NewsArt market
Bonn library recovers 600 books missing since the Second World War
Sotheby's assisted the return of the books, including 11 medieval manuscripts, which were found in Belgium
NewsEuropean Union
EU adopts new rules on cultural heritage imports
Regulation is designed to protect against smuggling and cut off a source of terrorist financing
NewsRestitution
Indigenous human remains returned to Australia by five German institutions
Australia is pursuing further repatriations from Germany, ambassador says
PreviewGermany
New Berlin exhibition exposes Emil Nolde’s Nazi ties
Show at the Hamburger Bahnhof explores how the German artist hid behind Hitler's "degenerate" label
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Weimar—birthplace of Bauhaus—opens new museum dedicated to the influential design school
On the same day, the nearby Neues Museum Weimar will open a new permanent exhibition on early Modernism
NewsSponsorship
Jewish Museum Berlin says it would no longer accept Sackler family donations
But the Sackler Staircase in the museum will keep its name
NewsContemporary art
German art collective under investigation by state prosecutor
Zentrum für politische Schönheit sees artistic freedom under attack
NewsPrivate Museums
Software billionaire plans to turn decaying Potsdam restaurant into museum for East German art
Hasso Plattner also plans to put his Impressionist works on permanent display in his Barberini Museum
NewsErnst Ludwig Kirchner
Norwegian foundation bought $22m Kirchner that the Guggenheim restituted last year
Painting acquired for Oslo's National Gallery was bought at auction from heirs of Jewish dealer persecuted by the Nazis
NewsMuseums
Angela Merkel to open James Simon Galerie in Berlin
The entrance building to Museum Island is the German capital’s answer to the Louvre Pyramid
NewsRestitution
Panel urges return of Hitler’s Bellotto paintings to heirs of Jewish retail magnate
German advisory commission on Nazi-looted art says paintings in government collection should be restituted to the descendants of Max James Emden
NewsYoko Ono
Yoko Ono requests photographs of women's eyes for Leipzig retrospective
The exhibition opening in April at the Museum of Fine Arts is billed as the artist’s biggest-ever solo show in Germany
InterviewArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
David Chipperfield on his design for West Bund Art Museum in Shanghai
The UK architect talks about working in China and the decline of its "funny-shaped" buildings
NewsNazi loot
German cathedral returns Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master to heirs
Dutch Square is one of many paintings Bavaria returned to the families of the looters instead of the original Jewish owners after the war
FeatureAuctions
Going, going, gone online: Europe's auction houses go digital
Online-only auctions may tend to focus on the lower end of the market, but they are key to expanding clientele. We survey ten auction houses to find out their strategy
NewsObituaries
Okwui Enwezor, curator of Documenta and Venice Biennale, has died aged 55
Enwezor inspired a global, inclusive view of art history
NewsCornelius Gurlitt
Signac painting in Gurlitt hoard identified as Nazi loot
Restitution discussions with descendants of Jewish owner are underway
NewsRestitution
Culture ministers from 16 German states agree to repatriate artefacts looted in colonial era
Joint declaration is “a statement of historical responsibility,” says Culture Minister Monika Grütters
NewsRestitution
Dutch museums take initiative to repatriate colonial-era artefacts
Rijksmuseum opens talks with Sri Lanka, ethnology museums publish guidelines
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Austrian exhibition to reveal story of Wolfgang Gurlitt, art dealer for the Nazis turned museum director
Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz confronts the legacy of its controversial first director, cousin of Hildebrand Gurlitt
NewsAuction
Van Ham to auction 4,000 contemporary works from SØR Rusche collection
Dutch Old Masters in the retailer’s corporate collection are to be sold at Sotheby’s
NewsSyria
Berlin's Pergamonmuseum reveals the crowdsourced archive preserving Syria's war-torn heritage
New exhibition presents documents that lay the foundations for reconstruction of Aleppo and other sites ruined by civil war
NewsAdolf Hitler
Faking Hitler: the story behind a sinister market
Despite the failure of five of the dictator-to-be’s watercolours to sell at auction last month, a market for his works—both real and forged—remains
PreviewExhibitions
Burst of Venetian colour in largest show of Titians in Germany
Exhibition about the Venetian Renaissance at Frankfurt’s Städel Museum also includes works by Giovanni Bellini and Jacopo Tintoretto
NewsDocumenta
Documenta appoints Indonesian artists cooperative Ruangrupa to lead 15th edition
