Art News. Vasari Codex

museum exhibitions schedule Jun 27, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists

jo van gogh bonger exhibition

The Van Gogh Museum will host an exhibition titled "Captivated by Vincent. The Intimate Friendship of Jo van Gogh-Bonger and Isaac Israëls" from September 12, 2025 to January 25, 2026, marking the centenary of Jo van Gogh-Bonger's death. The show features works by Dutch painter Isaac Israëls, who was a close friend of Van Gogh-Bonger and frequently incorporated copies of Vincent van Gogh's paintings into his own compositions. It includes 10 Israëls works inspired by Van Gogh, his portrait of Van Gogh-Bonger (recently restored), and excerpts from her diary, alongside over 100 letters between the two being published in a digital edition.

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person people schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 21 link 7 artists

justin vivian bond current cultural climate

Justin Vivian Bond, a multidisciplinary artist and performer, is profiled in ARTnews as part of their Newsmakers series. Bond, who received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2024, discusses their upcoming performances at Joe’s Pub in New York, including a show titled “Well, Well, Well” inspired by lesbian singer-songwriters and the novel *The Well of Loneliness*. They also mention resurrecting their duo Kiki & Herb in London, and reflect on their 2017 exhibition at the New Museum, “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” whose wallpaper is now installed at the V&A East Storehouse.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

napoleon sale sothebys paris france famous antiques dealer

On Wednesday in Paris, Sotheby's auctioned a collection of Napoleonic artifacts from the private collection of prominent French antiques dealer Pierre-Jean Chalençon, generating €8.7 million ($9.6 million) against a €6 million estimate. The 112-lot sale included imperial furniture, Old Master paintings, and personal relics such as Napoleon's worn stockings and a copy of his marriage certificate. Highlights included a portrait by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse that sold for €863,600 (20 times its estimate) and the only surviving remnant of Napoleon's first will, which fetched €482,600. However, Napoleon's bicorne hat underperformed, selling for €355,600 against a €600,000 low estimate, amid provenance questions raised by French newspaper Le Figaro.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 18 link 16 artists

best digital art works picked by experts

The Digital Art Mile, Basel's first-ever digital art fair, opened its second edition on Monday at the city's Kult Kino Camera cinema, running through Sunday. Founded by digital art adviser Georg Bak and ArtMeta founder Roger Haas, the fair features panels, conferences on the digital art market, and the headline exhibition “Paintboxed,” which explores the history of the Quantel Paintbox. In a calmer, more academic atmosphere than Art Basel, ARTnews asked 10 prominent digital art figures to select their favorite artwork from the fair, with responses highlighting works such as Kim Asendorf's "Monogrid 90," XCOPY's "Last Selfie," and Matt Kane's "Gazers 200."

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 22 link 3 artists

john singer sargent madame x three things

John Singer Sargent's iconic portrait *Madame X* (1883–84), depicting American-born socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, caused a scandal when it debuted at the 1884 Paris Salon. Critics were outraged by the fallen shoulder strap on Gautreau's gown, which implied an illicit rendezvous, and by the public exposure of a recognizable high-society woman in such a provocative pose. Sargent repainted the strap after the Salon, but the damage was done: Gautreau's reputation suffered, and Sargent fled Paris for London to restart his career. The painting now belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and will be featured in its upcoming exhibition "Sargent and Paris."

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trending_up market schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 18 link 15 artists, 1 gallery

sothebys london contemporary evening summer sale report

Sotheby's London contemporary evening sale on Tuesday brought in nearly £62.5 million ($84 million), within its pre-sale estimate of £55 million to £74 million. The 48-lot sale achieved an 83% sell-through rate, with five works selling for over £5 million each, led by Tamara de Lempicka's 'La Belle Rafaëla' (1927) at £7.4 million and Pablo Picasso's 'Nu assis dans un fauteuil' (1964–65). The auction saw strong bidding for a Basquiat work on paper, 'Untitled (Indian Head)', which sold for £5.4 million, and a standout result for Yu Nishimura's 'through the snow' (2023), which tripled its high estimate at £230,000.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 25, 2025 visibility 9 link 4 artists

aby rosen pays 55 million for gilded age building artist jay maisel bought for 102000 around 1966

Art collector and real estate financier Aby Rosen paid $55 million for the Gilded Age landmark building at 190 Bowery in New York, which had been owned for decades by photographer Jay Maisel. Maisel bought the property—the former Germania Bank building—around 1966 for a reported $102,000, making the sale a dramatic example of New York real estate appreciation. The building, located near the New Museum, was listed on Rosen's company RFR Holdings before he entered a contract to purchase it in August, and was subsequently re-listed for sale through Cushman & Wakefield.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 24, 2025 visibility 18 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

work of the week elizabeth peytons liam noel

Elizabeth Peyton's double portrait of Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sold for £1,992,000 ($2.7 million) at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction in London, just above its low estimate of £1.5 million. The work, depicting the band in 1996, was backed by a house guarantee and irrevocable bid. The consignor had purchased it in 2011 for $511,640, yielding a positive return. The sale coincided with Oasis's upcoming reunion tour starting July 4.

