Arts & Culture

PARIS — Claude Monet's 'Iris' (1924-25) sold at Sotheby's Paris on Thursday for €50 million, about $56 million with fees. That is more than double its low estimate of €22 million and the highest price ever paid at auction in France. Six bidders competed for roughly 45 minutes before the painting went to a private Asian collector, who bid by phone through Sotheby's Asia deputy chairman Jen Hua. The previous French record was €43.2 million, set in 2010 for a Modigliani sculpture. The painting, which had never been publicly shown, came from the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, an heir to the oil-services fortune. All 27 works in the sale found buyers, and about three-quarters sold above their high estimates. The sale totaled €74.4 million ($83.7 million), Sotheby's best result for a fine-art sale in Paris. Monet's overall record remains $110.7 million for 'Meules' in 2019.

PARIS — The artist duo David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin won the 2026 Prix Marcel Duchamp, France's leading contemporary art award, which the jury announced Thursday at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. They beat Joël Andrianomearisoa, Laura Henno and Josèfa Ntjam. Their entry is an installation of fairground coin-pusher machines filled with the sobriety tokens that groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous give for abstinence milestones. Museum director Fabrice Hergott said the work gives form to waiting, addiction and private resistance. The winners receive €35,000, out of a total endowment of €90,000. Because the Centre Pompidou is closed for renovation, the nominees' exhibition is again being held at the Musée d'Art Moderne. It is free and runs through February 7, 2027. The prize was announced in a week disrupted by the early closing of Art Basel Paris.

SEOUL — Dawoo Kiwoom Group has been chosen as preferred bidder to buy Munhakdongne, South Korea's largest trade book publisher, Seoul Economic Daily reported on October 24. Citing publishing industry sources, the paper said founder Kang Tae-hyung told about 100 employees of the choice. Shareholders have agreed to sell a 100% stake, and four companies submitted letters of intent. Kang reportedly wanted a buyer that respects the house's literary tradition and protects writers' and employees' rights. Dawoo Kiwoom owns the webtoon and web-novel platforms Kidari Studio and Lezhin Entertainment. It is expected to combine Munhakdongne's literary IP with those businesses if the deal closes. The group is also a preferred bidder, with CJ Group and Shinsegae, for the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. Price and a closing date have not been reported.

Bloomsbury published Susanna Clarke's The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City on October 20. The 96-page illustrated short story is set 700 years before Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It follows Ranulf, Bishop of Durham, as he tries to yield his city to the young Raven King after trees, not soldiers, encircle it. Victoria Sawdon's medieval-manuscript-style borders decorate each page, and the book also carries Clarke's essay 'Childish Things'. Reactor's reviewer called it a small delight that works for newcomers and long-time fans. Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews were also positive, according to the publisher's listing. Some early readers on Goodreads found it slight, and one criticised the lavish packaging of a short text. It follows Clarke's recent novella The Wood at Midwinter.

NEW YORK — Netflix released theatrical grosses for the first time on Sunday, Oct. 18. 'La Bola Negra,' a Spanish-language drama from directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, took $277,500 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. That is a per-screen average of about $69,400, which Netflix and trade outlets describe as the second-highest ever for a non-English film. The film tied for the Cannes best director prize and won the Toronto audience award. Netflix reportedly bought it for around $5 million. It has a 45-day theatrical window, the longest the company has used, under distribution chief Spencer Klein. The film expands in New York and Los Angeles and adds major markets before a wider release on Nov. 6. Netflix said 51% of opening-weekend buyers were under 35.

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — The Woodstock Film Festival announced its Maverick Award winners on Sunday, Oct. 18. Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson's 'Mouse' won best narrative feature, and Beth de Araújo's Sundance winner 'Josephine' received an honorable mention. Pegah Ahangarani's 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' won best feature documentary. Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller's 'They're Here' won best short documentary. Gold Derby describes both documentaries as contenders for the 2027 Oscars. 'Nuisance Bear' won for cinematography, and the medieval fable 'Wicker,' with Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, won for editing. 'Wicker' opened in wide release Friday. The festival season continues with Montclair, New Jersey, which closes Sunday with Tony Gilroy's 'Behemoth!'.

BOSTON — The Boston Symphony Orchestra is giving the world premiere of Tod Machover's 'already and not yet' this week, with Kent Nagano conducting. There are three performances at Symphony Hall, October 22 to 24, so tonight's is the last. The score is unusual in that a live artificial-intelligence system from the MIT Media Lab plays alongside the orchestra. The Boston Musical Intelligencer ran a listener's guide asking what the AI is doing and what audiences should listen for. The same site's earlier coverage reviewed the U.S. premiere of Francisco Coll's new Piano Concerto, which Andris Nelsons led at Symphony Hall in the BSO's current season. No critical reviews of the Machover premiere had appeared yet.

NEW YORK — Pianist Dmitry Yudin has joined the roster of Sheldon Artists for general management, according to an announcement reported October 23. Yudin won the 18th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv in September. His winning final performance was Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic under Yoel Levi. The first prize carries $40,000. He also took the audience and chamber music prizes. Uladzislau Khandohi of Belarus and Jinhyung Park of South Korea shared second prize, and Ukraine's Roman Fediurko was third. The first stages were held at the Kronberg Academy in Germany before the finals moved to Israel. Yudin, a Moscow-born graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, was also named an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient in March.

LONDON — The London agency Askonas Holt announced Wednesday that it has signed the Korean pianist Sunwook Kim, chiefly to represent him as a conductor, Slipped Disc reported. Kim joined another London agency, Intermusica, only 16 months ago. He won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 at 18. Last year he toured South Korea as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko. Next year he is due to make his conducting debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which will again be on tour in Korea. The report gave no further details of his conducting schedule or of his piano commitments.