Modern Art

If no bids are made in an Open, One Offer, or Hidden auction the Auctioneer gets the painting for free; for a Fixed Price auction, if no one buys the Auctioneer must pay the announced price. (See rulebook pages 3 and 28.)

The Auctioneer may offer a second painting of the same artist (not another Double); the auction is then conducted using the second painting’s auction type, and the owner of that second painting (the second Auctioneer) receives the winning bid — if no one adds a second painting the original Auctioneer simply gets their card for free. (See rulebook pages 3–4 and 28.)

In a Hidden auction tied highest bids are resolved in clockwise order: the player closest to the Auctioneer in clockwise order wins the tie; if the Auctioneer is among the tied players they win. (See rulebook page 3; general tie rule on page 28.)

A round ends when the fifth painting of any single artist is offered; that fifth painting is not auctioned but is counted when ranking artists (and if it’s the second card of a Double there can be two unsold paintings). (See rulebook pages 4 and 28.)

After a round rank the top three artists and place value tiles (First $30, Second $20, Third $10); an artist’s current painting value equals the total of all value tiles in that artist’s column (so tiles from earlier rounds do add to later values), but artists not in the top three that round are worth nothing. (See rulebook pages 4 and 5.)