Group says it will focus on urban structures in Kassel with links to other sites
NewsIvory
Frankfurt museum acquires more than 200 ivory sculptures
Liebieghaus sculpture museum says the acquisition of Reiner Winkler’s collection is the largest in its history
NewsArt market
European Parliament calls for restitution overhaul
Resolution includes proposals for database of looted art, support for provenance research and exemptions from statutes of limitations
NewsCensorship
Ai Weiwei’s contribution to Berlin movie scrapped amid censorship fears
“It was infuriating to find our involvement had been erased,” Ai says
NewsNazi loot
Max Stern: dealer's heirs still fighting for looted art justice
With works from the forced liquidation of his gallery by the Nazis still regularly turning up in Germany, two current restitution claims by his heirs could have major ramifications for all those seeking to recover looted art
NewsFakes & copies
Nuremberg prosecutor seizes 63 Hitler works from auction house on forgery suspicions
Twenty-six of the seized works were to be auctioned at Auktionshaus Weidler tomorrow
NewsLoot
Heirs of Baron Herzog continue battle for Nazi-looted art collection despite US Supreme Court dismissal
Decades-long case to reclaim works held in Hungary’s museums will now go through US District Court
NewsGalerie Bastian
Galerie Bastian opens new venues in London and Berlin
Former David Chipperfield-designed premises has been donated to Berlin's heritage foundation
NewsRestitution
Germany allocates €1.9m for museums to research colonial-era acquisitions
An eight-member panel including Bénédicte Savoy will assess grant applications
NewsFakes & copies
Hitler watercolours seized as suspected fakes
Three landscapes signed A. Hitler were offered for sale at Berlin’s Auktionshaus Kloss
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Dresden ballroom returns to gilded glory as part of €300m palace reconstruction
Residential Palace complex, a casualty of Allied bombing in the Second World War, is due to be rebuilt by 2021
NewsDigitisation
Romani arts and culture make online debut in new digital archive
RomArchive aims to pool knowledge and counter clichés
NewsPolitics
Germany and France to establish joint culture institutes
First four institutes to be set up in Rio de Janeiro, Bishkek, Erbil and Palermo
NewsBanksy
Shredded Banksy work to go on long-term loan to Stuttgart museum
Love Is in the Bin will be shown among works by Rembrandt, Holbein, Marcel Duchamp and Picasso
PreviewExhibitions
More to Viennese Modernism than Klimt and Schiele: new show on forgotten female artists
Organisers had to delve deep into the Belvedere archives and visit artist's descendants to assemble the exhibition
NewsMuseums
Munich's Haus der Kunst, leaderless since June, appoints expert commission
Commission is to support curators until successor to Okwui Enwezor is found
FeatureBauhaus
Germany celebrates 100 years of Bauhaus with a bonanza of museum openings and exhibitions
From newly conserved buildings and puppet shows to virtual-reality installations and ballet, across the country the German school is finally getting its due
NewsBanksy
German museum to show shredded Banksy work
Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden aims to make the work “accessible to as many people as possible”
NewsRestitution
Dutch policy on Nazi-loot restitutions under fire
The “smallest and most chilling distinctions are being made in order to allow museums to keep their collections intact,” experts say
NewsRestitution report 2018
Scholars call for Berlin centre on colonial-era heritage
Appeal published in Die Zeit welcomes Macron report but says debate should not be limited to restitution
NewsExhibitions
Berlin's 200-year-old replica workshop finds a niche at new Museum Island hub
First-ever exhibition on the Gipsformerei, which copies works for museums and Jeff Koons, will open the James Simon Gallery next summer
PreviewExhibitions
Female artists emerge from shadow cast by Berlin Wall
Exhibition at Dresden's Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau reveals how women in the Eastern Bloc were often more radical than the men
NewsDocumenta 14
Documenta deficit caused by Athens overspending widens to €7.6m in final audit
Shareholders agree to increase funding for the 2022 edition
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Washington Principles: the restitution of Nazi-looted art is still a work in progress, 20 years on
Major conference in Berlin this week marks anniversary of landmark agreement
NewsLouvre Abu Dhabi
Austrian company behind Louvre Abu Dhabi dome is insolvent after non-payment
Spiralling costs of museum project chiefly to blame for bankruptcy, say press reports
NewsAppointments & departures
Sotheby’s Germany chief Philipp von Württemberg resigns
Heinrich von Spreti will serve as interim managing director until a replacement is found
