Art News. Vasari Codex

museum exhibitions schedule May 8, 2026 visibility 31 link 9 artists, 2 galleries

Controversial Painter Georg Baselitz Knew His Venice Show Would Be His Last. He Went Out Quietly.

Six days after Georg Baselitz's death, his dealer Thaddaeus Ropac opened "Eroi d'Oro" ("Heroes of Gold") at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice. The exhibition features the final paintings Baselitz made before he died in April at age 88. In a prerecorded film, Baselitz calls these works his "last paintings," intended as a summation of his six-decade career. The large-scale, gold-ground paintings depict thin, ink-like figures of himself or his wife Elke lying horizontally, floating in undefined space. Baselitz connected the gold grounds to Fayum mummy portraits, Sienese altarpieces, and Byzantine icons, using them to absorb space and create a shadowless, eternal condition.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule May 16, 2025 visibility 20 link 7 artists

botticelli virgin and child export bar 2643265

The United Kingdom has imposed a temporary export bar on Sandro Botticelli's painting "The Virgin and Child Enthroned" (c. 1470), valued at £10.2 million ($13.5 million). The work was sold to a foreign buyer at Sotheby's London last fall for £8.6 million, but the export license deferral—recommended by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art—gives British institutions until August 8 to express interest in acquiring it. The painting, previously attributed to Botticelli's workshop, was confirmed as an autograph work through new scientific analyses and has been in the private collection of Lady Wantage since 1904.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule May 29, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

will this ultra rare painting by famed filipina painter anita magsaysay ho break records 2650460

León Gallery's Spectacular Mid Year Auction 2025 will feature a rare egg tempera painting by pioneering Filipina modernist Anita Magsaysay-Ho titled *Water Carriers / Taga-igib* (1947). The work is expected to draw strong market interest, following the artist's previous egg tempera sales at the same auction house—*Tinapa (Fish) Vendors* (1975) and *Fruit Market* (1957)—which fetched $1.52 million and $1.56 million respectively. Only about 20 works by Magsaysay-Ho exist in this delicate medium, making this lot exceptionally scarce. The sale also includes three works by Spanish Filipino artist Fernando Zóbel, whose market has recently surged after exhibitions at the Prado Museum, Ayala Museum, and National Gallery Singapore.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 19 link 6 artists

Filippo Lippi painting—once the centrepiece of Florence's Palazzo Medici Chapel—to undergo two-year restoration

The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin has announced a two-year restoration of Filippo Lippi’s 1459 painting *The Adoration in the Forest*, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Schoof’schen Stiftung. The tempera-on-panel work, a centerpiece of the Palazzo Medici chapel in Florence, is now in the Gemäldegalerie’s collection. Conservators discovered that a 19th-century varnish layer is degrading the paint, causing it to lift off the panel, particularly affecting the Virgin’s blue cloak, skin, and gold leaf areas. The treatment aims to remove the varnish while stabilizing the paint layer, and may also reveal Lippi’s use of oil paint alongside egg tempera.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Apr 28, 2026 visibility 23 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

Harnessing the winds of societal change: how art dealers have been able to shape taste for centuries

Valentina Castellani, a former Gagosian director, has authored a new book titled *Trading Beauty: Art Market Histories from the Altar to the Gallery* (out 1 May). The book traces how art dealers have historically leveraged societal changes—political, economic, and social—to reshape taste and market structures. Castellani begins in the Middle Ages, when art was made only on commission for patrons like the Catholic church and monarchies, and moves through key shifts such as the Dutch Republic's first open art market in the 17th century, which gave rise to the professional art dealer. She highlights dealers like Paul Durand-Ruel, Joseph Duveen, and Leo Castelli who capitalized on anti-establishment energy, new wealth, and post-war consumer culture to bring avant-garde art to the forefront.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Apr 17, 2026 visibility 67 link 8 artists

The Big Review: Rothko in Florence ★★★★★

The Palazzo Strozzi in Florence has launched a major exhibition exploring the profound influence of the Italian Renaissance on Mark Rothko. Co-curated by the artist's son, Christopher Rothko, the show spans three historic locations: the Palazzo Strozzi, the Museo di San Marco, and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. By placing Rothko’s abstract canvases in direct dialogue with Fra Angelico’s frescoes and Michelangelo’s architecture, the exhibition highlights how the artist’s visits to Italy in the 1950s and 60s shaped his spatial thinking and spiritual intensity.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Jul 4, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