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article news schedule Jun 24, 2025 visibility 12 link 4 artists

selfie taking tourist damages painting uffizi gallery

A tourist at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence damaged an 18th-century portrait of Ferdinando de’ Medici by Anton Domenico Gabbiani while taking a selfie on June 21. The man tripped backward onto the canvas, causing a small tear near the subject's right foot. Museum staff quickly removed the painting for assessment, and the work is expected to return to display soon in the exhibition “Florence and Europe: Arts of the Eighteenth Century.” The perpetrator was apprehended and reported to authorities; director Simone Verde vowed to prosecute and implement “anti-selfie measures.”

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article culture schedule Jun 24, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

artificial intelligence museums

Randall Suffolk, director of the High Museum of Art, argues that art museums should let artists lead the integration of artificial intelligence into programming, rather than institutions racing to adopt the technology themselves. He advocates for using AI primarily behind the scenes for organizational efficiency and decision-making, while cautioning against letting AI distract from the direct experience of artworks in galleries.

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article news schedule Jun 24, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

queen elizabeth ii memorial design london st jamess park

The UK government has finalized design plans for a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II in London’s St James’s Park. A team led by architect Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, including British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, will create a natural stone path connecting royal gardens, a translucent cast-glass balustrade on the Blue Bridge inspired by the Queen’s wedding tiara, and figurative sculptures of the Queen and Prince Philip. Landscape designer Michael Desvigne is also part of the team, working with the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee. The final design will be announced in April 2026, coinciding with what would have been the Queen’s 100th birthday, with a budget of £23 to £46 million from public funds.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 24, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists

tamara de lempicka retrospective de young

A major retrospective of Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980) has opened at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, featuring over 120 works including iconic portraits, lesser-known drawings, and early Cubist still lifes. Co-curated by Furio Rinaldi and Gioia Mori, the exhibition is the first comprehensive U.S. retrospective of the artist in over four decades, drawing passionate responses from audiences unfamiliar with her name as well as from connoisseurs discovering her draftsmanship.

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

israeli us strikes iran jeopardize cultural heritage

Israeli and U.S. military strikes on Iran, occurring since June 13, 2025, have threatened significant damage to the country's cultural heritage. Israeli bombings targeted the headquarters of the Iranian state broadcaster (IRIB) in Tehran, a major work of Modern architecture designed by the firm of renowned Iranian architect Abdol Aziz Farmanfarmaian. U.S. bombings over the weekend struck a nuclear complex near Isfahan, one of Iran's most historically significant cities, though its historic landmarks appear unscathed. The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA), designed by Kamran Diba and home to a major collection of modern Western art, is also a source of concern.

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article news schedule Jun 23, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

medici portrait damaged by tourist at uffizi galleries florence

A 17th-century portrait of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici was damaged at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence when a tourist attempted to take a photo mimicking the prince's pose. The young Italian man tripped over a barrier, fell onto the painting, and tore the canvas. Security cameras captured the incident, and the tourist has been identified and reported to police, potentially facing criminal charges and repair costs.

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article news schedule Jun 23, 2025 visibility 15 link 12 artists

romania wins long term hold on disputed el greco

Romania has secured a "long-term hold" on El Greco's painting *Saint Sebastian* (1610–1614), which was pulled from a Christie's New York Old Masters sale in February. The work is claimed by Romania as unlawfully taken from its national collection in 1947. The painting will remain at Christie's until legal proceedings resolve the dispute. Meanwhile, Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro died in Milan at age 98, and abstract painter Thornton Willis died in New York at 89. Other news includes a letter from National Gallery director Gabriele Finali defending the Rubens attribution of *Samson and Delilah*, Japan's curatorial appointments for the 2026 Venice Biennale, and a Bristol City Council fundraiser to acquire an early JMW Turner painting.

