Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Jan 9, 2026 visibility 6 link 3 artists

Storm over closure of South Africa’s much-loved Irma Stern Museum

The Irma Stern Museum (ISM) in Cape Town, South Africa, was abruptly closed in October 2024 after the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Irma Stern Trust ended their 56-year partnership. The museum, housed in Stern's former home The Firs, displayed her collection of artifacts and her own works. The closure sparked public outrage over lack of transparency, with staff removed without clarity and the announcement made only after pressure. The trust, owned by Nedgroup Private Wealth, plans to relocate artworks to a new storage facility and repurpose The Firs, but no reopening date has been set.

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article culture schedule Jan 9, 2026 visibility 6 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

Comment | In worrying times for politics and the environment, art can still provide hope

In a reflective essay for 2026, the author draws on conversations with artists Luc Tuymans and Olafur Eliasson from the "A brush with…" podcast to explore art's capacity to offer hope amid political and environmental crises. Eliasson discusses his climate-focused works like the glacier melt series "1999/2019" and his despair after COP30, emphasizing action over hope, while Tuymans addresses political trauma through his exhibition at David Zwirner, including a riff on Géricault's "The Raft of the Medusa" that compares the United States to a fruit basket.

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article policy schedule Jan 8, 2026 visibility 9 link 4 artists

Trump administration puts renewed pressure on Smithsonian to turn over materials for review

The Trump administration has given the Smithsonian Institution a deadline of January 13 to turn over materials related to a review of programming at eight of its museums, as outlined in a December 18 letter from White House officials Vince Haley and Russell Vought. The review stems from a March 2025 executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which accused the Smithsonian of promoting a "divisive, race-centered ideology." Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch noted that some requested materials are not readily available and will require significant effort to compile, while the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors have expressed confidence in the Smithsonian's commitment to professional standards.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Jan 5, 2026 visibility 11 link 7 artists

Remembering Erik Bulatov, the Soviet artist who reframed propaganda

Erik Bulatov, the Soviet-born artist known for overlaying Communist Party slogans onto luminous landscapes, died in Paris on 9 November. A key figure in the underground art movement of the 1970s and 80s, he was part of the Sretensky Group alongside Ilya Kabakov and others, navigating state censorship by illustrating children's books. His most famous work, *Glory to the CPSU* (1975), sold for $2.1m in 2008, and in 2025 he was ranked the most expensive living Russian artist by The Art Newspaper Russia.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 1, 2026 visibility 15 link 21 artists

The most exciting museum openings in 2026

A trio of major museum openings is expected in Los Angeles in 2026: the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) with its new David Geffen Galleries designed by Peter Zumthor opening in April; the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by filmmaker George Lucas and designed by Ma Yansong, opening on 22 September; and the digital artist Refik Anadol's Dataland, the first museum devoted to AI-generated art, opening in spring. Additionally, the Victoria and Albert Museum opens V&A East in London on 18 April, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, opens an expansion on 6 June.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 19, 2025 visibility 24 link 33 artists

Eighty Years of Women Artists Transforming Abstraction

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., will host "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection" from February 27 to July 26, 2026. The exhibition features 80 works by 69 women artists, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Cecily Brown, Julie Mehretu, and Kara Walker, spanning 1946 to 2024. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the show is drawn from the collection of Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg and organized by the Making Their Mark Foundation. It is structured around seven thematic sections such as "Craft is Art" and "Disobedient Bodies," highlighting the role of women in abstract art.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 17, 2025 visibility 16 link 28 artists

Malba acquires collection of more than 1,200 Latin American works

The Argentine real-estate developer and collector Eduardo F. Costantini has acquired the entire Daros Latinamerica Collection, adding 1,233 works by 117 artists to his Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba). Previously housed in Zurich, the collection includes key pieces by artists such as Ana Mendieta, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, and Cildo Meireles. The acquisition brings 75 new artists to Malba's holdings, including Doris Salcedo and Jesús Rafael Soto, and strengthens existing ones like Guillermo Kuitca and León Ferrari. Plans for a museum expansion to accommodate the works are already underway.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 16, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists

Review: Shows on view at Akron Art Museum reveal creative soul of a 200-year-old city

The Akron Art Museum is hosting a series of exhibitions that explore the identity and creative spirit of Akron, Ohio, as the city celebrates its 2025 bicentennial. The centerpiece is a large-scale retrospective of Alfred McMoore (1950-2009), a self-trained outsider artist from Akron who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of his life in psychiatric institutions. McMoore created massive pencil and crayon drawings focused on funerals and death rituals, and his work attracted a circle of supporters including the late antiques dealer Chuck Auerbach and journalist Jim Carney, whose sons Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney later founded the Grammy-winning band The Black Keys, named after McMoore's cryptic phrase.

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article local schedule Dec 10, 2025 visibility 13 link 11 artists

The spirit of the north: Oulu is about to begin its year as European Capital of Culture

Oulu, a port city in northern Finland just over 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, has been selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2026. The year-long program will feature over 3,000 events, including art exhibitions, food festivals, and performances, kicking off with an opening festival in January. Highlights include a Sámi art exhibition at the Oulu Museum of Art, a new opera by the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš, and "Climate Clock," a trail of seven permanent public artworks by international artists such as Antti Laitinen, SUPERFLEX, Rana Begum, and Gabriel Kuri. Events will also take place across 39 adjoining municipalities.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 8 link 12 artists

Exhibition program 2026

The Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst in Bremen has announced its 2026 exhibition program, featuring three major shows. The collection exhibition "The Way We Are" (February 21, 2026–January 30, 2028) presents an updated survey of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present, with new thematic areas exploring self-portraiture, power and empowerment, patriarchal structures, and representations of the body, featuring works by over 100 artists. A solo exhibition, "Anys Reimann: Mirrorball" (May 2–October 4, 2026), marks the first museum show dedicated to the Düsseldorf-born artist, known for her works addressing identity, Black womanhood, and postcolonial themes through collage-paintings, leather sculptures, and an immersive black garden installation. Additionally, "Edition S Press" (September 12, 2026–August 29, 2027) at the Centre for Artists’ Publications examines the experimental publisher's output of concrete poetry, Beat poetry, and acoustic art from 1970 to 2005, featuring works by over fifty artists including John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, and John Giorno.

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gavel restitution schedule Dec 5, 2025 visibility 7 link 1 artist

Did Qatar’s Courbet acquisition short-circuit French export licence process?

Qatar Museums has acquired Gustave Courbet's early self-portrait *Le Désespéré* (1843-45) from a French collector for €50 million, bypassing the standard French export licence process. The Musée d'Orsay revealed the purchase at a private event in October, announcing the painting will be lent to the museum for five years before moving to Qatar's future Art Mill Museum (opening by 2030). The sale was conducted without an export certificate, with the justification that the work will remain in France for most of the time, using temporary export licences for exhibitions in Doha. Critics, including heritage campaigner Julien Lacaze, argue this exemption is being misused, as it was intended for one-off exhibitions, not recurring rotations.

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rate_review review schedule Dec 2, 2025 visibility 9 link 6 artists

Review: Art museum’s big fall fashion show is captivating, sexy and fun, albeit with glitches

The Cleveland Museum of Art has opened a major fall exhibition titled "Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses," featuring roughly 80 garments and accessories from top Italian fashion houses such as Gucci, Pucci, Armani, Versace, Valentino, Ferragamo, Max Mara, and Missoni. The show juxtaposes these modern and contemporary designs with over 40 Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque artworks from the museum's collection, exploring how Italian couture has drawn inspiration from art history. A digital video installation by filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini and photographer Henry Hargreaves, using AI technology, humorously depicts models "invading" the museum, underscoring fashion's disruptive cultural power. Despite some pacing and spatial choreography issues, the exhibition makes a compelling case for fashion as high art.

