This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three main stories. Host Ben Luke discusses the authentication of Paul Gauguin's final self-portrait (1903) at the Kunstmuseum Basel, which was recently confirmed as genuine after being questioned earlier this year. He also interviews Tarini Malik, curator of 'A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle' at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and speaks with Katharina Lovecky and Georg Lechner about the exhibition 'Franz Xaver Messerschmidt: More than Character Heads' at the Belvedere in Vienna, featuring Messerschmidt's Character Head No. 25 as the Work of the Week.
The episode matters because it addresses a high-profile authenticity controversy in the Gauguin market, highlights the growing recognition of Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee and her artistic circle, and draws attention to a major survey of the eccentric 18th-century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. Together, these segments offer listeners a cross-section of current art-world debates—from forensic authentication and market implications to curatorial re-evaluation of historically marginalized artists and overlooked sculptural traditions.