Latest
Suspended prison sentences sought in Versailles lead poisoning trial
Restorers were contaminated by lead dust when they scrubbed down the sculptures and decoration of the royal opera in the Château de Versailles
Los Angeles artists face long road to recovery after deadly wildfires
Some lost everything, others are in limbo waiting to go home and most have found support in the art community
TJ Boulting gallery in London, known for its roster of women photographers, has closed after 13 years
Citing a tough market and a desire to begin a new chapter, co-founder Hannah Watson has ended the Fitzrovia gallery
Madrid's Reina Sofia museum acquires hundreds of works to diversify its collection
Spain’s national museum of contemporary art has purchased 470 works, most by women, and many by artists from ethnic minorities
Private museum addressing gender inequality in Norway’s art scene opens
Sixty percent of the acquisitions at PoMo in Trondheim will be by women artists
Art market
As the wealthiest lurch to the right, will the commercial art world follow?
Condo London festival suggests repercussions of Donald Trump's presidential triumph are not clear-cut
Los Angeles wildfires tested the city’s art handling and storage infrastructure
Facilities responded quickly to increased demand during evacuations
Mexico City’s oldest art gallery celebrates 90 years
Galería de Arte Mexicano became a nonagenarian with an anniversary show and a mariachi party on its Zona Maco stand
Art Basel reveals a new section for fresh-to-market works
Premiere will be dedicated to art created within the past five years
Dealer Brent Sikkema’s husband charged with hiring his killer
A lawyer for Daniel Sikkema has denied the charges brought by federal authorities
Museums & Heritage
Cleveland Museum of Art will return looted Greco-Roman bronze to Turkey
Scientific analysis confirmed that the ancient, headless sculpture had been looted from a shrine in Bubon
Indigenous communities assist with reinterpretation of Arizona petroglyphs
At the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve, a new project seeks to update the antiquated archaeological records of thousands of ancient motifs
Mentions of ‘transgender’ and ‘queer’ removed from US government website dedicated to Stonewall National Monument
Other pages on the National Park Service site related to diversity, equity and inclusion also appear affected
Art Institute of Chicago gifted more than 2,200 French Old Masters
The donation, by Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, will give visitors unprecedented access to the US's largest collection of French Old Masters
British Museum attacked by eldritch horrors... in new video game
The challenges of managing the British Museum reach new highs in ‘Tides of Annihilation’
Exhibitions
London exhibition to unite Hockney’s early works on love
In The Mood For Love features experimental paintings that the British artist made made during and immediately after his time at London’s Royal College of Art (RCA)
Artists and scientists join forces for Finland climate crisis project
Climate Clock will see a permanent public art trail installed in the city of Oulu
Sharjah Biennial 16: sprawling emirate-wide exhibition regains its edge
This year's edition of the distinguished event features more than 650 works by nearly 200 artists that build upon its legacy of creating connections between non-Western communities
Jeffrey Gibson’s Venice Biennale show heads to the Broad in Los Angeles
The queer, Indigenous artist hopes the work will reach more Native Americans
Qatar to construct permanent pavilion in Venice Biennale’s Giardini—the first country to do so for 30 years
The site will be used for an installation by the Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari during this year’s architecture exhibition before opening officially
Books
A new volume explores the intimate art of drawing, as seen through a wider lens
This “alternative” history navigates the medium through artists on the margins, as well as established practitioners
Beetlejuice and beyond: the origins of Tim Burton’s world of gothic romance and its enduring influence
Catalogue accompanying exhibition at London’s Design Museum explores the US film-maker’s unique aesthetic
Intense repartee: a collection of letters that the critic John Berger exchanged with his artist son
The correspondence between John and Yves Berger is both moving and enlightening
Two books explore Piet Mondrian's journey into abstraction—and his posthumous influence on 1960s fashion
How, two decades after his death, did Mondrian become a brand icon, and make a lasting contribution to the “youthquake”?
