In Venice, the Wagner Museum changes status

À Venise, le Musée Wagner change de statut

The Wagner Museum in Venice, currently a discreet institution housed within the Casino di Venezia in the Ca' Vendramin Calergi palace on the Grand Canal, is set to join the network of the Fondazione dei Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE) by 2027. An agreement signed in March 2025, after thirty years of discussions, between MUVE, the Casino, and the Richard Wagner Association will make the museum the fourteenth institution under MUVE's management, alongside the Museo Correr, Ca' Pesaro, and the Museo Fortuny. The museum, established in 1995 in the rooms where Richard Wagner stayed and died in 1883, holds significant collections including the Josef Lienhart and Walter Just collections, making it one of the most important private Wagnerian collections outside Bayreuth, Germany.

“Tohé Commaret: Mala Onda” at ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt

“Tohé Commaret: Mala Onda” at ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt

Chilean artist Tohé Commaret has opened her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, "Mala Onda," at the ZOLLAMT MMK, a project space of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. The exhibition features a new body of work, including large-scale paintings and a site-specific installation, that explores themes of memory, cultural displacement, and the lingering psychological effects of political violence.

A Museum Show Like No Other Aschaffenburg’s ‘Bavarian Nice’ Becomes the Stage for a Powerful Ukraine-Europe Art Collaboration Amid Global Conflict!

Aschaffenburg, Germany, is hosting a landmark exhibition titled 'A European Collection' at the Christian Schad Museum, opening April 30, 2026. The show features 73 European masterpieces from the 15th to 19th centuries, loaned from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine. Works by Peter Paul Rubens, Bernardo Bellotto, and Claude-Joseph Vernet are included, alongside a contemporary piece by Ukrainian artist Maria Kulikovska juxtaposed with Antonio Canova's sculpture 'La Pace'. This is the first comprehensive presentation of these Ukrainian-held works in Germany.

Das alles bin ich! Christoph Müller’s gift, part 4

Art collector Christoph Müller has gifted approximately 200 works on paper—drawings, prints, and watercolours—to the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin. The gift is being presented in four successive exhibitions at the Gemäldegalerie under the title "Das alles bin ich" (I am all that!), with the final installment, "Leaf by leaf – A life with art," running from 10 March to 14 June 2026. The works span five centuries and originate from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and France, covering themes such as nature, portraits, landscapes, history, and everyday life.

georg baselitz dies at 88, pioneer of inverted painting and postwar german art

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter known for his inverted figures and raw, expressive style, has died at age 88. A pioneer of postwar German art, Baselitz gained international fame in the 1960s by turning his canvases upside down, forcing viewers to focus on form and paint rather than narrative. His work often grappled with the trauma of Nazi Germany and the divided nation's identity, making him a central figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement.

Gerd Harry Lybke, from artist’s model to gallery founder in East Germany showing in Mallorca

Gerd Harry ‘Judy’ Lybke, the founder of the influential German gallery Eigen + Art, is making his debut at the inaugural Art Cologne Palma Mallorca. Lybke, who began his career as a nude artist's model in East Germany before opening an underground flat-gallery in 1983, reflects on the evolution of the art market from a socialist system defined by censorship to the modern capitalist landscape. For this fair, he is presenting a diverse roster ranging from New Leipzig School star Neo Rauch to emerging talent Maja Behrmann, with works priced between €2,000 and €20,000.

Chiharu Shiota’s New Exhibition Invites Visitors Into a Cocoon of Red Thread

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota has debuted her first Bay Area solo exhibition, "Two Home Countries," at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The show features Shiota’s signature immersive installations of red thread, most notably the 88-foot-long work "Diary," which suspends handwritten journal pages from World War II soldiers and postwar civilians within a dense crimson web. The exhibition also includes sculptures, video, and performance-based works that explore themes of memory, displacement, and the psychological state of living between cultures.

