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auction records

A Sotheby’s auctioneer in a black suit stands in front of a crowded room with Gustav Klimt’s portrait of a woman hanging beside a bidding screen showing Antonio Obá’s Alvorada—Musica Incidental Black Bird.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s Close 2025 With a Market Rebound Fueled by Luxury and New Buyers

Year-end results show rising sales, stronger sell-through rates and growing momentum in categories that suggest a shift in who is sustaining the market and how.
By Elisa Carollo
A bar cart shaped like a hippo, with several panels open to reveal the compartments holding bottles and glassware

François-Xavier Lalanne’s ‘Hippopotame Bar’ Sets a New Auction Record for the Artist

The result is a new high watermark for design.
By Christa Terry
A large illuminated sign reading "Collectors’ Week Abu Dhabi" stands against a purple sunset sky, surrounded by palm trees and greenery.

Sotheby’s Closes Its Inaugural Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week With $133 Million in Sales

The strategic debut was tailored to a region where luxury demand is accelerating at exceptional speed.
By Elisa Carollo
A woman holding a gavel stands smiling with raised arms at the Christie's auction house dais

A $30.2 Million Fabergé Egg Commissioned by the Last Czar of Russia Sets a New Auction Record

By Mya Ward
A Sotheby’s auctioneer raises his gavel as Frida Kahlo’s painting and a $47 million bid appear on a large screen behind him while a seated audience watches.

In Its Best Week Since 2021, Sotheby’s Hit $1.173B With a $54.7M Kahlo Finale

By Elisa Carollo
An auctioneer, Oliver Barker, stands at the Sotheby’s podium with his arms raised while taking bids in a crowded auction room. Behind him is a large projected screen showing Gustav Klimt’s Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer with a bid of 205 million USD, and the actual painting hangs on the wall to his right. Audience members photograph the moment with their phones.

Sotheby’s Shatters Records at Its Breuer Debut as a $236.4M Klimt Leads the $706M Evening Sale

By Elisa Carollo
Auctioneer Aurélie Vandevoorde stands at a Sotheby’s podium mid-sale, gesturing to the audience between two framed paintings—a blue-toned surreal nude with a dove on the left and Amedeo Modigliani’s Elvire en buste on the right—while wearing Salvador Dalí’s Swirling Sea Necklace from the Schlumberger Collection.

The Paris Auctions Cap a Triumphant Art Week With Record Sales, Surrealist Strength and Italian Postwar Gems

By Elisa Carollo
Watercolor painting of flamingos standing on the edge of a pond

Henri Rousseau’s $43.5 Million ‘Les Flamants’ Sets a New Auction Record

By Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly
Christie's sale auctioning off Georges Seurat painting.

Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen’s Art Collection Sells for $1.5 Billion, Breaking Auction Records

By Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

Banksy Sets a New Auction Record With the £16.7 Million Sale of ‘Game Changer’

By Helen Holmes

Net Artist Beeple Just Set a Nifty Gateway Auction Record With Sales of $3.5 Million

By Helen Holmes

Georges de La Tour Painting Sets German Auction Record, Selling for $4.3 Million

By Helen Holmes

Banksy Just Broke Another Auction Record With His ‘Balloon Girl’ Print

By Helen Holmes
Japan yamazaki whisky auction

A Rare Bottle of Japanese Whisky Sold for $343,000, Sets Auction Record

By Sissi Cao
An untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat broke the artist's world auction record, selling for $57.3 million at Christie's on May 10.

$57M Basquiat Breaks Auction Record at Christie’s

By Alanna Martinez
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