fra angelico fresco restored 2629896

A long-forgotten fresco by the early Renaissance master Fra Angelico, believed to be his earliest known work, has been restored in the chapter house of San Domenico in Fiesole, Tuscany. The painting, a Crucifixion dating to around 1420, was hidden under whitewash for centuries and rediscovered by Bottega Belacqua, a group of Renaissance art enthusiasts. Funding from Friends of Florence enabled conservators Alessandra Popple and Cristiana Conti to revive the work, just in time for a landmark exhibition in Florence.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 14 link 5 artists

ashmolean museum acquires fra angelico painting 2566049

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has raised $4.48 million ($5.8 million) to acquire Fra Angelico's early Renaissance painting "The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and the Magdalen" (1420s). The work had been in a private British collection for two centuries and was nearly sold to a foreign buyer until the U.K. government imposed an export deferral in January 2024, giving time for a domestic buyer to step in. The acquisition was completed via a private treaty sale at a discounted price, funded by over 50 donors including chairman Lord Lupton, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and the Headley Trust.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 29, 2025 visibility 15 link 12 artists

berruguete restoration altarpiece 2649867

The Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao has completed a restoration of Pedro Berruguete's *The Annunciation* (1485–1490), a painting that once formed part of an altarpiece likely for a church in Palencia, Spain. The work, on a five-year loan from the Arburu collection, had suffered from cracks, dirt, and oxidized varnish over centuries. Two specialists—Elisa Mora Sánchez for the paint layer and Mayte Camino Martín for the gilding—cleaned, repaired, and re-gilded the panel, revealing Berruguete's blend of Italian Renaissance, Flemish, and Castilian Gothic influences.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 10, 2025 visibility 22 link 22 artists

national gallery sainsburg wing reopening gabriele finaldi 1234741454

London's National Gallery has reopened its Sainsbury Wing after a three-year, $113 million renovation, timed to the museum's 200th anniversary. Director Gabriele Finaldi, who was knighted this year, oversaw the project, which was designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf and faced criticism from original architect Denise Scott Brown. The revamped wing features a light-filled foyer, 17 galleries with no prescribed route, and a rehang titled “The Wonder of Art.” The museum also acquired a mysterious painting by an unknown artist, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels (1500–10), for $20 million through Sotheby's.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule May 18, 2026 visibility 3 link 7 artists

Let’s dress like a Mark Rothko! How gen Z fell for the king of colour field paintings

Mark Rothko, the abstract expressionist known for his color field paintings, is experiencing a cultural resurgence among Generation Z on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Videos inspired by his work amass hundreds of thousands of views, with creators styling outfits based on his canvases, assigning his paintings to personality archetypes, and comparing his palettes to dream pop bands like the Cocteau Twins. The Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, has also seen a wave of curious young visitors drawn to the meditative, confrontational experience of his art.

newspaper The Guardian open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Aug 28, 2025 visibility 13 link 10 artists, 1 gallery

art alex katz inside studio new paintings

Alex Katz presents a new body of work titled "White Lotus" at Gray Chicago, on view through September 20. The exhibition features large-scale portraits and cool, cinematic scenes inspired by a beach in Maine and Antonioni's *L'Avventura*, with only a superficial connection to the TV series *The White Lotus*. Katz, now in his late 90s, continues his seven-decade practice of prioritizing style over narrative, focusing on surfaces, garments, and glances. Concurrently, his work is also on view at SCAI Piramide in Tokyo, San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art, and Gladstone Gallery will host a fall exhibition of his orange abstractions. The article includes an interview where Katz discusses his studio habits, influences (Fra Angelico, Veronese, Goya), and his resilience in the face of early career criticism.

newspaper Cultured open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 19 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

Isabel Nolan’s Work Challenges Everything We Think We Know About Creativity

Artist Isabel Nolan recently discovered she has aphantasia, a rare neurological condition that prevents her from visualizing mental images. Despite this, Nolan has built a successful career creating abstract sculptures, drawings, and tapestries, and her work is featured in the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her exhibition, "Dreamshook," explores themes of imagination versus reality and draws inspiration from late medieval history and the printer Aldo Manuzio.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 23 link 73 artists, 2 galleries

The Best Art Shows Around the World in 2025

Hyperallergic's editors and contributors have compiled their favorite art exhibitions of 2025, spanning cities across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include shows by Nan Goldin, Noah Davis, Stan Douglas, Yoko Ono, Tishan Hsu, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and a group exhibition on Japanese American women artists at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The list also features the Louvre's presentation of Cimabue, Fra Angelico's frescos in Florence, a durational performance by Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova in Los Angeles, and works by Cara Romero, Ruth Asawa, Huguette Caland, and H. C. Westermann.

newspaper Hyperallergic open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 11, 2025 visibility 30 link 19 artists, 1 gallery

From hard borders to soft power: how did the art world fare in 2025?

