Like bad news landing at a formal dinner, the works by Michaël Borremans menace the expectations of a perfect setting. His solo exhibition at Voorlinden, A Confrontation at the Zoo, composed of Borremans’ hand-selected paintings from the last 20 years, exemplifies the intuitive and poetic relationship between his different works.
In May 2023, the Turkish ambassador contacted the Glyptotek with a request for the return of an ancient bronze portrait of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. The request was based on an assumption that the portrait originated from Boubon in southwest Türkiye, from which it had been illegally excavated and traded.
Two previously unknown sketches by Belgian surrealist René Magritte have been authenticated, enriching the legacy of one of the 20th century's most celebrated artists. The Magritte Committee, the authority on the authenticity of his works, confirmed that these are genuine creations by the artist.
UCCA Center for Contemporary Art presents “Luc Tuymans: The Past” between November 16, 2024, and February 16, 2025, in one of the most significant surveys of the acclaimed Belgian artist, with 87 works spanning his career. The exhibition offers a profound exploration of Tuymans’s distinctive approach to painting as well as his nuanced, and often haunting, approach to history.
The UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict has decided to grant provisional enhanced protection to 34 cultural properties in Lebanon and to grant international financial assistance to support the implementation of emergency heritage measures.
The Kochi Biennale Foundation has appointed artist Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces as the new curatorial team for the 6th edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. India’s first biennale of international contemporary art and the largest exhibition of contemporary art in South Asia, it will open to the public from 12 December 2025 until 31 March 2026.
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) announced that Nora Burnett Abrams has been appointed the museum’s next Ellen Matilda Poss Director, succeeding Jill Medvedow after a 26-year tenure that has transformed the ICA into one of the leading centers for contemporary art in the country.
Creative outlets enrich our lives. Studies show engaging in artistic hobbies improves mental well-being and boosts happiness. They require little in the way of specialized tools or extensive training, allowing you to express yourself freely and easily explore your creativity.
To mark the 750th anniversary of the city of Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum presents its new Don Quixote Sculpture Hall as a unique gift to the city. Generously supported by the Don Quixote Foundation, the hall comprises a magnificent indoor Sculpture Hall which provides an opportunity for the Stedelijk to spotlight works from its famous collections.
Newly released Bank of America art market update finds that lower auction estimates, discounts at galleries and the recent interest rate cuts are driving increased participation among collectors heading into marquee events, including the New York fall auctions and Art Basel Miami.
Searching for meaning was the driving force behind Helene Kröller-Müller's personal life and her collection. Throughout the collection, you can follow her journey as she encounters artists and movements, philosophy and spirituality. Her destination was a museum as a centre for spiritual life, set in the tranquillity of nature. Searching for Meaning is an exhibition that inspires and invites contemporary philosophizing about life and art.
The Board of Trustees of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao approved the appointment of renowned art historian and curator Miren Arzalluz as new Director General of the Museum upon conclusion of the international selection process carried out in the past few months.
Thanks to Halloween tales and Scooby-doo specials, mummies are often thought of as scary or grotesque creatures with glowing eyes and tattered wrappings. In reality, mummified human remains offer us an incredibly personal insight into the lives of individuals who lived more than 3,000 years ago.
Nico Williams the winner of the $100,000 2024 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s richest prize for contemporary visual arts. The remaining shortlisted artists – Taqralik Partridge, Judy Chartrand, Rhayne Vermette, June Clark, and Mathieu Léger – will each receive $25,000.
The British would call them “tiny houses”: small, detached dwellings but, in this case, with extremely elegant decoration. This is the case for one of the most recent houses to have been discovered during the excavations currently underway in the Insula of the Casa dei Casti Amanti, in the central district of the ancient city of Pompeii along Via dell’Abbondanza.
The Carabinieri (Italian police) has uncovered a large-scale pan-European forgery network making and selling fake artworks attributed to some of the best known names in modern and contemporary art including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol according to a pressrelease.
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Catherine Martin T.D. has announced the selection of artist, Isabel Nolan, with Georgina Jackson and The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art as the curator, to represent Ireland at the 61st Venice Art Biennale in 2026.
United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Berman Jerry Nowlin, Jr. (21, Huntsville, Alabama), a/k/a “Repulse” and “Zayous,” guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Nowlin faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. Sentencing has been set for January 23, 2025.
Bakunin’s Barricade is based on a concept introduced by the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, and the idea to use the worth of artworks in barricades in order to protect movements from state violence, as officers would not dare to destroy priceless artworks to breach a barricade.
From 17 October 2024 to 24 February 2025, Fondation Louis Vuitton presents “Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann & …”, an exhibition dedicated to Pop Art, one of the major artistic movements of the 1960s, whose influence continues to be felt across all continents and amongst all generations.
The Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property, chaired by Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier, decided unanimously on 6 September 2024 in the case of the heirs of George Grosz versus Freie Hansestadt Bremen not to recommend restitution of the painting Pompe Funèbre by George Grosz and the painting Stillleben mit Okarina, Fisch und Muschel by George Grosz to the heirs of George Grosz.
The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Italy (the “ministry”) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (“CMA”) today announced that, working collaboratively, they have agreed to the transfer of a 13th-century manuscript leaf representing the letter “A” once part of a choral book located at a church near Siena.
The Penn Museum’s Penn Cultural Heritage Center (PennCHC) announced the Museums: Missions and Acquisitions (M2A) Project, an unprecedented three-year national study that will create an evidence-based framework for the future collecting decisions of U.S. museums.
Christie’s announced the 21st Century Evening Sale, taking place live at Rockefeller Center, 7pm on Thursday, November 21, 2024. The sale will be led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled, a monumental portrait that sits among the iconic artist’s most impressive and outstanding works.
Ashfika Rahman (35, Bangladesh) is the main prize winner of the 7th Edition of the Future Generation Art Prize. Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif (27, Iraq), Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (29, Mongolia), Dina Mimi (29, Palestine), Hira Nabi (36, Pakistan), Ipeh Nur (30, Indonesia), Zhang Xu Zhan (35, Taiwan) received the special prize.
On view at the Getty Villa Museum from November 4, 2024, to March 3, 2025, the exhibition will feature over 200 objects, including skillfully crafted gold, silver, and bronze metalwork, pottery, inscriptions, stone reliefs, and other artworks reflecting Thrace and its connections to other ancient cultures in the Mediterranean and beyond.
A statue of Emmeline Pankhust, the suffragette leader, in Manchester got the Just Stop Oil treatment today with a speech bubble and high viz vest. Just Stop Oil is demanding that the UK government work with others to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
A passage in the Norse Sverris Saga, the 800-year-old story of King Sverre Sigurdsson, describes a military raid that occurred in AD 1197, during which a body was thrown into a well at Sverresborg Castle, outside Trondheim in central Norway, likely as an attempt to poison the main water source for the local inhabitants.
In December 2019, Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian captivated the world in its debut at Art Basel Miami Beach. Comprised of a banana fastened with duct tape to a wall, the artwork quickly erupted into a viral global sensation that left a lasting impact on the contemporary cultural consciousness.
Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) (“Endeavor” or the “Company”), a global sports and entertainment company, today announced that it has commenced a review and potential sale of certain events within its IMG portfolio, including but not limited to Frieze, the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art.
Police in Poland are searching for unknown perpetrators who appear to have found a hoard of over 100 Bronze Age objects during an illegal dig and then left them outside a local historical society. The items, which include 3,000-year-old jewellery and weapons, are now in the possession of the authorities.
Collectors Jan Dees and René van der Star have donated to the Rijksmuseum a wide-ranging and world-class collection of modern Japanese lacquer comprising 90 objects. They previously donated their kimono collection, seven room dividers and their collection of Southeast Asian fabrics to the Rijksmuseum and the Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands.
