Vulgar money For a long time money had a sulphurous smell as far as art historians were concerned; a vulgar reputation that prevented them from examining the artist’s preoccupations and market. People just liked to talk about the genius...
Lacan at the Centre Pompidou Metz: the owner of Courbet’s “Origine du monde” was also a great psychoanalytic theorist
https://youtu.be/5D4kTB8rfiA Supernatural powers of the artist We have a tendency to endow great artist with quasi-supernatural powers. The most illustrious theorists of psychoanalysis claim that certain painters and other sculptors have, in...
Brancusi in Romania, back to his roots. A sharp exhibition
https://youtu.be/pgsp_dXITcA Timisoara For a long time Timișoara wasn’t a name that was familiar to the ears of the international crowd. Then in December 1989 the multicultural Romanian city became synonymous with horror when a mass grave was...
Art Basel Miami Beach: the uncertainties of the world and the art market
Noisy parade Since it was founded in 2002, the fair showcasing current art, Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), has seen its image change considerably. Initially it suffered from a reputation mitigated by the very nature of the city hosting it, as an...
Paul Guillaume: The dealer who made Modigliani move from sculpture to painting
Tortured artist https://youtu.be/1kbP4hweCBE?si=4x-0L34R3J5ReCM2 The most high-profile exhibitions are often the ones that bring together a maximum number of artworks. But there are smaller displays that can also be savoured with relish. Until...
Modern and contemporary art sales in New York: all the methods that continue building confidence in the market
Brave face It’s rare that Sotheby’s and Christie’s have interests that coincide. But during these times of acute uncertainty, as wars rage from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, environmental challenges shake the planet – Extinction Rebellion...
Is the art market resilient or not? The Fisher Landau collection goes to auction as the world worries
Andy Warhol diaries “I did her portrait but it never really looked good, and the reason I wanted to do it again was because she has all these great paintings like Rauschenbergs and Picassos and I didn’t want to have mine looking bad there.” On...
Van Gogh was not a cursed artist. An intense exhibition at Orsay
https://youtu.be/Spvn1Ne8TKM?si=1DowF-U7LebnxhR8 An extraordinary exhibition at Orsay The Musée d’Orsay is presenting an extraordinary exhibition dedicated to the last days of Vincent Van Gogh when he was living near Doctor Gachet in Auvers sur...
Art Basel: changes in the market at the world’s foremost art fair
Slow down The art market always has a few surprises up its sleeve. While at the New York auctions in May prices showed a certain degree of slow-down - naturally enough, given the global context - at the opening of the Art Basel fair on 12 June...
Hélène Leloup is a legend of the African art market
2 kind of dealers You could say there are two kinds of art dealers. There are the ones who are obsessed with business, and with generating income to support their activities. Generally, they aren’t able to keep their best objects. And then...
Hans Ulrich Obrist: urgent confessions from a child of art
https://youtu.be/3rlfatblqWQ 1968 The story begins in 1968. The year that was defined by a generation who, across the world, proclaimed their desire for freedom. 1968 was also the year that marked the death of the French turned American artist,...
The big wave of Picasso bashing
https://youtu.be/3KxxqAGvRkA Celebrations The museums of the world are vibrating in unison to the tune of Pablo Picasso. Sprawling celebrations are being staged to mark fifty years since the Spanish master’s death. In New York alone the art...