Art News. Vasari Codex

article policy schedule Feb 23, 2026 visibility 15 link 3 artists

high vat rates art sales spain protest reina sofia

Hundreds of artists, gallery owners, and collectors staged coordinated sit-ins at major Spanish museums, including the Museo Reina Sofía, to protest the country's 21 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on art sales. Demonstrators gathered around Richard Serra’s 'Equal-Parallel/Guernica-Bengasi'—a replica of a work that famously vanished from storage—to symbolize the potential disappearance of the Spanish art sector under current fiscal pressures. The protests included demands for the resignation of the culture and finance ministers and calls for tax parity with European neighbors.

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candle obituary schedule Feb 22, 2026 visibility 27 link 7 artists, 2 galleries

ashley stewart rodder dead gagosian director

Ashley Stewart Rödder, a highly respected director at Gagosian, has passed away at the age of 42 following a prolonged illness. During her tenure at the gallery since 2019, she was instrumental in managing the careers of prominent contemporary artists including Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Stanley Whitney, Titus Kaphar, and Deana Lawson. Her career also included significant leadership roles at Salon 94 and David Zwirner, as well as board positions at the nonprofit Performa and the Children’s Art Guild.

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article policy schedule Feb 20, 2026 visibility 20 link 3 artists

open letter support barbican director devyani saltzman

Over 250 prominent cultural figures have signed an open letter protesting the abrupt departure of Devyani Saltzman from her role as Director of Arts and Participation at London’s Barbican Centre. Saltzman, who was appointed just last year to modernize the institution's programming, is set to leave in May following the recent arrival of new Chief Executive Abigail Pogson. High-profile signatories, including Salman Rushdie, John Akomfrah, and Isaac Julien, are demanding transparency regarding the decision-making process and the future of the position.

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article culture schedule Feb 20, 2026 visibility 18 link 7 artists

frida kahlo commercialization too far

Frida Kahlo’s descendants are expressing growing concern over the hyper-commercialization of the artist’s image, which has expanded from museum walls to coffee mugs, dolls, and even a luxury apartment complex in Miami. Cristina Kahlo, the artist’s great-niece, warns that the proliferation of licensed merchandise by the Frida Kahlo Corporation (FKC) often distorts Kahlo’s legacy, reducing a complex painter to a shallow pop-culture brand. This family tension highlights a rift between those profiting from the trademark and those who believe the artist's historical significance is being eclipsed by 'Fridamania.'

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 20, 2026 visibility 37 link 29 artists

women in abstract expressionism

The Denver Art Museum is hosting "Women of Abstract Expressionism," the first major museum exhibition dedicated exclusively to female painters of the movement. Curated by Gwen Chanzit, the show features over 50 works by artists including Helen Frankenthaler, Jay DeFeo, Elaine de Kooning, and Mary Abbott. The exhibition highlights how these women were integral to the first internationally influential American art movement but were historically sidelined in favor of male peers like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

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article policy schedule Feb 20, 2026 visibility 19 link 12 artists

trump kennedy center closure

President Donald Trump has initiated a controversial overhaul of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., renaming it the 'Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts' and appointing himself chairman. Following the dismissal of long-time president Deborah Rutter and the installation of a board led by Richard Grenell, the institution has pivoted toward conservative programming, leading to a 93% to 57% drop in ticket sales and high-profile boycotts from artists like Philip Glass. The center is now slated for a two-year closure starting after July 4 for major renovations, a move that has sparked alarm among preservationists and political figures.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 18, 2026 visibility 19 link 4 artists

sothebys hikes buyers fees restitution battle franz marc painting

Sotheby's has increased its buyer's premiums globally, with the new fee structure taking effect on February 13. The changes mean buyers of lower-value lots will pay higher rates, with the premium for works sold in New York for up to $2 million rising from 27% to 28%. This move follows similar adjustments by rivals Christie's and Phillips, as auction houses seek to bolster revenue during a prolonged art market downturn. Sotheby's also recently raised $900 million through art-backed loans via securitization.

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article news schedule Feb 17, 2026 visibility 14 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

artist trevor paglen steven spielberg disclosure day

Artist Trevor Paglen has publicly noted a striking visual and conceptual overlap between his recent gallery exhibitions titled "Cardinals"—which explore UFO photography and lore—and the imagery in the trailer for Steven Spielberg's upcoming film *Disclosure Day*. Paglen suggests the film's use of cardinals as harbingers of alien life likely originated from his work, specifically a 2023 video installation profiling a former Air Force officer who claimed "Cardinals" was an internal code name for UFOs.