The V&A announced that its new working store and free visitor attraction, designed by world-renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, V&A East Storehouse, will open to everyone on 31 May 2025, as part of East Bank, the new cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
A sister painting of Turner's ‘Venice from the Canale delle Giudecca with the Church of Santa Maria della Salute’ has been discovered in Vienna. This scientific result was announced today. In a comprehensive publication, experts explain the art-historical background and scientific image analysis. It is planned to sell Turner's masterpiece.
For the first time in history the Anne Frank House will present a pioneering experience outside of Amsterdam to immerse visitors in the rooms where Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jewish inhabitants spent two years hiding to evade Nazi capture and where she wrote her famous diary.
Philippe Vanderpoorten is a passionate Belgian collector of African tribal art, particularly from Congo. Philippe's fascination with the continent's rich cultural heritage started at an early age. His years spent living in South Africa further deepened his connection to African traditions.
Thanks to the precious contribution of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, and after delicate restoration works that lasted almost five years. the celebrated and priceless sculpture dating back to the early decades of the second century, is now open to public viewing again.
The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, is raising funds to purchase a painting of the crucifixion by the Renaissance Master Fra Angelico dating to the 1420s which, due to its cultural and art historical importance, has been barred from export and is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer is found. 'The Crucifixion' has been in a private British collection for over 200 years and is valued at over £5 million for the open market. The Museum has until 29 October to raise £4,481,000 to buy the painting in a private treaty sale. So far, over £3.1 million has been secured, including lead donations from major donors, a circle of over 25 supporters and a significant grant from Art Fund, with several grant applications pending.
Museum Cobra appointed Suzanne Wallinga as its new general director. Together with financial director Cor Dinkgreve, she will form the museum’s new board of directors from October 1, 2024. Her appointment marks a new chapter for Museum Cobra, in which her vision and refreshing approach will further strengthen the museum.
For the first time in its history, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is dedicating a major special exhibition to Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606–1669). Never before has it been possible to admire such an abundance of major works by the master, one of the most important Dutch Baroque painters, in Austria. The exhibition takes a special approach in contrasting Rembrandt’s paintings with works by his brilliant pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Art Crime Team, the New York and New Orleans Field Offices, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana today announced the repatriation of a Claude Monet pastel on paper, “Bord de Mer.” The artwork was looted by the Nazis during World War II, and the original owners and their heirs have spent decades searching for their belongings.
An artwork was recently discovered in a rubbish bin at the LAM museum in Lisse, Netherlands, where it had been thrown away by a lift technician who mistook it for abandoned litter. The piece, created by French artist Alexandre Lavet, consists of two meticulously hand-painted beer cans.
A joint Egyptian-German archaeological mission from Sohag and Berlin University has discovered the burial chamber of a woman named Edi, daughter of Jifai-Hapi who was governor of Assuit in Upper Egypt during the reign of King Senusret I of the 12th dynasty (1991–1778 BC).
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art launched a global open call to find an outstanding architect-led team for a world-class expansion that will transform the museum with a dynamic, open, and inviting design. The goal of the expansion is to attract new audiences and design a center that speaks to community, creating a museum for all.
The Sharjah Biennial 16 title, to carry, is a multivocal and open-ended proposition. The ever-expanding list of what to carry, and how to carry it, is an invitation to encounter our different formations and positions and to gather a constellation of resonances.
On 19 September, on the margins of the G7 Culture Ministerial in Naples, Italy, the Director-General of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) Aruna Francesca Maria Gujral and Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Lee Satterfield signed a grant agreement for $1 million grant through the U.S. State Department’s Ukraine Cultural Heritage Response Initiative.
The heirs of art historian Abraham Bredius, who passed away in 1946, are demanding the return of several artworks from the Mauritshuis museum. Their lawyer confirmed this following a report by NRC. The museum in The Hague allegedly has not upheld agreements regarding the exhibition of the works, which include masterpieces by Rembrandt.
Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings at the National Gallery in London in a sign of defiance after the original soup throwers, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were imprisoned for up to two years at Southwark Crown Court today.
Art isn't confined to the walls of galleries or the pedestals of museums. It flows through every facet of daily life, influencing moods, sparking conversations, and inspiring creativity. This pervasive presence of art makes it a crucial part of human experience, shaping the way people see the world and interact with it. Understanding the role of art in everyday life can open new perspectives and appreciation for the subtleties that enrich our routines.
Mehmet Emin Sualp, a villager in Turkey's eastern Elazığ province, discovered an 84-square-meter single-piece mosaic floor depicting natural life in August 2024 while digging holes to plant saplings on a field. Experts dated the floor back to the Roman and Early Byzantine periods.
With a goal of $2.5 billion, the Campaign for Our Shared Future is the largest campaign in Smithsonian history and represents the largest amount to be raised in a campaign by a cultural organization. It will culminate in 2026 with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In keeping with close bilateral ties and to foster greater cultural understanding, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India under Ministry of Culture, Government of India had signed a Cultural Property Agreement in July 2024 to fulfill the commitments made by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi to enhance cooperation to protect cultural heritage, as reflected in the Joint Statement issued after their meeting in June 2023.
Vienna-born curator Fanny Hauser has been named the next director of the Kunsthalle Zürich, taking the place of Daniel Baumann, who will be leaving the museum after ten years to work on curatorial projects independently, the museum announced. Hauser will start the new position in January 2025.
UNESCO is deeply concerned about the recent reports of possible looting and damage of several museums and heritage institutions in Sudan, including the National Museum, by armed groups. The Organization calls on the international community to do its utmost to protect Sudan's heritage from destruction and illicit trafficking.
Artistic freedom is under increasing political and social pressure, and within this context, MUNCH has created a new annual award of NOK 300,000 / £20,000 to recognise an artist who has distinguished themselves with courage and integrity throughout their career.
An Egyptian archaeological mission, led by Dr. Ahmed Said El-Kharadly from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, has uncovered a series of mudbrick architectural units, including military barracks for soldiers and storage rooms for weapons, food, and provisions from the New Kingdom era.
The Roswitha Haftmann Prize honours the lifetime achievements of exceptional artists. Worth CHF 150,000, it is Europe’s best-endowed art award. Zarina Bhimji is its 22nd recipient. Previous winners have included Walter De Maria, Maria Lassnig, Robert Ryman, Cindy Sherman, Robert Frank, VALIE EXPORT and Cildo Meireles.
The Obama Foundation announced the installation of an 83 ft. x 25 ft. commissioned work of art by world-renowned Ethiopian-American artist Julie Mehretu. The piece, titled “Uprising of the Sun,” is now featured on the north facade of the future Obama Presidential Center’s Museum Building.
The Council of Europe Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and human rights, democracy, and the rule of law (CETS No. 225) was opened for signature during a conference of Council of Europe Ministers of Justice in Vilnius. It is the first-ever international legally binding treaty aimed at ensuring that the use of AI systems is fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Gao Zhen was arrested in his studio in Beijing while he was back visiting family. According to his lawyer, he could be charged with ‘damaging the reputation or honour of heroes and martyrs’. The ruling Communist Party is tightening its grip on the narrative of history.
Pipilotti Rist will be awarded the prestigious Sikkens Prize 2024 representing a sum of 75.000 euros during a festive meeting in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and Kunsthal Rotterdam. The jury praises the leading Swiss artist for, among other things, the phenomenal way in which she uses colour in her work and how, as a pioneer in video art, she has paved the way for younger generations.
The Rijksmuseum has acquired a first edition of Maria Sibylla Merian’s Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, her illustrated natural history of Suriname. Published in 1705, it is Merian’s masterpiece and a high point of Dutch book production in the 18th century.
James McNeill Whistler's first portrait commission, Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides, comes to Bonhams 19th Century British and Impressionist Art sale on 25 September at Bonhams New Bond Street, London. This is the first time that the work has been on the market in nearly 60 years. It has an estimate of £80,000 - 120,000.
Over five years in the making, the move of V&A collections from Blythe House to V&A East Storehouse, a 16,000m2 purpose-built home and first of its kind in the UK to provide open public access to collections through self-guided tours and changing displays, is now complete.
