NewsArt theft
Five Old Masters return to German castle 40 years after theft
The paintings, including works by Holbein and Hals, were smuggled across the Iron Curtain in the 1980s and recovered in a secret operation last year
NewsRestitution
Berlin restitutes painting to heirs of 'degenerate' artist for the first time
A portrayal of Lot by Hans Baldung Grien was sold to the Gemäldegalerie in 1937 by Hans Purrmann
NewsRestitution
Arts Council England asks for help in returning looted artefacts held in UK museums
Tender opened for guidance around repatriation questions for items including those acquired from former colonies
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s to auction three Nazi-looted works restituted to Jewish collector’s heirs
Two paintings by Signac and one by Pissarro are expected to fetch as much as £20m
NewsRestitution
New evidence cited in restitution claim for Panama Papers Modigliani
Dealer Oscar Stettiner’s grandson says painting, now owned by David Nahmad, was looted by Nazis
NewsArt market
Art Berlin is scrapped due to venue uncertainty and lack of profits
Organiser of German fair describes cancellation as "regrettable"
NewsControversies
German art activists apologise for upsetting Holocaust survivors with monument containing human remains
Centre for Political Beauty concedes “mistakes,” says it will veil monument
NewsControversies
Art activists anger Holocaust survivors with Berlin monument containing ashes
Centre for Political Beauty says action targets conservatives open to allying with far right
NewsConservation & Preservation
Cold War-era mosaic sees light of day again in eastern Germany
Reappearance of a Josep Renau mural hints at a greater acceptance of East German public art
NewsRestitution
Germany returns indigenous remains of 45 ancestors to Australia in 'long overdue step'
Saxon government acknowledges “years of disregard for their dignity and importance to their communities of origin”
NewsJewish Museum Berlin
Hetty Berg is appointed new director of Jewish Museum Berlin
She will take over the German institution following the controversial departure of Peter Schäfer last June
NewsRestitution
German museum acquires Heinrich Campendonk painting after restitution to Jewish collector’s heir
Work once belonged to the shoe manufacturer Alfred Hess, whose family was forced to flee Nazi Germany
NewsArt crime
Thieves steal priceless Baroque jewels from Dresden museum
After breaking in through a window at the Green Vault, the intruders grabbed three royal jewellery ensembles containing diamonds and pearls
NewsBerlin
New Berlin foundation turns AI into immersive art
Light Art Space wants visitors to understand the world through a computer’s eyes
NewsRestitution
Dr Oetker returns painting to heirs of Jewish tobacco dealer murdered by the Nazis
Leo Bendel was killed at Buchenwald three years after he sold the painting by Carl Spitzweg to fund his escape from Nazi Germany
NewsExhibitions
Permanent Documenta exhibition opens at Kassel’s Neue Galerie
The show includes insights into preparations by the Indonesian art cooperative Ruangrupa for the 2022 edition
NewsChina
German art worth €300m disappears in China, media reports
Collector Maria Chen-Tu says she had loaned works by Markus Lüpertz and Anselm Kiefer to a businessman to be shown in museums
NewsMuseums
German parliament approves institute for photographic legacy based in Dusseldorf
Government says institute is necessary to address “considerable backlog in securing the visual memory of our society”
NewsRestitution
France returns a historic sword to Senegal
The gesture is intended as a symbol of France’s commitment to repatriating African heritage
NewsRestitution
George Soros's Open Society Foundations pledges $15m to help Africa recover looted heritage
Paid over four years, it will support efforts made by museums, grassroots-organisations and governments
NewsMuseums
German parliament approves extra costs for Berlin Museum of the 20th Century
The €364m budget is “a real pain threshold,” culture minister says
NewsCollectors
Collector Egidio Marzona buys eastern German castle to host design academy
The property was once home to Paul Schultze-Naumburg, a leading proponent of Nazi cultural policy
NewsRestitution
Bern museum sells $4m Manet painting from Gurlitt art hoard
National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo agrees to buy the painting, Ships at Sea in Stormy Weather
NewsProvenance research
'An invaluable resource' for provenance research: German pre-1945 auction catalogues are published online
The database includes 9,000 catalogues from more than 390 auction houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
NewsRestitution
FBI recovers painting suspected as Nazi loot from US museum
