A masterpiece by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) that was recently restituted to the heirs of a Jewish collecting couple could fetch up to $45 million (£37.4 million) at Sotheby’s. It is one of the most important works by the artist ever to appear at auction as a rare example of his early style.
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The sale of a rare copy of the US Constitution has been halted by Sotheby’s just hours before it was due in auction. Sotheby’s have cited “strong institutional interest” as their motivation for postponing the sale, saying that they wish to “provide interested institutional parties with additional time to pursue fundraising efforts”.
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The upcoming sale of a painting by Titian and his workshop has been described as a “once in a generation opportunity” for potential buyers. Scheduled to come under the hammer at Sotheby’s in December, Venus and Adonis is part of the poesie series of paintings by the artist which all depict mythological scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and other classical works.
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Three paintings from the collection of the family of Willem de Kooning will appear at auction for the first time and are expected to sell for a total of $50 million. Produced between 1969 and 1987, Sotheby’s have described the upcoming selection of paintings as “one of the most exceptional groups of paintings by Willem de Kooning to ever appear on the market”.
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Later this month, Sotheby’s New York will auction an extremely rare Gorgosaurus skeleton, which is estimated to fetch as much as $8 million (£6.7 million). It marks the first time in history this vicious prehistoric species has come to auction.
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In February 1972, a fire raged at the Veterans Foreign Wars building in New Paltz, New York. With emergency services distracted, a robbery occurred at the town’s historic district of Huguenot Street. Dozens of objects were stolen, including a pair of portraits by the prominent itinerant folk artist Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) depicting local residents Dirck D. Wynkoop (1738-1827) and his wife Annatje Erlinge (1748-1827). Exactly fifty years later, the portraits were rediscovered, and were put back on display at the Historic Huguenot Street.
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Since 2016, billionaire real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda Burg have feuded in court over assets during their contentious divorce proceedings. Disagreeing on the value of their impressive art collection, the couple were ordered to sell off the coveted trove. Sotheby’s have now auctioned all 65 artworks for a staggering $922.2 million (£741.9 million) in total, making it the most valuable private collection ever sold at auction.
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Ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, Sotheby’s London will auction and exhibit rare British royal ephemera in a month-long programme in London. Queen Elizabeth II is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch at the age of 96, having ascended to the throne in 1953.
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During the final three years of his life, French conceptual artist Yves Klein (1928-1962) created nine “empty zones” (invisible and intangible areas of empty space existing only in conceptual terms) which could only be purchased with pure gold. The buyer was then presented with a receipt, which could either be set on fire in a ritual between artist and owner, or preserve it, meaning that the immaterial purchase would be transferrable. One of these receipts is now coming up for sale at Sotheby’s, and its similarities to the modern-day NFT are so notable that Sotheby’s are going so far as to accept not pure gold, but cryptocurrency for it.
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“Punk It!”, the first evening sale at Sotheby’s dedicated exclusively to CryptoPunk NFTs (non-fungible tokens), was mysteriously withdrawn at the request of the consignor. As the crowd enthusiastically gathered in New York, and the sale’s live-stream opened to viewers around the world, the seller tweeted “nvm [never mind], decided to hodl”.
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