, the Modern session opened energetically with Joan Miró’s oil-on-burlap panel, Personnages et oiseau devant le soleil, also from the Bucksbaum Collection. It prompted a dynamic bidding battle between seven contenders, rapidly pushing it far beyond its $400,000-600,000 estimate to land at $2,368,000. The couple had acquired the work in 1998, when it last appeared at Sotheby’s, consigned by Perls Galleries.

    Other top results of the evening included Georgia O’Keeffe’s Large Dark Red Leaves on White, which landed at $7.9 million, just shy of its high estimate. Jean Dubuffet’s Restaurant Rougeit II sat comfortably within its range, selling for $7.5 million. Degas’s pastel of three ballerinas, Trois danseuses, was chased by five bidders and fetched $5.8 million.

    A forest with a man on the horseA forest with a man on the horse
    René Magritte’s Le Jockey Perdu led the Modern Evening sale, achieving $12.3 million after fees. Sotheby’s

    A Modern sale would be incomplete without Monet. One of his famed Impressionistic views, capturing the shifting light around Rouen Cathedral, more than doubled its low estimate, selling for $7.4 million after a lengthy bidding war among six bidders in different geographies. The painting was practically fresh to auction, having remained in the Schlumberger collection for over 60 years, and appeared at auction for the first time last night.

    Another artist who inspired strong interest was Childe Hassam, one of the leading American Impressionists and a central figure in what became known as the “Ten,” the group that broke from the Society of American Artists to champion a more progressive, modern approach at the turn of the 20th century. His Newport, October Sundown from 1901 was fiercely pursued by four bidders, achieving $2,002,000 above a $1.8 million high estimate. The painting came from the Sam and Marilyn Fox Collection, two prominent patrons and civic leaders from the St. Louis region, whose group generated a total of $2.7 million, exceeding its high estimate of $2.4 million.

    As MoMA finally pays overdue tribute to the work of Cuban artist Wifredo Lam with a show that opened earlier this month, his Ídolo (Oyá/Divinité de l’air et de la mort) drew strong attention in the room, selling for $7.4 million and marking the second-highest auction price ever achieved for the artist. The renewed institutional spotlight clearly reinforced market confidence, positioning the canvas as another highlight of the evening and Lam as a name we will likely see rise further at auction in the coming seasons.

    While the Modern section closed with white gloves, several lots still fell below their low estimates. Arthur Garfield Dove’s Rose and Locust Stump, backed by a guarantee and irrevocable bids, sold for $681,000, nearly half its low estimate, despite its extensive exhibition history. Andrew Wyeth’s dark landscape, East Waldoboro, also sold below expectations at $3,588,000 (est. $4-6 million). Jacques Lipchitz’s sculpture Baigneuse assise went for half its low estimate at $381,000, despite its prestigious provenance from the Geri Brawerman Collection, which generated a total of $16.7 million during the night.

    Sotheby’s continued with its day sales on November 21, which delivered an additional aggregated total above $51 million, between the $46,404,999 of the Modern Day Sale and the $4,912,868 for the Exquisite Corpus Day session. Sotheby’s Contemporary day sale, held a few days earlier, generated $111.4 million, the highest total ever for a Day sale at Sotheby’s. The white-glove offering for the Lauder day session brought the total for the Lauder collection to $531.3 million.

    Ultimately, Sotheby’s was the clear winner this round, generating a solid and unequivocally successful $1.173 billion with its Evening and Day sales. Meanwhile, Christie’s fall marquee sales totaled $965 million, while Phillips brought in $92,139,589 across its various sessions. In total, across all three auction houses, the November marquee sales have generated more than $2.2 billion, a number that suggests the market has rediscovered some of its energy. Miami, however, will be the real litmus test of the season, because what we saw in action and at auction this week was only the very top of the market.

    In Its Best Week Since 2021, Sotheby’s Hit $1.173B With a $54.7M Kahlo Finale

    Elisa Carollo

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  • A Juvenile Triceratops and Francis Bacon Heat Up Phillips’s $67.3 Million Evening Sale

    Phillips’s New York Evening Sale closed at $67.3 million—a 24 percent increase from last November. Photo: Jean Bourbon

    The auction results of the past few years have confirmed it: dinosaurs are on trend. And not just as prehistoric relics or tools of scientific inquiry, but as symbols of timelessness and taste. More and more, fossil skeletons are being treated as investments—something that is, in some cases, more emotionally and symbolically resonant than contemporary art with which it might share the auction block. Is it the return of Jurassic Park? Or perhaps simply that most of us are captivated by dinosaurs in childhood? In any case, as nostalgia increasingly drives purchasing decisions across collectibles markets, dinos are unquestionably riding the wave.

    Phillips has been strategically attuned to this shift—likely thanks to a younger cohort of specialists in its ranks. Instead of competing head-to-head with Sotheby’s and Christie’s single-owner sale narratives, the house has leaned into a different storytelling and marketing strategy, enhancing the symbolic power of artworks not through tales of glamorous collectors but by connecting the works to deep time.

    Last night, CERA—a juvenile Triceratops skeleton dated to 66 million years ago and the first of its species ever to appear at auction—fetched $5,377,000 in the Out of This World auction (a specially curated section of the house’s November Modern & Contemporary sales). While that figure may seem modest when measured against the marquee masterpieces of the season, spirited bidding pushed it far beyond its $2,500,000-3,500,000 estimate and confirmed demand for this type of collectible. It also brought Phillips an audience that may never have engaged with the auction house otherwise; representatives confirmed that the skeleton sold to a private American collector new to the house, though global interest had poured in ahead of the sale from both private buyers and international institutions.

    According to Miety Heiden, Phillips’ chairman for private sales, the result is a powerful testament to collectors’ evolving tastes. “More than ever, we’re seeing a desire for works that spark curiosity and transcend traditional categories. People are looking for objects that bring wonder and dialogue into a collection,” she said. “This result underscores the appetite for rare and extraordinary pieces that challenge convention and expand the boundaries of what collecting can be.”

    At this year’s Frieze Masters—the only segment of the global brand typically reserved for million-dollar modernist and Old Masters works—two of the opening day’s first sales were paleontological. David Aaron placed a Triceratops head from the Late Cretaceous (circa 68 million years ago) within the first hour, followed later by a complete saber-toothed Nimravidae skeleton from the Oligocene (circa 33.7-23.8 million years ago), which sold for a strong six-figure sum. And no one has forgotten the Stegosaurus Apex, which shattered records at Sotheby’s in July 2024, hammering at $44.6 million—more than seven times its $4-6 million estimate—to billionaire Ken Griffin.

    Phillips’s Evening Sale on November 19 achieved $67,307,850 across 33 lots, with a robust 94 percent sold by lot (only two passed) and 97 percent sold by value. It was a strong result, particularly considering the momentum already shown by Sotheby’s and Christie’s earlier in the week.

    Leaving behind the cutting-edge but highly speculative ultra-contemporary works that once dominated its auction offerings, the evening’s turnout—up 24 percent from last November—was driven by a pairing of institutionally recognized blue-chip artists of the past century with recent market consolidations, presented for the first time alongside natural history highlights under the Out of This World label. The top lot was the highly anticipated Francis Bacon Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer (1967), which sold for $16,015,000—neatly within its $13-18 million estimate. Just after came Joan Mitchell’s monumental Untitled (1957-1958), a densely gestural canopy of color from her New York years, which brought in $14,290,000.

    Another high-profile lot, Jackson Pollock’s dynamic 1947 work on paper, sold for $3,486,000—just below its high estimate. Mark Tansey’s Revelever (2012) sparked a competitive seven-minute bidding war that carried it to $4,645,000 against its $2,500,000-3,500,000 estimate. The hypnotic, conceptually loaded composition creates an optical push-pull that immerses viewers in a moment of driving toward a mountainous horizon, almost tasting the crisp air in its ultramarine haze.

    Meanwhile, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Exercise (1984), a loosely composed, surreal tangle of hallucination and paint, achieved $3,852,000 after a $3-4 million estimate. Another Basquiat from 1982 followed close behind, selling for $1,225,500. Camille Pissarro’s late Impressionist Le pré et la maison d’Éragny, femme jardinant, printemps (1901) surpassed its high estimate, closing at $1,900,000. Max Ernst’s Dans les rues d’Athènes (1960) doubled its expectations with a $1,534,000 result, riding the continued momentum for Surrealism. Rising Colombian artist Olga de Amaral also saw strong results. Her luminous golden textile Alquimia 62 (1987) soared to $748,200, well above its $300,000-500,000 estimate. A few lots later, a red composition from the same series met its estimate midpoint, hammering at $516,000.

    Firelei Báez set a new auction record—if only briefly. Her Daughter of Revolutions brought in $645,000 over a $300,000-500,000 estimate before being surpassed by a $1,111,250 result at Christie’s later that evening.

    Women artists once again delivered some of the evening’s most compelling results. Amid growing recognition for Alma Thomas, her Untitled collage from 1968—a blueprint for her signature mosaic-like abstractions—sold for $477,300 over a $250,000-350,000 estimate. Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (S.230, Hanging Single-Lobed, Five-Layered Continuous Form within a Form) opened the sale with a burst of energy, doubling its $400,000-600,000 estimate to achieve $1,006,200 as her MoMA retrospective opened. Others performed well too: a Martha Jungwirth fetched $516,000 (estimate $200,000-300,000), and Lucy Bull’s Light Rain (2019) exceeded its high estimate at $490,200.

    One of the night’s more surprising passed lots was a vivid 2022 abstraction by record-setting enfant prodige Jadé Fadojutimi, whose $800,000-1,200,000 estimate may have been too ambitious. Also unsold, despite its uniqueness and luxuriousness, was The Thunderbolt, the longest gold nugget ever discovered. Weighing 3,565 grams and measuring 50 centimeters, the 114.6-troy-ounce gold formation was estimated at $1.25-1.5 million but failed to find a buyer. Dug up by accident at Hogan’s Find in Western Australia, the rare natural formation was revealed by sheer chance.

    According to Robert Manley, Phillips’s chairman for modern and contemporary art, the success of the evening was due in part to the house’s new priority bidding system, which helped secure early commitments and interest on most lots. That contributed to 91 percent of works selling within or above estimate. “The enthusiasm was made especially clear by the fact that we had 27 times the number of early selling bids for this sale as we had last November, partly a result of our introduction of Priority Bidding,” he told Observer. The results, he said, confirmed not only the enduring draw of blue-chip artists but also the market’s resilience and ongoing global demand. “With strong participation from collectors worldwide and competitive bidding across Impressionist, Postwar, Contemporary and Natural History offerings, tonight’s outcome reaffirms confidence in the long-term strength of this market.”

    A Juvenile Triceratops and Francis Bacon Heat Up Phillips’s $67.3 Million Evening Sale

    Elisa Carollo

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  • The Top Collections (and Their Top Lots) Headlining the $1.6 Billion November Sales

    The collection of Robert F. Weis and Patricia G. Ross Weis has an estimate in excess of $180 million. Christie’s

    The November marquee sales in New York are among the most anticipated events on the global art calendar and the final litmus test of the market’s health after the London and Paris fairs and auctions. Leading the $1.6 billion New York auction week this November is a concentration of high-end, big-name collections, as single-owner sales have become an increasingly important tool for auction houses to secure major consignments and build momentum around a notable name and provenance. “A well-known individual definitely drives interest,” Elizabeth Siegel, vice president and head of private and iconic collections at Christie’s, told Observer.

    Over the past decade these types of sales have accounted for 15.6 percent of total value, according to ArtTactic, reaching a peak of 31.3 percent in 2022 with the Paul G. Allen Collection. In the first 10 months of 2025 they continued to outperform with white gloves and records, reaching 18.5 percent of global auction value. In the final week of November in New York alone, single-owner sales are estimated at $706.8 million of total auction value. “A single-owner sale totally elevates prices. It gives them a real boost,” Lisa Dennison, chairman of Sotheby’s Americas, confirmed.

