Monet and Van Gogh Masterpieces Hit the Shampoo Aisle

Beauty brand Dove has launched a limited-edition haircare collection called "The Art of Repair" featuring iconic artworks by Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Vincent van Gogh on its product packaging. The shampoo, conditioner, and serum bottles display images of Monet's *The Japanese Footbridge*, Cassatt's *The Loge*, and Van Gogh's *Roses*, drawing a parallel between art conservation and hair repair. The collection is exclusively available at Walmart.

Comment | Cow in MSCHF project survives, but should the project have happened at all?

The Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF concluded its two-year project 'Our Cow Angus,' in which the fate of a live cow was determined by token holders. Purchasers of tokens representing future hamburgers and leather had the option to return them via a 'remorse portal'; when over 50% were returned by the March 13 deadline, the cow was sent to a sanctuary instead of a slaughterhouse.

How the New Deal Treated Art as Essential to Democracy

The United States government transformed the role of the artist during the Great Depression by treating art as a vital public resource rather than a private luxury. Between 1933 and 1943, New Deal programs like the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned hundreds of thousands of works for schools, libraries, and hospitals, providing 'plumbers' wages' to struggling creators. This federal patronage supported a generation of then-unknown figures, including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Alice Neel, while focusing on the 'American scene' to make culture accessible to the general public.

Shoplifting, sex shows and sheepdog-breeding: great artists and the side-hustles they did to get by

The article explores the unconventional and often illicit side jobs that famous artists historically took to support their creative pursuits. It details examples like Jean Genet's specialized book theft, Jean-Luc Godard's pilfering of books and cash, Chantal Akerman's ticket-skimming at a porn theater, and Kathy Acker's simulated sex show performances, highlighting how financial necessity drove them to inventive, sometimes desperate, measures.

Caravaggio Documentary Will Premiere on Marquee TV Next Week

A feature-length documentary about Baroque painter Caravaggio, directed by Phil Grabsky and David Bickerstaff, will premiere on the streaming platform Marquee TV on April 6. The film, part of the "Exhibition on Screen" series, was previously released in theaters last fall and focuses on the artist's innovative painting style rather than his notorious personal life.

Which City Will Be the Next Asian Art Hub? That’s the Wrong Question

The traditional quest to identify a single dominant Asian art hub is being challenged by the organic growth of decentralized scenes in cities like Bangkok and Hanoi. While Hong Kong and Seoul remain established centers, private initiatives and artist-led projects in Thailand and Vietnam are building resilient, hybrid ecosystems that prioritize long-term structural depth over immediate auction results. From the opening of Dib Bangkok to experimental exhibitions in Hanoi, these cities are transitioning from peripheral status to significant cultural players through a mix of private museums, biennials, and non-profit platforms.

More Than Breakfast

Mehr als Frühstück

The article explores the enduring presence and symbolism of the egg as a motif throughout art history. It highlights works by artists from Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder to Salvador Dalí and Constantin Brâncuși, showing how the egg has been used in painting, sculpture, and photography to represent themes of origin, life, and perfect form.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Is Writing a Musical About the Heist that Made ‘Mona Lisa’ Famous

Renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced he is developing a new musical centered on the 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The production will dramatize the true story of Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee who stole the masterpiece and hid it for two years before it was recovered in Italy. Lloyd Webber revealed the project following the Broadway opening of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, noting that he is beginning the writing process immediately.

Giant Golden Toilet Sculpture Appears Near Lincoln Memorial in D.C.: ‘A Throne Fit for a King’

An anonymous artist collective known as the Secret Handshake has installed a 10-foot-tall golden toilet sculpture titled 'A Throne Fit for a King' near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The work is a satirical monument to former President Donald Trump's controversial renovation of the White House's Lincoln Bathroom, which he outfitted with gold fixtures during a government shutdown.

How Wayne McGregor’s epic ballets draw on help from his artistic friends

Choreographer Wayne McGregor’s upcoming production at the Royal Opera House, 'Alchemies', highlights his career-long commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration with visual artists and designers. The program features a world premiere with costumes by fashion designer Saul Nash, alongside revivals of 'Yugen' and 'Untitled, 2023'. These works incorporate significant contributions from the art world, including set designs by ceramicist Edmund de Waal and previous collaborations with figures like Tacita Dean and Olafur Eliasson.

