Latest

Gold star medal taken from an Ethiopian war hero surfaces at auction

The grandchildren of Ras Desta Damtew, an Ethiopian general and noble, are seeking to recover the piece, listed in the online auction catalogue as coming from the estate of an Italian soldier who was present at Desta Damtew’s execution

Catherine Hickleyabout 1 hour ago

Out of the ashes: how Notre-Dame has been resurrected in a miraculously short time

Faith, politics and emotion have fused in the rebuilding of the Paris cathedral partially destroyed by a fire in 2019

Dale Berning Sawaabout 2 hours ago

France returns ancient artefacts to Ethiopia in ‘diplomatic handover’

The French culture minister insists the move is “a handover, not a restitution, in that these objects have never been part of French public collections”

Gareth Harris20 minutes ago

Twelve must-see exhibitions in South Florida during Miami Art Week

From ambitious new projects by Andrea ChungRachel Feinstein, Marguerite Humeau and José Parlá to shows devoted to the revered and recently deceased artists Jacqueline de Jong and Keiichi Tanaami

Crypto investor eats Cattelan banana he bought for $6.2m

Justin Sun, who purchased the work just last week, also pledged to buy 100,000 bananas from the vendor who originally sold the fruit for $0.25

Notre-Dame reopening: Special Report

The Paris cathedral is due to reopen to the public this weekend after it was partially destroyed by a devastating fire in 2019. In a special report, we explore the state of the renovation, the greatest discoveries and the works it inspired

Green wood, axes and oaks: how ancient skills helped to raise Notre-Dame's new roof

A small army of carpenters combined traditional craftmanship with digital design tools to rebuild the medieval roof frame known as "the forest"

Hannah McGivernabout 2 hours ago

Notre-Dame de Paris in seven works of art

Notre-Dame may have started out as a Gothic cathedral, but over the centuries it has morphed into a civic emblem and leading tourist attraction—it has also become a reliable muse for painters, photographers and more

J.S. Marcusabout 1 hour ago

‘Notre-Dame still retains some of its mystery’: the surprises revealed in the restoration

The painstaking work of archaeologists has uncovered two lost tombs and rare medieval masons’ marks

Garry Shawabout 2 hours ago

Lucky statues on Notre-Dame's spire to take up their position once more

Copper sculptures representing the Twelve Apostles and four New Testament Evangelists were removed for cleaning days before the fire

Alexander Morrisonabout 2 hours ago

Did a video game help rebuild Notre-Dame after the fire?

'Assassin’s Creed Unity' boasts a detailed virtual model of the cathedral—but not detailed enough for the restorers of the building

Lee Cheshireabout 1 hour ago

Art market

India Art Fair cancels its inaugural Mumbai show

The new event would have coincided with the city’s existing Art Mumbai fair

London art world haunt Groucho Club closed as police investigate ‘serious crime’ on premises

The private members club was bought by Hauser & Wirth's founders in 2022

UK art imports fall 16% for second year in a row as Hong Kong picks up slack

Sector is lobbying UK government to simplify trading procedures, or risk being outpaced by competitors

Rediscovered Emily Carr painting bought for $50 sells for 5,000 times original price

The Carr painting was one of the star attractions at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s marquee autumn sale in Toronto, alongside works by Tom Thomson, Marcelle Ferron, Kenojuak Ashevak and Chief 7IDANsuu James Hart

Works by Basquiat, Haring and Hockney help Christie's 21st century evening sale net a healthy $106.5m

However, despite assistance from big names, it was emerging artists who were the real stars of the show

Museums & Heritage

Candida Gertler steps down from Outset Contemporary Art Fund citing 'alarming rise of antisemitism' in cultural spaces

Move comes after 1,100 art workers sign an open letter demanding Tate cuts ties with the philanthropic organisation, which she co-founded in 2003

Museum’s therapeutic art programme helps military veterans find their voices

Art for Vets initiative at Currier Museum of Art in the US encourages personal expression under the care of a full-time art therapist

Ancient Maya city of Ucanal was contaminated with mercury, study reveals

Newly published research shows just how pervasive mercury—an essential element in the red cinnabar pigment favoured by the Maya—is at the site in Guatemala

Rotterdam becomes first Dutch city to restitute colonial objects

The city has returned 68 objects to Indonesia, a former Dutch colony

Turmoil at Slovak National Gallery as department heads offer their resignations

Development comes after 177 staff also threaten to quit in protest at the ministry of culture’s handling of the country’s leading art institution

Exhibitions

December's must-see exhibitions: Hamad Butt, art in nature and Warhol's window dressing

