Geostrategic tensions Beyond the acute geostrategic tensions currently undermining the climate across Middle Eastern countries, another, more subterranean conflict is also playing out locally. Its aim is to generate happiness without causing...
The little French Accent of Oscar Wilde, a Mythical Writer for Wealthy Collectors
https://youtu.be/zekRFFxbzN0?si=ff5Rg3Z-Zgd2TEnI A temptation worth €825,000 “I can resist everything except temptation.” When the legendary Irish man of letters Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) coined this famous witticism in the dialogue of one of his...
Berthe Weill: Why Was This Missing Link in the History of Modern Art—the First Dealer of Picasso—Completely Forgotten? It Takes More Than a Keen Eye to Succeed
https://youtu.be/_RXKYlw-rB8?si=KFONA8qg-OgYqWnS La Boheme At the beginning of the 20th century, Montmartre was a territory of poverty and bohemia, filled with shantytowns, inhabited by street performers, circus people, "grisettes" and other...
Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s CEO on the art market’s new trends: “I’m very optimistic about 26”
Bonnie Brennan has been Christie’s Worldwide Chief Executive Officer since February 2025. Closely tracking new market dynamics, she says she is “very optimistic about 26” . I interviewed her at the end of December. Christie’s communications...
Art Basel Miami Beach: a sublime Joan Mitchell, a coral reef, robot dogs with billionaires’ heads, and the great comeback of enthusiasm
Crisis or not? The United States is the epicentre of the global art market. In 2024, art transactions worldwide were estimated at 57.4 billion dollars, of which 24.8 billion were generated in the United States (1). The crisis, in step with all the economic,...
Does a $236 Million Klimt Signal the End of the Market Crisis?
https://youtu.be/0hmym3W53No?si=5BLGmQ9yZBx3IK1l 236.4 million Rationality is the enemy of artists. They obey more poetic rules, which lend an exceptional magic to the works they produce. As a result, these paintings or sculptures can sometimes...
The Three Names That Matter in New York This November: Leonard Lauder, Gustav Klimt, and Marcel Breuer -COPY
https://youtu.be/Iyfu93YEhpE?si=gdTfSG7F5LGuNs_6 Generous trustees In the United States, unlike in France, museums are rarely funded by the public sector. To attract ever greater private generosity, they have developed an elaborate system of...
The Three Names That Matter in New York This November: Leonard Lauder, Gustav Klimt, and Marcel Breuer
https://youtu.be/Iyfu93YEhpE?si=gdTfSG7F5LGuNs_6 Generous trustees In the United States, unlike in France, museums are rarely funded by the public sector. To attract ever greater private generosity, they have developed an elaborate system of...
Art Basel in Paris: The Euphoria of Abundance and the Giant Sad Frog
Sad Kermit A 19.5-meter-long inflatable frog presides, temporarily, over Place Vendôme in Paris. The American artist Alex Da Corte (born 1980) brought it to Paris with the help of his London gallerist Sadie Coles, at the invitation of Clément...
Frieze in London: the Good News
Consequences of Brexit Seen from France, the London art market—with the consequences of Brexit, the simultaneous rise of the French capital, and the growing importance of Art Basel Paris (to be held October 24–26, 2025, at the Grand...
Irving Penn: A Historic Sale
https://youtu.be/k71kMCpGtt0?si=RZafvMibrTPPueHn Stylist of the female image Among the pantheon of modern fashion photographers stand two American talents turned legends: Richard Avedon (1923–2009) and Irving Penn (1917–2009). Among their many...
Bando, the Forgotten Franco-Japanese Modern Master, Is Rediscovered at Auction in Paris
Like Van Gogh “It is not because I sell little that I am a bad painter.” On August 22, 1882, Vincent van Gogh closed a letter to his brother Theo with these words, complaining of the hurtful remarks of a shortsighted art dealer. As he...