After a bidding war that lasted more than six hours, the New York Yankees jersey Babe Ruth wore when he called his shot to deep center field in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series sold early Sunday morning at Heritage Auctions for $24,120,000 to become the world’s most valuable sports collectible.
Victoria Siddall has been appointed as the new Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, marking a significant leadership shift for the renowned institution. The announcement was made on Wednesday, 28 August 2024, following approval from the Prime Minister, and Siddall is set to assume her new role in the autumn.
The Allentown Art Museum has entered into an agreement with the heirs of Henry Bromberg, who sold works from his collection while fleeing Nazi Germany, including Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony (ca. 1534) by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop. The painting was purchased by the Museum from a New York gallery in 1961 and has been on view at the Museum since.
The international curatorial collective "What, How and for Whom/WHW", consisting of Ivet Curlin, Natasa Ilic und Sabina Sabolovic, is the new artistic director of Skulptur Projekte 2027. The appointment of the collective thus marks a turning point in the history of the exhibition. For the first time, it is in the hands of women alone.
In East Asian cultures, the arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting have traditionally been referred to as “the three perfections.” A selection of works spanning the three forms of art—all created in Japan over the course of nearly a millennium—will be displayed in the exhibition The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting from the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, opened August 10, 2024, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
That’s the rallying cry heard throughout Deadpool & Wolverine, which became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever just days after its July 26 release. It’s also the perfect reaction to the news that Heritage Auctions is offering for sale the original artwork Rob Liefeld penciled and inked for the cover of New Mutants No. 98, which introduced Marvel Comics’ Merc With a Mouth.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Ombudsman, called on the UN to respond to Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage, including the Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese. It is Crimea’s unique historical and archaeological monument included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Amsterdam’s Kunstverein has published an open letter signed by the leaders of arts institutions in support of the Kunstverein after it was recently denied government subsidies owing to “lack of budget” despite receiving a positive rating from the Mondriaan Fund.
The Whitney Museum of American Art announces that the next Whitney Biennial will be co-organized by Museum curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer. Guerrero, the DeMartini Family Curator, and Sawyer, the Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, will lead the development of the eighty-second edition of the Museum’s landmark exhibition series, set to open in spring 2026.
MGLC, the International Centre of Graphic Arts, is pleased to announce the appointment of renowned curator, lecturer and researcher Chus Martínez as Artistic Director of the 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts (2025). The 2025 edition takes place June 6–October 12, 2025.
Bonhams announces Chabi Nouri as Global CEO of the international auction house. Nouri, who will be based in Bonhams’ headquarters in New Bond Street, London, will take up the position in October 2024 at the 14-saleroom auction house.
This September, Musée Rodin in Paris will open its first international outpost – in China. The French museum’s two existing sites in central Paris and in nearby Meudon, in the villa where Auguste Rodin lived until his death in 1917, are well-known cultural destinations thanks to the fame and influence of the sculptor behind The Thinker (1904) and The Kiss (1882).
For the fourth High Line Plinth commission, Iván Argote presents Dinosaur (2024), a colossal, hyper-realistic sculpture of a pigeon cast in aluminum. Dinosaur was first submitted as a proposal for the High Line Plinth in 2020, among 80 proposals that included the third High Line Plinth commission, Pamela Rosenkranz’s Old Tree (2023).
In a River a Thousand Streams is a major new public artwork that was unveiled at London Bridge Station on Wednesday 24 July. The 57-metre mosaic mural is the result of a collaboration between London School of Mosaic (LSoM) and AA alum Adam Nathaniel Furman, and explores themes of craft, community and collaboration.
20 Items of significant cultural importance were returned to the Warumungu community of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, Australia. The permanent, voluntary, and ethical return of the items by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, a renowned museum dedicated to global arts and cultures with an emphasis on Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Indigenous Americas, was initiated by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo of Homeland Security Investigations, New York, announced the return of an eleventh artwork to the family of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer whose art collection was stolen by the Nazi regime.
Palestinian archaeological site Tell Umm Amer has been added to the Unesco World Heritage List. Its inclusion comes after an emergency nomination due to the Israel-Gaza war. The announcement was made as part of the ongoing session of the organisation's World Heritage Committee, which runs until Wednesday in New Delhi.
The Justice Department has reached an agreement with “Jasmine” Loo Ai Swan (Loo), the former general counsel of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Malaysia’s sovereign investment development fund, to recover artwork by Pablo Picasso and a financial account in Switzerland traced to funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
Renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass has announced that the "Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities and Heritage" will launch a large popular campaign in September to demand the return of Nefertiti's bust, the Rosetta Stone, and the planetarium from abroad to Egypt.
The heritage-protected architectural icon of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld from the 1960s needs to be energetically renovated and future-proofed. The goal is to implement a package of measures that leverages the unique, historic spaces and allows for forward-looking museum work.
Over 50 paintings, drawings and sketches by artists Norman Cornish and LS Lowry will be showcased at The Bowes Museum from 20th July 2024 – 19th January 2025. This major new exhibition includes 35 rarely or previously unseen artworks by the artists who shared a strong love of the north which was the focus of so much of their work, and who have a history of exhibiting together.
The Natural History Museum’s transformed gardens will welcome visitors from 18 July. Fern, a brand-new bronze Diplodocus, takes pride of place in a Jurassic landscape. The gardens will also be one of the most intensively studied urban nature sites globally, as part of the Museum’s national biodiversity movement
Stephen Aragabada's work, Secrets, was shown in the Rodney episode of the Netflix hit series Supacell and stands out distinctly in both style and technique. He also caught the attention of American celebrity collector, Alicia Keys who described his work as “Gorgeous”. Since the acclaim, Aragbada has racked up teeming interest, bringing an excitement that anticipates the evolution of his distinct representation of Blackness in contemporary Africa.
18 Inspirational art installations will feature artists from New York and Beyond, supporting port authority and JFK millennium partners’ vision to transform the passenger experience at JFK. Sculptures, suspended installations, wall works, and glass mosaic floor medallions will create a unique New York sense of place
The V&A has successfully raised the £2 million cost to acquire and save a rare 12th-century walrus ivory carving, depicting the Deposition of Christ from the Cross, for the nation, following a temporary export bar placed in November 2023 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Bill Viola passed away peacefully at home on July 12th, at the age of 73. The cause was Alzheimer’s Disease. Viola is survived by his wife and longtime creative collaborator, Kira Perov, Director of Bill Viola Studio, sons Blake and Andrei Viola and daughter-in-law Aileen Milliman.
Portrait art has long captivated audiences with its ability to capture not only the physical likeness but also the essence of its subjects. Some portraits have transcended their time, becoming iconic pieces that continue to influence and inspire. By exploring several famous portraits, we gain a deeper appreciation of how portrait art shapes our understanding of history, personality, and artistic innovation. These masterpieces offer a glimpse into the lives and times of their subjects, revealing the artistic brilliance and cultural significance behind each work.
Young V&A has been announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024. Dr Helen Charman, Director of Young V&A, was presented with the £120,000 prize – the largest museum prize in the world – by Vick Hope, broadcaster and judge for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, at a ceremony at the National Gallery, London.
Pumpkin (2024) marks a return to Serpentine for Kusama which was the location of her first retrospective exhibition in Britain in 2000. This major survey included paintings, collages, watercolours, sculptures, documentation of performances and films, all of which explored Kusama’s obsessions with dots, nets, food and sex.
Art Basel announced the participating exhibitors and first details of its 2024 edition in Miami Beach, taking place from December 6-8, 2024 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Led for the first time by Bridget Finn, Art Basel's stalwart fair in the Americas will host 283 galleries from 34 countries and territories presenting the best of their world-class programs, including 32 first-time participants, marking the fair's biggest cohort of newcomers since 2008.
A team of scientists co-led by researchers from Australia’s Griffith University, the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and Southern Cross University has discovered and dated a cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi that may be the oldest known evidence of storytelling in art, with the findings published in the journal Nature.
