art auction – News Stories About art auction - Page 1

Nov 30, 2023 10:50 AM CST

Couple's NC Wyeth Windfall Collapses

Person who bid $191K at auction for thrift shop discovery never paid up

(Newser) - It was one of those feel-good tales about a sharp-eyed buyer striking it rich with a thrift shop discovery. This one, though, has fizzled, at least for now. In September, a New Hampshire couple sold an illustration by acclaimed artist NC Wyeth via auction for $191,000, which was quite...

$4 Thrift Store Find
Could Fetch $250K

$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...

Klimt Painting Sells for $108M, Shattering Europe Auction Record

After Bidding War,
Klimt Painting Sets
Europe Auction Record

Jun 28, 2023 12:30 AM CDT

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

Jun 20, 2023 11:08 AM CDT

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

May 16, 2023 9:35 AM CDT

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

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

Jan 31, 2023 9:20 AM CST

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

Nov 10, 2022 8:19 AM CST

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...

Rubens Could Bring $35M

Oct 29, 2022 3:00 PM CDT

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

Oct 28, 2022 4:20 PM CDT

'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

Aug 26, 2022 11:13 AM CDT

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,...

Painting Swapped
for Sandwich Sells
for 'Surreal' Price

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 Nude Is Now
Most Expensive Photo Ever

UPDATED

May 15, 2022 6:01 AM CDT

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'

May 10, 2022 12:03 AM CDT

'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

Apr 9, 2022 6:00 AM CDT

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

Nov 17, 2021 9:35 AM CST

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...

$40M Sale Tops
Picasso Auction

photos

Oct 24, 2021 12:10 PM CDT

$40M Sale Tops Picasso Auction

The 11 artworks had been displayed at the Bellagio in Las Vegas

(Newser) - Eleven Pablo Picasso artworks have been sold for a combined $109 million in a Las Vegas auction coinciding with the artist's 140th birthday. The nine paintings and two ceramic pieces had been displayed inside the Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art for more than two decades...

Bitter Divorce Results
in Epic Art Auction

Sep 10, 2021 2:08 PM CDT

Bitter Divorce Results in Epic Art Auction

Sotheby's estimates the Macklowe collection could fetch $600M

(Newser) - You can't put a price on love. But you can put a price on the art collection that must be sold when love goes bust. In this case, Sotheby's figures $600 million. That staggering figure is the highest estimate for any collection that has ever come to auction,...

Artist Sells 'Invisible'
Sculpture for $18K

Jun 7, 2021 6:14 AM CDT

Artist Sells 'Invisible' Sculpture for $18K

Someone just bought Salvatore Garau's 'immaterial' artwork, sight unseen

(Newser) - As innovators try to take advantage of the NFT craze and come up with the latest digital asset to sell, Salvatore Garau's newest creation is a more old-fashioned piece of art that exists in the real world—kind of. The 67-year-old Italian artist has sold Io Sono ("I...

$35 Bowl Found at Yard Sale
Sells for Eye-Popping Amount

Mar 17, 2021 1:53 PM CDT

$35 Bowl Found at Yard Sale Sells for Eye-Popping Amount

It's more than the $500K Sotheby's valued it at

(Newser) - It was eye-popping enough that an old bowl picked up for $35 at a Connecticut yard sale last year ended up dating to China's Ming dynasty of the 15th century. Ditto that Sotheby's valued the bowl at up to $500,000. But things got crazier on Wednesday when...