Joshua Foulquier Built a Restaurant Around the Art His Mother Loved
On the walls of Chez Fifi in New York’s Upper East Side are works by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Joan Miró and other artists that she collected over decades.
The American High-Society Calendar Still Runs on Horses, Yachts and Collector Cars
America’s old guard returns to the same annual fixtures, usually with a standing reservation and work to do.
Ferrari’s First EV Heads to Monterey Car Week Auction With a $1.1M Estimate
After a bruising debut and unexpectedly strong sales, Ferrari’s first EV is heading to auction with a seven-figure estimate and charity angle.
Weekly Features
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The Future of an Art Collection Is Decided Long Before It Changes Hands
Leading art advisor Megan Fox Kelly explores why the art world’s quietest months are often the most important for collectors. She contends that careful documentation, provenance research, appraisals and thoughtful legacy planning are what preserve an art collection’s value and ensure it can be successfully passed to the next generation.
Every Iconic Car Owned by Elon Musk: From a Vintage Model T to a McLaren F1
Before Tesla made him synonymous with EVs, Elon Musk built an eclectic collection of gasoline-powered classics, supercars and movie memorabilia. Here’s a look at Musk’s cars over the decades, including a Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911 Turbo, McLaren F1 and “Wet Nellie.”
The Inheritance Princess Margaret Never Got to Keep
Princess Margaret was never meant to inherit the throne—only its obligations. When she fell in love with a divorced RAF pilot in 1952, the Crown made clear what staying royal would cost her.
The Largest Cash Gifts to U.S. Art Institutions So Far in 2026
From Mitchell Rales’ $116 million gift to D.C.’s National Gallery to major commitments from Silicon Valley, foundations and dedicated cultural patrons, these donations are shaping access to art and institutional futures.
At California’s Most Historic Restaurants, It’s Still a Family Affair
These enduring California institutions have survived changing tastes, recessions and restaurant fads without giving up the family name.
Business
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The Great Wealth Transfer Is Really a Trust Transfer
The $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer poses a major challenge for financial services beyond managing the assets themselves. Thrivent’s Terry Rasmussen argues that wealth may transfer from one generation to the next, but trust and financial relationships must be earned anew.
Longevity Is a Legacy Issue. But Whose Legacy?
Atria Research and Global Health Institute’s Khadija Rejto examines how longer lifespans are reshaping wealth transfer, philanthropy and healthcare investment. Rejto argues that longevity is a legacy challenge that will determine whether prevention, brain health and care infrastructure innovations become broadly accessible or advantages reserved for those who can afford them.
Inside Bernard Arnault’s Slow-Burn Succession Plan for LVMH
Bernard Arnault has placed all five children inside LVMH, but who will eventually lead the luxury empire remains an open question.
What Heirs Need to Know to Establish a Lasting Inheritance
Passing down wealth without passing down the literacy to manage it is how a fortune becomes a cautionary tale. Charline Burgess, a Morgan Stanley Executive Director specializing in wealth education and family governance, argues that inheritance is less a legal transaction than an ongoing education built on shared values.
Banking’s Next Interface Isn’t an App. It’s an A.I. Agent.
Sygnum’s Thomas Frei examines how A.I. agents are reshaping banking, arguing that the industry’s next competitive battleground is secure, permissioned infrastructure that allows software to act safely on a customer’s behalf.
Art
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Judy Glickman Lauder’s Vast Trove of Photography Is a Portrait of Its Collector
Spanning quotidian moments to historic pinnacles, the touring exhibition “Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder” examines different facets of the human experience.
In the Midst of the Great Wealth Transfer, a New Generation Is Redefining the Art of Collecting
Millennial and Gen Z art buyers are rejecting hype, speculation and inherited art-world conventions in favor of personal resonance, direct relationships with artists and a commitment to advocacy and cultural impact.
Centro Botín Champions Marisol’s Drawings and Rethinks Her Legacy
The idea of the female body as, per Vallés Vílchez, “a site of expectations” runs through her work without question, and her aesthetics of fragmented female bodies seem to address the deep malaise of living in a sexist society.
How Kate Lee and Clovis Lima Jr. Are Connecting the Creative Cultures of Asia and Latin America
With the launch of 603 Arts Foundation, the collectors are expanding their support of artists beyond the mere acquisition of works.
Behind Every Museum Gift Is a Negotiation Both Sides Are Trying to Win
What collectors are really bargaining for isn’t just the wall plaque but rather control over their own legacies.
Lifestyle
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More Scenes From a Media Marriage: She Wants Fame, He Wants a Mistress
Status, it turns out, isn’t always inherited by blood—sometimes it just goes to whoever gets there first.
Where to Stay, Dine and Unwind During Monterey Car Week
Beyond the horsepower, Monterey Car Week offers a compelling reason to linger along one of California’s most scenic coastal enclaves.
