Olympic officials blocked Haiti's plan to feature a painting of revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture on its team uniforms for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, citing a rule against political propaganda. Designer Stella Jean, with a team of artisans in Rome, hand-painted a redesigned version that removed Louverture and the snake but kept the horse and landscape, delivering the uniforms just two days before the opening ceremony.
A trio of Bob Ross paintings sold for over $1 million at Bonhams' “Americana” auction on January 27, 2026, with proceeds benefiting American Public Television (APT). The top lot, *Change of Seasons* (1990), fetched $787,900—more than 13 times its high estimate—followed by *Babbling Brook* (1993) at $279,900 and *Valley View* (1990) at $203,700. The sale follows APT's record-breaking November auction and is part of a series of 24 Ross paintings to be offered throughout the year.
A rediscovered painting by Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, titled 'Lucretia,' sold for €4.8 million ($5.28 million) at an Artcurial auction in Paris, shattering the artist's previous auction record. The price soared to six times its high estimate, reflecting intense market competition for the rare work.
London's National Gallery has acquired a recently rediscovered self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria' (c. 1615–17), for £3.6 million ($4.7 million). The painting was purchased from a London dealer who had secured it at a Paris auction in December, where it set a new auction record for the artist. The acquisition marks a significant addition to the museum's holdings, as it is only the 21st work by a female artist in its collection of over 2,300 pieces.
Ronald Lauder, the billionaire art collector and heir to the Estée Lauder fortune, is named over 900 times in the recently released Jeffrey Epstein court documents. The emails reveal his assistants frequently scheduling meetings and calls with Epstein in 2017, though the substance of their discussions remains largely unclear. One email suggests Epstein sought to review Lauder's tax returns and will, while another indicates Epstein attempted to arrange a dinner involving filmmaker Woody Allen.
The estate of movie poster artist John Alvin is seeking a single buyer for his entire archive of over 1,000 pieces, including original posters, sketches, and illustrations from the 1970s through the 1990s. The collection, stewarded by his widow Andrea Alvin since his death in 2008, features iconic work for films like E.T., The Lion King, and Blade Runner.
jewish heirs file suite french court met ownership pissarro painting
Seven heirs of the late department store magnate and art collector Max Julius Braunthal have filed a lawsuit in a French court, seeking to nullify the 1941 sale of Camille Pissarro's painting 'Haystacks, Morning, Eragny' (1899). They argue the sale was made under duress during the Nazi occupation of France. The painting is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which maintains Braunthal received fair market value.
The Winter Show at New York's Park Avenue Armory features a standout booth by the gallery French and Company, presenting a darkly themed collection. The eclectic offerings include Old Master still lifes by Willem Kalf and Willem Claesz Heda, a Victorian ceramic peacock, a 1979 painting by Susan Rothenberg, and a "horror wall" with works like Pasko Vucetic's *Hatred and Madness* and Wilhelm Trübner's *A Gorgon's Head*, all curated by the gallery's Henry Zimet.
Hong Kong's M+ museum has selected Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander's hand-painted animated film *3 to 12 Nautical Miles* (2026) for its latest M+ Facade commission, a massive LED media screen. Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel, the work will screen from March 23 through June 21. The animation explores entangled histories of empire and commerce, linking Imperial Britain, the Indian subcontinent, and Qing China, and chronicles the Mughal Empire's decline, the East India Company's rise, and the First Opium War.
Sesse Elangwe's 2025 painting *True Friends?* sold for $22,000 at San Francisco dealer Jonathan Carver Moore's booth during the opening of FOG Art + Design on January 21. The work, created during a residency run by Moore, was purchased by a local collector. Elangwe, a self-taught Cameroonian artist known for emotionally charged portraits of Black subjects, was the fourth participant in Moore's residency program, which aims to connect artists with Bay Area collectors. Another portrait, *And My Better Half* (2025), was pre-sold for $9,000 to another Bay Area collector.
The Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris has opened a new exhibition titled "The Empire of Sleep," curated by neurologist Laura Bossi and museum director Sylvie Carlier. The show gathers 130 artworks from the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring how artists have depicted sleep, dreams, nightmares, and the bed as a site of birth, love, illness, and death. Featured artists include John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Jean Cocteau, Giovanni Bellini, Gabriel von Max, Evelyn De Morgan, Odilon Redon, Gustave Courbet, Francisco de Goya, and Claude Monet, whose painting *Camille on Her Deathbed* is a centerpiece.
A surge of gallery exhibitions in New York this January focuses on deceased artists and estates, including shows for Marcia Marcus at Olney Gleason, Hung Liu at Ryan Lee, and Lynn Geesaman at Yancey Richardson. This trend reflects a broader shift toward historical reappraisals, with young dealers increasingly taking on artist estates and museums doubling their share of solo shows for dead artists from 18% in 2019 to nearly 50% in 2025.
