The latest:

Twenty-one artists and collectives from the UAE and abroad will install works in public spaces across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain when the second Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial opens on October 23. The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi is organising the exhibition, which runs until February 15, 2027 under the theme Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place.

Details:

• The dates: The biennial opens first in Al Ain on October 23, followed by Abu Dhabi on November 15, according to The National. Both legs then run concurrently until February 15, 2027, giving the exhibition a near four-month overlap across the two cities.
• The Abu Dhabi sites: Installations will be sited at Mina Zayed, known as MiZa, as well as Souq Al Mina, Hidd Al Saadiyat and the Saadiyat Cultural District. On Saadiyat, works will occupy the park that sits between Zayed National Museum and Louvre Abu Dhabi rather than any indoor gallery.
• Al Ain still open: The programme extends to selected locations across Al Ain, but the organisers have not yet named the specific sites. They have also not released which artworks will appear at which location in either city, leaving the geographic distribution of the line-up undisclosed for now.
• The UAE names: Emirati participants include Khalid Al Banna, Roudhah Al Mazrouei and Shama Al Hamed. They appear alongside an international roster that features Ibrahim Mahama, Laure Prouvost, Yinka Shonibare and Akram Zaatari, four artists with substantial international exhibition profiles.
• The wider roster: Also taking part are Asuncion Molinos Gordo, blaxTARLINES, Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, Elena del Rivero, Ivan Argote, Jean-Marie Appriou, Kapwani Kiwanga and Marinella Senatore. The list is completed by M’barek Bouhchichi, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Nari Ward, Reena Saini Kallat, Serge Attukwei Clottey and Vica Pacheco.
• The theme: Artistic director Elvira Dyangani Ose leads the edition under the theme Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place. The exhibition treats home as an evolving, shared human experience, examining how people’s relationships with places are shaped by community, memory and everyday encounters.
• The method: Artists are expected to respond directly to the settings where their works are placed, drawing on research and engaging with the communities around each site. That site-responsive approach distinguishes the commissions from works simply relocated into open spaces.
• What visitors get: The programme promises a mix of large-scale, interactive and multisensory installations exploring urban landscapes, material culture and civic participation. The works are designed to push visitors to engage with both the art and the surroundings it occupies.
• Still unannounced: Details of individual installations, visiting hours, ticketing arrangements and the accompanying public events programme have not yet been published, five days before the Al Ain opening.

Background:

The inaugural edition included Wael Al Awar’s Barzakh in 2024, a work that placed large-scale contemporary art into Abu Dhabi’s shared outdoor spaces rather than museum interiors.

Between the lines:

Placing works in the park between Zayed National Museum and Louvre Abu Dhabi, and in the working district of Mina Zayed, puts the biennial in spaces residents already cross daily. Combined with the brief for artists to research and engage surrounding communities, the edition is built around footfall that museum ticketing does not capture.

What’s next

The Al Ain opening on October 23, the Abu Dhabi launch on November 15, and the pending announcements on Al Ain sites, installation locations, visiting hours, ticketing and the events programme.

The post Abu Dhabi’s public art biennial returns with 21 artists across two cities appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

A new Indian music festival, UNIFYD, will debut in Abu Dhabi on March 20 at Etihad Live on Yas Island, with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan overseeing its artistic direction and creative vision. More than 15 artists are set to perform across several stages in a single-day programme built around Indian music and culture. Arijit Singh, Karan Aujla and Sonu Nigam lead the opening announcements.

