Newscoronavirus
Culture injection: Coronavirus vaccination centres in Germany are giving patients a dose of art
As exhibitions are cancelled due to the pandemic, local artists are finding creative ways to show their art—and distract patients
NewsCatalogue raisonné
First online Max Beckmann catalogue raisonné to go live tomorrow as artist's work enters public domain
Hamburg’s Kunsthalle to publish photographs of 843 paintings for free research tool
NewsRestitution
Spitzweg drawing from Gurlitt hoard returned to Jewish publisher’s heirs
The musical scene was seized by the Gestapo in 1939 from Henri Hinrichsen, who died at Auschwitz
NewsDocumenta
Documenta 15 postponement increasingly likely, general director says
Travel restrictions could derail preparations, making 2022 date impossible, Sabine Schormann says
FeatureBook Club
The Nazi art dealer who supplied Hermann Göring and operated in a shadowy art underworld after the war
A new book by Jonathan Petropoulos explores Bruno Lohse’s devotion to Hitler’s number two
NewsRestitution
Dresden poster campaign draws attention to looted Benin bronzes in city’s museum
Initiative by the Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh is supported by Dresden’s state museums
NewsArt market
In the battle against antiquities trafficking, Germany develops app to identify looted cultural heritage
Government-funded image-recognition software will enable law enforcers to work with international organisations
InterviewArt market
A crisis hits the art market once a decade. What is different this time? Christie's president Dirk Boll assesses the impact of the pandemic
As his new book is published, the auction house chief compares coronavirus fallout to previous economic disasters
NewsArt market
European auction houses weather crisis as customers spend millions on art online
Expecting the worst, French, German and Austrian auction houses have been surprised by how well sales have held up through the pandemic
NewsArchitecture
Berlin’s residents rally to save city’s Brutalist building that was once a laboratory for animal experiments
Thousands signed petition to protect bleak concrete structure—nicknamed the Mouse Bunker—from demolition
NewsRestitution
Amsterdam court rejects heirs’ claim for Kandinsky painting in the Stedelijk Museum
Ruling upholds controversial decision by the beleaguered Dutch Restitutions Committee but counters an independent review
NewsHumboldt Forum
What exactly is the Humboldt Forum?
From the building, to the name and the cost, we bring you the Berlin art complex in a nutshell
NewsHumboldt Forum
Humboldt Forum: the empire strikes back?
The imperial origins and plundered artefacts of the Berlin art complex seem out of place in today’s Germany
NewsMuseums
Kunsthaus Zurich counts down to ‘quantum leap’ for Swiss art scene after Chipperfield expansion
City hopes the $230m new building will raise its profile as an art destination to match Basel
NewsMuseums
Smithsonian and Berlin museums join forces to investigate Asian art provenance
The programme includes webinars examining dealers and collectors
NewsNazi loot
Dutch policy on Nazi-looted art should be more humane and transparent, panel finds
The government's treatment of claims for art plundered by Nazis has come under fire for placing interests of museums over "legal redress for injustice"
NewsHumboldt Forum
Opening of Humboldt Forum delayed again as coronavirus lockdown extended—but you can view it online
New Berlin arts complex suffers renewed setback in its problem-beset opening plans
NewsGermany
Record culture budget approved by German parliament
The budget for 2021 allocates funding to preserve Berlin museum buildings, renovate the Bayreuth Festival theatre, boost provenance research and grant free admission to the Jewish Museum Berlin
NewsMuseums
Why us? European museums cry foul over second lockdown
Shops remain open in many countries even as museums are plunged once more into Covid-19 deep-freeze
NewsRestitution
Chair of Dutch Nazi-loot committee resigns ahead of report on restitution policy
Alfred Hammerstein’s departure follows criticism of Dutch committee’s decisions
NewsDocumenta 15
Dozens asked to participate in Documenta 15—only to realise invitations are fake
Documenta organisers have warned about scam emails and requests recipients to contact them
NewsLooted art
Jewish collections looted by the Nazis to be examined and traced in new database
The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project will begin with a pilot scheme focusing on the Old Masters collection of Adolphe Schloss, which was seized by the Gestapo
NewsThefts
German police arrest three suspects in Dresden jewel heist investigation
More than 1,600 police officers take part in raids in Berlin to solve violent theft from Dresden’s Green Vault
NewsHeritage
Unexploded bombs: the major hitch in this German castle's restoration
Gardens of the Babelsberg Palace in Potsdam must be probed for undetonated explosives before further renovations can take place
NewsMuseums
German museum chiefs say enforced November closure is 'wrong decision'
More than 40 directors sign an open letter to regional governments saying museums should not be included in month-long coronavirus lockdown
NewsMuseums
Louvre and French museums close, while German museums await clarity in second coronavirus lockdown
