r/VeniceContemporaryArt

A luminous red rectangular abstract by Mark Rothko sold for $85.8 million on Thursday.” Brown and Blacks in Red”s was the most anticipated work among the 24 pieces that made up Sotheby's sale.

The monumental canvas, nearly two and a half meters tall, belongs to the most important decade of the artist's output, when Rothko developed his mature visual language, defined by broad, overlapping rectangular fields of color. Dominated by a powerful range of deep reds, the composition stands as one of the most intense examples of his exploration of color's emotional perception.

The work belonged for twenty years to Robert Mnuchin, a celebrated New York banker who comes from an American Jewish family connected to finance and art collecting, and before him spent 50 years in the Seagram collection. The Rothko was purchased by phone after a bidding battle lasting just a few minutes. It may not have blown past expectations, but it was always going to be a stretch to exceed the $70–100 million estimate.

Credits to: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-art/mark-rothko-abstract-sells-for-85-8-million-dab34442

https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Articolo/-milioni-di-dollari-per-Mark-Rothko-il-suo-abisso-rosso-e-un-trionfo-a-New-York

https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cultura/2026/05/15/oltre-86-milioni-di-dollari-per-un-rothko-da-sothebys_427c1f03-148d-4560-a9ec-e4e4fcccd023.html

"The Migrant Child," a work by the renowned Banksy that appeared in Venice on the night of May 8th, 2019, depicts a child standing with his feet in the water, signaling for help with a fuchsia-colored flare, and has become a symbol of the tragedies of migrants lost at sea. After years of exposure to the elements and progressive deterioration, with an estimated loss of 30% of the original work, it was secured in 2025 thanks to an intervention promoted by Banca Ifis and carried out by restorer Federico Borgogni.

At the Venice Arsenale, Banca Ifis presented the results of the restoration of "The Migrant Child," recovered from the facade of Palazzo San Pantalon and now ready to be returned to the city. On Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th, the work travelled through the canals of Venice on a boat, giving citizens the opportunity to see it again following the restoration. Upon completion of the works on Palazzo San Pantalon, expected by 2027, "The Migrant Child" will be reinstalled in its original position and permanently returned to the city.

The president of Banca Ifis, Ernesto Furstenberg Fassio, commented: "The project will cost more than 15 million euros, including the purchase of the palazzo, the conservative restoration of both the building and the artwork, and the organisation of events to promote the protection of children's rights."

 

Credits to: https://www.exibart.com/progetti-e-iniziative/a-venezia-il-restauro-del-migrant-child-di-banksy-con-il-sostegno-di-banca-ifis/ 

https://www.ilmessaggero.it/viaggi/italia/venezia_banca_ifis_conclude_il_restauro_del_migrant_child_di_banksy-9520105.html

 

During the Renaissance, the artist was not an individual, an absolute self, but part of an elite of scientists and artists, within a larger machine, with a clear objective: the will to power. Then modernism transformed the artist into a fake rebel, an individualist, somewhat mad and lost within himself.

In this context, we are witnessing a subtle neutralization of contemporary art and its own critical and self-critical devices: its irrelevance manifests itself in being fully present within institutions, exhibitions, biennales, critical discourses, while remaining totally absent on the real plane, incapable of making a structural impact outside its own small circle, and often not even within it. And so art is produced for other artists, the so-called "insiders," within a ridiculously self-referential system.

A new artistic elite cannot be born from recognition alone: it is born from a decisive, powerful, and culturally self-assured impact. To make an impact means getting one's hands dirty, exposing oneself, compromising oneself politically, creating real artistic and intercultural lobbies, seeking dialogue with politics and building alliances with scientists, musicians, and architects. Because the will to power must be sought, desired, and conquered: with culture and political intention.

As long as the artist produces only physical works, he will remain irrelevant. He must be an intellectual, write and theorize like Leonardo and Michelangelo. The solution lies in expanding direct interventions in the public space with concrete objectives, sensitive to public opinion, and above all in learning to master new media rather than being mastered by them.

 

Credits to: Vincenzo Profeta

https://profetalandia.substack.com/p/the-new-italian-artistic-elite-or

https://operavivamagazine.org/una-nuova-elite-artistica/?fbclid=PAb21jcARkJJ5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA81NjcwNjczNDMzNTI0MjcAAacy6lMTHkU9dOF25qLrXROMMCCn_17nwHrVD5IJOBtqhaLDE7pN0CIU2EcS7g_aem_3x1bUWzGlYjUNx_CcynSBA