The article reports a $20 million Philip Guston painting, Painter at Night (1979), leading the VIP-day sales at Art Basel in Miami Beach, sold by Hauser & Wirth. Other seven-figure sales include a Tracey Emin painting sold by Xavier Hufkens for £1.2 million ($1.5 million), a Alex Katz painting sold by Kasmin for $1.4 million, and multiple works sold by Thaddaeus Ropac, David Zwirner, and others, with prices ranging from about $1.25 million to $3 million per piece.
The article discusses a 1620s–1630s Velázquez portrait of Isabelle de Bourbon being sold at Sotheby’s in New York on 1 February 2024, with an estimated price around $35 million. It notes this could set a new auction record for Velázquez and the Old Masters market, surpassing the prior $17 million Saint Rufina sale in 2007.
Dmitry Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier have settled out of court in a nine-year dispute concerning art transactions. The case covered multiple jurisdictions, including Monaco, Singapore, New York and Hong Kong, with Rybolovlev accusing Bouvier of overcharging him €1.1 billion from the sale of 38 works of art between 2003 and 2014; Bouvier denies wrongdoing. The settlement details remain confidential due to a non-disclosure agreement, and Bouvier’s lawyer called it a complete victory for his client.
Marlene Dumas's The Schoolboys (1986–87) sold for $9 million at Art Basel Miami Beach, a new personal high for the artist. The article notes prior auction high of $6.3 million in 2008 and places the sale in the context of other high-priced fair sales, including a claimed $20 million sale by Hauser & Wirth and multiple works by Gagosian exceeding $35 million; it also references that the Dumas sale was highlighted as the highest-priced work at the fair on Thursday, though not the second-most expensive reported sold at the fair.
The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired Heinrich Maria Davringhausen's painting Der Krieg (War) from Ketterer Kunst in Munich in 2017; the work, painted in 1914, is linked to German Expressionism and to broader movements such as Futurism and Cubism, with references to Kandinsky and Otto Dix.
The Cleveland Museum of Art announces new acquisitions including Aurelio Lombardo’s Dido, Giulio Romano drawing related to a frescoed ceiling, Gustave Caillebotte’s Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets, four Barbara Jones-Hogu screenprints, four D’Angelo Lovell Williams photographs, and Zilia Sánchez’s Troyanas; the press release notes expanded holdings of African American artists and artists of color and Latin American contemporary works.
The Art Newspaper reports that Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (August 1888) bought for the National Gallery in 1924 and later moved to the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, was omitted from the National Gallery’s 1920s book A Record of Ten Years 1917-1927, which listed 102 acquisitions. The piece notes the Sunflowers were included in the National Gallery’s acquisition history and contrasts other works illustrated in the book.
The page reports that a Botticelli painting, Madonna and Child, valued at $109 million, was handed over to Italian police. The painting, created in tempera on wood and possibly modeled on Simonetta Vespucci, had been kept hidden by Enrico Somma and family, reportedly in the basement of a bakery outside Naples; the work’s provenance traces back to the 15th century and ownership by the Medici family and Pope Sixtus IV.
The page reports Christie’s Hong Kong sale of a Yuan dynasty vase from the Tianminlou Collection for $11.72 million. The Tianminlou Collection was formed by Ko Shi Chao (葛士翹) (1911-1992) and later overseen by his son Ko See For 葛師科; the collection is noted for porcelain from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and has connections to the Min Chiu Society.
Christopher Wool and Jeff Koons are discussed as blue-chip artists whose works struggled in 2023 auctions. The piece notes Wool’s untitled 1993 painting with the phrase on the canvas and its auction result, as well as Koons’s market trajectory and gallery moves. The Christie’s Fineberg collection sale is cited as context for the market softness.
Arms and Armour from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Part I offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own the most valuable helmets and militaria from the battlefields of antiquity
Sotheby’s profiled Hubert Guerrand-Hermès’s collection at the Hôtel de Lannion before a three-day December 2023 auction. The approximately 1,000 works ranged from eighteenth-century furniture and Duchesse de Berry material to paintings, photography and contemporary art.