PreviewExhibitions
Playtime: how artists have been unleashing their inner child this summer
From superhero action figures to Chianti-infused treasure hunts and poolside art, exhibitions are exploring the importance of play
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Cologne archaeologists unearth oldest library in Germany
The foundation walls contain niches used to store scrolls
NewsConservation
Berlin restores murals neglected for more than a century
Only ten of the wall paintings—created in housing complexes to offer visual relief from the booming German capital—remain
NewsRestitution
German museum returns tattooed Maori skull to New Zealand
The preserved head was held in Cologne's Rautenstrauch Joest Museum of world cultures for 110 years
NewsCultural policy
German culture budget grows to €1.8bn
Newly-funded projects include abandoned department store that was the set for The Grand Budapest Hotel film
NewsPhotography
Hamburg addresses German genocide in Namibia with photography exhibition
Show of Marc Erwin Babej’s work comes as Namibia calls on Germany to return cultural treasures
NewsArt Basel 2018
Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun teams up with Ikea
Project aims to produce affordable, off-grid tools
NewsRestitution
Angola recovers six artefacts looted from museum during civil war
Dundo Museum's lost objects were traced by the Sindika Dokolo Foundation
NewsAuction houses
Beckmann painting auctioned for record €4.7m in Berlin
Villa Grisebach says price is the highest paid for any work in a German auction
NewsDocumenta 14
Dispute erupts over location of Kassel’s Documenta obelisk
Artist Olu Oguibe believes the city caved in to demands from the anti-immigration AfD, which opposes the monument
NewsContemporary art
Gerhard Richter donates 18 works to provide permanent accommodation for the homeless
Sale aims to raise €1m to help buy 100 dwellings
NewsLooted art
Berlin’s Ethnological Museum returns Alaskan grave artefacts looted by explorer
The objects “do not belong in our museums”, says the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
NewsLooted art
Hamburg museum says its Benin bronzes could return to Nigeria—but not yet
Applied arts institution is showing the sculptures in a looted art exhibition
NewsConservation
Damaged art undergoes intensive care in Berlin’s Bode Museum
The institution is using funds from a private foundation to restore works scarred by war
PreviewExhibitions
Spark your wanderlust with a wander through Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie
New exhibition looks at how love of travel was a prominent feature of 19th-century German Romanticism
NewsRestitution
German researchers trace Jewish newspaper mogul’s vast Nazi-looted art collection
The Mosse Art Research Project, a cooperation with the German government, identifies eight works and launches online database
NewsCollectors
Berlin bans collector from exhibiting art in industrial district
Axel Haubrok is fighting zoning restrictions after buying the former premises of the chauffeur service for top East German officials
NewsRestitution
Canadians withdraw from Düsseldorf show about Jewish dealer Max Stern
Max Stern Foundation seeks reimbursement of costs from the German city
NewsLooted art
Germany to fund museum investigations into provenance of colonial-era artefacts
The German Lost Art Foundation, which also looks into Nazi-loot, will allocate the government grants
PreviewExhibitions
Turkmenistan sends treasures to Berlin in diplomatic move
Bronze Age artefacts from Margiana go on show at the Neues Museum
NewsGallery Weekend Berlin
From Gerhard Richter to Dürer: Christie’s to showcase German art and collecting during Berlin Gallery Weekend
Exhibition targeted at Old Master collectors will not compete with the contemporary art event, auction house says
News
Cranach portrait stolen almost 80 years ago returns to heirs of Jewish banker
Christie’s to auction portrait of John Frederick the Magnanimous in New York next month
NewsAppointments
Hartmut Dorgerloh nominated to head Berlin’s Humboldt Forum
If appointed, Dorgerloh, who currently manages the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, will replace the three founding directors
NewsPublic art
Beer and bread rolls for a vandalised sculpture in Münster
City residents aim to raise €1.2 million for Nicole Eisenman’s Sketch for a Fountain
NewsAcquisitions
Dresden receives gift of 1,200 contemporary works from private collector Erika Hoffmann
Gift includes Polke, Warhol, Twombly, Emin, Tillmans
NewsAcquisitions
Widow of Hitler’s art dealer, Erhard Göpel, bequeaths Max Beckmann works to Berlin
Initial research into provenance 'gave no concrete cause for suspicion that these works were looted', Berlin State Museums says
NewsRestitution
Berlin Museums chief calls for rules on restitution of colonial artefacts
Hermann Parzinger has global support for the equivalent of Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated art for objects from former colonies
NewsArt market
Düsseldorf gears up for the battle of the photography festivals
Düsseldorf Photo Weekend kicks off its seventh edition on 16 February
NewsCultural policy
Germany to set up help desk for victims of abuse in creative industries
Announcement comes ahead of Berlin Film Festival which will have sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination in the performing arts as central theme
PreviewExhibitions
Rubens and the works that inspired him brought together at Städel Museum
Flemish master had access to art from across the ages and assiduously reworked drawings by other artists
