Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Jan 7, 2026 visibility 15 link 2 artists

diana thater media art preservation cmacc

When the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena in January 2025, artist Diana Thater lost decades of raw footage, master tapes, installation manuals, and ephemera stored in her garage. Her husband, artist T. Kelly Mason, managed to save a server and several hard drives, but much of her earlier archive—never digitized—was destroyed. In the aftermath, Thater began working with the Canyon Media Art Conservation Center (CMACC), a nonprofit conservation lab opening in 2026 that specializes in time-based media art. Led by conservator Cass Fino-Radin, CMACC is helping Thater locate surviving versions of her works in museums and private collections to rebuild and preserve her archive.

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article culture schedule Jan 7, 2026 visibility 18 link 6 artists

monas eyes book cover vermeer painting controversy

Thomas Schlesser's novel *Mona's Eyes* has been named Barnes & Noble's book of the year for 2025, but its cover has sparked controversy online. The cover features Johannes Vermeer's *The Girl with the Pearl Earring*, even though the story is about a girl named Mona who visits Paris museums with her grandfather, and the painting is not held in Paris—it resides at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. A viral Reddit thread on an art history subreddit accused the publisher of "ragebait," noting the mismatch between the cover image and the book's content. Schlesser, an art historian who teaches at the École Polytechnique and runs the Hartung Bergman Foundation, defended the choice, saying he wanted an iconic work symbolizing light and darkness rather than highlighting any of the 52 artworks featured in the story.

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article culture schedule Jan 6, 2026 visibility 22 link 20 artists

parlez vous le francais french old masters glossary and museum list

Artnet News published a French-language glossary of Old Masters terminology and a list of French museums dedicated to Old Masters. The article defines an Old Master as a European painter who worked before 1800, then provides an A–Z bilingual glossary covering terms from Baroque to Venetian Renaissance. It also profiles two museums: the Musée du Louvre in Paris, highlighting its history, collection size, and a wartime anecdote about Théodore Géricault's "Le Radeau de la Méduse," and the Musée du Louvre-Lens, a branch museum opened in 2012 on a former mining site.

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article policy schedule Jan 6, 2026 visibility 25 link 11 artists

m hka flemish government plan legal review

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.

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article culture schedule Jan 6, 2026 visibility 19 link 12 artists

public domain day 2026

On Public Domain Day 2026, works from 1930 entered the U.S. public domain, including art by Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, José Clemente Orozco, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Notable artworks now free to use include Mondrian's *Composition With Red, Blue, and Yellow*, Klee's *Tierfreundschaft*, Orozco's *Prometheus*, and Taeuber-Arp's *Composition of Circles and Overlapping Angles*, as well as pieces by Philip Guston, Marc Chagall, and Edward Hopper from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Literary works like Sigmund Freud's *Civilization and Its Discontents* and William Faulkner's *As I Lay Dying*, films such as *All Quiet on the Western Front*, and musical compositions including "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "Georgia on My Mind" also entered the public domain, along with the original Betty Boop character and early *Blondie* comics.

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trending_up market schedule Jan 5, 2026 visibility 11 link 2 artists

palazzo dario monet sale

Palazzo Dario, a historic Gothic palace on Venice's Grand Canal built in 1486 by diplomat Giovanni Dario, is now listed for sale through Christie's International Real Estate following a structural restoration. The 10,000-square-foot property features four levels, marble staircases, Murano chandeliers, and a Moorish fountain, with its asking price available upon request. The palace has changed hands through noble families, countesses, and financiers over centuries, and was famously painted by Claude Monet in 1908 and sketched by John Ruskin.

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person people schedule Jan 5, 2026 visibility 18 link 1 artist

suzanne landau step down as director israel museum

Suzanne Landau, 80, will step down as director of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, having informed staff at the museum’s end-of-year party. She has served as director since September 2023, initially as acting director after Denis Weil resigned amid board disagreements. The museum’s search for a new CEO is in advanced stages, and Landau will assist during a transition period. Her tenure included the installation of Anselm Kiefer’s "Ages of the World" and a restructuring that saw Dganit Sanker-Lange appointed deputy director.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 3, 2026 visibility 20 link 12 artists

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

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.