This newly translated volume compiles the photographic traces of a libidinous love affair
Author Annie Ernaux and journalist Marc Marie’s collaborative memoir documents a passionate yet haunted relationship
Diary
British Museum attacked by eldritch horrors... in new video game
The challenges of managing the British Museum reach new highs in ‘Tides of Annihilation’
‘Who eats art?’: Cattelan banana makes guest appearance in Superbowl ad alongside Chris Hemsworth
Kris Jenner and Chris Pratt also featured in the Ray-Ban glasses promo
Parkinson’s charity sale presents cubed art by Rana Begum and George Shaw
Works by 118 artists, on show at Bonhams, will be sold in aid of the Cure3 initiative
Curator formerly known as Aaron Cezar wows as Prince
The director of the Delfina Foundation showed off his inner purple during Singapore's Art SG fair
Activist Coco Fusco is using laughter to trump fear
The Cuban American artist has created a satirical newspaper lambasting the new US president
Book Club
Don McCullin on swapping war zones for museums and why his ‘printing days are over’
The revered photojournalist has turned his focus to ancient statues for a new photography book
An expert’s guide to Anselm Kiefer: five must-read books on the German artist
All you ever wanted to know about Kiefer, from a deep dive into his studios to the poetry that inspires him—selected by the curators Emilie Gordenker, Edwin Becker and Leontine Coelewij
February Book Bag: from a history of Māori art to T.J. Clark’s essays on politics and art
Our round-up of the latest art publications
‘I thought I would be trampled to death’: travelling with Gilbert & George to put on a show in 1990s Beijing
An exclusive extract from a new book by James Birch who helped organise exhibitions for the artist duo in Communist Russia and China
Obituaries
Mel Bochner, conceptual artist known for text paintings and wry humour, has died, aged 84
Bochner was a pioneer of conceptual art, creating works rooted in information systems and decontextualised language
Remembering the pioneering Australian Indigenous artist whose meticulous bark paintings captured a hidden power
The painter, referred to as Balang Nakurulk (Mr Mawurndjul) AM until his family give permission for him to be identified otherwise, was also a keen supporter of women artists
Walter Robinson, sharp-eyed painter and critic, has died, aged 74
Robinson, one of the Pictures Generation artists, made brightly irreverent paintings; as a writer, he chronicled the New York scene for decades and coined the term “Zombie Formalism”
Remembering Leonid Bazhanov, larger-than-life curator who pushed Russian contemporary art in new directions
The death of Bazhanov, who founded institutions including the groundbreaking National Centre for Contemporary Art, follows that of two other leading figures of the Conceptualist movement
Remembering Colin Renfrew, a lover of Modern art who revolutionised archaeology
His championing of radiocarbon dating and other new scientific approaches demonstrated the untenability of the conventional explanation for cultural change
Opinion
Comment | Sotheby’s fees fiasco displays terrible timing and a miscalculation of market dynamics
The auction house's swift reversal of its recently overhauled premium structure is an admission of how wrongly it read the runes, writes Melanie Gerlis
Comment | Why seeing art by train should be the next big thing
Flying to an exhibition is increasingly unjustifiable. But by choosing the train, visitors can enjoy endless, inspiring encounters with art and life
Comment | What happens behind the scenes at the museum is what really matters
From delicate cleaning to forklifts, the unseen, but crucial, investment often goes unnoticed
Comment | Why the road to the sale of Frieze is a winding one
The potential sale raises questions around how to value the prestigious and unique art brand
Comment | Despite what some critics claim, art today isn’t really too obsessed with ‘social justice’
In viral essays and beyond, those who bemoan the dominance of identity politics in museums often reveal more of their own biases than of the art world's
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with… Thomas Ruff — podcast
Thomas Ruff discusses his interest in “the puzzle of photography”, how Piero della Francesca impacted his early works, and how the television show ‘Spitting Image’ proved an unlikely influence
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
Anselm Kiefer, Hoor al Qasimi on the Sharjah Biennial, a Picasso Blue Period mystery—podcast
Exploring the trailblazing German artist’s early work, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi on creating a world-class event in her home city and a hidden image at the Courtauld
Adventures with Van Gogh
Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries.
Van Gogh’s hospital painting comes to London, returning for the first time in a hundred years
The picture shows the ward where the artist slept after mutilating his ear—I witnessed the room’s tragic demolition
Technology
News, background and analysis on the latest tech developments—artificial intelligence tools; Web3, the blockchain, NFTs; virtual and augmented reality; social media platforms—and how they affect the art market, museums, artists and curators.
Artists can copyright works made using AI as an ‘assistive tool’, US Copyright Office concludes
The Copyright Office’s new report also concluded that “the incorporation of AI-generated content into a larger copyrightable work” is acceptable
Comment | How technology can help the art world take a big step towards sustainability
A new report published by the virtual reality platform Vortic makes clear the environmental benefits of going digital—and a hybrid approach could a way forward in the short term
Immersive inspirations: three key developments from 2024
It was a big year for immersive art, with major institutions getting involved, new virtual reality kit, and a groundbreaking event in Venice
Does Trump’s return spell boom or bust for the NFT art market?
Experts are sceptical that the NFT market will ever rebound to its 2021 levels, but the crypto asset sector may still manage to take over the art world one way or the other
Palestine Museum US launches NFT collection in support of Gaza artists
The museum released a non-fungible token of a work by the Gazan artist Mohammed Alhaj to kick off the new initiative