Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Apr 4, 2026 visibility 25 link 4 artists

‘Occasionally a picture can change the course of history’: 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

The article presents a curated collection of 33 photographs deemed to have caused public scandal, ranging from political and royal controversies to celebrity missteps and historical moments of defiance. It analyzes how these images, from Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre to Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub, have exposed hidden truths, shattered carefully managed public images, and sometimes altered public perception or the course of events.

newspaper The Guardian open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 17 link 1 artist

Rare Zaha Hadid Pavilion Comes to Auction

A rare, clamshell-shaped VOLU Dining Pavilion designed by architect Zaha Hadid and Patrick Schumacher is heading to auction at Hermitage Fine Art in Monaco. The prefabricated outdoor structure, originally created for the 2015 Design Miami fair, is expected to fetch between €900,000 and €1.1 million. This marks only the second time a completed edition of this pavilion has been offered at auction.

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museum exhibitions schedule Mar 31, 2026 visibility 24 link 3 artists

Rare Rauschenberg Experimental Dance Revived at Brooklyn Roller Rink

The Trisha Brown Dance Company is reviving Robert Rauschenberg's first choreographed dance, 'Pelican,' for the first time in 60 years. The single-night performance will take place at the vintage Xanadu roller rink in Brooklyn as part of a 'Pelican Gala,' which also features two long-unseen dances by Trisha Brown. The event coincides with the centennial of Rauschenberg's birth.

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rate_review review schedule Mar 26, 2026 visibility 23 link 4 artists

Frank Bowling: Seeking the Sublime review – shipwrecked Ophelia points the path to freedom

A new exhibition of Frank Bowling's work traces the artist's early struggle to find his voice within the rigid artistic categories of the 1960s. The show features paintings from his student days in London, where he grappled with expectations to be either a political 'Black artist' or a formalist 'artist' free from identity constraints, resulting in works that felt derivative of figures like Francis Bacon.

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museum exhibitions schedule Mar 26, 2026 visibility 25 link 1 artist

Who owns the seas? Shahzia Sikander's new animation on world trade beamed onto M+ museum facade

Artist Shahzia Sikander's new animated film, '3 to 12 Nautical Miles,' is being projected onto the digital façade of the M+ museum in Hong Kong. The work uses the historical expansion of territorial waters from 3 to 12 nautical miles as a framework to explore themes of maritime sovereignty, surveillance, and the legacy of colonial trade.

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museum exhibitions schedule Mar 9, 2026 visibility 34 link 27 artists

la exhibition julia stoschek video art collection

The Julia Stoschek Collection has made its United States debut with a sprawling exhibition titled "What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem," staged at the historic Variety Arts Theater in Los Angeles. Curated by Udo Kittelmann, the presentation features 45 time-based media works by a high-profile roster of artists including Marina Abramović, Arthur Jafa, and Anne Imhof, alongside early cinema classics. Eschewing traditional "white cube" gallery aesthetics, the show utilizes the dilapidated grandeur of the six-story theater, allowing for overlapping soundtracks and non-linear viewing experiences.

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person people schedule Mar 3, 2026 visibility 13 link 1 artist

charles chemin artistic director watermill center

The Watermill Center has appointed Charles Chemin as its new artistic director, succeeding the organization's late founder, Robert Wilson. Chemin, a long-time collaborator who first worked with Wilson in 1992, was hand-selected for the role by Wilson prior to his death in August 2025. He will lead the interdisciplinary laboratory's artistic vision alongside managing director Elise Herget and curator Noah Khoshbin.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 25, 2026 visibility 9 link 1 artist

frank frazetta captive princess propstore

Frank Frazetta’s 1973 painting 'Captive Princess,' originally created as cover art for Edgar Rice Burroughs’s novel 'The People That Time Forgot,' is heading to auction at Propstore with a high estimate of $1 million. The work, which depicts a dramatic abduction scene involving prehistoric figures, leads a major sale of entertainment memorabilia that includes iconic film props like a 'Jaws' harpoon gun and a C-3PO head.

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person people schedule Feb 11, 2026 visibility 10 link 1 artist

harmony korine hollywood reporter ai

Filmmaker and multimedia artist Harmony Korine, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, declared his full commitment to creating with artificial intelligence. He described moving beyond traditional narrative forms to explore "post-narrative, sensory, experimental" entertainment through his Miami-based studio EDGLRD, viewing AI as a new creative tool akin to a paintbrush.

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article culture schedule Feb 9, 2026 visibility 17 link 14 artists

pope francis art artists

Artnet News has compiled a selection of artworks created in anticipation of Pope Francis's first visit to the United States. The works include Anthony VanArsdale's portrait for the North American College in Rome, a new addition to the 'Franks' mural at Philadelphia's Dirty Franks bar, a massive photo-realistic mural by Van Hecht-Nielsen overlooking Madison Square Garden in New York, a large-scale mural by Caesar Viveros for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and a controversial, officially licensed portrait by Perry Milou. Other featured pieces include an illustration by Omkar Shivaprasad and a vandalized mural in Bolivia by William Luna and Guillermo Rodriguez.

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article news schedule Feb 5, 2026 visibility 17 link 13 artists

washington post art critic sebastian smee laid off

The Washington Post laid off approximately 30% of its newsroom staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee, as part of broader cuts to sports, local news, and international coverage. Smee, who joined the Post in 2018 after working at the Boston Globe and The Australian, confirmed his departure in a statement to ARTnews, expressing gratitude to former editor Marty Baron and solidarity with affected colleagues. Another Pulitzer-winning critic, Philip Kennicott, reportedly remains on staff. The layoffs come shortly after the release of a documentary produced by Amazon MGM Studios, owned by Post owner Jeff Bezos.

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trending_up market schedule Jan 29, 2026 visibility 16 link 4 artists

public television richer bob ross auction

Three paintings by Bob Ross sold for up to thirteen times their high estimates at a Bonhams Skinner auction, raising $1.3 million for American Public Television. The top lot, 'Change of Seasons' (1990), painted live on his TV show, fetched $787,900, setting a new high for Ross at a traditional auction house.

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article news schedule Jan 27, 2026 visibility 13 link 1 artist

ai weiwei returns china first time decade

Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei returned to China last month for the first time in a decade, visiting Beijing for three weeks after years of exile in Europe. His passport had been confiscated in 2015, ending travel restrictions tied to his political dissent. Upon arrival, Ai was interrogated for nearly two hours at Beijing's airport before being granted entry. He documented the trip on Instagram, including a reunion between his 17-year-old son and 93-year-old mother, and described the experience as like reconnecting a long-disconnected phone call.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 22, 2026 visibility 11 link 1 artist

leonardo da vinci mural milan olympics

A Leonardo da Vinci mural undergoing restoration at Sforza Castle in Milan will be temporarily opened to the public for five weeks starting February 7, coinciding with the Winter Olympics in Italy. Visitors can climb a 20-foot scaffold inside the Sala delle Asse to observe conservators at work on the delicate tempera painting, which was begun shortly before Milan fell to France in 1499 and was later covered by plaster and lost for centuries. The mural was rediscovered in the late 19th century, with further sections uncovered in the 20th century, and the current restoration uses Japanese rice paper and demineralized water to clean the surface.

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article local schedule Jan 21, 2026 visibility 13 link 2 artists

frank lloyd wright walser house foreclosure

Frank Lloyd Wright's Walser House, a rare Prairie-style home in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, is returning to market after being acquired by Fannie Mae through foreclosure. The house has been vacant and neglected since 2019, when its long-time owner died, and requires an estimated $2 million in restoration work. A foreclosure sale in December 2025 failed when preservation advocates were priced out by a minimum bid of $240,000, well above the property's appraised value of $65,000. Fannie Mae now holds the title and is preparing the property for listing, offering a potential path to new ownership.

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article news schedule Jan 21, 2026 visibility 12 link 1 artist

frank lloyd wright house sale fake listing

A fake listing on Zillow claimed that Frank Lloyd Wright's Walser House in Chicago was for sale for $350,000, prompting widespread attention. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy investigated and confirmed the listing was fraudulent, warning it may have been an attempt to defraud potential buyers. The 123-year-old house, which is uninhabitable and requires at least $2 million in restoration, is actually owned by Fannie Mae after a foreclosure and is not currently on the market.

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article news schedule Jan 20, 2026 visibility 14 link 3 artists

roman basilica fano vitruvius

Archaeologists in Fano, Italy, have unearthed the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica during redevelopment work on Piazza Andrea Costa. The rectangular structure, bordered by eight columns on the long side and four on the shorter sides, matches the precise measurements and layout described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book V of his treatise *De Architectura*. This is the first time a physical building has been attributed to Vitruvius, whose writings have long been studied but whose structures had never before been found.

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candle obituary schedule Jan 20, 2026 visibility 17 link 10 artists

iconic fashion designer art collector valentino garavani dead 93

Italian fashion designer and art collector Valentino Garavani died in Rome on January 19 at age 93. Born in Voghera, he moved to Paris for fashion studies, worked for Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche, then launched his own brand in Rome in 1959. Known for elegant gowns worn by icons like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Diana, he retired in 2008. Garavani and his longtime business partner Giancarlo Giammetti built significant art collections; Garavani sold a Basquiat painting for $67 million at Christie’s in 2023, and Giammetti sold another for $93 million in 2021. Garavani also owned works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and de Kooning. In 2024, he opened PM23, an exhibition space in Rome run by the Fondazione Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, which launched its second show, “Venus,” featuring Joana Vasconcelos, two days before his death.

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article news schedule Jan 16, 2026 visibility 17 link 13 artists

joan mitchell foundation 2026 artists in residence

The Joan Mitchell Foundation has announced the 31 artists selected for its 2026 residency program at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. The residencies, lasting six or 14 weeks across three seasons, will host no more than nine artists at a time, beginning February 2. The cohort includes 17 local New Orleans artists and participants from cities such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta, ranging in age from 27 to 75. Notable participants include Edra Soto, who also won a United States Artists Fellowship, and two leaders of New Orleans’s Black Masking Indian tradition, Kelly Pearson Boles and Efrem Z. Boles. The selection was made by a jury of artists, curators, and academics.

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article news schedule Jan 15, 2026 visibility 13 link 3 artists

bose krishnamachari resignation kochi biennale foundation

Bose Krishnamachari, artist and co-founder of the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), has abruptly resigned, citing pressing family reasons. His departure comes during the 6th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, titled “For the Time Being,” which opened December 12, 2025, and runs through March 31, featuring 66 artists from over 20 countries. The biennial has faced multiple controversies since its 2012 debut, including financial mismanagement, sexual harassment allegations, and a recent closure in January 2026 due to religious protests over a painting by Tom Vattakuzhy referencing the Last Supper.

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article policy schedule Jan 5, 2026 visibility 11 link 3 artists

extraordinary artist visas social media influencers

Immigration lawyers report that social media influencers and OnlyFans models are increasingly qualifying for O-1B visas—the U.S. visa category for individuals with extraordinary ability in the arts—by presenting online metrics such as follower counts, earnings, and brand deals as evidence of distinction. Traditionally, visual artists have needed exhibition histories, recommendation letters, and press clips to apply, but attorneys say the criteria have shifted to accommodate digital fame, with some arguing that the quality of approved applicants has been "watered down."

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article news schedule Jan 2, 2026 visibility 16 link 4 artists

kochi muziris biennale closure christian protests

India's Kochi-Muziris Biennale was forced to close briefly in late December 2024, just weeks after its mid-December opening, following protests by Christian groups over a painting of the Last Supper by artist Tom Vattakuzhy. The work was displayed not in the main biennial exhibition, “For the Time Being,” but in a side exhibition called “EDAM” at the Garden Convention Centre in Kochi. Christian organizations, including the Kerala Latin Catholic Association and the Syro-Malabar Church, condemned the painting as offensive and called for its removal, questioning the use of public funds. Vattakuzhy, who is from a Christian family, said he did not intend to offend and that the work was inspired by a play based on a poem about Mata Hari. The biennial's curators and president defended the work, refusing to remove it on grounds of censorship, and organizers announced the exhibition would reopen on January 2.

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article news schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 20 link 5 artists

banksy new mural queens mews centrepoint london

A new Banksy mural appeared on a wall in west London on Monday, December 22, 2025, depicting two children in winter clothing lying on their backs and gazing at the sky. The stenciled artwork, located on Queen’s Mews in Bayswater near Notting Hill, was officially claimed by Banksy via Instagram. An identical version was also spotted outside the Centre Point tower in central London, though not yet claimed. The piece has sparked widespread speculation about its meaning, with interpretations ranging from a commentary on childhood imagination and wonder to a satirical critique of consumerism and the replacement of sacred values by utility.

