Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 16 link 9 artists

secrets of the metropolitan museum

The article reveals little-known secrets about the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including that its first home was not on Fifth Avenue but at 681 Fifth Avenue, and later the Douglas Mansion, before moving to its current location in 1879. It also notes that the museum's original red-brick facade is barely visible today, hidden within the Robert Lehman Wing, and that its first director, Luigi Palma di Cesnola, controversially mixed and matched parts of ancient sculptures to create composite works, while also misrepresenting their provenance.

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candle obituary schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 23 link 10 artists

dorothy vogel collector dead

Dorothy Vogel, who with her husband Herbert built one of the most celebrated art collections of the 20th century while working as a librarian and a postal clerk, died on November 10 at age 90. The couple amassed thousands of Minimalist and conceptual works by artists such as Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, and Sol LeWitt, housing them in their rent-controlled Manhattan apartment. They never sold any artwork and ultimately donated their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

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article culture schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 26 link 18 artists, 3 galleries

the push to preserve nina simones childhood home just got a 6 million boost thanks to venus williams and adam pendleton

The childhood home of legendary singer and activist Nina Simone in Tryon, North Carolina, has been fully restored after nine years of effort by an artist coalition led by Adam Pendleton, alongside Julie Mehretu, Rashid Johnson, and Ellen Gallagher. The restoration, completed with a $6 million boost from a charity auction and gala co-hosted by tennis star Venus Williams and Pace Gallery, preserved the 650-square-foot clapboard house to its 1933–1937 condition, including historically accurate materials, an ADA ramp, geothermal climate control, and a century-old magnolia tree named “Sweetie Mae.” The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund announced the completion, and the property remains closed to the public while community programming and ethical cultural tourism are being planned.

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article news schedule Nov 20, 2025 visibility 30 link 21 artists, 4 galleries

photo archive historic new york gallery shows

The New York Gallery History Project has launched its first installment: an online archive of Jay Gorney Modern Art, which operated from 1985 to 1998. The archive documents over 90 exhibitions held at the gallery, featuring artists such as Catherine Opie, Jessica Stockholder, Gillian Wearing, Haim Steinbach, and Martha Rosler. The material includes installation views, artwork images, and original invitations, all digitized from analog transparencies and slides. The project is an initiative of the Independent art fair and the Contemporary Art Library, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 26 link 11 artists

costume art met museum 2026

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its Spring 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, “Costume Art,” which will open on May 10, 2026, inaugurating the new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast gallery designed by Peterson Rich Office. The exhibition will feature artworks from across the Met’s collections in dialogue with garments from the Costume Institute, focusing primarily on Western art from prehistory to the present. Major sponsors include Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with additional support from Saint Laurent and Condé Nast. Curator Andrew Bolton and museum director Max Hollein spoke at the press conference, where preview objects included Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons ensemble and Hans Bellmer’s "La Poupée."

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 24 link 10 artists

sothebys lauder day sale

Sotheby's held a day sale on Wednesday featuring 30 works from the collection of cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder, generating $3.84 million against an estimate of $2.22 million to $3.29 million. The sale followed a strong Tuesday auction led by a Gustav Klimt portrait from Lauder's collection that achieved the second-highest price ever for an artwork at auction. Standout results included works by Dorothea Rockburne, Elizabeth Murray, and Lyonel Feininger that far exceeded their estimates, while a Claes Oldenburg sculpture sold for $444,500, the top price of the day.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists

leonard lauders klimt painting fetches sothebys

A Gustav Klimt painting, *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914), sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the most expensive work ever sold at Sotheby’s as well as the most expensive Modern artwork at auction. The work was part of a sale dedicated to the collection of the late art patron Leonard Lauder, who died in June at age 92. The bidding lasted about 20 minutes, with Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker opening at $130 million; the winning bid of $205 million came from Sotheby’s staffer Julian Dawes, representing a phone client. The sale included two dozen works from Lauder’s trove, which also featured three Klimt paintings and six Henri Matisse bronzes.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 9 link 9 artists

