Filmmaker and multimedia artist Harmony Korine, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, declared his full commitment to creating with artificial intelligence. He described moving beyond traditional narrative forms to explore "post-narrative, sensory, experimental" entertainment through his Miami-based studio EDGLRD, viewing AI as a new creative tool akin to a paintbrush.
A luxury condominium development in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, branded with Frida Kahlo's name and image, has begun selling units despite construction not yet starting. The project, called the Frida Kahlo Wynwood Residences, features a 14-story tower designed by architect Carlos Ott with a massive portrait of the artist on its facade and plans for 244 furnished units priced from $500,000 to $1.6 million.
Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei returned to China last month for the first time in a decade, visiting Beijing for three weeks after years of exile in Europe. His passport had been confiscated in 2015, ending travel restrictions tied to his political dissent. Upon arrival, Ai was interrogated for nearly two hours at Beijing's airport before being granted entry. He documented the trip on Instagram, including a reunion between his 17-year-old son and 93-year-old mother, and described the experience as like reconnecting a long-disconnected phone call.
Artist Ai Weiwei returned to his native China after 10 years in exile, making a quiet three-week trip to Beijing last month. It was his first visit since authorities returned his confiscated passport in 2015, allowing him to leave China and live in Europe. During the trip, Ai was briefly interrogated at the airport but otherwise faced no interference. He shared photos and videos on Instagram, and told CNN the visit felt like a reconnection after a decade-long disconnection. The trip was partly motivated by a desire for his 17-year-old son and 93-year-old mother to meet.
A Leonardo da Vinci mural undergoing restoration at Sforza Castle in Milan will be temporarily opened to the public for five weeks starting February 7, coinciding with the Winter Olympics in Italy. Visitors can climb a 20-foot scaffold inside the Sala delle Asse to observe conservators at work on the delicate tempera painting, which was begun shortly before Milan fell to France in 1499 and was later covered by plaster and lost for centuries. The mural was rediscovered in the late 19th century, with further sections uncovered in the 20th century, and the current restoration uses Japanese rice paper and demineralized water to clean the surface.
Archaeologists in Fano, Italy, have unearthed the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica during redevelopment work on Piazza Andrea Costa. The rectangular structure, bordered by eight columns on the long side and four on the shorter sides, matches the precise measurements and layout described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book V of his treatise *De Architectura*. This is the first time a physical building has been attributed to Vitruvius, whose writings have long been studied but whose structures had never before been found.
Italian officials announced the discovery of a 2,000-year-old basilica attributed to the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, uncovered in the town of Fano (ancient Fanum Fortunae) and completed in 19 BCE. The structure, the only known building by Vitruvius, was found using his own descriptions from the treatise *De architectura*, with archaeologists led by Andrea Pessina confirming an "absolute match" after locating columns exactly where predicted. The discovery was hailed by Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli as "the Tutankhamun of the 21st century."
A long-lost 1970 Harry Bertoia hanging sculpture, commissioned for a mall in Flint, Michigan, has been restored and installed in the atrium of General Motors’ new global headquarters in Detroit. The 26-foot-tall work, made of brazed steel rods in Bertoia's signature "sunlit straw" technique, was discovered in 2017 in the basement of a demolished mall, damaged and covered in dust. The city of Southfield purchased it, and after extensive restoration, it now hangs in GM’s Hudson’s Detroit building.
Artnet News has published a roundup of the best art world movies of 2025, highlighting films that explore the anxieties, ambitions, and contradictions of the contemporary art scene. The selection includes Kelly Reichardt's heist film *The Mastermind*, about a man stealing Arthur Dove paintings from a museum; the satire *Auction*, which follows a Parisian auctioneer discovering a long-lost Egon Schiele; the documentary *Art for Everybody*, reexamining Thomas Kinkade's legacy; and Ira Sachs's *Peter Hujar's Day*, a gentle portrait of the photographer's daily life. Spike Lee's *Highest 2 Lowest* also features, marking his entry into the old-guard canon.
Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier has filed a motion in federal court in Manhattan to recover 91 artworks valued at an estimated $100 million, which he claims were entrusted to French dealer Pascal de Sarthe. Bouvier is seeking to compel at least 15 banks and two major auction houses—Sotheby's and Christie's—to provide information about the artworks' whereabouts. The legal action, initiated in Hong Kong in October, targets de Sarthe, who disputes Bouvier's ownership. Bouvier alleges that after his long-running legal battle with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, he was blacklisted by auction houses and entered into an oral agreement with de Sarthe and dealer Jean Marc Peretti for custody of the artworks, but de Sarthe has allegedly failed to respond to inquiries. A Hong Kong hearing was held in early October for orders including injunction and preservation.
Art Basel launched its inaugural Art Basel Awards ceremony at the New World Center in Miami Beach during Art Basel Miami Beach week. The awards, first introduced in New York in May, recognized 36 medalists across categories including Icon, Established, Emerging, Patron, Institution, Curator, and Media & Storytelling. Top winners included Cecilia Vicuña (Icon), Nairy Baghramian and Ibrahim Mahama (Established), Mohammad Alfaraj and Saodat Ismailova (Emerging), and Meriem Bennani (BOSS Award). The event was hosted by musician and collector Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, with performances by cellist Kelsey Lu and recorded narration by actor Emma D'Arcy. Each artist received $50,000, and established artists will debut commissions at Art Basel in Switzerland next year.
Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier has filed a Section 1782 petition in US federal court to locate 91 artworks he claims are his, worth approximately $100 million. The filing targets roughly 15 major banks and two auction houses (Sotheby's and Christie's) to compel disclosure of financial and transactional records. The request is tied to Hong Kong legal proceedings against French dealer Pascal de Sarthe, whom Bouvier accuses of failing to return works placed with him for safekeeping. De Sarthe disputes Bouvier's ownership, and his attorney has asked the New York court to delay or deny the application as premature.
Nairy Baghramian's exhibition "nameless" at Wiels in Brussels engages in a sculptural dialogue with the Polish avant-garde artist Katarzyna Kobro, whose work was largely destroyed during and after World War II. Baghramian riffs on Kobro's forms with unpainted steel variations that double as plinths for her own works, while also referencing other displaced sculptors such as Isamu Noguchi, Louise Bourgeois, and Jean Arp. The show deliberately leaves works untitled and undated, inviting viewers to discover art-historical references while enjoying the material playfulness of the sculptures.
A long-lost painting by Peter Paul Rubens, unseen for four centuries, was sold at auction in Versailles for €2.94 million ($3.4 million), nearly double its high estimate. Created in 1613, the work depicts Jesus Christ on the cross and was discovered in a private Paris townhouse by auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat. The painting was authenticated by German art historian Nils Büttner through X-ray imaging and pigment analysis, and its provenance traces back to the 19th-century French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Sotheby's London has announced the full lineup for its Old Master and 19th century evening sale on December 3, featuring 31 works defined by exceptional scholarly significance and rare discoveries. Half of the lots have been hidden from public view for over a century, and 12 have not appeared on the secondary market in 40 years. Top lots include Hans Eworth's portrait of Thomas Howard (estimate £3 million), Pieter Brueghel the Younger's The Census at Bethlehem (£5 million), a rediscovered Peter Paul Rubens oil sketch (£3 million), and a Rembrandt portrait of Saint John on Patmos (£7 million). The sale also includes works from the collection of Dr Hinrich Bischoff, such as Lucas van Valckenborch's Autumn: Landscape with Archduke Matthias of Austria (£800,000).
Santina Semadar Panetta, a Canadian artist, is pioneering Neo-Pointillism, a contemporary evolution of the 19th-century pointillist style. She creates vibrant, intricate paintings that blend portraiture and landscape, using bold color palettes and meticulous technique. Panetta is the only Canadian artist selected for the Biennale di Palermo, Biennale di Mantova, and the Biennale of the Nations in Venice, and her work was recently featured at the LA Art Show. In an interview, she discusses her shift from journalism to art, inspired by the events of September 11, 2001, and her academic training at Académie Art et Beaux, which led her to develop a philosophical and rhetorical approach to Neo-Pointillism.
A painting in Japan's Tokushima Modern Art Museum, originally attributed to French Cubist Jean Metzinger and purchased in 1999 for 67.2 million yen ($426,000), has been confirmed as a forgery by notorious German forger Wolfgang Beltracchi. The museum withdrew the work, titled *At the Cycle-Race Track 55*, from an upcoming exhibition after experts identified synthetic pigments from after the mid-20th century. The Osaka-based seller agreed to a refund and return, completed in October and November 2024, and the painting has been removed from the prefectural government's inventory.
The Hudson's Bay Company, a historic Canadian department store chain that declared bankruptcy in March, began selling off its art collection. On November 19, 27 paintings from the retailer's trove were auctioned by Canadian auction house Heffel, all selling well above estimate. The top lot was an impressionistic painting of a Marrakech street by Winston Churchill, which sold for $1.5 million, more than tripling its low estimate. Other notable sales included Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith's 'Lights of a City Street' at $691,250 and works by William von Moll Berczy and Charles Pachter.
Max Liebermann's painting *Two Riders on a Beach* (1901), recently restituted to the Rosenburg family from the Cornelius Gurlitt hoard, will be auctioned at Sotheby's in London on June 24, with an estimated price of up to £500,000 ($850,000). The work is one of the first two artworks returned from the trove discovered in Gurlitt's Munich apartment in 2012; the other, Henri Matisse's *Woman with a Fan* (1932), was also handed back to the Rosenburg family last week.
British artist Anish Kapoor's iconic sculpture *Cloud Gate* (2006), known as "the Bean," in Chicago's Millennium Park became the site of a controversial photo op on Monday, when dozens of U.S. Border Patrol agents, led by chief Gregory Bovino, gathered in front of the 110-ton piece just after dawn. The agents, armed and in fatigues, reportedly shouted "Little Village"—a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood where Border Patrol had deployed tear gas in a raid over the weekend—instead of "cheese" for the photo. Local officials, including Chicago governor J.B. Pritzker and alderman Mike Rodriguez, condemned the action, and Kapoor himself expressed horror, likening the agents to "SS Nazi troops" and calling the incident a "fascist battle cry of intimidation." Chicago artist Michael Rakowitz also denounced the shoot as a "horrible invasion and occupation."
