open letter demanding more curatorial independence at ago after non acquisition of nan godin work collects 500 signatures 1234772059

An open letter demanding curatorial independence at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has gathered over 500 signatures after trustee Judy Schulich reportedly blocked the acquisition of Nan Goldin's moving-image work *Stendhal Syndrome* (2024), calling the Jewish American photographer “antisemitic.” The AGO had planned to acquire the work jointly with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center, but the vote was 11–9 against acquisition. In response, curator John Zeppetelli resigned, two volunteer committee members stepped down, and Goldin herself criticized the decision as censorship driven by donor influence. The AGO has since announced a restructuring of its modern and contemporary curatorial committee, splitting it into two groups for 20th- and 21st-century art, effective in 2026.

planned saudi contemporary art museum new details announced 1234772293

Saudi Arabia's Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and the Centre Pompidou have revealed new details about the planned AlUla Contemporary Art Museum, designed by architect Lina Ghotmeh. The announcement was made at the opening of the "Arduna" exhibition, a collaborative preview show featuring over 80 works by regional and international artists.

Jewish Heirs File Suit in French Court Over Ownership of Pissarro Painting

jewish heirs file suite french court met ownership pissarro painting 1234771992

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.

christo jeanne claude foundation donation artworks two paris museums 1234771870

The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation has donated 14 artworks to two Parisian museums, the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The donation includes preparatory collages, silkscreens, lithographs, and a scale model related to both realized and unrealized projects by the artist duo, such as the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and Pont-Neuf, as well as early sculptures.

icelandic artist bjorn roth dead at 64 morning links 1234771727

Icelandic artist Björn Roth, known for his collaborative installations and as a member of the artist collective The Roth Family, has died at the age of 64. His death was reported alongside other significant arts news, including the planned closure of the Kennedy Center for renovations and the permanent shuttering of Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts due to financial difficulties.

painter amy sherald signs with talent agency caa 1234770444

Amy Sherald, the painter known for her tender portraits of Black American life, has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a major talent agency. Sherald, who has been represented globally by Hauser & Wirth since 2018, rose to fame after painting Michelle Obama's official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery. She was set to become the first Black contemporary artist to have a solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 2025, but canceled the show after a censorship controversy involving her painting 'Trans Forming Liberty.'

52 walker david zwirner ebony haynes transition 1234770418

52 Walker, the Tribeca kunsthalle-style space founded by Ebony L. Haynes under David Zwirner in 2021, has quietly transitioned from a standalone venue into a standard David Zwirner gallery space. The change followed Haynes's promotion to global head of curatorial projects last fall. The final exhibition at 52 Walker as a dedicated physical space was a presentation by Nicole Eisenman. Haynes will continue to curate under the 52W banner as a nomadic, project-based initiative across Zwirner's global locations, with the next show being an Isa Genzken exhibition titled 'Vacation' opening in March.

michael jackson rarely art warhol museum monaco 1234770241

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.

collectors donate art england taxes degas bill brandt 1234770108

Arts Council England announced the results of the 2024-25 Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu initiatives, through which 32 artworks valued at nearly $80 million entered public collections. Highlights include Edgar Degas's pastel *Danseuses roses* (ca. 1897–1901) donated to the National Gallery, paintings by Max Liebermann and Max Pechstein given to the Ashmolean Museum, a historic desk used by Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and Winston Churchill acquired by the National Trust, and 77 photographs by Bill Brandt donated to Tate. The report covers transfers from April 2024 to March 2025.

rijksmuseum new sculpture garden 70m donation don quixote foundation 1234769776

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum will open a new sculpture garden in fall 2026, funded by a nearly $70 million donation from the Don Quixote Foundation, which is financed by Dutch billionaire Rolly van Rappard. The garden will be located in Carel Willinkplantsoen park, across the Boerenwetering canal from the museum, and will incorporate three adjacent Amsterdam School-style pavilions renovated by Foster + Partners. Belgian landscape architect Piet Blanckaert will design the gardens, and the museum plans to display works by Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Jean Arp, Roni Horn, and Henry Moore, along with temporary exhibitions in the pavilions.

