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New research by French collector and self-proclaimed 'art detective' Alain Moreau challenges the long-held belief that Pablo Picasso's groundbreaking painting *Les Demoiselles d'Avignon* (1907) was primarily inspired by African art. Moreau's paper, published in the *Bulletin of the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts Sant Jordi*, argues that the painting instead drew from Medieval church frescoes in the Spanish and French Pyrenees, such as those in the church of La Vella de Sant Cristòfol in Campdevànol and the Romanesque murals of Sant Martí de Fenollar. He retraced Picasso's travels and notes that the African mask exhibited alongside the painting in a 1939 MoMA retrospective did not arrive in Europe until 1935, decades after the work was completed.

Art Paris: A Better Result Than Expected

Art Paris, un bilan meilleur que prévu

The 28th edition of Art Paris concluded with stronger-than-expected sales despite a sluggish start and a volatile global climate. Featuring 165 galleries, the fair solidified its position as a key regional event for French collectors, offering a price range typically between €10,000 and €40,000. While mega-galleries like Almine Rech participated with accessible works, the fair also welcomed newcomers like Esther Schipper and In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc, who reported positive results across various media including ceramics, photography, and painting.

Did Qatar’s Courbet acquisition short-circuit French export licence process?

Qatar Museums has acquired Gustave Courbet's early self-portrait *Le Désespéré* (1843-45) from a French collector for €50 million, bypassing the standard French export licence process. The Musée d'Orsay revealed the purchase at a private event in October, announcing the painting will be lent to the museum for five years before moving to Qatar's future Art Mill Museum (opening by 2030). The sale was conducted without an export certificate, with the justification that the work will remain in France for most of the time, using temporary export licences for exhibitions in Doha. Critics, including heritage campaigner Julien Lacaze, argue this exemption is being misused, as it was intended for one-off exhibitions, not recurring rotations.

Rediscovered Rubens and a woolly mammoth head star at Brafa fair in Brussels

Brafa, Belgium's premier art and antiques fair, has expanded for its 71st edition, now featuring 147 exhibitors across three halls in the Brussels Expo convention centre. Highlights include a newly rediscovered Peter Paul Rubens painting, *Portrait of an Old Man* (around 1609), priced at over €1 million, and a 50,000-year-old woolly mammoth head from Siberia that sold for €45,000. The fair runs from 25 February to 1 March, with a strong focus on painting from Old Masters to Modern art, and a notable presence of Belgian and early 20th-century French artists.

Collectors' collective: Private art enthusiasts work together to bring world-renowned artists to Daejeon

Fourteen Korean collectors have formed a collective called Arche II to jointly acquire and display works by world-renowned artists in Daejeon, a city 140 km from Seoul. Their exhibition "Tracing the Unfinished" at the multidisciplinary complex Heredium features 30 works, including 14 jointly owned pieces, by artists such as Le Corbusier, Robert Longo, Olafur Eliasson, David Hockney, Yang Hae-gue, Anicka Yi, and Choi Byung-so. The group, founded in 2017 by business leaders including a radiologist and a former prosecutor, contributes a fixed annual budget to purchase three to five works at major art fairs, focusing on emerging artists rather than established names.