BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
The most famous bedroom in art history: secrets of Van Gogh’s nocturnal life
A story of changing wall colours, a pair of pillows, wartime bombs and the hunt for a lost bed
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
New discoveries about Van Gogh’s olive grove paintings revealed in upcoming Dallas and Amsterdam exhibitions
In Provence, Vincent loved the gnarled trees with a passion that rivalled his beloved sunflowers
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh's $30m riverscape with an absinthe-coloured sky comes up for sale at Christie’s
The story of Le Pont de Trinquetaille—with the young female mudlark and the ruffians from the red-light district
NewsRestitution
Scottish university claims Benin bronze bought for £750 is worth £500,000—but is that now really the case?
Aberdeen University is returning its looted 18th-century oba head to the Nigerian federal government
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s unknown period: his life in a remote Dutch heathland region
A new study and a 2023 exhibition will reveal how Vincent’s art developed in Drenthe—an escape from city life and his lover Sien
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
David Hockney follows in Van Gogh’s footsteps, painting fleeting spring blossom
Martin Gayford’s book pays tribute to Britain’s greatest living artist before an exhibition at London’s Royal Academy
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?
The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Who bought the €13m Van Gogh? Britain’s second richest family
Montmartre painting was auctioned twice by Sotheby’s, after a bidder failed to have the necessary cash
NewsNazi Germany
We reveal the chilling history of a Nazi tapestry hidden in the Louvre probably made with gold from Jewish victims
The woven hanging bears a slogan from Hitler's Mein Kampf
NewsVisitor Figures 2020
British Museum hit hardest by 2020 lockdown among UK’s big museums
Major UK institutions lost 78% of their visitors due to the pandemic last year, our research reveals
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
The tragedy of Vincent van Gogh’s youngest sister Willemien—a feminist who spent 38 years in an asylum
New book explores the extraordinary story of the three Van Gogh sisters
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
The astonishing tale of how a US vice president’s Van Gogh work ended up in Iran
Vincent’s print—inscribed “At Eternity’s Gate” by the artist—went from Nelson Rockefeller to Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art, a new book by Donna Stein reveals
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
New research reveals how a grasshopper got stuck—leaving its mark in Van Gogh's painting on a summer’s day in Provence
The new Nelson-Atkins Museum catalogue tells the full story of the Olive Trees
NewsNational Gallery
National Gallery London: new details of development plans revealed
A 1960s office block behind the Sainsbury Wing will be demolished to make way for a new building to provide more exhibition space
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Boris Johnson says Van Gogh’s Sunflowers 'lifts the soul'—as the London masterpiece is unveiled in Australia
Britons will have to wait a bit longer to enjoy the painting as Covid-19 delays the National Gallery’s international tour, now on its final stop in Canberra
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Bought for around $1,000, now worth $10m: where was the newly unveiled Van Gogh landscape hidden away?
Montmartre windmill painting is on view with Sotheby’s for the first time since it left the easel
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Pissarro predicted that Van Gogh 'would either go mad or leave the Impressionists far behind'
Fresh evidence of Camille’s admiration for Vincent: an unpublished document reveals he owned the Dutch artist’s portrait of their paintseller friend Père Tanguy
NewsBuilding projects
'Building on our strengths': National Gallery London unveils plans for £25m upgrade
Refurbishment, to be partly completed for the museum's 200th anniversary in 2024, will encompass the lobby of the Sainsbury Wing, a new research centre and improved outdoor space
NewsBritish Museum
British Museum hires curator to research history of its collection, also covering contested objects such as the Parthenon Marbles
"Issues such as the role of the slave trade and empire… will be relevant to some of the research undertaken," a museum spokeswoman says
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Hockney and Van Gogh paintings meet in Houston for exhibition on the joys of nature
Despite Covid-19, the show will open with works now safely flown across the Atlantic
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Seller of $92m Botticelli also collected Van Gogh
Sheldon Solow’s Rhône riverscape is worth $40m—but what will happen to it now that the billionaire New York collector has died?
NewsFakes and forgeries
Expert warned Getty Museum that its newly purchased Gauguin sculpture was a fake, new article reveals
The Los Angeles institution confirmed the work was not authentic last year
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s Japanese girl could fetch record $10m at auction
A Provençal drawing coming up at Christie’s New York is based on a painting in Washington, DC
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Is Van Gogh hiding at the back of this Toulouse-Lautrec drawing?
In this rare depiction of Vincent, now in a Hiroshima museum, he is observing a raucous cabaret in Paris
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
A lost Van Gogh self-portrait had the most extraordinary frame that included his much-loved sunflowers—here it is reconstructed
The painting—which went missing in a German salt mine during the war—was given a gilded frame with swirling lines
NewsPablo Picasso
This Picasso photo puzzle has stumped experts. Can you help solve it?
