Latest
Up in arms: Mexican archaeological bureau denounces damage to at least one mummy in Guanajuato’s famous museum
Local authorities respond that mummy deterioration is not new and even inevitable given a history of visitors “touching them or taking souvenirs, such as bits of clothing”
Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters rally at Brooklyn Museum
Demonstrators took over the lobby and exterior of the museum on Friday afternoon, calling for transparency and divestment regarding financial ties to Israel
The art world’s AI dilemma: how can artists and museums thrive when big tech controls the monetising of artificial intelligence?
The presence of AI in every aspect of life has been a fact for the past 20 months. With the publication of the Stanford AI Index, two areas have come into focus. For museums, how to work with industry giants, without having their offering "distanced" by the summarising power of AI. For artists, how to thrive where sources of production are being monetised in Silicon Valley
Legal fight brewing over Pérez Art Museum Miami’s digital billboard
Miami’s city commissioners voted to repeal a law passed last year to allow the museum to build an extra-large billboard
How artists are uniting to defeat Donald Trump at the polls
The Artists For Democracy 2024 project is working with world-renowned artists including Shepard Fairey and Carrie Mae Weems to mobilise voters
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
The Week in Art podcast | Art’s AI reckoning, the rise of comic art and Degas’ Miss La La
Why the art world must tackle the questions posed by artificial intelligence head on, plus comics celebrated in two European locations and Degas’ portrait of the circus artist Anna Albertine Olga Brown
London Gallery Weekend 2024
London Gallery Weekend 2024: our critics pick their top shows
As 130 galleries take part in this year's fourth edition of the event, Ben Luke and Louisa Buck roundup some of their exhibition highlights, from John Baldessari to Michaël Borremans, Nan Goldin to BLCKGEEZER
Harmony Korine: 'If life is a movie, every blink could be an edit'
As his paintings go on show at Hauser & Wirth in London, the film-maker, writer and artist tells us about his latest genre-bending output and his biggest influences
Kiki Kogelnik: the 'secret' Austrian Pop artist who made out-of-this-world art
An exhibition at Pace in London wants to introduce an international audience to the artist's multi-faceted output, which drew on sci-fi, space exploration and consumer society
London Gallery Weekend 2024: the best shows for photography fans
Through sculpture, algorithms and alternative gazes, the medium is reimagined at this year's edition of the city-wide event
Beyond war: photographer captures everyday Palestinian life
Adam Rouhana wants to challenge stereotypical perceptions of the war-torn country in two London shows
Adventures with Van Gogh
Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries.
Kernel of truth: pollen cone stuck in paint reveals where Van Gogh’s Irises grew
His purple flowers have now faded to blue, as revealed during research for a Getty exhibition in October
Museums & Heritage
Up in arms: Mexican archaeological bureau denounces damage to at least one mummy in Guanajuato’s famous museum
Local authorities respond that mummy deterioration is not new and even inevitable given a history of visitors “touching them or taking souvenirs, such as bits of clothing”
Legal fight brewing over Pérez Art Museum Miami’s digital billboard
Miami’s city commissioners voted to repeal a law passed last year to allow the museum to build an extra-large billboard
Ukrainian museums call for better recognition of their role in reconstruction
More than 100 Ukrainian museum professionals, meeting in Berlin, pledge to rebuild a modern, inclusive cultural sector
New UK digital art school provides artist workshops and supplies for NHS mental health units
Online sessions will be led by artists such as Sutapa Biswas and Sarah Dwyer
Penn State university's art museum reopens in new $85m building that seeks to blend art with nature
The Palmer Museum of Art in the city of State College, Pennsylvania, has nearly doubled its space
Art market
Sotheby’s to lay off dozens of employees in UK with further cuts planned in other locations
Auction house is in “consultation period” ahead of redundancies, sources say
Art Basel changes name of Paris fair ahead of expanded third edition
The event formerly known as Paris+ par Art Basel will move to the Grand Palais this year
Marlborough Gallery ends historic run with gloriously unhinged Martin Eder show
For anyone who ever wondered what Dolores Umbridge’s 2004 MySpace page might have looked like, Eder has the answer