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article news schedule Feb 17, 2026 visibility 9 link 2 artists

flaming hot cheetos meme artist sunday nobody

An artist known as Sunday Nobody has created a new work consisting of a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos encased in resin and suspended inside a 3,000-pound concrete sarcophagus, which he has buried outside Seattle with instructions for it to be opened in 10,000 years. The 28-year-old motion graphics designer, who maintains anonymity, funds his complex, labor-intensive projects through his day job and documents their creation in viral social media videos.

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article news schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 13 link 3 artists

louvre ticket fraud

Two Louvre employees and several tour guides have been arrested in connection with a decade-long, large-scale ticket fraud scheme targeting Chinese tour groups. French prosecutors allege the operation involved counterfeit tickets and overbooking, costing the museum an estimated €10 million in lost revenue, with proceeds allegedly invested in real estate in France and Dubai.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 14 link 1 artist

peter campus phillips collection video art

Peter Campus, a pioneering video artist, has a new exhibition at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. The show features his early work, including the intense 1978 video 'Head of a Man with Death on His Mind,' alongside his recent 'philips quartet' (2023–24), a series of four landscape videos from his home on Long Island. The exhibition highlights his career-long themes of self-reflection, time, and mortality.

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article culture schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 18 link 3 artists

untangling the myths behind henri rousseau eccentric masterpiece

The article examines the history and critical reception of Henri Rousseau's 1897 painting *The Sleeping Gypsy*. It details the painting's creation, its initial exhibition at the Société des Artistes Indépendants, and its subsequent journey through the art market—from being lost and rediscovered at a coal dealer's to being sold by dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and collected by John Quinn, before ultimately entering the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 13, 2026 visibility 17 link 7 artists

henri rousseau barnes foundation

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia has opened a major exhibition, 'Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets,' featuring around sixty works, including the institution's own iconic Rousseau paintings. The survey, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, aims to present a cohesive look at the self-taught artist's career.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 12, 2026 visibility 17 link 5 artists

high line art commissions 2026

High Line Art has announced its 2026 season of public art commissions for New York's elevated park. The program includes a billboard work by Katherine Bernhardt and three major installations by Patricia Ayres, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, and Derek Fordjour, alongside video works for the High Line Channel by Saba Khan and a film grouping by Marianna Simnett, Filip Kostic, and Ana Hušman.

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gavel restitution schedule Feb 12, 2026 visibility 14 link 5 artists

gardner museum rembrandt not epstein files viral video

A viral Instagram video by Emily Kaplan claims that two artworks stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 appear in tax estate documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files. Kaplan suggests the Rembrandt etching and a painting attributed to Govaert Flinck were listed, potentially linking the infamous art heist to Epstein's financial network for money laundering.

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article news schedule Feb 11, 2026 visibility 14 link 4 artists

epstein files replica massacre of the innocents

Jeffrey Epstein commissioned a large-scale reproduction of Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem's 1591 painting 'The Massacre of the Innocents' for the entrance of his New Mexico ranch. The $1,999 copy, depicting Roman soldiers killing infants, was ordered in 2010 from the reproduction company Ocean's Bridge Group and was requested to be shipped by his assistant in 2011.

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article news schedule Feb 11, 2026 visibility 13 link 3 artists

norman rockwell baseball painting art institute of chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has acquired a preparatory oil study for Norman Rockwell's 1948 painting *The Dugout*, donated by former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana Rauner. This marks the first work by the iconic American illustrator to enter the museum's collection, where it now hangs alongside Grant Wood's *American Gothic*.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 11, 2026 visibility 27 link 9 artists

quartet of masterpieces by monet signac degas and leger to headline sothebys spring modern contemporary sale in london

Four major paintings by Claude Monet, Paul Signac, Edgar Degas, and Fernand Léger will be offered at Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary evening sale in London on March 4. The works have a combined high estimate of £24 million, led by Monet's rare Italian Riviera scene 'Maison de Jardinier' (1884) with an £8.5 million high estimate.

