Latest
Queen Elizabeth II portrait makes $853,000 in Toronto—a record for a Warhol print at auction
Healthy bidding at Canadian auction house Heffel also achieved strong results for painter Lawren Harris
Should the world resume co-operating with the Taliban on protecting Afghanistan's heritage?
Conservation projects that have been paused due to sanctions on the new government may restart after Unesco intervention
Canada’s museums urged to overhaul practices to empower Indigenous peoples
Country’s museums association says institutions must involve Indigenous people in “every element” of their work
Arts group takes on Polish government over political interference in cultural institutions
US-based Artistic Freedom Initiative will challenge in EU court the Polish government, saying it is “suppressing free and open artistic expression”
Art market
Major insurance claims spark questions over ‘damaged art’
A spate of recent high-profile cases demonstrate ongoing challenges for the sector
Would you invest in art without seeing it? New scheme invites users to buy into securitised—but unnamed—art loans
Service offered by the New York-based alternative investment platform Yieldstreet promises healthy returns to investors willing to buy "blind"
The downside to art world altruism that no one talks about
Charity sales, while undoubtedly a positive, tend to skew valuable auction data upwards and muddy an already opaque market
Who let the lots out? A pack of 19th-century dog paintings is coming to auction
Collector Frances Scaife is selling 14 dog portraits by English and American artists at Hindman auction house in Chicago
Miami Art Week
From photographs submerged underwater to Hervé Télémaque's early paintings: must-see exhibitions in Miami
Here are the shows to visit beyond the Art Basel fair this week
'I've missed out on works simply by answering an email a little too late': collector Beth Rudin DeWoody on the art she regrets not buying
Art patron owns the Miami exhibition space The Bunker, which displays works from her 10,000-strong collection
Museums & Heritage
London's National Portrait Gallery receives £10m donation from Leonard Blavatnik
First floor of London museum to be renamed the "Blavatnik Wing" and will display 100 years of portraiture across nine galleries
Home of Henry Ossawa Tanner—one of the first internationally renowned African American artists—faces demolition
A local grassroots group has begun a fundraising campaign to save a piece of local Black history in North Philadelphia
‘We are asking for people to care’: protestors unfurled banners at SFMOMA in support of Iranian uprising
The anonymous group took inspiration from a similar action last month, organised by a different collective, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
'Velvet terrorism': what is it like in Pussy Riot's Russia?
Plus, Shirin Neshat on Iran's uprising and Puerto Rican art after Hurricane Maria
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.
Life in Van Gogh’s Yellow House: the mysterious objects on his kitchen table
A still life, painted just after Vincent mutilated his ear, holds intriguing clues
Exhibitions
Madagascar exhibition puts pioneering African photo magazine in the spotlight
Revue Noire published the work of thousands of artists of African origin during its ten-year lifespan
Ukrainian Modernist masterpieces transported from Kyiv under missile fire find refuge in Madrid exhibition
Survey show at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza will open with an address by President Zelensky and a symposium calling for a European cultural deal with Ukraine
The rediscovery of Abstract Expressionist Bernice Bing
The Chinese American artist, who died at age 62 in relative obscurity, is the subject of an illuminating exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with... Theaster Gates
An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Agnes Martin to Frankie Knuckles
Art attacks: climate protests
Climate activists target billionaire François Pinault's private collection in Paris
Demonstrators poured orange paint over the US artist Charles Ray's Horse and Rider
'Museums are allies': at Cop27, Icom speaks out about climate change protestors attacking art
Choosing museums as a backdrop to protests is "a testament of their symbolic power and relevance in the discussions around the climate emergency,” International Council of Museums says
'How dare YOU?': we speak to Just Stop Oil, the eco activists who threw soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
Plus, Art Basel's inaugural Paris+ fair and an enigmatic Frank Bowling painting
Salvator Mundi
Five years ago, on 15 November 2017, Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi achieved the mind-boggling price of $450.3m at auction—a record that still stands. To mark the occasion we cast a journalistic eye on the picture's chequered fortunes and the controversies that still engulf it.
A timeline of the $450m Salvator Mundi: centuries of deals, disputes and drama
The Art Newspaper charts the existence of the world's most expensive work of art, from 1478 to today
First international conference on Salvator Mundi: What was the role of Leonardo's workshop—and why is Christ wearing women's clothes?