Two French parliamentarians, Jean-Paul Matteï and Philippe Juvin, have proposed a new tax regime on art as part of France's 2026 budget, which would make France the only major art market to impose a wealth tax on the mere possession of artworks. The French art world has strongly opposed the proposal, with 27 signatories including Art Basel, auctioneer Drouot, visual artists' rights organization ADAGP, the Association for the International Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF), and the Comité Professionel des Galeries d’Art (CPGA). Critics argue the tax is technically unenforceable, would drive collectors away, and harm the broader art ecosystem.
The descendants of Norman Rockwell have publicly condemned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for using reproductions of Rockwell's paintings on social media to promote anti-immigrant rhetoric. Since August, DHS posts on X, Instagram, and Facebook have featured Rockwell's works such as "Salute the Flag" (1971), "Working on the Statue of Liberty" (1946), and "And Daniel Boone Comes to Life on the Underwood Portable" (1923), overlaid with captions like "Protect our American way of life" and "Protect your homeland and defend your culture." The Rockwell family responded with an op-ed in USA Today, arguing that the artist would have been "devastated" by this misuse, and provided context about his later civil rights-themed works.
A painting long attributed to Moïse Kisling, titled *Kiki de Montparnasse* and held by Japan's Yamada Bee Company Group, has been identified as a forgery by notorious art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi. The discovery, reported by NHK, follows a wave of Beltracchi-linked fakes uncovered in Japanese museums and collections, including a purported Marie Laurencin portrait in Tokyo and a forgery of Heinrich Campendonk's *Girl with Swan* at the Museum of Art, Kochi. Beltracchi admitted to forging the Kisling around 1990, claiming he studied the artist deeply.
The Museum of Sex in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood has opened “Hard Art: Unruly Selections from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection,” an exhibition of erotic artworks from the collection of ARTnews Top 200 collector Beth Rudin DeWoody. The show features sculptures, paintings, collages, photography, and installations from the 1930s to the present by artists including Judith Bernstein, Cecily Brown, Nancy Grossman, and Jimmy DeSana. It is co-curated by Maynard Monrow and Laura Dvorkin, DeWoody’s in-house curators, and runs through May 2026.
A valuable work on paper by Pablo Picasso, titled *Still Life with Guitar* (1919), has gone missing during transport from Madrid to Granada, Spain. The piece was part of a shipment of 57 artworks destined for the exhibition 'Still Life. The Eternity of the Inert' at the CajaGranada Cultural Center. The vehicle transporting the works made an unusual overnight stop just 20 miles from its destination, and despite video surveillance at the delivery site, the Picasso was discovered missing during inventory the following Monday. Insured for €600,000 (around $700,000), the work belongs to an unnamed private collector, and police are investigating the presumed theft, though no arrests have been made.
A federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss music producer and art collector Kasseem Dean, known as Swizz Beatz, from a bankruptcy case tied to the 1MDB scandal. Dean and his two companies, Monza Studios and Swizz Beatz Productions, were named as defendants in a suit filed in October 2024 by joint liquidators Angela Barkhouse and Toni Shukla, seeking to recover $7.3 million allegedly transferred to Dean from entities controlled by Jho Low, the mastermind of the $7.65 billion 1MDB fraud. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that the plaintiffs' claims are not time-barred, that they have standing, and that sufficient facts have been pleaded to proceed to discovery.
An international team of malacologists has discovered 46 new species of Southeast Asian microsnails, all under the genus Anauchen. One of them, Anauchen picasso, is named after Pablo Picasso because the angular patterns on its 3mm-wide shell resemble Cubism. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys, based on fieldwork in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and comparisons with specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
A long-lost painting of Jesus Christ's crucifixion by 17th-century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, titled *Christ on the Cross* (1613), was discovered in a Parisian mansion by auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat last September. The large Baroque work, measuring 42 by 29 inches, was authenticated by German curator and art historian Nils Buttner, chairman of the Centrum Rubenianum, through X-ray imaging and pigment analysis. It will be auctioned by Osenat's auction house in Fontainebleau on November 30, with no estimate yet released.
This article explores the enduring fascination with Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665–67), examining the mystery of the unknown subject and the painting's history. It debunks popular theories about the sitter's identity, clarifying that the work is a "tronie"—a formal study of facial features, not a portrait—and traces Vermeer's life, his limited output of 34 known paintings, and his posthumous obscurity for 200 years before rediscovery in the mid-19th century.
George Lucas made his long-awaited debut at Comic-Con's Hall H to present a sneak peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open in Los Angeles next year. The panel, moderated by Queen Latifah, included filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and production designer Doug Chiang, and revealed details about the 300,000-square-foot building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD, with 33 galleries, two theaters, and 11 acres of green space. Lucas discussed his personal collection of over 40,000 works, emphasizing narrative art's role in shaping community and shared beliefs, and highlighted pieces by Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Beatrix Potter, and Frida Kahlo.