The identity of those posing with the master remains a mystery a century after the picture was taken
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Treats for Van Gogh fans in 2021: exhibitions, museum openings and books
We look ahead at the events to enjoy this year—assuming coronavirus doesn't scupper them
NewsOpenings
Art in 2021—treats include Dürer blockbuster, new Munch museum and Caravaggio anniversary
Influential works by Duchamp, Picasso and Mondrian also celebrate centenary this year
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Barbra Streisand just bought a Van Gogh painting—once owned by Penthouse boss Bob Guccione—for a cool $4.5m
Californian-based singer and actress, now 78, has long collected art and design, starting with a Matisse in 1964
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Why the Van Gogh Museum might never have existed—new research reveals how the family collection was nearly sold off
In 1911, the Kröller-Müller couple tried to acquire 200 of Vincent’s paintings and 600 drawings
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Victoria and Albert museum to close for two days a week due to coronavirus financial crunch
Visitor numbers will take years to recover with a drastic impact on income, the London institution reports
NewsTate Britain
Rex Whistler’s Tate Britain restaurant mural is ‘offensive’, ethics committee says, threatening closure
Tate now faces the dilemma of what to do with a room decorated by a major early 20th-century artist
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Poignant Van Gogh watercolour of a windmill coming up for sale
Sheltering from a rainstorm at the mill, Vincent and his brother Theo made a teenage pact
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Hunt still on for a Van Gogh self-portrait lost deep in a salt mine during the Second World War
The Magdeburg masterpiece may have been burned at the end of hostilities—but some believe it might have been looted and survive
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
A separated pair: the story behind Van Gogh’s famed empty chairs
An insight into what the two paintings reveal about Vincent's life with Gauguin in the Yellow House
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Did alcohol withdrawal really cause Van Gogh’s mental crises?
Vincent was allowed 42 units of wine at the asylum—three times more than today’s recommended limit
NewsMuseums
First look at David Adjaye's planned museum for Benin City
Ghanaian-born London architect is working with the British Museum and Nigerian organisations to show “the most comprehensive display in the world of Benin Bronzes”
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
New book solves the mystery of Van Gogh's lost harmonium portrait
Vincent scrunched up a study for a second portrait of Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of his Auvers doctor
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Two Van Gogh fakes in Washington? Strong evidence produced against early drawings at the National Gallery of Art
Revelations in new book about an attic discovery throw fresh light on Vincent’s decision to become an artist
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
In a moving letter, Van Gogh complains about quarantine after his forced removal from the Yellow House
New exhibition at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is a unique opportunity to see Vincent’s correspondence, normally locked away in a vault
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Coveted Van Gogh bouquet to be sold at Sotheby's New York, valued at $18m
Chequered past: from the Bear Skin to the Nazis, a once-restituted painting is now coming up for auction
NewsMuseums
Scottish museum joins Tate in cutting ties with dealer Anthony d’Offay
Hundreds of works will be returned following harassment allegations dating back to 1997
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Gauguin and Van Gogh: their shared love of Japan revealed
“Beautiful women” in Gauguin’s rediscovered manuscript are now identified as by Kunisada—Vincent’s favourite Japanese printmaker
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Gauguin claims credit for Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: the revelations of a rediscovered manuscript
In Avant et Après—just acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery—Gauguin details his tumultuous time with Van Gogh
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Royal Academy of Arts considers selling Michelangelo marble to plug financial hole—and not for the first time
Some academicians argue that instead of cutting almost half of the institution's jobs, it should consider selling the Taddei Tondo—worth several hundred million pounds
ReviewExhibitions
The Big Review: Gauguin and the Impressionists at the Royal Academy of Arts
The London exhibition has many highlights, but viewing this long-planned show is unlike anyone could have envisaged before the coronavirus pandemic
NewsPaul Gauguin
Rediscovered Paul Gauguin manuscript written in his Polynesian hut reveals artist's hidden secrets
Original book with nearly 30 images has been acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery and will go on display next year
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh exhibitions return—exclusive news all the way up to 2024
From olive groves to peat moors: shows coming up in Dallas, Amsterdam, Detroit, Vienna, Assen, Columbus and Santa Barbara
NewsMuseums
Oxford museum removes 'racist' shrunken heads from display after 80 years
Exhibiting Tsantsas "reinforced racist and stereotypical thinking that goes against the museum’s core values,” says the Pitt Rivers Museum's director
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Which is the only museum in the world actively buying up Van Goghs? It’s in the hometown of Hieronymus Bosch
The Noordbrabants Museum’s latest acquisition is Head of a Woman, bought privately for €1.6m through Christie’s
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Art for the People: how a Van Gogh masterpiece ended up in an English village hall
In 1935 Samuel Courtauld lent Peach Blossoms to bring major paintings to the countryside—an inspiration for today
NewsBritish Museums
UK museums are back open—but visitors are staying away
Our data shows that most major London art museums had many available booking slots for next-day entry despite operating reduced capacity
NewsDiscoveries
