The Art, the Auction, the Crowd: Inside ArtCrush 2026

Aspen Art Week went out with a bang on Friday night, as the Aspen Art Museum’s 21st annual ArtCrush gala and auction raised more than $4 million for the museum’s free exhibitions and educational programming.

Held at the base of Buttermilk Mountain and co-chaired by Sarah Arison and Charlie Pohlad, the evening honored Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas with the 2026 Lewis Family Art Award. Villar Rojas is also the subject of First Gods, Lost Animals, a sprawling two-floor exhibition at the museum, on view through April 11, 2027.

The evening also marked the culmination of the museum’s annual ArtCrush auction. Christie’s led the live sale, with donated works by artists including Xinyi Cheng, Sayre Gomez, Camille Henrot, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Keith Mayerson, and Villar Rojas helping push the night’s fundraising total to $4 million. A concurrent online auction expanded the offering to works on paper and design, including pieces by Leonora Carrington and George Condo. 

ArtCrush also stands apart for its artist-led model, which returns a percentage of each donated work’s value to the participating artist, with proceeds supporting the museum’s year-round programming.

And the art world turned out, with its fair share of familiar faces from Palm Beach. Amy and John Phelan, Eleanore and Domenico De Sole, Carlton DeWoody, William P. Lauder, and Nicolas and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn were among the collectors and patrons at Buttermilk, alongside Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hank Willis Thomas, Camille Henrot, Yana Peel, Jamie Tisch, Jewel, Dustin Yellin, and Kennedy Yanko. 

After a week of exhibitions, fairs, performances, studio visits, and seemingly endless dinners, ArtCrush brought the art world together for one last night, the perfect send-off to Aspen Art Week 2026.