Art News. Vasari Codex

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

amy sherald talks canceled smithsonian show 60 minutes 1234757994

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.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 15 link 7 artists

gene hackman bonhams auction 1234757821

Bonhams will auction works from the collection of late actor Gene Hackman this November, spanning three sales—one live and two online. The live sale, titled “Gene Hackman: A Life in Art, Part I,” takes place November 19 in New York and features highlights such as Milton Avery’s 1957 painting *Figure on the Jetty* (estimate $500,000–$700,000) and Richard Diebenkorn’s 1986 color etching *Green* (estimate $300,000–$500,000). Online sales include two of Hackman’s Golden Globes, a still life painting by the actor himself, and additional lots of annotated books, scripts, and cinematic memorabilia. Hackman, who died in February, was a major arts patron in Santa Fe, a painter, and a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

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

robert rauschenberg dance guggenheim 1234757639

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.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 24 link 7 artists

leading artists call for nationwide resistance against authoritarian forces 1234757308

Visual artist Dread Scott, playwright Lynn Nottage, and dozens of cultural figures have launched "Fall of Freedom," a nationwide weekend of creative demonstrations scheduled for November 21–22, 2025, to protest rising authoritarianism under the Trump administration. The project invites arts communities to organize independent actions—such as storefront readings, pop-up performances, exhibitions, and workshops—at museums, galleries, classrooms, comedy clubs, or any community gathering space. Participating institutions include the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which will host a "Wear Your Rights" silk-screening workshop, and New York's Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which will turn a gallery into a library of queer art activism books. Other notable participants include artists Marilyn Minter, Robert Longo, and Amy Sherald, who recently canceled a Smithsonian exhibition after concerns over her painting of a Black transgender Statue of Liberty.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 18 link 11 artists, 1 gallery

william monk pace frieze london 2025 1234757216

British painter William Monk is presenting a new series of paintings at Pace Gallery's solo booth at Frieze London 2025. The works, created during a residency at the Neuendorf House in Mallorca, feature obsessive cactus forms and a sentinel figure evolving from his earlier Ferryman series. Monk's studio visit reveals his meticulous process of controlling every detail, with paintings that recall Seurat and Bonnard in their dense, rhythmic brushwork.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

art heist that inspired the mastermind 1234757268

Kelly Reichardt's new film *The Mastermind*, starring Josh O'Connor, depicts a low-stakes art heist at the fictional Framingham Museum of Art, inspired by a real 1972 theft at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts. In the actual heist, two robbers stole four paintings by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Gauguin, worth about $7.72 million today, and shot an unarmed guard. The film, set in the early '70s, draws on details like two schoolgirls who witnessed the crime, but Reichardt deliberately makes the cinematic version less thrilling than the real event.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 21 link 3 artists

qatar owns courbet self portrait 1234757129

Qatar has revealed that it is the owner of Gustave Courbet's famed self-portrait *Le Désespéré* (The Desperate Man, 1843–45), which has gone on view at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris for the first time in 17 years. The painting, previously listed as being on loan from an unknown private collector, was acquired by Qatar Museums, a state body that oversees the nation's art scene. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, head of Qatar Museums, acknowledged the ownership during a tribute at the Musée d'Orsay, noting that the work will be on long-term loan there for five years before moving to the future Art Mill Museum in Doha, set to open in 2030.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Oct 14, 2025 visibility 14 link 1 artist

issy wood charli xcx vanity fair cover 1234757050

Issy Wood, a rising British artist known for her figurative paintings of luxury objects and body parts, created the cover for Vanity Fair's first art-themed issue in nearly two decades. The cover features a portrait of pop star Charli XCX titled *Charli 2* (2025), painted in oil on velvet with gauzy stars and white forms. Wood cited their shared Britishness and the singer's career longevity as inspiration, while the article draws parallels between Wood's subject matter and the 'Brat universe.'

