Art Basel: Brisk Sales, but No Frenzy

(NEWSER) - Brad Pitt played the role of big-time art collector today at the Art Basel fair in Switzerland. Pitt spent about $1 million on a 9-foot painting by Neo Rauch, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 1998 racetrack painting, Etappe, "depicts a swirling view of a driver behind a red, Formula One-style racecar, with workers nearby carrying candy-colored hoses," writes Kelly Crow. It's an oil-on-linen. Click on the link to see a photo of it. More»

Collectors descend on Art Basel, but sales are slow

(NEWSER) - The art world descends on Miami this week for Art Basel Miami Beach, America's biggest art fair. But last night's VIP opening had none of the crazed buying of recent years, when collectors ran through the aisles in the first minutes like frenzied Wal-Mart shoppers. "It's obvious the economy is having an effect," one Berlin dealer told the Miami Herald. "There's no rush. Before it was crazy." More»

Art Basel opens to huge crowds, but some sense a slowdown

(NEWSER) - Art Basel Miami Beach opens to the public today, but yesterday's VIP preview saw the now-traditional mad dash of collectors to snatch up works. Many people attending the preview were complaining about high prices, the Miami Herald reports—not least at those galleries that are pricing work in euros. Despite the crush of visitors, some are saying that this year's fair has got off to a slow start. More»

Future fuhrer peddled watercolors in Vienna

(NEWSER) - 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 Freud's medical practice, and the story told by the American GI who took the painting from Vienna to Italy after the war, suggest that the Jewish psychoanalyst may have even met the future Nazi dictator 100 years ago. More»

Catholic University exhibits its mystery picture

(NEWSER) - 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 startled when word came back that the etching really was a Rembrandt, the Washington Post reports. More»