Details:

• The line-up: Arijit Singh and Karan Aujla are among the first acts confirmed, spanning Hindi film music and Punjabi music. Sonu Nigam is to deliver a special set that organisers said marks his first performance at a music festival. Further performers are still to be announced, with the full roster expected to exceed 15 artists.
• The venue: The inaugural edition is scheduled for March 20 at Etihad Live on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, using several stages across one day. The programme is framed around Indian music and culture rather than a single genre, drawing on film and regional traditions.
• Who is behind it: The festival is produced by D’YAVOL Live and District, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism and Miral. Khan’s role is artistic direction and creative vision, a step beyond the hosting duties he has taken on at previous Abu Dhabi events.
• Khan’s framing: Khan said he has spent a lifetime telling stories on screen and watching them bring people together, and that music carries the same power. He described the festival as a spectacle in terms of its scale, energy and grandeur.
• The producers’ pitch: Bunty Singh, co-founder of D’YAVOL Live, said Indian music is already global and that UNIFYD gives that cultural force a platform matching its scale and ambition. He argued that assembling artists of this stature on a single day is “what makes the first edition so special”.
• Expansion plans: Organisers said they intend to take UNIFYD to other cities and international markets after the Abu Dhabi debut. No destination cities, dates or timeline for that expansion have been named.
• Tickets: Tickets will be sold exclusively through the District app, with general sale opening at 10.30am on October 20. Prices have not been revealed, and organisers have not set out presale tiers or capacity for the Etihad Live site.
• Khan in Abu Dhabi: Khan has a track record with large events in the emirate, having hosted the IIFA Awards on Yas Island in 2024. That edition drew the Indian film industry to the same destination now hosting the festival.

Background:

Yas Island has become a regular stop for large-scale Indian entertainment productions, with Etihad Live among the venues used for concerts and awards shows aimed at the UAE’s substantial South Asian audience.

Between the lines:

The structure signals ambition beyond a single concert date. A government tourism department and Miral, the Yas Island developer, are attached as collaborators, placing the event inside Abu Dhabi’s destination strategy rather than a standalone promoter booking. Khan’s shift from host in 2024 to artistic director suggests the festival is being built as a recurring property, consistent with organisers’ stated plan to export it to other markets.

What’s next

General ticket sales open at 10.30am on October 20 through the District app, when prices will become public. Additional performers are still to be announced ahead of the March 20 debut.

The post Shah Rukh Khan launches UNIFYD music festival in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Egyptian actress Mona Zaki collected the Creative Achievement Award on Thursday as the ninth El Gouna Film Festival opened in the Red Sea resort town, according to Arab News. The edition runs until Oct. 23 under the theme Cinema for Humanity: Archiving Narratives, with 77 films programmed across narrative, documentary and short film competitions, plus special presentations and out-of-competition titles.

Details:

• The ceremony: Egyptian actress Yasmina El-Abd hosted the opening at the Festival Plaza, Arab News reported, in a program that mixed recorded and live segments built around cinema’s role in preserving stories and collective memory.
• The presenter: Director Mohamed Shaker Khodeir, who directed Zaki in the 2023 Ramadan series Under Custody, handed over the award. Zaki became emotional as she described the fear that trailed her across her career and urged younger performers not to let it restrict them.
• Her remarks: Zaki told the audience: “Don’t let fear control you. Fear restrains and limits you.” She thanked the directors, writers and crew who had backed her over the years, and a recorded voice message from her eldest daughter, Lilly, played as she accepted the honor.
• Second honoree: The festival also saluted veteran lighting technician Hassan El-Sayed for a four-decade career, with cinematographer and actor Sameh Selim presenting. His credits include The Thief of Happiness, In Search of Sayyid Marzouk and Paradise of the Devils.
• The performances: Musician Mohamed Nawara led a live set of Egyptian and international compositions. Egyptian American soprano Sherine Ahmed closed the evening with an unannounced rendition of the Egyptian classic Helwa Ya Balady, her first time singing in Arabic.
• Opening film: French director Marc Fitoussi’s All About Corrine, starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain, was chosen to open the festival. Its official screening is set for Friday, a day after the ceremony itself.
• The lineup: This edition carries 10 Arab films, the highest number in festival history, Arab News reported. It is also the first programmed under artistic director Andrew Mohsen, who succeeded Egyptian filmmaker Marianne Khoury.
• Palestine strand: The Window on Palestine program returned for a fourth consecutive year. The festival did not detail the titles selected for the strand in its opening-night announcements.
• Industry arm: CineGouna launched CineGouna Series, a development program and market dedicated to Arabic-language television projects, extending the festival’s industry platform beyond feature film financing and co-production.
• Masterclasses: Sessions with Zaki, Egyptian filmmaker Yousry Nasrallah and British executive producer Angus Finney are scheduled during the festival week, though start times were not announced alongside the opening program.