louvre closed again staff strike january 2026 1234769454

The Louvre Museum in Paris was forced to close on Monday, January 12, 2026, after staff launched a strike over pay, staffing levels, and working conditions. The closure is the latest in a series of disruptions since mid-December, including a three-day walkout before Christmas and multiple delayed openings in early January. Unions representing employees say the museum is understaffed, poorly maintained, and workers are overworked, calling for increased hiring, higher wages, and greater infrastructure investment. The labor unrest has been compounded by heightened scrutiny following an October daytime robbery of crown jewels valued at over $100 million, and tensions have also flared over a proposed standalone gallery for Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa*, which unions deem unrealistic given existing problems.

prix marcel duchamp 2026 nominees 1234769260

The Prix Marcel Duchamp, France's most prestigious art prize, has announced its 2026 nominees: Joël Andrianomearisoa, Josèfa Ntjam, Laura Henno, and the duo David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin. The five nominees will exhibit together at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in October, with the winner receiving €35,000. The jury is led by Centre Pompidou director Xavier Rey and includes prominent curators, collectors, and past winners such as Kader Attia.

franco regime censored robert motherwell painting moma show 1234768998

Newly uncovered documents from the Museum of Modern Art’s archives confirm that the Franco regime in Spain attempted to censor Robert Motherwell’s painting *Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 35* (1954–58) before its scheduled 1958 exhibition in Madrid. The painting was part of MoMA’s traveling show “The New American Painting,” which introduced Abstract Expressionism to Europe. Spanish authorities demanded Motherwell remove the phrase “Spanish Republic” from the title, but the artist refused, leading to the work’s exclusion from the exhibition. The documents, reviewed by *El País*, also reveal that Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies boycotted state-sanctioned shows, calling the regime’s cultural propaganda “scandalous.”

m hka flemish government plan legal review 1234768894

The Flemish government's plan to dissolve M HKA, a contemporary art institution in Antwerp, has been met with legal opposition after the museum initiated a legal review that claims the move would be illegal. The review, presented to the press on Tuesday with artists Luc Tuymans and Otobong Nkanga in attendance, argues that the government's proposal—which would close M HKA, transfer its collection to Ghent, and rebrand S.M.A.K. as the Flemish Museum of Contemporary and Current Art by 2028—contains "flagrant illegalities." The plan has drawn widespread condemnation from museum directors and artists, including Anish Kapoor, who demanded the removal of his work from M HKA's website.

art fairs luxury collaborations 2025 market 1234768449

In 2025, art fairs and auction houses have deepened their integration with luxury brands, with Sotheby's and Christie's reporting that luxury items like handbags, jewels, and watches now account for a significant share of revenue—roughly a third at Sotheby's, with private luxury sales surging 350% year-on-year. Art fairs such as Frieze London and Art Basel's global editions have moved beyond traditional sponsorship, embedding luxury partners like Tiffany & Co., Ray-Ban, Stone Island, and De Beers into curated sections, mentorship programs, and immersive installations. Industry figures like Marc Spiegler and Emily Glazebrook emphasize that the most successful collaborations prioritize artists over brands, with initiatives like UBS's Unlimited sector and the Chanel Culture Fund serving as models.

an indigenous takeover of the met asks who should be writing art history 1234757699

An unsanctioned augmented reality exhibition titled “Encoded” has taken over the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring works by 17 North American Indigenous artists. The exhibition, organized by the nonprofit media lab Amplifier and co-curated by Tracy Rector, overlays digital artworks onto iconic paintings and sculptures, including a piece by Josué Riva that replaces Thomas Sully’s portrait of Queen Victoria with a moving image of Acosia Red Elk (Umatilla, Cayuse & Nez Perce) delivering the message “Be a Good Ancestor.” The intervention launched on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day, October 13, 2025, and runs through December 13, without the Met’s permission.

