The $236m Klimt, Cop 30 and the art world, Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid

Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16) sold for the second highest price ever realised at auction at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday. It was the most notable of several big sales in the sold-out (or “white-glove”) auction of 24 works from the collection of the late billionaire Leonard Lauder, and has prompted some commentators to declare that the art market has turned a corner following a prolonged downturn. Ben Luke speaks to The Art Newspaper’s senior art market editor in the Americas, Carlie Porterfield, about this week’s auctions, and asks if they do mark a turning point in the art market’s fortunes. Cop 30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, is taking place in Belém, Brazil, and ends on Friday. To coincide with the conference, the Gallery Climate Coalition is publishing a Stocktake Report, in which it gives hard data on the efforts of its members to reduce their carbon emissions. The Art Newspaper’s contemporary art correspondent in London, Louisa Buck, who is a co-founder of the coalition, tells Ben more. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Victorious Cupid (1601-02) by Caravaggio, a landmark work by the artist, made at the height of his fame in Rome. The painting is making a rare journey from its home at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin to the Wallace Collection in London, where it is at the centre of an exhibition opening next week. Ben talks to the collection’s director, Xavier Bray, about the painting.

Caravaggio’s Cupid, Wallace Collection, London, 26 November-12 April 2026

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