The Best Holiday Gifts for the Art Lovers and Artists On Your List
Here’s what to buy the art enthusiast in your life.
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When it comes to gifts for art lovers, wrapping original art is the ultimate power move. But here’s the catch: collectors pour their hearts—and usually their bank accounts—into curating deeply personal collections. If you know your giftee very, very well, a piece of art can be a very, very good gift. You could also treat the collector in your life to a gallery outing or surprise them with a session with an art advisor. But if adding to their collection feels too ambitious, there are plenty of artsy presents for everyone on your list, from the absolute obsessive to the casually cultured. Whether you're working with a shoestring budget or aiming for extravagance, there’s no shortage of options that are thoughtful, stylish and primed to impress. Enjoy our guide to the gifts guaranteed to thrill any art enthusiast.
Observer's guide to the best gifts for art lovers
- The Guggenheim Bauhaus mobile by Flensted
- Carsten Höller and Attilio Maranzano Memory game
- Dior’s Lady Art bag
- Hauser & Wirth ‘In the Studio’ books
- A Gagosian Quarterly Subscription
- Colleen Carroll's 'How Artist's See' collection
- The Blue Boat wallet
- Amélie Vallières’ ‘Sutton’
- ‘Amy Sherald: American Sublime’
- Hunt Slonem’s ‘Galena’
- Lichtenstein ‘Cup and Saucer I’ tote
- Barbie x MoMA Vincent van Gogh ‘Starry Night’ doll
- ‘On NFTs,’ edited by Robert Alice
- Larry Bell’s ‘STUD’ belt
- Takashi Murakami’s ‘Melting DOB Blue & Red’
- Alexander Calder leather tote
- Maurizio Cattelan ‘Comedian’ t-shirt
- Art Herstory note cards
- ‘The Guardians of Art’ by Dani Levinas
- The La Faccia Cup
- ‘Colourful Hong Kong - Street Art Stories’
- Cindy Sherman ‘Untitled #92’ skateboard decks
- Man Ray’s ‘A l’heure de l’observatoire, les Amoureux’ ring
- Noi Volkov’s Miro-inspired teapot
- ‘The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art’
- Keith Haring Pop Shop Coloring Book
- ‘The Frick Collection—Essential Guide’
- Jonas Wood’s ‘Japanese Landscape’ print
- Damien Hirst’s ‘Schizophrenogenesis’
- Limited edition Jenny Saville ‘Melody’ print
- Man Ray chess set
- ‘Caudex (pachypodiun gracilius)’ by Jaron Su
- Gilbert & George’s ‘Winter Flowers’ plate
- MCA Denver’s ART hat
- Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’ LEGO set
- The hand-embellished Frida chair
- ‘The Art Book’
- Henri Matisse ‘Nu bleu, I–IV’ stoneware plates
- The Old Masters Memory Game
- ‘STREET Dots #2’ by Astrid Stoeppel
- ‘Images a la Sauvette: Photographies par Henri Cartier-Bresson’
- A trio of Jean-Michel Basquiat pouches
- French dot pattern necklace
- Calida Rawles’ ‘Quintessence’
- A vase designed by Gaetano Pesce
- ‘Deux en Une Drawing’ by Hildegarde Handsaeme
- ‘Vitamin V: Video and the Moving Image in Contemporary Art’
- The Venyx × Man Ray ‘Venus Restored’ pendant
- ‘LA TORRE’ by Eduardo Eddiart
- Richard Prince ‘Hippie Drawings’ jeans
The Guggenheim Bauhaus mobile by Flensted
Designed by Greenberg Kingsley, the so-called “Mondrian” mobile brings modern Bauhaus energy into any room with its graceful movement, vivid primary colors and graphic forms, all handcrafted and precisely balanced by Flensted Mobiles, a three-generation family workshop known for creating pieces in constant, harmonious motion.
Carsten Höller and Attilio Maranzano Memory game
Created for the 2012 exhibition "Carsten Höller and Attilio Maranzano: Memory" at GunGallery in Stockholm, this deliberately confounding limited-edition game features sixty-two cards that pair Maranzano’s photographs of an Italian amusement park with Höller’s manipulated versions, turning a simple memory match into a disorienting challenge.