Brendan and Celia Wilson are selling Rossett Mill, a Grade II-listed 16th-century water mill in Wrexham, Wales, for £1.5 million ($2 million). The couple purchased the derelict property 17 years ago for £660,000 and spent two years and roughly £250,000 restoring it into a four-bedroom home, sourcing reclaimed oak beams from France and preserving its historic character. The mill, which dates to 1588, once inspired an early painting by J.M.W. Turner titled *Marford Mill* (1795), created during one of his tours of Wales. The Wilsons are selling to move closer to their children.
A Nobilified, a start-up that lets customers insert themselves into classic paintings for about $140, has created a series of artworks depicting Super Bowl heroes from the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in historical masterpieces. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady appears as Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau, tight end Rob Gronkowski as Abduction of Ganymede by Jupiter (ca. 1644) by Eustache Le Sueur, while Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is shown in Ideal portrait of a Spanish King (ca. 1643) by Alonso Cano, with other players featured in works by John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West.
New York's Metropolitan Opera announced it may sell its two iconic Marc Chagall murals, *The Sources of Music* and *The Triumphs of Music*, which have adorned the building's Grand Tier since 1966. The proposal includes a caveat that the paintings must remain in place at the opera, with the owner recognized on a plaque. Sotheby's valued the artworks at a total of $55 million within the past year. The financially beleaguered institution has drawn $120 million from its endowment and reduced its performance schedule since the pandemic, and previously used the Chagalls as collateral for a $35 million loan from J.P. Morgan in 2009.
Tate Modern's upcoming exhibition "Frida: The Making of an Icon," opening in June, will feature only 36 works by Frida Kahlo, a significant drop from the 50-plus works shown in the museum's last major Kahlo exhibition in 2005. Curators cite the artist's soaring global popularity as a practical obstacle: her paintings have become scarcer, more valuable, and harder to borrow. A key example is Kahlo's 1940 painting "El sueño (La cama)," which sold at Sotheby's New York for $54.7 million last fall, setting a new auction record for a woman artist. Tate is still trying to secure that work for the show, but curator Tobias Ostrander says chances are slim. Notably, Madonna, who lent works in 2005, has declined to loan this time. The exhibition, which premieres at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston before traveling to London, will not be a traditional retrospective but will instead place Kahlo's work within a broader cultural context, including works by over 80 artists she influenced and a section examining "Fridamania" and the mass merchandising of her image.
A new TV series titled "The Artist" on The Network offers a chaotic, irreverent take on art history, centering on a widow (Janet McTeer) who may have murdered her robber-baron husband. The show features historical figures like Edgar Degas and Thomas Edison, blending campy soap-opera drama with accurate art-historical references, including real artworks by Monet, Manet, Cassatt, and Degas. The final episodes air December 25 on a free ad-sponsored platform created by director Aram Rappaport.
Milan is briefly opening access to a rare Leonardo da Vinci mural inside the Sforza Castle during the 2026 Winter Olympics. From February 7 to March 14, visitors can climb a 20-foot scaffold in the Sala delle Asse to see conservators restoring the unfinished wall and ceiling painting, which was begun around 1498 and long hidden under plaster. The castle has also launched a new multimedia installation on the room's history and reopened a gallery dedicated to Leonardo's students and followers, the Leonardeschi.
Jermaine Jackson has announced plans to launch a touring museum dedicated to Michael Jackson's visual art, debuting in Monaco toward the end of 2026 as part of a biennial. The museum, described as a "Showseum," will open with a 120-work exhibition of Jackson's paintings, including collaborations with Andy Warhol and portraits of US presidents. The collection of 200 works, reportedly worth $1.6 billion, has been stored in a secure facility in Washington, D.C., and is not for sale.
Christie’s has secured the estate of Belgian collectors Roger and Josette Vanthournout, with over 200 works to be sold in its March sales in London, including a René Magritte painting estimated at $4.7 million. Meanwhile, South Africa blames Qatar for the cancellation of its Venice Biennale pavilion featuring a work about Gaza violence by Gabrielle Goliath, claiming Qatar sought to use the pavilion for "proxy power." Art Cologne has announced 88 exhibitors for its revived Palma, Mallorca edition launching April 9.
