Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 15 link 9 artists

secrets of the metropolitan museum

The article reveals little-known secrets about the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including that its first home was not on Fifth Avenue but at 681 Fifth Avenue, and later the Douglas Mansion, before moving to its current location in 1879. It also notes that the museum's original red-brick facade is barely visible today, hidden within the Robert Lehman Wing, and that its first director, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, controversially mixed and matched parts of ancient sculptures to create composite works, while also misrepresenting their provenance.

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article news schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

mississippi museum of art frank lloyd wright home

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has acquired the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed property Fountainhead in Jackson, Mississippi, following approval from the Jackson Planning and Zoning Board and City Council. Originally designed in 1948 and completed in 1954 for oil speculator J. Willis Hughes, the 3,558-square-foot Usonian home was later restored by architect Robert Parker Adams and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. The museum plans to open the home for public tours, with bus transportation from its main campus, and to establish community partnerships.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 22 link 9 artists

frida kahlo painting sothebys record woman surrealism

Frida Kahlo's 1940 self-portrait *El sueño (La cama)* sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's New York on November 20, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $40–60 million. The painting, consigned by the estate of Selma Ertegun, was won by a phone bidder handled by Sotheby's senior vice president Anna Di Stasi. The sale broke Kahlo's previous auction record of $34.9 million set in 2021 for *Diego y yo*, as well as the record for a Latin American artwork and the overall record for a work by a woman artist at auction, surpassing Georgia O'Keeffe's $44.4 million *Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1*.

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article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

frank lloyd wright usonian home jackson mississippi

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has acquired Fountainhead, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian home in Jackson, Mississippi, for $1 million. The residence, built in 1954 for oilman J. Willis Hughes, is one of only four Wright homes in the state and the only one listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was sold by the estate of late architect Robert Parker Adams, who had restored the property after purchasing it in 1980. The museum plans to preserve the home and open it to the public as a cultural destination.

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article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 artists

art bites barbie museum collection

Mattel and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) have announced a five-year global partnership, launching their first collaborative collection of seven MoMA-inspired Barbie dolls. The debut lineup includes a Van Gogh Barbie featuring a gown inspired by *Starry Night* (1889), alongside other dolls drawing from iconic artworks. This new collection follows Mattel's earlier 2015 Museum Collection, designed by Linda Kyaw, which included Barbies styled after works by Gustav Klimt, Leonardo da Vinci, and Vincent van Gogh, such as a Da Vinci Barbie modeled after the *Mona Lisa* and a Klimt Barbie based on *Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I* (1907).

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article culture schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

marina abramovic moma klaus biesenbach artist present

In a podcast interview with Louis Theroux, Marina Abramović revealed that curator Klaus Biesenbach was initially skeptical of her landmark 2010 performance "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA. Biesenbach, then chief curator at large at the Museum of Modern Art, had invited Abramović for the institution's first performance art retrospective, proposing the title "The Artist Is Present." When Abramović suggested sitting silently in the museum's atrium every day for three months, Biesenbach reportedly called the idea "ridiculous," predicting no one would participate. Despite his doubts, the performance drew some 1,500 visitors, with one person sitting for an entire day, and became a defining moment in 21st-century art.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 25 link 11 artists

costume art met museum 2026

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its Spring 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, “Costume Art,” which will open on May 10, 2026, inaugurating the new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast gallery designed by Peterson Rich Office. The exhibition will feature artworks from across the Met’s collections in dialogue with garments from the Costume Institute, focusing primarily on Western art from prehistory to the present. Major sponsors include Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with additional support from Saint Laurent and Condé Nast. Curator Andrew Bolton and museum director Max Hollein spoke at the press conference, where preview objects included Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons ensemble and Hans Bellmer’s "La Poupée."

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trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 14 artists

the phillips collection to deaccession georgia okeeffe arthur dove georges seurat

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is proceeding with plans to auction major works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby's on November 20, despite sharp backlash from former curators, members of the Phillips family, and the museum's non-governing members body. The works—including O'Keeffe's *Large Dark Red Leaves on White* (estimate $6–8 million), Seurat's conté crayon drawing ($3–5 million), and Dove's *Rose and Locust Stump* ($1.2–1.8 million)—are considered central to founder Duncan Phillips's vision. Director and CEO Jonathan Binstock argues the proceeds will fund a permanently restricted endowment for commissioning new work by living artists, acquisitions, and collection care, aligning with Duncan Phillips's belief in supporting contemporary practitioners.