Dior’s Lady Art bag
Available in select Dior boutiques in extremely limited quantities, these rare and beautiful handbags were designed by artists Jessica Cannon, Patrick Eugène, Eva Jospin, Ju Ting, Lakwena, Lee Ufan, Sophia Loeb, Inès Longevial, Marc Quinn and Alymamah Rashed in what is the label’s 10th annual convergence of culture and couture.
Hauser & Wirth ‘In the Studio’ books
Hauser & Wirth Publishers' In the Studio series offers art lovers a beautifully illustrated glimpse into the working lives of major 20th- and 21st-century artists—most recently Lee Lozano, stuffing big behind-the-scenes insights into a stocking-size package.
A Gagosian Quarterly Subscription
Gagosian Quarterly is an art lover’s dream, delivering intimate behind-the-scenes access to artists through incisive interviews, profiles, studio visits and thoughtful editorial features that deepen the experience of contemporary art.
Colleen Carroll's 'How Artist's See' collection
This complete capsule set of the How Artists See series uses diverse artworks and friendly, question-filled text to help children build visual literacy and explore subjects they know from experience, encouraging self-discovery and creative expression.
The Blue Boat wallet
An MFA exclusive, this bifold wallet featuring Winslow Homer's iconic artwork is the perfect gift for anyone who appreciates the artist’s signature style (or is from New England).
Amélie Vallières’ ‘Sutton’
Sutton’s portrait from The Memory Garden collection captures the enduring bond between a young woman and her horse in soft rose and butter-yellow lines, using the animal as a mirror of resilience and authenticity while reclaiming the tenderness and power of girlhood passions carried into adulthood.
‘Amy Sherald: American Sublime’
- Bringing together nearly all of the artist’s work to date, Amy Sherald: American Sublime traces the artist’s evolution from her early poetic paintings to the iconic portraits that define her practice, situating her approach to selecting sitters and using expression, body language and clothing within the history of American realist and figurative art.
Hunt Slonem’s ‘Galena’
- Slonem’s limited-edition 2022 ceramic sculpture, one of twenty signed and authenticated works, translates the lively brushwork of his iconic bunny into a vivid red three-dimensional form that reflects his evolving shift from painting to sculpture.
Lichtenstein ‘Cup and Saucer I’ tote
This take-anywhere bag showcases the artist’s witty elevation of a simple steaming coffee cup with a Mondrian-like palette, Surrealist biomorphism, Art Deco patterning and cartoon-inspired graphic punch.
Barbie x MoMA Vincent van Gogh ‘Starry Night’ doll
Mattel and MoMA unite two icons in this Barbie inspired by Van Gogh’s The Starry Night (1889), her windswept curls, crescent-moon accents and gown swirling with motifs from the painting’s wind-whipped sky and quiet village to evoke the dreamlike world of the beloved masterpiece.
‘On NFTs,’ edited by Robert Alice
The ‘Hard Code’ edition of On NFTs, edited by Robert Alice and published by TASCHEN in an edition of 600, comes housed in a stainless-steel slipcase designed by ZAK Group; it’s the first major art-historical survey of the NFT ecosystem with 10 scholarly essays and richly illustrated profiles of 101 key artists that contextualize the disruptive medium.
Larry Bell’s ‘STUD’ belt
- Bell’s limited-edition STUD belt, signed and numbered in an edition of 20, channels the Light and Space pioneer’s six-decade exploration of reflection and perception by transforming a chance-found fragment of a Studebaker emblem into a bold sculptural accessory.
Takashi Murakami’s ‘Melting DOB Blue & Red’
This figure reimagines the artist’s original Mr. DOB character with swirling red and blue forms, white ring lettering and a dual-personality expression—fangs and manic eyes on one side, a sly grin on the other—crafted in painted cast vinyl in an edition of 300.
Alexander Calder leather tote
A sophisticated statement for Calder fans, this limited-edition Mansur Gavriel tote is crafted in Italy from vegetable-tanned leather and printed with a motif inspired by Alexander Calder’s 21 feuilles blanches (1953), offering a roomy 13-inch interior and an exterior that develops a rich patina with time.
Maurizio Cattelan ‘Comedian’ t-shirt
This 100 percent cotton tee featuring Maurizio Cattelan’s viral Comedian brings the infamous banana-on-a-wall artwork into wearable form while nodding to its Duchampian questions about value and authorship, with proceeds supporting Feeding South Florida’s hunger-relief efforts.
Art Herstory note cards
These premium note cards, featuring striking artworks by women artists of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, offer a beautiful and practical reminder that women have always shaped the history of art.