Between the lines:

The record 10 Arab titles and the launch of an Arabic-language TV market land in the same edition, the first shaped by a new artistic director. Together they point the festival toward regional production rather than international showcase alone, with the returning Palestine strand now a fixture rather than a one-off.

What’s next

The official screening of All About Corrine on Friday, the masterclasses with Zaki, Nasrallah and Finney during the week, and the competition awards when the edition closes on Oct. 23.

The post El Gouna opens 9th edition with Creative Achievement Award for Mona Zaki appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

A Kandinsky work, Das bunte Leben (1907), sold for $41.7 million to lead Christie’s two October evening sales in London, which together cleared 91% of lots and 96% by value. The combined total marked a 103% increase on the equivalent sales a year earlier. Chief executive Bonnie Brennan described it as an extraordinary year for London and pointed to the city’s standing as a global collecting center.

Details:

• The headline lot: Wassily Kandinsky’s Das bunte Leben, painted in 1907, sold for $41.7 million, the top price across Christie’s two London evening sales. Works by Piet Mondrian and Francis Bacon also ranked among the leading lots of the week, according to Christie’s.
• The sell-through: The two evening sales found buyers for 91% of lots and 96% by value. Christie’s said the combined result was 103% higher than the equivalent London evening sales held last year, extending the run the house recorded in its March London season.
• The collection record: Monsoon: The Peter Simon Collection generated £107.51 million ($142.34 million), which Christie’s said is the highest-value single-owner collection ever sold at its London salerooms. It cleared 98% of lots, with 43% of them exceeding their high estimates.
• The bidding war: Liubov Popova’s Painterly Architectonic (1918) sold for £7.64 million ($10.12 million) from the Simon collection, more than four times its £1.8 million ($2.38 million) low estimate. Christie’s said the lot drew close to eight minutes of bidding and set an auction record for the artist.
• Seven records: Bridget Riley’s Streak 2 (1979) reached £5.21 million ($6.9 million) and David Bomberg’s San Miguel, Toledo, Afternoon (1929) sold for £3.26 million ($4.32 million). Records also fell for Portia Zvavahera, Barbara Hepworth for a painting, Igshaan Adams, and Gerhard Richter for a tapestry.
• The charity lot: Igshaan Adams’s The certainty of being a rose (ii) (2026) brought £96,000 ($127,104), a record for the artist, with proceeds benefiting Artists for Climate Action, an initiative linking the Gallery Climate Coalition and ClientEarth.
• The runners-up: After the Kandinsky, the next most expensive lots were Mondrian’s Composition A, with Double Line and Yellow (1935) at £9.71 million ($12.86 million) and Joan Miró’s Peinture (Les amants – Adam et Eve) (1925) at £8.56 million ($11.33 million).
• The fairs: Frieze London and Frieze Masters opened to VIPs at Regent’s Park on October 14th. Hauser & Wirth placed Jan Brueghel the Elder’s Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase (ca. 1607–08) for about £5 million ($6.64 million), the top reported opening-day sale, according to Artsy.
• The provenance: The Brueghel previously belonged to the Rothschild collection before being seized by the Nazis and later restituted. Gallery president Iwan Wirth called it “one of the most important works we’ve ever been involved with.” Last year’s leading opening-day sale was a Gabriele Münter painting at $3.01 million.
• The booths: Alice Amati, Goodman Gallery, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, a.SQUIRE and Gagosian reported sold-out presentations. David Zwirner led with a new Michaël Borremans painting at $1.5 million, while a Sasha Gordon work went to a European museum for $400,000.

