Edward Quinn, Picasso wearing a bull’s head intended for bullfighter’s training, La Californie, Cannes (1959), courtesy of Gagosian

A true Spaniard at heart, Pablo Picasso had a great affinity for bullfighting. With a keen appreciation for the sport, it proved to be a continuous theme throughout his work. Picasso’s oeuvre is riddled with symbolism as well as direct pictorial representations of bulls, matadors and the mythological minotaur— the half-man, half-beast that so piqued Picasso’s interest. Minotaurs and Matadors, on view at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill gallery space through August 25th, a show expertly curated by Sir John Patrick Richardson, celebrates Picasso’s passion and link to both his traditional Spanish roots and the mythological landscapes that so inspired him in turn. (more…)

Steven Parrino, Untitled (1991), all images courtesy Patrick Seguin

On-view through November 26^th, 2016, Galerie Patrick Seguin presents Olympia, in collaboration with New York-based gallery and bookstore Karma, one in a series of annual shows hosted by the gallery, entitled Carte Blanche, in which international galleries are invited to organize and curate exhibitions at the Paris space.  Drawing on a wide range of artists’ works on paper, the show features pieces by Wade Guyton, Sigmar Polke, Willem de Kooning, Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, and more. (more…)

Handyman Pierre Le Guennec has offered a new version of the events that led to the discovery of over 300 works by Pablo Picasso in his garage, claiming that the artist’s wife, Jacqueline, gave him the works to hide them from her family.  Le Guennec is facing jail time for possession of stolen goods over the paintings. (more…)

The Met is facing a lawsuit over The Actor, one of its star Picasso works, from the estate of a German Jewish businessman who was forced to sell the work while fleeing Europe.  “The Leffmanns would not have disposed of this seminal work at that time, but for the Nazi and Fascist persecution to which they had been, and without doubt would continue to be, subjected,” the estate’s lawyer, Lawrence M. Kaye, said in court papers. (more…)

Liz Larner, xv (caesura) (2016), via Max Hetzler

Exploring recent trends in the use of ceramics and pottery in contemporary art practice, Galerie Max Hetzler has launched a group exhibition exploring not only current approaches and interests in the ancient art of ceramics, but equally placing it in the context of 20th and 21st Century practice.  Delving into the historical undertones and evolutions of the ceramic craft in the hands of those not originally trained in the medium, the show moves from the early explorations of Lucio Fontana, through to a range of works made in the past five years.

La Mia Ceramica (Installation View), via Max Hetzler

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The Guardian sits down with Françoise Gilot, the celebrated painter and former lover of Pablo Picasso, to discuss the artist’s life and work, and her relationship to the Spanish painter.  “It was not what we call in French l’amour fou! Non! It was an intellectual dialogue as well. I could not say that it was a sentimental love. It was maybe an intellectual love, or a physical love, but certainly not a sentimental love,” she says. “It was love because we had good reason, each of us, to admire the other.” (more…)

The Qatari Royal Family has settled its case over the Pablo Picasso bust, but details of the ownership of the work have not been disclosed in court filings.  “It having been reported to this court that these actions have been or will be settled, these actions are discontinued without costs to any party,” U.S. District Judge William Pauley said in a court order. (more…)

The National Portrait Gallery in London and the Museu Picasso in Barcelona are co-organizing a show of Picasso portraiture, set to open late this year.  “Picasso is variant to many of the painters in the NPG who were paid to paint historic figures as he painted his entourage without commissions. But there are recurring strategies of classic portraiture in Picasso’s work,” says curator Elizabeth Cowling. “It was my aim to display the different modes of Picasso’s portraits but also their relationship to the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery.” (more…)

Vanity Fair has an expansive article on the issues at the heart of the Picasso estate, noting the massive body of work the artist left behind (all without a will), the frequent conflicts among family members to maintain and manage his works, and the lack of proper authentication resources over the artist’s work.  “The heirs have decided not to publish for the time being a catalogue raisonné as objects surface still which were not catalogued,” says one dealer, nothing that authentication requests “are very often not professionally formulated. On the average 900 requests are filed yearly. Verifications of the information provided sometimes can be labor-intensive. Artworks need often to be examined in the flesh.” (more…)

Maya Widmaier Picasso has spoken out on the dispute over the sale of a bust created by her father, Pablo Picasso, saying she sold the work herself to Larry Gagosian and dismissing other claims to the piece as “baseless.”  The dispute seems to stem from a disagreement between Widmaier Picasso’s daughter and son, who respectively sought to sell the work to Gagosian and the Qatari Royal Family.  Widmaier Picasso says she decided to side with her daughter, who she said  “cannot be faulted for reminding her mother of the sculpture’s true value.” (more…)

An exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris this year will reunite a collection of Modernist masterpieces compiled by Sergei Shchukin.  The collection includes landmark works by Matisse and Picasso, and were split by the Soviet regime between various museums.  The works will travel to Paris this fall in a joint effort by the State Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin Museum, which hold the works in their respective collections.  “We are planning everything together and taking a number of steps together, and this is understandable, because we can’t live without the Hermitage, without its collection and our common historical past connected with this collection,” Marina Loshak, the director of the Pushkin says. “There are many projects that we are planning to do together outside of our museums.” (more…)

