Rothko & co

On Tuesday May 15, Sotheby's New York has its Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Although works from Lichtenstein, de Kooning, Pollock and Warhol are all expected to fetch high prices, most attention will go to Mark Rothko's White Center (1950). In this video, Tobias Meyer (worldwide head of Sotheby's contemporary art department) says: "What is so extraordinary about this picture: there is nothing we need to explain about it - it is so beautiful". Exceptionally, Sotheby's does not give a public estimate for the painting.

The auction will be interesting in another respect as well. It will be streamed live via the Sotheby's website.

London calling

From June 17 until July 14, I will be in London. I will take part in the summer course Art & Its Markets, organized by Sotheby's Institute of Art.

"This course looks at a number of different art market sectors (such as old masters, contemporary art and wine) and examines how their respective objects are identified and catalogued and how quality and value is assessed. Students also study how auctions are marketed, organised and run."

Good news

"The valuation and appreciation of art. That research area was allocated a grant for Christophe Spaenjers by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the NWO. This grant of 180.000 euros is one of the grants in the NWO Toptalent round of 2007. In September, Spaenjers will start his research project under supervision of Prof. Luc Renneboog (dept. Finance) as a PhD student, researching the evolution of returns and risk in art markets over 100 years."

Source: Tilburg FEB News (April 13, 2007)