Between the lines:

The same week carried two distinct signals. Auction results are confirmed and comparable year-on-year, which is what makes the 103% figure meaningful. Fair figures, by contrast, are reported by the galleries themselves. Still, Popova’s eight-minute bidding run and the seven records suggest competition concentrated on works with scarcity or record-setting potential rather than broad price inflation.

What’s next

Christie’s will follow the Simon collection evening sale with a day sale and an online auction of the same material. Artsy said its full Frieze sales report is due Monday, after both fairs close.

The post Kandinsky at $41.7 million leads Christie’s London evening sales appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

A convicted art thief is publicly offering his services to the world’s largest museum, arguing it remains exposed a year after its own robbery. Octave Durham, 53, who served prison time for stealing two Van Goghs from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum in 2002, told CNN the Louvre has weak spots all over, including cracked windows he says he spotted on a recent visit. The Louvre did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Details:

• The record: Durham was convicted over the 2002 Van Gogh Museum break-in, in which he and an accomplice took two paintings, later sold to a crime boss found in possession of the works. He told CNN he had also robbed banks, safety deposit boxes and armored trucks before what he calls his retirement from crime.
• His pitch: Durham asked why the Louvre has not approached him to handle security. He says the museum reinforced only the entry point used in last October’s heist, adding an iron fence and a camera, while the side windows were left unchanged — and thieves are unlikely to return to the same spot.
• The recovery work: Durham says he now uses underworld contacts to help retrieve stolen art without payment, describing it as fun and satisfying. He rejects the informant label, telling CNN he is a contact who does not speak to police.
• The partner: He works with Dutch private investigator Arthur Brand, nicknamed the Indiana Jones of the art world. Brand said Durham was key to recovering the Van Gogh painting Spring Garden, stolen in 2020 and handed over in a blue IKEA bag in 2023 before being passed to authorities.
• The copycat wave: Hours after the daylight Louvre theft of Napoleonic-era treasures last October, burglars hit another French museum and took gold and silver coins worth more than $100,000. Brand said thieves now reason that if the Louvre was possible, smaller local museums must be easier.
• The tally: Two Renoirs were stolen from the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera and later found; a Renoir, a Cézanne and a Matisse were taken from the Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma in March and recovered; four Antonello da Messina works were seized from a Sicilian museum in August; and a $4 million diamond necklace was taken from Vienna’s MAK.
• The method: Museum security expert Ibrahim Balut said offenders in Vienna, at the Renoir Museum and at the Louvre entered and left in under three minutes. A Europol report found thieves are growing more brazen and violent, using sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and explosives, with battery-powered tools making fast attacks easier.
• Europe’s exposure: Brand said European museums have no armed guards and many occupy historic buildings dating back to the 15th century, calling them vulnerable rather than fortified. Balut argued openness is the core problem: a museum’s mission is public access, leaving only a display case or a guard between a visitor and an object.
• The market problem: Brand said focus has shifted over the past decade toward gold, silver and diamonds, which can be melted or recut to erase evidence. Stolen paintings, he said, are flagged in databases within a day and trade in the underworld at roughly 10% of market value, sometimes held as collateral.
• The funding gap: Lynda Albertson of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art said criminals exploit portable valuables in museums whose protection needs exceed their security resources. Cameras record thefts without stopping them, she said, and donors rarely fund alarms or extra guards.

Background:

Durham’s 2002 target, the Van Gogh Museum, lost two post-impressionist works including View of the Sea at Scheveningen, recovered years later. Brand has since helped retrieve a Pieter Brueghel work stolen in Poland in the 1970s and a painting looted from a Jewish family by Hermann Göring.

Between the lines:

Brand’s assessment is that the Louvre heist functioned as proof of concept rather than an outlier, and the sequence he and Balut describe supports it: a second French museum hit within hours, then thefts in Italy, Austria and the Riviera. Albertson’s point sharpens it — the vulnerability is budgetary, not technical, since cameras document what guards and rehearsed response could prevent.

