Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a record for the most expensive modern artwork at auction. The work, painted between 1914 and 1916, was auctioned on November 18, 2025, after a competitive bidding process, with a pre-sale estimate around $150 million; the hammer price was $205 million, totaling $236.4 million with fees. It surpassed Salvator Mundi and other modern-art records, with six bidders participating.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra acquired a 1610 tenor viola made in Brescia by Giovanni Paolo Maggini, described as believed to be the only surviving example of its kind, for more than 3 million dollars through its Instrument Fund. To pay for it the fund sold a 1714 Guarneri violin. The viola will be played by the orchestra's principal viola Stefanie Farrands.
Dealers reported swift sales at Frieze Los Angeles 2026 at Santa Monica Airport. Reported prices included Njideka Akunyili Crosby at 2.8 million dollars, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at 1.5 million dollars, Howardena Pindell at 875,000 dollars, Keith Haring sculpture at 700,000 dollars, Alex Katz at 700,000 dollars, Jonas Wood at 600,000 dollars, Jean Dubuffet at 475,000 dollars, Lisa Yuskavage totalling 460,000 dollars, Emily Kam Kngwarray at 450,000 dollars, Mary Weatherford at 300,000 dollars, David Salle at 280,000 dollars, Ugo Rondinone at 260,000 dollars, Liza Lou at 225,000 dollars, and Antony Gormley sculptures totalling over 1.5 million pounds. Works by Ed Ruscha, Louis Fratino, Robert Longo, Barbara Kruger, Emmi Whitehorse, Conny Maier, Yvonne Wells, Erica Mahinay and Zenobia Lee were also reported sold.
Christie’s examines Explore abstract works by Richter, Shiraga, Riopelle and Hodgkin and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
Christie’s Post-War to Present totals $32,023,889 in New York, with Jeff Koons’s Winter Bears leading at $7,639,000; other top lots include Josef Albers’s Homage to the Square: Insight, Robert Morris’s untitled work, Cy Twombly’s Roman Notes, Helen Frankenthaler’s Strike, and Roy Lichtenstein’s Portrait.
Christie’s reported totals for its New York contemporary sales reached $40,650,872, with Post-War to Present totaling $32,023,889, Contemporary Edition $2,201,926, First Open $4,544,060, and Outsider Art $1,880,997. The top lot in Post-War to Present was Jeff Koons' Winter Bears, which sold for $7,639,000, and other notable results included Cy Twombly’s Roman Notes ($1,104,900), Helen Frankenthaler’s Strike ($1,492,250), and Roy Lichtenstein’s Portrait ($1,130,300).
The Australian Chamber Orchestra acquired a 1610 Maggini viola. Stefanie Farrands, ACO's Principal Viola, will play the instrument. The acquisition was funded by the ACO Instrument Fund, which loans valuable instruments to players.
Christie’s examines Discover works by Basquiat, Hockney, Bove, Brown, Wylie, Goldin and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
The Art Newspaper reports that Los Angeles is on the cusp of a museum building boom, led by LACMA's 835 million dollar David Geffen Galleries by Peter Zumthor and the roughly 1 billion dollar Lucas Museum of Narrative Art by Ma Yansong, both due in 2026, plus Refik Anadol's Dataland AI museum, a 100 million dollar Broad extension, a 126.6 million dollar Huntington expansion and a 240 million dollar La Brea Tar Pits renovation. Artists named in connection with the institutions include Alexander Calder, Auguste Rodin, Jeff Koons, Chris Burden, Michael Heizer, Tony Smith, Diana Thater, Shio Kusaka, Mariana Castillo Deball and Refik Anadol.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra has acquired a 1610 Maggini viola for its Golden Age collection. The instrument will be played by ACO Principal Viola Stefanie Farrands and was funded by the ACO Instrument Fund, which sold a 1714 Guarneri violin to finance the purchase.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra acquired a 416-year-old viola made in 1610 by Giovanni Paolo Maggini, becoming the first viola purchased by the instrument fund. Stefanie Farrands, the AOС principal viola since 2020, discovered the instrument in New York and described its sound as mysterious and dark.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles has acquired Kara Walker's bronze sculpture Unmanned Drone (2023), made by dissecting and reassembling a decommissioned 1921 Confederate monument of General Stonewall Jackson. The museum said it also recently acquired works by Olafur Eliasson, Henry Taylor, Julie Mehretu, Nairy Baghramian, Meriem Bennani, Suzanne Jackson, Mike Kelley, Paul Pfeiffer, Cynthia Daignault, Shizu Saldamando and Takako Yamaguchi. No monetary values were disclosed.
Australian Chamber Orchestra principal viola Stefanie Farrands is connected to the purchase of a Maggini viola valued at $US2.05 million for the ACO Instrument Fund.
Christie’s examines Revealed: a legendary collection of 18th-century French art and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, View of the Sea from Haute-Cagnes, 1910, oil on canvas, located at Osthaus Museum Hagen, Wiederverkauf; The German city of Hagen restituted the painting to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt and later bought it back with support from cultural funds.
The Strad reported that the finalists for the 2026 Ysaye International Violin Competition have been announced, with eight junior-division and twelve senior-division violinists selected. The finals are set to take place from 6 to 12 July in South Korea, with senior finalists required to perform works including a solo violin sonata by Eugene Ysaye. No sale, price or historic instrument is named in the announcement.
Christie’s examines Explore works by Goya, Matisse, Munch, Picasso and Rembrandt and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
Christie’s examines Explore the Roger and Josette Vanthournout Collection and its significance for artists, collectors, institutions, or the art market.
The MacDonald Viola, a 1719 Stradivari viola, is expected to fetch more than $45 million in a sealed-bids sale, potentially setting a world record for a musical instrument. The instrument is one of only two privately owned Stradivari violas and is being sold by the family of Peter Schidlof. Sotheby’s is conducting the sale with Ingles & Hayday.
The article reports that Tarisio sold the 1721 Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin for £9,808,000 at a June 20 auction, setting a world record. The sale proceeds were pledged to aid Japan through the Nippon Foundation’s relief fund, and the violin has a history of ownership including Lady Anne Blunt and Jean Baptiste Vuillaume.
A 1696 Antonio Stradivarius violin worth £1.2 million, stolen in 2010 from Min-Jin Kym, has been found. The instrument and two bows worth £67,000 were stolen at London’s Euston station and recovered; authorities confirmed the find and the violin is being held at a secure London location.
The 310-year-old violin, made by David Tecchler in 1709, was left on a train by Stephen Norris and returned in a supermarket car park by an unknown man. Police said no further action would be taken. The instrument is worth around €290,000.
Chinese violinist Xunyue Zhang won first prize and 10,000 euros at the 2026 International Mozart Competition, whose finals took place on 12 February at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg; she performs on a 1663 violin by Andrea Guarneri. Italian violinist Yuki Serino took second prize (7,000 euros) and Maxim Tzekov of Austria and Bulgaria took third prize (3,000 euros).
Paganini's Cannone, a violin built in 1743 by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, is highlighted at a London concert featuring Simon Zhu with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano. The event included a royal tribute from King Charles III and involved luthier Alberto Giordano, conservator of the Cannone. The Cannone is housed at the Musei di Strada Nuova in Genoa and serves as a cultural ambassador for Liguria.
The Aguttes news page discusses a Guarneri del Gesù violin from 1736 in Cremona, owned by violinist Régis Pasquier for over twenty years, to be auctioned on June 3, 2022. It notes the instrument’s middle-period status, rarity in the 21st century, and compares it to Stradivarius instruments.
Artemisia Gentileschi self-portrait sold at Christie’s for about $5.69 million, surpassing the previous auction high of $5.25 million. The sale notes the work depicts Gentileschi dressed as Saint Catherine of Alexandria and was painted in Florence circa 1613–1620. On the same day, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. announced its acquisition of Gentileschi’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (circa 1625).