New Money, Old Crest: Inside the Manufactured Aristocracy of the Modern Wedding
A bride from South Orange becomes a “descendant of William of Orange.” A financier’s son gets a custom family crest and a castle in Scotland. In this archive “Isn’t That Rich?” column, Richard Kirshenbaum tours a summer of manufactured aristocracy and what happens when status is purchased rather than passed down.
The Country Club Comeback Is Less About Golf Than Gated Belonging
As golf booms and third places disappear, wealthy Americans are rediscovering the country club as a private cure for public loneliness—now with better food, padel courts and a waitlist.
Across the Islands of French Polynesia, Privacy Is the Real Luxury
French Polynesia’s most rewarding island-hopping route moves between sacred Raiatea, remote Taha’a and the private-island glamour of Tetiaroa.
Interviews
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How an Idea Becomes an Institution or Exhibition That Outlives Its Moment
“It has to stand the test of time while remaining flexible enough to evolve as technology, research and audiences change. But if you do your job well, millions of people will experience what you’ve created,” Museum Studio’s Delphine de Canecaude tells Observer.
Honolulu Museum of Art Director David Odo On Centering Hawaiʻi in the Institution’s Mission
The incoming director discusses how stepping into the role represents a homecoming, the resilience of Hawaiian culture and his plans to turn the museum into an international platform for artists across Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.
NowHere Bets On the Japanese Artists New York’s Gallery System Overlooked
Founder Kentaro Totsuka is intentionally focusing on Japanese artists who have committed to building their lives in New York to close the gap between those markets.
At The Idle Rocks, a Refreshed Cornwall Classic Finds Its Rhythm
The century-old St. Mawes hotel pairs Cornish charm with a no-fuss approach to luxury, inviting guests to settle in, look at the water and stay awhile.
At the First Bienal del Agua, Demetrio Paparoni Makes Water Political
Featuring works by Monica Bonvicini, William Kentridge, Alexander Brodsky and others, the biennial confronts scarcity, displacement and ecological collapse.
Power Lists
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Observer’s 2026 A.I. Power Index: Who Controls the Capital Flow in A.I
Power in artificial intelligence no longer moves through the channels everyone learned to watch.
Observer New Media Power List: Call for Submissions
Nominations are open for Observer’s 2026 New Media Power List
The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.
2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index
Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
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David Foster Wallace on John Updike: A Legacy of One
In this archive piece, first published in 1997, a young David Foster Wallace takes a scalpel to John Updike and the postwar “Great Male Narcissists”—not over the prose, which he admired, but over a self-absorption so complete it left nothing behind worth inheriting. What happens when nothing gets passed down but the self?
Estate Planning Can Turn a Lifetime of Collecting Art Into a Series of Difficult Choices
Collectors typically resist selling, even when it’s the option most likely to serve heirs.
Author Amy Chozick’s Favorite Character-Driven Reads
The former New York Times reporter’s eclectic list spans everything from David Foster Wallace’s tennis essays and Miranda July’s viral midlife romp to murder mysteries set in luxurious locales.
Age Verification Is Building the Internet’s Next Identity Layer
The rapidly expanding push for mandatory online age verification is really about the future of digital identity. Billions Network’s Evin McMullen argues that the architecture chosen for age verification today could determine whether the next generation of the internet is built around private, portable proofs or mass identity collection.
The Privacy Economy’s Next Frontier Is Governing A.I.
Speakeasy’s Sagar Batchu examines the growing tension between connecting A.I. to proprietary enterprise data and protecting that data from misuse. Batchu argues that as models become interchangeable, visibility and governance will become the next critical layer of enterprise infrastructure.
The Creators at OpenAI’s Wildflower Farms Retreat—and the Backlash That Followed
OpenAI invited about 30 creators to a luxury retreat in the Hudson Valley. Attendees including Grace McCarrick and Nat Lucy faced criticism after sharing posts from the trip to the Wildflower Farms.
What the Art World Can Learn From Luxury’s Return to Intimacy and Cultural Depth
The empire-building model that prioritized constant expansion over human connection hasn’t yielded the expected returns in either market.
Wine, Wheat and Art Share the Same Acreage at These Out-of-the-Way Estates
Though often far from the usual cultural circuits, they reward the effort for serious devotees of contemporary art willing to make the trek.
What to Eat at Marché Forville, the Oldest Market in Cannes
This charming local market is one of the biggest draws for visitors in the city, but a trip works best when you have a roadmap for the snacks and sips that are worth your euros.
In the Pages of These Books, Privacy Is the Ultimate Luxury
A century of fiction and reportage postulates that invisibility has always been wealth’s most precious currency.
Built for Rugged Duty in Harsh Environments, the Land Cruiser Epitomizes Automotive Stealth Wealth
After more than 75 years, Toyota’s classic SUV remains one of the most trusted names in off-road, off-grid travel.
Fueled by Private Wealth, China’s Next Art Capital Thrives Off-Grid
“Artists choose to live in Hangzhou because the city nourishes their practice,” BY ART MATTERS deputy director Wu Tian told Observer. “They don’t want to spend energy on ineffective socializing.”