Gari Melchers's painting of a winter landscape, which was in the Arkell Museum in the state of New York, belonged to the media mogul Rudolf Mosse
PreviewExhibitions
Munich exhibition uses X-rays to lay bare Anthony van Dyck's creative methods
Research project conducted by Alte Pinakothek reveals how the Flemish painter developed and reworked his canvases
NewsArt market
'Close to Raphael' Madonna sells for €1.27m at Vienna’s Dorotheum
A leading Italian art historian attributed it to Raphael and associates before the sale
NewsAppointments
Tate’s Andrea Lissoni to lead Munich’s troubled Haus der Kunst
Challenges include financial problems and a major planned renovation
NewsExhibitions
British Museum to borrow the Nebra Sky Disc, the oldest portrayal of the cosmos
The artefact will be the focus of a joint exhibition with the Halle Museum of Prehistory
NewsArt crime
'Prominent' Berlin art dealer arrested on suspicion of fraud
Police has raided seven premises in connection with the investigation
NewsOlafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson will create 'pan-European' work of art for Germany's EU presidency next year
The project, which is to be designed with participation from children and young people, will be supported by the Goethe Institute
NewsColonial art
German states establish help desk to handle artefacts acquired in colonial era
An open letter from scholars and curators, including Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr, demands greater transparency on collections
NewsMuseums
Italy extends Eike Schmidt’s leadership of Uffizi for four years
Sylvain Bellenger is reappointed in Capodimonte, Cristiana Collu remains at Rome Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna
NewsArt market
Is this a Raphael? Madonna and Child painting to be auctioned at Dorotheum in Vienna
The work, previously unknown to scholars, was until now in a private ducal collection
NewsAppointments & departures
Uffizi's Eike Schmidt reveals why he cancelled move to Kunsthistorisches Museum at the eleventh hour
Uffizi director says he is able to pursue reforms at Florence museum under Italy's new centre-left government
NewsAppointments
Uffizi’s Eike Schmidt cancels move to Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
Move comes just one month before the German art historian was due to take the reins of the prestigious museum
NewsRestoration
King of bling’s magnificent home—destroyed by Allied bombing—is recreated in Dresden
Splendid royal state apartments of Augustus the Strong are opening to visitors again after a lavish reconstruction
PreviewExhibitions
Woven conflicts: Hannah Ryggen's fascist-fighting tapestries go on show in Frankfurt
Textile-works showing Nazi prison camps and Mussolini with a spear through his head will feature in first German survey of Swedish artist
NewsOlafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador for climate
The Danish-Icelandic artist has long been addressing environmental issues in his work
NewsRestitution
Namibian artefacts travel home in Berlin museum research project
But return of the objects permanently to Namibia is not the immediate goal, says Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
NewsAustrian politics
Austrian election campaign turns forest art stadium into political battleground
Unveiled earlier this month, Klaus Littmann's tree installation is Austria's biggest ever public work of art
NewsMuseums
Costs soar for Berlin’s planned Museum of the 20th Century
New estimate puts potential cost at €450m versus previous estimate of €200m
NewsRestoration
Restorers discover shield fragment is 1,700 years old, making it the oldest German panel painting
Researchers at the Landesmuseum in Halle found fragments of paint on the ancient wooden object
NewsProtest
Ai Weiwei was not 'thrown out' of Munich’s Haus der Kunst, artist confirms
Activist was demonstrating in support of workers' rights in the face of cost-cutting at the museum
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see during Berlin Art Week
From an artist occupation in an abandoned building to Ai Weiwei's return to his roots
NewsPhotography
Germany plans photography archive to preserve 'visual memory of our society'
Culture minister Monika Grütters enlists international experts to help create a central institution but critics question necessity and feasibility
NewsBauhaus
'Black box' dedicated to Bauhaus opens in Dessau
Museum celebrates the German design school in the city most closely associated with founder Walter Gropius
NewsControversies
Nazi design exhibition at Dutch museum braces for protests
The show called Design of the Third Reich features the Volkswagen Beetle and Riefenstahl’s films
