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$1.1 Billion in Art Sold in Less Than Three Hours

A single evening only brought in $1 billion at auction one other time, Paul Allen’s estate in 2022.

Christie’s May 18 evening sale was headlined by:

  • Pollock: $181.2M, nearly 3x his previous record

  • Brancusi: $107.6M, second highest sculpture price ever

  • Rothko: $98.4M, a new record for the artist

Obvious outliers, but the evening capped a spring auction season that totaled $2.5 billion (roughly 2x last year). This follows a Q1’26 that saw the postwar contemporary art market grow 23.1%.

Masterworks offers investors the opportunity to invest in blue-chip contemporary and post-war art. Since 2017, it has offered over 500 artworks and raised over $1 billion in total investments.

29 exits to-date have delivered net annualized returns like 16.5%, 17.6% and 17.8% on sold works held over 12 months.

Join 70,000+ members in adding art to their portfolios.

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*According to Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investing involves risk. See important disclosures at masterworks.com/cd

Est. 2026  ·  Vol. I  ·  The Daily Grievance
Grump News
"The worst thing that happened to me today that you NEED to know about. And some other news stuff."
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 No. 013  ·  Price: Your Time
Late Edition
❖   A Note To Readers   ❖
Against my better judgment, there are now two of these a day: a morning edition at 8 a.m. and a late edition at 6 p.m. You will get both by default. No one is making you read them both. That technology is sadly not ready yet. For now, reply to any email and say morning or evening, and I will spare you the other.
❖   The Gripe   ❖
A Personal Affront, Reported Faithfully

The website insists the package was delivered. It is not on the porch, not at the door, not in any mailbox attached to my address. Somewhere in this town there is a package, and its disappearance has now entered local folklore.

❖   The Damage Report   ❖
Today's News, Ranked By How Much It Ruined My Mood
🔥 Most Enraging
We can now have a phone charger in half an hour, while last week's package is still listed as delivered and still nowhere on Earth.
😩 Most Exhausting
Even the goldfish is a menace now. There is officially nothing left that can be trusted to just sit there.
😤 Unreasonably Annoying
Nearly five dollars to reach my own money at the wrong machine. The machine did less than I did and still got paid.
🤷 Somehow Also Happening
A grown man said he teleported to a Waffle House, and somehow that is the detail that ended the career.
❖   And Some Other Stuff   ❖
Briefly, And With Limited Enthusiasm
▸ Scientists found a 'ballista' spider that builds a spring-loaded silk trap to catapult ants to their death — The spiders are building catapults now. The bugs are out-engineering me, and I have stopped acting surprised.
▸ A juvenile great white caught off Spain shows the Mediterranean's elusive 'ghost' great whites are still out there — There is a whole population of sharks no one can find for years at a time. At least somebody has worked out how to be left alone.
▸ A new study finds we learn speech mostly by processing sound, not by the brain regions that move the mouth — We learn to talk by listening, which makes it strange that listening is the first thing everyone quits.
Forward this to someone who also hates everything.
— The Grump  ·  (and Larry)
The worst thing that happened today. And a few other things.

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