Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 16 link 2 artists

british museum fundraising gala interrupted by protestor 1234757948

The British Museum's inaugural fundraising gala on October 18 was interrupted by a protester from the group Energy Embargo for Palestine. The woman, who gained access to the Great Court by working as a waitress, took the stage next to board chair George Osborne holding a sign reading 'DROP BP NOW.' She criticized the museum for accepting a £50 million sponsorship from BP, an oil and gas company she accused of causing climate collapse and enabling genocide in Gaza. The gala, co-chaired by Isha Ambani of Reliance Industries, raised over $2 million from ticket sales and featured a silent auction, including a pet portrait by Tracey Emin and a private tour of Coco Chanel's Paris apartment.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 17, 2025 visibility 15 link 6 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.

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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.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 12 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

gagosian first to announce it sold out at frieze london 1234757231

Gagosian became the first exhibitor at Frieze London to announce a complete sellout of its booth, featuring a solo presentation of works by Los Angeles artist Lauren Halsey. The booth included pieces from Halsey's 2025 untitled series of polymer-modified gypsum and stain on wood, as well as a six-foot-tall plaza sign sculpture titled 'LODA PLAZA (2025)'. Gagosian director Antwaun Sargent confirmed that the works were placed with both institutions and serious long-term collectors in the U.S. and Europe.

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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.

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candle obituary schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 20 link 2 artists

dara birnbaum lynn hershman leeson tribute 1234757303

This tribute article recounts the profound impact of artist Dara Birnbaum's work on the author, describing a chance meeting with Birnbaum at MoMA's café and the subsequent friendship that developed. It highlights Birnbaum's pioneering role in video art, including her manipulation of single video frames and use of color bars, and cites key works like "Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman" (1978–79), "Local TV News Analysis" (1980), and "MTV: Artbreak" (1987) that deconstructed mass media and gender representation.

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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.

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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.'

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person people schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist

joan weinstein vice president getty wide program planning 1234756895

The Getty has appointed Joan Weinstein, current director of the Getty Foundation, to the newly created role of vice president for Getty-wide program planning. Weinstein will continue as foundation director until a successor is named, and in her new position she will develop strategy across the institution’s four divisions: the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation, focusing on art historical scholarship and community partnerships. She is best known for co-directing PST ART, a major Southern California cultural collaboration, and has overseen significant relief funds for artists affected by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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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.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 14 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.

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person people schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 22 link 13 artists

macarthur genius grants garrett bradley gala porras kim 1234756063

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2025 class of 22 MacArthur Fellows, each receiving an $800,000 no-strings-attached grant. Among the winners are several visual artists: Garrett Bradley, known for her Oscar-nominated documentary *Time* (2020) and works centering Black resistance; Gala Porras-Kim, whose practice questions how art institutions convey or conceal information about objects; Tuan Andrew Nguyen, whose films and installations explore trauma and colonization; and Jeremy Frey, a seventh-generation Passamaquoddy basket maker whose midcareer survey is on view at the Bruce Museum. Photographers Matt Black and Tonika Lewis Johnson also received fellowships, along with archaeologist Kristina Douglass and non-artists such as novelist Tommy Orange and astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 7, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists, 3 galleries

hauser amp wirths uk profits drop 1234755773

Hauser & Wirth's UK subsidiary reported an 87% decline in pretax profit for 2024, falling to $1.6 million from $12.5 million the previous year, as revenue dropped by more than half to $91.4 million. The gallery attributed the downturn to a sharp fall in secondary-market sales, which can fluctuate significantly based on a few high-value transactions. The UK entity represents only a small portion of the gallery's global business, which the founders said remained aligned with the prior year's successful performance. Separately, the gallery's hospitality arm, Artfarm Group, posted a wider pretax loss of $24 million despite a 16% rise in turnover.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 7, 2025 visibility 16 link 2 artists

artnews celebrates 2025 top 200 collectors issue 1234754498

On September 18, ARTnews celebrated the 2025 edition of its annual Top 200 Collectors list with a launch party at the newly opened Faena New York in Chelsea. The event was cohosted by collectors Beth Rudin DeWoody and Miyoung Lee, both trustees of the Whitney Museum. ARTnews Editor-in-Chief Sarah Douglas introduced the hosts, highlighting DeWoody's role as a supportive art patron and Lee as a representative of a younger generation of collectors. Other Top 200 Collectors in attendance included Michael Ovitz, Lonti Ebers, Lisa Goodman, Rodney Miller, Pete Scantland, and James Keith “JK” Brown and Eric Diefenbach. The evening featured a performance by pianist Arsha Kaviani, Cognac from LOUIS XIII, wines from Rioja, luxury perfumes from Xerjoff, and photo cards from Chubb.

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article policy schedule Oct 2, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

saudi arabia deutsche bank ink cultural partnership 1234754701

Saudi Arabia announced over 5 billion Saudi riyals ($1.3 billion) in new cultural funds and agreements at the first Cultural Investment Conference in Riyadh, held under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Key initiatives include a partnership with Deutsche Bank for training and cultural exchanges, and the immediate establishment of the Riyadh University of Arts, set to open in 2026 with courses in film, performing arts, and theater. The Ministry of Culture also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Commission for AlUla to boost cultural infrastructure in the AlUla oasis.