NewsConservation
Boris Johnson related to mummy found in Basel crypt
Corpse is identified as Anna Catharina Bischoff, who is great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of British foreign secretary
NewsDocumenta 14
Kassel launches funding campaign for Documenta obelisk
The work by Olu Oguibe calls for hospitality towards refugees
PreviewExhibitions
Birthday bash for Baselitz as he turns 80
Simultaneous exhibitions dedicated to German artist open in Basel
NewsAfrican art
Paris's Dapper Foundation stalls talks over Cameroonian sculpture
Known as the Bangwa Queen, the object was either given to or looted by the German colonial agent Gustav Conrau
NewsRestitution
Düsseldorf faces Nazi-era claim for Franz Marc’s foxes
Painting hangs in the city’s Museum Kunstpalast
NewsConservation
Lasers and water gel used to restore Medieval altarpiece from Rimini
The treatment of Frankfurt’s Liebieghaus museum's fragile alabaster ensemble could pave the way for future loans
NewsCarsten Höller
Carsten Höller to build slide for Bonn Bundeskunsthalle
Installation will form part of an exhibition on playgrounds
NewsExhibitions
Qatar brings desert sands to snowy Berlin
Contemporary Art Qatar transcends cultural boundaries at the Kraftwerk
NewsRestitution
Germany names new head of Nazi-looted art panel
Hans-Jürgen Papier fills post held by Jutta Limbach until her death last year
NewsCultural policy
Germany plans mega-exhibitions to boost cultural presence abroad
Government initiative to co-ordinate museum loans worldwide revives an idea of the late Martin Roth
NewsLooted art
Düsseldorf abruptly cancels exhibition about Jewish dealer Max Stern
City authorities cite ongoing restitution claims as reason for decision
NewsLooted art
Painting looted from Hitler to be auctioned in Cologne
Van Ham to offer Franz von Stuck portrait in 17 November sale
NewsRestitution
Lord Mayor of London returns Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master
The Oyster Meal, insured for £1.5m, has hung in Mansion House for nearly three decades
PreviewExhibitions
Cornelius Gurlitt’s art hoard finally gets first public showing
Organisers hope two shows will lead to restitution claims from victims of Nazi persecution
NewsCultural policy
Women are under-represented and underpaid in German arts, study finds
While the country has made progress in providing childcare, it still remains an obstacle
NewsRestitution
Painting in Gurlitt hoard identified as Nazi loot—thanks to a tiny repair hole
Portrait by Thomas Couture belonged to a French politician who opposed the Nazis
NewsConservation
King Frederick I of Prussia’s bed gets the royal treatment in Berlin
Monarch’s ceremonial bed has survived many battles
NewsDocumenta 14
Kassel haggles over the price of Documenta 14's obelisk
Olu Oguibe has reportedly asked for €1m for his Monument to Strangers and Refugees
NewsBiennials & festivals
Locals fight to retain Eisenman fountain following Sculpture Projects Münster
Residents are working with artist to create a more durable version of the vandalised work
NewsOld Masters
Christie’s to auction long-lost painting by Mannerist artist Spranger
German private owner reaches settlement with Jewish art historian’s heirs
NewsSculpture Projects Münster
Vandals spray swastika on Sculpture Projects Münster exhibit
Organisers condemn “murderous propaganda of all right-wing parties”
NewsRestoration
Germany stumps up €400m for Prussian palaces and parks
Funding will benefit Potsdam’s Sanssouci and Berlin’s Charlottenburg palaces
NewsArt trafficking
Germany launches internet portal to fight art trafficking
Site gives information on international regulations and protected German heritage
NewsBiennials & festivals
Documenta faces yawning €7m deficit, seeks financial help
Kassel city and the state of Hesse pledge to secure long-term liquidity
InterviewAnne Webber
How can museums speed up the return of art looted during the Nazi era?
Conference at London's National Gallery this week looks at how the process can be accelerated
News
Thieves damage Koki Tanaka work at Sculpture Projects Münster
Police are investigating a burglary in the latest incident of crime at festival
News
Gurlitt bequest spurs provenance research in Switzerland
Kunstmuseum Bern has taken possession of first works from controversial collection of Nazi-era art due to go on show in November
News
Neil MacGregor extends contract at Berlin's Humboldt Forum
The former British Museum chief, appointed as founding director in 2015, will steer the project to completion
News
Dusseldorf museum pulls painting from show after Nazi loot claim
Owner says Andreas Achenbach’s Sicilian Landscape was bought in a “normal gallery transaction”
NewsExhibitions
Kassel to build permanent Documenta Institute
City aims to keep Documenta experience alive in five-year hiatus between shows
NewsCommissions
German parliament approves plan for unification memorial in Berlin
“Unity seesaw” is to be unveiled in 2019 in front of the city palace
News
Renaissance royal costumes sparkle again in Dresden
Preserved by Saxon elders and plundered by Stalin’s Red Army, textiles return to view for first time since Second World War
News
Rare historic coins return to Salzburg Museum 70 years after they were looted
American Numismatic Society purchased the coins with aim of tracing original owner
News
Deutsche Bank plans new culture forum in central Berlin
Building in Unter den Linden expected to open mid-2018
NewsRestitution
Pissarro painting in Gurlitt trove returned to heir of Max Heilbronn
German government researchers say another 150 works in the collection may have been looted