A real Rembrandt? Study shows painting banished to storeroom is either by his studio or the master himself
A recent examination of the wood panel reveals that it is from the same Baltic oak tree as the panel of an authenticated work by the Dutch artist
NewsFakes & copies
Two US museums plan to investigate their Gauguins after amateur art sleuth says they are fake
French-born Gauguin enthusiast Fabrice Fourmanoir correctly identified a fake in the J. Paul Getty Museum’s earlier this year
NewsVincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh detective discovers exact spot of artist's last work, painted just hours before his suicide
The spot—in a village north of Paris—now has a plaque linking it to Vincent's death
NewsPrizes
Five museums will share £200,000 as Art Fund reboots 2020 prize to battle coronavirus crisis
Museum of the Year prize has been changed from £140,000 awards and the shortlist will be announced in October
NewsMuseums
UK museums face far bigger revenue drop than reported
Creative Industries Federation originally estimated a coronavirus fall of only 9%, but now says it will be 45%
Newscoronavirus
London’s Southbank Centre will make up to two thirds of its staff redundant due to Covid-19
But Hayward Gallery is expected to reopen in August
NewsExhibitions
Return of a blockbuster: delayed Artemisia Gentileschi show to open on 3 October at London's National Gallery
Exhibition will include the never previously exhibited transcript of the Rome trial when Artemisia accused a fellow artist of rape
NewsMuseums
UK museum leaders distance themselves from controversial Creative Industries Federation's report on coronavirus impact
The Art Newspaper questions the federation’s 9% fall in revenue this year, suggesting it is more likely to be around 50%
NewsUnited Kingdom
Museums still under financial pressure despite UK’s £1.57bn rescue package for the arts
National cultural institutions and English Heritage will receive £100m, making up half the losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic
NewsMuseums
National Gallery will be first major London museum to reopen after coronavirus closure
Visitors will be requested to wear masks and stay two-metres apart from 8 July
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh held hostage: private detective tells us he has more photographs
Will Arthur Brand’s images of the stolen painting lead to a recovery?
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Courtauld Gallery acquires watercolour by A.S. Hartrick—friend and portraitist of Van Gogh and Gauguin
“Tall, dark, rather handsome”, his description of Gauguin in Breton garb
NewsMuseums
'Alarmingly at odds with reality': museum directors attack Creative Industries Federation's report on impact of coronavirus
Report estimates virus is causing 9% drop in revenue, but chairman of the UK National Museum Directors’ Council says 50% loss is more accurate
Newscoronavirus
UK creative industries face 'a cultural catastrophe'—but museums may not be hit as hard
New report by Oxford Economics predicts that the culture sector will lose 30% of its revenue due to Covid-19
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Dutch villa, which once housed nearly a thousand Van Goghs, under threat of demolition
The fate of the 1901 home in the oak garden is in the balance
NewsMuseums & Heritage
In numbers: the visitors, ticket sales and fundraising revenue UK national museums can expect as they reopen
We do the sums as the culture sector plans to get back to business
NewsJohannes Vermeer
Unknown masterpiece? Picture 'likely' based on lost Vermeer to be unveiled in Antwerp
A Young Woman with a Wine Glass and a Musician playing a Tenor Recorder could be a copy of a work by the great Dutch painter
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Only joint letter from Van Gogh and Gauguin—recording their brothel visits—comes up for sale
Vincent describes his artist friend as having the “instincts of a wild beast”
InterviewMaria Balshaw
London's Tate museums set to open early August—here's how it will work
Director of the Tate, Maria Balshaw, tells us about financial concerns, coordinating openings with other institutions, and how many visitors they are expecting
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Now stuck in Japanese lockdown, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers will not return to UK until next summer
Londoners will have to wait even longer to see the National Gallery’s 60 touring masterpieces
NewsExhibitions
London's National Gallery extends Titian and delays Raphael blockbusters amid Covid-19 crisis
The museum is expected to reopen in July or August
NewsMuseums
London’s Southbank Centre may stay closed until April next year due to massive financial pressure
Arts centre, which includes the Hayward Gallery, has already used up its reserves amid the coronavirus crisis
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Executed by the Nazis: the story of Vincent van Gogh’s brave great-nephew
This month the Van Gogh family pays tribute to Theodoor, the 24-year-old student who faced a firing squad in 1945
NewsUK politics
UK government appoints commissioner to get culture sector 'back up and running'
Neil Mendoza is heading up a taskforce to help revive the arts after the coronavirus pandemic
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh Museum to reopen on 1 June, but with only a tenth of its usual visitors
Closure is having a catastrophic impact on the finances of the museum, which normally gets half its income from ticket sales
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
The astonishing tales of how the Sunflowers survived the Second World War
To mark VE Day, we investigate the fate of Van Gogh’s masterpieces under Hitler and Churchill
NewsAntiquities
Two trunkloads of fake Iraqi antiquities seized by UK customs
The international market is now “absolutely awash” with forgeries, says British Museum curator who examined the hoard
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Home sweet home: renting the Yellow House, the high point of Van Gogh’s life
Vincent’s sunny abode had a spare bedroom, awaiting Gauguin’s arrival
Newscoronavirus
Royal Academy of Arts cancels Angelica Kauffman and Paul Cézanne exhibitions amid coronavirus crisis
As the London institution announces its revised exhibition schedule, we reveal the international knock-on effect triggered by the changes
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh experienced lockdown—how did isolation impact on his art?
