Newly Authenticated Modigliani Heads to Sale at Art Basel Hong Kong via Pace with a $13.3 M. Price Tag

A newly authenticated painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeune femme brune" (1917–18), is being offered for sale by Pace gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong with a price tag of €11.5 million ($13.3 million). The work, the highest-priced piece at the fair, was only recently included in art historian Marc Restellini's forthcoming Modigliani catalogue raisonné after decades of authentication disputes and legal battles.

Czech Culture Minister Dismisses Director of Prague’s National Gallery, Generating Scrutiny

Czech Culture Minister Oto Klempíř has dismissed Alicja Knast from her position as director of Prague's National Gallery. The move has generated significant scrutiny, with critics questioning the lack of a formal explanation and the abrupt manner of her removal, which was announced without a joint press conference.

Inside ‘Prince of Prints’ Jordan Schnitzer’s Sprawling Collection

Jordan Schnitzer, the Portland-based philanthropist often called the 'Prince of Prints,' recently provided a rare tour of his massive 50,000-square-foot art warehouse. The facility utilizes a sophisticated 'floating bin' logistics system, similar to those used by major retailers, to manage over 22,000 works, including extensive holdings by Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, and Richard Prince. Schnitzer’s foundation operates as a lending library, frequently shipping works to museums and hosting educational tours for students from districts where arts funding has been eliminated.

An Intimate Portrait of Basquiat’s Early Life Returns to Brooklyn

The exhibition “Our Friend, Jean” returns to Brooklyn this May at The Bishop Gallery, coinciding with Frieze Week. The show features twenty artworks alongside personal ephemera and photographs from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s formative years between 1979 and 1980, primarily sourced from the collection of his former roommate Alexis Adler. This iteration includes previously unseen items from Adler’s trove, such as hand-painted garments and postcards, and will be activated by panels featuring Basquiat’s early collaborators.

Brooklyn Museum Treasures, History-Making Guitars—and More Collectibles to Watch

The Brooklyn Museum is deaccessioning approximately 200 objects from its collection, including American furniture, artworks, and textiles, through a sale hosted by Brunk Auctions on April 9. Highlights include a rare circa 1690 walnut dressing table, estimated at $80,000–$120,000, and a late 17th-century oak cupboard. The museum states the sale is part of an ongoing effort to convert storage spaces into galleries and that proceeds will fund collection care and new acquisitions.

Zurich’s controversial Bührle Collection is rehung, including five paintings by Van Gogh—plus one forgery

The Kunsthaus Zurich has unveiled a comprehensive new display of the Emil Bührle Collection, featuring 205 works including five significant paintings by Vincent van Gogh and one acknowledged forgery. This reinstallation marks a shift from previous thematic displays focused on provenance research to a denser presentation of the collection's breadth. Notable works on view include a 1887 self-portrait and the masterpiece 'The Sower at Sunset,' though one Van Gogh remains in conservation and another has been withdrawn due to Nazi-era ownership complications.

How Wayne McGregor’s epic ballets draw on help from his artistic friends

Choreographer Wayne McGregor’s upcoming production at the Royal Opera House, 'Alchemies', highlights his career-long commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration with visual artists and designers. The program features a world premiere with costumes by fashion designer Saul Nash, alongside revivals of 'Yugen' and 'Untitled, 2023'. These works incorporate significant contributions from the art world, including set designs by ceramicist Edmund de Waal and previous collaborations with figures like Tacita Dean and Olafur Eliasson.

Stealing the show: Mona Lisa heist inspires Andrew Lloyd Webber musical

Renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced he is developing a new musical based on the 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The production will dramatize the true story of Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee who stole the masterpiece and kept it hidden for over two years before attempting to sell it to an antiques dealer in Florence. Lloyd Webber, the creative force behind global hits like Cats and Phantom of the Opera, is currently in the writing phase of the project.

Matisse’s explosive finale and a new chapter for Hong Kong? Plus, Schiaparelli and Dalí—podcast

This week's episode of The Art Newspaper podcast covers three major art world events. A landmark Henri Matisse exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris focuses on his final, explosive 13 years of work, including his famous cut-outs. In Hong Kong, Art Basel opens amid economic uncertainty, with analysis on whether the market is turning a corner. Meanwhile, London's Victoria and Albert Museum unveils a show on Elsa Schiaparelli, featuring a Salvador Dalí painting that directly inspired her iconic fashion designs.

‘The violence of racist tyranny’: African Guernica goes on display alongside Picasso masterpiece

The Reina Sofía museum in Madrid has installed Dumile Feni's 1967 drawing 'African Guernica' directly opposite Pablo Picasso's iconic 'Guernica' painting. This pairing is the centerpiece of the museum's new annual exhibition series 'History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme,' which aims to place works from different cultural contexts in dialogue with Picasso's masterpiece.