    As New York’s fall auctions approach, here is a breakdown of the most anticipated collections set to appear as single-owner sales or within the marquee offerings, along with the top lots that have made headlines in the months leading up to this pivotal week for the art market.

    The Leonard A. Lauder Collection at Sotheby’s

    Klimt’s dazzling full-length portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, her figure shimmering against a dreamscape of Asian-inspired motifs and ornamental splendor.Klimt’s dazzling full-length portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, her figure shimmering against a dreamscape of Asian-inspired motifs and ornamental splendor.
    Gustav Klimt, Porträt der Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer), 1914-16. Estimate in excess of $150 million. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

    The $400 million Leonard A. Lauder: Collector sale on November 18 is one of the most anticipated auctions of the season, with Sotheby’s presenting a 24-lot evening sale at its new Breuer Building headquarters. Following Lauder’s passing last June, both Christie’s and Sotheby’s reportedly competed to secure what is considered one of the year’s most important consignments. Sotheby’s ultimately won the mandate, securing 55 masterworks from one of America’s great collectors and philanthropists, longtime Whitney patron Leonard A. Lauder, which will be split between the dedicated evening sale and a day session the following morning.

    The undisputed star of the sale is Gustav Klimt’s Porträt der Elisabeth Lederer, estimated in excess of $150 million and poised to surpass the artist’s current auction record of $108.8 million (£85.3 million), also set at Sotheby’s with Dame mit Fächer (Lady with Fan) in London in 2023. Executed between 1914 and 1916, the portrait is among Klimt’s most refined full-length depictions, portraying the young Elisabeth Lederer, daughter of two of his greatest patrons. It epitomizes Vienna’s Golden Age, a moment when youth, beauty, color and ornamental splendor merged into a vision of pure elegance, while also revealing the influence of fin-de-siècle exoticism. The composition’s flattened perspective and sinuous lines echo Japonaiserie and Chinoiserie, visible in the Asian-inspired motifs floating around Lederer’s Poiret-style gown, a nod to Klimt’s fascination with Chinese and Japanese art and textiles. Confiscated by the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz in 1939 and restituted to the Lederer heirs in 1946, the painting was later acquired from the family by Serge Sabarsky, an early advocate of German and Austrian modernism in the United States, before entering Lauder’s collection in the mid-1980s.

    Other exceptional Klimts in the sale are Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow) (1908), an exquisite example of the artist’s floral-period landscapes with an estimate in excess of $80 million, and Waldhag bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916), a depiction of an undisturbed lakeside idyll that reveals Klimt’s growing affinity with Van Gogh’s expressive brushwork, estimated in excess of $70 million. The number and high-quality works by artists from the Vienna Secession in the collection can be attributed to Leonard A. Lauder’s connection with his brother Ronald S. Lauder, one of the most notable collectors of the movement and co-founder and president of the Neue Galerie in New York. Both were sons of Estée and Joseph Lauder, founders of The Estée Lauder Companies.

    Additional highlights include an emotionally charged, psychologically complex Edvard Munch, Sankthansnatt (Johannisnacht) (Midsummer Night) (1901-03), estimated at $20 million, six bronzes by Henri Matisse expected to realize a combined $30 million and an immaculate graphite grid by Agnes Martin, The Garden, exemplifying her mastery of geometric precision and meditative restraint.


    The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis at Christie’s

    Bright abstract yellow orange and red paintingBright abstract yellow orange and red painting
    Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), 1958. Estimate on request, in the region of $50 million.

    Over more than 50 years, Patricia G. Ross Weis and Robert F. Weis assembled a collection that reflected not only the evolution of 20th-century art between Paris and New York but also the life journey they shared. The 18-lot single-owner Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis sale on November 17 is expected to generate between $92.35 million and $136.7 million, accounting for more than half of the collection’s total estimated value of $180 million, which includes another 80 works that will be distributed across additional auctions and categories.

    The top lot is a vibrant yellow-and-orange Mark Rothko painted in 1958, the same year the artist completed his monumental murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan’s Seagram Building. Acquired by the couple from PaceWildenstein in 1995, the work boasts an extensive exhibition history, including its inclusion in the important AbEx show the Beyeler Foundation staged in 1989. Estimated at around $50 million and backed by a third-party guarantee, the canvas stands as one of Rothko’s most powerful expressions of American abstraction, its layered chromatic fields pulsing with contained, tormented energy and sublime atmospheric depth.

    Another star lot in the collection is Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red and Blue (estimate: $20-30 million), signed and dated “PM 39-41.” This rare-to-auction painting belongs to the artist’s transatlantic period, as Mondrian began it in Europe and completed it in New York between 1939 and 1941. Its distinguished exhibition history includes “Mondrian: Nature to Abstraction” at the Tate in 1997. The work exemplifies Mondrian’s rigorous balance of line, color and luminous white ground, an essential yet conceptually intricate dialogue at the heart of his practice.

    Other anticipated works include an early Fauvist landscape by Georges Braque, Henri Matisse’s lyrical Figure et bouquet (Tête ocre) from his Nice period (estimate: $15-25 million), and Pablo Picasso’s La Lecture (Marie-Thérèse), a portrait of his muse estimated in the region of $40 million. Another exemplary work, one that justifies the sale title “A Tale Between Two Cities,” is the bold gestural abyssal composition Pierre Soulages painted in Peinture 161 x 200 cm, 14 novembre 1958, offered at $5-7 million, which resonates with the essential black marks on a white ground in Franz Kline’s Placidia from 1961 (estimate: $10-15 million).

    Robert F. Weis made his fortune as chairman of Weis Markets Inc., a family-run food company founded in 1912 in rural Pennsylvania, where the couple lived. A lifelong learner and avid reader, he developed a deep appreciation for art. Patricia Weis, born in New York City, shared his passion for art, architecture and design, an interest first sparked by an uncle in the fashion industry. She began collecting after meeting Lucie Rie and Hans Coper on a trip to London. Together, the pair became prominent philanthropists supporting educational, cultural, civic and medical institutions: Patricia served on the boards of Bard College and Franklin & Marshall College, while Robert was a Sterling Fellow at Yale University and sat on its Committee on Buildings and Grounds. They also championed Jewish causes and supported the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Metropolitan Opera.

    The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection at Sotheby’s

    Van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) hangs in an ornate frame above a stone mantel, flanked by blue-and-white vases, with bookshelves framing the scene.Van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) hangs in an ornate frame above a stone mantel, flanked by blue-and-white vases, with bookshelves framing the scene.
    A $40 million Vincent van Gogh, Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes), leads this Sotheby’s sale. Photo: Michael Tropea | Courtesy of Sotheby’s

    The other major consignment Sotheby’s has secured for November is the Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection, which is expected to generate a total in excess of $120 million. Known for founding the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979—often called the “Nobel of architecture”—the Chicago-based couple extended their devotion to creative excellence beyond the built environment, assembling a collection that reflects the breadth and rigor of their cultural philanthropy.

    Headlining the November 20 Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection sale, which immediately precedes Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction at 7:30 p.m., is Vincent van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) (1887), a radiant still life from the artist’s Paris period in which a stack of yellow-bound books becomes a portrait of his voracious intellect. Estimated at $40 million, the painting was acquired by the Pritzkers in 1994 through Richard L. Feigen & Co. and boasts an extensive literature and exhibition history spanning major institutions across Europe and the United States, including the show “Van Gogh à Paris” at the Musée d’Orsay (1988), “Vincent van Gogh Paintings” at the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam (1990), and “Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement, 1890-1914” at Museum Folkwang, Essen, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (1990-91). The work last appeared publicly in “Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South” at the Art Institute of Chicago (2001-02), “The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters” at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2010), and “Van Gogh’s Bedrooms” at the Art Institute of Chicago (2016). The preparatory painting for this canvas is held in the Van Gogh Museum’s permanent collection.

    Comparing the present work to Piles of French Novels in the Van Gogh Museum, scholars have described it as particularly revealing of the artist’s stylistic transition. If the earlier study, flatter in tone and more monochromatic, reflects his fascination with Japanese prints through its block-like composition and restrained palette, the painting in the Pritzker Collection reintroduces depth and vitality through rhythmic dashes and loose strokes of the Neo-Impressionist style Van Gogh adopted in his final Paris months.

    Among the other highlights of the sale are Henri Matisse’s sensuous triptych Léda et le cygne (1944-46), estimated at $7-10 million, and Paul Gauguin’s La Maison de Pen du, gardeuse de vache (1889), painted during his Pont-Aven period and carrying a $6-8 million estimate. Additional highlights include Max Beckmann’s Der Wels (Catfish) ($5-7 million), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Hallesches Tor, Berlin (1913, $3-5 million), a large-scale outdoor sculpture by Joan Miró ($4-6 million), and a lyrical Camille Pissarro landscape from his second Pontoise period ($1.2-1.8 million).

    The breadth of the Pritzker holdings will extend beyond the November sale, with further lots offered next month in Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts, Sculpture and Works of Art, Chinese Works of Art, and Design auctions. Together, the ensemble is expected to bring tens of millions of dollars across multiple sales.

    The Elaine Wynn Collection at Christie’s

    Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #40, an abstract composition of intersecting geometric planes in turquoise, ochre, and coral hues, evoking the light and structure of the California coast.Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #40, an abstract composition of intersecting geometric planes in turquoise, ochre, and coral hues, evoking the light and structure of the California coast.
    Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #40 (1971). Estimate: $15-25 million. Christie’s

    Christie’s also secured the remarkable collection of Elaine Wynn, the late philanthropist and “Queen of Las Vegas,” who passed away this April. Celebrated for her discerning eye and the remarkable assemblage she built both alongside and independently of her former husband, casino magnate Steve Wynn, her estate is estimated at over $75 million. Nine of the top works will be featured in the 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17, two in the 21st Century Evening Sale on November 19, with the remainder to follow in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale.

    The highlights from her collection span centuries and movements yet share the same standard of excellence that defined Wynn’s collecting ethos. On the Modern side, the top lot is Richard Diebenkorn’s transcendent Ocean Park #40, which will be offered in the 20th Century Evening Sale with an estimate of $15-25 million. The work returns to the rostrum just as Gagosian announces its representation of the Diebenkorn estate and inaugurates a dedicated exhibition at its Upper East Side gallery. Wynn acquired the painting at Sotheby’s in 2021, when it achieved a then-record $27.3 million. Diebenkorn’s auction record now stands at $46.4 million, set by his 1965 Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad at Christie’s New York in November 2023, placing the current estimate well within range yet poised to surpass it amid renewed market attention following Gagosian’s endorsement. Before its last sale, Ocean Park #40 was featured in the traveling museum exhibition dedicated to the series at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Orange County Museum of Art (2011-2012), as well as Acquavella Galleries’ 2018 show pairing Diebenkorn’s California scenes with those of Wayne Thiebaud.

    Other top lots include J.M.W. Turner’s poetic Ehrenbreitstein (estimate: $12-18 million) and a refined Parisian scene by Georges Seurat. On the postwar side, headline works are Lucian Freud’s late self-portrait (estimate: $15-25 million) and Joan Mitchell’s sunflower-hued explosion of color and gesture (estimate: $12-18 million).