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article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 24 link 18 artists

trustees bolt palm springs art museum director hire

Trustee Patsy Marino resigned from the Palm Springs Art Museum board just one week after Christine Vendredi was appointed director on September 29, 2024. In a resignation letter reported by the Los Angeles Times, Marino alleged that the hiring committee failed to interview any outside candidates, despite two "exceptional" candidates being considered, and cited "inappropriate interference" by the executive committee, individual trustees, and museum staff. Two other board members also left the 22-member body, though the museum claims their departures were unrelated. Vendredi, previously chief curator and interim CEO, has a background in luxury brand management at Louis Vuitton and holds multiple advanced degrees but no prior museum directorship experience.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

wifredo lam moma retrospective surrealism review

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has opened a major retrospective of Afro-Cuban Surrealist painter Wifredo Lam, featuring over 200 works. The exhibition highlights Lam's masterpiece *Grande Composition* (1949), a 14-foot-wide painting recently acquired by MoMA after years of negotiation with a Paris collector. Curated by MoMA's new director Christophe Cherix and Beverly Adams, the show reexamines Lam's career, emphasizing his Afro-Cuban heritage and his use of hybrid figures like the femme-cheval, which reference Lucumí spiritual traditions.

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person people schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 17 link 9 artists

wadsworth atheneum president allison blais

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, has appointed Allison Blais as its new president and CEO, effective January 2026. Blais, currently executive vice president and chief strategy and operations officer at New York’s 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will succeed Jeffrey N. Brown, who held the role for five years. The announcement was made by board chair Duffield Ashmead IV MD, who praised Blais's experience with large-scale capital projects and stakeholder engagement. Blais, a Connecticut native, expressed her long familiarity with the Wadsworth and her enthusiasm for working with museum director Matthew Hargraves.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist

philadelphia art museum van gogh sunflowers exhibition

The Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM) will mount an exhibition titled “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow” from June 6 to October 11, 2026, bringing together two of Vincent van Gogh’s iconic “Sunflower” paintings: PAM’s own Sunflowers (1889) with a turquoise background and the National Gallery’s Sunflowers (1888) with a yellow background. The exhibition continues a collaboration between the two institutions, following a recent loan of PAM’s painting to the National Gallery’s “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” show, where the two works hung in a triptych with van Gogh’s Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse).

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article news schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 21 link 1 artist

detroit institute of arts workers move to unionize

Employees at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) announced plans to unionize on November 4, joining a growing wave of labor organizing at U.S. cultural institutions. The staff, organizing as DIA Workers United, are seeking recognition under AFSCME Cultural Workers United (AFSCME Michigan), which already represents workers at major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Philadelphia Museum of Art. The DIA acknowledged the request and stated it respects employees' legal rights to organize. The announcement follows recent unionization efforts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and a broader trend that began with the New Museum in 2019.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 20 link 5 artists

victoria albert east museum to open olympic park london

London's Victoria and Albert Museum has announced that its new branch, V&A East Museum, will open to the public on April 18, 2026. The five-story building, designed by Irish architecture firm O'Donnell + Tuomey, is located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and will feature exhibitions, live events, site-specific commissions, and performances. The V&A East Storehouse, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, opened earlier this year and offers free behind-the-scenes access to over half a million objects and books from the V&A's collections. Artists Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems, Rene Matić, and Thomas J. Price have been commissioned to create new works for the museum.

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article news schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

talladega college hale woodruff murals partnership

Talladega College, a historically Black college in Alabama, has partnered with the Toledo Museum of Art, Art Bridges, and the Terra Foundation for American Art to share six monumental murals by artist Hale A. Woodruff. Painted between 1939 and 1942, the murals depict key moments in African American history, including the Amistad uprising and the Underground Railroad. Under the agreement, the Toledo Museum of Art acquired *The Underground Railroad* (1942), while Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation jointly acquired the three Amistad murals; the remaining two murals stay at the college. All six works will be periodically reunited on campus, ensuring their continued connection to the institution that commissioned them.

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article news schedule Oct 29, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

perez art museum miami billboard lawsuit

Miami's Frost Museum of Science has filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Transportation seeking the removal of a giant digital billboard on the grounds of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The 1,800-square-foot sign, which advertises luxury brands like Tiffany and Yves Saint Laurent alongside PAMM programming, was built under a 2023 city commission exception that allowed billboards nearly twice the legal size limit. That exception was later overturned amid controversy over campaign contributions from the billboard's operator, Orange Barrel Media, to the commissioner who introduced it. PAMM argues the sign was approved by all relevant authorities, while Frost Science claims it violates state law, degrades the museum environment, and jeopardizes federal highway funding.