NewsRestitution
Dusseldorf auction house returns Dutch seascape to heirs of Jewish art dealer Max Stern
Auctioneer Frank Hargesheimer compensates consignor, sees “moral duty” to restitute art lost due to Nazi persecution
PreviewExhibitions
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's exotic art was inspired by cabaret, circuses and the travels of fellow artists
New show explores the flights of fancy made by the Expressionist who never ventured outside Germany and Switzerland
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Berlin’s Natural History Museum receives an eye-watering €660m of public funds for rebuild
Vast sum outstrips budget for reconstruction of city’s royal palace and creation of Humboldt Forum
NewsVienna
Austrian culture minister Gernot Blümel ‘is a no-show’, claims opposition
Austrian People’s Party politician has refused to schedule parliamentary culture committee meetings and has overseen a decline in the culture budget
NewsPolitics
Merkel calls for more women in the arts on day she announces exit from politics
The German Chancellor also welcomed debate on colonial-era art at a ceremony in the Humboldt Forum
NewsArt market
Villa Grisebach to sell founder’s collection to raise funds for new Museum of Exile
Two-day auction will include works by Picasso, Matisse, Egon Schiele, collected by Bernd Schultz over six decades
NewsDonations
Vienna’s Albertina museum receives €90m donation of 1,323 works from Essl Collection
Works will be shown in a new home for contemporary art opening next year
NewsMuseums
Nigeria plans museum for art looted from Benin
Benin Dialogue Group announces three-year schedule for new Royal Museum to display looted objects now in European collections
NewsConservation
Graff portrait of Saxon noblewoman shakes off centuries of grime and varnish
Its restorer puts it on display at Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie
NewsRestitution
Sotheby’s to auction Kirchner and Kokoschka paintings returned to Jewish dealer’s heirs
The paintings restituted to family of Alfred Flechtheim carry top estimates of $20m each
InterviewHumboldt Forum
Berlin's Humboldt Forum: how its director plans to confront Germany’s colonial past
Hartmut Dorgerloh says institution will discuss presentation of non-Western art “together with critical friends and the communities”
NewsDocumenta 14
Documenta obelisk, dismantled last week, to remain in Kassel after all
Artist Olu Oguibe accepts alternative location, saying work’s humane message is urgently needed
NewsMuseums
Fire consumes depot at Deutsches Museum
Burned storage depot housed 8,000 exhibits; museum fears “heavy damages”
NewsMuseums
Sweden's Nationalmuseum reopens—and goes free
Government waives charges after funding five-year, £100m refurbishment
FeatureGermany
'Poor but sexy' no more: property boom drives out Berlin's artists
The German capital once attracted talent from across the world with its cheap rents, but gentrification is making an exodus already seen in London and New York
PreviewExhibitions
Largest ever exhibition on Pieter Bruegel the Elder opens in Vienna
Show at the Kunsthistorisches Museum unites more than three-quarters of the artist's paintings
NewsMuseums
Deutsche Bank opens Berlin palace fit for its vast art collection
The Palais Populaire will be a permanent exhibition space for the bank's 55,000 works
NewsRestitution
Swedish museums call for panel to advise on Nazi-loot claims
“It shouldn’t be entirely up to us,” says Daniel Birnbaum, the director of Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which recently restituted a Kokoschka painting
NewsBerlin
Ambitious project to build replica Berlin Wall blocked by city authorities
Russia film-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s giant installation based on 700 hours of film faces insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles
PreviewExhibitions
Berlin blockbuster: from the world's oldest figurative art to sculptures bombed during the war
Survey at Martin-Gropius-Bau boasts a staggering 1,000 exhibits discovered over the past 20 years in Germany
NewsConservation
German court orders restorer to pay dealer €26,000 after eight-year dispute
Munich-based dealer claimed paintings he sent for cleaning had been ruined
NewsArt market
Red tape is stifling German auctions
Stringent cultural heritage laws and bureaucracy are making consignments much harder to find
PreviewExhibitions
Brillo Boxes ‘faked’ by museum director included in new Andy Warhol show
Pop artist's fist institutional exhibition revisited 50 years on at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet
NewsMuseums
Städel Museum publishes oral history of postwar German art
Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz and Kasper König are among more than 70 interviewees in the project, called Café Deutschland