Art · Observations · New York

Christie’s and Sotheby’s forecast annual sales of $6.2 billion and $7 billion

Good Lord, how tired one is of Rothko and Klimt. The auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s have tallied up the year. Christie’s projected sales came to $6.2 billion, almost 7% more than last year. After a quiet first half, sales picked up considerably in the autumn.

NB! · Observations · Mores

Why do women so rarely wear their hair in the style of the 1920s nowadays?

Faith · Art · Museums · Observations

The Entombment

The Entombment. Fresco by Fra Angelico, painted in 1441 in the Convent of San Marco A dream for 2026: to visit Florence once more and see this beauty

Archaeology · Art · Books · Heritage

Etruscan funerary urn of the 4th century BC and the loss of its 19th-century additions

Etruscan Art: Enigmatic and Alluring. In this case we are dealing with a monument described in the books: a funerary urn of the early 4th century BC bearing the image of the spirit of the deceased and of a guardian spirit. As you can see, the present state of the

Observations · Science · Pop Culture · Humour

This is roughly how I picture the passengers of comet 3I/ATLAS

Everyone has suddenly stopped talking about it, and yet it is right on the approach to our planet

Archaeology · In the Press · London · Science

ARTnews has compiled a list of the most talked-about archaeological discoveries of 2025:

Beneath the Palace of Westminster, flint tools of the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, about 6,000 years old, have been found, together with artefacts dating from the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages In Shaanxi Province in China, a network of 573 ancient stone fortifications has been found, the earliest

Books · Observations · Education · Society · Humour

Gorky, Brodsky and Bunin had no higher education but became writers

The Russian Ministry of Labour Has Approved a Professional Standard for “Writer”, to Take Effect on 1 September 2026. One of its provisions states that a writer is a person with a higher education. No, Maxim Gorky did not have a higher education. He tried to enter Kazan University, but

NB! · Art · Science · People

The British painter Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) is known as a master of genre scenes from the realm of science and natural knowledge that look as though they were sacred subjects

NB! · Architecture · People

British architect Sarah Wigglesworth shows what the Christmas atmosphere looks like from an architectural point of view

Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour

Protective Makrolon layer installed on Apollo Gallery window at the Louvre

Probably the most long-suffering window opening in the world. Yesterday the notorious window of the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre was at last fitted with a protective layer of Makrolon, a polycarbonate of exceptional strength with fire-resistant properties. Not yet bulletproof glass, but already a very

NB! · Art · Humour

"What Is This, Madame?" "It Is Called 'Art'"

NB! · Faith · Ethnography

Alexandr Radayev