Maude Michali Fine Art

Jenny Saville and Edvard Munch lead 2025 line-up at London’s National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London is set to spotlight renowned British artist Jenny Saville in a major exhibition next year. Titled Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, the show opens on 20 June 2025 and features 50 of her works that showcase the artist’s exploration of the human form, spanning from the 1990s to today. This exhibition will present Saville's range of charcoal sketches and expansive oil paintings, known for challenging traditional representations of female beauty. Saville, a key figure among the Young British Artists, is known for her expressive style that combines figurative forms with elements of abstraction. Her gallery, Gagosian, and Christie’s are supporting this event. The NPG’s 2025 program will also include Edvard Munch Portraits, opening on 13 March. This exhibition focuses on Munch’s less frequently celebrated portraits, depicting his friends, lovers, artists, and collectors, alongside self-portraits. Sponsored by the AKO Foundation, this will be the UK’s first show dedicated solely to Munch’s portraiture, illuminating his social connections and personal life through his distinctive style. Other notable exhibitions next year include Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World (9 October 2025 - 11 January 2026), showcasing the influential fashion photographer’s swift rise in the art and couture worlds, and The Face Magazine: Culture Shift (20 February - 18 May 2025), a retrospective of the groundbreaking youth culture magazine of the 1980s, featuring works by photographers such as Stéphane Sednaoui and Corinne Day. Additionally, the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award will return from 10 July to 12 October, continuing the NPG’s showcase of contemporary portraiture. However, this award has drawn criticism for sponsorship from the namesake law firm, which has represented British Petroleum (BP). Exhibition Dates: - The Face Magazine: Culture Shift: 20 February – 18 May 2025 - Edvard Munch Portraits: 13 March – 15 June 2025 - Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting: 20 June – 7 September 2025 - Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award: 10 July – 12 October 2025 - Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World: 9 October 2025 – 11 January 2026 These exhibitions emphasize the NPG’s dedication to highlighting influential artists and cultural icons from diverse genres and eras. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar https://lnkd.in/e54rHSQK

Rediscovering Amedeo Modigliani: From struggle to artistic immortality. Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is known for his distinctive, modern portraits and nudes that blend Italian tradition with modernism. His career spanned just two decades, cut short by his death from tubercular meningitis at age 35. Despite a turbulent lifestyle, his art left a lasting impact, celebrated for its unique style combining elongated forms, stylized features, and a universal, almost monumental approach to portraying individuals. Modigliani was shaped by Italian Renaissance influences and a traditional yet innovative approach, merging Mannerist elongation with modernism’s boldness. In Paris, he mingled with artistic émigrés and formed connections that enriched his work. His portraits, often of everyday people, rendered them with individual character yet universal dignity, rejecting status markers and focusing on each person’s essence. Though mostly a painter, Modigliani considered himself a sculptor. Early in his career, he trained in sculpture, creating only about 20 surviving pieces due to health and financial constraints. His painted nudes, showcased in a controversial 1917 solo exhibition, defied convention with sensuality and abstraction, causing a scandal and bringing him attention, though not financial success. Following his death, Modigliani’s fame skyrocketed, and his works are now highly prized. Yet his art is sometimes overshadowed by his tragic life, most recently highlighted in the biopic Modi: Three Days on the Wings of Madness (2024). Today, he is remembered as a leading figurative artist of the 20th century, with his work displayed in major museums worldwide. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #amadeomodigliani #modigliani https://lnkd.in/et4pTWp6