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person people schedule Oct 2, 2025 visibility 20 link 4 artists

sculptor petrit halilaj wins 2027 nasher prize 1234755167

The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas has awarded its 2027 Nasher Prize to Petrit Halilaj, a Kosovo-born sculptor known for works addressing his country's history and sociopolitical realities. At 40, Halilaj is the youngest recipient of the prize since its 2015 inception. The award, now given biannually, includes $100,000 and a future exhibition at the Nasher. In an unusual gesture, Halilaj will donate the entire prize purse to the Hajde! Foundation, a Kosovo-based nonprofit he co-founded in 2014 to support Kosovar artists.

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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.

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article culture schedule Oct 1, 2025 visibility 16 link 4 artists

steve mcqueen soundtrack bottega veneta milan fashion week 1234755069

Steve McQueen, the Turner Prize-winning artist and Oscar-winning filmmaker, created the soundtrack for Louise Trotter's debut collection as creative director of Bottega Veneta at Milan Fashion Week. The show took place at Fabbrica Orobia, a former zinc factory in Milan, and featured McQueen's sound piece '66 – '76, which pairs vocal recordings by David Bowie and Nina Simone of the song "Wild is the Wind." McQueen attended the event with his daughter Alex, both wearing the brand's signature leather Intrecciato.

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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.

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article policy schedule Oct 1, 2025 visibility 21 link 9 artists

mika rottenberg says trumps smithsonian situation is fucked up 1234754705

Artist Mika Rottenberg, whose work is included in an upcoming show at the Smithsonian-run Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, called the Trump administration's interference with the Smithsonian "fucked up" in a Vanity Fair article. She praised Amy Sherald for canceling a Smithsonian show, calling it "amazing." British artist Richard Long also expressed concern about the administration "strangling everything" at the institution. The article notes that many other artists with works slated for Smithsonian presentations—including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Olafur Eliasson, Spencer Finch, and Rashid Johnson—declined to speak to Vanity Fair, reflecting a cautious environment. Dread Scott, however, has been vocal, calling for the regime to be driven from power and urging art institutions to support dissenting artists.

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person people schedule Sep 30, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists, 3 galleries

white cube jessie washburne harris global director 1234754713

White Cube has appointed Jessie Washburne-Harris as a global director, based in New York, effective October 2025. She joins from Pace Gallery, where she was senior vice president, and has previously worked at Marian Goodman, Gagosian, Petzel, and Sotheby’s, as well as cofounding Harris Lieberman gallery. The appointment coincides with the second anniversary of White Cube’s permanent New York space, which opened in 2023 in a former bank on the Upper East Side and has hosted exhibitions by Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates, Antony Gormley, and Ilana Savdie.

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article news schedule Sep 29, 2025 visibility 23 link 7 artists

solange art book library saint heron 1234754336

Solange has launched the Saint Heron Community Library, a new initiative making rare and out-of-print art books available to the public for free borrowing. The digital library, run through her Saint Heron platform, includes exhibition catalogs for artists such as Barbara Chase-Riboud, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Martin Puryear, Gary Simmons, and Pope.L, as well as texts like Cedric Dover's 1960 book *American Negro Art*. Books are loaned for 45 days, though most are already checked out. The collection also features works by Black thinkers and writers including Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, Octavia Butler, and Wanda Coleman.

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museum exhibitions schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 18 link 8 artists

marina abramovic venice accademia 2026 1234753848

Marina Abramović will celebrate her 80th birthday with a career-spanning exhibition titled "Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice from May 6 to October 19, 2026, coinciding with the 61st Venice Biennale. The show, previously staged at the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai in fall 2024, features 150 works including furniture-sculpture hybrids made from quartz, amethyst, and tourmaline. Abramović's "transitory objects" will be installed throughout the 14th-century building alongside the museum's permanent collection of Renaissance masterpieces by Titian, Tintoretto, Giorgione, and Mantegna, with a notable pairing of her 1983 photograph *Pietà (with Ulay)* and Titian's *Pietà* (1575–76).

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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.

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museum exhibitions schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 17 link 9 artists

lawrence abu hamdan munch museum exhibition golan heights 1234753861

Lawrence Abu Hamdan's exhibition "Zifzafa" has opened at the Munch Museum in Oslo, featuring a politically charged exploration of sound as both a celebration of life and a tool of displacement. The show centers on a forensic audio investigation into the impact of 31 wind turbines planned for the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, or Jawlan. Key works include the video projection *Wind Ensemble* (2024) featuring saxophonist Amr Mdah, CGI animations *Tilting at windmills i, ii & iii* (2024), and the 45-minute film *Zifzafa: Livestream Audio Essay* (2025), which uses a video game walkthrough format to simulate the sonic pollution that will affect local homes—some as close as 115 feet from the turbines. The game incorporates field recordings by local composer Busher Kanj Abu Saleh and turbine noise from Germany, highlighting the sounds of daily life and resistance.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 22 link 9 artists

abu dhabi to host most expensive art exhibition staged by sothebys in the middle east valued at 150 m 1234753618

Abu Dhabi will host the most expensive art exhibition ever staged by Sotheby's in the Middle East on October 1 and 2, valued at approximately $150 million. The exhibition features six masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte, Camille Pissarro, and Edvard Munch, sourced from major private collections including those of Leonard A. Lauder, Cindy and Jay Pritzker, and Matthew and Kay Bucksbaum. It takes place at the Bassam Freiha Art Foundation on Saadiyat Island Cultural District and marks Sotheby's first public fine art show in the UAE, ahead of its Abu Dhabi Collectors' Week in November.

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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.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 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.

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trending_up market schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 20 link 7 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.

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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.

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