    The Edlis|Neeson Collection at Christie’s


    Interior view of the Edlis|Neeson Collection featuring works by Andy Warhol, including The Last Supper in yellow and black on the left wall and Skull in pink and green on the right. A Patina-inspired diptych by Rudolf Stingel hangs between them above a polished Art Deco cabinet, with small bronze animal sculptures displayed below. The highly reflective surface of the central table mirrors the surrounding artworks, enhancing the room’s sleek, modern atmosphere.Interior view of the Edlis|Neeson Collection featuring works by Andy Warhol, including The Last Supper in yellow and black on the left wall and Skull in pink and green on the right. A Patina-inspired diptych by Rudolf Stingel hangs between them above a polished Art Deco cabinet, with small bronze animal sculptures displayed below. The highly reflective surface of the central table mirrors the surrounding artworks, enhancing the room’s sleek, modern atmosphere.
    More than 40 groundbreaking works of art and design from Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson’s Chicago residence will go on the block. © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, ARS 2025; © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025; © Estate of Tom Wesselmann/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025; © Jeff Koons; © Richard Prince; © Ron Mueck; Diego Giacometti © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Photo: © Michael Tropea

    Also presented as part of Christie’s 44-lot 21st Century Evening Sale on November 19, the Edlis|Neeson Collection is described by the auction house as a rare example of a carefully curated ensemble of postwar icons that together trace the evolution of modern and contemporary art. Austrian-born American collector and philanthropist Stefan Edlis and his life partner Gael Neeson began assembling their collection in the 1970s, gradually filling their landmark apartment on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile with works that James Rondeau, president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago, once called “one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in existence.” In 2015, the couple donated 44 works to the Art Institute, a gift the museum described as transformative. Born in Vienna in 1925, Stefan Edlis fled Nazi-occupied Austria for the U.S. in 1941 and later founded Apollo Plastics Corporation. In 1974, he met Gael Neeson, and together they began a lifelong pursuit of art collecting, mentored by Chicago collector Gerald Elliot. Their first major acquisition, Piet Mondrian’s Large Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow (1977), marked the beginning of a collection that evolved toward Pop, Conceptual and contemporary art, featuring icons like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince, as well as a later generation similarly engaged with Pop and mass culture, including Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Ugo Rondinone.

    One of the top lots is Ed Ruscha’s How Do You Do?, coming to auction amid strong market momentum for the artist following MoMA’s major retrospective last year. Part of Ruscha’s coveted mountain series, this laconic phrase floats diagonally rather than horizontally, suspended over a meticulously rendered alpine landscape, each ridge and summit bathed in deep blue light. Acquired directly from Gagosian in 2004 and shown that same year in the Aspen Art Museum’s Ed Ruscha: Mountain Paintings, the work makes its auction debut with an estimate of $5-7 million, secured by a third-party guarantee.

    Another highlight is Andy Warhol’s The Last Supper (Yellow) (1986), acquired from Gagosian in 2002 and now estimated at $6-8 million, also backed by a guarantee from Christie’s. The auction house describes it as the culmination of Warhol’s career, a meditation on the dualities of mass media and mortality. Created just a month before his death and first exhibited in Milan’s Palazzo delle Stelline, directly across from Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, the series was Warhol’s way of “making Leonardo exciting again.” The work reflects his lifelong fascination with the iconography of images, their power, repetition and eventual loss of aura through mass reproduction. As more than 3,000 visitors attended the Milan show, The Last Supper came to embody Warhol’s own final self-reflection, a farewell from the artist who became as famous and as mythic as the masters he reinterpreted.

    Also featured in the sale are Warhol’s Skull (estimate: $800,000-1.2 million), which will open the Evening Sale, and his Oxidation Painting (Diptych) (1978), acquired from Skarstedt Gallery in 2017 (estimate: $900,000-1.2 million, guaranteed). Other highlights include a Diego Giacometti bronze table (estimate: $3-5 million), Richard Prince’s Double Nurse (estimate: $3-5 million), and Jeff Koons’s Gazing Ball (Courbet Sleep) (estimate: $600,000-800,000), acquired from Gagosian in 2015. The sale also includes works by Cindy Sherman, George Condo, Claes Oldenburg and Tom Wesselmann, alongside two Giacometti library tables.

    Perhaps the most provocative work from the collection, although not for sale, is Maurizio Cattelan’s Him (2001), which will be viewable by request during the November pre-sale exhibition, a haunting reminder of the collection’s daring and thought-provoking spirit.

    The Max N. Berry Collections at Christie’s

    A rough-textured bronze bust of a man with a gaunt, elongated face and hollow eyes, emerging from a heavily worked base that blurs into his shoulders.A rough-textured bronze bust of a man with a gaunt, elongated face and hollow eyes, emerging from a heavily worked base that blurs into his shoulders.
    Alberto Giacometti, Buste d’homme (Diego), conceived in 1959/cast in 1960-1961. Bronze with brown patina, height: 15.3/4 in. (40 cm.), estimate $5-8 million. Courtesy of Christie’s

    Debuting in the 20th Century Evening Sale this November, the collection of connoisseur Max Berry brings to auction one of the season’s most wide-ranging and valuable encyclopedic consignments. Spanning more than 30 categories, the collection, which is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars across several years of sales, reflects Berry’s lifetime of passionate and discerning collecting, driven more by curiosity than by market fashion.

    Among the top lots hitting the rostrum during the November marquee evening sale is Calder’s Acrobats (1929), a seminal wire sculpture estimated at $5-7 million. Composed of two delicately balanced figures mounted on a wooden base, the piece dates to the artist’s pivotal Paris years when he began transforming his toy-maker’s ingenuity into formal sculptural language. Acrobats is directly linked to Calder’s famed Cirque Calder (1926-31), the hand-built miniature circus that anticipated his lifelong fascination with movement and performance. Its appearance at auction coincides with the Whitney Museum’s centennial tribute “High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100.”

    Also included in the sale is Berry’s Alexander Calder Untitled (1938), a rare yellow hanging mobile estimated at $1.5-2 million. Evoking the artist’s childlike sense of wonder, the sculpture’s continuous motion, no matter how still the air, epitomizes Calder’s mastery of balance, rhythm and levity. Completing the lineup of modern masters from the collection are Giacometti’s Buste d’homme (Diego), a bronze portrait of the artist’s brother, cast and signed 2/6 with an estimate of $5-8 million, and his still life Nature morte (1938), estimated at $1.5-2 million, a testament to the artist’s existential and essential synthesis of form and psychological depth.

    Additional works from Berry’s collection, including Judaica, American art and Chinese art, will be offered in stages through 2027, underscoring both the scope and scholarly depth of a lifetime spent collecting with intellect, passion and humanity. As Berry told Observer in a recent interview, his ultimate wish is that the works are enjoyed, whether by private collectors or in institutions. “It will be wonderful if a museum acquires some of them and makes them public, where they can sit alongside other objects of a similar nature to tell the story of their artistry and their times.”

    The Schlumberger Collection at Sotheby’s

    Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine, an Impressionist landscape painted in luminous tones of lilac, rose, and gold, depicting the Rouen Cathedral emerging softly through mist at sunset.Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine, an Impressionist landscape painted in luminous tones of lilac, rose, and gold, depicting the Rouen Cathedral emerging softly through mist at sunset.
    Claude Monet, Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine, 1892. Sotheby’s

    Similarly eclectic is the Schlumberger Collection, which Sotheby’s secured for this season. It debuted in Paris during their Surrealism and Its Legacy auction, with additional lots now scheduled to appear in New York during the Modern Evening Auction on November 20 and Modern Day Auction on November 21. Further works will be in the Important Design, Fine Jewelry and Fine Books & Manuscripts sales held between November and December 2025. This singular ensemble, bridging centuries of art and design and reflecting the legacy of one of Europe’s great industrial and cultural dynasties, was founded by brothers Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger, whose pioneering work in geophysics revolutionized the energy industry. The family also became renowned for its refined patronage of the arts. That legacy continued through Marcel’s daughter, Anne Schlumberger, whose discerning eye was shaped by her lifelong engagement with Surrealism, architecture and design.

    Among the works coming from the collection is Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen, a luminous and atmospheric canvas painted at the dawn of his famed cathedral series and set to be one of the top lots in Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction. Fresh to the block with an estimate of $3,000,000-4,000,000, this iconic Monet embodies a pure luminous atmosphere as the artist focuses on the transitory phenomenology of light and color, reaching a level of abstraction close to raw sensorial perception before any codification or formalization. The other highlight of the collection is François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar (1976), a pièce unique and the first and only example the artist created in copper, serving as the prototype for his later bronze editions.

    Property from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art at Christie’s

    Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1907), a luminous vertical depiction of waterlilies at Giverny, where sunlight ripples across the pond’s reflective surface in soft tones of green, violet, and gold.Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1907), a luminous vertical depiction of waterlilies at Giverny, where sunlight ripples across the pond’s reflective surface in soft tones of green, violet, and gold.
    Claude Monet, Nymphéas. Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 29 in. (92 x 73.6 cm.). Christie’s

    Christie’s added another major institutional consignment to its marquee sales with the Property from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art collection. The museum, long celebrated for its distinguished holdings of Western art, is deaccessioning eight masterpieces by some of the most significant names in Impressionism and Modernism. Presented as a dedicated group in the 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17, with further works to follow in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale and the Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale, the offering marks a pivotal moment in the museum’s history.

    For more than three decades, the works resided in Kawamura’s purpose-built museum near Tokyo, where they brought international visitors face-to-face with the great masters of modern art. Following its closure in March 2025, the institution announced plans to divest around 280 works through auctions and private sales, aiming to raise at least ¥10 billion (approximately $68 million).

    Leading Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale from the museum’s collection is Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1907), one of the artist’s most dazzling depictions of his Giverny waterlily pond, estimated at $40-60 million. Acquired in 1970 from the Estate of Albert J. Dreitzer through Sotheby’s, the painting has been a cornerstone of Kawamura’s galleries ever since, its vertical composition capturing the pond’s luminous surface in an almost abstract symphony of reflection and light.

    Other highlights include Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Jeune femme arrangeant des fleurs (estimate: $8-12 million), Marc Chagall’s Le Rêve de Paris (estimate: $4-6 million) and Henri Matisse’s Femme au chapeau bleu (estimate: $3-5 million), which will also be offered in the 20th Century Evening Sale.

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    Elisa Carollo

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  • London Sees Its Best Evening Auction Results in Years

    The October evening sales brought the London auction houses their highest totals in years. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

    Sales aren’t just buoyant at Frieze this week—London’s auction houses also saw their strongest results in years, signaling renewed confidence at the top of the market. Kicking off the action, Christie’s 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on October 15 achieved a robust £106,925,400 ($142,852,000), marking the auction house’s best Frieze Week evening sale in more than seven years. The total was up 30 percent from last year, with 92 percent sold by lot and 90 percent sold by value. Katharine Arnold and Keith Gill, vice-chairmen of 20th/21st century art, Christie’s Europe, reported entering the week with confidence and “carefully priced material,” noting a “spirited and well-attended” public viewing at King Street. “We are proud to have realized such a solid outcome during Frieze Week, a moment that highlights the energy and cultural vitality of London’s art scene,” they told press.

    Leading the sale was Peter Doig’s monumental Ski Jacket (1994), which sold for £14,270,000 ($19,064,720) against a £6,000,000-8,000,000 estimate after more than 13 minutes of fierce bidding between six contenders. Carrying a third-party guarantee, the painting had been acquired in 1994 by Danish collector Ole Faarup, and 100 percent of the proceeds will now go to his foundation. This unusual arrangement also helped Christie’s secure two additional Doigs, despite the artist having become a rare presence at auction.

    With an extensive exhibition history, Doig’s Country Rock (1998-1999) nearly hit seven figures in sterling—though it comfortably did so in dollars—achieving £9,210,000 ($12,304,560). A third, more abstract and heavily textured work, also acquired by Faarup in 1994, sold a few lots later just shy of its high estimate at £635,000. The strong results coincided with the opening of Doig’s new show at the Serpentine in London, further fueling demand.