‘The Guardians of Art’ by Dani Levinas
Art collector Dani Levinas distills conversations with 34 fellow collectors—including Aaron and Barbara Levine, Giorgio Spanu, Jan Mulder, Sheikha Al Mayassa, Teixeira de Freitas and Jarl Mohn—into a book that offers revealing, deeply informed insights into the landscape of contemporary collecting.
The La Faccia Cup
American artist Emma Kohlmann brings her playful visual universe into the home with this adorable hand-painted cup, a vibrant everyday vessel whose colorful motifs can be mixed or matched with other pieces in the series.
‘Colourful Hong Kong - Street Art Stories’
In the first book dedicated to Hong Kong’s vibrant street art scene, Alexandra Unrein shares 15 years of documentation with vivid photographs, a concise history of Hong Kong graffiti, profiles of key local and expat artists and introductions to early icons like the King of Kowloon and the Plumber King.
Cindy Sherman ‘Untitled #92’ skateboard decks
This open-edition triptych features Cindy Sherman transformed into a distressed schoolgirl crouched on a tiled floor with wet hair and an anxious, side-glancing stare that suggests a moment of tense escape, her youthful determination captured across three decks made of 7-ply Grade A Canadian maple.
Man Ray’s ‘A l’heure de l’observatoire, les Amoureux’ ring
Designed by Eugenie Niarchos, this toi et moi double ring reimagines the painting in enamel set against 1.26 carat sapphires, 0.57 carat diamonds and 0.76 carat tsavorite garnets, transforming the Surrealist painting’s flame-red Lee Miller-inspired lips into a contemporary symbol of desire.
Noi Volkov’s Miro-inspired teapot
The artist, who regards Joan Miró as one of the greatest Spanish artists and admires his pursuit of maximum clarity and power, draws on the work of art-world icons as inspiration for his own ceramic creations.
‘The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art’
Featuring more than 200 works by over 130 artists, this richly illustrated volume traces key moments in Indigenous art from the late 19th Century to today, with concise texts that illuminate the strength and creativity of luminaries like Emily Kam Kngwarray and Gulumbu Yunupinu.
Keith Haring Pop Shop Coloring Book
This highly collectible Pop Shop coloring book from the mid to late 1980s features twenty offset-printed Keith Haring illustrations and two bold printed signatures on the cover, offering a playful vintage treasure created by the artist himself during his most iconic era.
‘The Frick Collection—Essential Guide’
With the Frick Collection open to the public once again, this beautifully crafted volume by curator Aimee Ng offers a perfect way to reintroduce the art lover in your life to the museum’s remarkable holdings and the intimate stories behind them.
Jonas Wood’s ‘Japanese Landscape’ print
Jonas Wood’s limited-edition etching Japanese Landscape (2022) depicts a dense wooded clearing and a winding path to a distinctively Japanese building, using just two shades of black and gray to showcase the textured interplay of form and content that marks his engagement with Japanese printmaking, published by Pace Editions in an edition of 35.
Damien Hirst’s ‘Schizophrenogenesis’
This hand-signed and sealed limited-edition copy of Schizophrenogenesis collects the pill-themed works from his 2014 Paul Stolper Gallery exhibition, offering a characteristically provocative fusion of Conceptual art and pharmaceutical obsession from the Young British Artists icon.
Limited edition Jenny Saville ‘Melody’ print
Created to accompany the exhibition "Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting," this signed, numbered and dated limited-edition print of her 2024 painting is available exclusively through the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Man Ray chess set
These chess pieces reimagine Man Ray’s 1920 wooden set (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) that was inspired by his lifelong friendship with avid player and fellow artist Marcel Duchamp and translated traditional forms into pure geometry.
‘Caudex (pachypodiun gracilius)’ by Jaron Su
Taiwan-born and Netherlands-based, painter Jaron Su brings his love of fat plants to this painting in a Japanese-inspired minimalistic palette of beige, black and green to create a quietly abstract twist on botanical representation.
Gilbert & George’s ‘Winter Flowers’ plate
Produced in Paris by Ligne Blanche, this Limoges porcelain plate showcases a vivid detail from Gilbert & George’s Winter Flowers (1982), layering the duo’s red-tinted likenesses over a snowy urban scene in a design that channels their fascination with stained glass.
