Catherine Hickley

Catherine Hickley is the Museums & Heritage Editor of The Art Newspaper

Film review

A looter evades justice, a victim searches for art: new films explore Nazi looting

The stories of Bruno Lohse, the SS officer who oversaw Göring’s store of looted art, and the Jewish dealer Max Stern, whose heirs fought to recover art stolen by the Gestapo, are recreated on screen

Sculpture Projects Münster appoints Vincent Schier as curator

The former artistic director of Kunstverein Göttingen will work with three members of the Zagreb-based curating collective What, How & for Whom

Artist Fareed Armaly rejects German prize, citing ‘disturbing trend of censorship’

The Academy of Arts, stressing it rejects all censorship, says it will not award the Käthe Kollwitz prize this year

Former owners of insolvent Galerie Thomas in Munich are under fraud investigation

The Munich state prosecutor says the office is looking into “breach of trust in a number of cases,” with damages amounting to millions of euros

Pace and Galerie Judin to open new Berlin gallery in 1950s petrol station in April

The space, on Potsdamer Strasse, will also include a bookshop and café

German president condemns Russia’s ‘war against Ukraine’s culture’ as evacuated works go on show in Berlin

The exhibition at the Gemäldegalerie, open to the public from today, shows 60 works brought to Berlin for safety from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art

Davos loses out on key Modern and contemporary collection after voters reject Kirchner Museum extension

The Ulmberg collection, comprising works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger, Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois, may go to the city of Chur

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: the artist’s life in Davos

For 20 years, the troubled Expressionist found refuge, respite and inspiration in the Alpine town

The most exciting art museum openings and expansions of 2025

The construction of Saadiyat Cultural District is due to be completed, while the Studio Museum in Harlem will unveil its new 82,000 sq. ft building

Gold star medal taken from an Ethiopian war hero surfaces at auction

The grandchildren of Ras Desta Damtew, an Ethiopian general and noble, are seeking to recover the piece, listed in the online auction catalogue as coming from the estate of an Italian soldier who was present at Desta Damtew’s execution

Nan Goldin supported by protesters as she pleads for Gaza at Berlin opening

In an impassioned speech at the Neue Nationalgalerie, the artist accused Germany of gagging artists and conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism

Kunstmuseum Basel settles on Pissarro painting with Jewish collector’s heirs

Richard Semmel, a Jewish textiles entrepreneur in Berlin, was forced to sell the painting after fleeing Nazi persecution in 1933

Guggenheim Bilbao appoints Miren Arzalluz as director

Currently the director of the Paris Fashion Museum-Palais Galliera, she will take over from Juan Ignacio Vidarte in April 2025

Painting by Ernst Klimt—completed by his brother Gustav—to be offered at Sotheby’s

After Ernst Klimt’s sudden death at 29, Gustav completed "Hans Wurst Delivering an Impromptu Performance in Rothenburg" and signed it in his brother’s name

A Slevogt triptych, restituted to the heirs of a Nazi-persecuted collector, is to be auctioned in Munich

The painting depicting the prodigal son was sold by Eduard Fuchs, a Communist writer, after his escape into exile in 1933

Benin City museum opens first part of planned campus

Opening of the Museum of West African Art Institute in the Nigerian city will include a live archaeological dig

Art Cologne faces economic gloom and a tough market ahead of VAT reduction

While a long-awaited cut to value-added tax this January has been welcomed, Germany’s contracting economy has “scared” a number of gallerists, says director of world’s longest-running art fair

Nazi-looted art panel rejects claim from Grosz's heirs

The panel said there is no evidence that the works, which are held in the collection of Bremen Kunsthalle, were lost as a result of Nazi persecution

Egon Schiele’s death mask to be auctioned in London

The mask was produced from a mould made in 1918, after the artist had succumbed to Spanish flu

Nazi-looted Monet returned to heirs after FBI traces it to New Orleans

Missing for more than 80 years, the 1865 pastel will be handed over in a ceremony today after the couple who bought it relinquished it voluntarily

Kasper König’s collection fetches €6m at Cologne auction

Top lots at the auction arranged by the esteemed curator before his death in August included two “date paintings” by On Kawara, a close friend

Police investigate after Berlin culture senator’s home attacked with red paint

Joe Chialo has come under fire from artists and pro-Palestinian factions over state policies

Vikings invade the Nordic museum landscape with three themed institutions in the pipeline

Museums dedicated to Viking culture and artefacts are taking shape in two cities in Denmark and the Norwegian capital, Oslo

Netherlands to return 288 items looted in colonial era to Indonesia

The repatriations show policy continuity despite the new right-wing government, experts say

Bavaria acquires Picasso’s Woman with a Violin from a private collection

Six sponsors cooperated to buy “a masterpiece of Cubism of priceless art historical value” for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich

Cranach portrait will be sold in accord between Pennsylvania museum and Jewish heirs

The portrait of the Duke of Saxony, attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York in January 2025

Zagreb collective WHW named creative directors of Skulptur Projekte Münster

The three curators, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović, were selected by a seven-member committee to lead the 2027 edition, which marks the event’s 50th anniversary

Kasper König, pioneering curator and co-founder of Skulptur Projekte Münster, dies aged 80

The former director of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig “shaped the art discourse of the last five decades like no other", the museum says

London's prestigious Courtauld Institute to create British art centre with $12m donation

US-based Manton Foundation's gift will establish a research facility and "intellectual hub" at Somerset House

Rare Caspar David Friedrich sketchbook jointly acquired by Berlin, Dresden and Weimar museums

The sketchbook will be shown in all three cities to mark what would be the artist's 250th birthday