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trending_up market schedule Jan 1, 2026 visibility 17 link 7 artists

sothebys abu dhabi collectors week results

Sotheby's held its inaugural Abu Dhabi Collectors' Week at the St. Regis Island Resort on Saadiyat Island, transforming the venue into a luxury showcase with handbags, diamonds, watches, a non-selling art display worth $500 million, and rare cars. The week culminated in open-air auctions under a full moon, netting $133 million—far exceeding the $17 million from Sotheby's first Middle East luxury sale in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Highlights included a 1994 McLaren Formula 1 car sold for $25.3 million, a Jane Birkin Hermès handbag that fetched $2.9 million, and a 31.68-karat pink diamond called The Desert Rose that went for $8.8 million. A jewelry and timepieces sale achieved white-glove status, taking $25.4 million.

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article culture schedule Jan 1, 2026 visibility 10 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

experts how to make it art world

Artnet News has launched a new four-part podcast mini-series titled "How to Get Ahead in the Art World," produced in partnership with Art Market Mentors. Hosted by editor-in-chief Naomi Rea and produced by Sonia Manalili, the series features insights from top art-world insiders including Cat Manson (former Christie's leader turned career coach), Loïc Gouzer (former Christie's rainmaker and founder of Fair Warning), and Brooke Lampley (senior roles at Sotheby's and Gagosian). Each episode covers a key career lesson: taking ownership of your career, trusting your instincts, leading with passion, and embracing a layoff as a reset.

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article culture schedule Dec 31, 2025 visibility 16 link 8 artists

art bites robert rauschenberg talking heads album cover

Robert Rauschenberg designed the cover for Talking Heads' 1983 album *Speaking in Tongues*, creating a limited-edition LP package with three plastic discs featuring cyan, magenta, and yellow designs that produced a full-color, kinetic composition when overlaid on the spinning record. The project stemmed from a friendship between Rauschenberg and frontman David Byrne, who met after Byrne saw Rauschenberg's photo collages in a New York gallery. Despite production challenges that limited the design to a special edition, the album won a Grammy for best album cover.

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article culture schedule Dec 29, 2025 visibility 13 link 11 artists

art bites doges palace fire

The Doge's Palace in Venice has suffered multiple fires over its history, with the most devastating occurring in 1577. That blaze destroyed the Great Council Chamber, consuming irreplaceable artworks including a 1365 fresco by Guariento di Arpo, portraits of past doges by Titian, and paintings by Tintoretto, Vittore Carpaccio, Pisanello, Bellini, and Paolo Veronese. The fire's cause remains unknown, but its impact was catastrophic due to the chamber's concentration of highly valued Renaissance paintings.

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article policy schedule Dec 29, 2025 visibility 15 link 2 artists

british taxpayers to underwrite 1 billion loan to cover bayeux tapestry while its shown in the uk

France’s Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to the British Museum in 2026, with the UK Treasury providing an indemnity guarantee of approximately £800 million ($1 billion) to cover potential damage or loss during transport and display. The guarantee, part of the UK government’s indemnity scheme, is a contingent liability—no upfront payment is required unless something goes wrong. The tapestry will travel by truck via the Channel Tunnel in a specially designed crate, displayed behind protective screening, and remain in London until July 2027. The loan is part of a broader cultural agreement between Britain and France, announced by President Emmanuel Macron during his July state visit to London.

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article culture schedule Dec 29, 2025 visibility 14 link 16 artists, 1 gallery

artists business art

Artnet News asked several working artists—Manuel Mathieu, Hanna Salomonsson, Aki Sasamoto, Nigel Hall, Sharmistha Ray, and Miljohn Ruperto—to share the practical and philosophical lessons that sustain their creative practices. Topics include building trust with collaborators, navigating financial uncertainty, setting up shared studio spaces, using recycled materials, maintaining optimism at age 82, reframing rejection, and adapting to the expectation that artists must act as entrepreneurs before their first gallery show.

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article culture schedule Dec 29, 2025 visibility 23 link 32 artists

art pop culture crossover 2025

Artnet News recapped nine notable art and design crossovers in pop culture from 2025. These include a Renoir painting spotted in a Wes Anderson film, a John Everett Millais reference on a Taylor Swift album cover, and a Dieter Rams chair appearing in the TV show "Severance." The article also highlights painter Ronan Day-Lewis bringing his visual world to film with his debut "Anemone," Spike Lee incorporating his art collection into the film "Highest 2 Lowest," and Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park home being featured on the TV series "The Bear."

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 29, 2025 visibility 17 link 11 artists

she is an icon of finnish art now modernist helene schjerfbeck takes a global stage

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has opened "Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck," the first major U.S. survey of the Finnish modernist painter. The exhibition features approximately 60 works spanning Schjerfbeck's entire career, drawn primarily from the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum, as well as other Finnish and Swedish collections. Curated by Dita Amory of the Met and Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff of the Ateneum, the show takes a thematic rather than chronological approach, highlighting Schjerfbeck's evolution from academic realism to a distinctive, introspective modernism.

