Articles

In 1819 one of today’s greatest art museums opened its doors to the public. Celebrating its bicentennial is more than rejoicing over the existence of an art institution filled with masterpieces. It’s also a chance to recall the role XIX century thinkers bestowed upon art in fulfilling the project of Enlightenment.

At the Franco-German Council of Ministers in July 2017, Germany and France agreed to establish at least ten new joint Franco-German cultural institutes by 2020. The integrated institutions will have mixed bilingual staff headed by one individual, who will either be appointed by the Goethe-Institut or the Institut Français.

In Geneva the 8th edition of the salon Artgenève opens today, representing Hauser & Wirth for the first time, with a display following the trend for showing female artists. Artgenève welcomes international galleries and also devotes a large area to public and private collections, as well as independent spaces and curators, promoting a dynamic dialogue between institutions and galleries.

Spanning 1947 to the present day, this exhibition will trace the history and impact of one of the 20th century’s most influential couturiers, exploring the enduring influence of the fashion house, and Dior’s relationship with Britain.

Palme d’Or award winning artist and film maker Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand has been named as the winner of Artes Mundi 8, the UK’s leading prize for international contemporary art. Weerasethakul has been chosen from a shortlist of five of the world’s most important artists to win the UK’s biggest art prize, and is awarded a sum of £40,000.

Moments ago in Sotheby’s New York salesroom, Sir Peter Paul Rubens’s Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms – one of the most important drawings by the iconic artist to appear on the open market in over 50 years – sold for $8.2 million after intense competition between two bidders during this morning’s sale of Old Master Drawings. Today’s price more than doubled the work’s high estimate of $3.5 million, and established a new world auction record for a drawing by the artist.

Over the course of 2019, the Musée du Louvre is celebrating the Pyramid’s 30th anniversary. Starting on March 29, 2019, visitors can celebrate this anniversary through a series of free festive public events, including major happenings right in the Cour Napoléon, a weekend of activities for families, concerts and dance performances, and a photo exhibition. Symposia and conferences round out this rich program, shedding light on the back story of this monumental building project.

A painting in homage to terror victims by famous street artist Banksy has been stolen from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where 90 people were killed in 2015 in a jihadist attack.

Rembrandt van Rijn revolutionized painting with a 3D effect using his impasto technique, where thick paint makes a masterpiece protrude from the surface. Thanks to the ESRF, three centuries later an international team of scientists led by the Materials Science and Engineering Department of TU Delft and the Rijksmuseum have found how he did it.

Dulwich Picture Gallery's first show of 2019 will showcase the highly original landscapes of the Norwegian symbolist artist, Harald Sohlberg (1869 – 1935), arguably one of the greatest masters of landscape painting in the history of Norwegian art. Timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Sohlberg’s birth it will be the first major show of his work in the UK.

"My main interest as an artist is working on various social issues. I work on African cultural identities, search for peace between humans, and also human physical communication in the era of new technologies. In short, I work for a better world".

After close consultation, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and its former director, Beatrix Ruf, have agreed to leave the past behind. As previously reported, Ruf will not return to the Museum in the role of adviser or director.

A unique journey through more than 70 original works of one of the most influential creators at the moment. On loan by international private collectors, the exhibition includes original paintings by the mysterious author, his sculptures, installations, videos and photographs. The pieces are on display, for the first time in Spain, at Espacio 5.1 of IFEMA.

American artist Grant DeVoloson Wood, usually known as Grant Wood, is best known for his work depicting images of the American Midwest. The painting that made him famous is his depiction of an Iowan famer and his stern-looking daughter, standing rigid in front of the gothic window of their white, wooden home.

Italy’s Uffizi Galleries called on Germany on Tuesday to return a still-life painting by the Dutch master Jan van Huysum, which was looted by retreating Nazi troops in World War Two, as Reuters reports.

Throughout his career as a sculptor, Jaume Plensa (Barcelona, 1955) has drawn on spirituality, the body and collective memory as the primary sources which tie together his visual artwork. The invisible forms the essence of his intervention in the Palacio de Cristal: a group of steel mesh sculptures which take the space to draw the incomplete faces of figures hanging in the air, intersected by light and suspended in time.

The Musée du Louvre and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg are joining forces for an outstanding exhibition based on the collection built up by the Marquis Campana mostly between the 1830s and the 1850s. With over 12,000 archaeological objects, paintings, sculptures, and objets d’art, and comprising both ancient and modern artefacts, it was a rich, diverse collection of the highest quality.

MAD Architects has been commissioned by the Droom en Daad Foundation to design a panoramic viewpoint on top of the historic Fenix warehouse in Rotterdam. Rotterdam-based company Bureau Polderman will be responsible for restoring the historic warehouse itself.

"The magnificence of aesthetics seems related to the anonymity of the design. Our office is located in Rotterdam by the harbor. I hardly see the fingerprints of personal design intentions in my view; instead I see beautiful harbor landscapes. My intention in design is to create something that appears as if it already existed there before our personal design intervention."

On April 1, 2019, Andreas Beitin will take over as head of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. The art historian has been Director of the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen since February 2016. "What particularly appeals to me, in addition to the focus on contemporary art at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, is the opportunity to realize exhibitions with artistic positions from the classical modern period", Andreas Beitin.