I have just bought an original Vernon Ward – a large and beautiful oil painting of a vase of roses completed in the 1930s or 1940s. How can you possibly afford an original Ward on a journalist’s salary, I hear you say? Or perhaps I hear you say nothing of the sort. After all, I
Several weeks ago, during the first Venice Climate Week, Sanlorenzo Arts opened its Casa Sanlorenzo. The Italian yacht builder calls it a “cultural and artistic lab that transcends time, both culturally and architecturally.” The description is a bit over the top, but what seems even more puzzling is that the restoration was financed by an
I wrote a Weekend Essay in March about whether Chanel handbags are a good investment. Unsurprisingly, the response from certain readers was scathing. One even said: “Such matters are not worthy of a serious financial publication.” So I was pleased when my colleague Jean-Baptiste Andrieux sent me an article in Bloomberg Business which said something
Tobias van Gils, the founder of the Zurich-based investment firm MLT Capital, has been collecting since he was young—starting with synthesisers and other music-production equipment at first, before moving on to books and art. He used to live in China and the US, and he likes to acquire art made in the past 20 years,
From acquiring the works of some of the world’s most significant contemporary artists, raising awareness about the incredible art and culture that define the continuity of South Asian identity, to building multidisciplinary experience centres, Kiran Nadar, founder and chairperson of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), has profoundly shaped and inspired the art world. In
They’re not bidding millions, but they are keeping the art market vibrant. As ultra-wealthy collectors pull back on buying art, the gap is being filled by a different kind of buyer – albeit one with shallower pockets. In 2024, while global art sales fell 12 percent, transactions under US$50,000 continued to rise, according to the
Sequoia invests in Kela to “leverage Israel’s unique cadre of techno warriors to help defend the Western world order,” as per its own website. The statement further read that “money invested in Mubi by Sequoia is inseparable from profits generated by the illegal dispossession of Palestinian land and the genocide of Palestinians.” According to The
Government has pledged £2bn in research and development funding for its AI action plan as part of its Spending Review, announced today (11 June), in one of several measures that will impact the cultural and creative industries. The financing, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, will be used to expand the UK’s AI Research Resource capacity,
A top-ranking executive at Australian Retirement Trust, the nation’s second-biggest pension fund, has resigned after a months-long absence from the company’s offices, sparking a further shake-up of its management team. Julie Bingham was the $310 billion fund’s chief enterprise services officer, in charge of its policy, government relations and legal capabilities. She had been at
TATE LIVERPOOL have announced major public and private investment towards the reimagining of the landmark gallery on Royal Albert Dock. This included £12m of funding from the DCMS’s Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund as well as generous philanthropic donations from the Garfield Weston Foundation, and The Ross Warburton Charitable Trust. The redevelopment of Tate Liverpool will