Exhibition Highlights Jewelry by 45 Female Artists

The Museum of Applied Arts Cologne (MAKK) in Germany is presenting an exhibition titled “From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono: Jewellery by Female Artists,” featuring 101 pieces of jewelry created by 45 female artists. The show, which opened November 11 and runs through April 26, highlights works by well-known figures such as Yoko Ono and Louise Bourgeois, including Ono's yellow and white gold ring shaped like a vinyl disc inscribed with “Imagine Peace” and Bourgeois’ gold spider brooch and silver shackle neckpiece. The exhibition was curated by Lena Hoppe in collaboration with museum director Petra Hesse, and an accompanying book edited by the curators will be published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers in February 2026.

Forged Picasso prints sold at Stuttgart auction recovered as part of international police operation

Two forged Pablo Picasso prints from his Suite Vollard series, sold at a Stuttgart auction house, have been recovered as part of an international police operation led by Italian authorities. The Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced that an Italian national, believed to be a professional art restorer, is suspected of consigning four forged works to the auction house over several years. Two prints were recovered—one in Germany's Rhineland region and one in Austria—while two others were seized before delivery. The operation, code-named "Minotauro bis," began in 2022 and has led to the seizure of 104 fake contemporary artworks, the dismantling of a forgery laboratory in Rome, and the freezing of bank accounts and vehicles. Forgers used complex methods including fake watermarks, scanned images, and aging paper with coffee or tea.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Legendary Artists, Are Back in Spirit

The article revisits Christo and Jeanne-Claude's iconic 1983 "Surrounded Islands" project in Miami's Biscayne Bay, where they wrapped 11 small islands in hot pink plastic. It describes how the spectacle drew global attention and marked a turning point for Miami, which was then struggling with crime and a negative image. The piece also notes that the couple's work is being seen again in Florida, New York, and Germany, with a related exhibition at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.

“Yellow Letters”: arte e politica, libertà e censura nel nuovo film di İlker Çatak

Ilker Çatak's fifth film, "Yellow Letters," premieres on April 30, 2026, distributed by Lucky Red. The story follows Derya and Aziz, a Turkish artist couple whose lives unravel after Aziz, a professor at Ankara University, receives a "yellow letter" terminating his employment. The film, inspired by post-2016 coup purges in Turkey, shifts to Berlin and Hamburg, where the director deliberately avoids mimicking Turkish locations, instead using explicit captions like "Berlin as Ankara" to create a Brechtian alienation effect. Çatak explores how arbitrary state repression fractures personal relationships and moral boundaries, drawing on interviews with artists who faced unjust dismissals.

London Gallery Cancels Antisemitic Art Exhibit After Pro-Israel Lawyers Intervene

A London gallery, Delta House Gallery in Wandsworth, canceled a traveling exhibition titled "Drawings Against Genocide" by British artist Matthew Collings after UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) intervened, citing antisemitic content. The show, scheduled for May 16-24, featured drawings with swastikas, comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany, and depictions of Jewish figures with horns, among other imagery. Gallery owner Pineapple Corporation Chairman Tom Berglund confirmed the cancellation, stating the exhibition was arranged without owner consultation.

Sachsen-Anhalt schützt Kunst und Kultur per neuem Gesetz

Sachsen-Anhalt has enshrined support for art and culture as a state objective in a new law, passed by the state parliament in Magdeburg with the exception of the AfD faction, which abstained. Culture Minister Rainer Robra (CDU) framed the law as fulfilling a promise from 1989, defining what constitutes art and culture in the state, including their roles in education and as an economic factor, and aiming to make cultural structures resilient against future attacks on artistic freedom.

Gitte Zschoch wird Generalsekretärin des Goethe-Instituts

Gitte Zschoch has been appointed as the new Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, taking over the role and chairmanship of the board on July 18. She succeeds Johannes Ebert, who has held the position since 2012 and will now lead the institute's regional office in Athens. Zschoch, currently Secretary General of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa), previously worked for the Goethe-Institut in various roles, including founding director of its branch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The appointment was confirmed by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and approved by the institute's presidium.