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 15 link 1 artist

climate activists deface christopher columbus painting on day marking his arrival to americas 1234756823

Two activists from the climate group Futuro Vegetal were arrested on October 12 after throwing biodegradable red paint on José Garnelo's 1892 painting *First Tribute to Christopher Columbus* at the Naval Museum in Madrid. The protest occurred on Spain's National Day, which commemorates Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The activists unfurled a banner reading “October 12, nothing to celebrate. Ecosocial justice” and were charged with crimes against cultural heritage. Separately, about 20 activists from Marea Palestina staged a sit-in around Picasso's *Guernica* at the Reina Sofía Museum, demanding an end to “the genocide against the Palestinian people,” temporarily closing the gallery.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article policy schedule Oct 12, 2025 visibility 19 link 3 artists

smithsonian closes museums government shutdown 1234756500

The Smithsonian Institution has been forced to close its 21 museums in Washington, D.C., indefinitely due to a continuing U.S. government shutdown that began on October 1. The National Gallery of Art had already closed the previous weekend. The Smithsonian had initially used its own funds to stay open, first planning to close on October 6 and then extending operations through October 11, but the ongoing shutdown—stemming from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over health care policy—has now made closure unavoidable. The shutdown also threatens upcoming programming, including a planned Grandma Moses survey at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a portraiture competition exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which has already been postponed.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 18 link 9 artists

claude monet venice brooklyn museum review 1234756443

The Brooklyn Museum's exhibition "Monet and Venice" explores how Claude Monet's 1908 trip to Venice revitalized his creative practice, leading to 37 remarkable paintings that directly influenced his later "Water Lilies" series. The show assembles more than half of these Venice works alongside pieces by Canaletto, J.M.W. Turner, and others, tracing how the sojourn allowed Monet to see his canvases with fresh eyes after a period of creative impasse. Curated by Lisa Small and Melissa Buron, the 100-work survey opens October 11 and is the largest Monet exhibition in New York in over 25 years.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 13 link 5 artists

jean michel basquaits 45 m crowns peso neto to headline sothebys fall auctions in new york 1234756255

Sotheby's will offer Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* as the headline lot of its contemporary evening sale in New York this fall, carrying a high estimate of $45 million. The work, which has never been auctioned before, debuted at Basquiat's landmark 1982 solo show at Annina Nosei Gallery and later appeared at Documenta 7. It will be exhibited in London during Frieze Week, then in Paris coinciding with Art Basel Paris, before arriving at Sotheby's new Breuer Building headquarters in New York ahead of the November 8 sale.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 18 link 8 artists

ken jacobs film artist dead 1234755856

Ken Jacobs, a pioneering experimental filmmaker who blurred the boundaries between cinema and visual art, died at 92 in New York from kidney failure, according to his son, filmmaker Azazel Jacobs. A key figure in the postwar New York underground alongside Jack Smith and Jonas Mekas, Jacobs challenged conventional filmmaking through works like "Blonde Cobra" (1963) and "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (1969), using techniques such as live radio accompaniment, slow motion, and looping to deconstruct the medium. He studied painting under Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann and described his own work as "Abstract Expressionist cinema," often drawing direct comparisons between film and painting.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

admiral nelsons sexuality in spotlight once again after war hero branded queer by british museum 1234755997

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.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 7, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

musee dorsay manet mock trial dejeuner sur lherbe 1234755595

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.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Oct 6, 2025 visibility 14 link 5 artists

sothebys to sell rene magritte work bought by family of nazi executed wwii resistance fighter 1234755449

A René Magritte painting, *La Magie Noire* (1934), will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris on October 24 with a high estimate of €7 million ($8.1 million). The work has remained in the same private collection for nearly a century, having been acquired directly from the artist by the family of World War II resistance heroine Suzanne Spaak, who was executed by the Gestapo in 1944 for helping Jewish children escape Nazi persecution. The painting depicts Magritte’s wife, Georgette Berger, and is the first of ten portraits in which the female body merges with sky, stone, and spirit.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Oct 1, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

bacon rodin works sothebys frieze week sale 1234754682

Four works by Francis Bacon and Auguste Rodin will headline Sotheby’s Frieze Week contemporary evening auction in London on October 16. The lots include Bacon’s paintings *Portrait of a Dwarf* (estimated up to £9 million) and *Study for Self-Portrait* (up to £6 million), alongside Rodin’s final bronze iterations of *Pierre de Wissant* and *Jean de Fiennes* (each estimated at £600,000–£900,000). The works come from an important private collection, with the Bacons acquired directly from the artist and held for over 40 years, and the Rodins purchased from the Musée Rodin. Sotheby’s shared previously unpublished audio featuring art historian Eddy Batache, a close friend of Bacon, who noted that *Portrait of a Dwarf* is the only painting Bacon ever kept for himself.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 1, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist

rembrandt masterpiece undergoes conservation at germanys stadel museum 1234755009

The Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, is undertaking a major conservation treatment of Rembrandt van Rijn's monumental painting *The Blinding of Samson* (1636). The project, expected to last three to four years, will address signs of aging and previous restorations, remove non-original paint, and create a historically accurate frame. The conservation follows a 2021 research seminar and technical studies published in the journal *ArtMatters*, which revealed previously unknown underdrawing techniques and adjustments to the artist's color palette and composition.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 17 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

perelman art insurance ruling 1234753886

A New York judge has ruled against billionaire investor and art collector Ronald O. Perelman in his attempt to collect $400 million from insurers for five paintings allegedly damaged in a 2018 fire at his East Hampton estate. Justice Joel M. Cohen of State Supreme Court in Manhattan found no visible damage to the works—two by Andy Warhol, two by Ed Ruscha, and one by Cy Twombly—and nothing traceable to the fire that would reduce their value. Perelman claimed the fire robbed the paintings of their 'spark' and 'oomph,' but insurers including Lloyd's of London, Chubb, and AIG countered that the works were unscathed and accused Perelman of filing claims under severe financial pressure after a collapse in Revlon stock.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 24, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

the night watch dog inspiration rembrandt 1234753538

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has discovered that the dog in the lower right corner of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" (1642) was inspired by a 17th-century drawing by Adriaen van de Venne. Curator Anne Lenders spotted the resemblance while visiting an exhibition at the Zeeuws Museum, and subsequent research confirmed the connection. The finding emerged from Operation Night Watch, an ongoing restoration project that uses scientific analysis to study the painting.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Sep 24, 2025 visibility 12 link 9 artists, 1 gallery

roberta smith interviews larry gagosian 1234753471

Roberta Smith, the former New York Times co-chief art critic, interviews Larry Gagosian, the world's most famous art dealer, for Numero magazine. The conversation covers Gagosian's hands-on management of his 18 galleries, his admission of mistakes in closing locations in San Francisco and Geneva, and his view of his galleries as tryout spaces akin to off-Broadway. Gagosian shares anecdotes about his first Picasso purchase at Sotheby's for $900,000 (now worth $40 million), his early shows featuring David Salle and Warhol's Oxidation paintings, and his regret over selling Eli Broad's Basquiat skull painting for $80,000. Smith recalls attending Gagosian's first New York show in the 1970s, and the two reflect on their long, distant acquaintance.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 9 link 5 artists

hidden vermeer self portrait maid asleep 1234753399

New research by the Metropolitan Museum of Art suggests that Johannes Vermeer may have hidden a self-portrait beneath his painting *A Maid Asleep* (1656–57). Using scientific analysis, the Met's team discovered an overpainted figure in the background—a man painting with his left hand, likely a reflection in a framed mirror. The image is too obscured to reveal facial features. The theory, first proposed by the Met in 2023, is bolstered by a comparison to Nicolaes Maes's *The Naughty Drummer* (1655), which similarly depicts an artist reflected in a mirror. The Met argues Vermeer likely knew Maes's work.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 18 link 7 artists

john singer sargent paintings 12 15 million 1234753307

Three paintings by John Singer Sargent from the collection of Carol and Terry Wall will be auctioned at Christie’s this fall, with a combined estimate of $12 million to $17 million. The works—Capri (1878), Corner of the Church of San Stae, Venice (1913), and Gondolier’s Siesta (1902-03)—depict Italian scenes and will be part of the 20th century evening sales in New York in November. The collection also includes works by Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, Frederick Frieseke, and William Merritt Chase, and will be previewed in Paris, London, and Taipei.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 20 link 8 artists