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article policy schedule Jun 23, 2025 visibility 12 link 7 artists, 3 galleries

elizabeth street garden lawsuit seeks vara protection

The Elizabeth Street Garden in New York City has filed a federal lawsuit seeking protection under the Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA) to prevent its destruction for an affordable housing project called Haven Green. The lawsuit, filed by law firms Siegel Teitelbaum and Evans and McLaughlin and Stern, argues that the garden is a unique work of visual art and landscape architecture created by the late Allan Reiver and his son Joseph Reiver, and should be legally protected as a sculptural work. The garden received a temporary stay after eviction papers were served last fall, but the city plans to build 100% deeply affordable senior housing on the site, claiming the project will provide over 15,000 square feet of public space.

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article news schedule Jun 20, 2025 visibility 20 link 4 artists

climate activist hurls pink paint at picasso painting at montreal museum

On Thursday, an environmental activist from the group Last Generation Canada hurled bright pink paint at Pablo Picasso's 1901 painting *L’hetaire* at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The protester, identified as 21-year-old Marcel, was arrested and later released pending a court appearance; two accomplices who filmed the act were detained and released without charge. The group cited the record-breaking heat wave in Winnipeg and Manitoba as a motivation, arguing that art is meaningless on a dead planet.

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article news schedule Jun 20, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

curtis yarvin us pavilion venice biennale titian proposal

Curtis Yarvin, a computer engineer and far-right political thinker, has proposed a controversial US Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale centered on Titian's *Rape of Europa* (1559–62), on loan from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Yarvin is collaborating with Dutch Egyptian artist Tarik Sadouma on the concept, which he describes as "rape-themed," though he notes room for feminist perspectives. The proposal, first reported by the *New Yorker* and detailed further by *Vanity Fair*, includes alternative plans such as forging and burning the painting or using AI if the loan is denied. Applications for the pavilion close July 30, with a final decision expected later in the summer.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 19, 2025 visibility 17 link 11 artists

harriet tubman river raid exhibition

A new exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, titled “Picturing Freedom,” highlights Harriet Tubman’s role in the Combahee River Raid of 1863, where she guided Union troops to free 756 enslaved people in a single night. The show features works by Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, and Faith Ringgold, alongside contemporary artists, and includes multimedia elements such as audio interviews with descendants, a video reenactment, and landscape photographs by J. Henry Fair. Guest curated by Vanessa Thaxton-Ward of Hampton University Museum, the exhibition is based on Edda L. Fields-Black’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book "COMBEE."

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candle obituary schedule Jun 18, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

conceptual art ulay is dead at 76

Frank Uwe Laysiepen, known as Ulay, has died at age 76 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The German-born artist was a pioneer of performance art, photography, and body art, best known for his collaborative works with former partner Marina Abramović, including the iconic "Relation Works" series and their 1988 walk along the Great Wall of China. Ulay had been recovering from lymphatic cancer; the cause of death has not been confirmed. He leaves behind the ULAY Foundation in Amsterdam and a project space in Slovenia.

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article news schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 13 link 2 artists

louvre closes strike

The Louvre Museum in Paris failed to open on Monday morning after front-of-house staff, including security guards, gallery attendants, and receptionists, staged a spontaneous protest over chronic understaffing and overcrowding. The walkout began after a routine internal meeting, forcing thousands of visitors to wait outside for hours without explanation. The museum eventually opened at 2:30 p.m. local time and offered refunds to affected ticket holders. The protest follows a leaked letter from director Laurence des Cars to culture minister Rachida Dati detailing severe infrastructure problems, including temperature fluctuations endangering artworks, leaky roofs, and inadequate visitor facilities.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 19 link 16 artists

philadelphia museum boom 1940s art design

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has opened "Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s," a major survey featuring over 250 works including painting, photography, jewelry, ceramics, fashion, and furniture. The exhibition draws entirely from the museum's own collection, with around 40 percent of the works never exhibited before. It includes early pieces by celebrated figures like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, as well as works by queer artists such as Paul Cadmus, Beauford Delaney, and Romaine Brooks, alongside self-taught artist Horace Pippin. Chief curator Jessica Smith emphasizes that the show aims to present a more complex, multivalent narrative of the decade beyond the dominant story of Abstract Expressionism.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 17, 2025 visibility 18 link 17 artists, 9 galleries

big questions art basel

Art Basel, the flagship art fair, returns to Basel, Switzerland from June 17 to 22 amid a period of market contraction and geopolitical instability. The article explores key questions surrounding the fair, including whether the proliferation of new Art Basel editions in Paris and Doha is diluting interest in the original Swiss event. Gallerists and collectors weigh in, noting that while Paris is rising in importance, Basel retains unmatched prestige and draws a genuinely engaged international audience. The piece also highlights the fair's new "Premiere" section, which spotlights mid-career and established artists, featuring London gallery Edel Assanti's debut presentation of American artist Lonnie Holley.

