Auctions

SummarySotheby's Hong Kong achieved a record-breaking, "white-glove result" at its Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Okada Museum of Art AuctionTotal sales for the auction reached an astonishing $88 million USD, setting a new benchmark for Asian art.The star lot was Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print, ‘The Great Wave: Under the Wave off Kanagawa’, which sold for a record price of $2.8 million USDThe global art market continues its momentum, following last week’s successes in New York with a record-shattering result in Asia. Sotheby’s Hong Kong, operating under its prestigious Maison banner, recently hosted the Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Okada Museum of Art Auction, an event that achieved a remarkable "white-glove result" (100% sold). This particular piece of highly recogn...

SummaryGustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” (1914–16) sold for $236.4 million USD at Sotheby’s inaugural Breuer Buildin sale, making history as the second most expensive artwork and the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction.Bringing a total of $706 million USD, the two-part auction saw the highest single-evening sale in the house’s history.Sotheby’s christened its new New York Breuer Building headquarters last night with a record-breaking debut, delivering the highest single-evening total in the company’s history. Tallying an astonishing $706 million USD — more than twice the sum achieved at its comparable sales last year — the sale signaled signaled momentum in a previously shrinking art market.Headlining the sale was Gustav Klimt’s six-foot-tall “Portrait of Elisab...

SummaryAround 30 Bob Ross paintings head to the auction block in support of public television stations facing funding cutsThe auction series kicks off with a three-piece sale at Bonhams Los Angeles on November 11Dozens of original artworks by Bob Ross, the soft-spoken legend of at-home art, will go under the hammer in a series of auctions to benefit public TV stations scrambling for new financial lifelines after recent federal funding cuts. The collection includes around 30 paintings, many of which were created on-air during Ross's hit PBS series, The Joy of Painting.The first auction of three works is slated for November 11 at Bonhams in Los Angeles, with subsequent sales planned for London, New York, Boston and online. All proceeds will go toward stations nationwide that run content from...

SummaryMarking the first time the Oscar-winning filmmaker has offered works from his personal archiveH.R. Giger’s painting for the unrealized project “The Tourist" set an auction recordHeritage Auctions has sold the first part of Guillermo del Toro’s famed “Bleak House” collection, raising $1.65 million USD. It is the first time the Oscar-winning filmmaker has offered works from his personal archive, which spans decades of collecting art, props and rare objects tied to his fascination with the macabre.Artworks topped the results. Bernie Wrightson’s album cover painting for Meat Loaf’s ‘Dead Ringer’ earned $167,000 USD, while his original plate for Marvel’s adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’ brought $250,000 USD. Mike Mignola’s illustration for 'Hellboy: Seed of Destruction' (1994) sold for $51,2...

SummaryPhillips marks its 10th anniversary in Asia with the Modern & Contemporary Art Fall Auctions this wekendThe sales are led by works from Yoshitomo Nara, Tom Wesselmann, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami and morePhillips is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Asia with the upcoming Modern & Contemporary Art Fall Auctions this weekend in Hong Kong.The Evening Sale on September 27 will showcase works by in-demand young talents alongside masterpieces from post-war masters, with nearly two-thirds of the pieces making their auction debut. A significant highlight of Yoshitomo Nara's seminal work "Pinky," which is being offered to the public for the first time, with estimated value of $7,690,000 - $10,260,000 USD. Painted in 2000 - a watershed year for the artist - “Pinky" is one of onl...

SummaryPablo Picasso’s Buste de femme, a portrait of Dora Maar, will be a highlight of Christie’s Hong Kong salePainted in 1944, the artwork captures the emotional and psychological depth of their complex relationshipWith an estimated value of over $11 million USD, the piece is one of the largest portraits of Maar to come to auction in recent yearsA rare and significant masterpiece from the hand of Pablo Picasso is set to be a leading highlight of Christie’s Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on September 26. The painting, Buste de femme, a captivating portrait of his muse and lover Dora Maar, is estimated to sell for $11 million to $14 million USD. After residing in private collections for more than 25 years, this artwork represents one of the largest and most compelling depictions ...

