Gareth Harris

Gareth Harris is the Chief Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper

Plans for €128m Guggenheim Bilbao expansion scrapped following protests

The proposed museum outpost at a nearby nature reserve has been mired in controversy since it was first mooted in 2008

Arts Council England review: reforms, endowment funds and tax incentives

Labour peer Margaret Hodge, who led the report, has suggested new funding proposals based on philanthropic giving

Art Fund awards £1.2m to 29 UK museums to support ‘innovative’ projects

Charity's “Reimagine” programme will fund a variety of initiatives, from developing a new model for provenance research to preserving digital heritage

London's Brutalist Barbican Centre to close for £240m renovation

The building, which houses three gallery spaces, will close for a year from June 2028

Maria Balshaw to step down as Tate director

Balshaw will see out her nine-year tenure by co-curating the largest-ever survey of the artist Tracey Emin in spring 2026

UK police hunt suspects in ‘high-value’ Bristol museum heist

More than 600 objects were stolen from the collection of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, which closed in 2008

Collection of 61 Matisse works—mostly portraying his daughter Marguerite—donated to Paris museum

Barbara Dauphin Duthuit, the wife of Henri Matisse’s grandson, has gifted seven paintings, one sculpture, 28 drawings and eight etchings to the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Bright sparks: humans made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, research reveals

Archaeologists discovered Palaeolithic fire-making tools in a field in the east of England

Nnena Kalu wins the 2025 Turner Prize

The Scottish artist, who was nominated for works shown at the Walker Art Gallery and Manifesta 15, is the first learning-disabled person to claim the prestigious award

Chinese artist to auction work for Hong Kong ambulance service after deadly Tai Po fire

The crypto mogul Justin Sun—who famously bought Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.2m banana work and ate it—has also donated $7.8m to the government relief fund

The art world pays tribute to Martin Parr, an ‘extraordinary photographer of people and life in the UK’

Tributes online have come from artists including Grayson Perry and the Pet Shop Boys

Artists protest Alligator Alcatraz at Scope Art Show

The project “invites fairgoers to reflect, respond and enact change through signing a petition that demands the closure of Alligator Alcatraz”, Amnesty says

Hauser & Wirth will expand gallery empire to Italian city of Palermo

The blue-chip gallery has acquired a 19th-century palazzo in need of restoration in Sicily

Who let the dogs out? Beeple unleashes uncanny robot canines at Art Basel Miami Beach

The installation in the fair's new Zero 10 digital art section features robotic creatures with hyper-realistic heads resembling tech moguls

Booksblog

The best art books of 2025, as picked by The Art Newspaper’s editors

The publications that delighted our literary team this year, from important exhibition catalogues and overdue surveys to personal reflections and playful illustrations

Book Clubfeature

The Rembrandt robber: five takeaways from an insider’s book on a notorious art thief

The security expert Anthony Amore provides insights into the curious case of Myles Connor, who stole Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn

Anthony Amore. With an introduction by Gareth Harris
Book Clubfeature

When Masha met Ragnar: Pussy Riot member’s life-changing encounter

In this extract from her new book, Maria "Masha" Alyokhina Alyokhina recalls her first meeting with the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson

Prizesnews

New £200,000 contemporary art prize is biggest in UK

The Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize is open to artists of any age, based anywhere worldwide, who have been exhibiting professionally for less than ten years

Venice, Sydney, Gwangju: the most interesting biennials to visit in 2026

Plus, full listings of the biennials, triennials and festivals taking place throughout the year

Jorge Pérez donates more than 80 photographs to the Pérez Art Museum Miami

The works by Marina Abramović, Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, Vik Muniz and others are the subject of an ongoing special exhibition

Giant holes near Stonehenge were carved out by humans 4,000 years ago, new studies reveal

Pit diggers may have been trying to connect with the underworld, archaeologist Vincent Gaffney says

New UK law makes restitution easier—but excludes national museums, such as the British Museum

Legislation allows non-national museums established as charities to transfer property on a “moral basis” depending on its value

Courtauld launches art history teaching fund amid £82m redevelopment

The announcement follows a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the numbers of schools teaching art history

UK government's tourist tax plans could boost funds for culture sector, industry leaders say

The fee, announced ahead of today's budget, would apply to overnight stays, with England's mayors and local leaders able to decide what revenue should be spent on

Miniature Michelangelo drawing—identified as a study for the Sistine Chapel—heads to Christie's

The newly attributed, five-inch-tall sketch of a foot has an estimate of $1.5m to $2m

Politician demands end to Grand Egyptian Museum ticketing system that leaves locals in ‘secondary category’

The newly opened museum currently allocates a percentage of its daily ticket limit to both Egyptians and foreigners

Queer sexuality in Islamic art explored in Norway exhibition

'Deviant Ornaments' at Oslo's Nasjonalmuseet brings together more than 40 objects from the past 1,000 years alongside contemporary art

British Museum stubs out controversial tobacco sponsorship deal

The move follows a recent report which described the partnership as a key part of the tobacco firm’s lobbying strategy

Louvre closes gallery ‘until further notice’ citing structural problems

This latest blow for the Paris museum follows a report on its buildings which highlighted “particular fragility” in its Campana Gallery