The Gray Market: Why Sotheby’s $700m art-backed debt security is an acid test for the trade’s intentions
The large-scale investment vehicle raises major questions about who gets to decide where, how and to whom art circulates
Hackers claim responsibility for Christie's cyberattack and threaten to release client data
The group RansomHub say they are behind the attack that took down the auction house's website earlier this month
Exhibitions
Leigh Bowery, Emily Kam Kngwarray and Lee Miller—Tate reveals its 2025 exhibition programme
A blockbuster show focused on Turner and Constable plus a vast survey of Nigerian modernism are also in the pipeline
Alvaro Barrington: the artist bringing carnival and the Caribbean to Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries
With his new London commission, the Venezuela-born painter is exploring the UK’s impact around the globe with a sweeping installation partly inspired by his grandmother’s plastic sofa coverings
The Big Review: 'Mary Cassatt at Work' at the Philadelphia Museum of Art ★★★★★
This survey frames Cassatt—once dismissed as a lightweight painter of pretty portraits—as a skilful examiner of private realms
Luc Tuymans creates a series of ephemeral murals within the Louvre
The Belgian artist’s four large wall paintings reference a lost 1990 work of his called 'The Orphan', and will remain in place for a year
Smoke, fire and livid sunsets: exhibition to show how Turner traced beginnings of climate breakdown
Works on view at the artist’s house in London will reveal the way he captured the early impact of the industrial revolution on the British landscape
Diary
Yayoi Kusama London summer bonanza with new Elizabeth Line work and a Royal Parks pumpkin sculpture
A new Infinity Room will also go on show at Victoria Miro gallery in the autumn
Artists celebrate Taylor Swift in Liverpool’s Taylor Town
Art path around the city features 11 art installations representing the singer's albums
(Another) royal portrait unveiled—Kate Middleton cover image goes viral
Polarising Tatler cover image of the Princess of Wales was created by Hannah Uzor
Julian Assange miniature goes on show (unofficially) at the V&A
Hand-painted portraits of the WikiLeaks founder and his wife Stella were smuggled into a display case at the London museum in April
Myra Hindley portrait, which caused a sensation in 1997, to go on show at Damien Hirst’s London gallery
The controversial piece was defaced at the Royal Academy
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
Podcast | A brush with... Michaël Borremans
An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Goya to Taylor Swift
Opinion
The Tudor blockbuster: why Holbein still mesmerises 500 years on
"There is evidently something about Holbein that resonates strongly with modern audiences"
From Titian to Alex Katz, artists and poets have long enjoyed a symbiosis
Katz’s fruitful relationships with John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara among others are a reminder that art and poetry thrive in proximity
'Why British museums must start charging entrance fees'
Low pay for museum workers, decreased local authority spending and a theft scandal have highlighted that "it’s time for some difficult choices," says the writer and broadcaster Ben Lewis
The €5 tourist tax to enter Venice kicks in: 15,700 tickets sold but this will not solve the city’s problems
Day visitors should pay €25 as for the Uffizi but be made proud to help save the city
'Enjoy the Venice Biennale, everyone—but be aware it's taking place in a dying city'
Venice can still be saved from the rising water level: here’s how
Book Club
An expert's guide to colour: five must-read books on all things chromatic
All you ever wanted to know about the topic, from our difficult relationship with colour to a remarkable monochrome children’s book—selected by the colour historian Alexandra Loske
A move to London, the famous logo and liquid lunches: a short history of Thames & Hudson
As it marks its 75th anniversary, we hear how the “amazing melting pot” of Vienna shaped the publisher’s identity and what’s in store for the future
May Book Bag: from a compilation of Eva Hesse exhibitions to a guide for tackling Nazi loot in museums
Our round-up of the latest art publications
The art critic Robert Storr on the slow road to social and racial justice
A new series of books titled Focal Points launches with three volumes of essays and articles by the former curator
Books
Surrealist pioneer Eileen Agar's remarkable life
A new edition of her 1980s autobiography brings this vivacious and well-connected artist back to life
‘Shamefully duped’: friend of convicted art fraudster Inigo Philbrick spills the beans in new memoir