Six outstanding international contemporary art experts have been appointed to documenta 16's new Finding Committee, unanimously approved by the Supervisory Board upon recommendation of the Managing Director. The Committee brings together Yilmaz Dziewior, Sergio Edelsztein, N'Goné Fall, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Mami Kataoka, and Yasmil Raymond.
Dutch artist Jacqueline de Jong died on Saturday at the age of 85. She was active in her career right up until she was admitted to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam a week ago, said gallery owner Jaring Dürst Britt, who confirmed a report in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
These publications are the result of the first two writers' residencies organised by the Museo Nacional del Prado with the sponsorship of Fundación Loewe and the collaboration of the magazine Granta in Spanish. Among the aims of the residencies is the creation of a short story inspired by the time the authors spent in the museum.
Costume and accessories on loan from Taylor’s personal archive will be on display, from customised cowboy boots worn during her breakout success as a country singer in 2007, to the jet-black ruffled shoulder dress worn in the most recent music video for her single Fortnight (2024).
The Emil G. Bührle art collection has been the subject of intense debate in Zurich for several years. The conflict is much older than the new building extension to the Kunsthaus Zürich, but it has become particularly heated with its opening in October 2021, when the collection was presented to the public.
Thomas Taylor's original watercolour illustration for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, achieved a record-breaking $1.9 million today at Sotheby’s, becoming the most valuable Harry Potter item ever sold at auction. The illustration was chased by four bidders on the phone and online for nearly ten minutes before selling to applause.
Escher in The Palace has acquired a unique work by Maurits Cornelis Escher. When the woodcut of a white cat was being removed from its frame, a previously unknown text by M.C. Escher himself was discovered. The text has been examined and interpreted over the past few months.
Seemingly, what two completely different realms of art and psychic reading have in common? However, they showcase more points of intersection than we might imagine. From tapping into the deepest layers of the subconsciousness to sharpened sensitivity to the unseen, both fields provide profound insights and impact experiences.
As an organization committed to protecting the freedom of thought, expression, and inquiry, the National Coalition Against Censorship is alarmed by the decisions of three U.S. museums—the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, and the Joslyn Art Museum—to cancel or postpone plans to exhibit artwork by Kehinde Wiley.
An Egyptian-Italian archaeological mission has uncovered early this month a group of 33 previously unknown Graeco-Roman family tombs in the vicinity of the Aga Khan Mausoleum at Aswan’s west bank. The discovery sheds light on the diseases inhabitants of that era had suffered, WAM reports.
Vincent van Gogh painted Head of a Woman in March-April 1885. He was practicing painting to eventually create an intricate composition such as The Potato-Eaters. That work is considered the absolute highlight of Van Gogh's Brabant period, before he left for Paris.
From June 20th to July 25th, 2024, New Zealand artist Michael Dell will be showing a new series of mesmerizing abstract paintings and drawings at Ronewa Art Projects in the exhibition Distant Pictures. We chatted with Dell about the cinematic inspiration for this series, his process-led approach to art-making, and the fine details contained in the remnants of this process.
The Centre Pompidou has unveiled that Moreau Kusunoki in collaboration with Frida Escobedo Studio and AIA have won the architectural competition to complete its renovation set for completion in 2030. The DNA of the iconic Parisian structure designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers will be preserved, with an eco-responsible approach that will revitalize the complex for contemporary use over the course of five years.
The Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, the patron association of the Kunsthaus Zürich and owner of its collection, n 5 June 2024 agreed with the heirs of the Jewish industrialist and art collector Carl Sachs on a ‘just and fair solution’ for the painting ‘L’Homme à l’ombrelle’ by Claude Monet. This is an important step in the systematic implementation of the new provenance strategy which the Kunsthaus Zürich presented in March 2023. The work is now to be sold under the terms of the amicable agreement.
This collaborative approach mirrors the interactive learning experiences in museums, fostering critical thinking and a sense of community. Sharing notes helps students compare insights, deepen their understanding, and support each other's academic growth, making learning a more engaging and comprehensive journey.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. today announced the indictments of Yincheng Wu, Grace Hu and Merces Gallery LLC, for illegally selling thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal elephant ivory through online auctions. YINCHENG WU, GRACE HU, and MERCES GALLERY LLC are each charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with three counts of Illegal Commercialization of Wildlife.
For nearly thirty years the Gallery has been inviting primary school children nationwide to focus on one painting from the collection and respond creatively, following their own questions and ideas, and this year’s programme has been the biggest yet: 300 schools took part – more than a 60% increase from last year.
This year’s Art Basel concluded on Sunday, June 16, with impressive sales across all market segments and a total of 91,000 visitors. Maike Cruse, the new director of Art Basel, highlighted the exceptional quality of the exhibited works and the positive response from collectors worldwide.
Coming to the market for the first time in more than 145 years, Titian’s early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt will headline Christie’s Old Masters Part I sale on 2 July 2024, presenting a very rare opportunity for buyers to become part of the next chapter in this fabled picture’s remarkable story (estimate: £15,000,000 – 25,000,000).
The temporary association noAarchitects, David Kohn Architects with Asli Çiçek may design the expansion and renovation of S.M.A.K. The design proposal includes a second museum building, for the permanent collection. The entrance to both museum buildings will be in the Floralia Hall, which will have a central role in Citadel Park.
Affordable housebuilder, Orbit Homes, recently unearthed over 18,800 historical artefacts after excavations at its Calthorpe Gardens development discovered archaeological evidence dating from the Prehistoric Mesolithic, Late bronze Age-Middle to Late Iron Age, and through to early Anglo-Saxon times.
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) arrived in Entebbe airport with 39 artefacts from the communities and kingdoms of Uganda that have been in the collections in Cambridge for a century or more. These artefacts have been placed in the care of the Uganda Museum on a long-term loan, where they will be the focus of a programme of research and consultation, and a major exhibition in 2025.
The Anne Frank House has received a special donation from Jacqueline Sanders-Van Maarsen: her autograph book with a handwritten verse by Anne Frank, dated 23 March 1942. The now 95-year-old Jacqueline has carefully preserved the album with Anne’s verse over the years as a testament to their deep friendship.
A former Vatican employee has been arrested in a sting operation and is currently behind bars awaiting formal charges for trying to sell back a manuscript he allegedly pilfered from the archives of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican confirmed last Thursday, after the incident was first reported in the Italian newspaper Domani.
Tate announces its programme of exhibitions for 2025 across Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate St Ives. It includes the UK’s first major museum shows for Emily Kam Kngwarray, Ithell Colquhoun, Leigh Bowery, Liliane Lijn and Ed Atkins, a landmark survey of Nigerian Modernism, and exhibitions and commissions covering every medium from paintings, sculptures and photographs to digital installations and live performances.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is appointed Medea Sógor Ekner as the Director General, effective immediately. With extensive experience in the museum sector and strong leadership skills, Medea Ekner is well suited to lead ICOM into a new era of renewal and innovation.
Rijksmuseum researchers have discovered the true identity of an Amsterdam couple in portraits by Frans Hals: they are Amsterdam’s mayor Jan van de Poll and his wife Duifje van Gerwen. This is the only pair of pendant marital portraits of an Amsterdam couple painted by Frans Hals. Jan and Duifje travelled to Haarlem around 1637 to sit for the painting.
Selecting the ideal art school is a pivotal decision that can shape your artistic journey. As a writer specializing in education at Academized, I've gained valuable insights into this process. In this post, I'll share practical tips to help you navigate the art school selection process with confidence and find the perfect fit for your creative aspirations.
Visual artist Stephanie Cime's series "Drops of I Am", is captivating audiences in Belgium's busiest shopping district with an inflatable based on her series "Drops of I Am". This body of work encourages viewers to challenge preconceived notions, embrace radical authenticity, and find beauty in imperfection. This article contains a meditation !
