BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
How a concierge restored 200 Van Gogh paintings, including the Sunflowers
The astonishing tale of Jan Traas, a caretaker and intern conservator in the 1920s, who later worked on Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring
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
PreviewExhibitions
Works by Cézanne, Matisse and Van Gogh from private Swiss collection head to Vienna's Albertina
The Hahnloser Collection paintings are being lent to the Austrian museum while the Winterthur villa where they usually reside undergoes renovations
NewsClaude Monet
Monet for nothing: Musée Marmottan’s ‘self-portrait’ is downgraded
After a long-running debate, the picture, going on show at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam today, has been attributed to Charles Giron
NewsBooks
Monet's beloved pottery cat comes to life in children's book
Story directly inspired by The Art Newspaper’s article on the artists’s Japanese ornament, which sat in the dining room at his Giverny home, will be published in May
NewsKunsthalle Wien
Are three heads better than one? How to run a museum as a collective
Curatorial group WHW (What, How & for Whom), who are joint directors of Vienna’s Kunsthalle, on their experimental approach to museum leadership and exhibitions
NewsRestitution
India asks Ashmolean Museum to return 15th-century bronze idol believed stolen from temple
Independent scholar uncovers questionable provenance for the sculpture that the Oxford institution bought from Sotheby's in 1967
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Kirk Douglas played Van Gogh in 1950s film Lust for Life: a look at the biopic and the myths it made
The Hollywood star, who died last week aged 103, became famous for his portrayal of the "tortured artist"
NewsAppointments
Cabinet reshuffle: Oliver Dowden appointed new UK culture secretary
The Conservative MP for Hertsmere in Hertfordshire replaces Nicky Morgan
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
The €15m Van Gogh which was once sold in a farmyard auction for just £4
Now heading to Maastricht, the painting of a peasant cottage will be a highlight of the Tefaf fair
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Wooing Dutch visitors and an impending birthday: the challenges facing Van Gogh Museum's new director
Emilie Gordenker, from the Mauritshuis, will move from the Golden Age to the birth of Modernism when she takes up her role next week
NewsBrexit
Van Gogh Museum's Emilie Gordenker ruled out UK jobs because of Brexit
The incoming director was headhunted for museum posts in Europe and the US but steered clear of the UK "for obvious reasons"
NewsJ. Paul Getty Museum
Bedevilled: multi-million Getty Gauguin is a fake
Museum probably paid at least $3m for the widely exhibited sculpture of a horned devil, but the misattributed work may have been made by a Polynesian artist for the European market
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Nine Van Gogh 'fakes' that have emerged as the real thing
The Oslo self-portrait and other paintings have been authenticated by the artist’s museum
NewsVincent Van Gogh
Not a fake: Van Gogh self-portrait is his only work painted while suffering psychosis, experts say
The newly attributed work is quite unlike Van Gogh’s other 35 self-portraits and reveals an intriguing insight into his mutilated ear
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Is a Van Gogh self-portrait hidden in a London attic?
An intriguing letter suggests that Vincent made a very unusual sale to England
NewsMuseums
Will new €50m Albertina Modern museum revolutionise Vienna’s contemporary art scene?
Satellite venue of historic Albertina is to focus on Austrian and international art made after 1945
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Want to buy a Van Gogh? Sotheby’s has four works with (relatively) modest estimates
Unseen for 25 years, they all come from a very private American collector
NewsAlbrecht Dürer
Possible Dürer discovered above souvenir shop in Vienna's cathedral
Experts believe underdrawing in St Stephen’s is first evidence that the master worked in the Austrian capital
NewsDiscoveries
Like ‘Tutankhamun’s tomb’: first look inside emperor's sepulchre in 500 years reveals magnificent treasures
Discovery in Vienna's St Stephen's cathedral was made with photographs taken through a small hole in the marble
NewsMuseums
The Met’s British galleries are radically reimagined for museum's 150th anniversary
Lead curator says relaunch next spring is timely as "the UK is reassessing its role on the European and global stage”
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
From surprising sales to emotional discoveries: the Van Gogh stories of 2019
The top exhibitions, books and auction news this year—plus the astonishing tale of the gun
NewsAcquisitions
Christmas comes early: London's National Gallery raises enough money to buy Gentileschi masterpiece
The Finding of Moses is on display, but it will soon be moved to the newly refurbished Baroque room
NewsMuseums
Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery to transform nightclub into new art venue
Karla Black survey will fill both spaces, including former fruit and veg warehouse next door
NewsUK politics
Nicky Morgan—who stood down in UK election to spend more time with her family—is reappointed as culture secretary
Boris Johnson gives former MP a peerage in order to keep her in the cabinet, but survival of culture department in the longer term is not assured
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Two Van Goghs sold from the recovered hoard of an Italian fraudster
One painting was hidden in a Parma cellar, leading to the discovery of the Tanzi Treasure
NewsThe Year in Review 2019
From a Paris inferno to the Leonardo tussle: the art world's top stories of 2019
We look back at the major events that made the headlines this year
NewsRestitution
Archaeologist launches private bid to retrieve priceless Egyptian treasures from European museums
Zahi Hawass, former Egyptian minister of antiquities, corrals international team of experts to press institutions for return of important artefacts
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Ten myths about Vincent van Gogh
Why stories—from the mutilated ear to the eventual suicide—can distort our view of the art
NewsArt market
Rare Tahitian painting by Gauguin sells for €9.5m at Artcurial in Paris
Te Bourao II, which went to an international collector, was on loan to the Met in New York for ten years
NewsUK politics
The UK's culture secretary conveyor belt: who will be next?
As the election looms this month and Nicky Morgan announces she is standing down, the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport prepares for its latest secretary of state
NewsDiscoveries
Artist's signature and thumbprint among discoveries in Pieter de Hooch paintings
Revelations were made during research for the largest retrospective of the Dutch painter's work in the Netherlands
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
A good catch: The Mackerels now looks set to be authenticated as a genuine Van Gogh
The still life in Switzerland’s Reinhart collection was dismissed as a forgery
NewsRestitution
Cambridge college returns Benin bronze to Nigeria
Statue of a cockerel was looted by the British in 1897 from the Court of Benin
NewsUK politics
Boris Johnson’s Conservative manifesto promises £250m funding for culture
Although Tory announcement calls it the “largest cultural capital programme in a century”, pledge is only quarter of Labour’s £1bn culture fund
NewsVincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh's Sunflowers will leave London for over a year as Australian show is added to loan tour
Masterpiece from London's National Gallery is headed for Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
How London’s Kew Gardens connects Van Gogh and Gauguin—and the monster flower that caught the latter's imagination
In Tahiti, years later, Gauguin recalled the Corpse Flower which stinks of rotting flesh
NewsUK politics
Jeremy Corbyn promises £1bn culture fund in Labour Party election manifesto
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats commit to stopping Brexit and protecting arts funding through the National Lottery
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Where is the portrait of Dr Gachet? The mysterious disappearance of Van Gogh's most expensive painting
Frankfurt's Städel Museum put a detective journalist on the case
NewsVincent Van Gogh
Two Dutch museums join forces to buy rare, $3m Van Gogh painting at Sotheby's New York
Work acquired by Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Drents Museum in Assen is one of few to survive from the artist's visit to Drenthe
NewsOrazio Gentileschi
London's National Gallery launches public campaign to fund last £2m to buy Orazio Gentileschi masterpiece
The 17th-century painting The Finding of Moses was painted in London for Charles I and represented the birth of Charles II
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
For sale: two Van Gogh paintings come up at Sotheby’s New York next week
One of the works was looted by the Nazis from Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker, but is now being sold by his heir after restitution