The article surveys the art world's turbulent 2025, beginning with devastating Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed artworks and the political shockwaves of Donald Trump's re-election. Trump's administration targeted the National Portrait Gallery, whose director Kim Sajet resigned after threats of firing, while immigration crackdowns, tariffs on art imports, and attacks on diversity initiatives chilled the art community. The year also saw Venice residents protest Jeff Bezos's lavish wedding, Trump's gilded Oval Office renovations, and a major Veronese exhibition at the Prado that drew parallels between historical extravagance and decline.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 26, 2025 visibility 24 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

Museums and ethics, Fra Angelico in Florence, Cornelia Parker’s PsychoBarn—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' features three segments. Chief contributing editor Gareth Harris discusses his new book 'Towards the Ethical Art Museum,' which examines contemporary challenges for museums including provenance, restitution, funding, governance, and community responsibilities. Digital editor Alexander Morrison speaks with curator Carl Brandon Strehlke about the major Fra Angelico exhibition jointly presented by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco in Florence. Finally, the Work of the Week segment focuses on Cornelia Parker's installation 'PsychoBarn (Cut-Up)' at the Kunstmuseum Basel's group exhibition 'Ghosts: Visualising the Supernatural,' with commentary from curator Eva Reifert.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 1, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 41 link 23 artists

14 artists having major museum moments in 2026

The article previews 14 artists who will have major museum exhibitions in 2026, highlighting key shows such as a long-awaited US retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, a Calder exhibition in Paris, and a Rothko show in Florence. It also details concurrent auction highlights at Christie's New York, including works from the S.I. Newhouse collection by Brancusi, Lichtenstein, Matisse, and Pollock. Specific exhibitions covered include "Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Whitney Museum, and multiple European shows for Constantin Brancusi's 150th anniversary.

newspaper Christie’s open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Apr 21, 2025 visibility 15 link 36 artists

Remembering Pope Francis, for 12 years head of the Catholic church and proprietor in trust of the Vatican's library and art collections

Pope Francis, the 266th pope and the first from the Americas and the Global South, has died. He was the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, head of state of the Vatican, and proprietor in trust of the Vatican's vast art and architectural collections. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, he was the first Jesuit pope and the first to take the name Francis, signaling a commitment to austerity and social justice. His papacy, beginning in 2013 after Benedict XVI's resignation, addressed theological controversies, church culture wars, interfaith relations, Vatican financial reform, the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and cultural restitution from the Vatican's holdings.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Apr 2, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 23 link 1 artist

Heirs to the Bic Empire Say They’ve Been Robbed of a Renaissance Masterwork

The heirs to the Bic pen fortune, Gonzalve, Charles, and Guillaume Bich, have filed a lawsuit alleging a 15th-century masterpiece by Fra Angelico was stolen from their family. They claim the painting, 'Saint Sixtus,' was taken by their father's chauffeur in 2006 and sold to art dealer Richard Feigen, who later sold it to Chilean collector Alvaro Saieh in 2018. The heirs are now suing Saieh to reclaim the artwork and seeking the return of sale proceeds from Feigen's estate.

newspaper Artforum Also: ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Apr 8, 2026 visibility 26 link 13 artists

April Book Bag: from a Matthew Wong catalogue to a history of dogs in art

The Art Newspaper’s April book roundup highlights four significant new publications spanning art history and contemporary practice. Featured titles include Thomas Laqueur’s visual history of dogs in art, a study of marble depictions in Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting edited by Karl Kolbitz, a comprehensive overview of Antony Gormley’s drawings, and a new catalogue focusing on Matthew Wong’s interior scenes.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article policy schedule Jan 23, 2026 visibility 13 link 5 artists

claude lorrain woburn abbey export bar 2739738

The United Kingdom has imposed a temporary export bar on Claude Lorrain's masterpiece "Landscape with Rural Dance" (c. 1640), valued at £9 million ($12 million), to prevent it from leaving the country. The painting, which has hung at Woburn Abbey for over 250 years, is being sold by the Duke of Bedford to fund a major renovation project. The export bar, recommended by a reviewing committee that deemed the work of "outstanding aesthetic importance," gives UK institutions until April 15 to express intent to acquire the painting for the nation.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 10, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

canterbury cathedral graffiti art hear us controversy 1234756433

A graffiti art installation titled "HEAR US" has been unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England, created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacqueline Creswell. The works, which appear directly on the cathedral's walls, pose spiritual and social questions such as "What is the architecture of heaven?" and "Why are you indifferent to suffering?" The project emerged from community workshops asking "What would you ask God?" and involves marginalized communities including the Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent individuals, and the LGBTQIA+ population. The installation is approved by the cathedral and runs through January 18, though it has already sparked widespread online backlash.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Jan 9, 2026 visibility 20 link 8 artists

