Rare Magritte, Picasso & Tanning: Gems From the Sybil Shainwald Collection | Sotheby’s
The Sothe & Co video spotlights the Sybil Shainwald collection, a meticulously assembled survey of modernist masterpieces ranging from Magritte and Picasso to Dorothea Tanning and Diane Arbus. Shainwald, a pioneering women’s‑rights lawyer, built the assemblage alongside her husband, leveraging personal taste and a commitment to under‑recognized talent. The collection emphasizes early, often prescient acquisitions of female creators—Tanning, Bontecou, Sherman, Arbus—at a time when their market values were modest. Highlights include Magritte’s rare “Femme Bouteille,” painted on a wartime wine bottle, a 1947 Tanning desert scene that morphs domestic calm into surreal tension, Matisse’s “Femme Nue,” a reclining Picasso with a bird, and Lee Arp’s precise abstract composition. Narrative anecdotes reinforce Shainwald’s collector’s eye: she chased a lost Magritte bottle across Belgium, relished the line “breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” and valued intimate works that whisper rather than roar. The video also showcases iconic photographs—Lange’s “Migrant Mother,” Arbus’s portrait box, and Sherman’s noir‑inspired film stills—underscoring her foresight in photography’s rising stature. For today’s market, the collection illustrates how early support for marginalized artists can yield cultural cachet and financial upside. Institutions and investors can learn from Shainwald’s blend of personal passion, social advocacy, and strategic timing, which turned modest purchases into timeless gems.
How Robert Mnuchin Traded Finance for Fine Art: Rothko, De Kooning, Kline and More at Sotheby’s
The video spotlights Sotheby’s May auction of 24 pieces from the legendary financier‑collector Robert Mnuchin, whose career spanned Goldman Sachs partnership and a post‑retirement gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It frames his transition from pioneering block‑trading on Wall...
Selling Watches in Geneva, City Of Watches | Meet the Auctioneer: Clara Kessi | Sotheby's
The video profiles Clara Kessi, a watch specialist and auctioneer at Sotheby's, who entered the role in November 2020 amid the COVID‑19 pandemic. She recounts her first virtual auction, the challenges of engaging bidders without a live audience, and how...
What 70 Years of Collecting Art Looks Like: Giacometti, Rothko & More in The Wingate Collection
The video showcases the David and Shoshana Wingate Collection, a seven‑decade private assemblage of modernist paintings, sculpture, and design now slated for Sotheby’s auction.\n\nKey works include Giacometti’s La Clairière, Rothko’s 1959 Untitled, Kandinsky’s Two Black Stripes, and Tiffany’s Wisteria lamp,...
The Wild Story of Warhol’s Brigitte Bardot: Playboy, Goddess, Legendary Romance | Sotheby’s
Video features Gunnar Sax recounting his late father’s 1960s romance with French star Brigitte Bardot, culminating in Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait. Sax describes his father as one of the original Playboy circle—wealthy, stylish gentlemen who prized beauty and spontaneity. Their affair, marked...
When Picasso Became Picasso: The Painting That Marked His Cubist Breakthrough | Sotheby’s
The video examines Picasso’s 1909 canvas Arlequín, the work that crystallizes his break from representational painting and ushers in the Cubist language that would dominate his later output. After seeing Cézanne’s posthumous Salon d’Automne retrospective in 1907, Picasso began to dismantle...
Jeff Koons Breaks Down the Meaning and Intention Behind His Sculpture of Louis XIV | Sotheby’s
Jeff Koons appears before Sotheby’s to unpack the intent behind his 1986 Louis XIV sculpture, a centerpiece of his broader statuary series. He frames the work as a meditation on how art, when placed in the hands of power, becomes a...
How Kenneth Noland & Joan Mitchell Turn the Same Abstraction Into Opposite Worlds | Sotheby’s
The video juxtaposes Kenneth Noland’s 1958 “Target” and Joan Mitchell’s “Loom 2,” illustrating how two postwar abstract masters turned the same visual language into opposite artistic worlds. Noland’s monumental circle radiates outward with a hypnotic, centrifugal force, a “one‑shot” painting that...
How This De Kooning Painting Feels Like It’s Moving | Sotheby’s
The Sotheby’s video spotlights William Duning’s 1975 canvas Untitled #3, a hallmark of his late‑career output. At seventy‑plus, the American abstract expressionist was already an established master, yet he continued to push his visual language. The film explains how Duning’s relocation to...
How Charles Sheeler Reimagined New York Through Windows | Sotheby’s
The video spotlights Charles Sheeler’s 1951 oil “Windows,” a large‑scale work that reimagines New York City through a lattice of glass panes. Sotheby’s frames the painting as a hallmark of Precisionism, an early‑20th‑century movement that reduced urban scenery to flat...