What’s next

Whether the Louvre responds to the criticism of its post-heist fixes, and whether the Antonello da Messina and Vienna necklace cases produce recoveries, as the Renoir and Magnani Rocca thefts did.

The post Convicted Van Gogh thief offers to fix the Louvre’s security gaps appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Zendaya is returning to science fiction, boarding an untitled feature that Alex Garland will write and direct for A24, Variety reported. The film is scheduled to begin shooting in 2027. No plot details have been released, and the project remains untitled, leaving Garland’s next genre outing one of the few major A24 titles still without a public premise.

Details:

• The casting: Zendaya has joined the untitled project as its star, according to Variety. It marks her return to science fiction after the Dune franchise, whose third installment, Denis Villeneuve’s final entry set on Arrakis, is dated for release on Dec. 16.
• The timeline: Production is set for 2027, Variety reported. No release date has been announced and no distribution window has been disclosed, placing the film behind several Garland and A24 titles already locked into the calendar.
• The A24 history: The film continues a working relationship between Zendaya and A24 that includes Euphoria, which ended after three seasons earlier this year, and The Drama, the dark dramedy opposite Robert Pattinson that earned nearly $135 million worldwide.
• Garland and A24: A24 produced and distributed Garland’s Ex Machina, Civil War, Men and Warfare, according to Variety. The studio is also behind his upcoming big-budget Elden Ring video game adaptation, making the untitled sci-fi at least his sixth project with the company.
• The Elden Ring film: Shooting on the Elden Ring adaptation wrapped on July 30, with release set for March 2028. The cast includes Kit Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Ben Whishaw, Nick Offerman and Tom Burke.
• Her 2026 slate: Alongside The Drama, Zendaya appeared in two of 2026’s biggest releases, The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, both of which broke box office records, Variety reported.
• The 28 Years fallout: Danny Boyle said at the London Film Festival that Garland had written a script for a third 28 Years Later, but that Garland was now occupied with Elden Ring. The project, Boyle said, is “on the back burner at the moment.”
• Garland’s genre record: Garland’s science-fiction work spans Ex Machina, the Netflix feature Annihilation and the FX series Devs. He also wrote 28 Days Later and reunited with Boyle on 28 Years Later and its sequel, The Bone Temple.

Background:

Garland built his screen career on genre, writing 28 Days Later before moving into directing with Ex Machina. His recent output widened into war and political territory with Civil War and Warfare, both released through A24.

Between the lines:

The new sci-fi stacks a second major commitment on top of Elden Ring, the project Boyle identified as the reason the third 28 Years Later stalled. With Garland’s slate filling through 2027 and Elden Ring not arriving until March 2028, the schedule pressure Boyle described appears unlikely to ease soon.

What’s next

Watch for a title, cast additions and a release window from A24, plus any update from Boyle on the third 28 Years Later. Dune: Part Three opens Dec. 16, and the Elden Ring adaptation is dated March 2028.

The post Zendaya Joins Untitled Alex Garland Sci-Fi Film at A24 appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

A Jan Brueghel the Elder still life sold for roughly £5 million, about $6.64 million, at Frieze Masters, the highest price reported on the opening day of Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026. Hauser & Wirth placed the picture as VIPs entered Regent’s Park on Wednesday, October 14th. Galleries across both fairs reported transactions spanning historical and contemporary material.