Getty Center to Close in Los Angeles as Major Renovation Looms

The Getty Center in Los Angeles will close for a full year starting March 15, 2027, to undergo its first major renovation since opening in 1997. The "modernization initiatives" include updates to the galleries, a redesign of the Welcome Hall with a new café, and the replacement of the iconic tram system to increase passenger capacity. During the closure, the Getty Villa in Malibu will remain open and display highlights from the Center’s permanent collection, while additional programming will be held at a temporary space on Sepulveda Boulevard.

In an Unlikely Pairing, Giacometti Sculptures Head to The Met's Temple of Dendur

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a major summer exhibition titled "Giacometti in the Temple of Dendur," featuring 17 sculptures by the 20th-century Swiss master Alberto Giacometti. The show, organized in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti, will place the artist's iconic slender bronze figures within and around the first-century BCE Roman Period Egyptian temple. The installation includes significant loans such as "Femme qui marche I" and "Femme de Venise I," marking a rare dialogue between modern existentialist sculpture and ancient architectural history.

Art Movements: Meet The Met's New Photography Curator

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Oluremi C. Onabanjo as its new curator of photographs, bringing her expertise in African and Black diasporic histories from MoMA. This announcement leads a series of industry shifts, including Melissa Chiu’s move from the Hirshhorn to direct the Guggenheim, and the relocation of the influential gallery 47 Canal to Chelsea. Additionally, the New York Foundation for the Arts distributed nearly $500,000 in grants to 129 artists and organizations in Queens.

Rare Wifredo Lam Portrait Lands in New York

The Hispanic Society Museum and Library has acquired Wifredo Lam’s 1927 painting "Portrait of a Boy," marking the first time a work by a Cuban artist has entered the institution's permanent collection. Purchased at a Sotheby’s auction after decades in a private collection, the portrait dates from Lam’s formative years in Cuenca, Spain. The work represents a rare, representational style from the artist's early career, predating the Afro-Cuban Surrealism for which he became globally renowned.

The Art World Is a Joke

Hyperallergic's April newsletter features a roundup of the best April Fools' jokes from the art world this year, compiled by staff writer Rhea Nayyar. The issue also highlights critic Aruna D'Souza's meditation on the work of abstract painter Kamrooz Aram, who is having a prominent year with appearances from Mumbai Art Week to the Whitney Biennial.

10 Exhibitions to See in Chicago This Spring

A guide highlights ten notable art exhibitions opening in Chicago this spring, focusing on shows at smaller, community-focused, and artist-run spaces like Good Weather, Hyde Park Art Center, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. Featured exhibitions include Hunter Foster's "Involition," which repurposes a Cold War siren to comment on infrastructure and threat, and Alison Ruttan's ceramic installation "The Paradox of Inaction," which visualizes climate disaster.

Zarina Brought the World to New York

The article reviews the exhibition "Beyond the Stars" at Luhring Augustine Gallery, showcasing the work of artist Zarina Hashmi (known as Zarina). It highlights her spare, post-minimalist prints and sculptures that explore themes of mapping, home, and migration, rooted in her peripatetic life from pre-Partition India to New York. The show features 32 works that demonstrate her unique visual language, embedded in Urdu, South Asian histories, and mysticisms.

Jean-Marc Bottazzi on why good collecting is not about 'ticking boxes'

Jean-Marc Bottazzi, a Japanese bond trader and collector based in Hong Kong, discusses his philosophy of collecting in an interview with The Art Newspaper. He emphasizes deep, focused support of artists rather than acquiring a superficial variety, citing his extensive holdings of over 100 works by the 96-year-old Japanese artist A-Yo and deep collections of Abstract Expressionism, Gutai, and conceptual photography.

The Nearly Sixty-Year Career of Legendary Gallerist Enzo Cannaviello: A Wide-Ranging Interview

I quasi sessant’anni di carriera del leggendario gallerista Enzo Cannaviello. Intervista a tutto campo

Legendary Italian gallerist Enzo Cannaviello reflects on a career spanning nearly sixty years, marked by the opening of his ninth gallery space in Milan. The interview traces his journey from founding his first space in Caserta in 1968 to his influential years in Rome and his ultimate establishment in Milan, which he considers the only true art market in Italy. Cannaviello discusses his unwavering commitment to painting, his pivotal role in promoting the German Neo-Expressionists (Neue Wilde), and the current exhibition dedicated to Mimmo Rotella.

Works by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse Snatched in Major Italian Art Heist

Four hooded thieves stole three valuable paintings from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Parma, Italy, in a swift nighttime heist. The stolen works include Paul Cézanne's 'Still Life with Cherries,' Henri Matisse's 'Odalisque on the Terrace, 1922,' and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 'Les Poissons (Fish), 1917,' collectively worth millions of euros. The operation, described as highly structured and organized, took less than three minutes.