Hidden for 40 Years: Inside the Rarest, Deeply Personal Keith Haring Collection | Sotheby’s
The video chronicles a private Keith Haring trove that Kermit Oswald and his wife Lisa have safeguarded for roughly 40 years. Their lifelong friendship, forged in a Pennsylvania kindergarten, gave Haring a trusted conduit for gifts, self‑portraits, and experimental pieces...
Why This Rare Van Gogh Isn’t Just a Work of Art, It's Work AS Art | Sotheby’s
The video, produced by Sotheby’s, examines Van Gogh’s 1888 watercolor “La Moisson en Provence,” a rare work that portrays a harvest scene in the Provençal plain. It emphasizes how the piece departs from the era’s dominant history‑painting tradition, focusing instead on...
Venice Through Fontana’s Eyes: A Monumental 1961 Masterwork | Sotheby’s
The video spotlights Lucio Fontana’s 1961 masterpiece “Il Cielo de Venezia,” the centerpiece of his 22‑painting series The Venezie, created for the Venice Biennale at Palazzo Grassi. Sotheby’s frames the work as a pivotal moment when Fontana turned his spatialist...
“Nightmarish Beauty”: Step Into Dorothea Tanning's World with Tali Lennox | Sotheby’s
The Sothe & Co. video introduces painter Tali Lennox as she walks viewers through her recent adaptation of Dorothea Tanning’s surreal oeuvre. Lennox, a neo‑surrealist working in 2026, frames the conversation around Tanning’s blend of childlike wonder and unsettling absurdity. Lennox highlights specific...
A Rare Glimpse Into Surrealism’s Inner Circle: Inside the Donati Collection | Sotheby's
The video tours the Donati Collection, revealing how Enrico Donati, the last true surrealist, built a personal archive while living in New York during the 1940s, linking European exile artists with emerging American movements. It highlights Donati’s 1943 exhibition that caught...
What Teaware Did the Chinese Emperor Use at His Tea Party 300 Years Ago? | Sotheby's
Video examines a rare Falangcai teapot presented to the Qianlong Emperor in November 1740, highlighting its provenance from Qing court archives and its status as one of only six known examples. The piece is the sole survivor outside a museum,...
Is This Photograph Worth $1 Million or $200? Learn How Sotheby's Finds Out
Sotheby’s New York prints department staged a forensic examination of an early‑print photograph by Edward Steichen, “Balszac the Open Sky” (1908), to decide whether it belongs in the million‑dollar tier or the modest hundreds‑dollar range. The team applied a sequence of...
The 'OG' Of Modern Watchmaking: A. Lange & Söhne's Grande Complication | Sotheby's
The video examines A. Lange & Söhne’s 1916 Grande Complication, a historic grand‑complication clock‑watch that epitomizes the brand’s DNA. Originating from Ferdinand Adolf Lange’s 1845 workshop ecosystem, the piece reflects a lineage where apprentices stayed five years before launching their own ateliers,...
Do People Take Artists for Granted? How Sotheby’s and Yale Are Helping Students Graduate Debt-Free
The video announces a collaborative benefit auction between Sotheby’s and the Yale School of Art, designed to raise funds for Master of Fine Arts scholarships and ultimately eliminate tuition debt for students. By channeling auction proceeds directly into a...
Rare Cartier ‘Tutti Frutti’ Necklace Sparks Bidding Battle | Sotheby's
Sotheby's Hong Kong auction house recently concluded the sale of a rare Cartier ‘Tutti Frutti’ necklace, the first of several pieces from the iconic series to appear on the auction block. The piece ignited a fierce bidding war among five high‑net‑worth...
Chu Teh-Chun Painting Sparks Lively Bidding Battle | Sotheby's
Sotheby’s auction house opened lot 30, a 1988 canvas by Chinese abstract master Chu Teh‑Chun, to a live bidding session in Paris. The work, noted for its vibrant brass tones and dynamic brushwork, entered the room with a €200,000 opening...
Lalanne Mirrors Smash Design Auction Records | Bidding Battles | Sotheby's
Sotheby's New York auction featured the legendary Lalanne “Claud Lan” suite – fifteen one‑of‑a‑kind mirrors originally commissioned by collector Eve San Lohal. The bidding war began at $8.5 million and surged through incremental raises, ultimately closing at $28.5 million. The price more than triples the...
Why Do You Recognize These 16th Century Dishes? Inside the World of Iznik Pottery | Sothebys
The video explores the history and distinctive visual language of Iznik pottery, the Ottoman ceramic tradition that flourished from the late 1400s to the early 1600s. It explains how Ottoman potters initially copied Chinese blue‑and‑white porcelain before expanding the palette with...
