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Paul Durand-Ruel’s €43 M. Collection of Monet, Picasso, and Renoir Comes to Christie’s During Paris Art Week

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During Paris Art Week, on October 22 and 23, Christie’s will present a sale dedicated to French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who was instrumental in the careers of Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The sale will feature 62 pieces of work that have remained in his family trust, among them, paintings from Monet , Renoir, Pissarro, Pablo Picasso, Eugène Boudin, and Alfred Sisley. It is estimated to bring in €30 million to €43 million ($35 million to $50 million), with the works expected to go on display at Christie’s Paris from October 16 through 22. On October 22, the collection will hit the auction block and the following day some works will be offered at Christie’s Modern Art sale. Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Jeunes filles au bord de la mer (1890-1894) In 1924, Monet said that without “Durand, we would all have starved,...
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Pioneers of Rugby in Wellington 140: Tom Morrison

Tom Morrison was a leading player and then fabled administrator in Wellington and New Zealand throughout his entire adult life. Morrison was a pre-World War Two All Black out of South Canterbury and was then named on of the Rugby Almanack’s Five Players of the Year for 1945 whilst representing Wellington where he lived out...
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Christie’s London Offers a Restituted Kandinsky, Long Displayed in a German Museum, for $30 M.

A Wassily Kandinsky painting left behind by a Dutch family fleeing the Nazi occupation and later on view for decades in a German museum will come to the auction block at Christie’s London on October 14, during Frieze week. Estimated in excess of $30 million, Das bunte Leben ( The Colorful Life , 1907) was restituted to the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann in 2023 after a six-year legal battle.  Measuring just over four feet high and five feet wide, it was Kandinsky’s largest canvas up until that point. In it, he aimed to sum up the richness of life, as other artists had done, for example Henri Matisse with his painting Bonheur de vivre (1905–06) or André Derain with La Danse (1906). Exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris the year it was created, the painting shows a pastoral landscape densely populated by pilgrims, peasants, saints, nobles, and mothers and children, many inspired by Russian legend, folklore, and religious traditions.  “Kan...
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Matchday Scoring Highlights: Wellington Centurions (82) v Manawatu Evergreens (14)

The two teams met in fine, windy conditions in the second of two matches at Rugby League Park on Saturday in their annual friendly encounter. This was a match between the two development teams of these unions, and many of the players are on the next step down from seeking NPC glory with the Lions...
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Otto Muehl Retrospective at Vienna Actionism Museum Courts Controversy in Advance of September Opening

The Vienna Actionism Museum (WAM) has been controversial since it opened in March 2024, which is perhaps not an entirely surprising outcome given the postwar movement’s penchant for violent, graphic performance art.   A new scandal is brewing as the museum prepares for its fall exhibition, dedicated to the work of Otto Muehl, one of the co-founders of Viennese Actionism. The show “Otto Muehl: Art on the Precipice” will feature 150 paintings, objects, film, and prints, some from the museum’s own extensive collection, others loaned by private collectors. It’s set to open on September 10 and will be on view through January 10, 2027. The controversy goes beyond the fact that many may find Muehl’s artwork involving graphic nudity, violence, and the use of blood and excrement as materials distasteful. He also founded a notorious commune in Friedrichshof, outside of Vienna, that was active in the 1970s and ‘80s. In 1991, Muehl was convicted of sexual offens...
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Matchday Scoring Highlights: Wellington U20s v Manawatu U20s

The two teams met in fine, breezy conditions at Rugby League Park on Saturday in round two of the 2026 Central Region Shield competition. In a close match, it was 5-5 at halftime, with Wellington scoring early and Manawatu replying soon after. Both sides missed chances to move further ahead in the first half, both...
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Auction Houses Won’t Sell a Keith Haring Drawing That Faced a Lawsuit

A Keith Haring drawing deemed authentic by a Superior Court judge but lacking sufficient provenance records to sell at Christie’s and Sotheby’s was the subject of a trial in Connecticut. The gallery that sold it ended up proving victorious. As reported by Greenwich Time , Nevada businessman Vernon Hartung bought the drawing of flying saucers from Martin Lawrence Galleries for $165,000 in 2018. But when he inquired about selling it at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the two auction houses said the artwork’s documented history “did not meet their requirements for selling a Haring drawing as an authentic work,” according to trial records. Martin Lawrence Galleries then attempted to sell the work for Hartung, but he deemed potential prices ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 too low and sued the gallery for breach of contract and other claims related to the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. In a written decision in May, Judge Robert L. Genuario descri...
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