Catherine Hickley
German medieval altarpiece wings that remained in one family for 500 years to be auctioned at Sotheby’s
The portraits painted by Bartholomäus Zeitblom carry an estimate of £400,000-£600,000
Germany slashes VAT on art sales to 7%
The reduction, which comes into effect next year, meets long-standing demands from German dealers
Almost untouched for a century, Swiss painter Albert Anker’s rural home opens to visitors
The Centre Albert Anker in Ins, Switzerland, is set to open to visitors on 7 June with an exhibition on the artist's travels to Italy
Berlin’s Brücke Museum settles with the heirs of a Jewish collector on Kirchner painting
The work, showing two of Kirchner’s fellow artists playing chess, was sold under duress by the Berlin dealer Victor Wallerstein after he fled to Italy from Nazi Germany
Icom names Medea Ekner as director general
Ekner, who was appointed interim director general last year, has 25 years of museum experience in Sweden and New Zealand
Ukrainian museums call for better recognition of their role in reconstruction
More than 100 Ukrainian museum professionals, meeting in Berlin, pledge to rebuild a modern, inclusive cultural sector
Nazi-loot panel set up by private Swiss collection to evaluate painting by Hodler
The painting, purchased by the real estate magnate Bruno Stefanini in 1998, was once owned by a Jewish woman who fled Hitler’s Germany
Baroque guardhouse’s floating concrete cube in Dresden holds vast avant-garde gift
Archive of the Avant-Garde in German city’s renovated Blockhaus hosts Egidio Marzona’s collection of paintings, drawings and vast documentary archive of letters, manuscripts, sketches, invitations and stickers
Young V&A makes shortlist for UK museum of the year prize
The shortlist of five for Art Fund's ₤120,000 award also includes the Craven Museum, Dundee Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery and the Manchester Museum
Anger as Vienna's new Actionism museum shows child abuser's art
The inclusion of Otto Muehl, who was convicted of sexual abuses against minors, has triggered protests at the Vienna Actionism Museum, which opened in March
Klimt portrait surrounded by mystery sells for €30m in Vienna
The price paid by a buyer from Hong Kong was at the lower end of the estimate range, but still an auction record for Austria
Stolen Italian landscape returned to Oxford's Christ Church Picture Gallery from Romania
Police are appealing for information about two other paintings stolen in the same 2020 burglary
Monira Al Qadiri exhibition to open Johann König’s new Munich gallery in a former power plant
König says the new space, König Bergson, is one of the largest commercial galleries for contemporary art in Germany
Austria names Fatima Hellberg to run Mumok, Vienna’s museum of Modern art
Currently director of Bonn’s Kunstverein, Hellberg takes up her new post in October 2025
UK museums take global lead in sustainability
However arts organisations worldwide trail behind the corporate sector and academia, according to a study, often because of limited resources
War, refugees, destruction: how Venice Biennale 2024 will reflect our era
Thousands have called for Israel’s pavilion to be cancelled, a proposed Palestinian exhibition was rejected, while Ukraine’s pavilion deals with its ongoing war
French authorities seize Russian avant-garde paintings believed stolen
The haul includes works purportedly by Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich and Natalia Goncharova
Nicholas Cullinan is appointed director of the British Museum
Cullinan, currently the director of the National Portrait Gallery, faces an array of challenges in rebuilding the oldest national museum in the world’s reputation
Swiss dealer Eberhard Kornfeld bequeathed Kirchner, Giacometti works to Bern Kunstmuseum
Kornfeld died last year, shortly before turning 100
From long-lost portrait by Gustav Klimt to a painting by the ‘Persian Picasso’: our pick of the April sales
Plus, a mid-career painting by African American artist Hughie Lee-Smith
How allegations about David Adjaye continue to impact global museum projects he has been involved with
While the architect, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, has been fired or stepped down from a number of contracts, other institutions continue to work with Adjaye Associates
Germany to replace Nazi-loot advisory panel with binding arbitration
The changes will allow Germany to better meet its commitments under the Washington Principles, the country's culture minister says
Early Gerhard Richter mural, painted over in 1979, resurfaces in Dresden
Painting in a stairwell and foyer at the German Hygiene Museum is one of the few early works to survive
German Academy of Arts opens Otto Dix archive—and recalls a scandal
Dix’s war painting The Trench, lost during the Second World War, is in focus at the opening
Laurie Anderson withdraws from German professorship after criticism of Israel
The artist and Grammy winner supported a 2021 petition by Palestinian artists titled “Letter Against Apartheid”
Klimt portrait believed lost for a century to be auctioned in Vienna
The auction house Im Kinsky estimates the price of the 1917 painting at between €30m and €50m
Berlin Senate drops 'anti-discrimination clause' in funding agreements after protests
Senator Joe Chialo says he is responding to criticism that the clause restricted the freedom of art
Frankfurt’s Städel shows anniversary gift of works by Honoré Daumier
Collector Hans-Jürgen Hellwig will donate more than 4,000 works by the French artist best-known for his cartoons
German culture minister implements changes to ease restitution of Nazi-looted art
But her most important reform proposal faces opposition from the state of Bavaria
Caspar David Friedrich: his rise from obscurity to fame
Slew of shows this year mark 250th anniversary of German artist who, as a favourite of Hitler, had fallen out of favour