Wednesday, 13 May 2026
Sotheby’s New York will auction a collection of eight love letters written by Romantic poet John Keats to his fiancée Fanny Brawne, with an estimated value of $1.5 million to $2.5 million. The letters, dating from 1819 to 1820, were previously stolen and are notable for their intimate reflections during Keats's struggle with tuberculosis. They will be exhibited in London from May 12 to 15 before the auction on June 24.
Gozo Yoshimasu, an 87-year-old Japanese artist and poet, has been awarded the inaugural £200,000 Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize, the largest contemporary art prize in the UK. This prize, which will distribute a total of £1 million over the next decade, aims to support artists at significant stages in their careers, allowing them the freedom to experiment and develop their work. Yoshimasu will present a solo exhibition at London’s Serpentine North gallery in autumn 2027, followed by a show at the Flag Art Foundation in Manhattan in spring 2028.
The Brooklyn Museum is set to open 'Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses' on May 16, 2026, featuring over 140 haute couture designs by Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. The retrospective showcases her innovative approach to fashion, incorporating high-tech materials and processes, with pieces inspired by nature, including bioluminescent algae and jellyfish. The exhibition runs through January 3, 2027, and includes contributions from various artists, scientific specimens, and a multi-sensory soundscape.
The Institute for Primary Facts opened a pop-up exhibition in Tribeca, New York, on May 8, 2026, showcasing 3.5 million pages of the Epstein files in the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room. The collection, organized into 3,437 bound volumes, is accessible only to accredited professionals due to unredacted victim names in the documents. The exhibition aims to educate the public about the implications of the Epstein case and the relationship between Trump and Epstein, while advocating for better transparency from the Department of Justice.
In 2025, the Impressionist and Modern art segment surpassed postwar and contemporary categories, generating $4.7 billion in sales, a 29.5 percent increase from 2024, with the $10-million-plus bracket seeing a 68.6 percent rise. Postwar and contemporary sales reached $4.1 billion, marking a modest 2.5 percent growth, while the ultra-contemporary category experienced a 26.5 percent decline, totaling $229.9 million. The market shift reflects a cautious atmosphere among collectors, with increased negotiation margins on high-end pieces and a notable rise in transactions under $5,000.
Cai Guo-Qiang has joined White Cube, becoming the first gallery to represent the Chinese-born, New York-based artist, known for his gunpowder paintings. This new collaboration coincides with the gallery's solo presentation of his ongoing series featuring birds at Tefaf New York from May 14 to 19, showcasing works that reflect his evolving use of color and thematic exploration of contemporary social issues.
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