Details:

• The painting: Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase, dated around 1607–08, carries provenance in the Rothschild collection before Nazi seizure and later restitution, according to Hauser & Wirth. Gallery president Iwan Wirth described it as “one of the most important works we’ve ever been involved with,” calling the sale an undisputed milestone.
• The benchmark: The price exceeds last year’s leading opening-day transaction, when Hauser & Wirth sold a Gabriele Münter painting for $3.01 million, making this year’s top reported figure more than double the 2025 high point at the same gallery.
• Hauser & Wirth’s run: The gallery also placed a Francis Picabia untitled work from around 1941–43 for €1.1 million, or $1.23 million, and Picasso’s Violon (1943) for €850,000. At Frieze London it sold an Avery Singer painting for $800,000 and a George Condo for $600,000.
• David Zwirner: The gallery reported seven- and six-figure sales led by a new Michaël Borremans painting at $1.5 million, with works by Dana Schutz at $900,000, Lisa Yuskavage at $450,000 and Portia Zvavahera at $300,000. A new Sasha Gordon painting went to a European museum for $400,000.
• Thaddaeus Ropac: Antony Gormley’s Aside (2025) sold for £500,000 and Martha Jungwirth’s Untitled (Berggasse 19) for €560,000. Two Denzil Forrester paintings went for £175,000 each ahead of his first solo show with the gallery in June 2027, alongside a Leoncillo Leonardi sculpture at €300,000.
• Mid-market depth: White Cube sold five new Ilana Savdie paintings between $110,000 and $175,000, plus a Gabriel Orozco at $300,000. Xavier Hufkens led with a historic Richard Serra work on paper at $750,000, Louise Bourgeois works on paper at $400,000 and a McArthur Binion at $150,000.
• Debuts and solos: Karma placed 16 paintings by Scottish artist Jacob Littlejohn in his London market debut, one to an institution, with prices reaching $65,000. Pace reported nearly every work in its Marina Perez Simão solo selling within hours, up to $250,000. Perrotin sold Izumi Kato works for up to $250,000.
• Sold-out booths: Alice Amati, Goodman Gallery, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, a.SQUIRE and Gagosian were among galleries reporting sold-out presentations at Frieze London, according to Artsy. Lehmann Maupin sold more than 10 works, including a McArthur Binion at $150,000 and a Liza Lou at $140,000.
• Lower tiers: Bastian sold a Renoir landscape from around 1897 for about €300,000 to a private collection. Southern Guild moved eight works by six artists totaling $310,000, Olney Gleason sold 12 works between $10,000 and $100,000, and Public Gallery placed multiple Steph Huang works from £7,000.

Between the lines:

The headline figure came from a 400-year-old picture at Frieze Masters rather than from the contemporary fair, where the strongest reported prices sat at or below $1.5 million. Art advisor Courtney Petit told Artsy the main fair opened with bustling aisles and strong collector engagement, a volume story rather than a trophy-price one.

What’s next

Full sales totals are due once the fairs close, with a complete report expected Monday. Watch whether contemporary prices at Frieze London catch up with the historical material at Frieze Masters.

The post Brueghel Still Life Sells for $6.6 Million on Frieze Opening Day appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Hundreds of people lined up in Hong Kong on Tuesday for a first look at Vincent van Gogh’s Chestnut Trees in Blossom, a canvas that has not been publicly exhibited in more than six decades, Reuters reported. Sotheby’s expects the work to fetch roughly $180 million when it goes under the hammer in New York on November 18, and says it is positioned to break the auction record for the artist.

Details:

• The painting: Chataigniers en fleurs, or Chestnut Trees in Blossom, was painted in May 1890 in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh died about two months later at 37. It depicts a massive blossoming chestnut tree whose flowering canopy dominates the composition.
• The estimate: Sotheby’s values the work at about $180 million for the November 18 sale in New York. Scott Niichel, of the house’s modern and contemporary art department in New York, said the painting is poised to set a new auction record for a Van Gogh.
• The pitch: Niichel described the period the canvas belongs to as “a moment of extraordinary optimism, frenetic energy, enthusiasm, passion, and colour in the artist’s body of work.” The Auvers-sur-Oise works followed his release from a psychiatric asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.
• Why it is rare: Paintings from the final Auvers period seldom reach the market, and Reuters reported the sale will draw collectors, museums and investors alike. The canvas has stayed out of public view for more than 60 years, making Tuesday’s Hong Kong preview the first chance for most visitors to see it.
• The crowd: Li Shanshan, a 50-year-old art lover, travelled about two and a half hours from the southern city of Shenzhen to attend. She said she had never heard of the painting before and wanted to see it with her own eyes.
• The wider sale: The Van Gogh is part of a group of 12 long-unseen works going to auction, including pieces by Paul Cezanne and Claude Monet. Five were unveiled at Sotheby’s in London in late September, among them Cezanne’s Arlequin and Monet’s Le Jardin des Tuileries.
• Early ownership: After Van Gogh’s death in July 1890 the painting passed to his brother Theo, then to Theo’s widow Johanna van Gogh-Bonger and their son Vincent Willem. It later belonged to German publisher Samuel Fischer, founder of S. Fischer Verlag.
• Later hands: It then entered the collection of George Buddy DeSylva, the American songwriter, film producer and Capitol Records co-founder. In 1953 collector Harriet Harris-Jonas acquired it; her holdings prompted New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to organise patron visits to her Fifth Avenue apartment.
• Current owners: The Blaquier family acquired the painting from art dealer Wildenstein in 1975. Sotheby’s did not disclose a reserve price or the terms under which the family is selling.

Background:

Van Gogh spent his final months in Auvers-sur-Oise after leaving a psychiatric asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, producing a burst of work in the weeks before his death in July 1890. Canvases from that period are among the scarcest in his output.

Between the lines:

The $180 million estimate makes the November sale a read on the top of the art market. Sotheby’s is leaning on scarcity: a final-period Auvers canvas, unseen publicly for 60 years, with an ownership chain running through a German publisher, a Capitol Records co-founder and a Fifth Avenue collection. Reuters noted collectors have kept competing for trophy works despite broader economic uncertainty.

What’s next

The November 18 New York sale is the test. Watch whether the hammer price clears the $180 million estimate and beats the existing Van Gogh auction record, and how the remaining works in the 12-piece group perform.

The post Rare Van Gogh Painting Resurfaces After 60 Years, Heads to Auction for Millions appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Three days into one of Washington’s most exposed jobs, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is under scrutiny over how she has described her legal credentials, and a watchdog group has filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association seeking an investigation. She holds a Pepperdine law degree but no law license, The New York Times reported. Zacharia said the episode was one big misunderstanding.

Details:

• The exchange: Asked on Tuesday in which state she passed the bar exam, Zacharia twice answered that it was when she moved to China, according to The New York Times. President Trump had already described her publicly as an attorney, and she did not correct him. It was her second day in the job.
• Her explanation: Zacharia told The New York Times by phone from a tarmac in Arizona, where Trump was holding a midterm rally, that she thought she had been asked where she went after law school. She said the noise of Marine One and the protocol distance behind the president kept her from hearing clearly.
• The credentials: She graduated with a law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011, which by some readings makes her a lawyer, though many legal experts say it does not, since an attorney must be licensed to practice and give legal advice. The Times was unable to locate a law license for her anywhere in the United States.
• The bar exam: The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after law school but did not pass. During the brief call, The Times did not get a chance to press her again on whether she had ever passed a bar exam anywhere.
• The advice she cites: Zacharia said that when she first began appearing on cable news she consulted Pepperdine’s president about how to identify herself, and was warned against using attorney or esquire while being told lawyer was acceptable. The president has nonetheless described her publicly as an attorney.
• General counsel title: On LinkedIn, Zacharia identified herself as general counsel for Fix California, a group led by Trump loyalist Richard Grenell. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, said the title implies practicing law and giving legal advice, which requires admission to the bar.
• The complaint: A watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday with the California State Bar Association, alleging she repeatedly held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license, conduct it said “California law treats as a crime.” The group’s name was not disclosed.
• The China years: The White House said Zacharia moved to China with her husband, Tyler, who worked for a U.S. private equity firm. She has said she worked on international transaction law, and her LinkedIn profile listed nearly two years at Zhong Lun Law Firm, one of China’s largest, headquartered in Beijing. The firm did not respond to a request for comment.
• What experts say: Gary Gao, a Shanghai-based partner at Zhong Lun, said the firm often hires foreigners for language help and cultural guidance, and that her role was likely similar to a paid internship. Sida Liu of the University of Hong Kong said calling herself a former associate is misleading, since mainland lawyer qualification requires Chinese citizenship.