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Kaiser's heir angers German public over huge restitution claims
Demands by the emperor's great-great grandson for the return of thousands of works from two German states threatens the future of at least two museums
NewsGermany
Berlin celebrates fall of the wall with art installations, projections and an app
A week-long festival for the 30th anniversary includes a banner of messages floating near the Brandenburg Gate
NewsMuseum directors
Udo Kittelmann will leave Berlin Nationalgalerie next year
The museum director, who manages five Berlin museums in his current role, will not renew his contract which expires in October 2020
NewsHeritage
Artists demand rethink in rebuilding of Potsdam church where Hitler cemented power
Open letter describes the Garrison Church, damaged in the Second World War, as the symbol of an “unholy alliance” between church, military, and state
NewsRestitution
German Nazi loot panel divided on Max Stern painting—but returns it to his heirs anyway
For first time, advisory team stipulates that work must not be sold for ten years in case evidence emerges that contradicts its ruling
NewsGerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter to donate works for a room devoted to his art in new Berlin museum
Announcement comes after the German artist turned down proposals for his own museum in Cologne
NewsLaw
Family claims quarter share of disputed Isleworth Mona Lisa
The painting, long the subject of an attribution dispute, is now at the centre of a legal conflict over ownership
PreviewExhibitions
Revisiting the 1989 revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall
Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig looks at how East German artists responded to tumultuous times
NewsRestitution
Austria promises to return ancient artefacts to Russia that were taken as war trophies
An Austrian army officer took the 2,000-year-old objects from a war-damaged museum in the port of Temryuk at the end of the Second World War
NewsObituaries
Frieder Burda—leading German collector of Modern masters including Picasso and Pollock—dies aged 83
Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden is home to the philanthropist's collection of around 1,000 works
NewsPolitics
Leipzig exhibition ousts artist with alt-right sympathies
Axel Krause’s support for anti-immigration party AfD was a step too far for the organisers, but others say his exclusion suppresses freedom
NewsNazi loot
Berlin museums appeal to US Supreme Court in dispute over €200m Guelph Treasure
The case 'shouldn't be heard in a US court', argues the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
News
Jewish Museum Berlin director steps down after a tweet misfires
Germany’s Council of Jews said Peter Schäfer “lost the trust of the Jewish community”
NewsHumboldt Forum
Humboldt Forum opening delayed until 2020
The opening festivities were to begin this year, but the final stage of construction is behind schedule
NewsNazi loot
Mass theft of art from East German citizens revealed in new report
Study reveals that up to 8% of museum acquisitions were looted from private citizens
NewsHeritage
Planned cable car attraction over Belgrade historic fortress ‘should be suspended’
Kalemegdan served as a military site for the Roman Empire and is a candidate for Unesco World Heritage status
NewsExhibitions
Exhibition resurrects East Germany's demolished Palast der Republik
Kunsthalle Rostock, the only museum built under the GDR, remembers Berlin's asbestos-riddled parliament building and culture hub
NewsHeritage
Anti-Semitic 'Jewish Sow' relief may be removed from Luther’s church
Medieval sculpture on façade of Unesco World Heritage site in Wittenberg is one of around 30 similar pieces across Europe
NewsRestitution
Netherlands to restitute two paintings sold by Jewish businessman in Nazi era
Restitutions Committee recommends return of two Golden Age works to heirs of Jacob Lierens
NewsArchitecture
Nazi site in Nuremberg to be preserved but not restored
German city launches €85m plan to prevent further decay of infamous rally grounds
News
Czech culture minister resigns amid outrage over dismissals of museum chiefs
Antonin Stanek’s sudden firing of National Gallery director Jiri Fajt sparked international protests and a petition
NewsDiscoveries
Hidden Cupid resurfaces in one of Vermeer’s best-known works after two and a half centuries
Laboratory tests revealed "sensational" discovery that the figure in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was overpainted decades after the artist’s death
NewsVideo, film & new media
Berlin collector turns Nazi-era Luftwaffe building into home for video art
Software entrepreneur Markus Hannebauer opens Fluentum to the public with Dutch artist Guido van der Werve