There was an "open-minded and collegiate atmosphere" during scholarly proceedings in Leipzig, notably untouched by Leonardo "politics"
Diary
New platform offers mentoring and financial aid to art students in Ukraine
Bursaries and a "Sister School" network of universities across Europe have been organised by UAx Platform to support war-affected Ukrainian students and staff
Ukrainian forces win back Kherson region—but Russia has reportedly looted its art collection
The Ukraine territory is one of four illegally annexed on 30 September with decrees by Russian President Vladimir Putin
Getty Trust pledges $1m to help protect Ukrainian cultural heritage
The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas is partnering with the Getty to save Ukraine’s museums and monuments
Ukrainian artists’ monumental projection takes over Chicago riverfront
A projection by Kyiv-based studio PHOTINUS and based on composer Mykola Leontovych's work is taking over a building in Chicago, which is home to a large Ukrainian diaspora community
Obituaries
Evelyn de Rothschild—banker, collector, art patron and philanthropist—has died, aged 91
He inherited his family's Ascott House collection of English furniture, Chinese porcelain, British paintings and Old Masters, and built a new collection of Modern and contemporary works with his third wife, Lynn Forester
Books
New biography and seven-volume catalogue raisonné bring order to the spiritual fascination of Hilma af Klint
These volumes on the Swedish artist will help cement her rightful place as a pioneer of abstract art
Controversy at London's National Gallery
Proposed architectural changes to the museum—particularly its Grade I-listed Sainsbury Wing—are causing a stir.
London's National Gallery revamp row: is it a sensitive makeover or like 'an airport lounge'?
Plus, contemporary art in Lagos and Chagall's falling angel
We, the original donors, entirely accept the suggested changes to the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing
Timothy Sainsbury says he disagrees with the view that all of the functional parts of the building should be "preserved in aspic"
'Move London's National Gallery entrance from Trafalgar Square to a side street? No!'
Architect Edward Jones weighs in on the museum's controversial redevelopment plans
Green is the New Black
In this monthly column, our correspondent Louisa Buck looks at how the art industry is responding to our climate and ecological crisis
Book Club
Lucian Freud’s revealing letters—replete with illustrations and doodles— show a different side to his character
A new book brings together letters and postcards that the artist sent his lovers, friends and fellow artists
An expert's guide to Henri Matisse: four must-read books on the Modern master
All you ever wanted to know about Matisse, from a definitive two-volume biography to the writings of the artist himself—selected by the curator Dorthe Aagesen
Q&A: Osei Bonsu on his book about artists shaping the contemporary African art scene
The curator has brought together the work of 50 artists from across the continent for his new book African Art Now
Four things you probably didn’t know about Tutankhamun’s mask
To mark 100 years since its discovery, Garry Shaw, the author of a new biography of the Egyptian Boy King, reveals some little-known facts about the world’s most famous death mask
Media
Can this ‘art world outsider’ draw in an art-curious YouTube crowd?
Hosted by a science writer and actor, the Getty’s "Becoming Artsy" video series ditches the traditional documentary delivery of art history in favour of emotion, drama and fun
Playing with history: how heritage and archaeology are transforming video games
Gaming offers educational and licensing opportunities for historic sites and cultural institutions
Multiple William Kentridges dramatise the philosophy of art-making in new television series
Three parts of the nine-part work premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this month
Hilma af Klint goes multimedia: NFTs launched on Pharrell Williams's Goda platform are latest digital offering of Abstract artist's work
The pioneering Swedish artist is having a moment, with a newly-released biopic, new VR and AR experiences and NFT editions
Sensation at 25: 1997-2022
Twenty-five years ago saw the opening of the exhibition Sensation, where Charles Saatchi showed his private collection of Young British Artists (YBAs), at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Here we delve into The Art Newspaper's archive to explore the importance—and sensationalism—of the show.
Sensation, 25 years on: the show thrust the YBAs and Charles Saatchi into the mainstream—but not everyone was happy
The 1997 exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts was a masterclass in art PR, with many of the works by artists like Tracey Emin and Marcus Harvey hitting the headlines
The landmark exhibition 'Sensation': who were the big buyers of Charles Saatchi's art collection?
An Art Newspaper investigation reveals that, nine years after the controversial Royal Academy show, US collectors and institutions had acquired many of the pieces shown at "Sensation" in 1997
Charles Saatchi: the man behind the Young British Art collection showcased in the 'Sensation' exhibition
As show opens at the Royal Academy, we ask what drives Saatchi to buy and risk so much, using access to his collection's archive to chart a 25-year transformation in his taste
Extract | How Mayor Rudy Giuliani went from ‘patting on the back’ to trying to pull the plug on Sensation show
Two decades after one of the most controversial exhibitions of recent times, Arnold Lehman, the former director of the Brooklyn Museum, reveals all in a new book
Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)
We look back at the life of the UK’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II: the personification of a nation’s heritage, a virtuoso of disciplined ceremonial, the subject of artists, and the head of one of the world’s greatest art collections
Will the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square be reserved for a statue of Queen Elizabeth II?
Questions raised about the fate of the capital’s most prominent platform for contemporary art
Remembering Queen Elizabeth II, the British sovereign who perfected the fine art of monarchy
Over seven decades, the monarch used ceremonial, media and heritage to project soft power around the globe
With royal approval: UK's arts organisation chiefs on how they have benefitted from the Queen’s patronage
Support from the Queen has been crucial to the functioning of a number of Britain's arts institutions
Why Queen Elizabeth II was one of the greatest performance artists of all time
The British sovereign made herself globally visible, using personal presence, coded symbolism, and the power of broadcasting, to uphold a constitutional monarchy in an era of unparalleled social change
Our guide to the Venice Biennale
The stuff of dreams: Cecilia Alemani delivers a perfectly judged Biennale
The Milk of Dreams is a "show of ripples and resonances, one that honours its artists"
The gossip from the Venice Biennale: Tinie Tempah takes on Tintoretto and totes too many totes
Plus, Sir Normal Rosenthal and Macron becomes an art meme
Venice Biennale 2022: the worst art on show in the city
There's a lot to see in Venezia—save precious time and skip these
Venice Biennale 2022: the must-see collateral exhibitions around the city
Writhing bodies in a deconsecrated church, BDE at the Ducale and an entirely improvised pavilion—what to see beyond the Arsenale and Giardini
Venice Biennale 2022: the must-see pavilions in the Arsenale
From a Gauguin impersonation to fire raining from the sky, here are the best exhibitions in the city's former shipyards
Brazilian Bicentennial
As Brazil celebrates 200 years of independence, we survey the past two centuries of Brazilian art, the museums and artists that have shaped its legacy and the political forces influencing its future.
After a devastating fire in 2018, the National Museum of Brazil unveils the first stage of its restoration project
As the first stage of the museum’s restoration project is unveiled, coinciding with the Brazilian bicentennial of independence, its director calls for more government investment
Brazilian Modernism has been defined by—and, sometimes, against—the country's national identity
As Brazil celebrates its bicentennial this week, we survey the movements that have defined the country's art scene over the past 200 years
Domestic and global forces have made Brazilian galleries and artists rising powers in the art market
After decades in a semi-insular domestic art market, Brazil's artists and dealers are at the forefront of things
Brazilian arts sector condemns federal culture management amid fears of military dictatorship revival
As the October presidential election looms, the Bolsonaro administration is being scrutinised for its poor support of the cultural sector, while opponent Lula promises reform
India and Pakistan at 75
As India and Pakistan celebrate 75 years of independence, we look at how artists and cultural institutions are commemorating the act of partition that brought them into being—and how it continues to affect the art world today.
India and Pakistan turn 75: exhibitions on independence and partition to see around the world
From Kolkata to Chicago, here are 11 shows that deal with the many histories of nationhood and freedom in the subcontinent
'A logistical nightmare': how deteriorating India-Pakistan relations affect the South Asian art trade
From smuggled paintings to cancelled visas, the heads of the subcontinent's fairs, biennials and galleries weigh in on the ramifications of the contested border
Controversial $1.8bn redevelopment of Delhi’s parliament complex enters second phase
A number of the Indian capital's major cultural institutions, including the National Museum, will be rehoused
Gandhi's handwritten notes to Lord Mountbatten on the eve of India's partition go on show
Group exhibition at John Hansard Gallery in Southampton is curated by the Mumbai artist Jitish Kallat and includes works by Kader Attia and Zarina