Fotografiska, the contemporary museum of photography, art, and culture, will relocate its New York location to better meet the needs of its visitors and expand gallery space in response to the ambitious visions of the artists it presents globally. After five years of strong ticket sales and a highly- engaged membership base, the last day in its current building will be September 29th, 2024.
Taiwanese artist and filmmaker Chia-Wei Hsu is the winner of the 10th Eye Art & Film Prize (2024). In his work, Hsu probes the cultural history and geopolitics of Southeast Asia. The jury is impressed by how ‘he weaves these big themes with small, personal stories, bringing forgotten histories back to life and opening up new perspectives to his audience.’
The Albertinum in Dresden has acquired an installation by artist Markus Draper. The work "House near a large forest" was acquired for the museum by a couple living in Berlin, Draper told the German Press Agency. The starting point is the city villa in which Russian President Vladimir Putin worked as an agent at the outpost of the Soviet secret service KGB from 1985 to 1990.
Emile Claus, born on the banks of the river Lys in Sint-Eloois-Vijve (Waregem) on September 27, 1849, holds a significant place in art history. “ In commemoration of the centenary of his passing in 2024, we saw fit to organize an exhibition near his birthplace” says Pietro Iacopucci, Alderman of culture in Waregem.
The interplay between traditional visual arts and modern film and animation is a fascinating exploration of how classical techniques and aesthetics continue to shape contemporary media. This blend not only enriches the visual experience but also deepens the narrative, allowing audiences to experience stories in dynamic and visually stunning ways.
Museo Nacional del Prado and Colnaghi announce a nine-month loan of Caravaggio’s masterpiece Ecce Homo to the Spanish national museum in Madrid, on behalf of the painting’s new owner. The Prado Museum will unveil the work for a special solo display from 28 May until October 2024.
The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired 17 drawings dating from the 16th to early 20th centuries by a range of European artists, including a pastel by Eva Gonzalès, an important nude by Edgar Degas, a rare genre scene by Guercino, and key sheets by Joseph Wright of Derby, Luca Cambiaso, Giovanni Boldini, and Odilon Redon.
At a formal repatriation ceremony on Tuesday at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum in Naha, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo returned 22 historic artifacts that were looted following the Battle of Okinawa and had been missing for almost 80 years.
Art Fund announces the five museums shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, the world's largest museum prize. The shortlisted museums are: Craven Museum (Skipton, North Yorkshire), Dundee Contemporary Arts (Dundee), Manchester Museum (Manchester), National Portrait Gallery (London), Young V&A - Victoria and Albert Museum (London).
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr, today announced the return of 27 antiquities to the people of Cambodia and 3 antiquities to the people of Indonesia. The pieces, collectively valued at nearly $3 million, were recovered pursuant to multiple ongoing investigations into trafficking networks targeting Southeast Asian antiquities, including those of alleged trafficker Subash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener.
Breasts, an exhibition during the Venice Biennale 2024, at ACP Palazzo Franchetti. Breasts showcases the diverse works of more than thirty emerging and established artists from around the world, spanning the realms of painting, sculpture, photography, and film from 1500 until modern day.
Thames Valley Police and Christ Church Oxford announced the safe recovery of the seventeenth century painting ‘A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan’ which was stolen from Christ Church Picture Gallery on 14 March 2020, and make a fresh appeal for information about two other works taken in the same raid.
The non-profit organisation ‘La Jeune Peinture Belge - De Jonge Belgische Schilderkunst’ announces the laureate of the BelgianArtPrize 2025. Suchan Kinoshita was selected by the jury and is invited to create and present new work at the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels / Bozar from 24 April to 29 June 2025.
The internationally renowned work Saint Luke paints the Madonna by Maarten van Heemskerck originally appears to consist of two paintings. This iconic masterpiece will be on display at the first retrospective exhibition of Heemskerck in Haarlem and Alkmaar (28 September 2024 to 19 January 2025)
Paris, April 15, 1874, eight o'clock in the evening, in the former studio of the famous photographer Nadar, on Boulevard des Capucines. On the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building, some thirty painters gathered to present a selection of some 165 works to the public.
A few months before the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on December 8, 2024, the DRAC and the Mobilier national are teaming up with the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF) to present21 large-format paintings, including 13 Mays, restored as part of an exceptional project, as well as part of the choir carpet and other remarkable furniture.
On Tuesday 19 March DRC-based artist collective Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) organised a special ceremony to welcome back the sculpture Balot: a carved wood ancestral power-figure made in 1931. This event marks the first time that the sculpture returns to its country of origin in more than 50 years.
Although almost nothing is known regarding the artist’s life, the date of 5 April 1474 is the first reference to Jheronimus Bosch’s existence, when he is referred to as a witness for his sister in the sale of the mortgage on a house in the small town of Geffen (The Netherlands). At that date the artist was around 24, the legal age for acting independently in a notarial document.
Coming to the market for the first time in more than 145 years, Titian’s early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt will headline Christie’s Old Masters Part I sale on 2 July 2024, presenting a very rare opportunity for buyers to become part of the next chapter in this fabled picture’s remarkable story (estimate: £15,000,000 – 25,000,000).
Joanne Heyler, Founding Director of The Broad, announced plans for an expansion that will build upon the success of The Broad’s first decade by providing enhanced public access to the growing collection, extend The Broad’s standard-setting visitor engagement, and make possible deeper offerings in live programming.
Since 2 May 2023, the upper panels of the interior of the Ghent Altarpiece are being restored at the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent. This is the third and final phase of the large-scale conservation-restoration campaign of the altarpiece of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA).
Liste is announced the participating galleries of Liste Art Fair Basel 2024. This year, 91 galleries from 35 countries will welcome visitors from 10–16 June in Hall 1.1 at Messe Basel. In 65 solo and 16 group presentations, along with five joint booths, more than 100 of the latest voices in contemporary art will be showcased.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel considered 3 claims for 3 works by Sir Peter Paul Rubens: St Gregory the Great with Ss Maurus and Papianus and St. Domitilla with Ss Nereus and Achilleus, The Conversion of St. Paul, and The Bounty of James 1 Triumphing Over Avarice, for the ceiling in the Banqueting House, Whitehall.
From today, the Ukrainian version of the audio tour is available. This provides Ukrainian visitors with the opportunity to discover the life and work of Vincent van Gogh in their native language. The launch of the audio tour was introduced by a special video message from the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska
In a unique and unrepeatable exhibition, at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, with the support of Fondazione Bracco as Main Partner, a masterpiece by Piero della Francesca (1412-1492): the Augustinian Polyptych will be presented-for the first time in history, after 555 years since its creation.
Sofie Muller's (° 1974, Ghent) complex oeuvre displays an ongoing, profound research of the human condition and the beauty of our individual vulnerability. The main recurring themes are imperfection and psycho-physical trauma. She taps into the breaking point of the mind and body and portrays it in smoke drawings and sculptures in bronze or alabaster.
The next artworks that will take pride of place on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square have been chosen. Lady in Blue by Tschabalala Self will occupy one of the highest profile public art spaces in world from 2026, while Untitled by Andra Ursuţa will be installed from 2028.
Over 1,700 letters written by Piet Mondrian have been preserved. The letters offer a still largely unknown glimpse into the artist's personal life and are an invaluable source of information about his art. These letters, together with Mondrian's theoretical writings, will be published online by the Mondrian Edition Project.
The National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and dozens of other famous public museums will be open for couples to hold wedding ceremonies, as a part of the government’s support to lessen financial burden on young people planning to get married.
On the bastions of the Cittadella in Gozo, Tom Van Malderen has installed an object crafted from timber. This temporary exterior structure serves as both a tiny public shelter and a starting point for reflecting on the presence of objects in everyday life. The work can be seen as the artist's personal interpretation of the contemporary polyester pop-up gazebo.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the City of Paris have chosen Alison Saar, a Los Angeles-based sculpture artist, to produce an artwork that will be installed in the French capital to honour the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
The city of Poperinge, inspirator Koen Vanmechelen and curators James Putnam and Michaël Vandebril present the 2024 edition of Watou Arts Festival. 'Landscape of the Imagination' will take place from July 6 to September 1. Artists and poets will showcase the power of the imagination, in dialogue with each other and with several unique locations in and around the village and castle De Lovie.