The excitement around Paris Art Week fuels record sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Paris Art Week spurred impressive results at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, particularly in Modern and Surrealist art auctions, tied to Art Basel Paris. Sotheby’s "Surrealism and Its Legacy" sale was a standout, generating €60 million ($65 million), exceeding pre-sale estimates. Top results included Salvador Dalí’s Meditative Rose, which sold for €3.9 million ($4.2 million), nearly four times its estimate. René Magritte’s La Leçon de choses fetched €3.8 million ($4.2 million), and other works by Magritte also performed well, with L’Incendie selling for €3.18 million and Minotaure for €1.2 million. Sotheby’s "Modernités" sale, held at their new Saint-Honoré venue, set records with €36.1 million ($39.2 million) in sales. Lucio Fontana’s Maschera, a rare ceramic work, achieved €2.2 million ($2.3 million), tripling its estimate, while Alighiero Boetti’s Mappa realized €1.9 million ($2.1 million). At Christie’s, the combined total for Surrealism and 20th/21st-century art was €90.6 million. The Mallart Collection, focusing on modern and contemporary art, achieved €13.6 million, with Marlene Dumas’s Feathered Stola fetching €1.67 million.  Christie’s "Thinking Italian" sale saw Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese reach €3.67 million, and Piero Manzoni’s Achrome sold for €2.94 million. The Avant-Garde(s) sale further added to Paris’s dynamic auction week, with Zao Wou-Ki’s 24.05.65 leading with €4.77 million. These auctions confirmed Paris’s growing importance as a hub for top-tier art auctions, drawing international collectors despite broader market uncertainties. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #paris #christies #sothebys #artbasel https://lnkd.in/dEgXDXKs

Sotheby’s upcoming auction of A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing, created by the humanoid robot Ai-Da, raises fascinating questions about the evolving relationship between AI and human creativity. While Ai-Da uses advanced algorithms to generate its works, the artistic process—traditionally seen as a deeply human experience—takes on a new dimension. As AI begins to participate in creative practices, it challenges our perception of art and the human touch behind it. Creativity has long been considered a hallmark of human intellect, combining intuition, emotion, and experience to produce unique works. Artists translate their inner worlds through techniques developed over years, making art deeply personal. AI, by contrast, processes vast amounts of data and applies predefined algorithms to create new outputs, often with no emotional context or lived experience behind its choices. This raises the question: Can AI truly "create," or is it merely mimicking patterns and styles it has learned from human input? Ai-Da’s creation, however, introduces a hybrid form of creativity. While the robot lacks personal experience or emotional intention, its capacity to generate novel forms by merging data and algorithms touches on an abstract form of creativity. Ai-Da’s process exemplifies how AI can contribute to artistic innovation while also prompting us to rethink our definitions of creativity. In a way, it becomes a collaboration—between human engineering and AI’s generative capabilities. Alan Turing, the subject of Ai-Da’s portrait, famously questioned the boundaries between human and machine intelligence. His pioneering work laid the foundation for AI, and the fact that his likeness is now depicted by a robot brings his theories into the realm of art. While machines may never fully replicate the deeply subjective nature of human creativity, they can play an important role in exploring new creative frontiers, expanding the possibilities of what can be considered art. Ultimately, as AI becomes increasingly involved in creative fields, the definition of art may shift, focusing more on the interaction between human and machine, rather than a strictly human endeavor. The Sotheby’s sale underscores the growing intersection of technology, art, and innovation—inviting us to contemplate a future where human creativity is augmented, rather than replaced, by machines. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #ai #sothebys https://lnkd.in/dSdPzc4t

