art auction

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Price of the $120K Duct-Taped Banana Has Gone Up

Maurizio Cattelan's piece is heading to auction; Sotheby's says it'll fetch $1M to $1.5M

(Newser) - If you thought that selling banana duct-taped to a wall as "art" for $120,000 was—let's just go for the low-hanging fruit here—bananas, well, Sotheby's would like you to know the price has gone up. The Art Newspaper tackles next month's scheduled auction:
  • The
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Magritte Painting Expected to Sell for More Than $95M

Smashing the record for a Magritte sale at auction

(Newser) - A rare painting by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte may set a record for the highest price ever paid for one of his works at auction. The painting is one from Magritte's series "L'empire des lumières" that he produced in 1954 (see it at Christie's...

Masterpiece Found at Bus Stop Sets Auction Record

Titian's 'Rest on the Flight to Egypt' fetches $22.1M, a new high for the artist

(Newser) - A small Titian masterpiece once recovered from a London bus stop sold at auction Tuesday for $22.1 million, a new record for the artist dubbed "the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice." Orlando Rock, chairman of Christie's UK, said the price for Rest on the Flight to ...

Klimt Painting With Unclear Past Sells for $32M

It was one of Austrian artist's final works

(Newser) - A portrait of a young woman by Gustav Klimt that was long believed to be lost was sold at an auction in Vienna on Wednesday for $32 million. The Austrian modernist artist started work on the "Portrait of Fräulein Lieser" in 1917, the year before he died, and...

Couple Who Lost Wyeth Windfall See Their 'Happy Ending'

Heritage Auctions rep managed to get them '6 figures' after they were stiffed for $191K

(Newser) - In what the New York Times deems "a happy ending after all," a rare NC Wyeth painting that a New Hampshire couple picked up at a thrift store for $4 has sold for much more. Aviva Lehmann of Heritage Auctions tells the paper that, after reading about how...

$4 Thrift Store Find Could Fetch $250K
$4 Thrift Store Find
Could Fetch $250K
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

$4 Thrift Store Find Could Fetch $250K

Bonhams Skinner to auction painting by NC Wyeth that has been lost for 80 years

(Newser) - If you've been paying attention to the news , you know not to overlook art for sale at thrift stores. Now we have one more reason to go rummaging: As the Washington Post reports, a New Hampshire woman looking for frames to reuse at a thrift store in Manchester ended...

After Bidding War, Klimt Painting Sets Europe Auction Record

It sold for $108.4M, shattering presale estimates

(Newser) - A late-life masterpiece by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt sold Tuesday for $108.4 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever auctioned in Europe, the AP reports. "Dame mit Fächer"—Lady with a Fan—sold to a buyer in the room at Sotheby's in London after...

Misidentified Painting Sold for $40K Could Now Fetch $8M

Sotheby's to sell original work by old master Peter Paul Rubens, featuring St. Sebastian

(Newser) - A painting that sold at auction for $40,000 in 2008 is expected to fetch at least $5 million when it goes under the hammer next month—and you can't entirely blame inflation. Last time around, St. Sebastian Tended by Two Angels was attributed to the French Baroque painter...

These Rembrandts Have Been Concealed for 200 Years

Artist's last known portraits held in private collection to be sold at auction in July

(Newser) - For the first time in 200 years, the public is getting a look at two "extraordinary" portraits painted by the Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn. British auctioneer Henry Pettifer rediscovered the small 1635 portraits—depicting a wealthy couple from the artist's hometown of Leiden, whose son had married...

True Masterpiece Hung in Family's TV Room as a Joke
True Masterpiece Hung in
Family's TV Room as a Joke
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

True Masterpiece Hung in Family's TV Room as a Joke

400-year-old work by Pieter Bruegel the Younger surfaces, sells for $845K

(Newser) - An auctioneer was assessing the value of art and artifacts at a home in northern France last fall when a canvas caked in dust caught his eye. Partially concealed by a door in a darkened TV room, the painting looked to be a masterpiece but was in fact a fake,...