Art as Memorial in Lotusland

The article "Art as Memorial in Lotusland" by Aleina Grace Edwards appears in the February 2026 issue of Contemporary Art Review LA (CARLA). It is part of a larger issue exploring themes like scent in art, tarot, social urgencies in curation, and video art, positioning it within a critical discussion of contemporary art practices in Los Angeles.

In a Historic Kyoto Neighborhood, a New Hotel Channels the Past

A new hotel, the Ace Hotel Kyoto, has opened in the historic Umekoji neighborhood, housed within a renovated 1920s brick building that was once the Kyoto Central Telephone Office. The project, a collaboration between Ace Hotel Group and Japanese developer NTT Urban Development, blends the original structure's industrial character with contemporary design by Kengo Kuma and Commune Design, featuring guest rooms, restaurants, and a gallery space.

Nine Lessons on My Path From Engagement to Leadership

The article is an excerpt from the forthcoming field resource 'Curating Engagement,' featuring a first-person reflection by an arts professional. The author outlines nine lessons learned over two decades of practice, moving from engagement-focused roles to institutional leadership. Key lessons emphasize curiosity as a foundational practice, engagement as a form of service to communities rather than extraction, and the importance of site and history as collaborators in curatorial work.

In The Christophers, an aging artist’s unfinished masterpieces are subjects of speculation and scheming

The Christophers is a new film starring Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, a once-celebrated 1970s painter who has become a social pariah and reality TV villain. The plot follows a 'reverse art heist' where Sklar’s estranged children hire a restorer and former forger, played by Michaela Coel, to secretly finish a series of nine incomplete portraits of his former lover. The goal is to inflate the works' market value so they can be 'discovered' as masterpieces upon the aging artist's death.

2025 Art21 at the Movies

2025 Art21 at the Movies

On October 8 and 10, 2025, Art21 hosted its second 'Art21 at the Movies' event in New York. The two-day program featured film premieres, artist talks, and screenings at venues including the Metrograph and the Museum of Modern Art. It highlighted artists from the 'Art in the Twenty-First Century' series and included discussions with filmmakers and curators.

Josh Kline Misses the Mark

Critic Aruna D’Souza responds to a viral essay by artist Josh Kline regarding the extreme financial pressures of living and working in New York City. While Kline suggests that artists should abandon the city due to the affordability crisis, D’Souza argues that leaving is not a viable long-term solution and calls for a more proactive approach to systemic change within the urban art ecosystem.

Artists Set Islamic Futurism Into Motion

A growing movement of artists is exploring Islamic Futurism, a framework that draws from Islamic philosophy, visual traditions, and speculative practices to imagine Muslim futures. Artists like Zarah Hussain, Ibrahim El-Salahi, and Soraya Syed are working across mediums—including light installation, digital animation, painting, and classical calligraphy—to reinterpret historical forms for contemporary and future contexts.

Art21 and CHANEL Culture Fund Introduce an Original Series of Documentary Shorts Designed for Social Media Platforms

Art21 and the CHANEL Culture Fund have partnered to launch 'IRL/url,' a new series of over 30 short documentary films designed for social media. The series, premiering in November 2025, profiles eight contemporary artists—including Neïl Beloufa, Jacolby Satterwhite, and Xin Liu—exploring their work across physical and digital realms. The films will be released on TikTok, YouTube, and Art21's website.

Museum as Networked Modality

The article examines the evolving and often problematic relationship between museums and digital art. It highlights the institutional struggle to define and categorize works that use contemporary technologies like AI, blockchain, and robotics, noting that canonical figures like Leo Villareal, Jenny Holzer, and Andreas Gursky are often excluded from the "digital art" label. The piece cites specific examples, from Harold Cohen's early algorithmic work to Sougwen Chung's robotic collaborations and Rhea Myers's responsive NFTs, to illustrate the diverse and transmedia nature of these practices.

Art Problems: Do I Need to Go to Art Fairs?

Art critic Paddy Johnson addresses the common dilemma faced by unrepresented artists regarding the necessity of attending major art fairs. While acknowledging that fairs can be physically exhausting and prohibitively expensive, Johnson argues that their true value lies in strategic information gathering and long-term career planning rather than immediate sales or representation.

The Interview: Kei Ishikawa

Filmmaker Kei Ishikawa has adapted Kazuo Ishiguro's debut novel, 'A Pale View of Hills,' into a feature film, with Ishiguro serving as executive producer. The film expands the novel's dual-timeline narrative, set in post-war Nagasaki and 1980s England, and introduces a decisive narrative closure not found in the original text. It features performances from leading Japanese actors and meticulous period detail.