Working in the digital realm long before it was associated with fine art, Samaras pioneered radical new modes of image making throughout his storied career, pushing and redefining the boundaries of portraiture and self-portraiture over the course of seven decades.
At an event jointly convened by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and the U.S. State Department, a groundbreaking global report on art and cultural property restitution was unveiled by WJRO and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).
Flaco was magic. At once an immigrant and a native, he seized his opportunity to make New York City his own. He meant so much to so many, who gathered in droves over the past year to watch him be his best Eurasian Eagle-Owl self. He was and remains a testament to the virtues of resilience and self reinvention.
A majority of people appreciate art for its aesthetic appeal and ability to light up spaces. Evidence, however, shows that there are numerous benefits of creating and consuming art. From stress reduction to improved cognitive processes and creativity. Here are reasons why art is ideal as a subject and a hobby.
In the flow of creative endeavors, modernity offers digitalized desires on screen that mimic canvases. Creativity is now driven by unimaginable power as digital art takes the upside. The intersection of imagination with innovation is where we dive into the influence of digital art on the contemporary art world here.
With regard to the participation in the International Art Exhibition of the Countries represented in the Pavilions of the Giardini, the Arsenale and in the city of Venice, La Biennale di Venezia would like to specify that all Countries recognized by the Italian Republic may autonomously request to participate officially.
A landmark new exhibition at the British Museum will explore the final three decades of the Renaissance master Michelangelo’s illustrious life and career. Michelangelo: the last decades (2 May – 28 July 2024) will delve exclusively into this significant – and arguably most demanding – period of the artist’s life, focusing on how his art and faith evolved through the common challenge of ageing in a rapidly changing world.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today the artists for its 2025 commissions. Jennie C. Jones (born 1968, Cincinnati, Ohio) will produce her first multi-work outdoor sculptural installation for the Museum’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. For The Met Fifth Avenue facade, Jeffrey Gibson (born 1972, Colorado Springs, Colorado), a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, will create four figurative sculptures—works that he refers to as ancestral spirit figures.
50 years ago, on April 15, 1874, the first impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. “Hungry for independence”, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne finally decided to free themselves from the rules by holding their own exhibition, outside official channels: impressionism was born.
In Aix-en-Provence, France, within the walls of Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the childhood home of the French impressionist Paul Cézanne, a mural by Cézanne, previously unknown to the art world, emerged, casting a new light on the artist's early work and his connection to the maritime world.
Manu Parekh, a celebrated Indian painter, has created a profound mark on the horizon of modern Indian art with his distinctive style and exploration of inner landscapes. Born in Ahmedabad in 1939, Parekh's artistic journey has been shaped by various influences, from his training at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai to his exposure to the philosophies of Rabindranath Tagore, F. N Souza, and Paul Klee.
On the proposal of Ms Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, the President of the Republic appointed Mr. Christophe Leribault as President of the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. He will take office on Monday 4 March 2024.
In the context of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto (1924), Bozar is celebrating 100 years of surrealism with a unique exhibition dedicated to the avant-garde movement in Belgium.
Seven artists have been nominated as contenders for the Fourth Plinth commissions in 2026 and 2028. Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Gabriel Chaile, Ruth Ewan, Thomas J Price, Veronica Ryan, Tschabalala Self, and Andra Ursuţa have each crafted maquettes of their proposed artworks, which are currently on view at the National Gallery until March 17, 2024.
A small watercolor that was examined for authenticity for a year and a half has been recognized by Mondriaan experts as an authentic, early work by Piet Mondriaan. It concerns a church-going family in traditional costume, painted between 1898 and 1901. The work will be included in the catalog raissoné at the National Office for Art Historical Documentation RKD in The Hague.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced the return of two paintings dating to the 18th Century to the people of Peru. As alleged, the paintings were stolen from a church in Peru in February 2012 and trafficked into Manhattan, where they were consigned for sale at an auction prior to the Office’s seizure this year.
A $25 million gift from the Bucksbaum family—Carolyn (Kay), Jacolyn (Jackie), and John Bucksbaum—will support future initiatives of the Art Institute of Chicago, with a focus on the creation of the Bucksbaum Photography Center. This remarkable support is a lead gift in the museum’s visionary multi-year plan to expand and enhance the visitor experience.
Robbie Williams is the celebrated singer-songwriter and former member of the iconic English pop group Take That with a distinguished solo career. With a charismatic stage presence and evocative lyrics, he has brought the world together with chart-topping hits.
Researchers have mapped the life of a Stone Age man in detail. New scientific methods have revolutionised archaeology and the Swedish-Danish team of researchers at the University of Gothenburg are now able to state that “Vittrup Man”, a Stone Age man found in a bog in Denmark, travelled across a wide geographical area during his lifetime.
On January 26, 2024, the Cultural Committee of the City of Hanover unanimously recommended that the painting "Tête de femme" by Amedeo Modigliani (circle) be restituted to the community of heirs of the Jewish writer, journalist and artist Michel Georges Michel (1883-1985).
Net Making, a group exhibition curated by Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi which draws from the practice of weaving of camouflage nets collectively as a metaphor for joint horizontal actions, will present Ukraine at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition will feature works by Katya Buchatska (in collaboration with 15 neurodivergent artists), Andrii Dostliev and Lia Dostlieva, Daniil Revkovskyi and Andrii Rachynskyi, and Oleksandr Burlaka.
This three-year initiative starts in January 2024 and runs to December 2026. Around 5,000 murals across the UK will be recorded and photographed and make them freely available on the Art UK website. Painted murals will constitute a large part of this project, alongside sculptural murals in concrete, brick, wood, stone, tile and other materials.
The Italian Ambassador to Iraq, Maurizio Greganti, unveiled a plaque at the Basra Museum in Iraq, marking Italy's donation of a replica of the 'Bull of Nimrud' to Iraq. This contribution signifies a pivotal moment in the cultural restoration efforts following the destruction of the original Assyrian artifact by Isis-Daesh in 2015.
The Austrian performance artist Flatz wants his tattoos to continue to exist as works of art after his death therefore Christie’s supports the Bavarian State Painting Collections at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich and the FLATZ Foundation with a charity auction.
Amanda Ziemele will present “O day and night, but this is wondrous strange… and therefore as a stranger give it welcome” for the Latvian Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia from April 20 until November 24, 2024. The Pavilion will be curated by Adam Budak, the Director of Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover and is commissioned by Daiga Rudzāte, the Head of the INDIE Culture Project Agency.
‘Ice Bed,’ Nima Sarikhani’s dreamy image of a young polar bear drifting to sleep on a bed carved into an iceberg, has been voted as the winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award.
The Fowler Museum at UCLA, a renowned museum dedicated to global arts and cultures with an emphasis on Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Indigenous Americas, has announced the permanent and voluntary ethical return of royal objects to the Asante Kingdom in the Republic of Ghana.
This triennial departs from Adonis' poem A Time Between Ashes and Roses. Echoing its sentiments and visions, this exhibit brings together a futurity empowered by geologic time views rather than immediate and national or territorial perspectives which illuminate contemporary human-environment divides.
The Council of Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of Seville presented the Holy Week poster with great emotion 2024 Manolo Raven. The work, created by the prestigious painter Salustiano, pays tribute to the Resurrection of Christ, capturing the luminous essence of Holy Week. The poster, inserted into a light box, It is revealed as a striking and unique representation.
Since time immemorial, the portrayal of women in art has often been confined to the idealised perfection of physical appearance, emphasising alluring faces associated with fertility and prosperity. However, this limited narrative failed to encapsulate the complexities and realities of women's lives.