In the warts-and all publication, Orlando Whitfield discusses his 15-year friendship with Philbrick while offering insights into the world of art dealing
From pews to power stations: a history of interwar British architecture that some feared might not be published
Gavin Stamp’s final book offers a fitting memorial to the architectural historian and Private Eye columnist
Obituaries
Dinh Q. Lê, master of multimedia art and mentor to fellow artists across southeast Asia, has died, aged 56
Vietnamese-American artist, best known for his distinctive photo-weaving works, made powerful statements in photography, video, sculpture and installation that challenged politics, history and memory
Richard Serra, creator of audacious steel sculptures, has died aged 85
The American sculptor received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale
Antoine Predock, architect of distinctive museums in the US and Canada, has died, aged 87
His Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Tang Teaching Museum and Tacoma Art Museum were typical of an approach that melded modernism and post-modernism into a characteristically unpredictable aesthetic
Lucas Samaras, tirelessly adventurous New York artist, has died, aged 87
The Greek American artist was always willing to try new forms and materials, working across sculpture, photography, performance, installation and more
Remembering Jacob Rothschild, banker, collector, philanthropist, and a towering figure in the British art world
A scion of the famous banking dynasty, he led the National Gallery, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Waddesdon Manor
Technology
News, background and analysis on the latest tech developments—artificial intelligence tools; Web3, the blockchain, NFTs; virtual and augmented reality; social media platforms—and how they affect the art market, museums, artists and curators.
Photography or ‘promptography’: a year on from the Sony Awards AI furore, what is the nuanced view?
Boris Eldagsen made waves in 2023 by refusing a prize in order to highlight the use of text-to-image models in art photography. A new show in London seeks to reframe the debate
In Tokyo, teamLab's giant new immersive space opens glittering portals of the imagination
The light-filled, interactive, spaces at teamLab Borderless offer “full-body joy” to the author's school-age children—as well as some cool selfies
Aleksandra Artamonovskaja is appointed head of arts for TriliTech, the entrepreneurship team supporting Tezos blockchain
Artamonovskaja, a leading consultant and moderator in the Web3 world, will oversee development of opportunities for artists across the Tezos ecosystem
On process: Refik Anadol seeks to demystify AI art by showing how it is put together
The media artist's "Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive" at Serpentine Galleries, London, goes for radical clarity on its raw data sources and the make-up of Anadol's artificial intelligence Large Nature Model
Robert Alice breaks new ground with auction of generative art NFTs on Christie's 3.0
Auction house sees maturing of market since the heady days of 2021 as works by the digital art pioneer are sold in combination with launch of their catalogue raisonné-like historical survey "On NFTs"
National Gallery, London: 200th anniversary
The museum has launched a year of celebrations, loans and public events to mark 200 years since the opening of the gallery on 10 May 1824. The collection, now covering international art from the 13th to 19th centuries, has evolved so that, for breadth and quality, it is arguably unmatched by any other single museum in the world.
The National Gallery, London, celebrates its bicentenary with a full-colour Big Birthday Weekend
Music, poetry, and Renaissance selfies are on the menu and—for two nights only—the Trafalgar Square frontage will be lit up with a dazzling, projection-mapped show on the museum's 200-year history
Gabriele Finaldi welcomes a ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to rethink London’s National Gallery
As the London museum celebrates its 200th birthday, its director speaks to The Art Newspaper about plans to reopen the Sainsbury Wing in May 2025, rehang the collection and consider work on a further extension
National Gallery in London celebrates 200th birthday by launching own network of social media influencers
As part of the anniversary in July, the museum has launched 200 Creators
Revealed: London's National Gallery will stage a Van Gogh blockbuster as part of its 2024 bicentenary celebrations
Star loans include The Bedroom, Garden of the Asylum and—of course—the exhibition will show the museum's own Sunflowers