Catherine Hickley

Catherine Hickley is the Museums & Heritage Editor of The Art Newspaper

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

Nan Goldin supported by protesters as she pleads for Gaza at Berlin opening

In an impassioned speech at the Neue Nationalgalerie, the artist accused Germany of gagging artists and conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism

Kunstmuseum Basel settles on Pissarro painting with Jewish collector’s heirs

Richard Semmel, a Jewish textiles entrepreneur in Berlin, was forced to sell the painting after fleeing Nazi persecution in 1933

Guggenheim Bilbao appoints Miren Arzalluz as director

Currently the director of the Paris Fashion Museum-Palais Galliera, she will take over from Juan Ignacio Vidarte in April 2025

Painting by Ernst Klimt—completed by his brother Gustav—to be offered at Sotheby’s

After Ernst Klimt’s sudden death at 29, Gustav completed "Hans Wurst Delivering an Impromptu Performance in Rothenburg" and signed it in his brother’s name

A Slevogt triptych, restituted to the heirs of a Nazi-persecuted collector, is to be auctioned in Munich

The painting depicting the prodigal son was sold by Eduard Fuchs, a Communist writer, after his escape into exile in 1933

Benin City museum opens first part of planned campus

Opening of the Museum of West African Art Institute in the Nigerian city will include a live archaeological dig

Art Cologne faces economic gloom and a tough market ahead of VAT reduction

While a long-awaited cut to value-added tax this January has been welcomed, Germany’s contracting economy has “scared” a number of gallerists, says director of world’s longest-running art fair

Nazi-looted art panel rejects claim from Grosz's heirs

The panel said there is no evidence that the works, which are held in the collection of Bremen Kunsthalle, were lost as a result of Nazi persecution

Egon Schiele’s death mask to be auctioned in London

The mask was produced from a mould made in 1918, after the artist had succumbed to Spanish flu

Nazi-looted Monet returned to heirs after FBI traces it to New Orleans

Missing for more than 80 years, the 1865 pastel will be handed over in a ceremony today after the couple who bought it relinquished it voluntarily

Kasper König’s collection fetches €6m at Cologne auction

Top lots at the auction arranged by the esteemed curator before his death in August included two “date paintings” by On Kawara, a close friend

Police investigate after Berlin culture senator’s home attacked with red paint

Joe Chialo has come under fire from artists and pro-Palestinian factions over state policies

Vikings invade the Nordic museum landscape with three themed institutions in the pipeline

Museums dedicated to Viking culture and artefacts are taking shape in two cities in Denmark and the Norwegian capital, Oslo

Netherlands to return 288 items looted in colonial era to Indonesia

The repatriations show policy continuity despite the new right-wing government, experts say

Bavaria acquires Picasso’s Woman with a Violin from a private collection

Six sponsors cooperated to buy “a masterpiece of Cubism of priceless art historical value” for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich

Cranach portrait will be sold in accord between Pennsylvania museum and Jewish heirs

The portrait of the Duke of Saxony, attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York in January 2025

Zagreb collective WHW named creative directors of Skulptur Projekte Münster

The three curators, Ivet Ćurlin, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović, were selected by a seven-member committee to lead the 2027 edition, which marks the event’s 50th anniversary

Kasper König, pioneering curator and co-founder of Skulptur Projekte Münster, dies aged 80

The former director of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig “shaped the art discourse of the last five decades like no other", the museum says

London's prestigious Courtauld Institute to create British art centre with $12m donation

US-based Manton Foundation's gift will establish a research facility and "intellectual hub" at Somerset House

Rare Caspar David Friedrich sketchbook jointly acquired by Berlin, Dresden and Weimar museums

The sketchbook will be shown in all three cities to mark what would be the artist's 250th birthday

Hartwig Fischer, former British Museum director, is appointed to run Saudi museum of world cultures

Fischer, who resigned after a thefts scandal at the British Museum, has been announced as the founding director of the new institution, which is expected to open in 2026

Young V&A wins UK Art Fund Museum of the Year prize

The prize rewards a space for children that “will cement museums as places they belong and feel welcome as they grow up, regardless of their background”

Marion Ackermann appointed first woman to run Berlin state museums

Ackermann is to take up the post in June 2025 after nine years managing Dresden’s state art collections

British Museum’s historic Reading Room opens to the public after 11 years

The space, once used by the likes of Karl Marx, is finally available for all visitors to the London institution to see

Jordaens painting to be sold after settlement with heirs of Jewish bank shareholders

The work, to be auctioned at Sotheby’s today, was one of more than 2,500 held as collateral and sold, shortly before the Nazi invasion, by the Dutch bank Lisser & Rosenkranz

Bührle Foundation’s provenance research is inadequate, report finds

The report by Raphael Gross calls for more research and details how Jewish owners are omitted from the published provenance

Stedelijk Museum restitutes Matisse Odalisque to Jewish arts patrons’ heirs

Albert Stern, the former owner, sold the painting “out of necessity” in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, the Dutch Restitutions Committee says

Collector Reinhard Ernst’s abstract art gets a new home in Germany

The Museum Reinhard Ernst, opening this week in the city of Wiesbaden, houses works by Frank Stella, Jackson Pollock, Damien Hirst and Neo Rauch

Monet to go on sale after Kunsthaus Zurich reaches settlement with Jewish heirs

The collector and textiles entrepreneur Carl Sachs sold the painting after fleeing to Switzerland from Nazi Germany in 1939