A Human with a Horse Head. Why? | Sotheby's
The video examines a 22‑centimeter Tang‑Dynasty sancai ceramic that fuses a horse’s head with a human torso, a rare hybrid created in 7th‑8th century China. The piece, part of a broader tradition of three‑color glazed figures, was originally intended to...
This Rothko Changed How I See Painting Forever | Sotheby’s
The video tours a recently unveiled Rothko, a monumental canvas dominated by an unprecedented shade of purple. Hosted by a seasoned collector, the presenter frames the work as a turning point in the artist’s late period, noting its size and...
How a 100‑Year‑Old Jewelry House Turned Lace Into Metal | Sotheby's
The video chronicles the century‑old Italian jeweler Buccellati, famed for turning gold and silver into lace‑like forms. It traces the house from founder Mario Buccellati’s 1920s ring—still in its original Milano‑stamped box—to the modern creations that echo his delicate aesthetic. Key...
The Most Important Mirrors Outside of Versailles: Claude Lalanne's Magnum Opus | Sotheby's
Sotheby’s is presenting the sale of Claude Lalanne’s monumental mirror ensemble, originally commissioned by fashion legend Yves Saint‑Laurent for his Paris residence. The 15‑piece installation, now part of the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection, represents Lalanne’s first major foray into reflective...
$10K vs $100K per Carat Sapphire: Can You Tell the Difference? | Sotheby's
The Sotheby’s video pits a $10,000‑per‑carat Kashmir sapphire against a $100,000‑per‑carat Ceylon stone, asking whether the price gap reflects a real difference in value. It explains three drivers: rarity (Kashmir mined only until 1887 and now extinct), optical performance (Kashmir’s velvety,...
Monet Landscape Sets New Auction Record in France | Sotheby's
Sotheby’s Paris auction featured Claude Monet’s 1901 canvas, “Le Matin,” which had not been publicly displayed since 1928. The work sold for a record €8.35 million, the highest price ever achieved for a Monet at a French auction. The painting entered the...
How to Paint a Masterpiece with a Single Hair | Sotheby's
The video explores the ultra‑rare craft of enamel watch painting, where artists render iconic masterpieces on dials no larger than a postage stamp. The process begins with grinding colored glass into powder finer than flour, applying it with a single boar’s...
Inside the World of Iznik: Ottoman Ceramics Explained | Sotheby’s
The video explores Iznik pottery, the signature Ottoman ceramic tradition that emerged in late‑15th‑century Turkey, tracing its roots to Chinese blue‑and‑white porcelain imported into the imperial treasury. Between 1480 and 1600, Iznik artisans expanded the palette beyond cobalt blue and white,...
Rothko, Lalanne, Picasso, Royere: A Look Inside Sotheby's Most Valuable Single-Owner Design Sale
Sotheby’s announced a landmark New York auction of a single‑owner collection that unites French 20th‑century design with modern masterpieces. The assemblage, built by Terry and Jean Ginsbourg, showcases over a hundred pieces ranging from iconic French furniture to works by Agnes Martin,...
When Basquiat Had Nothing—And Made Everything | Sotheby’s
The video examines Jean‑Michel Basquiat’s 1981 downtown New York piece “Law Offices Not Republic,” painted on a discarded window blind. At twenty years old, Basquiat used the blind as a literal and figurative screen, embedding a notary seal that would...
Treasure Hunt for a $50 Million Chinese Art Collection | Sotheby’s Stories
Sotheby’s Asia chairman Nicolas Chow recounts a five‑year “treasure hunt” that culminated in the sale of a $50 million Chinese seal collection, illustrating the firm’s role in repatriating cultural heritage. Chow discovered that a single West‑Coast collector had purchased roughly 80 % of...
In Monet’s Footsteps: Finding the Views Behind Two Long-Lost Color Paintings | Sotheby’s
The Sotheby’s video documents the first public viewing in color of two Monet canvases that have been hidden for more than half a century. The works—‘Lizzie la Pointe de Villez’ (1883) and ‘Vetheuil Effet du Matin’ (1901)—were located on the Seine’s...
Rolling Stone Editor Reacts to Exclusive Stevie Nicks Relics | Sotheby's
Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony J. Curtis previewed items slated for Sotheby’s upcoming Rock & Pop auction, focusing on legendary Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks. The preview showcased a stage‑used, signed tambourine, one of Nicks’ signature flowing outfits, and the original artwork for...
Steph Curry Is Auctioning Off His Game-Worn Sneakers
Stephen Curry announced that he will auction off a curated selection of game‑worn sneakers following his recent free‑agency signing with the Golden State Warriors. The initiative is tied to his EatL, Learn, Play Foundation, which he co‑founded to provide sustainable...