christies 20th century art november new york by the numbers

Christie’s fall auction season in New York opened with a robust evening sale of 20th-century art on Monday night at Rockefeller Center, achieving a total of $690 million after fees. The sale featured an 18-lot offering from the private collection of Robert and Patricia Weis, followed by the main 20th-century auction. The top lot was Mark Rothko’s *No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)* (1958), which sold for $62 million, while Claude Monet’s *Nymphéas* (1907) brought $45.5 million. The sale had a 95 percent sell-through rate, with 55 of 80 lots guaranteed, and strong in-person bidding provided a boost of market confidence after months of art fair cancellations and gallery closures.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

shanghai art week 2025

Shanghai Art Week 2025 is underway, anchored by two major concurrent art fairs: Art021 Shanghai and West Bund Art and Design, running from November 13 to 16. West Bund has relocated to a new venue, the West Bund Convention Center designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, featuring over 200 participants including 106 galleries in its main sector. Art021 returns to the Shanghai Exhibition Center with 139 galleries from 22 countries, including 33 first-time participants. The Shanghai Biennale opened early at the Power Station of Art, curated by Kitty Scott under the title "Does the Flower Hear the Bee?" featuring 67 artists and collectives. Meanwhile, alternative events like "Artist's Treat," launched by Xu Zhen in collaboration with Hol Platform and ShanghArt Gallery, are drawing attention in repurposed local spaces.

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article news schedule Nov 15, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist, 3 galleries

hauser wirth charged by uk authorities for breaching criminal sanctions

UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has charged mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth with breaching criminal sanctions by allegedly making a luxury artwork available to a person connected with Russia. The case involves a 2021 work-on-paper by George Condo titled *Escape from Humanity*, sold by the gallery between April and December 2022, after the UK banned luxury goods exports to Russia-linked individuals in April 2022. The gallery, along with shipping company Artay Rauchwerger Solomons, faces charges under the sanctions law, which was enacted following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hauser & Wirth has stated it strongly contests the charge and intends to plead not guilty.

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article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

judge approves purdue pharma settlement

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a new settlement for Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company behind OxyContin, resolving thousands of lawsuits related to its role in the opioid crisis. The deal, which replaces a 2021 settlement rejected by the Supreme Court, requires the Sackler family to contribute up to $7 billion and relinquish ownership of Purdue, while allowing individuals to sue family members directly.

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person people schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 18 link 12 artists, 2 galleries

friedrich kunath

Artist Friedrich Kunath, known for his sincere yet absurd paintings, discusses his unlikely friendship with tennis star Reilly Opelka, who is also an art collector. The two share a mutual obsession with each other's crafts—Kunath coaches Opelka in tennis, while Opelka seeks Kunath's insights on artists like Philip Guston. Kunath is preparing for his solo debut at Pace Gallery in New York this November, following his move from Blum Gallery, which closed shortly after. He reflects on the loneliness of both tennis and art, and his creative process, which draws heavily from music and film.

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article news schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 17 link 5 artists

tate staff vote strike inadequate pay

More than 150 unionized workers at Britain's Tate museums, represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), will strike from November 26 to December 2 over what they call inadequate pay raises. The strike follows a vote where 98% of members supported action, with 88% turnout. Staff at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives were offered a 2-3% salary increase, which the union argues is below the government's Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance maximum of 3.25%. The action coincides with the opening of the major exhibition "Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals" at Tate Britain on November 27.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 17 link 3 artists

thomas kaplan rembrandt lion fractionalize collection

Sotheby's hosted a lunch in Paris for billionaire collector Thomas S. Kaplan, who is selling a Rembrandt drawing titled *Young Lion Resting* (ca. 1638–42) from his Leiden Collection. The drawing, with a high estimate of $20 million, will be auctioned in New York in February, with all proceeds donated to Panthera, the wild cat conservation charity Kaplan founded. Kaplan acquired the work in 2005 from the Herring gallery and has kept much of his collection anonymous, but is now stepping forward to support conservation and public access.

