Pablo Picasso’s La lecture (Marie-Thérèse) (1932), Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) (1958), and Henri Matisse’s Figure et bouquet (Tête ocre) (1937) are among 80 works from the Weis family that Christie’s will auction in November, with the collection anticipated to fetch more than $180 million.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Self Portrait (1982) sold for $8,332,500 and Red Man One (1982) for $22,002,790 in an online US Marshals Service auction. Pablo Picasso's Tête de taureau et broc (1939) fetched $5,007,502 and Diane Arbus's Child with a Toy Hand Grenade sold for $500,150. The sale, conducted by Gaston and Sheehan in Pflugerville, Texas, netted about $36 million in total.
Bradford Frieze Seoul: a Mark Bradford triptych titled Okay, then I apologize (2025) sold for 4.5 million dollars at Frieze Seoul VIP day, reported by Vivienne Chow and sold by Hauser & Wirth to a private Asian collection.
Sotheby’s reported a 2024 pre-tax loss of $248 million, more than double its 2023 loss, with revenue from commissions and fees down 18%. Elaine Wynn’s art collection, valued at over $75 million, will be auctioned at Christie’s in New York in November, featuring works by Richard Diebenkorn and Joan Mitchell. Christie’s closed its digital art department and cut ties with Nicole Sales Giles. Chef Daniel Humm will curate Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated auction in New York on September 26.
Sotheby’s has secured two major private collections for its autumn New York sales: the Jay and Cindy Pritzker collection, estimated to bring in around $120m, and the Leonard Lauder collection, estimated to sell for around $400m. The Lauder trove includes works by Gustav Klimt, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch and Agnes Martin, with Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16) estimated over $150m and other works estimated at $80m–$100m and $70m–$90m respectively; Vincent van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) (1887) leads the Pritzker portion at an estimated $40m.
Vincent van Gogh, Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) (1887) is highlighted in the sale led by a $40 million Van Gogh, with works by Max Beckmann, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Joan Miró. The collection is valued at up to $120 million and will be offered at Sotheby’s marquee Impressionist and Modern sale at its new Madison Avenue location.
René Magritte’s La Statue Volante (1958) is noted as part of Sotheby’s Pauline Karpidas sale in London, which yielded around $100 million across 55 lots and achieved a 100 percent guarantee-backed, white-glove result with strong bidding. The report discusses Surrealism demand and the overall healthy activity in this major fall sale, including high sell-through and women bidders accounting for about a quarter of bidders.
Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16). The painting is expected to sell for as much as $150 million at Sotheby’s New York. The work comes from the collection of Leonard Lauder and is part of the events surrounding Sotheby’s New York flagship opening; it was previously loaned to the National Gallery of Canada and the Neue Galerie for Klimt exhibitions.
Christie’s will consign works from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore, with Monet’s Nymphéas (1907) highlighted at a low estimate of $40 million; other works include Chagall’s Le songe du Roi David (1966) and Le soleil rouge (1949) and Renoir’s Baigneuse (1891).
Pauline Karpidas auction at Sotheby’s fetched $100 million with a white glove status. The sale of 55 items from Pauline Karpidas’ collection included works by René Magritte, Andy Warhol, and Claude LaLanne, with several pieces selling for well above estimates; Magritte’s Tête sold for $1.2 million, Warhol’s The Scream (After Munch) for $9 million, and LaLanne works totaling $18.5 million. The auction overall exceeded expectations and achieved a 100% sell-through rate by the end of the night.
Artist(s) mentioned include Claude Monet. Artwork referenced: Nymphéas, oil on canvas, 36¼ x 29 in. (92 x 73.6 cm.), painted in 1907. The sale/collection is Property from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, with works by Monet, Renoir, Chagall, Matisse, Moore among others; price not stated.
The heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy sue Sompo Holdings over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888-89), seeking restitution valued at $250 million; the case cites Nazi-era forced sale and provenance issues, with appeals ongoing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The painting is housed at the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo and is one of three Sunflower canvases from 1888-89.
Christie’s in Paris has secured Yves Klein’s California (IKB 71), a 1961 work measuring 14 feet wide with an estimate of €16–25 million ($18–29 million) for its October 23 sale. The painting, the largest Klein IKB format, has a newly uncovered provenance tracing from Virginia Dwan in Los Angeles to Leo Castelli in New York before returning to Paris, and it has been in a New York collection since 2005 with a long loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2005 to 2008.
Yves Klein’s California, (IKB 71), 1961, is highlighted as the leading work in Christie's autumn season in Paris. The work is described as the largest monochrome by Klein in private hands and is set to be offered at auction for the first time during Christie's Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale in Paris on 23 October. The press release notes the work’s measurements, medium, and its significance within Klein’s exploration of International Klein Blue. Christie's previously sold Anthropométrie de l'époque bleue, (ANT 124), for £27.2 million in London on 28 June 2022.
Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme (1944) sold for HK$197 million at Christie’s Hong Kong, setting an Asia auction record. In the same week, Christie’s total for the 20th/21st Century Evening Sale was HK$565,649,000 ($73,038,183); Phillips achieved HK$160 million ($20.5 million) and Sotheby’s HK$335,701,000 ($43,040,000) for their evening sales.
Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914–16) from Leonard Lauder’s collection is valued at more than $150 million and leads Sotheby’s November sale in New York. The sale also includes two Klimt landscapes and works by Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, and Agnes Martin among a total of 55 pieces from Lauder’s holdings.
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Sotheby’s reports on Sotheby's Unveils The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection | Press Release. Its source account states that sotheby's Unveils The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection | Press Release | Sotheby’s.
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