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article culture schedule Dec 2, 2025 visibility 9 link 2 artists

An expert’s guide to late Pablo Picasso: five must-read books on the second half of his career

Pablo Picasso remains one of the most prolific and studied artists in history. This article presents a curated reading list of five essential books focused on the second half of his career, timed to coincide with the exhibition 'Late Picasso' at Stockholm's Moderna Museet. The books, selected by curators Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer, include 'Picasso: Painting Against Time' (2006), 'A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932' (2008), 'Picasso: Endlessly Drawing' (2024), 'Picasso's Animals' (2014), and 'Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective' (1980), each offering unique insights into his later works, personal life, and artistic evolution.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 16 link 12 artists

Art meets tech: 6 ways to experience both during Miami Art Week

Miami Art Week is featuring a strong intersection of art and technology, with digital art taking center stage at major fairs. Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 5–7) debuts Zero 10, a curated section focused on digital art, showcasing works by Beeple (including robotic dogs resembling billionaires), Lu Yang, and others. CONTEXT Art Miami (Dec. 2–7) hosts Blackdove, a Miami-based digital art company, presenting its first fair exhibit titled "Code and Canvas: The Digital Art Genome." Other tech-forward installations include Emmanuel Van der Auwera's thermal video piece and Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst's AI-driven digital canvas.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists

Phillips Collection sells O’Keeffe and other masterpieces amid outcry from supporters

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., sold three masterworks from its permanent collection at auction on Thursday evening for a combined $13,413,000. The deaccessioned works were by Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat. The sale proceeded despite strong outcry from some of the museum's influential supporters, who viewed the decision as a betrayal of the founders' vision and accused the director and board of prioritizing financial gain over the institution's mission.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 5 link 2 artists

Collector of Beeple’s $69.3 million NFT work launches space in Singapore

Collector Vignesh Sundaresan, known as Metakovan and famous for purchasing Beeple's NFT artwork "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" for $69.3 million in 2021, has launched a new project space called Padimai Art & Tech Studio in Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Distripark. The venue opens with an Olafur Eliasson exhibition titled "Your view matter," an adaptation of a 2022 virtual reality work that records visitors' experiences on a blockchain system. Sundaresan describes Padimai as a heritage, contemporary art and research institution focused on technology as cultural infrastructure, exploring digital creation, preservation, circulation, and collective memory.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 15 link 15 artists

Get Ready to Explore the Recently Renovated Portland Art Museum All Winter Long

The Portland Art Museum (PAM) will reopen its completely renovated campus on November 20 after nine years and $111 million in construction. The centerpiece is the Mark Rothko Pavilion, a glass structure that connects the museum's two historic buildings—the Main Building (1932) and the Mark Building (1924)—replacing a confusing underground tunnel that often caused visitors to miss entire exhibitions. The renovation touches 100,000 square feet total, including a new media gallery, upgraded spaces, and a 24/7 public passageway through the pavilion. An exhibition of eight paintings by Mark Rothko, who spent his childhood in Portland, will open alongside the pavilion.

newspaper Willamette Week open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 11 link 7 artists

Metropolitan Museum's new Condé M. Nast Galleries will put fashion at the forefront

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open the Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Grand Hall, next spring. The new galleries will become the permanent home for the annual Costume Institute exhibition, replacing the museum's largest retail space. The inaugural show, "Costume Art" (10 May 2026–10 January 2027), will pair paintings, sculptures, and other art objects with historical and contemporary garments, emphasizing the dressed body as a central theme across the museum's collections. The move follows the record-breaking success of 2018's "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," which drew over 1.6 million visitors.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 11 link 10 artists

Art Basel Hong Kong announces new section dedicated to work made in past five years

Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) has announced a new section called Echoes, debuting at its 2026 edition (March 25–29), which will showcase works made within the last five years. The inaugural Echoes presentation will feature 10 booths by 13 galleries, including Flowers Gallery (Hong Kong/London) and a joint booth by Capsule Shanghai and Klemm’s (Berlin). The fair also revealed its full list of curators—all Asia-based for the first time—including Mami Kataoka (director of Mori Art Museum) heading the Encounters section, and Hong Kong video artist Ellen Pau curating the film programme. Additionally, the fifth annual M+ façade commission will be by Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander, presenting a hand-painted animation titled "3 to 12 Nautical Miles." ABHK 2026 is expected to host 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories.

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article culture schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 8 link 7 artists

Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander navigates her country’s complex past—a new monograph tells her story

Shahzia Sikander, a Pakistani artist born in Lahore after the Partition of India, is the subject of a new monograph by art historian Jason Rosenfeld. The article traces her rise from the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, where she studied contemporary miniature painting—a genre uniquely associated with Pakistan—to international prominence. It highlights her graduate thesis, *The Scroll* (1989-90), which used the traditional Indo-Persian miniature form to critique General Zia ul Haq's military dictatorship, and positions her alongside Imran Qureshi as one of the best-known living artists of Pakistani origin.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists

Studio Museum reopens, the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, Stanley Spencer in Suffolk—podcast

The Studio Museum in Harlem has opened its first-ever purpose-built space, designed by Adjaye Associates, with director Thelma Golden leading the institution into a new era. In Egypt, the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) has finally opened in Cairo. Meanwhile, the exhibition "Love & Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk" is on view at Gainsborough's House in Sudbury, featuring the painting "Tree and Chicken Coops, Wangford" (1925) by Stanley Spencer, with co-curator Amy Lim discussing the work.

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person people schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

K11 founder Adrian Cheng on Hong Kong’s art scene, the future of collecting and the creative potential of AI

Adrian Cheng, founder of the K11 property business and a prominent figure in Hong Kong's art scene, discusses his two-decade role in shaping the city's cultural landscape. He founded K11 in 2008 to integrate museum-quality art with retail, developed the Victoria Dockside district and K11 MUSEA, and established the K11 Art Foundation and K11 Craft & Guild Foundation. Cheng has launched new ventures including K11 by AC and the ALMAD Group, and his foundations have partnered with major institutions like the Palais de Tokyo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Serpentine Galleries. He also initiated a regular salon series focused on art and technology, held during events like Frieze Seoul and Asia Now.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 9 link 4 artists

National Gallery Singapore celebrates 10 years

National Gallery Singapore (NGS) celebrates its 10th anniversary with a weekend event on November 15-16, 2025, featuring extended hours, free exhibitions, a rave, a pop-up market, and food trucks. The gallery, housed in the restored Supreme Court and City Hall buildings, opened on November 24, 2015, after a delayed launch, and has since welcomed over 14 million visitors. Highlights include the blockbuster show "Into The Modern: Impressionism From The Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston," with works by Monet, Cézanne, and Degas never before shown in Singapore, plus exclusive merchandise from local brands.

newspaper The Straits Times open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Nov 4, 2025 visibility 5 link 6 artists

The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s brief but dazzling life, as told by an art-world insider

Doug Woodham, former president of Christie's Americas and current managing partner of Art Fiduciary Advisors, has authored a new biography titled "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon." The book is divided into two halves: the first offers a straightforward biography of Basquiat's life from his gifted childhood in Brooklyn to his rise as a star artist, his friendship with Andy Warhol, and his tragic death from a heroin overdose at age 27. The second half analyzes how Basquiat achieved such early success, examining the influence of his father Gerard, the legal battle with dealer Vrej Baghoomian over the artist's estate, and the roles of collectors like Peter Brant and José Mugrabi. Notably, the Basquiat estate refused permission to include images of his artwork because the book openly addresses sensitive issues about his character and life.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 5 link 1 artist

