Latest

Missing Tom Thomson painting at centre of $8m lawsuit returned to owner

The small landscape painting was consigned to a Toronto auction house a decade ago, but had not been seen since 2021

Hadani Ditmarsabout 9 hours ago

Cleveland Museum of Art acquires rare Giambologna marble sculpture

It is one of only two marble works by the revered Mannerist sculptor in a US museum

J.S. Marcusabout 16 hours ago

Amid protests over his extravagant Venetian wedding, Jeff Bezos donates €3m to organisations involved in protecting the city and its ecosystem

It is yet to be confirmed how the three recipient institutions will collaborate on a subject of great importance to Venice and the world

Anna Somers Cocksabout 18 hours ago

Nick Hedges, photographer who changed the way we see homelessness, has died aged 82

Hedges was known for his conviction that photography can be a powerful tool for social change, and for his campaigns with the homelessness charity Shelter

Simon Bainbridgeabout 15 hours ago

As art market regulations tighten, international dealer association calls for 'unity' across trade

Cinoa's new president hopes for a more co-ordinated approach as game-changing legislation comes into effect

Riah Pryorabout 18 hours ago

Art market

‘Momentous’: Italy to slash art VAT to 5%, the lowest rate in the EU

The move comes ahead of a series of planned reforms to improve competitiveness within the Italian art market

Kabir Jhala1 day ago

Romania secures hold on ‘stolen’ El Greco as court filings reveal Dmitry Rybolovlev is its owner

The work was pulled from a Christie's auction following claims by the Romanian government that it had been unlawfully removed from the country in 1947

London's pre-contemporary art market gets boost from two new summer events

Studiolo and Classic Art London seek to give fresh energy to a traditionally important time in the UK calendar

Anxious collectors are increasingly turning to freeport havens, experts say

Tax-friendly freeports and free trade zones are gaining in popularity with those wishing to avoid tariffs and new EU regulations

Design Miami announces 2025 international events and exhibitions programme

The fair will celebrate its 20th anniversary in cities including Seoul and Aspen

Museums & Heritage

Uffizi director to ‘limit’ selfies after posing visitor damages 18th-century painting

A man attempting to capture a picture of himself at the Florence gallery tripped and left a hole in a work by Anton Domenico Gabbiani

Gareth Harris1 day ago

Art Gallery of Ontario acquires more than 200 Peter Hujar photographs

The acquisition comes as the museum’s photography department prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary

Larry Humberabout 12 hours ago

Lacma will plant towering, flowering Jeff Koons sculpture outside new building

The artist’s 37ft-tall “Split-Rocker” was donated to the museum by collectors Lynda and Stewart Resnick

Belgian council cancels Hew Locke commission that planned to ‘disrupt’ colonial statue

The artist had intended to recontextualise a statue of king Leopold II, who oversaw a brutal regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Gareth Harris1 day ago

Chile’s immigrant legacy to be brought to life by new museum

Destino Valparaíso, an ambitious new museum funded by a local businessman and housed in a historic former school, seeks to tell the stories of the many diverse groups who helped shape the scenic coastal city

Exhibitions

The legacy of the Baghdad Modern Art Group is explored in first major US show

The exhibition at the Hessel Museum of Art includes works by artists such as Dia al-Azzawi, Jewad Selim and Mohammed Ghani Hikmat

Edward Burtynsky’s photographs convey the force of mankind’s reordering of the environment

A retrospective at the International Center of Photography in New York chronicles more than 40 years of the artist’s work

A whale of a tale: new exhibition chronicles the US’s first oil addiction

The Mystic Seaport Museum's new show uses blubber hooks, whale foetuses, scrimshaw and a giant mural to recount how the whale oil industry fueled capitalism's expansion

Copy that: in a new exhibition, one hundred artists reinterpret Louvre masterpieces

Painters have learnt by copying works in the museum for centuries. Now a group of high-profile contemporary artists have been invited to create entirely new works

Très Riches Heures: Chantilly exhibition offers ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to see famed medieval manuscript

The 15th-century prayer book, commissioned by the Duc de Berry, is on display at the Condé Museum

Obituaries

Post-Minimalist sculptor Joel Shapiro has died, aged 83

Best known for his looming, stylised figures assembled from wood beams, Shapiro changed the language of Minimalism with a distinctly personal flair

Sebastião Salgado, photographer of the planet’s margins, dies at 81

The Brazilian documentarian was internationally known for his panoramic photographs of humanity surviving on the edge and for his work as a campaigning environmentalist

Tracey Emin and Ai Weiwei pay tribute to BBC broadcaster Alan Yentob

BBC executive, who has died aged 78, profiled artists in his Arena and Imagine series

Remembering Koyo Kouoh, one of the most influential curators in the global art world, and one of its most original thought leaders

The executive director of Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town, had been due to announce her plans as curator of the international exhibition at the 2026 Venice Biennale

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

The Argentinian pontiff was a powerful progressive voice in world politics, the first Jesuit priest to be spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas or the southern hemisphere to hold the office