Closing German museums would be “a hard blow for the institutions and society,” the country's museums association says
NewsJohannes Vermeer
Blockbuster Vermeer exhibition—including restored 'hidden Cupid' painting—announced at Dresden's Semperbau
The show promises to be “one of the most spectacular” in the newly renovated museum's history
NewsMuseums
Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie to open after six-year renovation with Calder exhibition
Mies van der Rohe’s steel-and-glass building is undergoing modernisation by David Chipperfield, including new air-conditioning, security, lighting and visitor facilities
NewsMuseums
Mondrian’s heirs file US suit to recover four paintings worth $200m from a German museum
The complaint also demands compensation for four further works by Mondrian no longer at the Krefeld museum
NewsMuseums
Attacker sprays oil in Berlin museums, damaging sarcophagi, sculptures and frames
Sixty-three objects were sprayed with an oily liquid on 3 October at the Pergamon, Neues Museum and Alte Nationalgalerie
NewsGerman Museums
Germany to create central digital platform for museum objects acquired in colonial context
Measures agreed by government and states include a set of common standards for digital registers
NewsRestitution
Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master to be auctioned in settlement between heir and current holder
The Golden Age work by Aelbert Cuyp was looted from Jacques Goudstikker and acquired by Hermann Göring
NewsArt education
European academies issue joint manifesto to protect freedom of arts
Signatories of the “Berlin Manifesto” include the Académie française and Arts Council England. It has been endorsed by Wim Wenders, Ken Loach and A. L. Kennedy among others
PreviewExhibitions
Easy rider: when Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter went on tour
The artists' collaboration—first as teacher and student, then as a couple—is explored in a new exhibition at the Lenbachhaus in Munich
NewsRestitution
Dutch government committee recommends return of colonial-era artefacts
The report calls for a new panel to advise the minister on repatriations and a new provenance research centre
NewsArt market
Deutsche Bank to auction Kandinsky and Schiele works from collection
Three works are to be sold at Christie’s in Paris this month; further sales to follow
NewsMuseums
Berlin’s Humboldt Forum to open in phases beginning in December
Plans include a show about ivory and a “critical approach” to colonial legacies
NewsDiscoveries
Sculpture by Arno Breker—one of Hitler’s favourite artists—found buried in Berlin museum garden
Missing for 75 years, the large marble head, one of the artist's best-known works, was uncovered by chance during construction work at Kunsthaus Dahlem
NewsPrussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Meet the man overhauling Berlin's 'dysfunctional' museums in wake of bombshell report
Head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, responds to an expert panel’s call to dismantle Germany’s biggest arts body
NewsObituaries
Erich Marx, Berlin collector and patron, dies age 99
His collection of works by Warhol, Twombly, Beuys and Kiefer is on long-term loan to the Berlin museums
NewsContemporary art
Berlin Art Week: shows in disused airports and nightclubs defy gloomy predictions
From Berghain's lockdown exhibition to the Brücke Museum's Vivian Suter display, here's what to see in the reigning contemporary art hub this week
NewsRestitution
Berlin returns tattooed Maori heads to New Zealand
Human remains in museums have attracted widespread criticism
NewsBooks
German library buys 400-year-old album of drawings by European royalty for €2.8m
Art dealer Philipp Hainhofer's 16th-century "friendship book" contains inscriptions from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and Cosimo de’ Medici
Newscoronavirus
CoroNation: Ai Weiwei releases lockdown documentary about Wuhan
Film aims to show “surveillance, ideological brainwashing, and brute determination used to control every aspect of society” by China’s leaders
PreviewExhibitions
Condoms, clean needles and comedy take to the walls in HIV-Aids poster show
As the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, public campaigns around another virus are explored in an exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in Essen
NewsExhibitions
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer turns curator for Dusseldorf museum
Exhibition will recall the “intense and wonderful” 1990s fashion scene with photographs by Juergen Teller, Corinne Day and Karl Lagerfeld
AnalysisLooting
How recent anti-racism protests have pushed a longstanding debate about colonial looting in Europe
As the Black Lives Matter movement goes global, museums face renewed demands to restitute artefacts plundered from Africa
NewsExhibitions
Berghain—Berlin’s exclusive nightclub—to transform into huge art venue during pandemic
“Studio Berlin” offers a way to circumvent the toughest door policy in the world and see works by Olafur Eliasson, Wolfgang Tillmans and Anne Imhof
NewsAcquisitions
Germany boosts art acquisition budget to €3m from €500,000 to support artists and galleries
Government plans to buy 150 works to help overcome the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic
NewsRestitution
Turin museum pays settlement to Jewish heirs for Renaissance Madonna that was looted by Nazis