MCA Denver’s ART hat
A clean black or red cap stamped with the word ART turns a simple accessory into a quiet flex for anyone who wants to wear their obsession everywhere they go.
Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’ LEGO set
Creating great art becomes a meditative experience with this 1,810-brick LEGO set that assembles into a multi-layered 3D version of the renowned printmaker’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, complete with its own frame.
The hand-embellished Frida chair
This whimsical statement armchair draws inspiration from Frida Kahlo’s one-of-a-kind colors and style, with embroidery on rose velvet depicting a vivid array of flora, fauna and the artist herself.
‘The Art Book’
The latest edition of Phaidon's award-winning art survey features work by more than 600 of the world’s greatest artists from medieval to modern times and now includes new additions such as Berenice Abbott, Hilma af Klint, El Anatsui, Romare Bearden, Mark Bradford, Cao Fei, Cecily Brown, Judy Chicago, John Currin, Guerrilla Girls, Lee Krasner and many others.
Henri Matisse ‘Nu bleu, I–IV’ stoneware plates
Four dinner plates crafted by East Fork Pottery feature figures reproduced from Matisse’s 1940s cut-outs series shown at MoMA in 2014-2015, rendered in the artist’s vivid signature blue to bring a touch of modernist joy to the table.
The Old Masters Memory Game
With cards featuring portraits by Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Titian, Frans Hals, Albrecht Durer, Goya and others, the classic game of Concentration becomes an art history lesson.
‘STREET Dots #2’ by Astrid Stoeppel
Internationally acclaimed painter Astrid Stoeppel closed out 2024 with a small series of Pop art sculptures in which she transformed discarded German traffic signs by covering them in her signature dots, reimagining both their appearance and their original function.
‘Images a la Sauvette: Photographies par Henri Cartier-Bresson’
This first-edition copy of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Images a la Sauvette—a “bible for photographers” in the words of Robert Capa—offers a vivid window into the first 20 years of the artist’s career.
A trio of Jean-Michel Basquiat pouches
These water-resistant zip pouches reproduce three striking Jean-Michel Basquiat works—his 1982 painting Dos Cabezas, the cover artwork for Rammellzee and K-Rob’s 1983 rap-battle single Beat Bop and his 1983 painting Mitchell Crew—bringing his vivid iconography into everyday use.
French dot pattern necklace
This playful resin statement necklace takes its chromatic cue from Jean-François Persoz’s French color manual Theoretical and Practical Treatise for Printing on Fabric, drawing on the vibrant history preserved in the Getty Research Institute’s collection.
Calida Rawles’ ‘Quintessence’
This limited-edition print captures the artist’s ongoing exploration of water, light and the layered dimensions of presence, reimagining these forces through the concept of a fifth element said to exist beyond fire, earth, air and water.
A vase designed by Gaetano Pesce
In 1995, Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce created a series of soft-resin vases for the Fish Design collection that captured the inventive color, form and material experimentation that defined his boundary-pushing work.
‘Deux en Une Drawing’ by Hildegarde Handsaeme
This minimalist black-and-white drawing by the Belgian contemporary artist, known for her pared-down female figures and geometric abstraction, explores the quiet tension and connection between masculine and feminine presence in a single distilled gesture.
‘Vitamin V: Video and the Moving Image in Contemporary Art’
This sweeping volume offers the most comprehensive survey to date of contemporary video and moving-image art from the past decade, assembling more than 850 images from over 100 artists who span hand-drawn animation, participatory video-game technologies and computer-generated video in a vivid snapshot of the field’s evolving experimentation.
The Venyx × Man Ray ‘Venus Restored’ pendant
Designed by Eugenie Niarchos, this eye-catching gray quartz and 18-karat white gold pendant channels the Surrealist allure of Man Ray’s Vénus restaurée (1936), reimagining the bound Medici Venus with a contemporary elegance that nods to its quietly transgressive origins.
‘LA TORRE’ by Eduardo Eddiart
As striking in a living room as it is in a garden, Eddiart’s uniquely textured Cubist sculpture of rusted metal balances chaos and harmony while developing a rich patina that deepens its character over time.
Richard Prince ‘Hippie Drawings’ jeans
These vintage dark-wash Levi’s 501 jeans were created as part of Richard Prince’s collaboration with L.A. designer Darren Romanelli for the Katz + Dogg brand; Romanelli transformed his trove of flea-market and thrifted denim, textiles and sportswear into singular, one-of-a-kind pieces.