Carl Andre redefined the parameters of sculpture and poetry through his use of unaltered industrial materials and innovative approach to language. He created over two thousand sculptures and an equal number of poems throughout his almost seventy-year career, guided by a commitment to pure matter in lucid geometric arrangements.
As the 2024 presidential election season speeds up with caucuses and primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, political history curators from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will be on the road gathering materials and memorabilia to document this election cycle for the national collections.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and Erin Keegan, Acting Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations, New York, today announced the return of two more artworks to the family of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer whose art collection was stolen by the Nazi regime.
Under the title Thresholds, the German Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2024 narrates history and the future from various artistic positions. Thresholds stands for the present as a place where no one can stay and that only exists because one thing has occurred and another still awaits.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), founded in 1805 by the artists Charles Willson Peale and William Rush as the first art school in the United States, is closing its college at the end of the next academic year. The institution’s museum will remain open.
The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University was set to open the first American retrospective of Samia Halaby, a Palestinian-American abstract painter and Indiana University alumna (MFA 1963), IU tenured faculty (1969-72), and the first woman professor Yale School of Art (1972-82). The show “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” was scheduled to open on February 10th 2024, and run until June 9th 2024.
PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine) announces the names of the artists shortlisted for the 7th edition of the Future Generation Art Prize. Selected from over 12,000 entries across almost 200 countries, the final list includes 21 artists and artist collectives, spanning five continents. Established by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in 2009, the Future Generation Art Prize is a biannual global contemporary art prize to discover, recognize and give long-term support to a future generation of artists all over the world.
No other painter in the history of European art was able to convey the details of the visible world with the same level of brilliance and precision as the founder of early Netherlandish painting, Jan van Eyck (ca. 1390/1400–1441). Now, an interactive digital projection at Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie makes it possible to delve into the most minute aspects of his masterpieces.
Douglas Boin, Ph.D., a professor of history at Saint Louis University, made a major announcement at the annual meeting of the Archeological Institute of America, revealing he and his team discovered an ancient Roman temple that adds significant insights into the social change from pagan gods to Christianity within the Roman Empire.
British actress Dame Joanna Lumley, famed for her role on the BBC TV series ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, will be the narrator of Rijksmuseum’s online experience Frans Hals: Strokes of Genius. This online experience will be launched on the Rijksmuseum website to coincide with the opening of the Frans Hals exhibition on 16 February. A major fan of Dutch Golden Age paintings and the Rijksmuseum, Dame Joanna did not hesitate for a moment when she was asked to take part in the exhibition.
The joint archaeological mission from Waseda University, in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has unveiled a rock-cut tomb and a myriad of artefacts spanning different historical periods during its current excavation season in Saqqara Necropolis.
Art prints are cherished personal acquisitions, valuable pieces of artistic expression that carry sentimental and cultural value. Thus, keeping these prints in pristine condition is not merely about maintaining their physical appearance but also safeguarding their inherent worth.
Art has always been a realm of creativity and innovation, and with the advent of technology, a new dimension has been added to artistic expression - 3D printing in art. Imagine turning your wildest artistic visions into tangible creations with the precision and detail that 3D printing offers.
Archaeologists from Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion carried out a dig in the summer, with further radiocarbon dating and analysis revealing the full extent of their find. The excavation offers fascinating new evidence about life in early medieval Wales (AD 400-1100) and transforms our understanding of the history of Fonmon and the Vale of Glamorgan.
One of Irish artist Harry Clarke’s finest and rarest works of stained glass has become part of the national collection at the National Gallery of Ireland. Titania Enchanting Bottom, created over a century ago in 1922, now belongs to the Irish public and will be free for Gallery visitors to view in the new year. The acquisition was supported by the Patrons of Irish Art of the National Gallery of Ireland, whose membership fees support acquisitions of Irish art.
With the Covid crisis, Parisian museums have struggled in recent years to return to equivalent attendance levels. Fortunately, in 2022, they finally regained their lustre, with record attendances, which have risen again for this year 2023, and should improve again after the Paris 2024 Games, which expect millions of tourists in the capital.
The V&A will stage a revelatory exhibition exploring the unequalled 40-year career of fashion model and British icon Naomi Campbell (b. 1970). After being scouted in Covent Garden aged just 15, she quickly rose to prominence in the industry, making history a few years later when, at 18, she became the first Black model to feature on the cover of Paris Vogue (August 1988).
The Polish Minister of Culture, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, has announced that the originally selected project 'Polish Exercises in the Tragedy of the World: Between Germany and Russia' will not be shown at next year's Biennale in Venice. Instead, the exhibition project 'Repeat After Me' will be shown.
The National Gallery announced that it has acquired the painting Lot and his Daughters (1624) by Abraham Bloemaert (1566–1651), which has been on loan to the Gallery for the past four years from a private collection. This is the first painting by the artist to enter the National Gallery Collection.
From 2 March until 23 June 2024, Damien Hirst will stage a major exhibition at Château La Coste. Titled The Light That Shines, the presentation will feature sculptures and paintings, including some of Hirst’s most iconic series and some which have never been seen before.
The Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia appointed Carlo Ratti as Director of the Architecture Department, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition which will take place in 2025. The appointment was recommended by President Roberto Cicutto, in agreement with Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia for the four-year term March 2024-2027.
Bige Örer, Director of the Istanbul Biennial at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) since 2008, and Director of İKSV Contemporary Art Projects since 2018, has decided to resign from her duties at İKSV as of 15 January 2024, to continue her work in different projects.
With the support of Fundación Iberdrola España, a Protector sponsor of the Museo del Prado’s Restoration Programme, the painting, an example of Caravaggio’s outstanding originality, has undergone a process of restoration to remove layers of oxidised and opaque varnish from the surface with the aim of recovering the work’s chromatic range and contrasts.
It’s been a historic year at the Rijksmuseum, thanks in part to the Vermeer exhibition, which ran for four months this spring. It was the best-attended exhibition in the history of the museum. For those who would love to enjoy Vermeer one more time, today sees the launch of Vermeer, experience the exhibition from home, an online 360° tour of the exhibition.
‘Our findings from the current year completely change our perception of this settlement area in many different aspects’, says Prof. Radosław Palonka from the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University, who for more than a dozen years has been investigating historic sites and customs of the 3000-year-old Pueblo culture on the border between Colorado and Utah. His team is the only Polish and one of the few European archaeological groups to work in the region
UNESCO figures show that 2023 has been a particularly deadly year for journalists who work in conflict zones, with killings almost doubling compared to the past three years. The last three months of this year in particular have already been the deadliest quarter for journalists in conflict zones since at least 2007, with 27 deaths.
Wolf, an Emmy-winning producer and avid collector, is providing significant financial support to The Met with the endowment of the Dick Wolf Galleries. The two major galleries will house works from his exceptional collection of European paintings, sculpture, drawings, furniture, and works of decorative art, including rare masterpieces by artists from Botticelli to Vincent van Gogh
ArtSnacky is an art project established by a group of artists in Zottegem, Belgium. The aim of the vending machine is to distribute art in an accessible and approachable manner. For just one euro, you become the owner of a unique piece of art – ranging from a small painting, collage, photograph, or sculpture to a virtual artwork viewable through QR codes.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 30 antiquities to Greece collectively valued at $3.7 million. 19 of the pieces were voluntarily surrendered from New York gallery owner Michael Ward. Three of the pieces were seized from British art dealer Robin Symes.
The painting The Little Cat (Le petit chat) (1888) by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) is currently at the Van Gogh Museum on long-term loan and will be on display at the museum from today (19 December 2023). The work was last exhibited in 1906, and this is the first time the work will be shown together with paintings that Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin made during the same period of intensive artistic exchange. The Van Gogh Museum plans to conduct extensive research on the work while it is on loan.