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article culture schedule Dec 26, 2025 visibility 18 link 6 artists

art bites mona lisa louvre heist

On October 19, 2025, thieves disguised as construction workers stole $102 million in French crown jewels from the Louvre, but the article contrasts this with the far more infamous 1911 heist of Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa*. The 1911 theft was carried out by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman and museum employee who hid in a supply closet, removed the painting's glass casing (which he had installed), and fled with two accomplices via subway. The theft went unnoticed for 28 hours, and the French press sensationalized the story, even accusing figures like J.P. Morgan and Pablo Picasso.

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article news schedule Dec 26, 2025 visibility 26 link 4 artists

collector leslie wexner denies being jeffrey epsteins co conspirator

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.

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article culture schedule Dec 26, 2025 visibility 18 link 23 artists

10 art historical deep dives

Artnet News published a roundup of 10 art historical deep dives from 2025, curated by an editor who expresses a deep passion for art history. The article highlights several featured stories, including the eccentric tale behind Carl Kahler's monumental cat painting "My Wife's Lovers" (1891), commissioned by Gilded Age patron Kate Birdsall Johnson; the record-breaking sale of Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" for $236.4 million at Sotheby's New York, with its rich symbolism and Imperial Chinese motifs; the online resurgence of August Friedrich Schenck's obscure 19th-century painting "Anguish" (ca. 1878), popularized by TikTok; and the centenary of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" with a deep dive into Francis Cugat's iconic cover art "Celestial Eyes" (1924).

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 23, 2025 visibility 24 link 10 artists

jack whitten 2025 artnews awards historical artist

Jack Whitten is the recipient of the 2025 ARTnews Award for his retrospective "Jack Whitten: The Messenger" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, running from March 23 to August 2, 2025. Curated by Michelle Kuo with Helena Klevorn, Dana Liljegren, and David Sledge, the exhibition features 175 works spanning Whitten's six-decade career, highlighting his innovative use of acrylic paint, his custom squeegee-like tool called the Developer, and his mosaic-like paintings made from dried acrylic chips. The show includes early works from the civil rights era, mid-career homages to Black thinkers like W.E.B. Du Bois and Ralph Ellison, and a monumental abstraction memorializing 9/11.

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article news schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 45 link 32 artists, 36 galleries

contemporary art galleries 2025

The article reflects on the closure of several notable contemporary art galleries in 2025, including Clearing, Blum, High Art, Venus Over Manhattan, Sperone Westwater, Galerie Francesca Pia, Tilton Gallery, Altman Siegel, Kasmin, Rena Bransten Gallery, L.A. Louver, and Canal Projects. It opens with a eulogy for Florine Stettheimer by Georgia O'Keeffe, drawing a parallel between the artist's unique way of life and the distinctive, charismatic spirit of galleries that have shuttered. The author recounts personal experiences at now-closed spaces like Metro Pictures, JTT, and Clearing, and quotes dealer Olivier Babin and the legendary Leo Castelli on the fleeting importance of galleries.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 18 link 10 artists

sargent monet rodin

The Musée d'Orsay has launched a landmark exhibition titled "Sargent: Dazzling Paris," marking the centenary of John Singer Sargent's death and focusing on his formative decade in 19th-century Paris. The show highlights Sargent's early friendships with artists like Monet and Rodin, his training under Carolus-Duran, and key portraits such as those of Fanny Watts and Madame X, the latter of which caused a scandal that drove him to London. The article also features five portraits that illuminate Sargent's artistic circles in Paris.

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article policy schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

smithsonian content review white house threatens funding

The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from the Smithsonian Institution, accusing it of failing to comply with a content review demanded by the White House. In an email obtained by the Washington Post, budget director Russell Vought and Domestic Policy Council director Vince Haley alleged that the Smithsonian had not turned over all requested documents and exhibition materials, citing a prior executive order in which President Trump claimed the institution promoted “corrosive ideology” by portraying the U.S. as inherently racist. Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III defended the network’s independence, stating it remains committed to sharing information but that a government shutdown had slowed efforts. The administration set a January 13 deadline for full compliance, specifically targeting programming for America’s 250th anniversary.