The Big Review | Jacques-Louis David at the Musée du Louvre, Paris ★★★★★

The Musée du Louvre in Paris has opened a major retrospective of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), the greatest Neoclassical artist, marking his biggest survey in nearly four decades. The exhibition, mounted for the 200th anniversary of his death, comprises just over 100 works, including strategic loans from France and eight other countries, and complements the Louvre's own holdings. The show aims to redefine David beyond the Neoclassical label, presenting him instead as both a "realist" and an "idealist," and is compared to blockbusters like the Rijksmuseum's Vermeer show.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Nov 28, 2025 visibility 14 link 7 artists

The Big Review | Fra Angelico at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco, Florence ★★★★★

A major two-venue exhibition dedicated to early Renaissance master Fra Angelico (c. 1395-1455) has opened at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco in Florence. The show, four years in the making, features unprecedented loans from over 70 museums and 28 newly conserved works, including the Fiesole Altarpiece (c. 1420-23) and the San Marco Altarpiece (1438-43). It reunites dispersed predella panels and decorative components looted during the Napoleonic era, presenting the most complete picture of Fra Angelico to date while challenging the notion that his work was archaic.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 16 link 6 artists

The Met Presents First Exhibition of Works by Finnish Painter Helene Schjerfbeck in a Major U.S. Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present "Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck," the first major U.S. museum exhibition dedicated to the Finnish painter (1862–1946). Featuring nearly 60 works on canvas, including loans from the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum and private collections, the exhibition runs from December 5, 2025, to April 5, 2026. It traces Schjerfbeck's artistic evolution from early naturalist works to her spare, experimental style, highlighting her resilience amid civil war, world wars, and Finland's independence.

newspaper The Metropolitan Museum of Art open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Sep 23, 2025 visibility 19 link 6 artists

Fra Angelico masterworks reunited for two-venue Florence exhibition

Florence is opening a comprehensive double-venue exhibition of over 140 works by Fra Angelico, the early Renaissance master. The show, titled simply "Fra Angelico," runs at the Museo di San Marco and the Palazzo Strozzi, reuniting dispersed altarpieces and panels for the first time in over two centuries. It traces his evolution from late Gothic to early Renaissance, featuring reconstructed altarpieces with panels gathered from major European and American museums, alongside works by his influences like Masaccio, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Lorenzo Monaco.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule May 9, 2025 visibility 24 link 28 artists

The Big Review | The reopening and rehang of the Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London ★★★★★

The National Gallery in London has reopened its Sainsbury Wing after a renovation led by architect Annabelle Selldorf, designed to create a more welcoming entrance. The wing, originally designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in 1991, now features a transformed ground floor with double-height spaces, improved lighting, and a new piazza linking to Trafalgar Square. The reopening coincides with the gallery's bicentenary and a major collection rehang titled "C C Land: the Wonder of Art," sponsored by a Hong Kong property developer. Old favorites like the chapel-like space for Piero della Francesca's works are restored, and new commissions, including Richard Long's "Mud Sun," greet visitors.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

rate_review review schedule Apr 7, 2026 visibility 24 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

Review: Thomias Radin, Echoes of KA at Esther Schipper, Berlin

Thomias Radin’s fourth solo exhibition at Esther Schipper in Berlin, titled "Echoes of Ka," presents a multidisciplinary environment blending painting, woodwork, and installation. The Guadeloupe-born artist draws heavily from Caribbean embodied knowledge, dance philosophy, and the ancient Egyptian concept of 'Ka'—a vital life force—to transform the gallery into a choreographed 'secret garden.' The works, characterized by vibrant colors and gestural oil paintings on raw linen, are informed by Radin’s collaboration with dance scholar Léna Blou and his own practice of improvisation.

newspaper FAD Magazine open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Dec 10, 2025 visibility 15 link 9 artists

Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck

This article introduces the work of Finnish modernist painter Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946), whose career spanned eight decades and evolved from naturalism to near abstraction. Born in Helsinki, she studied in Paris under French naturalist painters and initially gained recognition for history paintings celebrating Finnish heritage. Later, retreating to Hyvinkää to care for her mother, she abandoned naturalism, paring down her figure paintings and still lifes to simplified, materially intense compositions. The exhibition features key works such as 'View of St Ives' (1887) and 'Clothes Drying' (1883), highlighting her shift toward ethereal, boundary-testing imagery that early Finnish critics dismissed.

newspaper The Metropolitan Museum of Art open_in_new Read original