Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Happy Wednesday! Here’s a round-up of who’s moving and shaking in the art trade this week.
- Petzel to Represent Emma Webster: The Los Angeles–based artist, known for digitally constructed dioramas that merge Baroque landscape traditions with contemporary technology, will be jointly represented by Perrotin. Webster will open a show of new work at Petzel on April 30.
- Rose Easton Adds Łukasz Stokłosa to Roster: The Polish artist had his debut solo exhibition there in September 2025.
- McNay Art Museum Appoints Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell Head of Curatorial Affairs: Mitchell, who joined in 2025 as curator of prints and drawings, will retain that role while overseeing exhibition planning, acquisitions, and curatorial strategy.
- Maureen Paley to Represent Mary Stephenson: The London-based artist joins the roster after solo shows at White Cube in Paris, Chapter NY in New York, MASSIMODECARLO in Paris, Linseed Projects in Shanghai, and Incubator in London.
Big Number: $2 M.
That’s the new cutoff for Sotheby’s mid-tier buyer’s premium of 22 percent. The fee—applied on top of a lot’s hammer price—covers works that sell for between $2 million and $8 million. The new structure, which took effect last week, also raises the premium on works sold for up to $2 million from 27 percent to 28 percent. Premiums for works above $8 million remain at 15 percent. The move follows similar adjustments at Christie’s and Phillips, where lower-priced works have continued to see demand.
Read This
Vincent van Gogh didn’t kill himself, or at least that’s what retired Arizona ear surgeon Irv Arenberg insists, as outlined by Bianca Bosker in Air Mail. Fascinated by the artist since seeing the 1956 film Lust for Life as a teen, Arenberg first studied van Gogh through art history classes and dorm-room posters. In 1990, he shook the medical world by diagnosing van Gogh, not with epilepsy, as previously claimed, but with Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear disorder that could explain the infamous ear-cutting incident. After retiring, Arenberg went full detective. By 2017, he concluded van Gogh was murdered and devoted the past decade to exposing what he calls “the art world’s biggest cold-case homicide and cover-up.” He’s traveled to France, performed ballistics tests with historical revolvers, co-authored papers, and has written two books (with a third in the works), all challenging historians and “murder deniers.” Arenberg believes van Gogh was a victim who story needs to be told.