Painting Found Covered in Bird Poop in Shed Sells for $3.1M

Anthony Van Dyck's 'A Study for Saint Jerome' was purchased for $600 in 2002

(Newser) - Two decades ago, the painting sat abandoned in a farm shed, covered in bird droppings. It sold Thursday at auction for $3.1 million. The large oil painting , discovered by art collector Albert B. Roberts in the shed in Kinderhook, New York, around 2002, was later confirmed as a work...

Sale of Microsoft Co-Founder's Art Smashes Records

It's the most valuable private collection ever auctioned at $1.5B—with 95 lots still to go

(Newser) - Christie's $1 billion estimate of the value of Paul Allen's art collection turned out to be just a bit off. Sixty pieces sold for a combined $1.5 billion on Wednesday in the first of a two-day auction in New York—smashing the $922 million record for the...

Long-Lost Rubens to Be Sold
Rubens Could Bring $35M

Rubens Could Bring $35M

Long-lost painting to see with a group of Baroque-era works

(Newser) - A Peter Paul Rubens painting thought to have been lost for more than 200 years will go on auction in New York in January, along with nine other Baroque-era artworks, and could bring as much as $35 million. Sotheby's, which is handling the sale, said the 1609 "Salome...

'The Sky's the Limit' as Hidden Warhol Work Heads to Auction

1963's 'White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)' expected to fetch $80M or more

(Newser) - A death-focused painting by Andy Warhol, not seen in public for 15 years, is headed for the auction block next month and is expected to fetch a massive sum—though not half as much as one of his more famous works . The "monumental masterpiece" dubbed "White Disaster (White...

An Art Auction Like No Other Is Coming

Christie's says auction of Paul Allen's collection will be the biggest art auction in history

(Newser) - Microsoft co-founder and former Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen collected artworks as well as sport teams—and Christie's says the sale of his collection will be the biggest art auction in history. The November sale will include 150 works of art spanning a 500-year period,...

They Got This Painting for a Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Painting Swapped 
for Sandwich Sells
for 'Surreal' Price
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Painting Swapped for Sandwich Sells for 'Surreal' Price

Maud Lewis work fetches $272K at auction, 10 times higher than expected

(Newser) - Update: A painting bartered for a grilled cheese sandwich almost half a century ago has sold for enough money to buy a restaurant. "Black Truck" by renowned Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis sold at auction for $272,000, 10 times the assessed value and a record for a work...

This Is About to Become Most Expensive Photo Ever
This Nude Is Now 
Most Expensive Photo Ever
UPDATED

This Nude Is Now Most Expensive Photo Ever

Man Ray's 'Le Violon d'Ingres' sells for more than $12M

(Newser) - Updated: A Man Ray photograph didn't just break the record for the most expensive photo sold at auction, it obliterated it. "Le Violon d’Ingres" sold for $12.4 million at Christie's on Saturday, well above estimates of $5 million to $7 million and nearly triple the...

'Buyer Got a Deal' on Warhol's $195M 'Marilyn'

But the painting still broke records at auction

(Newser) - In less than four minutes on Monday night, Andy Warhol's iconic "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" set a new record for the highest price any American artwork has ever fetched at auction. It's also now the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever auctioned. The 1964 silk-screen close-up of Marilyn...

Art Dealer Bought This for $26.8M. Then the Louvre Said No

France leans on law aimed at keeping culturally significant works close to home

(Newser) - The art world saw another bidding war recently, this time over Basket of Wild Strawberries, a sweet 18th-century still life by Jean Chardin. While the artist’s previous record was a mere $8 million, this one went for $26.8 million, reports ARTnews. But before the New York art dealer...

Frida Kahlo's Legend Grows With Record Auction Sale

'Diego and I' self-portrait sets $34.9M record for Latin American artist

(Newser) - A self-portrait of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, also featuring her husband, has become the most valuable work by a Latin American artist ever to sell at auction. Kahlo's "Diego and I"—a close-up of the artist's face with a miniature portrait of her husband, Mexican muralist...

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