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article culture schedule Feb 11, 2026 visibility 20 link 1 artist

relooted video game

A new video game titled 'Relooted' has been released, casting players as vigilantes in an Afrofuturistic future who must reclaim looted African artifacts from Western museums before they are hidden away. Developed by South African studio Nyamakop, the game tasks players with repatriating up to 70 specific, real-world contested treasures, including the Bangwa Queen and the Maqdala Crown, through heist-style gameplay.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 16 link 3 artists

rohtko lukasz twarkowski rothko barbican

Theater director Łukasz Twarkowski's new multimedia production, "ROHTKO," is set to open at London's Barbican Centre on October 2. The four-hour performance, which premiered in Riga in 2022, uses onstage action, video screens, and a techno soundtrack to explore the nature of authenticity in art, taking the Knoedler & Co. forgery scandal—which involved fake Rothko, Pollock, and Motherwell paintings—as a central narrative thread.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 31 link 10 artists

leon black ronald lauder epstein files

Newly released documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation reveal that billionaire art collectors and Museum of Modern Art trustees Leon Black and Ronald Lauder have co-owned several major artworks for decades. The files, made public by the U.S. Department of Justice, confirm long-standing rumors of their joint acquisitions, including a Max Beckmann self-portrait and two Ernst Ludwig Kirchner works, purchased for a total of $31.6 million and later appraised at $93.5 million.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 25 link 41 artists

moma ps1 greater new york 2026 artist list

MoMA PS1 has announced the 53 artists selected for the 2026 edition of its quinquennial exhibition, Greater New York. The show, opening April 16, is organized by the museum's in-house curatorial staff and focuses on artists living and working in New York City, with a strong emphasis on early and mid-career practitioners. It notably features only one deceased artist, painter Jay Carrier.

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person people schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 21 link 6 artists

lauren haynes appointed executive director atlanta contemporary

Lauren Haynes has been appointed as the new executive director of Atlanta Contemporary, effective March 16. She succeeds interim director Everett Long, who assumed the role last summer after Floyd Hall's resignation. Haynes joins from the Trust for Governors Island, where she served as vice president of arts & culture and head curator, and brings extensive experience from institutions including the Queens Museum, the Nasher Museum, Crystal Bridges, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

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person people schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 20 link 6 artists

art collector john phelan jeffrey epstein private plane

John Phelan, a prominent art collector and the current U.S. Secretary of the Navy, flew on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane in 2006, according to newly released flight logs. The trip from London to New York occurred four months before Epstein's first indictment, and a friend of Phelan's confirmed the flight but stated it was his only interaction with the convicted sex offender.

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article policy schedule Feb 10, 2026 visibility 17 link 6 artists

trump 100 days artists

Artists in the United States are facing heightened repression, including censorship, funding cuts, and deportation threats, during the first 100 days of Donald Trump's second presidential term. The administration's executive orders have targeted cultural institutions, with a campaign to purge the Smithsonian of 'improper ideology' and the gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for arts grants, particularly those focused on underserved communities, has been canceled or left in limbo, creating a climate of fear and uncertainty.

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article news schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 15 link 2 artists

google judy chicago artwork canceled

Google commissioned Judy Chicago to create a major public artwork for the renovation of Chicago's historic Thompson Center, involving a terrazzo floor and a 17-story glass elevator shaft. The artist and her husband, Donald Woodman, began design work in anticipation of a 2027 completion date.

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person people schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 14 link 2 artists

epstein files reveal museum director david a ross

David A. Ross, a prominent museum director and chair of the MFA Art Practice program at New York's School of Visual Arts, resigned after ARTnews revealed his numerous appearances in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein files. The documents, released by the Justice Department, show correspondence between Ross and Epstein dating back to 1995, including emails where Ross offered support to Epstein after his 2008 arrest and discussed a controversial exhibition concept proposed by Epstein.

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rate_review review schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 37 link 19 artists, 1 gallery

hot girl feminism chloe wise ambera wellmann sasha gordon

A wave of paintings by women depicting women dominated New York galleries this fall, sparking a critical examination of contemporary feminist figuration. Artists like Emily Coan and Anna Weyant create images of idealized, often sexualized femininity, framing their work as a reclamation of beauty and personal expression.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 16 link 21 artists

klimt record sothebys london

Gustav Klimt's final portrait, 'Dame mit Fächer (Lady With a Fan),' sold for £85.3 million ($108.4 million) at Sotheby's London, setting a new record for the most expensive work of art ever auctioned in Europe. The painting, which was still on Klimt's easel when he died in 1918, surpassed its pre-sale estimate of over £65 million after a ten-minute bidding war.

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article culture schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 17 link 4 artists

judy chicago google

Artist Judy Chicago recounts her frustrating experiences with public art commissions, focusing on a recent failed collaboration with Google for its Chicago headquarters at the Thompson Center. After being encouraged by her dealer to apply, Chicago was awarded a commission in fall 2025 to create a large terrazzo floor and a 17-story glass elevator shaft using her "Through the Flower" imagery. However, the project fell through after months of effort, mirroring earlier disappointments with the Beverly Hills Sculpture Park, where a city councilor questioned the value of her work, which Chicago attributes to institutionalized sexism.

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