Background:

Foreign nationals cannot sit for China’s bar exam, hold a Chinese lawyer’s license or advise on Chinese law. They can be hired by Chinese firms to work on cross-border deals and advise on foreign or international law, which narrows what any American at a Beijing firm could legally do.

Between the lines:

Two separate claims are in play and only one is contested wording. Describing herself as a lawyer on the strength of a 2011 Pepperdine degree is defensible to some and rejected by many legal experts. The general counsel listing is the harder problem, because Chemerinsky’s reading ties that title directly to practicing law without a license, the precise conduct the California complaint targets.

What’s next

Watch whether the California State Bar Association opens an investigation into the complaint, whether the White House revises how it describes Zacharia’s credentials, and whether Zhong Lun Law Firm comments on the nature of her employment.

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The latest:

Zayed National Museum will open its inaugural temporary exhibition, Tracks Through Time: The Camel in Society, Trade and Art, in early December 2026, the museum announced through WAM. The museum describes it as the world’s first exhibition to comprehensively explore more than 7,000 years of camel history, tracing the animal’s place in the society, trade networks and creative cultures of the UAE and the wider region.

Details:

• The scope: According to the museum, the exhibition follows the camel from the earliest evidence of wild herds on Emirati land through to living traditions still practised today, covering domestication, camel-human bonds and daily life, and ending with Al Hejin camel racing and Mazayna beauty competitions.
• The oldest finds: Wild camel bones excavated at the Baynunah archaeological site in Abu Dhabi, dating to the Neolithic Period between 4,500 and 4,000 BCE, are on loan from Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, the museum said.
• A first for the public: Remains from Al Sufouh in Dubai, dating to the Bronze Age between 2,000 and 1,300 BCE, are loaned from Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The museum said this is the first time detailed evidence of the now-extinct wild camel species will be shown publicly.
• Domestication evidence: Domesticated camel bones from the Saruq Al Hadid site in Dubai, dating to the Iron Age between 2,600 and 550 BCE, also come from Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The museum said these remains offer some of the earliest evidence worldwide for the taming and rearing of camels.
• The director: Peter Magee, Director of Zayed National Museum, said the exhibition reflects a mission to “deepen understanding of the UAE through original research and meaningful public engagement,” and described it as grounded in the latest scientific research and built through collaboration.
• Object highlights: Displays include a rare children’s book from the 1840s detailing camel species and their uses, rock art from Fujairah depicting camels some 3,000 years ago, and representations of camels on UAE postage stamps across the years.
• Sound and film: Audiovisual sections will carry rare archival photography and film footage alongside recordings of Taghrooda and Alheda’a, or camel calling, oral traditions inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, plus oral testimonies from camel herders and community members.
• Around the show: A public programme of workshops, activities, tours and family sessions will run alongside the exhibition, together with a standalone retail offering inspired by its themes. The museum did not give an exact opening date, a closing date, or ticket details.

Background:

Zayed National Museum is the UAE’s national museum project in Abu Dhabi, built around the story of the country and its founder. Tracks Through Time is its first temporary exhibition, following the permanent galleries that define the institution’s core narrative.

Between the lines:

The loan list is as notable as the objects: material from Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi and Dubai Culture and Arts Authority placed in one show points to cross-emirate institutional cooperation. The arc the museum describes, running from Neolithic wild camel bones to Mazayna beauty competitions, frames archaeology and present-day camel culture as a single continuous story rather than separate subjects.

What’s next

The opening in early December 2026 is the next marker, along with the museum’s release of a precise date, ticketing arrangements and the schedule for the accompanying workshops, tours and family programme.

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