NewsRestitution
Dutch museum settles with Jewish businessman's heirs on painting sold in Nazi era, defying government panel
The agreement overturns the Restitution Committee's 2013 rejection of the claim, which argued the painting was worth more to the museum than the heirs
NewsRestitution
UCLA’s Fowler Museum to reach out to Nigeria about returning its Benin bronzes
As restitution momentum builds, director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art says it could lead discussions for the return of looted Benin objects in US museum collections
InterviewExhibitions
Humboldt Forum to show Britain’s 1897 violence and plunder in Benin exhibition next year
The exhibition will include around half of Berlin’s collection of Benin bronzes as Germany lays groundwork to return them to Nigeria
NewsRestitution
German Nazi-looted art panel recommends return of Franz Marc’s Foxes to heirs of Jewish banker
The decision on whether to return the painting, which hangs in Dusseldorf’s Kunstpalast, will be made by the city assembly in April
NewsRestitution
German culture minister seeks 'national strategy' on Benin bronzes, including restitution
Monika Grütters says she will meet museum directors and trustees next month
NewsBenin Bronzes
University of Aberdeen to return Benin bronze looted by British troops to Nigeria
The sculpture of an oba’s head was “acquired in a way that we now consider to have been extremely immoral,” the university says
NewsRestitution
‘The movement is unstoppable’: African scholars and activists hail German plan to return Benin bronzes
“There is simply no moral ground for the confiscation of African artefacts in Western museums,” says the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe
PreviewExhibitions
Birthday Beuys: Stuttgart kicks off Joseph Beuys centenary events and exhibitions
Exhibition at Staatsgalerie revisits the artist's curated opening of the museum's new building, while 20 other institutions are planning shows on the artist
NewsRestitution
Germany moves towards full restitution of Benin bronzes
The head of the German foreign ministry’s culture department visited Nigeria last week for discussions with the Edo State Governor
NewsMuseums
Museums in Poland and Germany forced to close—again—as third pandemic wave hits Europe
Some countries are operating a system based on regional coronavirus case numbers while others have gone into full lockdown
NewsMuseums
Gerhard Richter to loan Holocaust works—that he vowed never to sell—to new Berlin museum
Loan of over 100 works to future museum of Modern art encompasses Richter’s Birkenau series, the fruit of a decades-long quest for an artistic response to the Holocaust
NewsArt market
Berlin dealer Johann König opens new space in Seoul
Opening next month, the new space will include a sculpture garden on a roof terrace
NewsRestitution
Forging ahead with historic restitution plans, Dutch museums will launch €4.5m project to develop a practical guide on colonial collections
Researchers will consider “various modes of return” for museum objects and how the process can help to reconcile with colonial past
NewsObituaries
Paul Klee’s grandson Alexander Klee, artist and arts patron, dies aged 80
Bern's Zentrum Paul Klee will devote an exhibition to the artist this summer
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s to auction Karl Lagerfeld’s collection in Monaco
The fashion designer, who died in 2019, was an enthusiastic collector of art and design
NewsMuseums
'It feels slightly surreal!' German museums can open from Monday—but with complicated caveats
In a surprise ruling, the government prioritises museum openings ahead of restaurants and sports facilities
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Swiss museums can reopen from 1 March as country eases lockdown restrictions
Fondation Beyeler will shows Arp and Rodin while Kunstmuseum Bern has a show on Latin American political art
NewsHeritage
Bavarian frescoes are confirmed to be among the oldest in northern Europe
New examinations of John the Baptist wall paintings in Augsburg cathedral date them to more than 1,000 years ago
NewsPorcelain
'Rarest' royal Chinese porcelain bowl—at least 900 years old—discovered in Dresden state collection
It is the 88th known surviving piece of Ru ceramic, one of which sold for $37.7m at Sotheby's in 2017
NewsRestitution
German Nazi loot panel urges return of Schiele work at Museum Ludwig to Jewish dentist’s heirs
In a unanimous decision, the government’s advisory commission says it is likely the work was sold under duress
NewsRestitution
Germany proposes law change to ease Nazi-loot returns from private foundations
Law change follows refusal by some foundations to restitute property lost due to Nazi persecution
NewsGermany
Germany doubles pandemic aid for arts with an extra €1 billion funding
Some galleries received funding in the first package for exhibitions they can’t open in lockdown
NewsRestitution
Netherlands takes lead in Europe’s efforts to return artefacts to former colonies
The Dutch government adopts a committee’s “radical” guidelines, putting it at the forefront of European efforts to return colonial-era museum acquisitions
NewsImports and Exports
Roman bust seized in Germany after confusion around import laws for artefacts in transit
The bronze was taken because German law requires archaeological objects have export licences from the country of origin—but it was only travelling through to Austria from the US
NewsRestitution
German panel urges restitution of a Heckel painting to the heirs of a Jewish journalist persecuted by the Nazis
Heirs plan to donate the work to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
NewsHolocaust
Babyn Yar: site where 100,000 victims were shot by Nazis to get one of world’s largest Holocaust memorial centres
“We do not want to create a big building that sits heavily” on this sensitive ground, says Robert Jan Van Pelt, one of the minds behind the project in Ukraine
NewsNazi loot
An arms dealer casts a shadow over Kunsthaus Zurich
Petition calls for more transparency in planned display of the collection of Emil Georg Bührle, who bought Nazi-looted art with a fortune built on weapons
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