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article culture schedule Dec 19, 2025 visibility 13 link 11 artists

art bites courbet painting jeanne duval baudelaire

Gustave Courbet's 1855 masterpiece *The Artist's Studio* originally included a portrait of Jeanne Duval, the mixed-race actress and courtesan who was the muse and longtime lover of poet Charles Baudelaire. After a falling out, Baudelaire asked Courbet to remove her from the painting. Courbet painted over her figure with watercolor rather than oil, and over the past 170 years, the image of Duval has gradually reappeared as a pentimento—a ghostly trace of the erased figure.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

phillips records 10 rise in global sales for 2025 taking 927 m as private sales surge by 66

Phillips reported global sales of $927 million for 2025, a 10% increase over the previous year. Auction sales accounted for $725 million, while private sales surged 66% to $202 million. The auction house attributed growth to the launch of Priority Bidding, a platform offering reduced buyer's premiums for early bids, which led to a 275% increase in early selling bids. Phillips achieved an 88% sell-through rate by lot, with seven white-glove auctions and over 110 world auction records. Notable sales included a Patek Philippe watch for $17.6 million and Francis Bacon's *Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer* (1967) for $16 million. The luxury watch division generated $290 million, its highest annual total, and the Dropshop platform attracted many first-time and younger buyers.

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article culture schedule Dec 16, 2025 visibility 23 link 12 artists

art bites singerie monkeys

This article explores the artistic tradition of Singerie, or 'monkey trick,' a genre that depicts primates dressed and acting like humans. It traces the history from its origins in the early 1600s through its peak in the Rococo period, citing examples such as Jan Brueghel the Elder's 'Monkeys Feasting' (c. 1620) and Edwin Landseer's 'The Monkey Who Had Seen the World' (1827). The piece connects this historical convention to contemporary culture, noting its influence on the 2024 Robbie Williams biopic 'Better Man,' where the singer is portrayed as a chimpanzee, and on modern satirical works like Banksy's 'Devolved Parliament' (2009).

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article news schedule Dec 15, 2025 visibility 14 link 7 artists

marina abramovic and roman polanski team up for new film

Marina Abramović has announced production dates for her upcoming performance piece "Seven Deaths," a seven-part film incorporating death scenes from influential operas such as "Madam Butterfly" and "Carmen." The 68-year-old artist has invited controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski, along with directors Alejandro González Iñárritu, Marco Brambilla, Giada Colagrande, Yorgos Lanthimos, and screenwriter Petter Skavlan, to contribute segments. Abramović will portray singer Maria Callas, whom she describes as a muse, and plans to produce a making-of documentary and a biography on Callas's life. Lars von Trier was invited but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

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article news schedule Dec 15, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists

pussy riot russia designation extremist group

A Moscow court designated the feminist art collective Pussy Riot as an extremist organization on December 15, following a lawsuit from Russia's Ministry of Justice. Founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, currently living in exile, condemned the ruling, warning that owning a balaclava, having a song on a computer, or liking a post could lead to prison time. She learned of the lawsuit while finishing her durational performance "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which she described as a warning about surveillance authoritarianism. Tolokonnikova co-founded Pussy Riot in 2011 and was previously imprisoned for performing anti-Putin songs at a Moscow cathedral.

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article culture schedule Dec 12, 2025 visibility 14 link 8 artists

art bites sistine chapel michelangelo critics

The article recounts the creation and controversy surrounding Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgement on the west wall of the Sistine Chapel. While the chapel attracts 25,000 daily visitors and is celebrated as a pinnacle of Renaissance art, the west wall initially provoked scorn from church officials and critics like Biagio da Cesena and Pietro Aretino, who objected to its nudity, pagan imagery, and perceived idolatry. Michelangelo retaliated by painting his detractors into the fresco—Da Cesena as King Minos with donkey ears and a snake biting his genitals, and Aretino as Saint Bartholomew holding flayed skin resembling the artist.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 11, 2025 visibility 29 link 13 artists

art basel awards 2025

Art Basel launched its inaugural Art Basel Awards ceremony at the New World Center in Miami Beach during Art Basel Miami Beach week. The awards, first introduced in New York in May, recognized 36 medalists across categories including Icon, Established, Emerging, Patron, Institution, Curator, and Media & Storytelling. Top winners included Cecilia Vicuña (Icon), Nairy Baghramian and Ibrahim Mahama (Established), Mohammad Alfaraj and Saodat Ismailova (Emerging), and Meriem Bennani (BOSS Award). The event was hosted by musician and collector Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, with performances by cellist Kelsey Lu and recorded narration by actor Emma D'Arcy. Each artist received $50,000, and established artists will debut commissions at Art Basel in Switzerland next year.

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