Latest
Prison inmates and artist Marinella Senatore create light installation for Vatican Jubilee Year
The Holy See will launch a series of contemporary art projects at prisons next year
UK government seeks artists and architects for Queen Elizabeth II memorial
Monument in St James’s Park could cost up to £46m
Unesco beefs up protection for cultural heritage in Ukraine
UN heritage body grants 'provisional enhanced protection' to the Odessa Literary Museum and the National Historical and Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar
MFA Boston acquires 38 photographs by Robert Frank capturing life in 1940s Paris
The experimental images feature in a new exhibition centred on a personal family scrapbook
Paris film screening resurrects pioneering post-punk performance group
The “unapologetically impolite” COUM Transmissions work still has a shock factor
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
2024 in review: the biggest stories and the best shows - podcast
From the devastating war in Gaza to art attacks in museums, our editors analyse the year's biggest stories
Art market
Sotheby's does a U-turn on new fees structure
Less than a year ago, the auction house reduced buyer’s premium and tried to introduce a flat 10% vendor's commission to avoid bartering. It did not prove popular with sellers
The Groucho Club to reopen in January following rape accusation
The London private members club, owned by the founders of Hauser & Wirth gallery, was shut down by police in November following a “serious crime” at the Soho venue
Phillips auction house executive chairman Ed Dolman resigns
Martin Wilson, the chairman of the British Art Market Federation (Bamf), is joining as chief executive and will oversee global operations
Christie's results are down ‘just’ 6% in 2024, ‘despite challenging environment’
The house's auction total saw a double-digit decrease for a second year in a row—but private sales are booming
Jean-Michel Basquiat's love of the Alps celebrated in new exhibition
The show, at Hauser & Wirth St Moritz, looks at the artist's visits to his Swiss dealer Bruno Bischofberger, when he would go cross-country skiing and visit agricultural shows
Museums & Heritage
New perspectives: Annabelle Selldorf brings a fresh angle to the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing
A tour of the remodelled building, five months before its reopening, shows the New York architect has created a spectacular main entrance closely integrated with the rest of the London institution and with the public space of Trafalgar Square
Figurative painter Claire Tabouret chosen to design contemporary stained-glass windows for Notre-Dame
Heritage organisations remain opposed to President Macron's plans to replace chapel windows at the newly reopened cathedral
Acquisitions round-up: a rediscovered 19th-century self-portrait, Van Gogh’s ‘Mona Lisa of Brabant’ and a painting by a contemporary Tanzanian artist
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter institutional collections worldwide
Houston's Rothko Chapel reopens after hurricane damage is repaired
The Texas pilgrimage site for devotees of Abstract Expressionism returns just in time for the holidays
In Alabama, plans to preserve the last transatlantic slave ship are taking shape
The Clotilda shipwreck will remain submerged as a monument to the 110 enslaved people it carried—and in tribute to their descendants in Mobile, Alabama
Exhibitions
Jean-Michel Basquiat's love of the Alps celebrated in new exhibition
The show, at Hauser & Wirth St Moritz, looks at the artist's visits to his Swiss dealer Bruno Bischofberger, when he would go cross-country skiing and visit agricultural shows
A bibliophile invites New Yorkers to engage with books that do not exist
A unique and artful exhibition of imaginary books is now on view at the Grolier Club
Naomi Beckwith named artistic director of Documenta in 2027
The deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum says she is "humbled by the breadth of this responsibility"
‘While there are dictators, no one can feel safe’: projects marking anniversaries of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine emphasise need for global vigilance
Among the initiatives launched to mark both 1,000 days since the invasion and its approaching third anniversary is an exhibition in Kharkiv exploring how the concept of safety “has been profoundly redefined by the war”
Artist withdraws from Miami-area exhibition over anti-BDS language in contract
“It was disheartening to experience this level of institutional complacency and complicity,” says the artist Les Gomez-Gonzalez
Opinion
The Year in Review: escalating art attacks and responses to war
This year has been marked by a rising number of politically-motivated attacks on art. But we should not forget the power of art to unite diverse groups of people
Influencers: is it time for museums to go all in?
As an advertising agency pays Instagram influencers to promote museums, is it really worth shelling out thousands of dollars for added publicity and to reach new audiences?
