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Source-linked reporting
press.christies.com
Giovanni Antonio Canaletto, also known as Canaletto, created Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, circa 1732. The painting, an oil on canvas measure 33⅞ x 54⅜ inches, is part of Christie’s Old Masters Evening Sale and has an extensive provenance noting it hung at 10 Downing Street in the collection of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister.
codex.vasari.art
The news covers auction results at Christie’s Old Masters in London where Canaletto’s The Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day sold for £31.9 million ($43.9 million), contributing to a total sale of £60.8 million. Sotheby’s Old Masters sale brought £14.5 million with three new records including Diana de Rosa’s Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist at £317,500. A rare Man Ray watercolor Nude Playing Musical Instrument (1913) resurfaced and will be auctioned at Dreweatts. Gallery news includes Blum laying off most staff and planning to cease brick-and-mortar operations, Waddington Custot opening a new Paris space, Company Gallery hiring Subhas Kim Kandasamy as executive director, White Cube representing Firenze Lai, and JD Malat Gallery launching an initiative for UAE artists. In restitution, the Netherlands returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, and MFA Boston transferred two Benin works to the Oba of Benin.
news.artnet.com
Egon Schiele, Russian War Prisoner (1916) is at the Art Institute of Chicago. The museum is appealing a judge's order to restitute the work to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, and an emergency stay has paused the return.
news.artnet.com
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue (1922) from Len Riggio’s collection sold at Christie’s New York for $47.6 million, just short of the auction record. The hammer fell at $41 million against an estimated above $50 million, with the buyer’s premium structure noted. The sale is tied to Len Riggio, founder of Barnes & Noble, who died last year, and marks part of a large Riggio collection.
news.artnet.com
Gerhard Richter’s Korsika (Schiff), 1968 is highlighted in the Christie’s sale coverage. The article reports totals for Christie’s 20th-century and Riggio collection combined, noting a 52 percent decline from the previous year, with key figures including Total Sales After Fees of $216.9 million and a top lot: Claude Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule (1891) at $37 million ( $42.9 million with fees).
artnews.com
The Christie’s evening sales, including the Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works sale, totaled $489 million with fees. The Riggio collection featured Surrealism, modernism, and Minimalism, with many pieces sold despite a house guarantee, and the 20th Century sale following included canvases by Monet, Rothko, and Warhol.
theartnewspaper.com
Marlene Dumas’s Miss January (1997) sold for $13.6m with fees, becoming the highest price for a living female artist at auction. The work was presented at Christie’s New York sale on 14 May 2025, where it helped contribute to a strong evening despite several withdrawals from the catalog.
press.christies.com
The press release reports Christie’s Spring Marquee Week in New York generating $693 million, 123% over the low estimate. The top lot was Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works by Adrien Meyer with Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue selling for $47.6 million.
christies.com.cn
Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue sold for $47,560,000, the week’s top lot. Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule (1891) sold for $42,960,000, establishing a series record. Marlene Dumas’s Miss January (1997) achieved the highest price for a living female artist, with other artist records for Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Louis Fratino, Simone Leigh and Emma McIntyre, and a record for a work on paper by Franz von Stuck. The Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works portion yielded $272 million from 97% by lot and 97% by value.
artnews.com
Christie’s 21st century sale yielded $96.4 million, with a presale low estimate of $79.5 million. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Baby Boom, 1982 was reported sold for $20 million (or $23.4 million with fees). The May 2025 sale followed Christie’s May 2024 sale that grossed $114.7 million and the November sale that grossed $106.5 million.
christies.com
Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art sales in New York totalled $693 million across six auctions. Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane sold for $47,560,000, Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule fetched $42,960,000, and Marlene Dumas’s Miss January (1997) set a record for a living female artist. New artist records were also reported for Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Louis Fratino, Simone Leigh, Emma McIntyre, and a work on paper by Franz von Stuck.
codex.vasari.art
Piet Mondrian's 1922 painting Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue sold at Christie’s New York for $47.6 million, below its $50 million-plus estimate and the artist’s previous auction record of $51 million set in 2022. The sale occurred within the Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works trove from Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and Dia Art Foundation chairman Louise Riggio, estimated up to $326 million. The painting was bought by a single phone bidder, likely the guarantor, with no competition bidding. The event highlights the market’s appetite for blue-chip modern works amid economic uncertainty and illustrates how guarantees and irrevocable bids de-risk blockbuster auctions.
