Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Dec 15, 2025 visibility 22 link 32 artists, 3 galleries

paint drippings art industry news dec 15

This week's art industry roundup covers major auction results, gallery representation changes, museum leadership shifts, and a high-profile art theft. François-Xavier Lalanne's *Hippopotame Bar* sold for $31.4 million at Sotheby's Breuer headquarters, setting a record for both the artist and design works. A Tiffany Magnolia floor lamp also set a new auction record at Sotheby's, fetching $4.4 million. Meanwhile, a New Jersey auction house quietly sold over $100,000 of Jeffrey Epstein's belongings, including artworks, without disclosing his ownership. In the gallery world, several artists changed representation, and former Clearing director John Utterson joined Thaddaeus Ropac. Museum news includes the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art repatriating three Khmer-era sculptures to Cambodia, Maria Balshaw stepping down as Tate director, MoMA PS1 offering free admission starting January 1, and the Rijksmuseum planning a new branch in Eindhoven. Additionally, eight rare Matisse prints and five works by Candido Portinari were stolen from São Paulo's Mário de Andrade Library.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 15 link 4 artists

brazil library heist matisse

Brazilian authorities arrested one suspect after an armed robbery at São Paulo's Mário de Andrade Library on Sunday, where two thieves stole eight Henri Matisse engravings and works by Brazilian painter Candido Portinari. The artworks were displayed in a glass vitrine as part of the exhibition “From the Book to the Museum,” which was set to close November 30. The thieves held up a security guard and a couple, stuffed the items into a canvas bag, and discarded some works near a rubbish heap during their escape, partially captured by facial recognition cameras. The second suspect remains at large, and the library has not disclosed which specific works were taken.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 7, 2026 visibility 16 link 4 artists

Rio’s Museum of Image and Sound finally opens after 16 years in development

The Museum of Image and Sound (MIS-RJ) on Rio de Janeiro's waterfront opens to the public on May 8 after 16 years of development. The 10,000-sq.-m building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, features eight floors with panoramic views of Copacabana Beach and a façade honoring Roberto Burle Marx. The project faced multiple delays, funding suspensions, and controversy over urban redevelopment, including backlash when a nightclub on the site was demolished in 2010. Work resumed in 2021, and the $62.5 million museum was completed with public and private funds from donors like Itaú, Vale, and Rede Globo.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 8, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

Gunmen stole works by Matisse and Portinari from Brazilian library in brazen daytime heist

On Sunday, December 7, two armed gunmen entered the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade (BMA) in São Paulo during public visiting hours and stole 13 artworks: eight engravings by Henri Matisse and five works by Candido Portinari. The theft occurred on the final day of the exhibition "Do livro ao museu" (From the Book to the Museum), organized in collaboration with the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP). The thieves subdued a security guard and an elderly couple, broke a glass display case, and escaped with the works in a canvas bag. Police have identified one suspect and seized the getaway vehicle; Interpol and other agencies have been alerted to prevent the works from being sold on the commercial market.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule May 14, 2025 visibility 23 link 29 artists

$70m Giacometti bombs at patchy Sotheby’s Modern art auction

Sotheby's Modern evening sale in New York on May 13 brought in $152 million ($186.4 million with fees), falling short of its presale estimate of $170 million to $248 million. Four lots were withdrawn before bidding began, including works by Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Candido Portinari, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The sale's star lot, Alberto Giacometti's bronze bust 'Grande tête mince' (1954/55), estimated at over $70 million, failed to sell when bidding stalled around $64 million. Other notable results included strong sales for Jean Arp, František Kupka, and Robert Delaunay, but several high-profile works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Pierre Soulages, and David Smith also failed to find buyers.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Apr 22, 2025 visibility 8 link 9 artists

Brazil’s Modernist Art Gets a Celebration in London

The Royal Academy of Arts in London is hosting "Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism," a major exhibition featuring over 130 works by 10 Brazilian modernist artists from the first half of the 20th century, plus landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. Curated by Adrian Locke, who has Brazilian heritage, the show includes iconic pieces by Tarsila do Amaral, Candido Portinari, and Alfredo Volpi, alongside lesser-known artists like Afro-Brazilian painter Rubem Valentim. The exhibition revisits a historic 1944 show at the same institution, which was the first to present Brazilian modernist painting in the U.K.

newspaper Americas Quarterly open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 7, 2026 visibility 12 link 2 artists

Suspects in Brazil Matisse heist arrested, but alleged thief nicknamed ‘Gargamel’ remains at large

Brazilian police have arrested three suspects in connection with the December 7 theft of 13 works by Henri Matisse and Candido Portinari from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo. The stolen artworks remain missing. One suspect remains at large: Gabriel Pereira Rodrigues de Mello, nicknamed “Gargamel” and “Capybara”, who had prior robbery convictions overturned earlier this year. The heist involved two armed men who subdued a guard and visitors before removing the works from a glass display case and escaping via a getaway van.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original