Family of Gustav Arens also receive French government compensation for a Tintoretto painting and a Dutch landscape
NewsCurators
German curator kidnapped in Iraq is free again
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas voices “relief” at release of Hella Mewis, an arts manager living in Baghdad who works to promote young Iraqi artists
NewsCurators
German curator kidnapped in central Baghdad
Hella Mewis, who works to promote young Iraqi artists, was abducted yesterday by unidentified men in the centre of the city
NewsArt market
Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum seeks to recover ancient Egyptian jars before auction
The vessels, containing 2,600-year-old mummified internal organs, are due to be sold in Munich tomorrow
NewsRestitution
France takes first legal step towards restitutions to Benin and Senegal as cabinet examines new law
Twenty-six objects looted from Abomey Palace to return to Benin, Omar Tall’s sword to be transferred to Senegal
NewsMuseums
More money, less hierarchy: Germany’s biggest arts employer faces major overhaul
Hermann Parzinger, the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says he hopes the organisation will no longer exist in five years
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Germany's Holocaust memorial sites fight against surge in far-right threats
Former concentration camps are being increasingly drawn into culture wars by “normal-looking” people challenging guides and disrupting tours
NewsMuseums
Panel recommends dissolution of 'dysfunctional' Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
With 2,000 employees, the foundation is the biggest arts employer in Germany
NewsArt market
Sotheby's to auction £4m restituted Bellotto painting that Jewish retail magnate was forced to sell to Hitler
The view of Dresden's Zwinger moat had been returned to the heirs of Max Emden and will now be offered for sale in London on 28 July
NewsExhibitions
Massive Monet cathedral painting to be installed in Rouen
The 360-degree work by the Iranian architect Yadegar Asisi will be displayed in a rotunda on the banks of the Seine
NewsMuseums
German government seeks to buy Hamburger Bahnhof museum from investor
Move means the venue can continue to operate as Berlin’s main contemporary art museum
NewsMonuments
Riga installs six-metre statue to honour medical workers
Sculpture by Latvian artist Aigars Bikse is in a prominent spot in front of the National Museum of Art
NewsMuseums
Berlin’s Humboldt Forum to open this year despite pandemic delay
Exhibition of Berlin city history is to be among the first to open
NewsExhibitions
'Ultimate masterpiece': Van Eyck drawing— rarely seen due to fragility—goes on display for first time in a decade
Exhibited from today at Dresden’s Kupferstich-Kabinett, the picture of an old man is the only undisputed drawing by the Dutch Old Master that survives
NewsMuseums
'Time to give back the swag, guys!' British Museum unleashes Twitter storm with statement on Black Lives Matter
London institution was criticised for proclaiming that it "stands in solidarity with the Black community" while continuing to resist calls to restitute colonial-era loot
NewsRepatriation
Digital Benin: a milestone on the long, slow journey to restitution
When British troops plundered the Royal Palace of Benin in the 19th century, at least 3,000 objects were dispersed internationally. A new online database is bringing them together
NewsArt market
Berlin dealer Johann König stages impromptu 'fair' to coincide with original Art Basel dates in June
"People are hungry for art in the original and the online viewing room can’t replace the personal experience,” the dealer says
Newscoronavirus
German government earmarks €1bn for arts in €130bn pandemic stimulus package
Package aims to counter “severest economic crisis in the history of the federal republic”
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
How Germany’s 4,000-year-old answer to Stonehenge shows that Brexit is 'nonsense'
Pömmelte, sacred site that was used by the ancient Unetice culture, is opening up to tourists
NewsArt market
Code-cracking lot: Second World War Enigma machine on offer at Vienna’s Dorotheum
The Germans believed Enigma was uncrackable; cryptographers at Bletchley Park broke the code, contributing to the Allies’ victory
NewsPublic art
Sculpture confronting Germany's colonial past installed at Berlin’s long-awaited Humboldt Forum
Kang Sunkoo’s bronze Statue of Limitations shows a black flag at half-mast
Newscoronavirus
Austrian culture minister steps down after coming under fire over pandemic response
Ulrike Lunacek was in office for less than four months
NewsBerlin
As one private collector shuts down Berlin space, Julia Stoschek threatens to follow
Closure of Thomas Olbricht’s Me Collectors Room comes after collector Friedrich Christian Flick’s announcement he is ending his museum loan
NewsAuctions
First live auction in Germany after lockdown features painting bought for Hitler
Neumeister in Munich will today host a live auction for a maximum audience of 20
Newscoronavirus
We went to one of the first German museums to reopen after the lockdown—here's what it was like
Poles and ribbons are used at the Brandenburg State Museum for Modern Art in Cottbus to practice social distancing
AnalysisArt market
When the emergency aid runs dry, what next for art galleries?