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article news schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 21 link 17 artists

10 art restorations in 2025

In 2025, a series of major art restorations unveiled transformative discoveries in masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Artemisia Gentileschi, among others. Caravaggio's final work, *The Martyrdom of St. Ursula* (1610), owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, was cleaned ahead of Rome's "Caravaggio 2025" exhibition, revealing hidden faces and a soldier's helmet previously only visible by x-ray. At the Vatican Museums, a decade-long restoration of the Raphael Rooms concluded with the revelation that two allegorical figures in the Hall of Constantine were painted by Raphael himself, not just his assistants, rewriting art history. Meanwhile, Artemisia Gentileschi's *Hercules and Omphale* (ca. 1635–37), damaged in the Beirut explosion, underwent emergency conservation by the Getty.

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article local schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 16 link 14 artists

detroit institute of arts dia 1976 ad spot remake

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has released a 50th-anniversary remake of its iconic 1976 television commercial, "You Gotta Have Art." The original spot, created by advertising agency W.B. Doner & Co., featured museum staff, volunteers, and local performers singing and dancing among masterpieces. The new version, directed by DIA's Director of Visual Media Adam Kosberg, recreates the original shot-for-shot, incorporating updated choreography, a Motown-influenced arrangement by Detroit musicians Marion Hayden and Alvin Waddles, and appearances by local artists including Carole Harris and Allie McGhee, who reprised their roles from the 1976 film. Over 200 museum employees and performers from Wayne State University participated in the production.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 18 link 10 artists

auctioneers jewelry evening sales

Sotheby's held its inaugural evening sale at the Breuer building, featuring the Contemporary and the Now sale. Auctioneer Oliver Barker achieved $527.5 million in sales, surpassing the pre-sale low estimate of $379 million. The highlight was Gustav Klimt's portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, which sold for $236.4 million, setting an auction record for Klimt and becoming the second most expensive work ever sold at auction. During the sale, auctioneer Phyllis Kao wore a David Webb necklace from the mid-1980s, featuring carved emeralds, rubies, and cabochon sapphires, which was on view and available for private sale at Sotheby's retail salon in the Breuer lobby.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 23 link 14 artists

baku azerbaijan art week

The article recounts the author's experience attending Baku Art Weekend in Azerbaijan, a festival centered at the Zaha Hadid-designed Heydar Aliyev Centre. The event featured a major exhibition of Fernando Botero's work, "The Triumph of Form," alongside kinetic installations by Daniel Wurtzel and sculptures by Jorge Marín. The festival is shaped by Leyla Aliyeva, vice president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and daughter of Azerbaijan's president, who aims to position Baku as a global cultural capital.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 19, 2025 visibility 21 link 4 artists

mathaf museum campus expansion architect lina ghothem

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha has appointed Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh to lead a major campus expansion, announced as the institution celebrates its 15th anniversary. The project will redesign the ground floor lobby and library as an open majlis-inspired space, expand the cafe and shop, add a monumental portrait by Yan Pei-Ming, and later transform the plaza and parking area into artist studios, ceramics facilities, glass and material labs, and a sound studio in collaboration with Tarek Atoui. Mathaf director Zeina Arida called the plan 'a new chapter' for the museum.

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person people schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 16 artists

walter robinsons legacy is celebrated with honorary doctorate new scholarship

Hundreds gathered on a cold Monday night in New York at Phillips auction house and the Metropolitan Club to celebrate the life and legacy of Walter Robinson, the beloved art-world figure who died in February 2025. The event, organized by the New York Academy of Art as part of its annual “Take Home a Nude” fundraiser, featured silent and live auctions, a posthumous honorary doctorate awarded to Robinson, and the announcement of the Walter Robinson Scholarship funded by auction proceeds. The evening raised over $800,000, with works by students and acclaimed artists like Richard Prince and Kiki Smith on offer, and Robinson’s painting *Blood on the Sun* (2018) selling for $35,000.

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article news schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 19 link 13 artists

top ukrainian art historian believes italian museum holds 14 fake russian and ukrainian modernist works

Konstantin Akinsha, a prominent curator and art historian of Russian and Ukrainian art, has identified 14 artworks in the collection of the Palazzo de Nordis museum in Cividale del Friuli, Italy, as likely forgeries. In a Substack post and interview with ARTnews, Akinsha scrutinized the De Martiis Collection, donated in 2015 by the late collector Giancarlo De Martiis, which includes works attributed to Russian and Ukrainian modernist painters. He points to suspicious provenances involving Jean Chauvelin, a disgraced French art dealer, and Boris Gribanov, a convicted forger. A specific still life attributed to Olga Rozanova (1915-17) is nearly identical to a 1999 painting by contemporary Russian artist Andrei Saratov, who confirmed he did not paint the museum's version. Elisabetta Gottardo, the municipal head of culture, acknowledged Akinsha's authority and pledged further investigation.

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