ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Paul Allen's Rothko Painting Propels Phillips Sale

Bloomberg / May 15th, 2014

A Mark Rothko painting from the collection of Microsoft founder and billionaire Paul Allen fetched $56.2 million at a Phillips sale that tallied...

100-Carat Yellow Diamond Achieves Record $16 Million at Auction

Forbes / May 15th, 2014

A private buyer pursued a 100-carat yellow diamond to 14.5 million Swiss francs (16.3 million dollars) at a Sotheby's jewelry sale in a Geneva. The buyer also took her time with the bidding...

Detroit Creditors Not Allowed to Remove Art, Judge Rules

USA Today / May 15th, 2014

Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes ruled Thursday that Detroit's major creditors will not be allowed to remove artwork from the Detroit Institute of Arts in order to have it appraised. The ruling is a blow to...

Warhol, Koons Lead Sotheby's $364.3 million Contemporary Art Sale

Gallerist / May 14th, 2014

A giant 'Popeye' by Jeff Koons and contemporary works from the collection of Adam Sender were the top performers in a $364.3 million Sotheby's sale...

Art Hoarder Gurlitt's Will Dubbed a "Snub"

Wall Street Journal / May 14th, 2014

Awaiting heart surgery, 81-year-old Cornelius Gurlitt was lamenting the German government's seizure of his art collection, which he called his "only love." He then had his lawyers draft a will...

Christie's Contemporary Art Sale Soars to Record $745 Million, Highest Ever Total

ArtfixDaily / May 13th, 2014

Billionaire buyers wanting Warhol, Basquiat, Rothko, Koons, Newman, Calder, Bacon and other luminaries of postwar and contemporary art sent Christie's evening sale on Tuesday to a record total of $745 million...

Smithsonian Collection to be Open for App Developers

ArtfixDaily / May 12th, 2014

A White House blog on Friday announced that the Smithsonian American Art Museum would soon make its digitized collection open to developers so they can build it into educational apps.

Record Prices for 'Gritty' Art in $134.6 Million Christie's Sale

ArtfixDaily / May 12th, 2014

Christie's got the ball rolling for spring contemporary auction week in New York on Monday with a sale focused on “the gritty, underbelly-esque side of contemporary art.” Bidders sent...

Bankruptcy Expert Claims Detroit's Art-for-Pensions Deal is Illegal

Washington Post / May 11th, 2014

The $816-million art-for-pensions deal that a federal judge helped craft for Detroit does not hold up from a legal standpoint, according to...

Lost van Gogh Painting Discovered in Bank Vault

ArtfixDaily / May 11th, 2014

A painting believed to be by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh was found by Spanish tax inspectors inside a safety deposit box. The rediscovered oil is thought to be...

Norman Rockwell from High School's Storage Heads to Auction

ArtfixDaily / May 8th, 2014

An original Norman Rockwell painting owned by a high school in central Massachusetts is heading to auction after it hung for decades in the principal's office.

Getty's 'Victorious Youth' Once Again in Custody Battle

LA Times / May 8th, 2014

One of the prized attractions on view at the Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif., is the subject of a legal dispute for a third time. In Rome this week...

Bern Art Museum Named as Gurlitt's Sole Heir

ArtfixDaily / May 8th, 2014

Son of a Nazi-era art dealer, Cornelius Gurlitt, who died Tuesday at age 81, amassed an art collection estimated to be worth 1-billion euros. He named the Bern Art Museum in Switzerland as his sole heir.

Delaware Art Museum Sends Pre-Raphaelite Painting to Auction Block

ArtfixDaily / May 7th, 2014

The Delaware Art Museum has revealed that the Pre-Raphaelite painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil by William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) will be the first artwork to be deaccessioned in a controversial decision...

Steven A. Cohen Gets an Art-backed Loan from Goldman Sachs

Bloomberg / May 7th, 2014

Goldman Sachs is making a personal loan to Steven A. Cohen with a credit line backed by the SAC founder's $1-billion art collection...

Munich Art Hoarder Cornelius Gurlitt Has Died

ArtfixDaily / May 6th, 2014

Cornelius Gurlitt, the man who kept hidden a cache of nearly 1,300 artworks for several decades, died on May 5 at age 81. His trove of art, some Nazi-looted...

Activist Investor Loeb and Sotheby's Compromise

ArtfixDaily / May 6th, 2014

Hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb and publicly-traded Sotheby's have reached a deal after a bitter battle, the auction house announced on Monday. The truce is a partial win for...

Detroit Institute of Art to Showcase Rivera, Kahlo Works

ArtfixDaily / May 5th, 2014

Detroit Institute of Arts is planning an exhibition of works by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo for 2015. The show will focus on...

Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 On View at V&A

ArtfixDaily / May 5th, 2014

At London's Victoria & Albert Museum, a spectacular new exhibition traces the development of the fashionable white wedding dress and its interpretation by leading couturiers and designers...

Nan Rosenthal, National Gallery and Met Curator, Remembered

ArtfixDaily / May 4th, 2014

Known as an influential proponent of contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, curator Nan Rosenthal passed away at her home in Manhattan...