With short-term assistance varying between countries, trade organisations fear many businesses will close permanently due to coronavirus lockdowns
NewsPrivate collections
Berlin museums announce ‘painful’ end to loan of 'one of the world’s most outstanding contemporary art collections'
Prestigious private Flick collection, including works by Giacometti, Duchamp and Bruce Nauman, has been on loan to Berlin for 17 years
Newscoronavirus
German museums prepare to reopen, gradually and with precautions
The first museums open today in the state of Brandenburg in a gradual easing of the coronavirus lockdown; bigger museums may take longer to reopen
Newscoronavirus
In cautious loosening of lockdown, Germany allows art galleries to re-open
Small shops to open from next week but large gatherings still banned until at least 31 August
NewsArt collection
Looted Benin treasures to go online in international project led by Hamburg museum
Project is backed by the Ernst von Siemens art foundation, which seeks “a more factual focus to the discussions about restitution”
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Germany offers help in restoring Notre Dame's stained-glass windows
German cathedral glass workshops have the expertise and experience necessary to undertake the restoration
Newscoronavirus
Austrian galleries plan cautious re-openings as government eases lockdown
“The doors will be wide open to let the sun in again,” says one Viennese dealer
NewsMuseums
Fire breaks out at Berlin’s Humboldt Forum
Fire service says one person was injured in the blaze caused by a gas cylinder exploding
Newscoronavirus
'Like a permanent bank holiday': museums at greater risk of break-ins during lockdown
Reduced security staff and distracted police forces could lead to a rise in art thefts—but there are measures that can be taken to protect collections
NewsArt market
Forgery, drugs and sex abuse in the Canadian art world exposed in new documentary
There Are No Fakes connects a forged Norval Morrisseau painting to a crime ring behind "the greatest art scam in Canadian history"
NewsArt theft
Birthday heist: Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum on anniversary of artist's birth
The Singer Laren museum in the Netherlands is currently on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic
Newscoronavirus
Majority of Berlin artists worried they can't pay rent due to coronavirus, survey finds
German government has introduced emergency measures to support the creative industry
Featurecoronavirus
Here's how to apply for financial aid during the coronavirus pandemic if you're self-employed or a small business in the arts
We have gathered information about grants and loans around the world to help you get through the Covid-19 crisis
Newscoronavirus
Berlin museums will close to stem spread of coronavirus
Culture ministers from the 16 states to meet today to discuss their response to the virus
Newscoronavirus
Germany promises financial support to help arts institutions hit by coronavirus
Grütters sees "massive burden" for arts sector as theatres and concert halls close, ticket sales dwindle
NewsNazi loot
Hitler’s helpers? German dynasty’s restitution claim hangs on Nazi ties
Hohenzollern family is seeking compensation for thousands of works and expropriated property
Newscoronavirus
Austria’s federal museums close to prevent coronavirus spread
Albertina delays planned opening of new Vienna museum of modern art
NewsArt theft
Green Vault guards under investigation in Dresden jewel heist inquiry
Two are suspected of tampering with the alarm system; two more, on duty during the theft, are accused of an inadequate response
NewsHumboldt Forum
Goethe Institute teams up with Berlin's Humboldt Forum
Joint projects will include exhibitions, exchanges and education programs focussed on post-colonialism and sustainability
PreviewExhibitions
Topless Beethoven to take centre stage in Leipzig survey of Symbolist artist Max Klinger
Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts hopes to raise awareness of the German sculptor whose work was dismissed by critics as "craft"
NewsAnniversary
Happy birthday Beuys: German museums band together to celebrate artist’s 2021 centenary
Twenty institutions in 12 cities are planning exhibitions and events for 100th anniversary of Joseph Beuys’s birth
NewsOpenings
Semperbau museum in Dresden, home to Vermeer's hidden cupid painting, reopens after €49m renovation
The 19th-century palace is returning to the idea of showing sculpture alongside its Old Masters
NewsExhibitions
Uffizi scientific committee resigns in dispute over Raphael loan
The committee had advised against moving Raphael’s portrait of Pope Leo X; the museum loaned it to Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale regardless
NewsRestitution
Italy hands Nazi-looted Renaissance sculpture from the Uffizi to Germany
Andrea della Robbia’s Mary Magdalene was acquired by Hermann Göring in 1941