May 8 - TheAndy Warholsilk-screen paintingSage Blue Shot Marilyn (1964) sells atChristie's in New York City for $195.04 million (with fees) shattering the record for a price paid at auction for a work by an American artist, besting the previous mark set byJean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 paintingUntitled which sold for $110,500,000 in 2017.[5][6] It also became the most expensive 20th century artwork sold in a public sale.[7] The buyer was the American art dealerLarry Gagosian.[8]
May 14 - An original print ofMan Ray'sLe Violon d'Ingres sells for $12.4 million US (with fees) atChristie's in New York City making it the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.[9][10]
May 31 - At theLouvre inParis a male provocateur initially disguised as an elderly female art-goer in a wheelchair smears thebulletproof glass on top of theMona Lisa byLeonardo da Vinci withcake. He later reveals that he believes that he was engaged in some sort of makeshift climate protest. The still unidentified 36-year-old man was subsequently placed in psychiatric care.[11][12]
July 4 - TheHay Wain (completed 1821) by the Englishlandscape painterJohn Constable (1776-1837), and regarded as his most famous image, is subjected to twoJust Stop Oil protestors attaching their own modified "apocalyptic vision of the future" version of the painting to the original and gluing themselves to the frame.[14] The National Gallery later reports that the surfacevarnish of the painting and its frame suffered minor damage.[15]
ThePaul Allen collection is sold off atChristie's in New York City and shatters all previous records for proceeds from an auction of a singular art collection at more than $1.5 billion US. All funds are to be donated to Allen's philanthropic endeavors. Among the records set for prices for a work by an individual artist were $149.2 million US forLes Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) (1888) by the FrenchPointillistGeorges Seurat, $138 million US for the paintingLa Montagne Sainte-Victoire by the FrenchPost-ImpressionistPaul Cézanne setting a new mark for a price paid for his work at auction,[20] $104.6 million US forBirch Forest (1903) by the Austrian SymbolistGustav Klimt setting an auction record for his work, and $11.5 million US for a 1905 print of a photograph byEdward Steichen,The Flatiron, a record for the photographer.[21][22]
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