The Handbag You’ve Never Seen: Gabriela Hearst & Adam Pendleton’s Tribute to Nina Simone | Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s unveiled a limited‑edition collection of 25 hand‑painted “Nina” handbags, created by fashion designer Gabriela Hearst in partnership with contemporary artist Adam Pendleton. The pieces honor singer‑songwriter Nina Simone and channel all sales toward purchasing and preserving Simone’s childhood home...
Why These Rock & Pop Relics Still Give a Rolling Stone Critic Chills | Sotheby's
Anthony J. Curtis, Rolling Stone critic, previews Sotheby's Rock & Pop auction, showcasing iconic relics that span the 1970s and 1980s. The preview highlights Stevie Nicks' signed tambourine and stage outfit, the original Rumors album artwork, custom 1974 Grateful Dead...
600 Years of Samurai Legacy: The Untold Story of the Hosokawa Clan | Sotheby's
The Sotheby’s video chronicles six centuries of the Hosokawa clan, a samurai lineage that has wielded political authority while championing the arts. From its emergence in the Muromachi period to its presence in today’s auction house, the piece frames the...
Rare Kohiki Vase Designed to Leak Soars at Auction | Sotheby's
The video chronicles the auction of a rare Amamorei Kohiki vase, a 15th‑16th century Japanese ceramic famed for its intentional leak design, which concluded at Sotheby’s with a final hammer price of $4.7 million. The bidding frenzy saw incremental offers climbing from...
Joan Mitchell’s Monumental Diptych Sets New Auction Record in Asia | Sotheby's
Sotheby’s Hong Kong closed its evening with a headline‑making sale: Joan Mitchell’s monumental diptych, painted on the historic estate where Monet once worked, fetched HK$115 million (approximately US$14.7 million). The piece, one of only two multi‑panel Mitchell works still held in private...
How Alex Branczik Went From Stacking Shelves to Auctioneering #sothebys #contemporaryart #artmarket
Alex Branczik’s story is a textbook illustration of how humble beginnings can evolve into a high‑profile auctioneering career at Sotheby’s. He recounts his first real exposure to the art market while stacking medicine boxes for a pharmacy sale, an experience...
How Joan Mitchell Turned Grief Into Colour | Sotheby's
The video explores Joan Mitchell’s 1980s Lagon Valet series, a body of work that transforms personal grief into a vivid, abstract celebration of memory. Mitchell painted the series after two converging tragedies: the death of her sister and the dying wish...
Frank’s Files: The Man Who Hunts Unheated Burmese Rubies for a Living | Sotheby’s
The video spotlights rare‑gem dealer Anoop Joani’s new partnership with Sotheby’s Marketplace, a buy‑now platform that lets collectors purchase his handcrafted pieces instantly, bypassing the traditional auction cycle. Joani, a self‑taught trader who began selling diamonds to doctors, now spends his...
What Did Keith Haring Create During Nuclear Panic? | Sotheby’s
The video examines Keith Haring’s brief foray into enamel‑on‑metal works, a response to the nuclear anxiety that followed the 1979 Three Mile Island partial melt‑down near his Pennsylvania hometown. Haring deliberately selected steel panels because he believed metal could survive...
Surrealist Giacometti Figurine Flies to €10.6 Million at Sotheby's Paris Auction Bidding Battle
Sotheby’s Paris auction on Thursday concluded with a surrealist Alberto Giacometti bronze figurine selling for €10.6 million, eclipsing expectations and setting a new benchmark for the artist’s work at auction. The piece, a rare example from Giacometti’s early Surrealist period, attracted a...
Pauline Karpidas: The London Collection | Warhol’s The Scream Achieves £6.6 Million at Sotheby's
Sotheby's London auction featured Andy Warhol’s "The Scream" from the Pauline Karpidas collection, a work that had hung in her home for nearly three decades and had not appeared at auction for fifteen years. The bidding opened at £1.6 million and accelerated...
"She Has Been Watching Over Me for 50 Years": Sanyu, “Beijing Circus” | Sotheby's
The video spotlights Sotheby’s upcoming sale of Sanyu’s 1976 work “Beijing Circus,” tracing how collector Mary obtained the piece during an estate sale and why it now commands attention. It frames the painting as a bridge between East and West,...
Rare ‘Young Lion Resting’ Reached a Historic $18 Million at #SothebysNewYork
The centerpiece of Sotheby's New York auction was a rare Rembrandt drawing, sold to raise funds for Panthetherra, the leading global wild‑cat conservation organization. The auctioneer opened the lot at $11.5 million, and within a short span, competitive bidding propelled the...