SummaryThe Nigel Sylvester Foundation is partnering with JOOPITER on a "Pedal Forward" artist bike auctionThe auction features one-of-a-kind bikes from artists like Futura and Sue Tsai to support the foundation’s "Switching Gears" programProceeds will fund the program’s mission of empowering youth through cycling to address the mental health crisisIn a powerful union of creativity and philanthropy, the Nigel Sylvester Foundation has partnered with the digital auction platform JOOPITER for the “Pedal Forward” Artist Bike Auction. The initiative, which features four exclusive, artist-painted bicycles, is designed to support the foundation's mission of empowering young people through cycling. All proceeds will directly benefit the “Switching Gears” program, which aims to address the growing y...

SummarySotheby’s revenue dropped nearly 20 percent in 2024, posting a $248 million USD pre-tax loss as the art market slowedThe auction house secured a $909 million investment from Abu Dhabi’s ADQ to pay down debt and buy a new Madison Avenue buildingThe art world’s blue-chip auction house just had a rough year. Sotheby’s, the 280-year-old giant that sells everything from Picassos to Patek Philippes, saw its revenues tumble nearly 20% in 2024 which means that fewer collectors purchased luxury goods and fine art and the house took a major hit.According to filings in Luxembourg, Sotheby’s brought in $1.13 billion USD in 2024, down from $1.36 billion USD the year before. The losses stacked up fast, with the company posting a pre-tax loss of about $248 million USD, more than double its $106 mi...

SummaryHorror maestro Guillermo del Toro is teaming up with Heritage Auctions for a three-part sale of relics from his infamous 10,000-piece cabinet of curiositiesThe first installment of the Bleak House auction will start on September 26 with hundreds of concept artworks, memorabilia and artifacts up for grabsFrom his early Cronos to his most recent Frankenstein - which earned a near 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival - Guillermo del Toro has secured the title as the "godfather of modern Gothic." Offscreen, his love for the occult, monstrous and macabre manifests as a two-story residence in suburban Los Angeles, with over 10,000 artworks, books and artifacts collected over a lifetime. Sure, tons of creative big shots have skeletons in the closet, but del Toro's infamou...

SummaryElizabeth Peyton's Liam + Noel (Gallagher) (1996) is heading to Sotheby's contemporary art sale in London on June 24Created in the apex of the band's fame, the "prescient" portrait highlights the quiet tension that shaped the duo's public relationship and their break-up in 2009.After a reunion last year, the piece draws art world excitement for the upcoming Live '25 tour, set to start in Cardiff on July 4.With the Live '25 tour kicking off next month, it's safe to say: Oasis Fever is back in full swing. Britpop nostalgia is back in the air and the Elizabeth Peyton double-portrait of the Gallagher brothers couldn't have arrived at Sotheby's in better timing. The 1996 painting is among the headlining works at the house's contemporary art auction in London on June 24, expecting to fetc...

SummaryPharrell Williams expands his auction platform with JOOPITER MarketplaceCapitalizing on the instant purchase feature, he partners with his A-list circle to release pre-owned collectiblesPharrell Williams' auction platform JOOPITER expands with its own marketplace in an attempt to adjust to the art market downturn with a new instant purchase feature of luxurious and pre-owned collectibles.In a new report from WWD, the publication confirms that Joopiter Marketplace is launching with items from some of Pharrell's closest A-list circle including collectors like himself, artist Tom Sachs, jeweler Lorraine Schwartz, entrepreneur and gallerist Easy Otabor and music executive Steven Victor. John Auerbach, chief executive officer of Joopiter told WWD in a statement, "Over the past three-and-...

SummaryThe earliest known example of Basquiat’s iconic "Head" motifOffered on Sotheby's with an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 USDAcquired directly from Basquiat and remained in same private collectionThere's no shortage of Basquiats making a big market splash with one of the late artist's paintings, "Saturday Night," having nabbed a mighty healthy $14.5 million USD during Christie's Hong Kong auction in March. But now, a much more rare and never-before-auctioned drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat will soon be up for auction at Sotheby’s. Titled "Untitled (1978)," the work is described to be the earliest known example of Basquiat’s iconic "Head" motif which he created at 18 years old. Basquiat's "Head" figuration is considered to be a cornerstone of his visual language that would later spur...