Jeff Koons, “Elephant” (Purple). Estimate: 300,000 – 400,000 Euros One of the major events at Sotheby’s this Autumn promises to be the sale in Paris on December 8 of a unique work by Jeff Koons: “Elephant” (Purple), donated by the artist to the Foundation Claude Pompidou in 2009. This masterpiece from 1999 (estimate €300,000-400,000) will [...]

Marsden Hartley (1877 – 1943), “Mountains No. 22″, 1930. Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches (76.2 x 91.4 cm). Est. $800,000/1.2 million. Sotheby’s auction of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture on 3 December 2009 will offer collectors a rich array of works by American artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. The auction includes [...]

“Large Vase of Flowers,” by artist Jeff Koons, an exquisitely colorful, vibrant work with complex allusions to social hierarchies, taste, life cycles, and sex, ultimately sold for $5,682,500. Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale totaled $74,151,500/£44,669,578/€49,766,107. Works by artists Peter Doig, Jeff Koons, and Joan Mitchell commanded the top prices. In addition, new world [...]

French and Italian could be heard throughout Christie’s salesroom Tuesday night as the fall auction season began unsteadily: While there were some strong prices, there also expensive failures. It was a thin sale of Impressionist and modern art, with just 40 works on offer and prices that fell below estimates. The evening totaled $65.6 million [...]

Jean-Leon Gerome, “Man with a Waterpipe and Dog”. Estimate: £800,000 to £1,200,000 Christie’s will offer a highly curated auction of 24 Orientalist masterpieces on November 25, 2009 in London. An important Private Collection of 9 works will form the core of the sale and includes four works by Jean-Léon Gérôme and three exceptional watercolors by [...]

Alfred Sisley, La Seine à Argenteuil, 1870. (est. $1.5/2 million, £900,000/1.2 million, €1/1.5 million) Sotheby’s 4 November 2009 Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York will feature seven paintings from the Durand-Ruel Collection, encompassing works by a number of the Impressionist masters that legendary art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel represented — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, [...]

Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, executed in 1984. Stamped twice with estate and foundation seals on the overlap acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, 30 X 26 in. The Vered Gallery in East Hampton has temporarily removed an Andy Warhol portrait of Michael Jackson from the auction block. The Associated Press reported that gallery co-owner Janet Lehr [...]