    Christie’s evening opened with a standout result for Domenico Gnoli, whose hyperrealistic painting fetched £977,000, doubling its low estimate. Immediately after, a more impressionistic landscape by René Magritte landed at £762,990—well above expectations—reinforcing both continued momentum for the artist and the broader strength of surrealism. Later in the sale, Magritte’s drawing La veillée (The Vigil) exceeded its £500,000 high estimate, selling for £812,800.

    Auctioneer gestures from the Christie’s podium during the sale of Peter Doig’s Ski Jacket, with the painting and multi-currency price list displayed on large screens behind him.Auctioneer gestures from the Christie’s podium during the sale of Peter Doig’s Ski Jacket, with the painting and multi-currency price list displayed on large screens behind him.
    The 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale at Christie’s resulted in several new artist records. Photo: Guy Bell | Courtesy of Christie’s

    Picasso, as usual, delivered dependable results, with several works selling above or within estimate, including the £2,002,000 oil and ink on panel Chevalier, pages et moine. The modern and impressionist offerings also performed within expectations, largely due to the quality of the material: a Marc Chagall painting fetched £2,246,000, while a lyrical bucolic scene by Nabis painter Maurice Denis sold for £1,697,000. Meanwhile, a horizontal abstract work by Hurvin Anderson exceeded expectations, fetching £3,222,000.

    The sale also set several new world auction records, underscoring the ongoing momentum for women artists and long-overlooked names being rediscovered. Paula Rego’s Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” (1995) soared to £3,466,000 ($4.63 million), setting a new landmark record for the artist. Suzanne Valadon’s Deux nus ou Le bain (1923) followed with a £1,016,000 ($1.36 million) record. Contemporary sculptor Annie Morris’s Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) achieved £482,600 ($644,754), while Danish artist Esben Weile Kjær set his first auction record with Aske and Johan upside down kissing in Power Play at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND (2020), which sold for £25,400 ($33,934).

    Among the few unsold works of the night were Yoshitomo Nara’s drawing Haze Days, which failed to find a buyer at its ambitious £6.5-8.5 million estimate, and a gray monochrome by Gerhard Richter—even with the artist opening a major survey at the Fondation Louis Vuitton during Paris Art Week. A black Blinky Palermo also went unsold, while a colorful but slightly less iconic Nicholas Party work, Tree Trunks, was withdrawn ahead of the sale.

    Notably, Christie’s reported that 56 percent of buyers in the evening sale came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with only 28 percent from the Americas and 16 percent from the Asia-Pacific region. This confirms revived demand in the regional market, as also evidenced earlier in the day by the heavy attendance at Frieze.

    A £17.6M Bacon headlined at Sotheby’s

    Led by a £17.6 million Francis Bacon, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction closed at $63.5 million. While the total was less than half of Christie’s the night before, the comparison needs context: this was Sotheby’s third major London evening sale since March—whereas it was Christie’s first of the season. Sotheby’s has already staged two major white-glove sales this year—the £101 million Karpidas collection auction in September and the £84 million Summer Evening Sale—meaning that with last night’s results, the house has now sold £233 million worth of modern and contemporary art in London since March. Moreover, the £63.5 million total marked the highest October evening sale result since 2023, up 25 percent from the previous year.

    A Sotheby’s auctioneer leans on the podium in front of Francis Bacon’s painting, with a Basquiat work partially visible beside it and an audience seated in the foreground.A Sotheby’s auctioneer leans on the podium in front of Francis Bacon’s painting, with a Basquiat work partially visible beside it and an audience seated in the foreground.
    Since March, Sotheby’s has sold £240 million worth of Modern and Contemporary art in London. Courtesy Sotheby’s

    “Frieze is always a special time for London, with so many collectors in town whose presence we always feel in our sales,” Ottilie Windsor, co-head of contemporary art, Sotheby’s London, told Observer. “It was great to have them with us tonight and to see so much live action in the room, helping sustain the strong momentum we’ve built over the past few seasons here.”

    The Francis Bacon result came after 20 minutes of suspense and fierce bidding across multiple phone specialists and a bidder in the room, pushing the final price to nearly double its £6-9 million estimate. In U.S. dollars, the hammer plus fees rose to $17.6 million. For comparison, the last notable Bacon—Portrait of Man with Glasses II—sold at Christie’s in March for £6,635,000 ($8.4 million), and that work was almost a third smaller. Another, smaller Bacon, closer in scale to Christie’s example, sold here for £5,774,000 ($7.3 million). Bacon’s record still stands at $142.4 million, set at Christie’s New York in 2013 with his triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud.

    The sale opened strong, with solid results for several younger contemporary artists who have recently drawn both market and institutional attention. At lot one, a painting by Ser Serpas landed at £27,940 ($35,700)—just under estimate but still enough to set a new auction record for the artist. The California-born painter, who studied in Switzerland and gained early recognition there, was recently included in a MoMA PS1 exhibition and held a solo show at Kunsthalle Basel during the June fairs.

    Two of the hottest rising names in recent auctions—driven largely by Asian demand and limited primary-market availability—followed. An abstract by Emma McIntyre, now a Zwirner favorite, sold for £50,800 ($65,000), and Yu Nishimura achieved the same price. Both works carried estimates of £40,000-60,000, reflecting the tight competition at this level.

    In between, a 2009 painting by Hernan Bas acquired from Perrotin sold just above its low estimate, likely to its guarantor, at £254,000 ($323,000). Momentum continued for Lucy Bull, whose kaleidoscopic abstraction from 2021—originally acquired from Paris gallery High Art—more than doubled its top estimate of £500,000 ($635,000), landing at £1,260,000 ($1.6 million) after being chased by five bidders, most from Asia.

    Overall, the auction confirmed the ongoing strength of the market for women artists, all of whom sold above estimate. Sotheby’s also posted strong results for Paula Rego: her pastel on paper Snow White Playing with her Father’s Trophies sold within estimate for £900,000 (about $1.15 million), while Jenny Saville’s charcoal study exceeded its high estimate, selling for £533,000 (around $675,000).

    Among other notable six-figure results, a monumental El Anatsui sold just shy of its high estimate at £1,999,000 (about $2.53 million). Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (The Arm) from 1982—a pivotal year in the artist’s rise—landed squarely within estimate at £5,530,000 (approximately $7 million). Andy Warhol’s Four Pink Marilyn (Reversal) followed, selling within estimate for £4,326,000 (about $5.5 million).

    The masters also held firm. Both of Auguste Rodin’s monumental sculptures from his seminal series The Burghers of Calais sold within estimate to a collector in the room: Jean de Fiennes, vêtu, Grand Modèle achieved £762,000 ($1 million), while Pierre de Wiessant, vita, Grand Modèle, vêtu sold for £889,000 ($1.2 million).

    The market for Lucio Fontana also showed signs of recovery—at least for major works. His rare blue 14-slashed Concetto spaziale, Attese sold just above estimate at £2.8 million (about $3.7 million) following a fierce bidding war among four potential buyers. The deep blue of the canvas was inspired by Yves Klein’s IKB pigment—but Klein’s own Untitled Fire Colour Painting (FC 28), which appeared one lot earlier, surprisingly went unsold after failing to meet its £1.8-2 million estimate ($2.3-2.5 million), despite both an irrevocable bid and a guarantee.

    Other unsold works of the night included paintings by Frank Auerbach and Daniel Richter. Still, Sotheby’s achieved a healthy 89 percent sell-through rate by lot.

    On October 17, Sotheby’s also staged a single-owner sale of 17 iPad drawings by David Hockney from his celebrated series The Arrival of Spring. The results were remarkable: the group doubled its high estimate to reach £6.2 million ($8.3 million), achieving a white-glove sale and setting a new auction record for the artist. With this result, Sotheby’s London has now brought in £240 million (approximately $304 million) since March. Notably, American buyers accounted for 40 percent of the purchasers in the Hockney sale, underscoring the continued global demand for blue-chip British artists.

    A £2,374,000 Basquiat tops Phillips’ London Evening Sale

    On October 16 at 5 p.m., Phillips hosted its London Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale, achieving a total of £10,332,200 ($13,884,410) across 22 lots. The auction was more modest—and less successful—than the others, posting a 32 percent drop compared to last year after four lots failed to sell and four others were withdrawn before the start. The evening was led by a new auction record for Emma McIntyre: Seven types of ambiguity (2021) sold for £167,700 ($225,355) from a modest £50,000-70,000 estimate, edging past her previous record of $201,600 set in May 2025 at Phillips Hong Kong. The second-highest lot of the night was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pestus) (1982), which comfortably met its pre-sale estimate at £2,374,000 ($3,190,181).

    A Phillips auctioneer points to the room beside screens displaying Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Pestus and its current bids in multiple currencies.A Phillips auctioneer points to the room beside screens displaying Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Pestus and its current bids in multiple currencies.
    An energetic moment from Phillips’s London Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Courtesy Phillips

    Once again, contemporary women artists confirmed their momentum at Phillips, reaching a high point after Emma McIntyre’s record-setting result when Flora Yukhnovich’s My Body knows Un-Heard of Songs (2017) fetched £1,276,000 ($1,714,689) against a £900,000-1,500,000 estimate.

    Opening the sale was a purple-and-pink abstraction by Martha Jungwirth—now a familiar presence across Thaddaeus Ropac’s fair booths—which exceeded expectations at £180,600. A few lots later, an early work by Sasha Gordon sold just shy of its high estimate at £116,100. Demand for Gordon has been reignited by her blockbuster solo debut at Zwirner in New York, which made her the youngest artist represented by the mega-gallery. Painted in 2019 during her studies, Drive Through marks a transitional moment in her shift toward the more discursive, cartoon-inflected style that catapulted her into the global spotlight.

    Later in the sale, Noah Davis’s Mitrice Richardson (2012) found a buyer within estimate at £451,500 ($606,726), while Derek Fordjour’s Regatta Pattern Study (2020) fetched £528,900 ($710,736), surpassing its high estimate of £500,000. Other notable results included Sean Scully’s Wall of Light Summer Night 5.10 (2010), which achieved £967,500 ($1,300,127) against a £600,000-800,000 estimate, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Gospel Yodel (Salvage Series), which sold for £709,500 ($953,426), more than doubling its £350,000-550,000 estimate. A 2012 sculpture by Bernar Venet fetched £516,000 ($693,401) from a £250,000-350,000 estimate, reflecting the artist’s rising demand—particularly in Asia.

    Not everything landed. A Warhol-inspired Banksy portrait of Kate Moss, estimated at £700,000-1,000,000, failed to find a buyer, while a cacophonic abstract work by Sigmar Polke from 1983-84 also went unsold, likely due to its overly ambitious £600,000-800,000 estimate relative to current market demand for the artist.

    For Olivia Thornton, Phillips’s head of modern and contemporary art, Europe, the overall positive auction reflected “the vibrancy of contemporary collecting” and reaffirmed London’s enduring magnetism: “London remains the cultural crossroads of the global art market.”

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    London Sees Its Best Evening Auction Results in Years

    Elisa Carollo

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  • A Tiara Belonging to Queen Elizabeth’s Lady-In-Waiting Is Going To Auction

    It’s not often that a true aristocratic heirloom is made available to the public, but this month, a diamond and pearl tiara, which has been in the Ogilvy family for generations, will go up for sale at auction. The piece, made by Garrard at the end of the nineteenth century, balances diamond daisy, clover, and ivy leaf designs with large pearls, two of which are natural saltwater.

    Auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull will offer the tiara as part of a collection of lots from the estate of Virginia Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, who died last year. This particular piece is expected to sell for between $66.6K and $93.2K, as it boasts not just an incredible design, but a fascinating history that links back to the British royal family.