The Art Newspaper's pick of the top shows to see around the world this month

US artist transforms former Confederate monument into heartfelt symbol

With a gesture of love, Raúl de Nieves has altered a New Orleans space once described as ‘the most racist’ in the city

Inside Manhattan’s most exclusive street art gallery

Since 2017, Wall Street trader Peter Tuchman has organised exhibitions of finance-themed works by street artists in a somewhat unlikely location

From care worker to the National Galleries Scotland: Everlyn Nicodemus finally enjoys recognition

The Tanzania-born artist's retrospective features works kept in storage for four decades

Caravaggio portrait, unseen for decades, goes on view in Rome

The portrait of Maffeo Barberini was first attributed to Caravaggio 60 years ago, but had not been publicly displayed until now

Books

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

How Korean feminist art developed alongside the country’s move to democracy is explored in new book

An exploration of the driving force of so-called “K-feminism” and the connection between art and politics in Korea

Dealer’s memoir offers a wild ride through the 1960s New York art scene

Michael Findlay reveals his art world beginnings as a lucky 18-year-old Scot in the Big Apple

The Week in Art

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

Art and technology shows in London and Los Angeles, a restored 17th-century cosmic atlas—podcast

Curators at Tate and Los Angeles County Museum of Art discuss the ways in which technology has shaped artists’ work, plus a chat about the “mesmerising” Harmonia Macrocosmica

A brush with... podcast

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

A brush with… Goshka Macuga — podcast

An in-depth interview with Turner nominee Goshka Macuga, discussing her influences from Eileen Agar to Stanisław Lem—and how she came to dance in her studio

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

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

‘The Roman emperors wouldn’t have put up with it’: Harry Kane statue gets art critics talking

The footballer attended the unveiling of the work after it finally found a permanent home

Listen up, Elon: Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum makes dramatic exit from X

Bristol institution makes waves after quitting social media platform

Lytton Strachey foxes Julianne Moore in Pedro Almodóvar film

The actor's failure to correctly pronounce the name of Bloomsbury Group writer leaves some viewers baffled

Book Club

‘He laughed like a madman’: when Édouard Manet decided to touch up one of Berthe Morisot's paintings

An extract from a new book by Sebastian Smee—about the Impressionists during the Siege of Paris and Paris Commune—brings to life the peculiar episode of artistic intervention

Five must-read art history books for the under-fives

All you ever wanted to know about art (if you are little), from a cat that wanders round Tate Modern at night to why Louise Bourgeois made giant spiders—selected by The Art Newspaper's Anna Brady

How a Persian manuscript was swapped for a Willem de Kooning owned by the Iranian government

Oliver Hoare's memoir details the story of the ambitious exchange of an Iranian masterpiece for a painting by the Abstract Expressionist

Obituaries

Remembering Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, the Unesco boss who fought for the dispossessed

The headline-making director-general of Unesco, who clashed with Reagan and Thatcher, died recently at the age of 103

Remembering Hanif Kureshi, the artist credited with popularising street art in India

Kureshi decorated India’s public spaces with beautiful, provocative and socially engaged murals

Paul Lowe, conflict photographer and teacher lauded for Sarajevo siege photographs, dies, aged 60

Acclaimed photojournalist's teenage son charged with his murder on a popular hiking trail near Los Angeles

François Duret-Robert, art market journalist, professor and collector, has died aged 92

The former editor of Connaissance des Arts was a leading figure in the French art market

‘You must walk close to the edge’—the pioneering German artist Rebecca Horn dies, aged 80

Horn maintained a powerful drawing strand that supported her innovative conceptual sculpture practice around the human body in installations, performances and photographs

Opinion

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

Jamie Bennett and Suzy Delvalle

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

Rudy Capildeo

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

Phoebe Segal

Steve McQueen delves into family history at Dia Chelsea

Works in the artist’s show at the New York institution include a video installation in which he narrates a story of racially motivated violence told by his father against images of the actor Al Jonson in blackface

Comment | Paris vs London debate is a 'non-troversy', says Christie's Guillaume Cerutti

Auction house chief executive argues that of greater concern is the decline of Europe's art market as America and Asia charge ahead

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 finest ‘London drawing’ was not done in the UK, but later in Amsterdam

The sketch of Austin Friars Church throws fresh light on Vincent’s draftsmanship, suggesting he was even more of a late developer as an artist

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.

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

Technologyanalysis

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

New York's Salon 94 is feeling the TikTok visitor effect

A content creator's positive post has led to a massive uptick in the gallery's footfall