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article news schedule Nov 10, 2025 visibility 24 link 12 artists, 3 galleries

condo moves from hauser wirth to spruth magers and skarstedt was j m w turner neurodivergent trump squeezes arts talent pool morning link for november 10 2025

Artist George Condo has left Hauser & Wirth and will now be jointly represented by Sprüth Magers and Skarstedt, marking a return to galleries with which he had long-standing relationships. Condo first showed with Monika Sprüth in 1984 and was represented by Skarstedt from 2004 to 2019 before joining Hauser & Wirth in late 2019. Separately, a new BBC documentary titled *Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks* explores whether J. M. W. Turner's creative genius was shaped by childhood trauma and neurodivergence, featuring commentary from artists, actors, and a psychotherapist. The article also reports that Dana Awartani will represent Saudi Arabia at the 2026 Venice Biennale, and that the Trump administration has tightened H-1B visa rules, making it harder for arts institutions to hire foreign specialists.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 16 link 1 artist

philadelphia art museum van gogh sunflowers exhibition

The Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM) will mount an exhibition titled “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow” from June 6 to October 11, 2026, bringing together two of Vincent van Gogh’s iconic “Sunflower” paintings: PAM’s own Sunflowers (1889) with a turquoise background and the National Gallery’s Sunflowers (1888) with a yellow background. The exhibition continues a collaboration between the two institutions, following a recent loan of PAM’s painting to the National Gallery’s “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” show, where the two works hung in a triptych with van Gogh’s Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse).

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

erwin olaf freedom retrospective stedelijk

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has opened "Erwin Olaf—Freedom," a major retrospective of the late Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, who died in 2023 at age 64. The exhibition spans over a dozen rooms, showcasing his diverse output from subcultural documentation and commercial work to staged tableaux, self-portraits, and club ephemera, alongside video and sculpture. It juxtaposes formally refined portraits, such as Queen Máxima, with provocative early works like "Joy" (1985), refusing to impose a single narrative on his career.

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article culture schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 17 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

timothee chalamet michael heizer city vogue

Actor Timothée Chalamet visited Michael Heizer's monumental Land art installation *City* in the Nevada desert for a profile in *Vogue*. The article, tied to Chalamet's upcoming film *Marty Supreme*, includes his brief remarks on the artwork and photographer Annie Leibovitz, who shot his portraits at the site. The piece also quotes art critic Kristen Swenson's reflections on the sensory experience of *City*, which opened in 2022 after decades of construction.

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article news schedule Nov 4, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists, 2 galleries

matthew day jackson skiwear aztech mountain

Matthew Day Jackson, a multidisciplinary artist represented by Pace Gallery, has created 10 original artworks for a 23-piece luxury skiwear collection from Aztech Mountain, a ski brand based in Aspen, Colorado. Titled "Planet Aspen," the line includes ski jackets, pants, and innerwear adorned with Jackson's designs, with prices ranging from $101 to $1,850. Jackson, described as a passionate skier and adventurer, collaborated with Aztech Mountain on its first artist partnership, drawing inspiration from the quiet absurdity and fleeting joy of skiing.

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article news schedule Nov 3, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

climate activist timothy martin degas sculptures sentenced

Timothy Martin, a climate activist with the group Declare Emergency, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smearing paint on a glass vitrine protecting Edgar Degas's sculpture *Little Dancer, Age Fourteen* at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in April 2023. He was found guilty of conspiracy and injury to government property, and must also pay $4,062 in restitution, perform 150 hours of community service, and is barred from entering Washington, D.C. and its museums. His co-activist, Johanna Smith, had previously pleaded guilty and served a 60-day sentence.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 31, 2025 visibility 19 link 4 artists

canceled samia halaby exhibition recreated qatar

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar has mounted a presentation of seven works by Palestinian artist Samia Halaby that were originally slated for a canceled survey at Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art in December 2023. The university cited “safety reasons” for the cancellation, which Halaby criticized as occurring amid the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The works are displayed in the first gallery of the exhibition “we refuse_d,” curated by Vasif Kortun, which also includes pieces by other artists whose shows were canceled, such as Jumana Manna. Halaby’s paintings span 1980 to 2024 and include the previously unseen “Worldwide Intifadah” (1989) and “Massacre of the Innocents in Gaza” (2024).