Catch of the day: Winslow Homer’s delicate watercolours get very rare outing in Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston is presenting "Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolour," a rare exhibition of the American painter's delicate watercolors, running from November 2, 2025, to January 19, 2026. The show brings together a rich selection of Homer's work, including childhood drawings, his final unfinished painting, and dozens of watercolors that are seldom exhibited due to their fragility and light sensitivity. Highlights include "Leaping Trout" (1889), the first Homer watercolor acquired by any museum, and works that depict the rugged New England coast and English seaside. The MFA, an early supporter of Homer's career, holds one of the largest collections of his work, and this is the first time many of these watercolors have been shown together in nearly 50 years.

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article news schedule Oct 27, 2025 visibility 8 link 8 artists

Forged Picasso, Rembrandt and Kahlo paintings seized by Bavarian police

Bavarian police seized forged artworks falsely attributed to Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Juan Miró, Amedeo Modigliani, and Frida Kahlo in coordinated raids across Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein on October 15. The operation targeted a 77-year-old German man and ten suspected accomplices, who are accused of conspiring to commit fraud with art forgeries. The main suspect attempted to sell two fake Picasso paintings—including a portrait of Dora Maar—out of a car boot, prompting a buyer to alert authorities. Other seized works include a copy of Rembrandt's *The Syndics*, offered for SFr 120 million, and pieces falsely attributed to Anthony van Dyck, with prices ranging from €400,000 to €14 million.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 23, 2025 visibility 7 link 1 artist

James Turrell’s New Skyspace Is Opening in Denmark—and It’s Monumental

James Turrell's largest Skyspace to date, titled "As Seen Below – The Dome," will open at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark on June 19, 2026, timed for the summer solstice. The dome-shaped underground chamber, over 50 feet high and 130 feet in diameter, frames the sky and is housed within a grassy mound as part of the museum's subterranean expansion, The Next Level. The project, first announced in 2015, faced financial and technical delays, including a supplier bankruptcy, and required additional funding of 6.7 million kroner this year.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 11 link 11 artists

'Monuments' is the most significant American art museum show right now

The article reports on "MONUMENTS," a major exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and the nonprofit Brick. The show features 10 decommissioned Confederate monuments, some splashed with protesters' paint, alongside works by 20 contemporary artists including Hank Willis Thomas and Karon Davis. It was assembled by curators Hamza Walker, Hannah Burstein, Bennett Simpson, Paula Kroll, and artist Kara Walker, and has been in development for nearly eight years, spurred by events such as the 2015 Charleston church massacre, the 2017 Charlottesville riot, and the 2020 George Floyd protests.

newspaper Los Angeles Times open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 21, 2025 visibility 8 link 5 artists

KAWS to take centre stage at second edition of Manar Abu Dhabi

The second edition of Manar Abu Dhabi, a public art initiative focused on light-based works, will launch on 1 November 2025, featuring 23 installations across four locations including Jubail Island and Al Ain. High-profile street artist KAWS will present a large-scale work showing his signature COMPANION figure reclining while lifting a lit moon. Other participating artists include Emirati sculptor Shaikha Al Mazrou, Dutch duo DRIFT, Maitha Hamdan, Ammar Al Attar, and Hamburg-based Christian Brinkmann, who will debut an interactive audio-visual piece called Floral Resonance.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 5 link 6 artists

Show at the Barnes Foundation charts Henri Rousseau's rise from mockery to acclaim

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is opening "Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets" (October 19–February 22), reuniting for the first time in over a century the two largest collections of Rousseau's work—18 paintings from the Barnes Foundation and 11 from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The exhibition, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, uses new conservation research to challenge the long-held myth of Rousseau as a naive, unworldly amateur, revealing instead a strategic artist who revised compositions, reused canvases, and actively sought an audience through Paris's open salons.

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