    The tiara’s first recorded wearer was Lady Mabell Gore, who became the Countess of Airlie in 1886 when she married David Ogilvy, the 11th Earl. Lyon & Turnbull have speculated that the piece may have been a wedding present, given that daisies represent innocence and purity, while ivy has long been associated with love. Sadly, the Countess was widowed when her husband died in the Second Boer War in 1900, but one year later she was appointed as one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales—later Queen Mary—and continued to serve in the role until the Queen’s death in 1953.

    Another new bride had recently joined the Ogilvy family at that time, and would also go on to need a tiara: Virginia Fortune Ryan, the daughter of a wealthy American banking family, who was connected to the British upper classes by her father, a close friend of both Sir Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon. Her connections enabled her to marry Mabell’s grandson, Lord David Ogilvy, the heir to the earldom, in 1952—and their wedding was quite the society affair. Guests included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The groom’s best man, meanwhile, was his younger brother, The Hon. Angus Ogilvy, who would go on to marry Princess Alexandra of Kent.

    Clara Strunck

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  • Chester County couple who restore comic books revive business after winning $10 million defamation lawsuit

    Just over a year after winning a defamation lawsuit, comic book restorers Emily and Matt Meyers have revived their business – putting five of the rarest and most valuable comics they’ve ever worked on up for sale. 

    The auction collection includes the first appearances of Superman, Batman and Captain America, books that date back to the Golden Era of comics in the 1930s and 1940s. From now until mid-September, prospective buyers can place bids on each book. The unrestored versions of these can be worth millions.

    MORE: Trailer for Bradley Cooper’s third film as director is released ahead of festival premiere

    “These are among the most beautiful books we’ve ever restored,” Emily said.

    Nearly 10 years ago, the couple from Paoli, Chester County, began working with an undisclosed Toronto-based collector, taking low-quality rare books and using a complex process to fix faded colors and bring the condition back to as close to its original state as possible.

    The restoration projects for the five comics that are up for auction was completed in 2018, but a contentious eight-year legal battle with Certified Guaranty Co., the world’s largest grading company for collectables, prevented the couple and consignor from bringing the books to market. In the lawsuit, the Meyers were accused of making fakes, leading to the couple suing the company for defamation.

    “I think there was a lot of misinformation put out about our work,” Emily said. “… Eventually we just stopped doing it because it ate into the profit margin so much.”

    Last summer, a Philadelphia jury ruled that Certified Guaranty Co. must pay the Meyers $10 million for defaming their business. Some of the comics that are up for sale came straight from the “evidence bag” of the long-running court cases, Emily said.

    In addition to the five books restored by the Meyers, the most for a single auction in their career, the sale also features nearly 200 unrestored works from the collector, ranging in time period and stories.

    “This collection represents a veritable time capsule of new characters and stories in comics history from the Golden Age up to now,” said Vincent Zurzolo, president and co-founder of ComicConnect. “It was incredibly exciting to see a collection like this, acquired over years of careful creation.” 

    Thanks to the meticulous work done by the Meyers, Zurzolo estimates the five books could sell for millions.

    “I believe, in no uncertain terms, that they are the best restoration experts in the country for comic books – possibly in the world,” Zurzolo said. “I have seen many restoration experts with varying degree of skills and specialties, but I’ve never seen anybody with the skill, talent, technique and artistry that Emily and Matt possess. These are some of the best-looking restored copies of Golden Age (comics) that I’ve seen in my nearly 40-year career in comics.”

    Emily attributes their success to crippling perfectionism, using microscopes to be as accurate and precise as possible when handling vintage works. Even with methodical advances at her disposal, Emily said she’d be surprised if a single project took less than two months to complete. 

    “I know how much people treasure these books and I want to give them that same amount of love, time and dedication so that the book is just loved from start to finish,” she said. “If I have to redo something a hundred times, I will do it.” 

    So far, the couple’s most valuable project was a restored “Action Comics No. 1,” which features the first appearance of Superman. That comic sold for $550,000, but a different copy of the 1938 classic is part of the collection being auctioned now, so the Meyers might soon have a new personal record.

    Molly McVety

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  • Rare 1911 40-70 Imperial Tractor Heads to Auction

    Aumann Auctions Presents One of the Finest Antique Tractors in Existence


    NOKOMIS, Ill., April 9, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Aumann Auctions is proud to offer collectors and antique tractor enthusiasts a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own one of the rarest and most prestigious tractors in existence. The 1911 40-70 Imperial, regarded as the “Cadillac” of tractors, is now available for auction. With only three complete examples known to exist-plus one project-this is truly a crown jewel in the world of antique farm machinery.

    The 40-70 Imperial was a marvel of engineering in its time, standing out with its unique four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine and four exhaust pipes, which produce an unmistakable and distinct sound. The heavy steel fabricated box frame was ahead of its era, offering unparalleled durability and a bold, industrial aesthetic. Additionally, the overhead valve train mechanism was an advanced design for 1911, showcasing the ingenuity of early tractor manufacturing.

    With massive 8-foot rear wheels, the Imperial is an imposing presence, exuding both power and elegance. Originally, this tractor was nearly twice the cost of comparable models, making it a premium choice for large-scale farming operations of the time. Its rarity and historical significance make it one of the most sought-after tractors in the antique collecting community.

    This particular 40-70 Imperial has a storied history. It previously underwent an expert restoration while under the stewardship of the Schaff Collection, ensuring that it remains in pristine condition. The current owner has since made additional mechanical repairs, including a flywheel key replacement, and has showcased the tractor at prestigious events on the East Coast.

    “For those who seek the absolute best in antique tractors, this is it,” said Kurt Aumann from Aumann Auctions. “The 40-70 Imperial is an engineering masterpiece, and its presence in this auction is a momentous occasion for collectors and agricultural history buffs alike.”

    The auction represents a rare chance to acquire a piece of early agricultural innovation that is unmatched in both engineering and historical significance. With its remarkable design, extreme rarity, and superior restoration, this Imperial tractor is as good as it gets in the world of vintage farm machinery.

    About Aumann Auctions, Inc.

    Aumann Auctions, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in antique tractor, automobilia, and vintage advertising auctions. With a reputation for uncovering and bringing historically significant pieces to market, Aumann Auctions continues to set records in the agricultural collectibles industry.

    Source: Aumann Auctions

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  • Consignor Revealed: Rare Keith Haring Subway Drawings Come to Sotheby’s from Larry Warsh

    Consignor Revealed: Rare Keith Haring Subway Drawings Come to Sotheby’s from Larry Warsh

    Keith Haring, Untitled (Breakdancers and Barking Dog), 1985. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

    As the November marquee auction season approaches and the major auction houses start to build momentum by revealing their top lots, the search for who has consigned what and why begins. Provenance, as we know, can play a big part in establishing and validating an artwork’s value, whether by sparking renewed interest, providing reassurance to buyers or adding art historical context. Sotheby’s, for its part, just announced that a group of thirty-one rare Keith Haring subway drawings will star in the Contemporary Day Sale on November 21 with a combined estimate of between $6.3 and $9 million. This is a very exciting moment for Haring’s collectors as none of these works have ever been offered at auction before, and it’s very difficult to find the originals in such well-preserved condition.

    Haring came from a family of modest means in Pennsylvania. His father was an amateur cartoonist who, from his early years, encouraged Keith to invent his own characters. Haring’s talent for drawing led to his receiving a scholarship to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he studied semiotics, but it was his contact with the copious street art that was everywhere in 1980s New York that inspired him most.

    Haring started drawing in the subway just as a hobby while en route to work: noticing that the MTA covered unpaid advertisements with black matte paper, he began scrawling his inventive visual language on them in white chalk. In short order, his unique and highly recognizable style attracted his first fans. Nonetheless, Haring continued his drawings in front of the crowds and the NYPD, who ticketed and even arrested him for vandalism over the next five years. Describing them in an essay published for Art in Transit: Subway Drawings, published in 1984, he said felt that his work was “more of a responsibility than a hobby,” a way to leave a critical trace as an individual presence in a cannibalizing metropolis dominated by corporate interests and unstoppable real estate speculation and gentrification. Even when Haring’s career skyrocketed and he established himself as a leading figure in the downtown art scene, he said the subway was still his “favorite place to draw.”

    SEE ALSO: ‘Party of Life’ Is a Celebration of Warhol, Haring and 1980s New York City in Munich

    During his subway project, he appropriated thousands of black panels for energetic mark-making to build an inventory of iconic images, such as his nuclear dogs, angels, flying saucers, babies, smiley faces, etc.—the motifs mostly engineered at his seminal creative haunt, Club 57. “I think the origin of the subway drawings was part of how they came about in a sense, where it was part of Keith’s DNA,” Gil Vazquez, executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation, said in a statement. “There’s a significant component of generosity. When I think of the subway drawings, I think of them as one of Keith’s first acts of activism.”

    Given the nature of urban guerrilla art, most of the subway drawings have been lost or destroyed, making the ones coming to auction a true rarity for fans and institutions looking to add to their collections. Because of their importance and rarity, the works have also been included in prominent exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum’s 2012 critically acclaimed exhibition of Haring’s career titled “Keith Haring: 1978-1982,” which marked the last occasion the group exhibited together. Most of the works coming to auction have a long exhibition history, like Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), which is one of the final subway drawings and has been featured in many prominent exhibitions at MoMA, the Reading Public Museum in Pennsylvania, Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville in Paris, de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Rotterdam.

    Image of half a body of a young man running after doing graffiti in the subway. Image of half a body of a young man running after doing graffiti in the subway.
    Tseng Kwong Chi, Keith Haring, drawing in the subway, New York, 1984. Photo © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc. Art © Keith Haring Foundation

    Behind their extraordinary survival is a passionate art collector, Larry Warsh, who has taken on stewardship of these thirty-one works for nearly 40 years, building the most exceptional and extensive assemblage of Haring’s subway drawings in private hands. Observer spoke with Wash to understand how those gems came into his collection, the importance of preserving these drawings and, more generally, what’s in his art collection today.

    “I’ve been collecting Keith Haring since the mid-’80s, and collecting all kinds of artwork all along, drawings, subway drawings, even a car, anything to do with Keith that was very compulsive at the time,” Warsh told Observer. Arguably, the collector was one of the first supporters of Keith Haring, despite the fact that he doesn’t see himself as a patron in traditional terms. “I was a patron for him in supporting his creative self, what he stood for and what he did. I was not a traditional patron; I just gave money or attended all the gallery functions. I was more pure in the sense of seeing his creativity and what he was doing then. It was a different time.”

    Warsh is also an art historian, having published three books about Keith Haring. When asked how he spotted Haring’s talent so early and realized that his work would have historical relevance, he demures. “First of all, it was him, as a creative being and a person. Wherever he drew as artwork, his energy and translation of symbols and signs were unique, and most people would feel comfortable looking at his art. It was art for everyone. He made art for everybody, and he was a generous person and cared about people; he cared about causes; he cared about kids.”

    Those subway drawings were part of his tridimensional works—Warsh is currently writing a book on this—and link him to the notion of the Duchampian ready-made, bringing it to a more democratic and public level by appropriating elements in urban spaces. “He was a student of the immediate art act in drawing and painting on objects like Duchamp, so these are considered like found objects.”

    While he sometimes tried to get them directly from the subway, Warsh admitted that peeling them out proved difficult, so he just started to find and buy them compulsively. “I basically hunted them down and tried to accumulate them as a body of work,” he said. “It was not about commerciality. It’s about historical importance. My feeling was that these were historically important.” For the same reason, he also started buying Basquiat’s notebooks, being one of the first to acknowledge the historical importance of those texts. Today, he also has the most extensive collection of them. “It’s not the commercial goal that propelled me into collecting. It was the manic, compulsive accumulation personality that I had for many, many years.”

