Good Morning!
- Christie’s and Sotheby’s have released their projected global sales totals.
- The Louvre remains closed due to an ongoing strike.
- Artadia and United States Arts announce multi-year partnership.
The Headlines
A YEAR TO REMEMBER. After a first half of the year to forget, Christie’s andSotheby’s ended 2025 with totals on par with 2023, according to results released by the auction houses on Wednesday. As ARTnews’s Daniel Cassady reported, Christie’s posted projected global sales of $6.2 billion, while Sotheby’s reported $7 billion. The equivalent figures in 2024 were $5.7 billion for Christie’s and $6 billion for Sotheby’s. Both houses posted strong second halves, driven in particular by a November sales season loaded with A-plus material and trophy works from major estates, including the Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weiss collection at Christie’s and the Leonard A. Lauder collection at Sotheby’s. “The energy has returned to the saleroom, online, and across the market,” Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan said in a statement. “We’ve seen renewed confidence worldwide, reflected in these outstanding results. Our selling performance has remained consistently strong throughout the year: a solid first half followed by an even more competitive second half, delivering exceptional, market-leading outcomes for our clients.” Sotheby’s year, meanwhile, was marked by several firsts. The house opened its new headquarters in New York at the iconic Breuer Building, broke the record for a modern or contemporary work of art with the $236.4 million sale of Gustav Klimt’s Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer, staged its first auction in Saudi Arabia, and held its inaugural Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi, which generated $133.4 million.
ART OF INTIMIDATION. This year has ushered in a surge in museum architecture, with high-profile new builds and ambitious expansions emerging across the world. As many of these projects near completion, they offer a timely opportunity to assess the current state of museum design. While innovation is evident, particularly outside the US, The Art Newspaperhas bemoaned some prominent commissions that have resulted in rather boring—or even foreboding—outcomes. Take, for example, the new Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM), designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson. Its dark, serrated concrete exterior and narrow windows conceal interior activity, creating a heavy, almost forbidding presence. This recalls concerns voiced by Yale Center for British Art director Martina Droth, who has noted how austere architecture can intimidate visitors, an issue PUAM may now face itself.
The Digest
Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has been selected as the next artist for the High Line Plinth commission, set to open next spring. [New York Times]
A new subway line in Rome, opened after 11 years of construction, allows passengers to view ancient artifacts while they wait for the train. [New York Times]
Guggenheim New York has named Catherine Telford Keogh the inaugural winner of the Jack Galef Visual Arts Award, a biennial prize that comes with a $50,000 purse. [Artsy]
The Louvre will remain closed after staff voted Wednesday to continue a strike that began Monday. [Ocula]
Arts nonprofits Artadia and United States Arts have announced a multi-year partnership that will see the return of Assembly, an annual gathering of artists and fellows launched in 2015. [ARTnews]
The Kicker
MAKING STUFF. While much of the art-world conversation about the Hudson Valley has focused on the proliferation of galleries and artist-run spaces, writer Michelle Falkenstein reports in the Times Union that the region has also become a major hub for art foundries and fabricators. Among the largest are UAP, which has worked on projects for Frank Stella, Louise Bourgeois, and Jeff Koons, as well as Lite Brite Neon Studio, Polich Tallix, and Standard Sculpture . The region’s industrial past—and the abundance of underused industrial spaces—has helped pave the way for this kind of work. Proximity to New York City doesn’t hurt, either.