leiden collection fractionalized thomas kaplan rembrandt 1234753075

Billionaire investor Thomas S. Kaplan, owner of the Leiden Collection—the largest private holding of Rembrandt paintings and other Dutch/Flemish Old Masters—has announced plans to fractionalize his art holdings, potentially offering shares on a public stock exchange. In an interview with the Art Newspaper, Kaplan cited his children's lack of interest in the collection and a desire to democratize art ownership, inspired by the NFT craze of the early 2020s. The collection includes Vermeer's *Young Woman Seated at a Virginal* (ca. 1670–75) and works by Frans Hals, Gerard ter Borch, and others, and is regularly loaned to major museum exhibitions.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 22 link 7 artists

turner prize reactions 2025 mohammed sami 1234753254

The Turner Prize 2025 exhibition has opened at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford, England, featuring four nominated artists: Mohammed Sami, Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, and Zadie Xa. Critics have largely rallied behind Sami, a Baghdad-born, London-based painter whose large-scale works obliquely address war and memory, with several reviewers calling him a shoo-in for the award. The only major dissenter is Adrian Searle of the Guardian, who favors Kalu's sculptural works made from tape, fabric, and cable ties. The show has received mixed to positive reviews, with some critics noting the shortlist's focus on identity and diversity.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists

hidden portrait beneath vermeer girl with the red hat 1234752997

During the pandemic, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., used advanced imaging techniques to analyze four paintings attributed to Johannes Vermeer. Beneath the surface of *Girl with the Red Hat* (ca. 1669), conservators discovered an underpainting of a man in a wide-brimmed hat and tasseled collar, dated to 1650–55. Initially thought to be by an unidentified artist, further study suggests the underpainting may be Vermeer’s own work, making it his earliest known painting and his only known male portrait. However, specialists caution that the theory has not been proven or denied, and the hidden portrait could alternatively be by Carel Fabritius, with Vermeer painting over it.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 12 link 5 artists

heirs of jewish collector urge appeals court to reconsider claim to van goghs sunflowers 1234752961

Heirs of German Jewish banker and art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy have urged the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to revive their lawsuit seeking the return of Vincent van Gogh's *Sunflowers* (1888), which they claim was sold under Nazi duress. The lawsuit, filed in 2022 against Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings, argues that the painting was purchased at a 1987 Christie's auction by Sompo's predecessor, Yasuda, despite provenance indicating Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was a Nazi victim. A lower court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of jurisdiction, but the heirs contend that the painting's exhibition in Chicago in 2001 establishes sufficient legal ties to Illinois.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 19, 2025 visibility 11 link 4 artists

jackson pollock manganese blue 1234752350

A scientific paper published in PNAS reveals that Jackson Pollock's 1948 masterpiece *Number 1A* contains an extinct variety of manganese blue paint. Using Raman spectroscopy, researchers from Stanford University, City College of New York, and MoMA's conservation department identified the synthetic pigment, which was popular in the 20th century but phased out in the 1990s due to environmental concerns.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 18, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists

glenn lowry moma values trump 1234752653

Glenn Lowry, the longtime director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), delivered a farewell speech in June 2025 at MoMA's Party in the Garden, implicitly addressing the Trump administration's attacks on cultural institutions. He urged the museum to defend values of pluralism, freedom of expression, and minority rights, warning that the coming years would present consequential choices not seen since World War II. The article notes that while Trump has not directly targeted MoMA, he has threatened the Smithsonian Institution, and artist Amy Sherald canceled a National Portrait Gallery survey alleging censorship. Under Lowry, MoMA mounted a 2017 exhibition critical of Trump's travel ban, but has otherwise avoided explicit political programming.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

person people schedule Sep 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 7 artists

met museum maria castro curator hire 1234752618

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has hired Maria Castro as an associate curator in its modern and contemporary department, a role she will begin later this month. Castro joins from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she served as associate curator of painting and sculpture and co-organized exhibitions including a current permanent collection hang and a show centered on Henri Matisse's "Femme au chapeau" (1905). Her appointment comes as the Met prepares for the opening of the Oscar L. and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing in 2030, a major expansion that is driving departmental growth.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original