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Warsh started collecting very early in his life, having been introduced to art by an uncle who was a collector of German art. However, he really got into it when he moved to downtown New York City, immersing himself fully in the art scene and the collective energy that shaped an entire community, creating the fertile ground for this entire moment of art history to happen. “I was interested in the energy of the time,” Warsh explained. “My good friend Renee Ricard used to visit me at all night hours with all kinds of things. So I learned with my eyes, and I felt with my emotions, and I had to look into the future and feel what I was collecting in the present would have value. Not just commercial value, but historical value.”

    Image of a white drawing on black board with a man dancing and his head turning into a radioImage of a white drawing on black board with a man dancing and his head turning into a radio
    Keith Haring, Untitled (Boombox Head); est. $400,000-600,000. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

    When asked why he wanted to part with them, Warsh said that he wanted to let them circulate and be seen again by giving the opportunity of ownership to another collector or, even better, an institution that will show them. “I think I did my job to accumulate them as the body of works,” he said. “They were shown in museums; we did a book, with one version in Mandarin. I don’t want to own much art anymore in the same way I wanted to. I’m thrilled with what I did, but at this point, it’s time for institutions to have a chance to add these drawings to their collections because they are the most important works by this artist, I believe.”

    To further promote the value of this group of works, Sotheby’s is hosting an immersive exhibition of the subway drawings that will help visitors envision these works where they were initially conceived by turning the galleries into a vintage subway station with turnstiles, benches and archival footage. Warsh is excited to see what the auction house and exhibition partner Samsung (SSNLF) are cooking up, as it aligns with his desire to share Haring’s art with as many people as possible, particularly in the city. “I think New Yorkers will want to come and see this because everybody has always heard about them or seen pictures, but very few have had the chance to see these drawings in person,” he said. “Seeing them in person, seeing how fragile they are and how sensitive they are, will leave everyone amazed.” Wash concluded that he hopes the exhibition will further enhance the value of Keith Haring’s work and revive interest in it by showing its relevance as an essential part of a pivotal moment in New York’s cultural history.

    “Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh” will go on view at Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries from November 8-20 before going on the block on November 21 in the Contemporary Day Sale.

    Consignor Revealed: Rare Keith Haring Subway Drawings Come to Sotheby’s from Larry Warsh

    Elisa Carollo

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  • Former Allen properties to be auctioned

    Former Allen properties to be auctioned

    ESSEX — The town of Essex will auction off this month four Southern Avenue properties formerly owned by the estate of William Allen.

    The auction is scheduled for noon Thursday, Oct. 24, at noon at Town Hall, 30 Martin St. Bidder registration will be held before the event, from 11:30 a.m. to noon.

    Zekos Group Auctioneers of Shrewsbury will conduct the auction.

    The properties represent four contiguous land parcels from 5-10 Southern Ave., adjacent to Eastern Avenue and Main Street in Essex. The offering stipulates the four parcels will be sold together and make up nearly 1 acre.

    “The site offers extensive frontage, public water and sewer and is ideally located for a multitude of uses near the intersection of Main Street and Eastern Avenue,” reads the listing on the Zekos Group website.

    “The parcels are improved with a single-family home, what appears to be a mixed-use dwelling and a barn-style warehouse, all in disrepair.”

    Essex is involved in the sale because of the years of taxes that were not paid, Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki said.

    “The town got the properties through a tax taking since the estate of William Allen was in arrears for many years on property taxes,” Zubricki said. “It is a very complex and lengthy process and it has taken years to get to the auction stage with the Allen property.

    “The town will receive the proceeds of the auction and the property will hopefully be redeveloped to eliminate a blighted area. Also, the new owner will hopefully pay taxes on a regular basis and improve the property which will actually increase overall taxation in the town as new growth.”

    Regarding the anticipated earnings to be made by Essex from the auction, Zubricki said that “remains to be seen on auction day.”

    Participation in the auction includes making a $10,000 certified bank check deposit, with an additional $10,000 deposit required from the high bidder within 24 hours. Checks are payable to the “Town of Essex.”

    The bidding process requires a 30-day closing period, according to the Zekos Group website.

    The properties to be auctioned are parcel 136-113.1, 136-113, 136-112 and 136-111. According to Patriot Properties Inc., the appraisal value for three of the parcels range from $361,500 to $389,800

    The three largest parcels to be auctioned are located in the town’s Mixed-Use Zoning District, which permits commercial and residential uses, according to the listing.

    “(This is) an excellent development opportunity for (an) investor or builder,” the website reads.

    According to Allen’s obituary in the Times, the Essex native died May 11, 2015, in Gloucester after a long battle with melanoma.

    He was born in Essex in 1929 at the family farm on Choate Street. He started Bill’s Trucking Co. on Southern Avenue and worked and lived there until he died in 2015.

    Allen, the son of the late James G. and Edith (Perkins) Allen, left 11 children, along with many nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was the last surviving member of his siblings, which included George, John, Frank, Arthur “Al” and a sister, Jean (Jenkins).

    Stephen Hagan may be contacted at 978-675-2708, or shagan@gloucestertimes.com.

    By Stephen Hagan | Staff Writer

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  • Simon Porte Jacquemus Is Curating a Lalanne Exhibition for Christie’s

    Simon Porte Jacquemus Is Curating a Lalanne Exhibition for Christie’s

    François-Xavier Lalanne, Lapin à vent Tortour, 2002; Patinated bronze, 72 ⅜ x 21 ¼ x 98 ⅜ in. (184 x 54 x 250 cm) (ears backward), 72 ⅜ x 21 ¼x 122 in. (184 x 54 x 310 cm) (ears forward). Courtesy of Christie’s

    Les Lalanne, one of the most dynamic and inspiring art couples of the 20th Century, earned admiration from Surrealists and celebrities alike. Though often linked to the Surrealist movement, they rejected formal associations, creating a distinct artistic language that blended fine and decorative arts. Their work, largely inspired by naturalistic forms with sophisticated nods to classical literature, has garnered intense market attention in recent years, fetching record-breaking prices at auctions and being featured in exhibitions worldwide.

    This October, Christie’s will host a special auction of works by François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) from the collection of his daughter, Dorothée Lalanne. French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus will curate a unique exhibition in conjunction with the sale, offering his fresh perspective on the remarkable collection, on view at Christie’s New York from October 4 to October 10.

    Portrait of a young man sorrounded by crates and sculpturesPortrait of a young man sorrounded by crates and sculptures
    Fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is curating a special exhibition at Christie’s on the occasion of the upcoming auction “François-Xavier Lalanne, Sculpteur | Collection Dorothée Lalanne.” Brian McCormick

    Beginning in 1966, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, known collectively as Les Lalanne, developed artistic practices that were deeply intertwined. Claude’s sculptures often evoke flora, reimagining elements like ginkgo leaves, branches or apples with Renaissance and Baroque influences. François-Xavier, on the other hand, became renowned for his life-size animal sculptures, inspired by his time working as a guard in the Louvre Museum’s Egyptian and Assyrian galleries, where he absorbed the rich symbolism of ancient mythologies and civilizations. As he once remarked, “The animal world offers an infinite repertory of forms connected to a universal symbolism” that “children as well as adults are sensitive to.”

    The couple’s surreal take on naturalism appeals across generations, tapping into a timeless desire to reconnect with nature and to integrate natural motifs—something modern man has sought since the onset of industrialization. Les Lalanne’s visionary work anticipates a profound reintegration of the relationship between humans and the natural world.

    SEE ALSO: Amid Starry Nights and Sunflowers, the National Gallery’s Van Gogh Show Has More to Say

    The upcoming auction at Christie’s will feature seventy lots, marking the auction house’s first solo presentation of François-Xavier Lalanne’s works. This follows a series of record-breaking sales of pieces from Dorothée Lalanne’s collection, including a landmark Sotheby’s auction in November 2021 that brought in €129 million—double the high estimate, making history as the highest-grossing collection sold in France in over a decade. In December of 2022, another record auction at Christie’s, “Sculpting Paradise: The Collection of Marie Lalanne,” featuring works owned by another daughter, Marie, fetched a staggering $77,043,008, with 100 percent of lots sold, 88 percent surpassing high estimates and eighteen works crossing the $1 million mark. Last year, François-Xavier achieved a new auction record at Christie’s with the sale of his Rhinocrétaire I (1964) for $19,418,556.

    Sculpture of a tortoise with grass reassembling covering its top. Sculpture of a tortoise with grass reassembling covering its top.
    François-Xavier Lalanne, Tortue Topiaire III, 2000; Copper, stainless steel, 17 ¼ x 48 ⅜ x 29 ½ in. (44 x 123 x 75 cm. Courtesy of Christie’s

    “A beloved post-war sculptor, François-Xavier Lalanne continues to amaze us with his joyful, highly refined work,” Alex Heminway, international head of design at Christie’s, said in a statement. “It’s been a thrilling few years for the artist’s market with significant institutional and gallery exhibitions.”

    Recently, Kasmin Gallery in New York showcased a curated selection of Les Lalanne’s works, further cementing the couple’s boundless creativity in the American art world. The exhibition primarily featured pieces from the collection of their eldest daughter, Caroline Hamisky Lalanne. The family’s close involvement in their work has contributed to their success, allowing them to maintain a controlled market. At the same time, in Venice, Ben Brown orchestrated a curated exhibition titled “Planète Lalanne,” coinciding with this year’s Biennale. This comprehensive show created a captivating dialogue between the couple’s imaginative artistry and the opulent interiors of Palazzo Rota.

    Sculpture of a big black bear. Sculpture of a big black bear.
    François-Xavier Lalanne, Très Grand Ours, 2009; Patinated bronze, 124 x 58 ¼ x 59 ½ in. (315 x 148 x 151 cm). Courtesy of Christie’s

    François-Xavier’s whimsical animal sculptures and furniture, combining extraordinary sculptural talent, craftsmanship and imagination, possess a timeless charm that transcends cultural boundaries. Despite a market slowdown, demand for Les Lalanne pieces remains strong, and we’re likely to see record prices again. Among the highlights of the upcoming sale at Christie’s is one of François-Xavier’s most celebrated works, Le Très Grand Ours (2009), with a high estimate of $3 million, along with Lapin À Vent De Tourtour (2002), with a high estimate of $1.5 million. Both works were previously featured in the major institutional exhibition “Les Lalanne à Trianon” at the Château de Versailles in 2021. Additionally, the auction will include Oiseleur II (2003), which is being offered for the first time.

    “François-Xavier Lalanne, Sculpteur | Collection Dorothée Lalanne” curated by Simon Porte Jacquemus, debuts at Christie’s New York on October 4 and runs through October 10. 

    Simon Porte Jacquemus Is Curating a Lalanne Exhibition for Christie’s

    Elisa Carollo

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  • A drawing gifted to George Washington by Marquis de Lafayette to be on display in Philly before going on auction

    A drawing gifted to George Washington by Marquis de Lafayette to be on display in Philly before going on auction

    A one-of-a-kind piece of American and French history will be displayed in Philadelphia in August.

    The Museum of the American Revolution will show “The Destruction of the Bastille,” an ink and wash drawing gifted to George Washington by French military officer Gilbert du Motier — commonly known as the Marquis de Lafayette — in 1790. This could be the last public appearance for the piece, since it is set to be part of a Freeman’s | Hindman auction of books and manuscripts in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, following its display at the museum.

    MORE: A 650-piece exhibit on Philly history features items from a sunken British ship and a World Series ring

    In case you missed the plot of “Hamilton,” Lafayette was a hero in the United States and France, and played important roles in both countries’ fights for freedom. At 19 years old, he came to America and volunteered to join the Continental Army, led by Washington, during the Revolutionary War. He commanded troops in the decisive siege of Yorktown before returning to his home country and becoming a key figure in the French Revolution. Lafayette was one of Washington’s most trusted military commanders, and they had a close friendship and even family-like relationship. 

