Artnews

Sotheby’s Establishes a Foothold in Saudi Arabia After Hosting the Kingdom’s First Major Auction

The sale generated $17.3 million, with Islamic art selling well. Getty Images for Sotheby’s Sotheby’s laid down a marker in the Middle East on Saturday evening by hosting Saudi Arabia’s first major art auction. The results were like the two-part evening sale’s lineup: a mixed bag. The house took in $17.3 million (estimate: $14 million–$20 million) …

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Romanian Man Defaces Vatican Altar, Damaging Objects Worth Thousands of Dollars

A picture shows the newly renovated baldachin, a large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy over the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, 2024. Photo Tiziana FABI/AFP via Getty Images A Romanian man who jumped onto the main altar at Saint Peter’s Basilica was apprehended by security staff at the Vatican on February 7. A video capturing …

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Art Institute of Chicago Gains a Neoclassicist Trove with Sizable Gift of French Art

Hilaire Le Dru, Indigence and Honor, 1804. Horvitz Collection A wealth of Neoclassicist art has joined the holdings of the Art Institute of Chicago via collectors Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, who have gifted the museum around 2,250 works of French art made between the 16th and 19th centuries. The gift comes after held two shows …

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Israeli Bill on West Bank Antiquities Oversight Faces Opposition from Government Body

An employee works at an excavation site by Israel Antiquities Authority containing the remains of a Byzantine monastery which was uncovered north of the Israeli city of Qiryat Gat, on January 6, 2025. AFP via Getty Images The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), a body of the Israeli government that oversees national artifacts and sites, rejected …

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Painting of Controversial Berlin Politician Was ‘Deemed Inappropriate’ by German Festival, Artist Says

Hamishi Farah, Untitled, 2025. Photo Stefan Korte/Courtesy the artist; Maxwell Graham, New York; and Arcadia Missa, London Artist Hamishi Farah said on Wednesday that a painting of Joe Chialo, Berlin’s controversial culture senator, never made it on view in Berlin because it was “deemed inappropriate” by the art festival that planned to show it. The …

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