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NEWS ABOUT: art auction

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Lichtenstein Painting Fetches $43M

It's a record for the late pop artist

(Newser) - If you've got millions to spare, may as well put it on the wall rather than in the markets: A 1961 Roy Lichtenstein painting (I Can See the Whole Room! ... and There's Nobody in It!) sold for $43.2 million at Christie's, reports Bloomberg . It's... More »

Painting Looted by Nazis Sells for $40.4M

Gustav Klimt landscape goes way above expectations at Sotheby's

(Newser) - The high-rent district of the art world might be rebounding if Sotheby's recent auction is an indicator. The big seller was a landscape by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, which went for $40.4 million, way above the $25 million estimate, reports the BBC . The history behind Litzlberg on the ... More »

Warhol Self-Portrait Fetches Record $38.4M

Private bidder prevails after 'longest lot in history'

(Newser) - A private European collector walked off with Andy Warhol's very first self-portrait after a 16-minute bidding war at Christie's Wednesday night. The 1963-64 work sold for $38.44 million after two competing bidders kept raising their price in increments of $100,000, causing Christie’s auctioneer to call... More »

Rebounding Art World Expects Huge Spring Prices

A dozen works are priced near $20 million each at auctions

(Newser) - 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... More »

Andy Warhol Self-Portrait Fetches $17M

It goes for twice as much as expected

(AP) - A self-portrait by Andy Warhol has sold for $17 million—double its pre-sale estimate—at a London auction. Christie's says the work had been in a private collection since 1974, one of a series of 11 self-portraits Warhol created. The image of red and white silkscreen ink on canvas shows... More »

Painting of Picasso's Mistress Fetches $40M

La Lecture sells for double estimate

(Newser) - A painting of the teenage mistress Pablo Picasso picked up outside a Paris Metro station in 1927 has sold for $40 million at auction. La Lecture, which shows Marie-Therese Walter asleep in a chair, was sold to an anonymous buyer for double the expected price, the Telegraph reports. The painter... More »

Dennis Hopper's Wife Yanks Art From Auction

Battle rages over late actor's estate

(Newser) - Dennis Hopper's estranged wife has yanked a portion of his art collection from an auction. The artwork is at the center of a heated battle over the late actor's estate. Hopper began divorce proceedings against his fifth wife,Victoria Duffy, and obtained a restraining order against her as he lay... More »

Lehman Bros. Paintings Fetch $12.3M for Creditors

Sotheby's auctions art from collapsed banking giant

(Newser) - They're going to need a lot more paintings: Lehman Bros. raised $12.3 million tonight at Sotheby's by selling off artwork it picked up during its golden run on Wall Street, reports BBC . It's good news for Lehman's many creditors, but not great news considering the collapsed investment bank owes... More »

On Sale Today: Items From Princess Di's Family Homes

Items have been in the Spencer family for centuries

(Newser) - If you wish you could get a little closer to Princess Di but aren't interested in buying jam made from her hair , you have another shopping opportunity: Beginning today, art, antiques, and old carriages owned by her family will be sold at three separate auctions, the AP reports. Many of... More »

Christie's Sells Picasso for $51.2M

But many others go unsold at big auction

(Newser) - Mixed news for the world of art today out of London: A 1903 Picasso (Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto) sold for a healthy $51.2 million, but 16 of 62 paintings went unsold at Christie's major auction. The big non-seller was a Monet waterlily painting (Nympheas) expected to fetch $30... More »

Jasper Johns' Flag Sells for $28.6M

Painting breaks previous John's record

(AP) - Jasper Johns' seminal work Flag from the collection of the late author Michael Crichton sold for $28.6 million at a New York City auction yesterday, an auction record for the artist. Christie's said the work was purchased by an American art dealer during high-spirited bidding by phone and in... More »

This Picasso Is So Not Worth $106M

Auction bidder was obviously aiming for record, not painting

(Newser) - For the most expensive work of art ever bought at auction, Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is seriously underwhelming, Blake Gopnik argues, making it painfully obvious that the $106.5 million bid at Christie's Tuesday night was a stunt designed to grab the record. Which is not just... More »

Picasso Sells for Record $106.5M

Highest auction price ever paid for art

(Newser) - 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... More »

140 'Lost' Masterworks to Hit Sotheby's Auction

Paris art dealer's collection hidden since 1939

(Newser) - A stash of 20th-century artworks hidden for generations because of war and legal wrangling is finally seeing the light of day. The 140 artworks, including works by Picasso, Derain, and Renoir, had been placed in a Paris bank vault by influential art dealer Ambroise Vollard's assistant after Vollard's death in... More »

Painting by Hitler May Have Hung in Freud's Office

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... More »

Giacometti Sculpture Sells for Record $104.3M

'Walking Man I' squeaks by Picasso's record price

(Newser) - Alberto Giacometti's "Walking Man I" sculpture has sold at Sotheby's for $104.3 million, breaking the record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The previous record-holder was Picasso's "Boy With a Pipe," which sold for $104.2 million 6 years ago, the Wall Street ... More »

'Unseen' Picasso Fetches $13M

Tete de Femme (Jacqueline sells for double pre-sale estimates

(Newser) - 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... More »

Color Christie's Blue Over Weak Modern Sale

Picasso, Mondrian flop at sparsely attended auction

(Newser) - 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... More »

Teacher Fired for Butt Art Paints Colbert for Charity

Stan Murmur's auctioning portrait to benefit Va. public schools

(Newser) - A Virginia teacher fired after a YouTube clip surfaced of him using his posterior to paint is turning the other cheek—and auctioning off a portrait of comedian Stephen Colbert to benefit public schools. Stan Murmur uses what WTVR-TV calls “the anthropometric monotype method of painting. That means he... More »

London Art Market Feels a Chill

Lack of once-plentiful foreign cash hurts auctioneers

(Newser) - London became the hottest art market in the world last year, eclipsing New York, but the recession is putting the squeeze on auction houses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last year’s influx of foreign money has dried up, and sellers are keeping a firm hold on their  most desirable... More »

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