$9.5 Million Julie Mehretu painting leads Art Basel Paris sales. The 2024 Art Basel Paris opened on October 16th at the newly renovated Grand Palais, with two VIP preview days. White Cube’s sale of Julie Mehretu’s Insile (2013) for $9.5 million was the top sale of the day. This third edition of the fair, rebranded as Art Basel Paris after two years as Paris+ par Art Basel, featured 195 galleries from 42 countries, with 53 newcomers. The event drew notable collectors, curators, museum directors from M+, Tate Modern, and MoCA Los Angeles, along with celebrities like Natalie Portman and KAWS, as well as members of Middle Eastern royal families. Highlights of the First VIP Day. - White Cube: Along with Mehretu's Insile, the gallery sold Howardena Pindell’s Untitled (1975) for $1.75M and Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese (1964–65) for €1.3M ($1.44M). - David Hammons: Untitled (Body Print) (ca. 1974) sold for $750,000. - Josef Albers: Study for Homage to the Square: Terraced (1954–56) sold for €570,000 ($619,000). - Antony Gormley: STRAIN III (2023) sold for £500,000 ($649,230). - Tracey Emin: Three editions of Ascension (2024) sold for £245,000 ($318,000) each. - Etel Adnan: Untitled (2016) sold for $300,000. Hauser & Wirth reported significant sales, led by Mark Bradford’s Not Quite in a Hurry (2024) for $3.5M. Other sales include Barbara Chase-Riboud’s Numero Noir #2 (2021) for $2.2M and Louise Bourgeois’s La Forêt Enchantée (Up and Up!) (2006) for $2M. Additional Notable Sales. - At David Zwirner, Victor Man’s K (2014) sold for €1.2M ($1.3M), with additional works by Dana Schutz, Josef Albers, and Elizabeth Peyton also fetching high figures. - Xavier Hufkens led with Alice Neel’s Irma Seitz (1963) for $1.2M, with works by Joan Semmel and McArthur Binion among others. - Kukje Gallery sold Lee Ufan’s Response (2022) for between $900,000 and $1.8M, and Ha Chong-Hyun’s Conjunction 22-87 for $230,000–$276,000. More Reported Sales. - Mennour sold Lee Ufan’s Response (2024) for $900,000 and Domenico Gnoli’s Neapolitan Bed (1960) for €290,000 ($314,880). - Lisson Gallery led with Olga de Amaral’s Viento Oro (2014) for $800,000, alongside several other strong sales. - Sprüth Magers led with Rosemarie Trockel’s Untitled (2000) for €600,000 ($651,000), while works by John Baldessari and Jenny Holzer also sold well. Art Basel Paris 2024’s opening VIP days showed strong market demand, with several million-dollar sales by established and emerging artists alike. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #artbasel #paris #grandpalais https://lnkd.in/ep4T3a3Y

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$50M Ed Ruscha masterpiece from oil heir’s collection set for auction at Christie’s. Ed Ruscha’s 1964 painting Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half will be featured in Christie’s 20th-century evening sale on November 19 in New York, with an estimated value of $50 million, as announced by the auction house on Monday.  The piece is part of a series of iconic works by Ruscha, known for capturing Los Angeles imagery. It is owned by Texas oil heir Sid R. Bass, who originally traded another Ruscha work in 1976 to acquire this one. It is the last remaining large-scale piece from Ruscha’s 1960s body of work still held in private hands. Prior to its upcoming auction, the painting was included in the traveling retrospective Ed Ruscha / Now Then, which showcased his works from 1958 to 2022, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and LACMA. Christie’s vice chairman, Max Carter, described the painting as the “peak” of Ruscha’s early career. The estimated price is close to Ruscha’s current auction record, set at $52.5 million in 2019 for Hurting the Word Radio #2 (1964). Another of Ruscha's works from the 1960s, Marble Shatters Drinking Glass (1968), will also be up for auction at Christie’s the same week. This piece comes from the collection of the late Mica Eretgun, widow of music executive Ahmet Ertegun. Its estimate has yet to be revealed. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar

Art Basel Paris moves to the Grand Palais for its inaugural edition. After two years at the temporary Grand Palais Éphémère, Art Basel Paris opens its first fair at the iconic, newly renovated Grand Palais on October 18. This prestigious venue, hailed as a historic and artistic landmark, aims to boost confidence in an art market grappling with global uncertainties. Clément Delépine, director of Art Basel Paris, calls it “the most beautiful venue in the world,” a fitting stage for 195 exhibitors navigating a complex market.  Paris has steadily risen in prominence since Brexit complicated trading in London, although the city’s art sales, at $4.6 billion in 2023, still trail the UK’s $10.9 billion. Yet, the trend is positive for Paris: art auction sales in the city rose 12% in the first half of 2024, while they fell by 29% in London. Despite political uncertainty following a snap election by President Macron, the mood ahead of Art Basel remains optimistic. Anne-Claudie Coric of Galerie Templon describes the Grand Palais as “a magical place with gorgeous light,” while exhibitors emphasize Paris’ deep-rooted collecting culture. Anika Guntrum of Gurr Johns art advisory observes that the more traditional, preservation-focused approach of French collectors is a stabilizing factor in turbulent times. The fair also intersects with major museum exhibitions across Paris, like the Pompidou’s celebration of Surrealism, which aligns with Emmanuel Di Donna’s booth offering Surrealist masterpieces by Yves Tanguy and Wifredo Lam. The event is further enriched by a new section, Premise, which features galleries showing pre-1900 art, and by lighter elements such as the Art Basel shop, and the “Oh La La!” initiative—a playful focus on love, sentiment, and the erotic in select gallery booths. With such a wide-ranging program and Paris as its backdrop, Art Basel Paris is poised to captivate the global art community. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #artbasel #paris #grandpalais #ft #financialtimes https://lnkd.in/emEi3grW

Galleries reconnect with established artists as ultra-contemporary declines. Two years ago, ultra-contemporary art, created by artists under 40, dominated the market, with high demand at Frieze for emerging names like Flora Yukhnovich. However, in 2023, auction sales for many of these artists plummeted—Yukhnovich’s dropped 88%, and overall sales for ultra-contemporary artists fell by 43%. This downward trend continued in 2024, with a 53% decline in the first half of the year. As ultra-contemporary art struggles, established artists have returned to the spotlight. At Frieze Masters 2024, historical pieces saw strong sales, with Hauser & Wirth moving works on paper by Charles Gaines for $175,000 to $195,000 each. At Gagosian, nine sculptures by Carol Bove sold for $850,000 apiece within hours of the fair opening, while David Zwirner reported total sales of $4.6 million on the first day, including a Lisa Yuskavage painting that sold for $2.2 million. Larger galleries have shifted focus toward tried-and-tested names, with more established artists commanding higher prices amid a market adjusting to more cautious buying trends. As buyers shift focus, the influence of Paris and economic factors like Brexit are also reshaping the art market landscape. Some American collectors opt for fairs in Paris over London, underscoring the shifting dynamics in the art world. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #frieze #artbasel #london #paris https://lnkd.in/erTxfdtY

The first auction solely dedicated to François Xavier Lalanne’s animal sculptures was a major success, netting $58.9 million at Christie’s New York on October 10. The sale, organized by Lalanne’s daughter Dorothée, featured 70 sculptures, ranging from towering figures to small, delicate pieces. Every piece sold, with 97% exceeding their high estimates. The top lot, Tres Grand Centaure (2001), sold for $7.5 million, far surpassing its $1.2 million estimate, though it fell short of Lalanne’s record of $9.6 million for Léopard I (2001). Tres Grand Ours (2009), a sleek upright bear, went for $6.1 million, doubling its estimate and setting a new record for the model. Other highlights included Lapin à Vent de Tourtour (2002), which fetched $2.9 million, and Oiseleur II (2003), a bronze bird-catcher that sold for $1.5 million, doubling its estimate. Alex Heminway, international head of design at Christie’s, praised the “extraordinary collection” and the excitement surrounding the sale. Bidders came from across the globe, with 54% from the Americas, 31% from Europe, and 15% from Asia Pacific. Ahead of the sale, a six-day exhibition, curated by French fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, showcased Lalanne’s blend of fine art and functional design. The exhibition featured works like Âne de Nathalie (2005), a donkey that doubles as a desk, and Génie de Bellerive, tributes to his artist friends. Interestingly, Petit Génie de Bellerive outperformed its larger counterpart by over $100,000. Dorothée Lalanne described her father’s approach as casual yet rigorously thoughtful, always maintaining his sense of humor. #artcollecting #artexhibition #artmuseum #artinvesting #artinvestment #artcollector #artnews #artworld #artmarket #artmarketnews #artauction #arthistory #worldrecord #modernart #impressionism #postwar #lalanne #christies #newyork https://lnkd.in/eN4kMpha