The article reports a world record sale of a cello by Marius Didier for €18,600 at Aguttes on June 8, 2023, as part of the reopening of the Instruments and Bows department. It notes the department’s overall sale total of €185,000 with 73% of lots sold and lists top sales, including a cello by Didier, a bow by Emile Auguste Ouchard fils, a violin by Paul Blanchard, and a bow by Victor François Fétique.
Yves Klein’s painting California (IKB 71) sold at Christie’s Paris for €18.4 million ($21.4 million), setting a new auction record for the artist in France. The work is the largest format Klein created in his International Klein Blue and was the cover lot of the Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale.
Ukrainian violinist Georgii Moroz, 24, won first prize and 50,000 dollars at the 2026 Singapore International Violin Competition, whose grand final took place on 7 February at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Michael Germer of Denmark took second prize (25,000 dollars) and Zou Meng of China took third (15,000 dollars). The six finalists received three-year loans of fine violins from the Rin Collection, including the 1680 D'Annunzio-Baccara Antonio Stradivari, a 1719 Carlo Tononi, a 1721 Domenico Montagnana, a 1753 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, a 1793 Lorenzo Storioni and an 1840 Francesco Pressenda.
The Observer reports a strong Old Master sales week in New York led by Michelangelo with a $27.2 million drawing at Christie’s during Classics Week, plus a Rembrandt Lion drawing that brought in $18 million for wild cat conservation. Artemisia Gentileschi also set a record at $5.7 million, and there was notable activity around a rare double-sided panel by Antonello da Messina that was withdrawn before sale; Christie’s overall Classics Week totaled $110,004,491 with strong momentum for Old Masters.
MoMAA analyzes the African continental and African American/diaspora art markets entering 2026, citing stability in 2024 amid a broader market contraction and detailing auction performance, market confidence indicators, price segments, regional dynamics, and forward projections based on data from Art Basel/UBS, ArtTactic, auction house results, and specialist analysis. Key findings include the 2024 global market contraction to $57.5 billion, strong sell-through rates for African art, over $100 million in cumulative dedicated sales since 2017, record prices such as Julie Mehretu at $10.7 million, and expansion of dedicated African departments at major houses like Sotheby’s in 2025.
Georgii Moroz won the First Prize at the Singapore International Violin Competition (SIVC) 2026, with Danish violinist Michael Germer and Chinese violinist Zou Meng taking second and third places, respectively. Moroz performed Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in the Grand Final at Esplanade Concert Hall on 7 February 2026.
Artemisia Gentileschi Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria sold at Christie’s in New York for $5.69 million, breaking the artist’s auction record. The painting was previously on loan to Oslo’s Nasjonalmuseet and is tied to a related exhibition in 2028 at the Nivaagaard Collection. The National Gallery of Art acquired Gentileschi’s Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy on the same day, expanding holdings of Italian Baroque paintings.
New York's Old Masters auctions produced several records. An early self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi sold for a record 5.7 million dollars, a miniature drawing of a foot attributed to Michelangelo made a record 27.2 million dollars, and a chalk drawing by Rembrandt titled Young Lion Resting sold at Sotheby's for 17.8 million dollars with fees, the highest price for a Rembrandt drawing at auction. Canaletto's Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day sold for 30.5 million dollars, and Christie's Old Masters evening auction totalled 54.3 million dollars with fees.
A rare Stradivari viola, the Macdonald, failed to sell at a sealed-bid auction with a minimum bid of $45 million (€33 million). The instrument was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1719 and is one of only two privately owned. The auction was conducted by Sotheby’s in conjunction with Ingles & Hayday, with no sale at this time.
Conservators at Rotterdam's Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum found that Vincent van Gogh's landscape Poplars near Nuenen was painted over an entirely different composition, a July 1884 moonlit view of the Protestant old church tower and graveyard in Nuenen, revealed through X-ray imaging. Conservator Erika Smeenk-Metz and collections director Sandra Kisters led the study, which also notes that Van Gogh's friend Anton van Rappard had praised the earlier church scene.
Leon Black and Ronald Lauder are described as purchasing art together in Epstein investigation files. The article, by Katya Kazakina, discusses their status as prominent New York collectors and trustees, and notes that Epstein’s files reveal several joint acquisitions and the extent of Black’s art holdings, including works by Raphael, Leonardo, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo. The piece references charitable gifts to major museums and the involvement of Christie's listings.
