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The Most Expensive Living Woman Artist? It’s Not Who You Think 👀

The Most Expensive Living Woman Artist? It’s Not Who You Think 👀

+ best creative sparks for you🔥

May 21, 2025

Your weekly art news fix - served fresh, punchy, and with just the right amount of spice. Expect the unexpected, because the art world never sits still. From controversy to pure inspiration, we've got it all covered.

TOP 3 ART STORIES OF THE WEEK:

1. Cannes 2025: What’s Making Waves Right Now

The 78th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13–24. The jury will choose the Palme d’Or winner from 21 competing films. (Last year’s win was Anora). So what’s been happening so far?

A bit about the background:

The U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to introduce a 100% tariff on all foreign-made movies. He called foreign film imports a national security threat and said the U.S. film industry is dying a “very fast death.”

👉 No official policy is in place yet, but the issue has dominated conversations at Cannes.

🎤 Robert De Niro Makes a Statement

At the Cannes opening ceremony, actor Robert De Niro received the honorary Palme d’Or. He used his speech to blast Trump’s tariff proposal and cultural cuts, saying:

“You can’t put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it.”

“This isn’t just an American problem, it’s a global one. Like a film, we can’t just all sit back and watch. We have to act, and we have to act now.”

He called for nonviolent resistance, urging people to “vote” and support freedom of expression worldwide.

🎬 Wes Anderson Reacts

Director Wes Anderson premiered his new film, The Phoenician Scheme, at Cannes.
At the press conference, he responded to Trump’s tariff idea:

“I’ve never heard of a 100% tariff before... I’m not an expert, but it sounds as though he’s saying he’s going to take all the money. If you hold up the movie in customs, I’m not sure it works that way.”

Anderson also confirmed he's working on a new film with Richard Ayoade and Roman Coppola, but gave no plot details.

🎥 Kristen Stewart’s Comment

Actor-director Kristen Stewart presented her first film as a director, The Chronology of Water. She spoke out about the political climate and the proposed tariff:

“Not that it wasn’t treacherous before, but now [it is] in a way that is so literal, so strikingly essential and vital, but naturally terrifying.”

🎸 Bono Marches on the Red Carpet with Ukraine 🇺🇦

U2 frontman Bono premiered his documentary Stories of Surrender at Cannes. He walked the red carpet with The Edge, Sean Penn, and Ukrainian soldiers, making a strong political statement.

In his speech, Bono said Cannes was created in 1946 as a response to fascism and concluded with:

“Slava Ukraini! Viva France!”

2. Marlene Dumas = Living Woman Artist With the Highest Price Tag 👏

News from the money side of the art world:

At Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale, Marlene Dumas’ painting from 1997, Miss January, sold for $13.63 million.

🎯 This is a new record for a living woman artist 👏
🏆 Old record: Jenny Saville’s Propped – $12.69M (2018)
🐇 Still far behind Jeff Koons’ Rabbit – $91.07M (living male artist record)

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Also selling big that night: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Baby Boom: $23.41 million. A day earlier, Christie’s sold a rare Piet Mondrian painting for $47.6M. That’s one of the highest prices ever for the Dutch modernist’s clean grid style.

However, over at Sotheby’s auction house, one of the biggest lots - Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair - was withdrawn from the auction in the last second.

Expected price: $30M+
Final result: No show.

Even bigger drama: Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince hit $64M in bidding… but didn’t sell. No guarantee = no deal = audible gasps.

The art market is wild. :)

3. Did the Wrong Man Get Credit for the Most Famous War Photo Ever?

One of the most powerful photos in history is now wrapped in mystery. You’ve seen it. (Don’t want to embed the photo here, but click the link). It’s a 9-year-old girl, naked and screaming, running down a road in Vietnam after a napalm attack. The image “The Terror of War” shook the world in 1972. It won a Pulitzer. It became the image of war’s horror.

For 50+ years, the credit went to Nick Út, a 21-year-old Associated Press photographer. But now the story just flipped.

🎥 The Plot Twist

A new documentary, The Stringer, says: Wait a second… maybe Nick didn’t take it. Investigators looked at:

Camera angles
Satellite data
Original film reels
And who stood where on that chaotic day

Turns out, another man - Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, a freelance photographer - might have been the one who actually pressed the shutter. He was paid $20 and forgotten.

✅ The photo is real
✅ The moment happened
❌ But who took it? Still up in the air.

Looks like even the biggest icons can carry untold stories behind the lens…

Recommendation: A wonderful (art) podcast 💛

This week, I’ve been obsessed with Bella Freud’s podcast—yes, the lovely designer and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud.

She invites inspiring creators to ‘lie on the couch’ and explore the link between their work and identity. I love the aesthetic of her videos, the calm, relaxed, intimate vibe she creates, and the secret glimpses into these creative minds and their processes. Just wonderful.

I think all creativity is connected, whether it’s fashion, painting, music, or architecture.

Like the designer JW Anderson (the one who create the pigeon purse) said: "The most rewarding part of being creative is actually being curious about other people's creativity. Every day I find something in creativity that I have never seen."

Start with Rick Owens, you’ll be hooked.

CREATIVITY CORNER: STEAL THIS IDEA💡

Make the difficult habitual,

the habitual easy,

and the easy beautiful.

— Konstantin Stanislavski

That’s what Stanislavski said, the great master of Russian theatre.

There’s always the temptation to reflect the complexity of life in your work: to show it all, include it all. Everything feels urgent, necessary, characteristic.

But the real discipline lies in the choice: what matters, what doesn’t. That’s how the difficult becomes simple. Like a spring cleaning of the soul.

And then, make the simple beautiful. Can anyone argue with that?
Not just in your art, but in how you move through the world.

Turn the difficult into habit, the habitual into ease, and the easy into beauty.
That’s the path.

🌸

P.S. I ran into a similar thought in this newly published video from Louisiana Channel about Japanese-Korean artist Lee Ufan, talking wonderfully about his paintings and sculptures: what inspires him, why and how. Not marketing, but sincerity and thoughtfulness.

“Japan has very clearly specified artistic forms. It’s about extreme simplicity and conveying the essence of things. You could say it sharpens the mind. It goes to the extreme and simplifies it.”

MUSIC FOR YOUR STUDIO 🎧

Oh yes, the Eurovision grand finale took place this week, stirring up plenty of emotions across Europe. (And yaay, Tommy Cash, for landing 3rd place!)

But I’d rather close this newsletter with a love song, because … love always wins, doesn’t it? 🙂

Dolly Parton, the legendary country music icon—now 79 years old and the songwriter behind “I Will Always Love You” (made famous by Whitney Houston) and “Jolene”—lost her husband this spring.