$180 million Van Gogh highlights upcoming New York art auctions
Upcoming New York art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips are expected to total around $2.4 billion, matching last year’s combined result and potentially topping $2 billion overall as major works return to the market after decades. Sotheby’s is projected to take in more than $1.1 billion, including a single offering from The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection estimated at $450 million.
That collection supplies the week’s two lead lots: Vincent van Gogh’s landscape “Châtaigniers en fleurs” (Chestnut Trees in Flower), estimated at $180 million, and Paul Cézanne’s “Arlequin,” estimated at $120 million. Neither work has been shown in public for fifty years. Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart said demand is especially strong for the highest-quality blue-chip pieces, citing rising stock markets, private wealth and collector confidence. He described the trend as global, with recovery and interest across Asia and from the Middle East through Singapore, Europe and the United States.
Christie’s highlight is Wassily Kandinsky’s “Betonte Ecken,” estimated at $60 million to $80 million. CEO Bonnie Brennan called the market confident but discerning, arguing that recent stock-market swings and fears of an AI bubble are unlikely to deter serious buyers, who take a longer view and treat once-in-a-generation masterpieces as more important than a single week’s market moves. After declines in 2023 and 2024, the art market has rebounded this year: first-half auction sales rose 70 percent to $6.8 billion, according to Bank of America, while Impressionist and Modern sales jumped 133 percent. Drew Watson, head of art services at Bank of America, said blue-chip art is outperforming and that the November outlook is cautiously optimistic, given improving liquidity and a heavy concentration of fresh-to-market private collections.
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