Christie's Old Masters sale in New York totaled $54,130,050, the highest for a sale in New York in more than a decade. Notable results included Canaletto's Venice view, The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day, which realized $30,535,000 and Artemisia Gentileschi's Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which realized $5,687,000.
Artemisia Gentileschi sets record at a New York auction. The article discusses the artist Artemisia Gentileschi and the auction event in New York, reporting a record sale price.
Artemisia Gentileschi self-portrait, Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, sold for $5.69 million at Christie’s New York, a new auction record for the artist. The buyer was the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The work’s pre-sale estimate was $2.5 million to $3.5 million and is one of only five known self-portraits by Gentileschi.
Rare Michelangelo study for the Sistine Chapel sold for $27.2 million at Christie’s in New York, setting an artist record at auction. The drawing is a study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Ceiling and was discovered by Christie's specialists. The sale price surpassed its low estimate and highlighted extensive bidding.
The article reports that Artemisia Gentileschi's artwork set a new auction record in New York. It mentions the artist Artemisia Gentileschi and the context of the auction, but does not specify the artwork's name or the sale amount. No other artists, makers, houses, or amounts are provided.
Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, sold at Christie’s New York for $5.69 million. The painting is one of five self-portraits by Gentileschi, and likely the earliest. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced the acquisition of Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (circa 1625) from the same news cycle.
Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (ca. 1625) by Artemisia Gentileschi was acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It sold for $1.1 million at Sotheby’s in 2014 and was previously thought lost until resurfacing in 2011.
Austin Huntington, principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, plays a 350-year-old Guarneri cello worth about $5 million. The instrument is the only known Guarneri cello fashioned by Pietro Guarneri of Mantua, and Huntington studies it under the guidance of his longtime teacher Ronald Leonard.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington has acquired Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, painted around 1625 by Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, from a private collection for an undisclosed sum; the work had sold at auction in 2014 for 865,500 euros. The article also references her father Orazio Gentileschi, the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the painter Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun in discussing the gallery's holdings of women and Baroque artists.
At Sotheby's Origins II sale in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, held on 31 January 2026, a 1968 painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr titled Coffee Shop in Madina Road sold for 2.1 million dollars with fees, outperforming a 1963 Pablo Picasso landscape Paysage that made 1.6 million dollars. Other results included Samia Halaby's Copper at 315,000 dollars, a James Turrell light sculpture at 630,000 dollars, and an MF Husain work at 310,000 dollars. The 67-lot fine-art sale reached a hammer total of 15.4 million dollars, or 19.5 million dollars with fees.
German scholar Christof Metzger, curator of German art at Vienna's Albertina Museum, argues in a new Taschen catalogue raisonne that The Painter's Father, a portrait of Albrecht Durer's father held by London's National Gallery, is an authentic 1497 Durer rather than a later copy. The National Gallery, which bought the picture for 10,000 pounds in 1904, maintains it is a copy made in the second half of the 16th century.
Janet Horvath reports that the Liang Yi Museum of Hong Kong, in collaboration with J&A Beare of London and luthier Robert Brewer Young, unveiled the world’s first huanghuali cello in January 2026. The exhibit runs until January 28, with tours and related workshops, and features rare huanghuali objects and historic violins by Stradivari and Guarneri.
A Stradivarius once owned by violinist Roman Totenberg was recovered after 35 years. The Ames Stradivarius, made in 1734 by Antonio Stradivari, was reportedly in federal custody after a lead followed by an FBI agent and appraiser Phillip Injeian led to authorities announcing its recovery.
The article describes Cremona’s master violin makers, the city’s historic Violin Museum, and famous instruments by Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri housed in Cremona. It notes the museum’s collection of more than 60 instruments and mentions high-valued Stradivari violins, including those selling for over 20 million euros.
The CBS 8 article highlights Cremona’s master makers, its historic museum, and Stradivari instruments as central to the city’s violin tradition. It mentions the Violin Museum housing instruments by Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri, and notes values in the millions of euros.