Woman With Her Back to the Viewer in Gallery Photos Speaks Out

A satirical article features an exclusive interview with the fictional archetype "Woman With Her Back to the Viewer in All Those Gallery Photos." She describes her daily routine of posing ambiguously next to artworks, her artistic influences like Caspar David Friedrich, and the challenges of her unseen labor, including a lack of sales commission and the need for side hustles like making herself blurry in photos.

What Makes a Good Protest Sign?

The article's main feature is a guide on creating effective protest signs for the upcoming No Kings protest, compiled by comic artist Steven Weinberg with input from artists, writers, and curators including Hyperallergic's Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. It offers practical advice for crafting visually and rhetorically powerful signs that challenge authority.

Before He Stole the Oscars, Timothée Chalamet Stole Ballet and Opera

Actor Timothée Chalamet sparked controversy by stating in an interview that he doesn't want to work in ballet or opera, describing them as artforms where the goal is to "keep this thing alive." The comment prompted swift backlash from the dance community, with institutions extending personal invitations and op-eds criticizing his remarks.

Series, documentaries, films… All the art to see on streaming platforms right now

Séries, documentaires, films… Tout l’art à voir sur les plateformes en ce moment

Beaux Arts Magazine has curated a comprehensive selection of art-focused films, documentaries, and series currently available on major streaming platforms like Netflix, Arte.tv, and France.tv. The selection highlights diverse narratives, including the investigative documentary regarding a rediscovered Gustav Klimt portrait of a Ghanaian prince, an AI-assisted exploration of Andy Warhol’s diaries, and the cinematic dramatization of Varian Fry’s efforts to rescue artists like Chagall and Duchamp from Nazi-occupied France.

On Arte, a Documentary Deciphers the Persistent Misunderstanding Around the Painter of Happiness, Auguste Renoir

Sur Arte, un documentaire décrypte le malentendu tenace autour du peintre du bonheur, Auguste Renoir

A new documentary titled "Renoir in Love" airing on Arte examines the persistent critical misunderstanding surrounding Auguste Renoir. The film, released in tandem with a major double exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay, argues that Renoir's joyful depictions of couples and modern leisure have been unfairly dismissed as saccharine, relegating him to the margins of modern art history. It presents a nuanced portrait of an artist whose work was fundamentally driven by a philosophy of love and human connection.

Required Reading

Required Reading

Thousands marched in Buenos Aires on March 9 for a 24-hour women's strike, with one group staging a symbolic artwork by wrapping a continuous blindfold across their faces to protest patriarchal control. This followed a UN report urging Argentina's government to address gender-based violence. Separately, a *Guardian* investigation revealed UK museums hold over 260,000 human remains, many taken from former colonies, which MPs have condemned as a barbaric legacy of imperialism.

Same is More: Parisian Architecture à l’identique by Octave Perrault

Paris is undergoing a wave of architectural preservation and renovation that prioritizes the "à l’identique" (identical) approach, most notably seen in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral following its 2019 fire. This trend extends to other major cultural landmarks, including the renovation of the Bourse de Commerce by Tadao Ando and the upcoming multi-year closure of the Centre Pompidou for technical upgrades. The author uses the critical lens of 19th-century writer Joris-Karl Huysmans to question whether this obsession with restoring buildings to a previous state stifles contemporary architectural evolution.

What Made Marcel Duchamp’s Readymades So Revolutionary?

Marcel Duchamp transformed the trajectory of 20th-century art by introducing the 'Readymade,' a concept where mass-produced, everyday objects are elevated to the status of art through the artist's selection rather than manual craft. Beginning with a bicycle wheel in 1913 and a bottle rack in 1914, Duchamp eventually formalized the term during a 1915 stay in New York, where the city's industrial modernity and lack of rigid class structures inspired him to challenge traditional definitions of creativity.

Matisse, Soulages, Chagall… The most beautiful churches and chapels decorated by artists throughout France

Matisse, Soulages, Chagall… Les plus belles églises et chapelles décorées par des artistes dans toute la France

Renowned modern and contemporary artists have transformed various religious sites across France into immersive 'total works of art.' From Pierre Soulages’ translucent stained-glass windows in the Abbey of Sainte-Foy in Conques to Pablo Picasso’s monumental 'War and Peace' murals in Vallauris, these projects demonstrate how secular artists have engaged with sacred architecture. The article highlights ten specific locations where artists like Matisse, Chagall, and Cocteau integrated painting, glasswork, and furniture into historic ecclesiastical settings.