Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule Jan 5, 2026 visibility 19 link 5 artists

suprising history behind whistlers mother

The article explores the enduring appeal of James McNeill Whistler's 1871 painting commonly known as "Whistler’s Mother," officially titled "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.1." It recounts how the painting was acquired by the French state in 1891 and became the first American painting in the Louvre, now housed at the Musée d'Orsay. The piece also reveals little-known facts: the sitter's full name was Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler, who wore mourning clothes for 31 years after being widowed and moved in with her son in London, displacing his mistress. The article includes her recipe for a dessert called Floating Island and notes that Whistler incorporated his earlier etching "Black Lion Wharf" into the portrait.

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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 19 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 5, 2026 visibility 25 link 33 artists

museum exhibitions shows europe 2026

Artnet News has published a preview of major European museum exhibitions opening in early 2026. Highlights include a monographic show on Paul Cézanne at Fondation Beyeler (January 25–May 25), featuring 80 works from his late career; “Yellow. Beyond Van Gogh’s Favourite Colour” at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (February 13–May 17), exploring the color yellow across art, fashion, and literature; a solo exhibition by conceptual artist Danh Vo at the Stedelijk Museum (February 14–August 2); and “The First Homosexuals” at Kunstmuseum Basel (March 7–August 2), examining the intersection of emerging homosexual identity and the arts in the late 19th century.

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candle obituary schedule Jan 2, 2026 visibility 30 link 27 artists

kathleen goncharov curator dead

Kathleen Goncharov, a curator known for her work at Just Above Midtown gallery and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, died at her home in Boca Raton, Florida, on December 31 at age 73. Over her career, she served as senior curator at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from 2012 to 2025, curated exhibitions internationally from Rio de Janeiro to Rome, and was commissioner of the US Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2003, presenting Fred Wilson's exhibition "Speak of Me as I Am." She also held positions at Creative Time, the New School, MIT, the Nasher Museum of Art, and the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, and was a working artist for 40 years.

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trending_up market schedule Jan 1, 2026 visibility 11 link 4 artists

re air why no one trusts art prices anymore

Artnet News revisits a podcast episode featuring editor-in-chief Naomi Rea, who examines the breakdown of traditional art pricing logic amid a cooling market. The episode explores how the rules that once governed art valuation have eroded, leaving dealers, advisors, and collectors struggling to navigate a market described as being in a "danger zone." Rea discusses how mega-galleries, emerging dealers, and advisors are quietly recalibrating their strategies as speculation dries up and confidence wanes.

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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 15 link 4 artists

frank lloyd wright guggenheim leeches teeth pulled

Frank Lloyd Wright, the renowned architect of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, underwent bizarre medical treatments at the urging of Hilla Rebay, the artist and curator who commissioned him to design the museum. Rebay, a Prussian-born baroness and advisor to Solomon R. Guggenheim, convinced Wright to have all his teeth pulled and replaced with dentures within six weeks of their meeting, and also subjected him and his wife to leech bloodletting to drain 'old' blood. The Wrights stopped following her advice when she eyed their daughter's teeth.

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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 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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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 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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trending_up market schedule Dec 26, 2025 visibility 19 link 13 artists, 1 gallery

sothebys saudi arabian auction 2026

Sotheby's will hold its second auction in Saudi Arabia on January 31, 2026, following a successful inaugural sale in Diriyah in February 2024 that netted $17.3 million. The upcoming sale, titled "Origins," features over 70 works by established Saudi Arabian and Middle Eastern artists alongside international names, with top lots including a Pablo Picasso painting estimated at $2–3 million and works by Jean Dubuffet, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. The auction aims to build on lessons from the first sale, which revealed strong demand across price points and generational diversity among buyers.

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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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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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article policy schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 23 link 3 artists

txst black history 101 mobile museum visit aclu challenge

Texas State University (TXST) canceled a scheduled appearance of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum at its San Marcos campus for Black History Month 2026, prompting a First Amendment challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas. The museum's founder, Khalid El-Hakim, had been invited by a campus activities director on October 13, 2025, but the invitation was rescinded on October 28 after consultation with supervisors and leadership. The ACLU's letter to TXST president Kelly Damphousse cited a 2023 Texas Senate bill banning DEI programs at public universities and the state's political climate as reasons for the cancellation, though the university denied the DEI ban was the cause.

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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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trending_up market schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 17 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

work of the week basquiat onion gum

Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1983 painting *Onion Gum*, priced at $21.5 million, was one of the most expensive works for sale at the 23rd edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The large square canvas, featuring a white head and handwritten text, has a long market history: it sold for $7.36 million at Sotheby's in 2012 to hedge fund manager Daniel Sundheim, then failed to meet its estimate at auction in 2016, fetching $6.6 million. Since 2017, Van de Weghe Gallery has used the work as collateral for bank loans, showing it at multiple Art Basel fairs with prices rising from $16.5 million in 2018 to the current $21.5 million.

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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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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 17, 2025 visibility 20 link 12 artists

the detroit museum of arts confronts art history while wrestling with its future

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has reinstalled its African American galleries, moving them from the back of the museum to a prominent location beside Diego Rivera's iconic "Detroit Industry Murals" (1932–33). The reinstallation is framed by a quote from Alain Locke's 1925 essay "The Legacy of the Ancestral Arts," envisioning the museum as an instrument of cultural education and repair. Complementing this is "Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation" (through April 5), the first comprehensive survey of art from the Indigenous inhabitants of the Great Lakes region. The DIA began collecting African American art in 1943 and in 2001 became the first US museum to name a curator devoted to that field, Valerie J. Mercer, who still serves as curator and head of African American art.

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article news schedule Dec 16, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

louvre strike

On December 15, 2025, the Musée du Louvre in Paris was forced to close as approximately 400 of its 2,100 employees went on strike, picketing outside the museum's glass pyramids and turning away visitors. The strike follows a series of crises at the institution, including a $102 million jewel heist in broad daylight two months prior, a flooding incident from a burst water pipe in November, and ongoing concerns about deteriorating facilities, long lines, and substandard restrooms and dining areas. Workers are demanding higher wages and better conditions, with three trade unions—CGT, SUD, and CFDT—warning in an open letter that staff feel like "the last bastion before collapse."

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

art institute chicagos acquisitions 2025

The Art Institute of Chicago announced its top acquisitions from over 1,000 works added to its collections in 2025. Highlights include Kay WalkingStick’s two-panel painting *The Silence of Glacier* (2013), which overlays Northern Cheyenne beadwork onto a Glacier National Park landscape; Christian Schad’s *Portrait of Composer Josef Matthias Hauer* (1927); Frans Francken II’s *Esther Before Ahasuerus* (1622); a rare 17th-century Indian textile titled *A Nayaka Nobleman with Courtiers and Courtesans*; an untitled photograph from Francesca Woodman’s “Caryatid” series (1980); and the *Ovejo Armchair* (1972) by Jaime Gutiérrez Lega.

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article news schedule Dec 16, 2025 visibility 12 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

cai guo qiang arcteryx fireworks tibet

Artist Cai Guo-Qiang sparked a major controversy on Chinese social media after staging a fireworks display titled "Rising Dragon" in the Himalayas near Shigatse, Tibet, on September 19, 2025. The event, co-organized with outdoor brand Arc'teryx, drew dozens of art insiders and influencers but was quickly condemned by netizens, environmental scientists, and activists for threatening the fragile Tibetan plateau ecosystem and showing cultural insensitivity toward sacred Buddhist mountains. Both Cai and Arc'teryx issued apologies, and state media outlets like CCTV and Xinhua condemned the performance, leading to an investigation by local authorities.

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