Mar 16th, 2026 - At TEFAF Maastricht, the market moves differently. The atmosphere often feels closer to that of a museum than to a typical art fair—quiet, reverential, and contemplative. Months before the opening, museum curators often have already studied catalogs and preview lists to identify the objects they want to examine in person. Walking the aisles with patrons and board members, they stop in front of the targeted works, discussing their quality and fit and quietly building the case for ...

Mar 15th, 2026 - 'It's so impressive that you can't imagine,' wrote a 16-year-old Rego to her mother after seeing a Munch exhibition in London in 1951 He is the towering modern artist of the Nordics; she the most influential figurative painter of the Iberian peninsula. But for decades, no one realised there was a line of influence between Edvard Munch and Paula Rego. Now, the discovery of an early painting and a previously overlooked letter by the late Rego has revealed the formative role the Norwegian painter ...

Mar 13th, 2026 - Artists follow varied career paths. Some maintain strong, steady production throughout their lifetimes. Some fade over time. Some are one-hit wonders who score success with one body of work that they can never replicate. But few accomplish what Henri Matisse did at the end of his career when his output seemingly declined. An explosion of energy and innovation re-ignited his creativity in the 1940s and thrust the septuagenarian back into the spotlight. "Matisse's Jazz: Rhythms in Color" When : ...

Mar 13th, 2026 - Once owned by a US vice president, the print was acquired by the Shah's wife and is now at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art In a week when the eyes of the world are turned towards the suffering in the Middle East, a Van Gogh print locked away in the vaults of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art has assumed a new symbolism. Van Gogh inscribed his title on the lithograph:  At Eternity's Gate . Dating from November 1882, when Van Gogh was living in The Hague, the print depicts what he ...

Mar 12th, 2026 - A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com "Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World" Egypt Rome between 2000 BCE and 300 CE. About 75 objects are part of the exhibition, including items on loan from the Louvre, British Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visitors can expect to learn more about the "remarkable similarities between the magical practices of the ancient world and perceptions of magic today," said guest ...

Mar 11th, 2026 - Despite ongoing management turmoil, there is a buzz around this year's fair, as it welcomes more works from the past 100 years to its traditional roster Tefaf is mostly sitting very pretty this year. Amid market uncertainty and a volatile environment for the industry's many fairs, the Maastricht stalwart has been going for nearly 40 years and is back in favour as one of the art world's favourite hunting grounds. Its broad range of objects that stretch, organisers say, 7,000 years, creates a ...

Mar 11th, 2026 - From an exhibition curated by a painting to a boat load of phalluses , Mauritshuis, The Hague, until 7 June It is not often that a work of art is listed as a "co-curator", but that is how the Mauritshuis has described the role of its beloved painting The Goldfinch (1654) in the new exhibition Birds . The work by Carel Fabritius "needed a little help" to organise the show, the museum says on its website, so the renowned art historian Simon Schama helpfully stepped in. Our fascination with ...

Mar 6th, 2026 - Picture: Agnew's Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz: This is the exciting time of year when dealers begin revealing their top pictures for the upcoming art fair TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation) in Maastricht. News from Agnew's today that they'll be bringing the De Ganay Salvator Mundi , given to the Studio of Leonardo Da Vinci, which according to their press release has 'been considered the best of the versions known, and by some to be the prototype [of the famous 2017 Christie's picture].' ...

Feb 12th, 2026 - From Yoko Ono to Frida Kahlo, from Louise Bourgeois to Artemisia Gentileschi, women have long been capturing the unvarnished truth about their own bodies – and that's why my novel Female, Nude weaves them into the plot f you want to paint, put your clothes back on!" That was how Carolee Schneemann summarised the critical response to her 1975 performance piece Interior Scroll, which she had performed nude standing on a gallery table. After making a series of life model poses, she removed a ...

Nov 20th, 2025 - A self-portrait by legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for $54.66 million in New York on Thursday, setting a new record for the price of a painting by a woman, the auction house Sotheby's said. The sale of Kahlo's 1940 artwork, titled "El sueno (la cama)" — which translates to "The dream (The bed)" — breaks the previous record in this category, set by American artist Georgia O'Keeffe, whose 1932 painting "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1," sold for $44.4 million in 2014. Kahlo's ...

Nov 13th, 2025 - From the Mona Lisa to the American Gothic, these famous paintings don't just grace museum walls; they offer a glimpse into the past and define entire generations. Although most of these masterpieces are centuries old, they continue to fascinate art buffs and collectors alike, with each piece telling a captivating story. Whether they're on display for the whole world to see or hidden behind closed doors, these paintings prove that art has the power to create and sometimes, even change history. ...

Oct 27th, 2025 - The momentum in Paris generated last week by Art Basel—and the strong sales and dynamic activity across all the fairs—culminated in the Paris evening auctions, where results exceeded estimates and expectations at both Christie's and Sotheby's. Buyers who seemed hesitant in the days leading up to the art weeks regained confidence after seeing the positive results in London. "They called back, asking for guarantees or pre-auction bids," Alessandro Diotallevi told Observer ahead of the ...

Oct 18th, 2025 - Morgan Library & Museum, New York Famed impressionist painter's lesser-seen drawings are the focus of a major new exhibition that invites us into the stages of his artistic process is luminous colours and sensual brushwork adorn countless mugs, posters and tote bags as well as blockbuster exhibitions . But the commodification of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his fellow impressionist painters has been missing something. Renoir was an accomplished draftsman who produced a distinguished but largely ...

Sep 16th, 2025 - With Sotheby's landing the $400 million Leonard A. Lauder Collection and the Pritzkers' modern masterpieces, and Christie's securing the Weis and Wynn estates, November's sales may yet rescue the slumping auction market. It has become clearer in these past few years that the real battle between auction houses isn't about results but in the race for consignments. Yesterday, Sotheby's landed a knockout: the $400 million Leonard A. Lauder Collection , set to hit the rostrum during November's New ...