The art world, in context
News, people and ideas across market.
Image: ArtskSotheby's will sell a dozen Impressionist and modern paintings assembled by Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier, valued near $450 million. A Van Gogh of chestnut blossoms, estimated around $180 million, could set a new auction record for the artist. The works go on view in London on September 30 ahead of a November sale in New York.
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Image: ArtskThe Leiden Collection has acquired its 18th Rembrandt painting, Saint John on Patmos (c. 1661), which depicts the artist's son Titus as the exiled evangelist. The work had sold at Sotheby's London in 2025.
Source date ·Image: ArtskTran Luu Hau's 2005 canvas Park hammered for $359,000 at Sotheby's Hong Kong on 29 September, smashing his previous auction record by 125% and selling at more than four and a half times its low estimate.
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Image: ArtskWu Guanzhong's 1979 Rice paddies of Central Sichuan sold for $701,600 at Christie's Hong Kong on 30 September, a 3% decline from the $723,600 it achieved at Sotheby's in 2021.
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Image: ArtskEmanuel Layr is reducing fair participation and scaling back operations at his Vienna gallery after 15 years, pointing to the structural strains of the current art market.
Source date ·Image: ArtskDreweatts' Fine Silver & The Art of Dining auction on 22 September 2026 totalled £1,086,860, reaching 182% of the pre-sale estimate with a 95% sell-through rate. Highlights included a set of four George I cast candlesticks by Samuel Margas that sold for £25,600 and a Russian trompe-l'oeil silver cigar box by Dmitry Gorbanov that made £19,200.
Image: ArtskDreweatts' Park View auction of a private collection assembled over forty years from a London apartment totalled £690,000 on 23 September 2026, 187% of the pre-sale estimate. The top lot was a brass-inlaid ebony and calamander breakfront bookcase attributed to George Oakley, which sold for £120,900.
Image: ArtskA 17th-century Irish silver marriage locket, dated around 1660 and rediscovered by a farm labourer near Mashanaglass Castle in County Cork after being lost for nearly 200 years, will be offered by Roseberys in its Fine & Decorative auction on 1 October 2026 with an estimate of £3,000-£5,000.
Source date ·Image: ArtskBukowskis opened its autumn season with new highlights including a work by Mamma Andersson titled 'Vännen', presented as a leading lot of the season ahead.
Image: ArtskA landscape by Russell Drysdale that has been out of public view for more than 40 years will be offered at Leonard Joel's Fine Art auction in Melbourne on 6 October, the Antiques Trade Gazette reported on 18 September 2026.
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Image: ArtskElvis Presley's private wedding photo album, containing 30 original black-and-white photographs and three colour photographs, was offered in a Bruun Rasmussen online auction on 21 September 2026 with an estimate of DKK 100,000.
Image: ArtskPrincess Diana's famous black silk 'revenge dress' by Christina Stambolian will be auctioned at Sotheby's in December 2026, estimated at $150,000-300,000, its first auction appearance since Diana sold it in 1997. It goes on public display at Sotheby's in London from 18 September before touring to Hong Kong, Geneva and New York.
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