Europe

Art, antiques, exhibitions, and collecting news from across Europe.

Enigma Machine Sells for £203,600 at Bonhams: Inside the 1941 Cipher Device

Enigma I cipher machine in its open oak case with keyboard, lampboard and plugboard visible.

A circa-1941 Enigma I cipher machine sold for £203,600 at Bonhams, offering a tangible connection to the history of wartime codebreaking. Its matching numbered rotors, original case and documented museum loans add to the story of this surviving device. Detailed photographs reveal the keyboard, plugboard and rotor assembly behind one of the world’s most recognisable cipher machines.

Diamonds Are Forever and Thunderball: The Untold Story Behind Two Iconic James Bond Posters

Sean Connery as James Bond in a detail of Robert E. McGinnis’s Diamonds Are Forever poster.

Diamonds Are Forever and Thunderball reveal two distinct approaches to the classic James Bond poster. From Robert E. McGinnis’s illustration to photographic montage and Italian re-release publicity, these works show how Bond’s screen identity took shape on paper. Featured in Bonhams’ May 2026 auction, the surviving posters and artwork offer a closer look at the craft behind the campaigns.

AV17 Gallery Brings Žilvinas Kempinas to Artissima 2026, Presenting a Lithuanian Perspective on Movement, Perception and Space

ALAYA by Žilvinas Kempinas: a circular web of fine pale lines on black, shown on an AV17 Gallery Artissima poster.

This autumn, (AV17) Gallery, Vilnius, brings the work of internationally acclaimed Lithuanian artist Žilvinas Kempinas to Artissima 2026, one of Italy’s leading contemporary art fairs. The presentation will explore Kempinas’ distinctive approach to movement, perception, light and space, transforming familiar materials and physical forces into dynamic, often unexpectedly immersive visual experiences.