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gavel restitution schedule Jun 16, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

kim kardashian gets authentic donald judd furniture lawsuit

The Judd Foundation has settled a lawsuit with Kim Kardashian and Clements Design over a 2022 promotional video in which Kardashian promoted knockoff versions of Donald Judd's minimalist furniture. The video, which garnered over 3.6 million views before being deleted, featured tables resembling Judd's La Mansana Table 22 and Chair 84. Under the settlement, Kardashian will acquire authentic Judd furniture from Donald Judd Furniture LLC, and both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

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candle obituary schedule Jun 16, 2025 visibility 21 link 6 artists

leonard lauder dead estee lauder art collecting

Leonard Lauder, the eldest son of Estée Lauder and a billionaire cosmetics executive, died at age 92. He served as chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder Companies, having previously been president and CEO, and grew the company's sales from $800,000 to over $16 billion. A major art philanthropist, in 2013 he donated 81 Cubist works worth over $1 billion to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including pieces by Picasso, Braque, Léger, and Juan Gris. He also served as chairman emeritus and trustee at the Whitney Museum.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 16, 2025 visibility 14 link 8 artists

leonard lauder mfa boston postcards

Leonard Lauder, the 85-year-old chairman emeritus of Estée Lauder Companies, has amassed a collection of approximately 130,000 postcards, many of which are a promised gift to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A selection of 350 propagandist postcards from the World War I and World War II eras is now featured in a new exhibition at the MFA titled “The Art of Influence: Propaganda Postcards from the Era of World Wars” (through January 21), accompanied by a publication. Lauder began collecting as a boarding school student in Miami Beach, drawn to the idealized images and vibrant colors of Art Deco hotel postcards, and later expanded to historical and propagandist cards that he describes as “living history.”

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rate_review review schedule Jun 16, 2025 visibility 23 link 14 artists

cubism at the met modern art that looks tragically antique

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's current "Cubism" exhibition showcases masterpieces from the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Fernand Léger. The show spans six galleries and presents some of the finest examples of Cubist art, including iconic pieces like Braque's *The Castle of La Roche-Guyon* (1909) and Picasso's *The Oil Mill* (1909). The exhibition is essentially a curated display of Lauder's promised gift to the Met, highlighting the "Four Horsemen" of Cubism while omitting the broader context of the movement's other pioneers, such as the Salon Cubists.

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article news schedule Jun 13, 2025 visibility 19 link 8 artists

canyon museum durational immersive art new york

New York City will gain a major new cultural venue in 2026 called Canyon, a 18,000-square-foot hub on the Lower East Side dedicated to durational, time-based art forms such as video, sound, and performance. Founded by philanthropist and collector Robert Rosenkranz, the space is designed by New Affiliates Architecture and will feature state-of-the-art galleries, a 300-seat performance hall, and a skylit piazza with food and beverage options. Joe Thompson, founding director of MASS MoCA, will serve as the venue's director. Canyon has already appointed conservator Cass Fino-Radin as director of art and technology and curator Sam Ozer as curator-at-large, with partners including Rhizome, Electronic Arts Intermix, and the Archive of Contemporary Music. Its inaugural exhibitions will include a major retrospective of Japanese new media artist Ryoji Ikeda and a show titled "Worldbuilding" curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 11, 2025 visibility 12 link 5 artists

rare rodin sculpture fetches 1 million

A rare marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin, *Le Désespoir* (ca. 1892–93), was rediscovered atop a piano in a private home in France and sold at auction for €1.1 million ($1.2 million). The auction, held by Rouillac at the Château de Villandry, lasted over 20 minutes and attracted bidders from China, Switzerland, and the United States, with a young American banker winning the piece. The sculpture had last appeared at auction in Paris in 1906 and exceeded its high estimate of €700,000.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

christo and jeanne claude arc de triomphe wrapped

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's posthumous project to wrap the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has been completed and inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron. The monument is covered in 25,000 square meters of silvery blue polypropylene fabric and 3,000 meters of red rope, with the installation open to the public from September 18 to October 3, 2021. The €14 million project was entirely funded by the sale of Christo's artworks and overseen by the couple's nephew, Vladimir Yavachev, along with the Center of Monuments Nationaux.

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