uk museums increasingly turning to public to make decisions trump auctions off jesus christ painting for 2 75 m morning links for january 2 2026 1234768600

British museums are increasingly turning to citizens' assemblies to guide policy, priorities, and funding decisions, with the National Gallery launching its NG Citizens panel following similar initiatives at Birmingham Museums Trust, the Imperial War Museum, and the Migration Museum. Separately, Donald Trump hosted a New Year's Eve gala at Mar-a-Lago where a live-painted portrait of Jesus Christ by artist Vanessa Horabuena sold for $2.75 million, with proceeds split between St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the local sheriff's department. The article also reports a £30 million donation to the Royal Academy of Music's museum, the discovery of a 9,500-year-old cremation pyre in Malawi, a list of major 2026 exhibitions, the death of artist Janet Fish, and research by Daisy Fancourt linking arts engagement to better health outcomes.

frank lloyd wright guggenheim leeches teeth pulled 1234768289

Frank Lloyd Wright, the renowned architect of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, underwent bizarre medical treatments at the urging of Hilla Rebay, the artist and curator who commissioned him to design the museum. Rebay, a Prussian-born baroness and advisor to Solomon R. Guggenheim, convinced Wright to have all his teeth pulled and replaced with dentures within six weeks of their meeting, and also subjected him and his wife to leech bloodletting to drain 'old' blood. The Wrights stopped following her advice when she eyed their daughter's teeth.

collector leslie wexner denies being jeffrey epsteins co conspirator 1234768161

A recently released set of files related to convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein has implied that his ties to collector Leslie Wexner, the former Victoria's Secret CEO, ran deeper than previously thought. An FBI email released by the Department of Justice referred to potential “co-conspirators” who worked with Epstein, and while heavily redacted, the message clearly references Wexner, the namesake collector behind the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Wexner's spokesperson denied the implication, stating that he was “neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect” in the inquiry.

art institute chicagos acquisitions 2025 1234766979

The Art Institute of Chicago announced its top acquisitions from over 1,000 works added to its collections in 2025. Highlights include Kay WalkingStick’s two-panel painting *The Silence of Glacier* (2013), which overlays Northern Cheyenne beadwork onto a Glacier National Park landscape; Christian Schad’s *Portrait of Composer Josef Matthias Hauer* (1927); Frans Francken II’s *Esther Before Ahasuerus* (1622); a rare 17th-century Indian textile titled *A Nayaka Nobleman with Courtiers and Courtesans*; an untitled photograph from Francesca Woodman’s “Caryatid” series (1980); and the *Ovejo Armchair* (1972) by Jaime Gutiérrez Lega.

protests new york new school cuts staffing programs 1234766368

New York's The New School is offering voluntary retirement and severance programs to a large group of faculty and staff as part of a radical restructuring to address a $48 million deficit. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reported that 40 percent of full-time faculty, about 169 staffers, received the offers, calling it the largest attempted firing of faculty currently taking place in the nation. The school is also eliminating over thirty programs, primarily in social sciences and humanities, and plans to combine several schools into a two-college structure, including Parsons School of Design. The school faces declining enrollment and has been warned by the Department of Education over campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

walton ford gagosian tutto cheetah marchesa luisa casati 1234738380

Walton Ford's new series of paintings, on view at Gagosian in New York through April 19, centers on the Marchesa Luisa Casati and her two cheetahs. The works depict the Milanese heiress and Futurist muse in early 20th-century Venice, but the animals—not the glamorous woman—command the focal point. Ford, known for subverting natural history illustration, uses watercolor to balance trompe-l'oeil realism with painterly abandon, developing the characters across multiple canvases with Italian titles referencing literature by Casati's lover, poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.

