Sotheby's Art Auction news at Art News Blog is a listing of all the posts that have discussed notable art auctions sales and upcoming auctions at Sotheby's worldwide.
See also Art Collecting News and Christies Art Auctions

Art Blog> Art News Categories> Art Auctions> Sotheby's Auction Sales

• Banksy at Auction - I have spent hours browsing through auction catalogues online today. I spend hours every month going through them, like I'm a billionaire art collector looking for prey, yet I have never spent more than $1,000 on a painting!
• Sotheby's Auction Panic and Christie's Auction Records - After seeing the Sotheby's auction fizzle out last week, I thought record prices might have become a rare event. Of the 76 works on sale, 20 failed to find buyers, including this wheat field painting (pictured) by Vincent van Gogh.
• Vincent van Gogh Masterpiece for Auction - A painting that is believed to be one of the last few paintings that Vincent van Gogh painted will soon be put up for auction at Sotheby's. "The Fields" was was painted on the 10th of July, 1890 and the artist died on the 29th of July.
• Australian Aboriginal Art Auction - Australian Aboriginal art jumped in value this week with a Sotheby's auction in Sydney that got bidders excited.
• Art Auction News Update - Here's some crazy auction news from around world..
• The Old Time by John Brack - A painting by the Australian artist John Brack sold at auction for a record price this week, making "The Old Time" the most expensive Australian painting. The painting of a ballroom dancing couple sold for about $3.3 million dollars.
• Private Viewing of a Modern Art Auction - Here's a private viewing of the May 8 Impressionist & Modern art auction in New York with David Norman of Sotheby's. Norman talks about a "resplendent" watercolor still-life by Paul Cezanne, a Rose period portrait of harlequin by Pablo Picasso, and a highly abstracted oil by Joan Miro, painted at the height of the Surrealist movement.
• London Art Market Sales - The world art market has showed no signs of slowing down in February. Chris-toby's have had an impressive month in London with almost $500,000,000 being sold between them. Their sales included Impressionist and Modern paintings and works on paper, German and Austrian Art, and Surrealist art.
• Rembrandt's Apostle James Makes $25 Million - A rare Rembrandt painting from the later part of his life recently sold for $25.8 million USD at Sotheby's in New York. The previous record for the artist was $28.7 million back in 2000.
• Big Numbers at Big Auction Houses - Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses recently sold close to a billion dollars worth of art in just a few days. Between the 7th and 9th of November, they sold $847,251,000 at their Impressionist and Modern sales.
• Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction - A new marketing tool they have discovered is the use of video online. For the promotion of an upcoming contemporary art auction, there's a video now online of Tobias Meyer (Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art and Principal Auctioneer) discussing some of the important works available.
• Record Brett Whiteley Price - One of my favorite artists recently broke his own sales record at a recent Sotheby's auction in Australia. The four meter wide painting by Brett Whiteley sold for $2.04 million in Sydney lastnight.
• Contemporary Art Auctions - Sotheby's mention in a recent article that contemporary art sales are reaching the heights previously only reserved for impressionist and modern paintings. Recently departed and living artists are now frequently reaching prices above $10 million at auction.
• Dora Maar Sells for $95.2 Million - A painting of Dora Maar by Pablo Picasso has sold for $95.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York. The estimate of $50 million was almost doubled!
• Most Expensive Australian Painting - John Brack - After recently mentioning the most expensive British painting to be sold at auction ($35.8 million US dollars), Australia's most expensive painting that sold recently by John Brack doesn't sound that impressive.
• Shakespeare Book to be Auctioned - A very rare William Shakespeare folio of plays will be auctioned off by Sotheby's in July. It is expected to make more than $6 million or £3.5 pounds.
• Pablo Picasso Painting of Dora Maar - An important work by Pablo Picasso of his model of nearly ten year, Dora Maar will be up for auction at Sotheby's in New York on the 3rd of May this year. It has been in private hands for 40 years and has rarely been seen by the public. It is expected to sell for around $50 million.
• Photography Auction Results! - Recent photography auctions by Chris-tobys have achieved record prices. At Sotheby's a photograph by Edward Weston, titled the Breast reached an amazing $822,400 in New York, against an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000.
• Impressionist and Modern art sales, London - A new Ukrainian buyer spent over £12 million ($21 million) at Sotheby’s sales of Impressionist and Modern art on 20 June. The unidentified bidder, with paddle number LO22, secured three of the top five lots at the sale, classic works by Signac, Gauguin and Vlaminck.
• Sotheby's Auction Update - Sotheby's failed to reach their low auction estimate of $203 million, but still managed to rake up its highest total for an Impressionism/Modern sale since 1990. The 48 paintings and sculptures made $194,289,600.. far below Sotheby's high auction estimate of $275+ million.
  
• Art Auction Excitement - Chris-toby's are whipping up plenty of excitement in the art world with some big names being auctioned off over the coming couple of weeks. The dollars that pass through the two big auction houses in the next two weeks would nearly eliminate world poverty, but it's still fun to watch from the sidelines.
• Damien Hirst - Pharmacy Auction - Damien Hirst stamps his authority on the contemporary art market with record sales at the Sotheby's, London auction.
• Contemporary art at Sotheby's - The top lot of the sale is Mark Rothko's seminal work, No. 6 (Yellow, White, Blue over Yellow on Gray) from 1954 which is estimated to sell for $9/12 million. Also included are iconic works by Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons.
  
• Paul Gauguin work estimated at 40 to 50 million - A work by Paul Gauguin at the upcoming Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art auction is set to make between 40 and 50 million dollars.