Berlin Museum to Return Almost 600 Skulls

Berliner Museum will fast 600 Schädel zurückgeben

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin has announced plans to repatriate hundreds of human skulls to West African nations following a multi-year provenance investigation. The research identified the origins of 574 skulls, with 336 linked to present-day Cameroon, 151 to Togo, 23 to Ghana, and one to Nigeria, while 63 could not be precisely located. The skulls were part of a historical anthropological collection transferred from Berlin's Charité university hospital in 2011.

Historical Museum Returns Painting

Historisches Museum gibt Bild zurück

The German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin has restituted a 19th-century portrait of historian Leopold von Ranke to the von der Schulenburg family. The painting by Adolf Jebens, dated 1876, was seized in 1945 during a land reform in the Soviet Occupation Zone from the family's Schloss Lodersleben estate. The museum's director, Raphael Gross, confirmed the return after provenance research identified the work's history.

Torsten Slama at Neuer Essener Kunstverein

The Neuer Essener Kunstverein in Essen is presenting an exhibition titled "Die Vatermaschine" featuring the work of Torsten Slama, running from February 28 to May 24, 2026. The exhibition is documented through 26 images on Contemporary Art Daily, with press release and floor plan available.

Adriana Ramić “Confusion model into a butterfly” at Kunstverein in Schwerin

The Kunstverein für Mecklenburg und Vorpommern in Schwerin is presenting Adriana Ramić's first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, titled "Confusion model into a butterfly." The exhibition features multimedia installations of video, sculpture, and language that explore hybrid identities and transcultural knowledge.

‘Apoi’ and Weaving What Remains

Ugandan artist Acaye Kerunen presents her first solo museum exhibition in Germany, titled 'Apoi,' at the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. The show, installed across the modernist spaces of Haus Lange and Haus Esters, features handwoven textiles, sculpture, sound, and film that draw on Indigenous knowledge systems and intergenerational exchange. It is part of the museum's ongoing 'HL HE Dialog: What Comes After Art' series.

Harta Space's 'A Third Eye' exhibition pays tribute to late multi-dimensional artist Askandar Unglehrt

Harta Space in Penang is hosting 'A Third Eye', an exhibition paying tribute to the late multi-dimensional artist Askandar Unglehrt. Born in Germany, Unglehrt studied at the Sorbonne in Paris during the 1960s, where he was influenced by Dadaism and surrealist poet Jean Hans Arp. He later settled in Malaysia, taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and developed a distinctive artistic practice rooted in collage, assemblage, and the concept of a 'third eye' that synthesizes Eastern and Western perspectives. The exhibition explores his humorous, esoteric works and his lifelong questioning of art's seriousness.

German Provocateur Artist Sentenced to 8.5 Years in Prison in Russia After Mocking Putin

German carnival float artist Jacques Tilly has been sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in a Russian prison. A Moscow court convicted him on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military and insulting religious feelings due to his satirical floats depicting President Vladimir Putin, including one showing Putin in a blood-filled bathtub painted like the Ukrainian flag.

Week in wildlife: wild boar babies, fenland ponies and a slug with strange genitalia

The article is a photographic roundup of notable wildlife encounters and animal behaviors from around the world. It features images of wild boar piglets in Germany, a wild boar that wandered into a Berlin supermarket, a camouflaged snow leopard in Ladakh, Konik ponies sparring in a UK fenland reserve, a banana slug with unusual reproductive anatomy in California, a seagull with a sea star in Seattle, a Palestine sunbird in Israel, and rhinos reintroduced to a Ugandan national park.

the oldest blue pigment found in europe identified

Researchers analyzing a stone from the Paleolithic site Mühlheim-Dietesheim in Germany have identified the earliest known use of blue mineral pigment in Europe. The study, published in the journal Antiquity, found traces of azurite on a roughly 13,000-year-old stone artifact, which is thought to have served as a palette for mixing pigments. This discovery challenges the long-held belief that Paleolithic art relied primarily on red and black pigments, as blue minerals like azurite had not been detected in Europe’s Paleolithic art until now.