An undercover sting in Istanbul has recovered Woman Dressing Her Hair, a Picasso piece stolen from a New York collector several years ago.  The thieves had demanded $7,000,000 for the piece. (more…)

A major dispute has arisen over the sale of a Picasso bust, with Larry Gagosian and the royal family of Qatar facing off in court to determine who purchased the work rightfully from the artist’s daughter Maya Widmaier-Picasso.  Gagosian claims he purchased the work in May of last year for $106 million, while the Qatari royals claim they had arranged to buy the work in 2014 for $42 million, with both parties bringing forward documentation showing a considerable amount of wrangling and attempts to change the conditions of the deal.  “It’s regrettable that this has come to a quarrel between dealers and collectors,” said John Richardson, Picasso’s biographer. “It’s a major work by Picasso.” (more…)

René Magritte’s Miroir Universel sells over estimate for$6,661,000, via Rae Wang for Art Observed

The November auctions are over, as Christie’s capped its final major evening sale of the year to strong results, with 13 lots going unsold out of the 62 offered, tallying a final of $145,545,000. (more…)

Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu Couché sells at Christie’s, via Rae Wang for Art Observed

Dashing through a 34-lot auction in style, Christie’s has entered the November auction week in impressive style, bringing a flurry of sales during its curated “The Artist’s Muse” auction tonight that saw several world records fall, and achieved an impressive tally of over $491 million for the evening, especially considering the 10 lots that failed to sell.

Amedeo Modigliani, Nu Couché (1917-18), via Christie’s (more…)

Pablo Picasso, La Gommeuse (1901), all photos via Sotheby’s

The first week of sales is in the books in New York, as Sotheby’s concluded its Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale last night, following up on a somewhat lackluster sale the prior evening with a briskly paced sale and solid results that lost momentum in the late minutes of the event, ultimately selling 36 of 47 lots for a final tally of $306,712,000. (more…)

MoMA has announced that it will be moving over to a timed-ticket program for its blockbuster Picasso Sculpture exhibition, currently on view.  “The reaction to the exhibition has been overwhelmingly positive,” Margaret Doyle, a spokeswoman for the museum, says, “so we anticipate that it will grow during the busy holiday season.” (more…)

The Picasso Museum in Paris has opened the doors on a major rehang, with announced plans to begin working with contemporary artists alongside its historical mission, and a new space that seeks to recreate the artist’s working methods.  “We want to have the audience enter his studio and glimpse his intimacy, his daily life,” President Laurent Le Bon says. (more…)

The Spanish government’s seizure of a Picasso painting from billionaire banker Jaime Botín’s yacht in the Mediterranean earlier this year has led to a fierce battle over ownership of the work, and raised important questions of what a government may do to preserve national treasures.  “The Picasso case raises the question of whether a state can deny an export at no cost,” says lawyer Guiseppe Calabi, who is currently involved in a similar case in Italy. “To declare a work an item of cultural interest destroys the market value.” (more…)

Bill Koch is selling a pair of works this November in New York, boasting a combined estimate of over $110 million. The works are Picasso’s La Gommeuse, which is estimated at $60 million, and Claude Monet’s Nympheas.  The sale of these works may see Koch making up to 11 times what he paid for the works.  “Monet is as desirable in China, Singapore, Taiwan as he is in Russia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S.,”co-head of Sotheby’s worldwide Impressionist and modern art department Simon Shaw said. “He is an accessible, modern brand.” (more…)

Sotheby’s has announced another flagship work in its New York Impressionist and Modern auctions this coming November, Picasso’s La Gommeuse, which features a hidden portrait on the back side of the canvas.  “With her dreamy gaze and frank sensuality, the cabaret dancer in La Gommeuse ushers in a new visual idiom for the 20th century,” says Simon Shaw, co-head of Sotheby’s worldwide impressionist and modern art department. (more…)

The ongoing conflict between Dmitriy Rybolovlev and Yves Bouvier takes a new twist this week, as Rybolovlev prepares to return a pair of Picassos he purchased from the dealer in 2013, but which have since been disputed at the property of Catherine Hutin-Blay, the artist’s step-daughter.  Hutin-Bly had been storing the works in one of Bouvier’s warehouses, a move critiqued by Larry Gagosian.  “I’d consider it a terrible conflict of interest and would never keep art long term in the warehouse of a dealer,” he says. (more…)

The US has returned a $15 million Pablo Picasso to France, which was stolen over a decade ago before being seized late last year from a New Jersey airport.  “There’s a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when we return a piece of art like this,” says Sarah Saldaña, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (more…)

A Picasso painting valued at €25 million was seized from a superyacht belonging to former Santander bank VP Jaime Botín this week, after the work left Spain, reportedly en route to Switzerland.  The work had been placed under export bar by the Spanish government, resulting in its seizure off the coast of Corsica.   (more…)