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article news schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 12 link 4 artists

gauguin self portrait kunstmuseum basel authenticity report

The Kunstmuseum Basel has confirmed that a Paul Gauguin self-portrait, titled *Portrait de l’artiste par lui-même* (1903), is an authentic work by the French painter, despite decades of scrutiny. The painting, held by the museum since 1945, was subjected to scientific analysis—including pigment testing, radiography, and infrared reflectography—at the Bern Academy of the Arts after amateur art sleuth Fabrice Fourmanoir claimed it was actually painted by Gauguin’s friend Ky-Dong Nguyen Van Cam. The tests showed the pigments date to Gauguin’s era, but also revealed overpainting on the face, possibly done between 1918 and 1926, though the museum found no evidence of intentional forgery.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 24, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

lurking below surface andrew wyeth painting christinas world

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has completed an extensive conservation project on Andrew Wyeth's iconic painting "Christina's World" (1948), which will soon return to public view. MoMA senior collections photographer Adam Neese documented the process, using advanced imaging techniques such as high-magnification photography, raking light, and infrared reflectography to reveal hidden layers and reworkings by Wyeth. The analysis showed that Wyeth altered the eaves of the house, shed, and horizon line, deepening the painting's emotional isolation. The conservation team also studied the paint's chemical makeup, noting tiny bubbles from water added to egg yolks in the tempera.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

james turrell skyspace aros museum denmark

A new James Turrell "Skyspace" titled *As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell* will open in June at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark. Billed as the largest such work in a museum context, the installation features a domed space roughly 50 feet tall and 130 feet in diameter, accessible via an underground corridor, with an open aperture at the top that brings the sky into intimate focus. The work completes the museum's "Next Level" expansion, which already includes an underground exhibition space and an outdoor "Art Square" set to open next year.

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article news schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 20 link 3 artists

british museums controversy hit ball raises 3 3 m securing vital funding for its international partnerships

The British Museum held its inaugural fundraising ball, modeled after the Met Gala, raising over £2.5 million ($3.3 million) through ticket sales and a silent auction. The event, attended by celebrities including Mick Jagger, Janet Jackson, Tracey Emin, James Norton, and Naomi Campbell, also secured a £10.3 million pledge from the Garfield Weston Foundation for the museum's Visitor Welcome Program. However, the evening was marred by controversy: a protester from Energy Embargo for Palestine gained access and demonstrated against the museum's £50 million sponsorship from BP, and Greece's culture minister Lina Mendoni criticized the museum for hosting the event near the Elgin Marbles, accusing it of disrespecting the ancient sculptures.

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article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 21 link 4 artists

amy sherald talks canceled smithsonian show 60 minutes

Painter Amy Sherald has revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview with Anderson Cooper that she pulled out of her solo exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery because the museum considered removing her painting of a Black transgender Statue of Liberty, titled "Trans Forming Liberty." Sherald stated that the Smithsonian secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch III, proposed replacing the painting with a video discussing trans issues that would include anti-trans views, which she deemed unacceptable censorship. The exhibition, "American Sublime," was originally organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and last shown at the Whitney Museum; it is now expected to open at the Baltimore Museum of Art on November 2.

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article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 16 link 2 artists

british museum fundraising gala interrupted by protestor

The British Museum's inaugural fundraising gala on October 18 was interrupted by a protester from the group Energy Embargo for Palestine. The woman, who gained access to the Great Court by working as a waitress, took the stage next to board chair George Osborne holding a sign reading 'DROP BP NOW.' She criticized the museum for accepting a £50 million sponsorship from BP, an oil and gas company she accused of causing climate collapse and enabling genocide in Gaza. The gala, co-chaired by Isha Ambani of Reliance Industries, raised over $2 million from ticket sales and featured a silent auction, including a pet portrait by Tracey Emin and a private tour of Coco Chanel's Paris apartment.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 13 link 7 artists

robert rauschenberg dance guggenheim

A gala performance at the Guggenheim Museum in New York marked what would have been Robert Rauschenberg's 100th birthday, featuring dancers performing Paul Taylor's 'Tracer' (1962), for which Rauschenberg created costumes and sets—including a spinning bicycle wheel that served as a portal to the exhibition above. The show, 'Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped,' opened in one of the museum's tower galleries and runs through May 3, presenting select works from the Guggenheim's collections and loans from the artist's foundation, including major pieces like 'Barge' (1962–63), the largest silkscreen painting Rauschenberg made in the early 1960s, back in New York for the first time in nearly 25 years.

