Susan Moore is the art market correspondent and associate editor of Apollo

Bird's Hell (1938), Max Beckmann. © Christie’s Images Limited 2016

As visceral a painting as you will ever encounter…

Max Beckmann’s ‘Bird’s Hell’, a terrifying vision of cruelty painted after he fled Nazi Germany, is to be sold at auction for the first time

2 Jun 2017
Eight Panels from 'The Birth of Aphrodite' mural from the Grand Salon of the S.S. Normandie (c. 1934), Jean Dupas. Estimate in the region of $1 million. Image courtesy Sotheby's

Gilded glass from the world’s most glamorous ship

The legendary S.S. Normandie was lost to fire in the 1940s, but relics from its luxury interior survive – including these verre églomisé panels

19 May 2017
Femme assise, robe bleue (detail;1939), Pablo Picasso. Christie's New York, estimate: $35–$50m

Modern masters lead the way in New York

Auction highlights this month include a Twombly masterpiece that has never appeared at auction before and a striking portrait by Picasso

11 May 2017
Inkstand with figures of the Virtues (c. 1480–90), probably Faenza. Courtesy Sam Fogg

Early maiolica has it all – even humour

These supposedly ‘primitive’ ceramics from late medieval and early Renaissance Italy are fresh, inventive and fun

5 May 2017
Carved cinnabar lacquer dish (Lat Yuan/early Ming dynasty), China. Sotheby's.

The unsung beauty of Chinese cinnabar lacquer

Lacquer is an extemely difficult material to work with, but the results can be extraordinary

21 Apr 2017
Head of Avalokiteshvara, Tang dynasty (618–906), dry lacquer, ht 67.8cm. Sotheby’s Hong Kong, estimate: HK$18m–HK$25m

Rare Asian art comes to the block at Sotheby’s

Auction highlights this month include an outstanding example of early Ming porcelain and a rare Nicholas Lancret painting

12 Apr 2017
A polychrome glazed terracotta bust of a laureate in a frame of fruit, vegetables and pine cones (c. 1487–94), Andrea della Robbia

The Della Robbia that escaped disaster

This glazed terracotta roundel by Andrea della Robbia was made for a palace that was promptly destroyed

7 Apr 2017
Nature morte au citron et pichet rouge (Still Life with Lemon and Red Pitcher) (1964), after Pablo Picasso. Estimate: $6,000–8,000

Picasso’s printmakers step into the spotlight

The Crommelynck brothers worked with the greatest artists of the 20th century to produce extraordinary prints, some of which will soon come to auction

24 Mar 2017
Virgin and Child with Saints (c. 1472), attributed to Hugo van der Goes

The Virgin and Child who went under cover

The bizarre story of how an altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes was transformed into a marriage portrait of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

10 Mar 2017
Christie’s in South Kensington in 2005.

Something has gone very wrong at Christie’s

The auction house’s decision to close its South Kensington saleroom and scale back operations in Amsterdam smacks of corporate short-termism

9 Mar 2017
Eisberg (1982), Gerhard Richter. Courtesy Sotheby's (£8m–£12m)

Rothko, Richter and Rauschenberg star in London’s contemporary art auctions

Auction highlights this month include a surprisingly good group of American paintings at Christie’s London

6 Mar 2017
David Hockney's early lithograph, 'Fish and Chip Shop' (1954), goes on sale at Christie's in March.

David Hockney’s art used to be cheap as chips

In 1954, the young David Hockney made a lithograph of his local chippie and gave it to the owners. It hung above the fryer for years

25 Feb 2017
Set of bronzes representing Apsaras and a sitting deity, 12th century, Angkor Wat, installation view, Feuerle Collection, Berlin.. Photo: Thomas Meyer

Why Désiré Feuerle displays his art in a Berlin bunker

Désiré Feuerle talks to Apollo about his collection of Asian and contemporary art and its unusual underground home

22 Feb 2017

A swashbuckling tale of trade and trickery

In 1804, a fleet of English merchant vessels fooled the French navy into retreat. Each captain was presented with an exquisite sword for their troubles

10 Feb 2017
Le domaine d'Arnheim (1938), René Magritte. Christie's Images Ltd. 2016 (£6,500,000-9,500,000)

An epic Magritte is set to be the highlight of Christie’s ‘Art of the Surreal’ sale

Auction highlights this month include works by Morisot and Magritte at Christie’s, and Sotheby’s inaugural ‘Erotic: Passion and Desire’ sale

8 Feb 2017
North Italian olivewood and walnut commode en arbalète (late 18th century). The Pedestal; £3,000–£4,000

Could hipsters save the antique furniture trade?

Antique furniture has been unpopular for years – but tastes are changing

27 Jan 2017

Why the market for Outsider Art is booming in New York

Prices for Outsider Art are now close to matching those fetched by the mainstream

15 Jan 2017
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

Sotheby’s takes a risk on a potential Velázquez

A ‘bodegón’ thought to be by Velázquez, a Tiepolo head study, and a stag-antler chair are just some of the highlights headed to auction this month

5 Jan 2017
Head study of Dorothy Dene looking downwards, for ‘The Golden Stairs’, by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones © Christie’s Images Limited 2016 (detail)

Christie’s offers the makings of a Burne-Jones masterpiece

Not one, but two groups of preparatory work for Edward Burne-Jones’s monumental painting ‘The Golden Stairs’ have made it into the same sale

9 Dec 2016
St Joseph and the Christ Child (c. 1655-60), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Christie’s London (£3m–£5m)

A marvellous Murillo comes to Christie’s

Auction highlights this month include a masterful but unfashionable Murillo, and a captivating Egyptian sculpture of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet

5 Dec 2016
A bronze reclining figure of the Hermaphrodite (probably mid 17th century), Italy. Cast from the antique marble restored by Ippolito Buzzi in 1621-23. Christie's, estimate £200,000-300,000

Why a sleeping hermaphrodite is causing a stir at Christie’s

Horace Walpole’s aunt once quipped that the hermaphrodite was ‘the only happy couple she ever saw’. A bronze variation on the theme comes to auction soon…

28 Nov 2016
Medallion (detail; first half of 14th century), Iraq or western Iran. David Collection, Copenhagen

The making of one of the greatest Islamic art museums in the world

‘When this collection began, no one thought that Islam would be on everyone’s lips’

26 Nov 2016
A tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl and gold piqué rosewater ewer and basin (first half 18th century), Naples. Sotheby's: estimate €400,000–600,000

The historic tortoiseshell work that is nothing short of a masterpiece

There are no better examples of piqué posé tortoiseshell in the world. How often may this be said of a work of art on the market?

14 Nov 2016
Abstraktes Bild (1994), Gerhard Richter. Courtesy Christie's New York

David Bowie and Richard Attenborough’s art collections come to auction

A look at the star attractions at Sotheby’s in London this November

10 Nov 2016