Latest

Lost building discovered in Sicily’s ancient Valley of the Temples

Archaeologists working at a Unesco World Heritage site in Agrigento have revealed the remains of a previously unknown building

Garry Shaw22 minutes ago

Is the art trade choosing to ignore a wider world in crisis?

Amid threats to freedom, career moves and censorship become hard to tell apart

Scott Reyburnabout 2 hours ago

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

Catherine Hickley33 minutes ago

Sustainability takes root in US art schools as green push intensifies

The promotion of materials with less environmental impact than traditional art media—such as milk-based paints and leather created from yeast and bacteria—is gaining momentum

Daniel Grantabout 2 hours ago

Exclusive: international museum attendance figures back to pre-pandemic levels

In 2023, many of the world’s major museums equaled—or surpassed—their 2019 attendance figures. However, some UK institutions are still lagging behind, finds The Art Newspaper’s annual survey

Art market

Global art market value fell by 4% in 2023 amid ‘inflation and wars’, Art Basel/UBS report finds

Last year saw a drop in sales of ultra high-value works but an increase in trading volume

Francesca Woodman’s posthumous path to A-lister

Exhibitions at Gagosian in New York and National Portrait Gallery in London confirm late photographer’s arrival

The art market counts the logistical cost of the Red Sea conflict

Houthi rebel attacks on cargo ships are creating headaches for dealers and auction houses who need to ship art

The Gray Market: Anyone wrestling with money's influence on art has 800 years of company

A show at the Morgan Library & Museum traces the modern economy's emergence in the Middle Ages—and how it influenced art from the start

Christie’s marathon evening sales in London make a within-estimate £163m

The 20th/21st century and Art of the Surreal auctions were up 18.5% by value on their March 2023 versions

Museums & Heritage

Shiver me timbers: AI speeds up repair of historic British warship HMS Victory

Technology is being used to create an image database of vessel—as acres of wooden planking damaged by time, water and insects are to be replaced

Maev Kennedyabout 23 hours ago

Developer’s $325m gift will help create new museum in Seattle

Richard Hedreen is donating a collection valued at $300m and $25m cash to create an art museum at Seattle University

How the US’s Black cemeteries are being made visible once more

A cemetery hidden under a Florida air base is the latest African American burial site rediscovered following decades of erasure

How ancient cave art is rewriting Puerto Rican history

Recent study shows that humans inhabited and made art in the archipelago thousands of years earlier than previously thought

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

Exhibitions

French connection: how post-war Paris lured US artists

'Americans in Paris' is the inaugural exhibition at Grey Art Museum's new location at 18 Cooper Square, New York

Théodore Rousseau, the early eco-warrior, gets Paris show

The leader of the Barbizon School was a cultural and social rebel, and a precursor of environmentalism

Exhibition reveals how artists processed the trauma of a racist mass shooting

Writers, poets and artists create work for show at Buffalo AKG Art Museum after 2022 mass shooting in the city that killed ten Black people

Dramatic turn: how the theatre was integral to Rembrandt’s art

A new exhibition in Amsterdam explores how the Old Master's paintings and drawings were inspired and informed by the art of acting

Jeffrey Gibson and Jennie C. Jones will transform the Metropolitan Museum's outdoor spaces in 2025

The artists' forthcoming façade and rooftop installations at the museum will explore the intersections of identity and art history

Books

Salesman first, Modern art's great champion second?

He declared the auction to be art’s true benchmark, but Léonce Rosenberg was also a committed promoter of the avant-garde

Henry Martinabout 2 hours ago

The woman who riled Picasso finally gets an exhibition in Paris

Picasso Museum is showing a display of works by Françoise Gilot who walked away from the Spanish master

A snapshot of Rocket Man at the V&A

A sneak peek into the mammoth photo collection of Elton John and David Furnish

Praise Be—Damien Hirst is building a chapel in France

The holy installation at Château La Coste comprises a huge bronze hand pointing to the heavens

We could weep—Francesco Vezzoli to unveil teary masterpieces in Venice

Museo Correr will be filled with works embroidered by the Italian maverick

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.

Van Gogh’s potatoes: few artists would choose this subject for a still life

Vincent borrowed a casserole from his brother’s kitchen for the painting, which has just been acquired by Rotterdam’s art museum

Israel-Hamas war

Neon work in Whitney Biennial features unexpected ‘free Palestine’ message

The biennial’s curators were unaware of the statement in a work by Demian DinéYazhi’ prior to the exhibition preview

Israel in contravention of UN court ruling as it carries out ‘genocidal military campaign’ in Gaza, new Forensic Architecture report says

Report refutes Israel’s claims in The Hague that it has implemented "humanitarian measures" to prevent the loss of civilian life

German museum director at centre of row over cancelled Candice Breitz exhibition steps down

Andrea Jahn will leave her post four months after Breitz's show was cancelled over her views on the conflict in Gaza

More works pulled from Barbican show over Gaza 'censorship' row

Artists Yto Barrada and Cian Dayrit will remove their work from major textile survey, after two collectors withdraw their loans over centre's decision to not host talk on Palestine and the Holocaust

Renowned Palestinian artist Fathi Ghaben, unable to leave Gaza for medical treatment, dies aged 77

The artist, hailed as the "Van Gogh of Gaza", suffered from chest and lung issues that needed urgent care

Opinion

Being ‘discovered’ late in life can be maddening—but it can have advantages

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum just opened a Stanley Whitney retrospective—the 77-year-old artist's first museum survey

Ben Lukeabout 23 hours ago

It’s time to end the predatory practices of 'sleeper hunters'

Sleeper hunter dealers must recognise they have an asymmetrical relationship to vulnerable people pressured by circumstance to sell off their treasured heirlooms

How much should museums pay artists for events such as the Whitney Biennial?

