[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ABQ26__MC__PR__Ambiance_Photography__008_Large_HiRes.jpeg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0<\/em>Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter<\/em>.<\/p>\n AUCTION ACTION.\u00a0Sotheby\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0in New York sold $303.9 million-worth of modern art yesterday evening, while\u00a0Phillips<\/strong>\u00a0netted $115.2 million from their modern and contemporary sale held just beforehand. But as\u00a0ARTnews\u2019<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Daniel Cassady reports, there is still a sense of caution from buyers who are showing demand for exceptional works, but are sensitive to price. At Sotheby\u2019s, that meant solid results, led by a $48.4 million\u00a0Matisse<\/strong>, but noticeable pauses between bids suggested a cautious market mood. \u201cCompetition is very tempered,\u201d one New York advisor said. Earlier at Phillip\u2019s, on the other hand, the auction house\u2019s team \u201cappeared joyous,\u201d writes Julie Brener Davich for\u00a0ARTnews<\/em>. The presale estimate of $84.2 million was the highest since 2022, and the sales average lot value of $2.9 million is more than double the $1.4 million average last May. Nevertheless, several works sold below their low estimates. Ultimately,\u00a0Phillips<\/strong>\u00a0did best at \u201cselling works by living artists on the secondary market, unattainable on the primary market, said Brener Davich. Cue the frenzied bidding for\u00a0Joseph Yaeger<\/strong>\u2019s 2021 watercolor,\u00a0There Is a Light and It Always Goes Out<\/em>, which went for a record $477,300, against a $60,000 estimate. Similarly, works by 20th-century female artists such as\u00a0Olga de Amaral\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Lee Bontecou<\/strong>\u00a0exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n MUSICAL NOTRE DAME WINDOWS<\/strong>. Yesterday, a Paris judge rejected a request to suspend the removal of six 19th-century stained-glass windows designed by architect\u00a0Eug\u00e8ne Viollet-le-Duc<\/strong>, for the purposes of replacing them with contemporary ones by artist\u00a0Claire Tabouret<\/strong>\u00a0and glassmakers\u00a0Simon-Marq<\/strong>, announced the\u00a0Paris Administrative Court. The judge said that since the new, government-commissioned windows could conceivably be taken down in the future, and the originals would be carefully preserved, the endeavor was not irreversible, and therefore did not meet the requirements for an \u201curgent\u201d suspension of the project, which the administrative judge is tasked with determining. The judge did not rule on whether the\u00a0controversial\u00a0project, vetoed by the National Commission of Patrimony and Architecture, was legal. The heritage groups\u00a0Sites & Monuments<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0SOS Paris<\/strong>\u00a0filed a complaint earlier this month, demanding that the judge stop the project from moving forward, arguing that the removal of the ornate windows made in 1864 violated the cathedral\u2019s protected status and the\u00a0Venice Charter<\/strong>\u00a0for monument conservation. They also insisted that Tabouret\u2019s designs \u201cwould fit awkwardly into the building,\u201d and \u201cdisrupt the overall harmony of the space.\u201d The groups said they would continue in their legal efforts to block the project. \u201cIt\u2019s a half-disappointment, because the rejection is not based on the absence of serious doubt regarding the legality of the decision, but on the absence of urgency,\u201d one of two conditions needed for a suspension, stated Sites & Monuments on\u00a0social media. \u00a0\u201cWe are obviously continuing our action on the merits, with good hope!\u201d<\/p>\n Art Basel<\/strong>\u00a0has appointed Iraqi curator\u00a0Wassan Al-Khudhairi<\/strong>\u00a0as artistic director of\u00a0Art Basel Qatar<\/strong>\u2019s 2027 edition. [press release<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tThe October theft of France\u2019s crown jewels from the\u00a0Louver<\/strong>\u00a0will be the subject of a new feature film directed by\u00a0Roman Gavras<\/strong>. [Le Figaro<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tThe German painter\u00a0Harald Metzkes<\/strong>, who was known as \u201cthe C\u00e9zannist of Prenzlauer Berg,\u201d has died at age 97. [dpa<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tBritish businessman\u00a0David Sainsbury<\/strong>\u00a0is donating \u00a391.2 million ($122.23) to renovate the\u00a0Sainsbury Centre<\/strong>\u00a0museum in Norwich, England, making it one of the largest donations to a UK museum and signaling a \u201cboom\u201d in large private donations to the arts. [Financial Times<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tArtist\u00a0Bharti Kher<\/strong>\u00a0has won a commission from\u00a0Powerhouse Parramatta<\/strong>\u00a0museum for a monumental sculpture of stacked heads, due to open later this year in Parramatta, Western Sydney. [ArtAsiaPacific<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tA new contemporary art fair dedicated to smell, called\u00a0Olfacta Art Fair<\/strong>, will open in Turin from 18 to 20 September. [Artribune<\/strong>]<\/p>\n NINA SIMONE\u2019S HOLY CHEWING GUM<\/strong>. For some die-hard fans, their obsession with pop stars is something of a religion, and at times, an art form. A new exhibit titled \u201cHoly Pop\u201d taps into that spirit at London\u2019s\u00a0Somerset House<\/strong>, with\u00a0\u201cshrines\u201d to the likes of\u00a0Dolly Parton, Prince, Spice Girls<\/strong>, and\u00a0Nina Simone<\/strong>, to name a few. The show doesn\u2019t hold back, with examples like Simone\u2019s chewed gum sitting at the center of a dramatically lit pedestal, like a religious relic. (We imagine it has long lost its flavor.) Other items range from dried, disintegrating leaves found from Parton\u2019s front garden, cans of soft drinks endorsed by the Spice Girls, and personal belongings of graffiti artist\u00a0Tox26<\/strong>. How seriously does the exhibition take itself? \u201cWalking around the exhibition is funny, moving and occasionally disconcerting,\u201d writes the\u00a0Guardian<\/em>\u2019s Alexis Petridis. Indeed, thanks to the success of the blockbuster\u00a0\u201c<\/em>David Bowie\u201d Is exhibit at the V&A, \u201cthe canon has tipped into feeling more pop-cultural friendly,\u201d says curator\u00a0Tory Tur<\/strong>k. \u201cThe curators are no longer experts: the fans are citizen curators.\u201d The show also defends the notion of fandom and collecting physical objects, often considered \u201ccrazy,\u201d when it actually \u201cserves a real emotional purpose,\u201d says Turk, adding: \u201cIt means a lot to love. That\u2019s what makes us human.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/art-basel-qatar-names-artistic-director-sothebys-nets-303-9-m-in-modern-art-and-more-morning-links-for-may-20-2026-1234786307\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ABQ26__MC__PR__Ambiance_Photography__008_Large_HiRes.jpeg?w=1024″] To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter. The Headlines AUCTION ACTION.\u00a0Sotheby\u2019s\u00a0in New York sold $303.9 million-worth of modern art yesterday evening, while\u00a0Phillips\u00a0netted $115.2 million from their modern and contemporary sale held just beforehand. But as\u00a0ARTnews\u2019\u00a0Daniel Cassady reports, there is still a sense of caution from buyers who are showing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1946426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1946426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1946426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1946426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1946426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\tThe Headlines\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tThe Digest\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tThe Kicker \t<\/h2>\n