Comment | Climate Change Is Forcing Tough Choices—How Much Heritage Can We Save Before It Is Too Late?
Arctic permafrost thaw is accelerating the degradation of cultural sites, exemplified by South Aulatsivik 6 in Canada’s Nain archipelago. Researchers led by Rachel Labrie employed ground‑penetrating radar to identify the most vulnerable areas, offering a rapid, non‑invasive method for prioritizing excavations. Similar digital‑recording techniques—3D scanning, photogrammetry, and even muon tomography—are being deployed worldwide to safeguard heritage threatened by climate change and conflict. The article underscores the urgent need for integrated, well‑funded monitoring strategies before irreplaceable history disappears.
Exhibition Explores How the US Shaped Joan Miró—And He It
The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC is hosting *Miró and the United States*, an exhibition that juxtaposes Joan Miró’s paintings, sculptures, and films with works by American contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Alexander Calder and Barnett...
US Congress Passes Revamped Holocaust Recovery Bill that Sidesteps Many Legal Defences
The U.S. House approved the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025, extending the 2016 law and removing a host of procedural defenses for Nazi‑era art claims. The bill eliminates laches, act‑of‑state, and foreign sovereign immunity defenses, and it...
New Book Shows Why Physical Maps Have an Important Role to Play in Our Digital World
James Cheshire’s new book, *The Library of Lost Maps*, uncovers 96 forgotten cartographic works ranging from a pre‑bomb Hiroshima map to a Victorian geological chart of India. The volume blends vivid reproductions with scholarly commentary, highlighting the enduring relevance of...
Next Edition of Getty's PST Art Initiative Will Focus on Los Angeles’s Connections Around the Pacific Rim
The Getty Trust announced the fourth edition of its PST Art programme, slated to open across Southern California in September 2030 and centered on Los Angeles’ historic and contemporary ties to the Pacific Rim. A research phase begins now, with nonprofit cultural organisations...
Pedro Friedeberg, Key Figure in Mexican Art Renowned for Hand-Shaped Chair, Has Died at Age 90
Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexican‑born artist famed for the hand‑shaped Mano Silla chair, died at 90 in San Miguel de Allende. The chair, created in 1962, was reproduced over 17,500 times and cemented his status as a design icon. Friedeberg’s career spanned seven...
Comment | Cow in MSCHF Project Survives, but Should the Project Have Happened at All?
MSCHF’s "Our Cow Angus" project let buyers purchase tokens tied to a live cow’s fate, promising burgers and leather bags if the animal was slaughtered. After a two‑year run, more than half of the tokens were returned through a "remorse...
Art Communities and Heritage in Iran, Moderate Recovery in the Art Market, Sydney Biennale—Podcast
The podcast examines how ongoing Middle East conflicts are damaging cultural heritage in Iran and Lebanon, prompting local communities to protect art and historic sites. It also reviews the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, which indicates a...
The Story Behind Iran’s only Van Gogh: ‘At Eternity’s Gate'
Vincent van Gogh’s 1882 lithograph *At Eternity’s Gate* – one of only seven surviving copies – resides in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art after passing through Rockefeller, dealer Eugene Thaw, and Farah Pahlavi. The print, inscribed by Van Gogh in English, later...
Not Just Dollars, Euros and Pounds: Tefaf Speaker Sets Out Art’s Deep Value for Wellbeing
Daisy Fancourt’s new book *Art Cure* provides scientific evidence that arts engagement dramatically improves mental health, halving the ten‑year risk of depression and doubling symptom improvement when combined with standard therapy. Using longitudinal cohort data, biological markers and the UK...
Victor Vasarely’s Crumbling Aix Legacy to Be Restored
Victor Vasarely’s foundation in Aix‑en‑Provence, a historic Op Art museum, is finally receiving major restoration after decades of neglect and dwindling state support. Government funding now covers 85 % of the €12 million budget, enabling roof, cladding and climate‑control upgrades, while the foundation...
Dingo-Related Work at Sydney Biennale Takes on New Resonance Following Backpacker Death
A young Canadian backpacker, Piper James, drowned after a dingo encounter on K’gari (Fraser Island) in January, prompting a coroner’s ruling and subsequent euthanasia of several dingoes. The incident has given new urgency to Cannupa Hanska Luger's Biennale of Sydney...
Comment | Beryl Cook UK Retrospective Shows There Is Much More to the Artist than Amazing Bums
British self‑taught painter Beryl Cook, long dismissed by major institutions, is undergoing a major reassessment after a 2024 retrospective at Studio Voltaire and a major survey, Pride and Joy, at The Box in Plymouth. The shows pair her with Tom of...
Tefaf Maastricht: The Wish List
TEFAF Maastricht’s wish list highlights five marquee pieces, ranging from a Kelmscott Press Shakespeare poetry volume bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (£125,000) to a rare Greek marble stele of Medeia (£450,000). The list also features a record‑setting Indigenous Australian painting by Emily Kam Kngwarray...
Glassblower and Porcelain Heir Paul Arnhold on the Art He Loves to Collect
Paul Arnhold, a New York glassblower and fourth‑generation heir to a world‑renowned Meissen porcelain collection, intertwines his studio practice with a collector’s eye for immediacy and decisive form. He values objects that reveal the maker’s technique and tactile presence, ranging from...