    The drawing depicts the demolished Bastille prison in Paris on Aug. 8, 1789, a few weeks after the July 14 uprising that launched the French Revolution. On March 17, 1790, Lafayette — who was the head of the Paris National Guard — wrote to Washington from France to inform him of the latest happenings in the French Revolution. He also gifted Washington the Bastille drawing, which was made by Bastille demolition site inspector Étienne-Louis-Denis Cathala, along with the main key to the prison. 

    “Give me leave, My dear General, to present you With a picture of the Bastille just as it looked a few days after I Had ordered its demolition, with the Main Kea of that fortress of despotism — it is a tribute Which I owe as A Son to My Adoptive father, as an aid de Camp to My General, as a Missionary of liberty to its patriarch,” Lafayette wrote to Washington.

    The drawing became one of Washington’s most cherished possessions. The piece hung prominently in the presidential house in Philadelphia during Washington’s two terms, and then it hung in the entryway of his Mount Vernon home — even after his death. Washington’s family kept the sketch until 1891, nearly 100 years after he died. The drawing was then sold at auction and passed through private collections. It has rarely been publicly displayed in the centuries since it was created, but the piece recently appeared in Paris at the Didier Aaron & Cie art gallery.

    “The Museum of the American Revolution relishes the opportunity to showcase this extraordinary piece of history to the public before its ownership changes and its fate becomes unknown,” R. Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution, said in a release. “I can think of no better way to celebrate the impending 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s 1824-25 tour of America than to bear witness to this great historical reminder of reverence, camaraderie, and courage.”

    Franki Rudnesky

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  • At Bonhams, 75 Works by Overlooked Artist Bertina Lopes Make Their Auction Debut

    At Bonhams, 75 Works by Overlooked Artist Bertina Lopes Make Their Auction Debut

    The late Bertina Lopes’ studio in Rome. Courtesy Bonhams

    Bertina Lopes, the late Mozambican-Italian artist known for both her large-scale abstract works and her political advocacy, was a pioneer in the merging of European and African art movements. Now seventy-five of Lopes’ paintings, drawings and sculptures will head to auction for the first time at Bonhams.

    The works are expected to fetch between £300,000 ($382,000) and £500,000 ($636,000) total in an online sale running from June 4 to June 19. Sold on behalf of her estate, the artworks have remained untouched since her death in 2012 and come directly from Lopes’ Rome studio, which doubled as her apartment.

    In keeping with Lopes’ oeuvre, many of the lots reflect the evolving political situation in the artist’s home country of Mozambique, which endured a war for independence and civil war during her lifetime. “Her work for a very long time has always been quite politically engaging,” Helene Love-Allotey, Bonham’s head of sale, told Observer.

    Large painting with large colorful strokes of paint in the middleLarge painting with large colorful strokes of paint in the middle
    Bertina Lopes, Il canto della natura (The song of nature), (2000). Courtesy Bonhams

    Born under colonialism in Maputo to Portuguese-Mozambican parents, Lopes initially became acquainted with contemporary European movements like Modernism when she left to study in Lisbon. She would return to Mozambique in 1953 to work as an artist and professor, where she became ingrained in a circle of poets, writers and political activists and formed anti-fascist and anti-colonialist beliefs as the country’s political situation worsened.

    These views would eventually force her to leave Mozambique for Portugal in the early 1960s. Two years later, Lopes fled to Rome after her political activism led to prosecution by the Portuguese International and State Defense Police. There she befriended diplomats, journalists, intellectuals and key players of Italy’s art scene like Marino Marini, Renato Guttuso, Carlo Levi and Antonio Scordia, hosting them at famed rooftop dinners at her apartment alongside her husband Francesco Confaloni. “Throughout her life, up until her death, she was constantly socializing with poets and actors and artists,” said Love-Allotey, who noted that visitors to Lopes’ studio often left personal notes on the walls.

    Black and white photo of woman in patterned dress sitting in art studioBlack and white photo of woman in patterned dress sitting in art studio
    Bertina Lopes in her studio in Maputo 1986. Courtesy Archivo Bertina Lopes/Bonhams

    Bertina Lopes lived double lives as artist and activist

    In addition to producing artwork that reflected current events in Mozambique, Lopes in Rome also served as the cultural attaché of Mozambique’s embassy. In part due to her connections with Mozambique presidents Joaquim Chissano and Armando Guebuza, she even played a role in peace accords that in 1992 put an end to 15 years of civil war in Mozambique, according to Bonhams.

    Several pieces created by Lopes following this era will star in the upcoming Bonhams sale, including paintings like the 1996 Life is a volcanic eruption, 1995 Moments are the rings of time and 2000 The Song of nature; all of which are expected to realize between £15,000 ($19,000) to £20,000 ($25,000) each. Her auction record was established in 2022 when Bonhams sold Lopes’ 1976 work Ritratto for $26,500.

    Throughout her lifetime, Lopes represented Mozambique in international exhibitions like the Venice Biennale, with her work currently displayed in its 2024 edition. Her art has been additionally showcased in major shows like a 1973 exhibition at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation and retrospectives at Rome’s Palazzo Venezia in 1986, Palazzo della Cancelleria Apostolica in 2002 and Saltoun Gallery in 2022.

    Yet despite having been exhibited widely, Lopes was never commercially represented while alive. “I think she’s been overlooked,” said Love-Allotey. “Now, more people are gaining awareness and I really hope with this auction that more people discover her work.”

    At Bonhams, 75 Works by Overlooked Artist Bertina Lopes Make Their Auction Debut

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Want to Buy a Decommissioned Supercomputer? Here’s Your Chance

    Want to Buy a Decommissioned Supercomputer? Here’s Your Chance

    On Tuesday, the US General Services Administration began an auction for the decommissioned Cheyenne supercomputer, located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The 5.34-petaflop supercomputer ranked as the 20th most powerful in the world at the time of its installation in 2016. Bidding started at $2,500, but its price is currently $270,085.

    The supercomputer, which officially operated between January 12, 2017, and December 31, 2023, at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, was a powerful (and once considered energy-efficient) system that significantly advanced atmospheric and Earth system sciences research.

    “In its lifetime, Cheyenne delivered over 7 billion core-hours, served over 4,400 users, and supported nearly 1,300 NSF awards,” writes the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) on its official Cheyenne information page. “It played a key role in education, supporting more than 80 university courses and training events. Nearly 1,000 projects were awarded for early-career graduate students and postdocs. Perhaps most tellingly, Cheyenne-powered research generated over 4,500 peer-review publications, dissertations and theses, and other works.”

    UCAR says that Cheynne was originally slated to be replaced after five years, but the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted supply chains, and it clocked in two extra years in its tour of duty. The auction page says that Cheyenne recently experienced maintenance limitations due to faulty quick disconnects in its cooling system. As a result, approximately 1 percent of the compute nodes have failed, primarily due to ECC errors in the DIMMs. Given the expense and downtime associated with repairs, the decision was made to auction off the components.

    With a peak performance of 5,340 teraflops (4,788 Linpack teraflops), this SGI ICE XA system was capable of performing over 3 billion calculations per second for every watt of energy consumed, making it three times more energy-efficient than its predecessor, Yellowstone. The system featured 4,032 dual-socket nodes, each with two 18-core, 2.3-GHz Intel Xeon E5-2697v4 processors, for a total of 145,152 CPU cores. It also included 313 terabytes of memory and 40 petabytes of storage. The entire system in operation consumed about 1.7 megawatts of power.

    Just to compare, the world’s top-rated supercomputer at the moment—Frontier at Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee—features a theoretical peak performance of 1,679.82 petaflops, includes 8,699,904 CPU cores, and uses 22.7 megawatts of power.

    The GSA notes that potential buyers of Cheyenne should be aware that professional movers with appropriate equipment will be required to handle the heavy racks and components. The auction includes seven E-Cell pairs (14 total), each with a cooling distribution unit (CDU). Each E-Cell weighs approximately 1,500 lbs. Additionally, the auction features two air-cooled Cheyenne Management Racks, each weighing 2,500 lbs, that contain servers, switches, and power units.

    As of this writing, 23 potential buyers have bid on this computing monster so far. The auction closes on May 3 at 6:11 pm Central Time if you’re interested in bidding. But don’t get too excited by photos of the extensive cabling: As the auction site notes, “fiber optic and CAT5/6 cabling are excluded from the resale package.”

    This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

    Benj Edwards, Ars Technica

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  • A Rare Superman Edition Is Now the Most Valuable Comic Book in the World

    A Rare Superman Edition Is Now the Most Valuable Comic Book in the World

    The record-setting copy was purchased by an anonymous buyer. Courtesy Heritage Auctions

    There’s a new comic book record in town. Action Comics No. 1, which introduced the character of Superman to the world in 1938, has sold for a record-breaking $6 million at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The staggering sale surpasses the previous comic book auction record held by a copy of Spider-Man’s Amazing Fantasy No. 15, which sold for $3.6 million in 2021, and the private sale record of $5.3 million established in 2022 with a copy of Superman No. 1.

    Created by writer Jerry Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster, Action Comics No. 1 details Superman’s origin story and his initial journey to Earth in a spaceship from a distant planet, in addition to debuting the character of Lois Lane. It was originally sold for just ten cents, which is about $2 today adjusting for inflation. Only 100 issues are estimated to have survived out of 200,000 copies printed.

    “This has been the most sought-after comic book ever since people started collecting, because it’s the first appearance of Superman,” Barry Sandoval, vice president of Heritage Auctions, tells Observer. Its success “enabled the whole comic book craze that followed, and which still echoes today.”

    SEE ALSO: Jane Fonda, Christie’s and Gagosian Are Staging a Benefit Auction to Fight Big Oil

    The pioneering issue has also attracted famous fans like the actor Nicolas Cage, who had a copy stolen from his Los Angeles home in 2000. The pilfered comic book was found in a storage unit 11 years later, in a recovery Cage described as an act of “divine providence.”

    Now the most valuable comic book in the world, the edition sold by Heritage Auctions was acquired by an anonymous buyer. It wasn’t the only notable item offered up by Heritage earlier this month during its four-day Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction. A restored copy of Action Comics No. 1 fetched $576,000, setting an all-time high for any restored comic book.

    The auction house also sold a historic 1934 letter written by Siegel that outlined the concept of Superman to comic illustrator Russell Keaton and sold for $264,000. And it set another record with its auction of a copy of the 1963 The Avengers #1, which realized $432,000 and established a new benchmark price for the title.

    Positive indicators for the collectibles market

    The entire auction was a record-breaking event, bringing in a total of $28.2 million and becoming the most lucrative comic book and comic art auction, according to Heritage. Such impressive results for the early Superman comic and other sales “are gratifying because in comics, like in so many collectibles, things got a little crazy in the post-pandemic years,” says Sandoval.

    Pandemic lockdowns led to an unprecedented spike in the collectibles market, with 2021 standing out as an especially lucrative year for auction houses like Heritage. While prices have since fallen, auction results like these indicate that the collectibles and comic markets are still strong, according to Sandoval. “While it’s true that the market has settled down since then, it’s nice to see new records being set to confirm that people are still very interested.”

    A Rare Superman Edition Is Now the Most Valuable Comic Book in the World

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • A Rare Rediscovered Banksy Heads to Auction

    A Rare Rediscovered Banksy Heads to Auction

    Banksy, Happy Choppers, (2006). Courtesy Anderson & Garland

    A rare work by Banksy, the elusive British artist famed for his humorous and at times political street art, is heading to auction years after it was rediscovered and rescued by a team of restoration specialists.

    In 2008, the owner of an office building in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood was flipping through a book dedicated to Banksy’s local work when he recognized his own property in one of the images. After racing down to the building, he found the art had been painted over—but not entirely. A small section of a helicopter propeller from the original work was still visible at the top.