three men convicted celtic gold coins theft germany

Three men were convicted for stealing 483 ancient Celtic gold coins from the Kelten Römer Museum in Manching, Germany, in November 2022. The coins, dating to the 3rd century BCE and valued at several million euros, were discovered in 1999 near Manching. The thieves cut off telephone and internet service to the entire town to prevent the museum from contacting authorities. A court in Ingolstadt sentenced the men to prison terms ranging from four years and nine months to 11 years for gang robbery; a fourth defendant was acquitted of the museum heist but convicted for other thefts. DNA evidence linked the group to a string of robberies across Germany and Austria since 2014, and some coins were melted down, with 70 lost.

polish venus of kolobrzeg

Experts from the Polish Conservator of Monuments have authenticated a Neolithic Venus carving discovered by a Polish farmer in 2022. The Venus of Kołobrzeg, a 6,000-year-old limestone sculpture, is one of the oldest artifacts from an agricultural community in this part of Europe. The figurine, now owned by the Polish Arms Museum in Kołobrzeg, was unveiled after extensive analysis including microscopic residue analysis that found traces of mussel and snail shells. Unlike other prehistoric Venus figures, it lacks distinct facial features but shares the characteristic pronounced breasts and voluptuous hips.

Frieze New Writers Pick Vienna’s Must-See Exhibitions

Andrew Durbin reviews national pavilions at a major art event, contrasting a vacuous US presentation with incisive and moving installations from Britain and Germany. The piece is part of Frieze's 'Critic's Guides' series, offering a pointed critique of the US pavilion's lack of meaning against the strength of its European counterparts.

As the South African Pavilion Sits Empty, Gabrielle Goliath Continues a ‘Life-Work of Mourning’

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath inaugurated an off-site Venice exhibition with a public poetry reading after her official presentation at the South African Pavilion was canceled. The performance, part of her ongoing series *Elegy* (2015), features seven singers sustaining a single tone for an hour as a mourning ritual. The work addresses femicide, rape culture, and the killing of Palestinian civilians, and includes new video and sound installations lamenting specific victims: South African teenager Ipeleng Christine Moholane, Nama women killed during Germany’s colonization of Namibia, and Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada. The South African Department of Sport, Arts and Culture rescinded Goliath’s invitation in January, deeming the work “related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.” Goliath unsuccessfully challenged the decision in South Africa’s high court, and the exhibition now runs throughout the Venice Biennale outside the official program before traveling to London in October.

Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945

The article examines the complex and often fraught relationship between modern art and political power in Germany from 1910 to 1945. It details how avant-garde movements like Expressionism, Dada, and the Bauhaus initially flourished, only to be systematically suppressed and labeled "degenerate" by the Nazi regime after 1933.

Henrike Naumann—selected for this year's Germany pavilion at the Venice Biennale—has died

Artist Henrike Naumann, who was selected alongside Sung Tieu to represent Germany at the 2024 Venice Biennale, has died at age 39. She passed away on February 14 in Berlin after a short, serious illness, which her website specified was a late cancer diagnosis. The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Ifa), which oversees the German Pavilion, confirmed her death and stated that her planned work for the Biennale will be realized posthumously according to her completed vision.

In bid to diversify KW Institute in Berlin, artist Sung Tieu sells work to fund new board member

Artist Sung Tieu has sold her work *Declaration of Donation* (2025) for €25,000 to fund a new board member at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin. The work, a contract engraved on four A4-sized mirrors, stipulates that the proceeds cover the five-year term of curator and academic Mi You, whom Tieu nominated to the board. The sale directly challenges KW’s board structure, which requires a €5,000 annual fee from each member—a key revenue stream for the institution amid Berlin’s arts funding cuts. Tieu’s piece argues that such fees perpetuate exclusion and economic gatekeeping, and that institutional change requires structural shifts, not mere declarations of inclusivity.