News
Four Centuries of Cat Art Go Up for Auction
As works by artists from Balthus to Théophile Steinlen reveal, the cat has long been a popular subject for depiction.
Auctions
Art
An Illustrated Guide to Auction House Terminology
What is “chandelier bidding?” How do third-party guarantees work? And what are the “three D’s?”
Art
Highlights from Maya Angelou's Art Collection Head to Auction
Works from the private art collection of renowned poet and author Maya Angelou will soon go on public display.
Art
Silhouette Portraits from the Days Before Photography
Before photography, the silhouette was a popular form of portraiture more affordable than oil painting, where the outline of a face in profile was cut in black.
Art
Political Cartoons from a Golden Age of British Satire
In late 18th-century Britain, etched cartoons and caricatures abounded, poking fun at kings, noblemen, society ladies, French revolutionaries, the institution of marriage, and countless other people and things.
In Brief
Newly Discovered Photo Offers a Glimpse of van Gogh, Gauguin, and Other Drunk Artists
While Vincent van Gogh's self-portraits were a significant part of his painting career, no confirmed photographs of the artist as an adult are known to exist.
News
Hopi Tribe Fights to Halt French Sales of Sacred Artifacts for Good
Wednesday morning, Paris's Drouot auction house proceeded with a contentious sale of objects sacred to the Hopi Tribe of northern Arizona.
Opinion
What Else Could $180 Million Buy?
The record price paid for Pablo Picasso’s “‘Les femmes d’Alger (Version 'O')" (1955) made us wonder what else could $180M buy?
News
Mysterious Engravings Question Authorship of Shakespeare's Works
William Shakespeare was a commoner who wrote witty plays attended by Queen Elizabeth. Sir Francis Bacon was a noble who served as her Attorney General. Right?
In Brief
$44M O'Keeffe Painting More Than Triples Auction Record for Woman Artist
Hot on the heels of a $1.5 billion art auction week, a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe broke the record for the most expensive work by a female artist sold at auction this morning.
In Brief
Gallery Auctions Off Artworks to the Highest Emotional Bidder
As those of us without mountains of money continue to gawk and gripe over the unceasingly exorbitant sums fetched by art auctions, a Swedish glassware brand has gone out on a limb and tried something different: auctioning off artworks to people who have the strongest physical reactions to them.
Art
The History of Space Travel in 10 Objects
As our shuttles have gone into retirement and we look to the future of what space travel will mean for human exploration, there are plenty of artifacts left behind with which to examine the successes and failures of our journeying into beyond our atmosphere.