Compensating participants for group exhibitions is an important but taboo subject, as is the fee amount institutions provide

Keith Piper's thoughtful response to Tate Britain's racist mural avoids the usual get-out clauses

The artist's research-based video exploring Rex Whistler's The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats benefited from the museum's collaborative approach

Is the Royal Academy's 'Entangled Pasts' exhibition radical? Yes—for the Royal Academy

The London institution may have woken up to its responsibility of presenting its role in Britain’s imperial past. But please don't go back to sleep...

The Week in Art

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

Keith Piper on tackling Tate Britain’s racist Whistler mural

Plus, the top takeaways from the new Art Basel/UBS report and a weaving by Anni Albers

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.

Technologyfeature

Ten years on: art world is still in search of its virtual reality Eden

In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR, heralding a new era in extended reality. Will the arrival of the Apple Vision Pro move the medium from artistic experiment to widespread use?

Ten art world things that have happened in VR since Meta bought Oculus 10 years ago

Virtual reality has not taken the art world by storm in the past decade, despite the attention given to the format during the global pandemic of 2020-21, but the advent of powerful new mixed-reality headsets, led by the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest, promise a new experience for creators and users

Harold Cohen's pioneering AI works provide essential context for conversations about generative art

The Whitney Museum of American Art is spotlighting the late art and technology innovator's prescient "AARON" series

Net art pioneer Shu Lea Cheang wins $100,000 LG Guggenheim award

The Taiwan-born interdisciplinary artist’s work spans coding languages, hacking tactics, gaming engines and more

Tipping point: how new immersive institutions are changing the art world

Digital art venues are a global phenomenon, attracting massive audiences with radical new forms of immersive experiences. Are they a threat or an opportunity for traditional galleries and museums?

Book Club

The rise of a queer art history: three new publications and the stories behind them

Recently published books aim to bring a deeper understanding of the canon, from the work of LGBTQ+ photographers to the pioneers who paved the way for later generations

‘Have you ever been sat on before?’ What it's like taking part in a (surprisingly) private view

An exclusive extract from a new book by Bianca Bosker that lifts the lid on the secret life of the art world

Bianca Bosker. With an introduction by Gareth Harris

An expert's guide to Constantin Brâncuși: five must-read books on the Romanian sculptor

All you ever wanted to know about Brâncuși, from a landmark catalogue to a comic retelling of his run-in with US Customs—selected by the Centre Pompidou curator Ariane Coulondre

Tefaf Maastricht

Focus, not faff: considered adjustments prove welcome at TEFAF Maastricht

A shorter runtime, a new Focus section and outreach to young buyers show promise as a way forward for the venerable Dutch fair

Maastricht’s historic Tefaf fair bets on new attractions

With contemporary works, fresh initiatives and a shorter runtime, Tefaf hopes to extend its appeal while keeping its special magic alive

Must-see shows in and around Maastricht during Tefaf

From an Isaac Julien retrospective and an artist’s haunted hotel to the story of the city's 17th-century siege

Tefaf’s new Focus stands aim to be more than just another ‘special’ section

Made up of ten main fair exhibitors doing double duty, the section offers the space to experiment.

Tefaf Maastricht: the wish list

An ancient sculpture of Dionysus, a pivotal Van Gogh and a coral lace Magdalene are among this year’s gems

A brush with... podcast

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

A brush with… Nalini Malani

An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland to her time in 1970s Paris

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack

Jacob Rothschild (1936-2024)

The banker, philanthropist and collector was one of the most consequential figures in the British art world for the last five decades of his life

Remembering Jacob Rothschild, banker, collector, philanthropist, and a towering figure in the British art world

A scion of the famous banking dynasty, he led the National Gallery, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Waddesdon Manor

Louis Jebb26 February 2024

Photography and feminist activism, Jacob Rothschild remembered and Robert Ryman

We speak to the curators of the South London Gallery's latest show and to our founding editor about the legacy one of the UK's leading philanthropists. We also discuss Robert Ryman's work Adelphi on show at the Musée de l’Orangerie

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David. Clack, Julia Michalska and Alexander Morrison8 March 2024

From the archive | Jacob Rothschild retires from banking in a flurry of art projects

The Waddesdon Treasury opens at the Buckinghamshire family mansion managed and financed since 1988 by Rothschild—a man who has been an eminence grise of the British art world for the past 30 years

Anna Somers Cocks1 September 2019

From the archive | Jacob Rothschild restores Spencer House, the Princess of Wales’s family house in London

Some of the house's 18th-century furniture has been lent back by the Victoria & Albert Museum but other pieces and paintings integral ot its design have left Britain for good

Susan Moore1 October 1990

From the archive | A shared pride: the Rothschilds yesterday, today and tomorrow

Jacob, Lord Rothschild, is one of the great benefactors of the English museum scene in both time and money

Anna Somers Cocks30 June 2015

Obituaries

Antoine Predock, architect of distinctive museums in the US and Canada, has died, aged 87

His Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Tang Teaching Museum and Tacoma Art Museum were typical of an approach that melded modernism and post-modernism into a characteristically unpredictable aesthetic

Lucas Samaras, tirelessly adventurous New York artist, has died, aged 87

The Greek American artist was always willing to try new forms and materials, working across sculpture, photography, performance, installation and more

Remembering Jacob Rothschild, banker, collector, philanthropist, and a towering figure in the British art world

A scion of the famous banking dynasty, he led the National Gallery, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Waddesdon Manor

Remembering Pope.L, the self-proclaimed 'friendliest Black artist in America'

His 50-year career was filled with transgressive performances, including the Times Square Crawls, which interrogated race and class

Günter Brus, central figure of Viennese Actionism, has died, aged 85

Brus was the last surviving founder of the movement, though he abandoned performance art after 1970