Comment | Why it's important to find hope for—and through—the arts after the US election
The divisions within American society cannot be ignored, but let’s focus on where the country is united, and how the cultural sector can foster that unity
Comment | EU’s new anti-looting law is another blow for legitimate trade
Though laudible in its aim to kerb trafficking of stolen goods, planned rules will impose unreasonable burdens on lawful and genuine trade
Comment | In the run up to the US election, Boston's Museum of Fine Art is hopeful about art's role in a democratic future
The museum's latest exhibition explains and scrutinises democracy through objects spanning 2,500 years
Obituaries
Zilia Sánchez, Cuban artist renowned for shaped, abstract canvases, has died, aged 98
Sánchez, who fled Cuba and ultimately settled in Puerto Rico, only achieved widespread critical acclaim late in her career
Lorraine O’Grady, conceptual artist who dissected language and dualities, has died, aged 90
O’Grady, who devoted herself to art in her early forties, spent the ensuing decades making incisive works that spanned photography, collage, performance and more
Remembering Joseph Rykwert, influential writer and teacher on the theory of architecture
Warsaw-born RIBA gold medal winner, who became the professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, changed architectural understanding
Remembering Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, groundbreaking director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
Charismatic leader who steered the museum through a difficult period in the 1980s, and later became a university vice-chancellor
Remembering Frank Auerbach, one of the leading artists of his generation, who has died aged 93
The German-born British painter, a leading figure in the School of London, produced some of the most enduring and perceptive observations of what it meant to be alive during his time
Book Club
Some of our favourite books of 2024—picked by The Art Newspaper’s books team
Our literary editors share what has delighted them this year, from art-themed novels to edifying histories
Magnum’s opus of America: a new photography compendium reveals the many sides of the US
The publication’s co-editor Peter van Agtmael chooses seven key images from legendary agency’s new book
An expert’s guide to the Venetian Renaissance: five must-read books on the period
All you ever wanted to know about the subject, from the story of Carpaccio and Bellini's narrative painting to a Venice guide for little explorers—selected by the curators Annette Hojer and Christine Follmann
December Book Bag: from Nick Cave’s devilish works to an analysis of Rembrandt’s competition with his star pupil
Our round-up of the latest art publications
Books
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
The arts should be recognised as a key part of what it means to be human, argues a new publication
An urgent treatise on the decommodification of culture by the professor of cultural economy Justin O’Connor
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.
What links Van Gogh, Trump, a golden toilet and Cattelan's $6.2m banana?
This unlikely grouping is part of an astonishing story involving New York’s Guggenheim Museum
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with… Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset — podcast
In the first episode of A brush with featuring an artist duo, Elmgreen and Dragset discuss their influences, and the cultural experiences that have shaped their lives and work
Diary
Drawing back the curtain—X-rated art makes waves in Miami
David Nolan Gallery showed a number of erotic works on paper in a secluded room at Art Basel Miami Beach
Stellar work: Mercury crater named after artist Ruth Asawa
The Japanese-American sculptor is the 23rd woman to be given the honour—compared with 100 men
Elon Musk serves up disconcerting AI art
The controversial billionaire failed to spot a contemporary car in Caillebotte picture altered using artificial intelligence by Luma
Go big or go to the London gallery offering small beautiful art
Flowers Gallery has opened its annual exhibition of little pieces
Listen up, Elon: Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum makes dramatic exit from X
Bristol institution makes waves after quitting social media platform
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.
AI to Z: an art & tech alphabet for 2024
The art, artists and awards that pushed boundaries this year
Paintboxed! Artists invited to work with 1980s digital art tool once championed by Keith Haring and Richard Hamilton
ArtMeta art fair and Tezos ecosystem are taking Quantel Paintbox—used by contemporary art giants four decades ago—on a global tour to introduce it to a new generation of creators
Vatican launches AI-generated version of St Peter’s Basilica
Co-developed by Microsoft, the project also identified conservation issues at the world-famous church
How auction houses are embracing artificial intelligence
New services such as AI-enhanced translation are proving popular, even as human involvement remains crucial
From roving gallery to London’s Mayfair: Unit’s social media journey, 11 years on
Joe Kennedy and Jonny Burt didn’t have any of the traditional things needed to start a gallery—but they did have the power of Instagram