Joseph Atsus, a 51-year-old Pennsylvania man, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, supervised release, and $1 million in restitution for his role in a multi-state museum theft ring that operated from 1999 to 2019. The ring stole millions in art and memorabilia from 20 institutions, including Andy Warhol's silkscreen *Le Grande Passion* (1984) and Jackson Pollock's oil painting *Springs Winter* (1949) from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2005. Atsus is the sixth member of the eight-person ring to be sentenced; co-conspirator Nicholas Dombek received 108 months, while others received sentences ranging from six to 96 months. Many stolen works remain missing, and some, including a painting valued at $125,000, were destroyed to avoid evidence recovery.
Ian McKellen has signed on to star in a new BBC documentary about cult British painter L.S. Lowry, titled "L.S. Lowry: The Unheard Tapes." The film will focus on previously unheard audio recordings Lowry made in the final four years of his life, which contain what is described as the longest interview the artist ever gave. McKellen will lip-sync to Lowry's own words, bringing the artist back to life through his distinctive Lancastrian voice. The documentary is being produced by the BBC and has the support of Lowry's estate.
Seven notable art historical rediscoveries from 2025 are highlighted, including an early Eva Hesse painting found at a Goodwill thrift store that sold for $107,100 at Christie's, a previously unknown John Singer Sargent portrait unveiled at the Musée d'Orsay, a Salvador Dalí watercolor bought for $186 that fetched $61,400 at auction, and a John Constable drawing resurfacing after 200 years. Other finds include works by post-minimalist and old master artists uncovered in attics, estate sales, and private collections, often identified by sharp-eyed dealers or lucky amateurs.
The Morgan Library and Museum in New York will open "Caravaggio’s Boy with a Basket of Fruit in Focus" on January 16, centered on a landmark loan of Caravaggio's titular painting from the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The exhibition, organized through the Foundation for Italian Art and Culture (FIAC) led by Alain Elkann, features 13 artworks by artists who preceded and succeeded Caravaggio, curated by John Marciari to provide context on the artist's influences and legacy.
Yoko Ono's retrospective "Music of the Mind" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago showcases over 200 works, including word scores, ephemera, and performances from the 1960s and early '70s. Central to the show is Ono's aesthetic of refusal, exemplified by pieces like *Strip Tease for Three* (1966), where empty chairs await a dancer who never arrives, and *Smoke Painting* (1961), which instructs viewers to burn a canvas. The exhibition, which first appeared at Tate Modern in 2024 and travels to the Broad in Los Angeles after closing in Chicago on February 22, challenges viewers to find meaning in absence and denial.
Rabindranath Tagore's 1937 painting *From Across the Dark* sold for 107 million rupees ($1.2 million) at AstaGuru's "Historic Masterpieces" online auction, setting a new auction record for the artist. The work, executed in ink, poster color, and crayon, far exceeded its presale low estimate of 20 million rupees. Tagore's previous record was set at Sotheby's London in October 2023 for *Untitled (Three Bauls)*.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has opened an exhibition titled "Van Gogh and the Roulins. Together Again at Last," which reunites 14 of Vincent van Gogh's 23 portraits of the Roulin family, painted during his 15-month stay in the Yellow House in Arles (1888–89). The show features a full-scale recreation of the Yellow House façade, the original chair used by postman Joseph Roulin during sittings, and costumed actors portraying family members. It traveled from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it drew 280,000 visitors, and includes four additional paintings not shown in Boston, on loan from institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum, Kröller-Müller Museum, Kunst Museum Winterthur, and Museum Folkwang.
The Arkansas Museum of Art in Little Rock is presenting "Architects of Being," an exhibition pairing the work of Esphyr Slobodkina and Louise Nevelson through January 11, 2026. Slobodkina, a Russian-born Jewish immigrant and founding member of the American Abstract Artists, was a painter, sculptor, writer, and fashion designer who also authored the classic children's book *Caps for Sale*. Nevelson, also an Eastern European Jewish immigrant, is renowned for her monochromatic wood assemblages. The show juxtaposes their geometric abstractions, collages, sculptures, and personal fashion, curated as a hypothetical dialogue between two kindred spirits who never met. The exhibition will travel to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is hosting "Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family," its first exhibition of watercolors by Emily Sargent (1857–1936), the younger sister of famed portraitist John Singer Sargent. The works were rediscovered after a forgotten trunk of hundreds of paintings was found in storage by relatives, and in 2022, the family donated 26 pieces across seven museums in the U.S. and U.K. The show features about 20 of the Met's received works, rotating delicate pieces midway through its run, and includes a watercolor co-created by Emily and John.
The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague has announced that Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" will be loaned to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, for a temporary exhibition this fall. The loan occurs while the Dutch museum undergoes renovations in August and September. The painting was last lent to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for its 2023 Vermeer retrospective. The Asahi Shimbun Company is underwriting the presentation and will serve as a project partner to the Mauritshuis for four years, funding a new education center slated for 2028.