Art News: Impressionist and Modern 2026 in Review

2026 was the year Impressionist and Modern art led again. In the first half, sales at the three largest auction houses reached $6.8 billion, up 70% on 2025 and the best first half since 2022, according to the analysts ArtTactic, and the rebound was led by established artists rather than recent ones. It was also the centenary of Claude Monet's death, which museums in Paris and London have marked with a run of major Impressionist exhibitions.

The sales that defined 2026

The spring sales in New York set the tone. On 18 May, Constantin Brâncuși's Danaïde, a bronze of about 1913 from the collection of the publisher S.I. Newhouse, sold for $107.6 million. That is a record for the artist and the second-highest price ever paid at auction for a sculpture. Newhouse had bought it in 2002 for $18.2 million. The same evening, Renoir's Woman with Lilacs (Portrait of Nini Lopez) made $28.2 million.

The next night, Matisse's La Chaise lorraine, a Nice-period interior of about 1919, sold for $48.4 million after more than ten minutes of bidding, the second-highest price for Matisse at auction. It came from the Barbier-Mueller collection, had not been on the market for nearly fifty years, and could be traced back to the dealer Paul Guillaume, who bought it from the artist in 1926. The sale it led made $303.9 million, with 98% of lots sold.

The pattern held all year. The works that drew competition were fresh to the market, came from named collections with a documented history, and were offered at estimates that left buyers room.

Still to come this autumn

The year's biggest tests are still ahead. In London on 14 October, Mondrian's Composition III of 1920 is estimated at £20 million to £30 million, and in Paris on 22 October a large late Monet Iris carries the highest estimate ever given to a painting at auction in France, €22 million to €30 million. Both are covered in our guide to Frieze week and the October auctions.

Then, in New York in November, comes the collection of Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her husband Carlos Pedro Blaquier: twelve paintings expected to make about $450 million in all. It is led by Van Gogh's Châtaignier en fleurs roses et blanches, painted in May 1890, at around $180 million. The Van Gogh auction record is $117 million, set in 2022 by Orchard with Cypresses. Alongside it are Cézanne's Arlequin of 1888 to 1890 at about $120 million, Pissarro's La Place du Théâtre-Français of 1898 at $30 million to $40 million, Renoir's En canot of 1877, Monet's Le Jardin des Tuileries of 1876, and a still life by Vlaminck.

The exhibitions

London opened the year with the Courtauld's Seurat and the Sea (13 February to 17 May), the first exhibition devoted to Seurat's seascapes and the first in Britain devoted to him for almost thirty years. It brought together paintings, oil sketches and drawings from five summers on the Channel coast between 1885 and 1890.

Georges Seurat, The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe, 1890, from his last summer on the coast. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

At Tate Modern, Frida: The Making of an Icon, on Frida Kahlo, runs from 25 June 2026 to 3 January 2027.

The autumn belongs to Monet. In Paris, the Musée de l'Orangerie, home of the great Water Lilies rooms, is showing Monet: Painting Time (30 September 2026 to 25 January 2027), with nearly forty paintings. The Musée Marmottan Monet has Stories of Landscapes: From Monet to Hockney (24 September to 31 January), the Grand Palais has Cézanne and Us (23 September to 17 January), and the Musée d'Orsay is showing Mary Cassatt.

London answers with two shows that opened within a day of each other. Renoir and Love at the National Gallery (3 October 2026 to 31 January 2027) brings together more than fifty works, the most important Renoir exhibition in Britain for twenty years, and includes Bal du moulin de la Galette, shown in this country for the first time. Painting the French Riviera at the Royal Academy (2 October to 31 January) follows the coast's hold on painters from the 1870s to the 1960s through more than 160 works, from Monet, Cézanne and Renoir to Matisse, Picasso and Bonnard.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, and in London this autumn for Renoir and Love. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In North America, The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse, drawn from the Dallas Museum of Art, opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario in June and moves to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 14 November 2026 to 4 April 2027.

What to expect in 2027

The centenary carries on into the new year. Monet: Painting Time, organised with the Orangerie, opens at Tate Modern on 25 February 2027 and runs until 27 June, with more than sixty paintings, twenty of them Water Lilies. It is Tate Modern's first solo Monet exhibition, and the National Gallery is lending one of its paintings of the Japanese footbridge.

Claude Monet, The Water-Lily Pond, 1899. National Gallery, London. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Later in the year Tate marks what would have been David Hockney's 90th birthday with two exhibitions, the larger opening at Tate Britain on 7 October 2027.

In the salerooms, 2027 starts from whatever November decides. At its estimate, the Blaquier Van Gogh would set a new record for the artist. Whatever happens, the lesson of 2026 is unlikely to change: quality, freshness and a clear history are what bring competition, and a realistic estimate is what turns competition into a price.

For owners, there is a practical point. A year in which London alone shows Monet, Renoir and the Riviera painters puts more attention on these artists than at any time in a decade, and attention is what a sale needs. If you own an Impressionist or Modern work and are wondering what it would make, or whether 2027 is the year to sell, we offer a free and confidential valuation with no obligation, and we can compare a confidential private sale with the auction route before you decide.