The political and cultural climate is coming to a head. The current discussions about artistic freedom and so-called cancel culture are dangerous. Public discourse is increasingly characterised by an inadmissible mixing of topics and tendentious claims. This confusion has led to violations of civil liberties that are unacceptable for a democratic nation.
New research within Operation Night Watch has revealed that Rembrandt impregnated the canvas for his famous 1642 militia painting The Night Watch with a lead-containing substance even before applying the first ground layer. Such lead-based impregnation has never before been observed with Rembrandt or his contemporaries. The discovery underlines Rembrandt's inventive way of working, in which he did not shy away from using new techniques.
In response to the urgency of the climate crisis and the corresponding need for a radical change in the way we think and act, the City of Vienna has launched a new festival. The first Klima Biennale Wien, hosted by the KunstHausWien, will begin on 5 April and run until 14 July 14 2024.
Desert X announced the appointment of Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas as co-curator of Desert X 2025, which will open March 8–May 11, 2025 at sites across the Coachella Valley, California. Garcia-Maestas joins the organization’s curatorial team under the leadership of Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Executive Director Jenny Gil.
An official request for legal assistance by the German government and with the involvement of the highest state authorities in Germany and Russia, a valuable Rubens painting belonging to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) has been recovered in Moscow. The painting in question is "Tarquinius and Lucretia" by Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640).
During COP28, UNESCO publishes its first ever quantitative report on the “Impacts of Climate Change in Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks in Latin America and the Caribbean”. It shows how increasing droughts, wildfires, flooding and landslides pose a growing threat to biodiversity and human lives, while also providing an outlook for the coming decades.
A bakery-prison, where enslaved workers and donkeys were confined and exploited to grind the grain needed to make bread. A cramped room with no view of the outside world and with small windows high in the wall with iron bars to let the light in. In the floor indentations to coordinate the movement of the animals, forced to walk around for hours, blindfolded.
Following nearly four years of intense negotiations, the city of Ostend, together with Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV) and Restotel NV, has succeeded in rescuing the iconic Thermae Palace Hotel and the Royal Galleries (Koninklijke Gaanderijen) from collapse. In all, around EUR 134 million will be invested, with more than half of this being private funds. The partners expect to formally sign the cooperation agreement by the end of the year, following approval by the relevant decision-making bodies.
The Whitney Museum of American Art announces the addition of five curators to help lead the film and performance program for the 2024 Whitney Biennial. Co-organizers Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli have invited Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Taja Cheek, Greg de Cuir Jr, and Zackary Drucker to join them in developing a Biennial that goes beyond the Museum’s traditional in-gallery presentation to showcase the latest creativity and innovation in art, film, performance, and sound.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) announced that the museum has deaccessioned and returned 44 works of ancient art following an investigation by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security into the global trafficking of looted or stolen antiquities.
The Turner Prize 2023 has been awarded to Jesse Darling. The winner of the £25,000 prize was announced at a ceremony presented by musician, creative and broadcaster Tinie Tempah at Eastbourne’s Winter Garden, adjacent to Towner Eastbourne, the hosts of this year’s prize.
GRACE (Ghent Research institute for Art & cultural heritage Crime and Law Enforcement) was founded on February 1, 2023 by representatives of the University of Ghent, the Local Police of Ghent and the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent. It started as a Ghent initiative - what's in a name - but soon various Flemish, federal, and even Dutch organizations joined the network.
United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero and FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs announced today that the Rosenbach Museum & Library (“the Rosenbach”) voluntarily transferred to the custody of the FBI a sixteenth-century manuscript for return to the Archivo General de la Nación del Perú, the Peruvian national archives.
More than 1,300 artists, including Academy Award winning Olivia Colman, Olivier Award winners Harriet Walter and Juliet Stevenson, BAFTA winners Aimee Lou Wood and Siobhán McSweeney, Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You), Susanne Wokoma (Enola Holmes), Youseff Kerkour (Napoleon), Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls, Bridgerton), Amir El-Masry (The Crown) and Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), have launched an open letter accusing art institutions of censorship on Palestine.
For the first time, UNESCO has brought together experts specializing in both tangible and living heritage at an international conference co-organized with Italy. The conference culminated in the adoption of the Naples Appeal, which urges UNESCO Member States to work closely with local and indigenous populations in the development of heritage site management policies.
All three prints of Van Gogh’s lithograph Old Man Drinking Coffee have been reunited for the first time since 1882. The location of one of the three was long unknown, but the print was recently rediscovered and subsequently sold at auction. The new owner is now offering the lithograph to the Van Gogh Museum on long-term loan, and will ultimately gift the work to the museum. The presentation is now on display at the Van Gogh Museum.
A new decorated stela has been found in context, in the 3000-year-old funerary complex of Las Capellanías, in Cañaveral de León (Huelva, south-west of Spain). It is thought that late prehistoric stelae in Iberia were created to commemorate important personages.
The British Museum has decided to loan the Meidias Hydria, an ancient Greek vase dating back to 420 BC, to the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece. This move marks the first time in 250 years that the vase, a masterpiece by the Meidias artist, has left the confines of the British Museum.
A 17th-century portrait of English aristocrat Diana Cecil apparently received a modern-day photoshopping, with portions of Cecil’s face being painted over to make for a lower hairline, among other edited features—the so-called “Kylie Jenner treatment,” as described by The Guardian.
The North Hertfordshire Museum in the UK has announced that it will be adopting new pronouns to reflect the transgender identity of the ancient Roman emperor Elagabalus. The decision to refer to the ruler as “she” is based on classical texts where Elagabalus explicitly requested to be called “lady.”
The story of the remarkable discovery of a group of Egyptian objects uncovered at Melville House in Fife between 1952 and 1984 is being told in full for the first time in an article published in the upcoming Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
With the exhibition Art in the third reich – Seduction and distraction Museum Arnhem draws attention to the art from the period of the 'third reich', 1933-1945. What does it look like? Why was there, during a Nazi regime characterized by political violence, war and the Holocaust, so much focus on contemporary art? Did the artists support the regime, did the regime support the artists, or both?
On 6th June 2023, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam caused significant direct damages in four oblasts of Ukraine and had caused dire losses in the south of the country. In the framework of its mandate, UNESCO assessed the impact on culture, education and environment, with more than US$ 485 million needed for the recovery of these sectors over the next decade.
Perhaps few know that the section of the Vatican Walls facing Piazza del Risorgimento includes the Porta di Santa Rosa gateway, and that from that monumental entrance to the Vatican State (created by the sculptor Gino Giannetti and inaugurated in 2006), from next 17 November, it will be possible to directly access the famous archaeological area of the Necropolis along the Via Triumphalis to discover the fascinating “Life and Death in the Rome of the Caesars”.
The Rijksmuseum at Schiphol has opened the doors to its new exhibition 'Aan tafel!' (which is what the Dutch say when dinner is served). The museum at the airport offers travellers the opportunity to admire historical Dutch works of art before the start of their journey.
The Van Gogh Museum has wanted to add a painting by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) to its collection for many years. The acquisition of Peasant Spreading Manure enables the museum to show how important Millet was to Van Gogh and many other 19th-century artists. The new acquisition is now on display alongside a number of paintings and drawings by Van Gogh, which clearly show Millet’s influence.
The Board of Kunsthalle Bern announces the appointment of iLiana Fokianaki as its new Director. Fokianaki brings a wide range of experience as a curator, writer, theorist, and founding director of State of Concept, an independent art institution in Athens, Greece. She will begin her tenure in spring 2024 following the directorship of Kabelo Malatsie which concludes in February 2024.
Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay has placed an export bar on William Hogarth’s satirical painting ‘Taste in High Life’. The work, valued at £2,468,000 (plus VAT of £93,600 which can be reclaimed by an eligible institution), is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found to acquire the work for the nation.
The decision to study abroad is akin to taking a leap into a vast sea of cultural experiences, academic enrichment, and personal growth. Every year, thousands of students pack their bags and embark on this transformative journey, seeking knowledge and experiences that extend far beyond the confines of their home universities.