art market news stories on Newser

Warhol Elvis May Fetch $50M

Rob Quinn — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:39:24 CDT

Andy Warhol's 1963 "Double Elvis" painting is poised to fetch a whopping $25 million per Elvis at auction this spring. Sotheby's has set an estimate of up to $50 million for the work, which shows Elvis dressed as a cowboy and shooting from the hip, AP reports. Warhol produced a...

Rebounding Art World Expects Huge Spring Prices

Rob Quinn — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:57:05 CDT

The art market has bounced back amazingly well from the downturn, and auction houses are aiming to sell $1 billion in Impressionist and modern works at two major sales next week. A dozen works are expected to fetch close to $20 million apiece, a price the auction houses couldn't reach...

Picasso Sells for Record $106.5M

Rob Quinn — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:52:00 CDT

A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress sold for a record-breaking $106.5 million at a Christie's auction in New York yesterday. The winning bid, placed by an anonymous telephone bidder, is the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction, beating the $104.5 million forked...

Painting by Hitler May Have Hung in Freud's Office

Jane Yager — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:04:43 CST

Back in 1910, when Sigmund Freud was decorating the walls of his Vienna offices, he may have bought a painting from a struggling young artist who was then peddling his work in Vienna: Adolf Hitler. The discovery of a tiny Hitler watercolor marked on the back with the name of...

'Unseen' Picasso Fetches $13M

NxBigmouthery — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:48:43 CST

A Picasso painting not seen in public for over 40 years went under the hammer at Christie's of London yesterday, fetching a cool $13 million. The painting, Tete de Femme (Jacqueline) was painted in 1963 and depicts the artist's second wife. The painting brought double its expected pre-sale value, Reuters...

Etching Found in U Bathroom a Rembrandt

Jane Yager — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:50:00 CST

When the president of Catholic University saw the signature "Rembrandt" on a tiny framed portrait he had found tucked into his bathroom cabinet, he showed it off to visitors, but it didn't seem plausible enough to consult an appraiser. Years later, the university finally had the picture appraised, and was...

Rare Raphael Drawing Goes for $48M

Jane Yager — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:20:06 CST

The art market is back: A rare Raphael chalk drawing went for $48 million at a Christie's auction in London yesterday—the highest price any art at auction has fetched all year, and a record for a work on paper. Christie's also sold a Rembrandt portrait for $33.2 million,...

Color Christie's Blue Over Weak Modern Sale

Jane Yager — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:26:22 CST

A New York art dealer at the Christie's auction last night decreed "the recession is ending," but apparently not soon enough to move 13 of 41 modern and impressionist art works on offer, leaving the auction house millions of dollars short of pre-sale estimates. Major works by Picasso and Mondrian...

Madoff's Money Man Sells Rothkos for $310M

Jason Farago — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:53:22 CDT

Ezra Merkin, the financier who pumped billions of his clients' money into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, is selling more than 10 paintings by Mark Rothko and two sculptures by Alberto Giacometti for $310 million, reports the Wall Street Journal . Some of the proceeds may go to his defrauded investors, who...