Opinion

Comment | Let’s not get rid of the UK’s culture department—let's fix it instead

Axing the Arts Council and the many other arm’s-length bodies overseen by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport makes more sense, argues Bendor Grosvenor

Comment | Most forms of environmental protest are no longer possible—that's where the power of images comes in

David Attenborough’s new documentary “Ocean” and the activist group Ocean Rebellion are harnessing imagery in the fight against marine destruction

Comment | In the Trump era, LGBTQ+ communities and culture need support

“With the return of an emboldened Trump administration, our communities are facing a sustained campaign of hostility and a chilling rollback of civil rights”

Comment | Are museums ‘guilt tripping’ their visitors? No, they aren’t doing enough

Engaging with the difficult histories behind objects has deepened, not dampened, my experiences at cultural institutions—and the fact it is different for everyone is a good thing

Comment | When it comes to tariffs, here's why the art market should be grateful to a long-retired US congressman

A 1988 amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, secured by Howard Berman, could stop art imports being hit by Trump's tariff hike

Book Club

Rain, insomnia and finding a model: how Morocco challenged and changed Matisse

The author of a new book, Jeff Koehler, tells us about the French artist’s fruitful but sometimes tricky sojourns in Tangier

An expert’s guide to Postmodernism: five must-read books on the movement

All you ever wanted to know about the subject, from a pivotal novel to a book on how Postmodernism “shapes all aspects of contemporary life”—selected by The Cosmic House director Eszter Steierhoffer

‘Cultural innovation comes from the margins’—tales of artists pushing boundaries in 1960s New York

The critic J. Hoberman’s take on Manhattan counterculture charts the rise of artists such as Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono

The Voynich Manuscript revealed: five things you probably didn't know about the Medieval masterpiece

Scholars have speculated for centuries about the meaning behind the 15th-century codex and its peculiar illustrations

The Week in Art

A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week

Art Basel, human remains in Dutch museums, Eva Hesse—podcast

We ask The Art Newspaper's art market editor about the mood in Basel, discuss the Dutch museum tackling the difficult topic of human remains, and speak to Jo Applin, the co-curator of the Courtauld's newest show

A brush with... podcast

A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to

A brush with… Rudolf Stingel — podcast

Rudolf Stingel talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

A Siri-ous app-ointment: iPhone designer joins British Museum board of trustees

Apple supremo Jony Ive joins Claudia Winkleman and Martha Kearney on the museum's board

Knockin’ on Halcyon’s door: Bob Dylan's latest artworks on show in London gallery

"Point Blank" exhibition features 97 paintings created between 2021 and 2022

A real head Turner: pub offers free drink to walkers exploring artist's London

The walking trail celebrates the 250th anniversary of the artists birth—although the exact date of his birthday remains something of a mystery

Sotheby's aims for supersonic sale with Elizabeth Peyton portrait of Gallagher brothers

The painting goes to the block ahead of Oasis's much anticipated reunion tour later this summer—perfect timing, some might say

‘The new Napoleon’: collector urges Elon Musk to buy his Bonaparte trove

Could the 100-item lot be enough to distract the controversial billionaire from his current spat with President Donald Trump?

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.

Revealed: how Van Gogh's nephew exchanged two of the artist's drawings for butter and bacon

The pair of works are now worth £1m, with one coming up for sale at Sotheby’s on 25 June

Book reviews

A biography of Turner and Constable that goes beyond the stereotypes

New analysis considers the artists’ common cause as champions of landscape alongside their renowned differences

Dan Hicks's new book is a personal take on the cultural politics of collecting

The often violent history of public statues and museum collections—including that of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum—is told in this biographical book that energises and exasperates in equal measure.

New book explores how Rome’s ruins have resonated in art and literature over centuries

A survey tracing the city’s greatest ornaments from antiquity to the present day originated as a series of lectures

A new ‘anti-biography’ rips apart the myth of Leonardo as a solitary genius

The new study of the Da Vinci brand uses historical context to debunk the artist’s cult status and present him as a man of his time

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.

How Gretchen Andrew’s AI art is revealing the societal scars of ‘facetuning’

The American artist, whose work is currently on show in New York, makes the invisible impacts of technology visible

Technologyinterview

‘It is not good or bad’: in a frantic age, Beeple seeks a more nuanced take on technology

The media artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) increasingly sees his interactive video sculptures—one of which goes on show this month at the SXSW London festival and another at The Shed in New York—and social media posts as public art

Football great Lionel Messi chooses favourite goal for Refik Anadol to transform into an AI portrait for charity

Anadol will reimagine the Argentine megastar’s famous 2009 header as a data sculpture which will be sold at Christie’s

Technologyfeature

Can graphic imagination wake audiences up to the climate emergency? This multimedia artist believes so

Berlin-based Michael Najjar has been working with scientists in Greenland to tell stories with images designed to replace familiar memes of environmental journalism

An inside track on the Huntington’s rapid social media growth

The California institution is one of the top five museums for social media growth in the world in the past year. We spoke to the museum's director of digital and social content strategy