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 28 link 13 artists, 6 galleries

altman siegel closes gallery san francisco

Altman Siegel, a key gallery in San Francisco's art scene, will close in November 2025 after 16 years. Founder Claudia Altman-Siegel attributed the closure to a challenging market for mid-size galleries, stating it became too difficult to scale in the current climate. The gallery's final show is a solo exhibition by Shinpei Kusanagi, ending November 22. Its roster included artists such as Simon Denny, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Trevor Paglen, and others. The closure follows a trend of galleries shutting down or scaling back, including Blum and LA Louver in Los Angeles, and Clearing and Venus Over Manhattan in New York.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 24, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

oliver jeffers praise shadows

Artist and children's book illustrator Oliver Jeffers held a dip performance two days before the opening of his solo show at Praise Shadows gallery in Boston, where he destroyed a portrait of Japanese artist and cancer survivor Yuri Shimojo by submerging it in enamel paint. The invite-only audience watched in silence as the image disappeared, a ritual Jeffers describes as both a death and a birth, exploring themes of memory, loss, and hidden variables. His exhibition also features his "Disaster Paintings," which treat serious subjects like climate change and violence with absurdist humor.

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article news schedule Oct 24, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists

chris levine rob munday queen portrait lawsuit

British artist Rob Munday has filed a lawsuit against Chris Levine in the High Court, claiming he is the co-creator of two iconic holographic portraits of Queen Elizabeth II—Equanimity and Lightness of Being (2004). Munday alleges that Levine and his company Sphere 9 violated his moral rights by failing to credit him as a co-author, despite a 2005 agreement recognizing joint authorship. The works, commissioned by the Jersey Heritage Trust and held in London’s National Portrait Gallery, were created using holography technology. Levine denies the claims, calling Munday a "technical subcontractor," and says he will fiercely defend his sole authorship. The case follows a separate 2023 dispute between Levine and the trust over unauthorized copies, which was settled with a statement naming Levine as the sole artist commissioned.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 25 link 12 artists, 7 galleries

50 million picasso in paris industry moves october 22 2025

The ARTnews article reports on several major art market moves as of October 22, 2025. Highlights include Nahmad Contemporary offering a $50 million Picasso at Art Basel Paris, likely the 1941 work 'Femme au corsage bleu (Dora Maar)'; Gagosian Gallery now representing the estate of Richard Diebenkorn with a November exhibition; Alison Jacques Gallery joining Tina Kim and Silverlens to represent the Pacita Abad Estate; Gladstone Gallery taking on Celia Paul in New York; and Freeman's | Hindman expanding its trusts and estates team across the US. The piece also notes Rodder's inaugural show for Wyatt Kahn and Kaufmann Repetto adding Bice Lazzari to its roster.

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article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 22 link 4 artists

amy sherald talks canceled smithsonian show 60 minutes

Painter Amy Sherald has revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview with Anderson Cooper that she pulled out of her solo exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery because the museum considered removing her painting of a Black transgender Statue of Liberty, titled "Trans Forming Liberty." Sherald stated that the Smithsonian secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch III, proposed replacing the painting with a video discussing trans issues that would include anti-trans views, which she deemed unacceptable censorship. The exhibition, "American Sublime," was originally organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and last shown at the Whitney Museum; it is now expected to open at the Baltimore Museum of Art on November 2.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 24 link 2 artists, 3 galleries

pace japan director tokyo interview

Kyoko Hattori, vice president of Pace Japan, expressed her desire for Tokyo to become the center of art in Asia in a recent interview with the Japan Times. This comes one month after the third edition of Tokyo Gendai art fair closed with solid but unspectacular sales. Pace, the only mega-gallery with a location in Tokyo, opened a space in the Azabudai Hills development, which has been seen as a signal of the city's arrival on the global art stage. The article notes cautiously optimistic data, with Japan seeing 2 percent growth in the art market last year while the wider market contracted by 12 percent, and competitors China and Korea saw significant drops.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 15 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

gagosian first to announce it sold out at frieze london

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 26 link 7 artists

leading artists call for nationwide resistance against authoritarian forces

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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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 15, 2025 visibility 19 link 11 artists, 1 gallery

william monk pace frieze london 2025

British painter William Monk is presenting a new series of paintings at Pace Gallery's solo booth at Frieze London 2025. The works, created during a residency at the Neuendorf House in Mallorca, feature obsessive cactus forms and a sentinel figure evolving from his earlier Ferryman series. Monk's studio visit reveals his meticulous process of controlling every detail, with paintings that recall Seurat and Bonnard in their dense, rhythmic brushwork.

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