    “We were astounded to discover that our newly purchased office building was the canvas for an artwork of this significance,” said the owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, in a statement.

    The work was originally painted by Banksy in 2006, as documented by his former manager Steve Lazarides in BANKSY CAPTURED (Volume 1). Entitled Happy Chopper, its depiction of helicopters is a regular motif used by Banksy, who has included the aircraft in past works like his 2003 Wrong War placards. The painting was considered to be a security risk by the building’s former owner, who subsequently covered the work in black paint and neglected to mention its existence when selling the property.

    A complicated restoration process

    Upon discovering that he was now in possession of a Banksy, the building’s current owner enlisted the Fine Art Restoration Company, a London-based company which had previously restored Banksy works. The restoration process was a complicated one—for starters, Happy Choppers couldn’t be removed as one piece for fear of it breaking apart, and instead was removed from the building in sections. “To our knowledge, no one had attempted to rescue a fragile work of high-profile street art like this before,” said the owner.

    Banksy’s medium of spray paint also presented challenges. “As these murals do not use a medium traditionally found in art, our conservators investigated the chemistry of the original pigments and developed new techniques suitable for the safe treatment of aerosol art,” said Chris Bull, director of the Fine Art Restoration Company, in a statement. The year-long process included cleaning pollutants, city air and pests that had contaminated the work’s surface and removing overpaint and local graffiti that had been added on top of the work.

    Now, the fully restored painting is ready for a new home. It will hit the auction block later this month when it highlights the Spring Fine Art Auction for Anderson & Garland, an auction house based in Newcastle. Happy Choppers, which contains an estimate of between £500,000 ($633,000) and £700,000 ($886,000), will be on view in the auctioneer’s saleroom ahead of its March 20 sale.

    “Previously gracing the side of an office block, it has been painstakingly restored and professionally adapted to domestic proportions,” said Fred Wyrley-Birch, director of Anderson & Garland, in a statement. “We are hoping that institutions will be interested in this important piece so that enthusiasts of Banksy’s work can enjoy it for years to come.”

    A Rare Rediscovered Banksy Heads to Auction

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • A Pair of Early Ming Dynasty Bronze Figures Is Expected to Fetch $11M at Sotheby’s

    A Pair of Early Ming Dynasty Bronze Figures Is Expected to Fetch $11M at Sotheby’s


    Monumental gilt-bronze figures of Panjarnata Mahakala and Kapaladhara Hevajra. Courtesy Sotheby’s

    Two of the largest bronze figures created during the early Ming dynasty will soon be offered up by Sotheby’s during spring’s Asia Week New York.

    Depicting guardian deity Panjarnata Mahakala and meditational deity Hevajra, the works will headline the auction house’s upcoming Asian art sales in the two-lot sale Wrathful Deities: Masterworks from the Bodhimanda Foundation. Both figures were likely commissioned for Chinese shrines and are an exception example of the influence of Vajrayana Buddhism on emperors of the early Ming dynasty.

    “We are honored to offer these superlative gilt-bronze masterpieces to commence our annual March Asian Art auction series,” said Julian King, an international specialist and head of sale in Himalayan Art for Sotheby’s New York, in a statement. “Both are of superb quality and endowed with truly adamantine power.”

    The figure of Hevajra measures more than two feet tall and has an estimate of between $3 million to $5 million. Meanwhile, the figure of Panjarnata Mahakala is several inches taller and is by far the largest early Ming dynasty bronze in private hands. It is expected to sell for between $4 million and $6 million.

    The sale of the imperial gilt-bronze figures will benefit the Bodhimanda Foundation

    The early 15th-century works were in a private European collection before they were gifted in 2011 to the Bodhimanda Foundation, an organization focused on spreading knowledge about the culture of esoteric Buddhism through research, publications, lectures and the display of artwork. The figures are the largest and most important Chinese works of art in the nonprofit’s Buddhist art collection.

    All proceeds from the Sotheby’s sale will benefit the Bodhimanda Foundation’s goal to place its collection in a permanent museum display. “We are privileged to have been selected by the Bodhimanda Foundation to find a new home for these two masterpieces, thereby raising funds to house their collection in a new home,” said King.

    The two bronze figures were most recently displayed together between 2011 and 2020 at the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The figure of Hevajra was also exhibited in 2012 at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

    Ahead of the live sale on March 19, the statuettes will be on view between February 5 through 7 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong before being included in a public exhibition at Sotheby’s New York that will open on March 14. More highlights from the auction house’s upcoming March Asian Art sales will be announced closer to the date.

    A Pair of Early Ming Dynasty Bronze Figures Is Expected to Fetch $11M at Sotheby’s





    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • A Rare Michelangelo Sketch Could Be Yours for Less Than $10,000

    A Rare Michelangelo Sketch Could Be Yours for Less Than $10,000


    The simple drawing will be sold alongside a letter written by one of Michelangelo’s descendants. Courtesy Christie’s

    In 1986, a drawing attributed to an associate of Michelangelo was offered up by Christie’s. Attached to the back of the work was another drawing—one created by Michelangelo himself.

    Specialists in Christie’s Old Master drawings department discovered the sketch last year while examining the other work, which for decades has been kept in a private collection. They quickly realized that the small scrap of paper was the work of Michelangelo, with subsequent research confirming their attribution, according to the auction house.

    The simple pen-and-ink drawing depicts a diagram of a block of marble. It comes mounted to a letter written by Cosimo Buonarroti, the last direct heir of Michelangelo.

    The block sketch, which is overwritten with the word “simile” (English: similar), was originally taken from a larger sheet of Michelangelo’s diagrams of marble blocks, according to Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings for Christie’s New York. “These were either intended for the quarries that provided him with the blocks to make his sculptures, or for the shippers of these blocks,” she told Observer, adding that his diagrams often contained measurements.

    The drawing was owned by Cosimo and gifted in 1836 to Sir John Bowring, an English tourist who would later become the governor of Hong Kong. The accompanying letter includes an inscription from Cosimo detailing the gift.

    Michelangelo often filled single sheets with diagram sketches of marble blocks for projects like the facade of Florence’s San Lorenzo Church, the marble structures of the Sagrestia Nuova and the funerary monument of Pope Julius II in Rome, according to a post from art historian Mauro Mussolin on the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco’s website. These drawings also typically included information on transportation and the material costs of the blocks.

    Where are Michelangelo’s other sketches today?

    While Michelangelo destroyed most of his sketches and drawings before his death in 1564, more than 200 sheets were recovered and are now on view at Casa Buonarroti, a museum in Florence dedicated to Michelangelo’s work. Its collection contains most of Michelangelo’s diagrams of marble blocks, according to Christie’s, which estimates that fewer than ten of the artist’s works remain in private hands.

    Scheduled to be sold in April alongside Old Master paintings and drawings, Chinese works of art and 18th-century French furniture in Christie’s A Park Avenue Collection auction, Michelangelo’s small marble block sketch and the accompanying letter will be offered as a single lot with an estimate of less than $10,000.

    The drawing’s estimate is a far cry from Michelangelo’s auction record, which was set in 2022 when a recently rediscovered nude drawing fetched $21 million at Christie’s. The conservative estimate was influenced by both the work’s small size and its simplicity, said Damen. A more elaborate block drawing fragment had a similar estimate of £10,000 ($12,700) to £15,000 ($19,000) when it was offered up by Christie’s in 2008 and went on to realize more than £73,000 ($92,800).

    “We look at similar pieces that have appeared on the market, taking into account both the passage of time and all of the aspects of the current object that make it singular,” said Damen. “It’s always hard to put a value on something as rare as this.”

    A Rare Michelangelo Sketch Could Be Yours for Less Than $10,000





    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Arnold Schwarzenegger Detained in Customs, Fined Over Watch | Entrepreneur

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Detained in Customs, Fined Over Watch | Entrepreneur

    He will most certainly not be back.

    Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was detained at Munich airport over the weekend due to an extremely expensive watch he neglected to declare at customs while traveling to the country.

    The watch, which was supposed to be auctioned off at a charity event in Kitzbuhel, Austria on Thursday, delayed the “Terminator” star by three hours. He said he was not given the proper form before entering to declare the possession.

    Schwarzenegger reportedly agreed to prepay over $10,000 in taxes on the watch but due to customs being unable to process his credit card, he was forced to withdraw money from an ATM, which then hit a withdrawal limit.

    Related: US Customs Closes Early, Travelers Pay Thousands to Get Home

    Authorities then tried to take the 76-year-old to a bank only to find that it was closed, so another officer brought in a new credit card machine, which eventually worked.

    And no, this was not the plot of a new Schwarzenegger movie.

    “He cooperated at every step even though it was an incompetent shakedown, a total comedy of errors that would make a very funny cop movie,” an unnamed source told PEOPLE.

    Schwarzenegger’s nonprofit, the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, plans to properly report the watch once it’s auctioned off on Thursday at the Dinner & Auction for Environmental Protection at the Stanglwirt.

    The Munich Main Customs Office, meanwhile, said that it has initiated criminal proceedings against the actor for tax evasion since he did not claim the item at customs, per TMZ.

    According to the German customs website, travelers must “declare funds of 10,000 euros or more” even though personal possessions brought with passengers are exempt if they are considered personal property.

    Related: The 10 Worst Airports in the U.S.

    However, the law states, that for “valuable objects such as jewelry, expensive digital cameras, and so on, you may be asked follow a special procedure.”

    Still, the actor seems to be in high spirits.

    “All is well and we look forward to a very successful charity event,” a rep for Schwarzenegger told PEOPLE.

    Emily Rella

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  • Memorabilia auction for HBO’s ‘Succession’ takes in $627,000 as fans scoop up props, including Tom Ford sneakers at $2,125

    Memorabilia auction for HBO’s ‘Succession’ takes in $627,000 as fans scoop up props, including Tom Ford sneakers at $2,125

    “Hey Buddha, nice Tom Fords,” says Roman Roy, pointing to Kendall’s sneakers in episode two, season four, of the HBO drama Succession. For a final price of $2,125, those Tom Fords could have been yours, spiritual teachings not included.

    The shoes were among 236 lots of memorabilia from the hit series auctioned by US Heritage Auctions on Saturday, fetching a total of $627,000. The priciest item: pink notecards scribbled with the eulogy that Roman (Kieran Culkin) left undelivered at his father’s funeral in the final season. The cards sold for $25,000.

    Succession, the story of three uber-rich siblings vying to take over their father’s media company, ended in May and is currently dominating the awards season. A week ago, the show scooped up four Golden Globes including best TV drama series.

    One of the most iconic items listed was the “ludicrously capacious” Burberry bag carried by an outsider to a family event, which sold for $18,750. The sight of which made Tom Wambsgans, played by Matthew Macfadyen, famously quip, “What’s even in there, huh? Flat shoes for the subway?”

    Collectors also vied for Lukas Matsson’s (Alexander Skarsgard) vape device; Roman’s Walmart kid’s T-shirt, which sold for $1,875; and Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) fictional Forbes cover issue.

    “We could not be more pleased with Saturday’s auction, and we’re sure those taking home a piece of the Roy legacy will feel the same way,” Heritage Screenbid Managing Director Jax Strobel said in a statement.

    The auction brought in “a lot of fan engagement, not just collectors, but real fans of the show that are participating and bidding,” Strobel said in a separate statement.

    The show led to Instagram accounts documenting the characters’ outfits and is credited with sparking the so-called “quiet luxury” fashion trend. A few lucky collectors now have their hands on Kendall’s Prada suit, sold for $7,500, or Shiv Roy’s (Sarah Snook) Max Mara power outfits.

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    Irina Anghel, Alicia Diaz, Bloomberg

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