guy cogeval obituary former director musee dorsay paris 1234761988

Guy Cogeval, the former director of Paris's Musée d'Orsay, died on November 13 at age 70 after a long illness. A specialist in 19th-century art and the Nabis, Cogeval led the Musée d'Orsay from 2008 to 2017, overseeing a major renovation of 80 percent of its galleries and merging it with the Musée de l'Orangerie. He previously directed the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of French Monuments, and curated acclaimed exhibitions including "Hitchcock and Art" and "Édouard Vuillard, Master of Post-Impressionism."

tate director steps down smithsonian returns khmer sculptures and more morning links for december 12 2025 1234766706

Maria Balshaw, director of Tate in London, will step down in spring 2026 after nearly a decade leading the institution. During her tenure, she oversaw major exhibitions including "Van Gogh and Britain," "Yoko Ono," and "Sargent and Fashion," and her final project will be a Tracey Emin survey at Tate Modern. Separately, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art announced it will return three Khmer Empire sculptures—Head of Harihara, The Goddess Uma, and Prajnaparamita—to Cambodia, citing evidence they were looted during the country's civil conflict. The US Senate also unanimously approved the HEAR Act of 2025 to help heirs reclaim art looted during the Holocaust.

london national gallery to raise 1 billion project domani 1234765319

London's National Gallery has announced Project Domani, a nearly $1 billion initiative to collect 20th- and 21st-century art and build a new wing to house it. The institution has shortlisted six architectural firms—including Foster + Partners, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and Kengo Kuma and Associates—from 65 entrants in an international competition, with a winner to be announced in April. About half the funds have been raised, with major pledges from Crankstart, the Julia Rausing Trust, and the National Gallery Trust. The wing will be built on the last undeveloped portion of the campus at 30 Orange Street and is projected to open in the early 2030s.

claes oldeburg yale lipstick sculpture vandalized 1234765176

Claes Oldenburg's 1969 sculpture *Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks* was vandalized in October when the letters "ATB" were etched into its metal base. Yale University is relocating the 24-foot-tall work from the Morse College courtyard to the Yale University Art Gallery for conservation and care, following the discovery of the defacement. The sculpture, a beloved campus landmark originally installed in Beinecke Plaza, has a history of being removed and restored due to weather damage and graffiti.

christies london to sell third part of sam josefowitzs rembrandt print collection in december 1234764043

Christie’s London will auction the third and final part of Sam Josefowitz’s Rembrandt print collection on December 3, featuring 101 etchings by the Dutch master. The sale, titled “The Sam Josefowitz Collection: Graphic Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn – Part III,” follows two previous installments that together brought £13.5 million. A highlight is the rare portrait *Arnout Tholinx, Inspector* (circa 1656), estimated at up to £2.5 million, described as the last impression in private hands. The collection was amassed by Josefowitz, a Lithuanian-born entrepreneur who built a mail-order business before his death in 2015.

christies 21st century evening sale totals november 2025 1234762509

Christie's 21st-century evening sale on Wednesday, November 2025, achieved a hammer total of $99.7 million on 44 lots, within the pre-sale estimate of $87.5–$127 million. With fees, the final total reached $123.6 million. The sale opened with 18 lots from the collection of Chicago philanthropists Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson, featuring works by Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and Diego Giacometti. A Giacometti coffee table sparked a seven-minute bidding war, selling for $4.53 million. Three artist records were set: Firelei Báez ($1.1 million), Olga de Amaral ($3.1 million), and Joan Brown ($596,500). Only one work, by Cecily Brown, failed to sell.

christies 21st century evening sale women artists records 1234762523

Christie’s 21st-century evening sale on Wednesday set new auction records for women artists Firelei Báez, Joan Brown, and Olga de Amaral. Báez’s painting *Untitled (Colonization in America, Visual History Wall Map, Prepared by Civic Education Service)* (2021) sold for $1,111,250; Brown’s *After the Alcatraz Swim #2* achieved $596,900; and Amaral’s *Pueblo H* (2011) soared to $3,125,000—more than double her previous record. The sale also set records for a neon/sculptural work by Glenn Ligon and a three-dimensional work by Richard Prince.

marina abramovic moma klaus biesenbach artist present 1234762185

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.