Everything you need to know about Henri Matisse, star of the Grand Palais this spring

Tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur Henri Matisse, star du Grand Palais ce printemps

The Grand Palais in Paris is hosting a major retrospective focusing on the final masterpieces of Henri Matisse, the pioneer of Fauvism. The exhibition highlights the artist's late-career reinvention between 1941 and 1954, featuring his innovative gouache cut-outs, illustrated books, and stained glass designs created while he was bedridden in Nice.

Spheres of influence: the Bauhaus’s radical female photographers – in pictures

An exhibition titled 'New Woman, New Vision: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus' opens at the Museum of Photography in Berlin. It focuses on the pioneering work of female Bauhaus photographers like Marianne Brandt, Lucia Moholy, and Gertrud Arndt, who used the camera to capture unconventional perspectives and explore artistic freedom during the Weimar Republic.

Participating Artists and Curators Push Back on Venice Biennale’s Relocation of Israeli Pavilion, Call for Exclusion of Russia, Israel, and US

Seventy-three artists and curators participating in the main exhibition of the 2024 Venice Biennale have issued an open letter objecting to the organizers' decision to relocate the Israeli national pavilion to the Arsenale. They argue this move creates an intimidating atmosphere contrary to the late curator Koyo Kouoh's vision of "radical solidarity" and will necessitate a heightened security presence. The signatories, which include key curators tasked with realizing Kouoh's exhibition, also call for the exclusion of Israel, Russia, and the United States from the event, citing their governments' alleged commission of war crimes.

François-Xavier Gbré Uses His Photography to Fill in History’s Gaps

Artist François-Xavier Gbré's photographic series "Radio Ballast" made its US debut in a duo exhibition at the International Center of Photography in late January. The work documents the century-old railroad system in Côte d'Ivoire, built by French colonizers, exploring the country's colonial history, independence, and modernization through landscapes, train stations, and the communities shaped by the railway.

Never-Before-Seen Stanley Kubrick Photos Debut in New York

A collection of 18 previously unseen photographs by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick will make its public debut at the Photography Show in New York. Discovered by the Duncan Miller Gallery within a larger archive purchase, these images date back to 1945 when a teenage Kubrick worked as a staff photographer for Look magazine. The series captures candid, late-night scenes within the New York City subway system, utilizing a concealed shutter release to document commuters in their most natural states.

What Germany’s Art Market Reveals About the Limits of Localism

German art dealers are increasingly pivoting toward regional strategies as the national market faces a period of stagnation. While the broader European Union saw a modest rise in dealer sales, Germany’s market contracted by 4 percent between 2024 and 2025, hampered by high interest rates and a sluggish post-pandemic recovery. In response, major fairs like Art Cologne are launching satellite editions in locations like Mallorca to follow wealthy German collectors on vacation, while Art Düsseldorf prepares for a record-breaking edition despite the economic downturn.

The Best Booths at Expo Chicago, From a 16th-Century Belgian Manuscript to a Painting of a Mariachi Band

The 13th edition of Expo Chicago has opened at Navy Pier with a streamlined selection of 130 international exhibitors. This year’s fair features a more curated and manageable scale, drawing a significant crowd of museum directors, curators, and collectors to the Windy City. Notable presentations range from contemporary Canadian artist duos to rare historical artifacts, reflecting a high bar for quality across diverse media.

Gallery Not Paying? Call Kenny Schachter’s Kollection Agency. He Gets Results!

Art world provocateur Kenny Schachter addresses the current climate of anxiety within the industry, touching on everything from the existential threats of advanced AI tools like Anthropic’s Mythos to the 'doomster' narratives of market analysts. Amidst reports of dwindling demand and galleries struggling with non-paying clients, Schachter highlights the enduring value of historical works, such as a 1799 Goya etching, while dismissing claims that screens are replacing physical art in the home.

The Personal Collection of ‘Last Surrealist’ Enrico Donati Heads to Auction

Sotheby’s has announced the sale of the personal art collection of Enrico Donati, often referred to as the 'last Surrealist.' The 45-lot collection, titled "A Night in May," features works amassed by Donati and his wife Adele, including a rare 1909 Cubist portrait by Pablo Picasso, 'Arlequin (Buste),' estimated at $40 million. The auction marks the first time these intimate pieces—many acquired through direct exchanges with friends like Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy—have been offered since the artist's death in 2008 and his wife's passing last year.

Dealer Scott Nichols on His Lasting Love for Iconic California Photographers

Veteran art dealer Scott Nichols reflects on his long-standing career and the evolution of his eponymous gallery, which specialized in 20th-century California photography for nearly three decades in San Francisco before relocating to Sonoma in 2019. The gallery is renowned for its deep expertise in Group f.64, maintaining one of the largest private collections of Brett Weston’s work alongside masterpieces by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Imogen Cunningham.