Catherine Hickley

Three looted Palmyra sculptures seized in Geneva freeport return to Syria

The two funerary reliefs and the head of a priest were exhibited at the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva in 2017

Blockbuster Vermeer exhibition forced to close as Germany faces fourth coronavirus wave

German health minister warns that by the end of the winter, everyone will be “vaccinated, recovered or dead”

Colonial loot restitution debate enters UK parliament with new committee on African reparations

An all-party parliamentary group headed by the MP for Streatham aims to “start a discussion and educate people”

Oxford University lists 145 looted Benin objects in collections

The director of the Pitt Rivers Museum says the report is a step in the restitution process

Skateboarders fight back against Berlin Neue Nationalgalerie ban

Museum says ban protects the building and sculptures—but has attracted criticism for ostracising younger generation

Berlin museum acquires vast collection of antisemitic objects amassed by German man who helped Jewish people hide from Nazis

Wolfgang Haney, who died in 2017, assembled 15,000 postcards, leaflets, photographs and more bearing witness to the persecution of Jewish people

Humboldt Forum to remove medallion honouring far-right donor

Ehrhardt Bödecker’s family requested the removal after his “militaristic, anti-democratic and in some respects, radically right-wing and antisemitic” views became public

Smithsonian Museum of African Art removes Benin bronzes from display and plans to repatriate them

“We cannot build for the future without making our best effort at healing the wounds of the past,” the museum’s director says

Painting recovered 40 years after its theft in East Germany may be an unknown Rembrandt

Analysis of the work—stolen in East Germany’s biggest art heist—suggests that it was painted by the Old Master rather than others in his studio

Art Basel's parent company MCH Group warns of possible data breach after criminal cyber attack

Fair organiser is working with police and Swiss cyber security authorities to identify perpetrators of malware attack on 20 October

'Most important gift in recent decades': trove of works by Kandinsky, Otto Dix and Max Ernst donated to Städel Museum in Frankfurt

The bequest from the estate of the German photographer Ulrike Crespo includes 90 works and will go on show in November.

Art Cologne passes pandemic subsidy on to exhibitors, offering 34% discount

Both foreign and domestic art galleries benefit from the discount

Art crime flourished during pandemic year, Interpol survey shows

Figures indicate fewer museum thefts, more illegal excavations

Berlin museum restitutes—and then buys back—Nazi-looted Pissarro painting

The work was bought by Armand Dorville, a Jewish lawyer, but his heirs were forced to sell it at an auction in France

Italian police recovers Nazi-looted drawings offered online

The Cavedone studies were among 750 drawings plundered from the Czech villa of Arthur Feldmann, a Jewish lawyer who died in the Holocaust

Hubert van Eyck, Jan’s older brother, painted parts of the Ghent Altarpiece

New research indicates Hubert started the work but had to stop, so Jan took over

Eighty years after his death, weapons experts now say Kirchner’s suicide may have been murder

Although the German Expressionist was undoubtedly depressed, new evidence suggests that the artist could not have fired the gun that killed him in 1938

Danish artist takes museum’s money and runs: 'I will not pay it back,' he says

Jens Haaning calls his conceptual work for the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg Take the Money and Run

Geneva museum director fights attempt to oust him

Around 100 scholars have signed a petition to the city’s mayor arguing that Marc-Olivier Wahler is not the right person to run the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire

From Marina Abramovic to Greta Thunberg: the legacy of Joseph Beuys lives on

A host of artists and activists have followed in the footsteps of the pioneering artist who would have turned 100 this year

Art Basel 2021: it’s good to be back—but things are going to change, dealers say

Despite the success of the fair's first post-pandemic edition, galleries are weighing up the future

'The Europeans are back and buying': sales flow steadily at first Art Basel since the pandemic

Though Covid-19 travel complications have kept many US and Asian collectors away, dealers report brisk business from the VIP opening

Catherine Hickley and Tom Seymour. with additional reporting by Gareth Harris
Museumsfeature

Zurich takes ‘quantum leap’ with Chipperfield-designed Kunsthaus extension

Opening on 9 October, the major building project turns the Kunsthaus into Switzerland’s largest art museum

From art that's barely there to Alicja Kwade’s heart: what to see at Berlin Art Week

The German capital is awash with exhibitions, performances and events after a quieter edition last year

Klaus Biesenbach named director of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie

Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary museum is to be led by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath

Brussels doctors prescribe museum visits to treat Covid-19 stress

Research “has proven that art can be beneficial for health, both mental and physical,” the city’s head of culture tells a Belgian newspaper

The Big Review: Terrible Beauty: Elephant—Human—Ivory at Humboldt Forum

The first exhibition at the controversial new museum complex in Berlin unflinchingly confronts a controversial subject