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person people schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 17 link 1 artist

joan weinstein vice president getty wide program planning

The Getty has appointed Joan Weinstein, current director of the Getty Foundation, to the newly created role of vice president for Getty-wide program planning. Weinstein will continue as foundation director until a successor is named, and in her new position she will develop strategy across the institution’s four divisions: the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation, focusing on art historical scholarship and community partnerships. She is best known for co-directing PST ART, a major Southern California cultural collaboration, and has overseen significant relief funds for artists affected by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 25 link 13 artists

toledo museum of art digital art ai and future proofing the museum

Adam Levine, director and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art, has transformed the Ohio institution into a model for digital adaptation. Over five years, he grew the operating budget from $15 million to $23 million, expanded the endowment by $90 million, and launched TMA Labs, an in-house consultancy focused on data, Web3, AI, and emerging technologies. The museum has acquired digital artworks including NFTs and digital numismatics, established a digital artist-in-residence program, and opened the exhibition "Infinite Images," which traces the history of computer and digital art. Levine, one of the youngest museum directors in the U.S. at 38, discussed these initiatives in an interview with ARTnews.

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article policy schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 22 link 11 artists

cimam letter museum organization m hka closure flanders

Two leading museum organizations, CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art) and L'internationale, have sharply criticized the Flemish government's decision to transfer the collection and mission of Antwerp's M HKA to a newly formed museum in Ghent by 2028. In a statement dated October 10, CIMAM's Museum Watch Committee expressed profound concern, calling the plan based on "false administrative logic" and urging the Flemish minister of culture to reverse the decision. L'internationale also published a statement condemning the lack of transparency and consultation, noting that the plan was announced without input from M HKA's leadership or stakeholders. The building housing M HKA will be renovated into a Kunsthalle, and the government has canceled a planned $151 million new building for the museum.

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article news schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 16 link 8 artists

national portrait gallery cancels exhibition events due to government shutdown

The National Portrait Gallery has postponed opening events for its upcoming exhibition “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today,” originally scheduled for October 16–17, due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The decision was communicated in a letter from acting director Elliot Gruber on October 7, citing the shutdown as the reason for the cancellation. The exhibition, which features 35 portraits by 36 artists selected from over 3,300 entries, is part of the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and is still set to open to the public on October 18, pending the resolution of lapsed funding.

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article policy schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 21 link 8 artists

flemish government eliminates m hka smak museum controversy

The Flemish government has announced a plan to close the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Belgium's oldest contemporary art museum, and transfer its collection of around 8,000 objects to the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, which will be rebranded as the Flemish Museum of Contemporary and Current Art by 2028. The decision, part of a broader reform of Flanders' museum landscape, has sparked outrage: M HKA's board chairman Herman De Bode resigned, and staff published an open letter and launched a petition that gathered over 2,600 signatures, accusing the government of acting without transparency or consultation.

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article news schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 19 link 6 artists

admiral nelsons sexuality in spotlight once again after war hero branded queer by british museum

The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, UK, has included British naval hero Horatio Nelson in a "Queer relationships" collection, citing his contested final words "Kiss me, Hardy" as evidence. The museum added Daniel Maclise's *The Death of Nelson* (1859-1864) and Benjamin West's 1806 painting of the same name to an online article about LGBTQ+ love. This follows a similar move by London's National Maritime Museum, which examined Nelson through a "queer lens" during a "Queer History Night" event last year.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 7, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 artists

musee dorsay manet mock trial dejeuner sur lherbe

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris staged a mock trial of Édouard Manet and his model Victorine Meurent for his 1863 painting *Déjeuner sur l'herbe*, which caused scandal at the Salon des Refusés for its nude female figure. The event, part of the museum's Orsay Live program for 18-to-25-year-olds, featured real lawyers, a sitting judge, and students from the Fédération française de Débat et d'Éloquence, with speeches reviewed by Manet specialist Isolde Pludermacher. The trial aimed to explore historical debates about morality, indecency, and artistic freedom in a courtroom format.

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