France

Musée D'Orsay ordered by Paris court to return four masterpieces by Renoir, Cézanne and Gauguin stolen during Second World War

The works were owned by influential French dealer Ambroise Vollard and will be returned to his heirs

France makes art inroads in Saudi Arabia with Centre Pompidou project allegedly on the horizon

The outpost would be the gallery's latest international satellite and the latest of many France-driven arts initiative in the Middle Eastern country

Paris auction house Artcurial reports best year of sales—despite a downturn in trade of 20th- and 21st-century art

A record year for the French market was shored up by a particularly strong crop of Old Master work

And they’re off—France, Estonia and Lithuania first to announce artists for 2024 Venice Biennale

Caribbean-born Julien Creuzet and sculptor Edith Karlson will fly the flag at the 60th edition of the exhibition

New book on Martine de Béhague shines light on a great collector who turned to art as solace for personal loss

The first scholarly study of a true dilettante of Old Masters, antiquities and new works, reveals an indomitable, questing soul

Climate activists target billionaire François Pinault's private collection in Paris

Demonstrators poured orange paint over the US artist Charles Ray's Horse and Rider

Who added the pearl on Musée d’Orsay's Paul Gauguin sculpture? Diary reveals it was not the artist

Jewel that gives its name to an 1892 Tahitian carving was added to the work years after the French artist’s death, researcher discovers

Feeling fragile? Lyon Biennale returns after a three-year break and forges ties to the city and its past

Works by more than 200 artists are on show across French city, in sites that range from Renaissance courtyards to a former household appliance factory

French art dealer Didier Wormser stands trial for trafficking looted Egyptian antiquities

Owner of L’Etoile d’Ishtar gallery said artefacts from Saqqara necropolis “should be restituted to Egypt” but insists he purchased them in good faith

Booksreview

New book reveals how women artists in the 'Age of Revolutions' confound stereotypes

This statistics-driven investigation shows that many of the hundreds of women exhibiting in London and Paris between 1760 and 1830 eschewed the still-life

Antiquities trafficking case escalates as Louvre Abu Dhabi joins civil action and Swiss collector files criminal complaint

In wake of scandal involving former Louvre director, France's culture minister forms taskforce to assess acquisitions procedures at museums

Eight men accused of stealing a Banksy from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris go on trial

The crooks removed the mural that was painted on an emergency exit door of the Parisian concert hall, though there is disagreement over who ordered the theft

What has happened to France’s grand plans to return Africa's heritage?

Five years ago President Macron took the museum world by surprise when he announced a then-revolutionary restitution plan. Now the country’s politicians are at odds about how to implement it

President Macron appoints Rima Abdul Malak as France’s new minister of culture

Culture pass, restitution issues and metaverse will be on her agenda

Podcastspodcast

Macron wins: what now for the French art scene?

Plus, Walter Sickert at Tate Britain and Gordon Parks at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

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Politicsanalysis

French elections: what's at stake for culture and the arts?

As Macron and Le Pen face off in the second round of the presidential battle, cultural policy is likely to continue taking a back seat

French pavilion: Once-banned movie about Algerian war of independence inspires cinematic installation

Artist Zineb Sedira puts Algerian film under the spotlight, as country marks 60 years as a sovereign state

Loansnews

France seeks to protect Russia's Morozov collection from seizure as masterpieces return home

Works were on loan to a blockbuster exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris

Versailles restores Royal Tennis Court—where French democracy was founded—to its former glory

Modern-day politicians in France's National Assembly helped to crowdfund the €1.8m restoration at the Château de Versailles

French museums survived a drastic fall in tourism but may face uphill struggle as state support dries up

France’s status as a honeypot for tourists from Asia and the US has taken a huge hit, from which its cultural institutions are still reeling. Now the country’s museums hope that French and European visitors can restore their finances

French museums rally to protect art collections in Ukraine with truckload of emergency supplies

A delivery of 15 tonnes of donated packing and conservation materials was organised by Icom France

Rising sea levels imperil French church that inspired the Impressionists, including Monet

Coastal erosion in Normandy means that the Saint-Valery church in Varengeville-sur-Mer may soon disappear

France launches €1m fund to help Ukrainian and ‘dissident Russian’ artists fleeing war

Culture ministry initiative will offer three-month residencies and an emergency telephone service

Restitutionanalysis

Why Macron's radical promise to return African treasures has stalled

Four years after a landmark pledge to hand back colonial loot, French government has opposed a new restitution bill backed by the Senate

Rediscovered Bernhard Strigel painting found in a Toulouse home expected to sell for up to €800,000

The panel is thought to be the pair of Strigel's Thurifer Angel, which was bought by the Louvre Abu Dhabi in Paris in 2008

Louvre's attendance last year dropped to 1986 levels

Covid continued to impact on French museum visits, but the government provided a much-needed financial safety net

Booksreview

Remarkable new book reveals the dark side of the Sun King

'The Sun King at Sea' shows how Louis XIV, known for his long reign, and cultural and political power, was also a cruel slave-keeper