christies.com
The Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art sales in New York totaled $693 million over the May 12–15 week. The top lot was Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue (1922) at $47,560,000, with Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule (1891) attaining $42,960,000. The sale also featured record results for several living and historic artists, including Marlene Dumas, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Louis Fratino, Simone Leigh, Emma McIntyre, and Franz von Stuck on paper.
observer.com
The Observer reports Sotheby’s May 16 contemporary sales in New York closed at a combined total of $186.1 million across three sales, with a strong start from works from Barbara Gladstone’s collection and notable results for Elizabeth Peyton, Thomas Schütte, On Kawara, Rudolf Stingel, Richard Prince, Andy Warhol, and Raymond Pettibon. The sales included a white-glove segment that brought in $18.8 million and individual results such as Elizabeth Peyton’s portrait at $700,000 (with fees $889,000) and Warhol’s Flowers at $3.8 million.
artnews.com
Gustav Klimt’s 1897 portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona appeared at TEFAF Maastricht and generated headlines about whether the painting had illegally entered Austria. HVG claimed it was smuggled into Austria before TEFAF, while Der Standard later reported that the Viennese dealers had the necessary export permit. Wienerroither and Kohlbacher priced the work at 15 million euros (about $16.4 million).
news.artnet.com
Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s Still Life of flowers is mentioned as a work in the Saunders collection; Francesco Guardi’s twin landscapes of Venice are identified as the top lot at $10.5 million, with other works by Luis Meléndez, Frans Hals, Adriaen Coorte, and Frans Post noted among auction results totaling $64.7 million at Sotheby’s on May 21, 2025.
news.artnet.com
The article reports that Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania began selling the Freedman Gallery collection to address a budget shortfall, with storage spaces emptied and staff changes including the firing of Rich Houck. The collection includes works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Salvador Dalí, Jasper Johns, Jacob Lawrence, and Robert Rauschenberg. Donors and community members are unhappy, and the college sought to borrow up to $25 million against its endowment, amid broader cost-cutting measures.
auroraathena.com
The article reports strong auction results and notable records, including a Old Masters sale at Sotheby’s New York and a Christie’s 21st-century evening sale. It highlights Marlene Dumas’s Miss January achieving a high price for a living female artist and notes leadership changes at Phillips along with robust demand in Asia, while referencing Giacometti and other high-end outcomes.
Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s reports on Sotheby's to Offer One of the Greatest Collections of Napoleon Material Ever to Come to Market | Press Release. Its source account states that sotheby's to Offer One of the Greatest Collections of Napoleon Material Ever to Come to Market | Press Release | Sotheby’s.
Christie’s
From illuminated books by William Blake to the work of Beatrix Potter and Walt Disney, the legendary artist and author’s trove of treasures offers a window into his imaginative universe — offered in Maurice Sendak: Artist, Collector, Connoisseur
Christie’s
Christie’s reports on Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works and 20th Century Evening Sale Total $489 Million. Its source account states that nEW YORK – Christie’s Spring Marquee Week commenced on the evening of Monday, May 12, 2025 with two consecutive sales taking place in the Rockefeller Center saleroom.
Christie’s
Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian selects modern masterpieces by Mathieu Matégot, Serge Mouille, Isamu Noguchi, Charlotte Perriand and more, from our Paris Design sale on 21 May
Christie’s
From a newly discovered Tintoretto to a Neoclassical rallying cry, Christie’s specialists talk highlights from Old Master Week in New York
The Art Newspaper
Christie's will offer Marlene Dumas's Miss January from the Rubell collection with a $12 million to $18 million estimate. A sale in that range would exceed the auction record for a living woman artist, while a third-party guarantee makes a sale highly likely.
Artnet News
Christie's will offer Claude Lalanne's complete 12-piece Ginkgo dining suite as four lots in London. The group carries combined presale expectations above £1 million, with the 2000 suite described as the first complete example of its kind to reach the market.
Christie’s
The who, what, when and where of the 20/21 marquee week at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries