Sotheby's

auction house

Sotheby’s $306m The Now and Contemporary sales wrap up a mediocre New York auction season

Both sales persevered through a lukewarm atmosphere to break into the lower reaches of their estimate ranges

Brisk Sotheby's Modern evening sale in New York delivers moderate results

The auction, spanning Monet to Miró, made $190.3m—just above its low estimate—and was preceded by the record-breaking sale of a Ferrari car

Sotheby's sale of Emily Fisher Landau's collection brings modest result, despite $139m Picasso portrait

The evening's total take of $406.4m was a sign of a stability—albeit one under-girded by guarantees and third-party backing—in a jittery market

Auctionsanalysis

How will New York’s auctions perform? London’s Frieze Week evening sales offer hints

Results from London’s premier autumn auctions suggest price now matters as much as prestige

Art marketanalysis

What makes a masterpiece? It depends who is selling…

Traditionally reserved for an artist’s greatest works, the term “masterpiece” now appears routinely in auction catalogues, and may just mean a work is good, novel—or expensive

Long-unseen Basquiat self-portrait could reach $60m at Sotheby’s New York

"Self Portrait as a Heel (Part Two)" (1982) hasn’t been displayed in public since its last appearance at auction, in 1999

Grayson Perry and Cornelia Parker donate works to Freedom from Torture charity auctions

Ai Weiwei’s taxi window crank sculptures will also go on the block at the Sotheby's live sale

Art marketanalysis

The magic behind Sotheby's Freddie Mercury sale

There was a certain degree of sleight of hand at play by the auction house to achieve 100% of lots sold

‘The market has changed’: Sotheby’s scrapes together £45.6m from Frieze Week double-header in London

The auction house’s The Now sale of ultra-contemporary art was a success, but its marquee contemporary art sale came up well short of expectations

Art marketanalysis

Lacklustre results for highly anticipated auction from Long Museum collection in China—experts weigh in on why

Despite a slew of records set for Western art in Asia, including new highest prices for Modigliani and Mark Bradford, the Hong Kong sale made below its low estimate

Balthus painting deaccessioned by the Art Institute of Chicago could bring as much as $18m at auction

"La Patience" (1948), which was one of two Balthus paintings in the museum’s collection, will go up for auction at Sotheby’s New York in November

'Rediscovered' Rembrandt could make £15m at Sotheby's London this December

The Biblical scene was recently offered at auction for just €10,000

Collection of late California patron Chara Schreyer could net more than $70m at Sotheby’s in New York

In sales spanning this year and next, hundreds of works that once belonged to the SFMoMA trustee will be offered, including a box in a suitcase by Duchamp

Sotheby’s lands $400m Emily Fisher Landau collection for November sales

The auctions will include a 1932 Picasso painting with a $120m estimate

Art marketanalysis

The art market is on a bumpy ride in 2023

Major auction houses have posted steep falls in turnover for the year so far—but some categories, such as luxury goods, are booming

They Want it All: Freddie Mercury collection smashes expectations at Sotheby’s

Objects ranging from Japanese art to a plush red crown and cape drove bidders into a frenzy on New Bond Street

New York auction houses' calendars align with Armory Week

Bonhams is offering a Robert Colescott work in a single-lot sale, while Sotheby’s online fashion series includes Princess Diana’s famous black-sheep sweater

Sotheby’s to sell €11m collection from the Hydra home of Pauline Karpidas

The British patron’s annual meetings on the Greek Island were a “who’s who of the contemporary art world”

Couple behind Shanghai's Long Museum to sell part of their collection at Sotheby's

Paintings by Modigliani and Kusama among the 50 works to be offered in Hong Kong—with more potentially coming to the block in New York

Diaryblog

Killer Queue: Freddie Mercury fans go Ga Ga and line up round the block for Sotheby’s show

The masses are being drawn in by the chance to see objects both fine and personal

Sotheby’s UK profits dropped by almost a quarter last year amid 'Brexit red tape'

An auction house spokesperson says Companies House figures do not represent full scope of business

Breuer building's miniature sculpture to stay put after takeover

Sotheby's, which is the new owner of the Madison Avenue building, “will proudly act as stewards” of Charles Simonds’s tiny installation

Bored Ape Yacht Club collectors sue Sotheby’s over NFTs auction

The auction house’s 2021 sale helped lend legitimacy to the line of cartoon apes, the plaintiffs claim, and was “misleading promotion”

Drake buys Tupac Shakur ring at Sotheby's for $1m

The Canadian superstar revealed himself as the Crown Ring's new owner in an Instagram story

Art marketanalysis

What goes around comes around: the art of finance

As a show at the Monnaie de Paris explores how money and creativity have been intertwined since the early 19th century, Sotheby’s is set to move into the Whitney’s former home

Auctionsanalysis

Selective buying leaves 35% of lots unsold at Sotheby's Old Master sale in London

The £39.4m auction was led by a 15th-century painting by the Master of the Baroncelli Portraits at £7.9m, while a new record was set for a work by William Hogarth—albeit sold to a single bid

Art marketanalysis

Sultry Klimt portrait smashes European auction record, selling for £85.3m in London

The night's star lot made up nearly half of the £190.3m total for Sotheby's Modern and contemporary evening auction

Diaryblog

Damien Hirst on painting river views, aiding assistants and why Sensation was just too silent

The artist's spin painting of musician Pete Townshend will be sold for charity at Sotheby's