The artist once told his sister that isolation was “sometimes as hard to bear as exile”—but was necessary “if we want to work”
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Did Van Gogh cut off his whole ear? Or only a part?
Key witnesses had different memories, so sorting out myth and reality is a challenge—but the truth would give valuable insight into the artist’s psyche
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
A concise guide to Van Gogh’s adult life: how the artist celebrated his birthday over the years
From family gifts of cufflinks and chocolate to his darker days in the asylum, a look at where Vincent was and what he was doing on 30 March each year
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
In recent decades 28 Van Goghs have been stolen in the Netherlands—but all have been recovered
Detectives are intensifying their investigation into the latest crime, at Laren’s Singer museum, which was committed this week on the artist’s birthday
NewsVincent Van Gogh
How Van Gogh’s handwritten texts were tragically chopped up
The artist copied poems and hymns into an album that belonged to his London landlady; our investigations reveal that, around 100 years later, an unknown perpetrator cut the pages into pieces in order to make a quick buck
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s trusty pipe: how the artist believed that smoking helped his art
Vincent lay in bed, puffing away and dreamily composing his pictures
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s theory on Degas’s success with female nudes
A three-volume set of The Letters of Edgar Degas—including ten with references to the Van Gogh brothers—is due to be published in April
NewsTitian
Titian’s poesie reunited at London's National Gallery—but is it with the right Danaë?
Renaissance specialists are divided as to which painting is the one commissioned by Philip II of Spain: the one at London's Apsley House or the one at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid
BlogVincent Van Gogh
Tacita Dean’s ancestors brought a Van Gogh painting to England in 1896—now she wants to track it down
The UK artist is on the hunt for the Parisian restaurant scene, now with a secretive Texan collector
Newscoronavirus
Tate Modern employee tests positive for coronavirus
London museum says staff member does not work in a front-of-house role and all affected areas have been deep cleaned
NewsRhodesian Man
Zambia claims Rhodesian Man, the 250,000-year-old fossilised skull at London’s Natural History Museum
Negotiations are ongoing, but the Foreign Office says releasing 1972 documents on the claim “would harm UK relations with Zambia”
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Almost burned on a bonfire and then hidden behind a door for years—rediscovered Van Gogh landscape goes on sale at Tefaf Maastricht
New York’s Hammer Galleries has priced the Paris park scene at $10m-$12m
NewsDiscoveries
Unknown Dürer drawing to be sold by London dealer
One of very few examples in private hands, the work from an American collection is coming to the market via Agnews
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Great lovers of Van Gogh: Swiss couple's private collection goes on show in Vienna
The Albertina mounts a display of the Hahnloser’s relatively unknown treasures
Newscoronavirus
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers caught up in Tokyo coronavirus quarantine
Japanese government instructs national art museums to close for two weeks — shutting the door on London’s National Gallery travelling show, on the eve of opening
NewsVincent Van Gogh
British Museum shows its only Van Gogh portrait for the first time
The etched portrait of Dr Gachet, who tended to the artist after he shot himself, was donated by the doctor's son
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
A Van Gogh and a Monet: you win one and lose another
The Dutchman’s newly attributed Oslo self-portrait is unveiled in an Amsterdam exhibition, while the Frenchman’s bohemian portrait suffers a downgrading