Art Focus

Art FocusRembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age feature in Louvre Abu Dhabi exhibition

Art Focus‘Lost Michelangelo’ Goes Missing from Belgian Church

Art FocusLost Portrait of Charles Dickens Found at Junk Sale

Art FocusRembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age feature in Louvre Abu Dhabi exhibition

Art Focus‘Lost Michelangelo’ Goes Missing from Belgian Church

Art FocusLost Portrait of Charles Dickens Found at Junk Sale

Artist Buys Banksy’s ‘Slave Labour’ to Whitewash It

American street artist Ron English has announced his plans to paint over a Banksy artwork after paying £561,000 for it. Slave Labour (Bunting Boy), a celebrated work by Banksy and painted on the side of a North London Poundland in 2012, joined more of the elusive street artists’ work at the Street & Contemporary Art auction held by Juliens Auctions on Wednesday November 14. One of the most publicised examples of Banksy’s social commentary, the...

Christie’s to Offer ‘Bowler Hat’ Magritte Masterpiece

On 27 February 2019, Christie’s auction house will offer Le Lieu Commun (1964), one of the iconic ‘bowler hat’ Magritte masterpieces. Leading The Art of the Surreal sale, the painting is estimated to fetch between £15-25 million and is expected to set a new world auction record for the artist. This is the first time the work of art—which is considered to be one of the finest and largest examples of René Magritte’s bowler hat...

Can Buying Art Result in an Additional Income or Capital Gains Tax Charge?

When someone sells art in the U.K., they are unlikely to be surprised that any capital gain realised will be subject to tax. What might be surprising, however, is that the purchase of art can sometimes trigger a tax charge too. Many international taxpayers residing in the U.K. will be regarded as ‘resident but non-domiciled’ and permitted to benefit from the ‘remittance basis’ of taxation for non-UK income and capital gains. Under the remittance basis...

Artist Profile: Gustav Klimt

Klimt was the master of symbolism, but was his personal life as scandalous as his paintings? Born on July 14 1862 in Baumgarten, Austria, Gustav Klimt was the son of a struggling gold engraver. Klimt was the second of seven children and lived in poverty while he studied architectural painting at Vienna’s School of Applied Arts. All three of the Klimt boys displayed early artistic talent—as a member of the ‘Company of Artists’ (a group...

Art FocusAn Expert’s Guide to Investing in Art

An eye for quality and patience are crucial for high net worth individuals looking to start investing in art. Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev thought he grossly overpaid when he purchased Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (c.1490) from Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier for $127.5 million in 2013—Bouvier reportedly ‘only’ paid around $75 million for it. However, at one of the most publicised auctions to date, da Vinci’s masterpiece fetched in excess of $450 million at...

Art FocusBank of America Art Conservation Project: Restoring Assyrian Reliefs

With input from Bank of America’s Rena DeSisto and the Brooklyn Museum’s Lisa Bruno, Arts & Collections takes a detailed look into the Art Conservation Project and its ongoing efforts to restore six Assyrian reliefs Since 2010, Bank of America has provided grants for not-for-profit museums to facilitate the conservation of significant artwork and historical treasures. Today, the Art Conservation Project has executed approximately 150 such operations, covering artefacts from 30 countries across six of...

Cryptocurrency: The Future of the Art World?