Dresden Museum Wins Tefaf Award for Rubens Restoration
Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister received the 2024 Tefaf Museum Restoration Fund award for restoring Peter Paul Rubens’s *The Boar Hunt*. The 1616‑18 oil, once owned by Rubens, the Duke of Buckingham and the Imperial collection, endured wartime displacement and 19th‑century varnish...
Two Renoir Exhibitions at Musée D’Orsay Explore the Joy of Human Connection
The Musée d’Orsay opens two Renoir exhibitions—"Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity," spotlighting his 1865‑85 paintings, and "Renoir Drawings," loaned from the Morgan Library—running from 17 March to mid‑July. The shows feature rarely seen masterpieces such as Luncheon of the Boating...
‘It Has Nothing to Do with Michelangelo’: Expert Wades in on Painting Newly Attributed to Renaissance Master
Belgian art historian Michel Draguet has announced a newly discovered painting he claims is a late work by Michelangelo, naming it the Spirituali Pietà and dating it to the 1540s. The attribution relies on two monograms resembling Michelangelo’s signature, 16th‑century pigment...
Snuffboxes Stolen in Paris Daylight Robbery to Go on Display at V&A
Two 18th‑century gold snuffboxes stolen from the Musée Cognacq‑Jay in November 2024 have been recovered and will debut in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s newly opened Gilbert Galleries. The robbery, which claimed seven precious objects, triggered a multi‑national police investigation...
New Rules on Importing Cultural Artefacts Create Headaches at Tefaf Maastricht
Tefaf Maastricht is the first major European fair to operate under the EU Cultural Goods Regulation, which mandates detailed documentation for cultural items over 250 years old. Dealers, customs officials and shippers report confusion over the law’s scope, leading to seizures...
Tefaf Maastricht: Exhibitions to See Beyond the Fair
The Tefaf Maastricht fair is complemented by a slate of high‑profile exhibitions across the Netherlands and Belgium, including the Mauritshuis’s “Birds” show, the Rijksmuseum’s “Metamorphoses”, Museum Ludwig’s Yayoi Kusama retrospective, and the Bonnefanten Museum’s “Four Times Two”. Each exhibition pairs historic...
Thoroughly Modern Tefaf: Why the Maastricht Fair Is Embracing the 20th Century
Tefaf Maastricht returned this March as a premier art fair blending 7,000 years of objects with a pronounced 20th‑century emphasis. The show hosted 276 exhibitors, spotlighting photography, modern prints and newly restituted Old Master works, while maintaining its classic Old Masters...
New York’s Independent Fair Reveals 76 Exhibitors for First Edition at Pier 36
New York’s Independent art fair returns for its 17th edition, moving from Spring Studios to the larger Pier 36 venue. The fair will host 76 exhibitors, with nearly half presenting for the first time and a third offering solo debut shows...
Is Most Art Now Just Too Expensive for Most People?
The high‑end art market is rebounding, highlighted by a $900 million Sotheby’s securitisation and record‑price sales at Art Basel Qatar. Yet overall sales have flat‑lined since the 2007‑08 crisis, with galleries closing and many collectors hesitant. A looming $16 trillion wealth transfer...
New Public Art Biennial to Take over Dallas’s Urban Greenbelt Park
Texas will host its first public‑art biennial, the KTX Biennial, launching in spring 2027 along Dallas’s 3.5‑mile Katy Trail. Curated by Jovanna Venegas, the free, 18‑month exhibition will feature nearly a dozen works from global contemporary artists and coincide with the...
Tomás Saraceno and Indigenous Communities Build Art Complex in Argentine Salt Flats
Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno, together with 11 Indigenous communities, is building El Santuario del Agua, a monumental salt‑based art complex in the lithium‑rich Salinas Grandes salt flats. The five semicircular structures, inspired by traditional apachetas, will be completed by October and function as a water...
UK Council Criticised over Sale of Collection Including Works by Pioneering Photographer Tony Ray-Jones
Kent County Council will auction 168 items from its art collection on March 10, including 33 photographs by pioneering British photographer Tony Ray‑Jones. The council cites lack of storage and a severe budget deficit as reasons, but it did not offer the...
Monumental Rubens Ceiling Painting Revealed Once More After Two-Year Renovation
The monumental Rubens ceiling at Banqueting House has reopened after a two‑year renovation and conservation programme. The early‑17th‑century fresco, the largest surviving Rubens work in its original European setting, now benefits from a new lift that provides step‑free, wheelchair‑accessible viewing....
Late British Artist Lynn Chadwick to Be Focus of Major Retrospective at UK’s Houghton Hall
Late British sculptor Lynn Chadwick is the centerpiece of a major retrospective at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, running from 2 May to 4 October. The show, organized by Pangolin gallery, presents 30 works ranging from the 1950s to the 1990s, including kinetic pieces...
War in the Middle East, the Whitney Biennial, and a Newly-Discovered Rembrandt in Amsterdam—Podcast
The Art Newspaper’s weekly podcast covered three major art stories: the escalating war in the Middle East and its impact on regional tourism, the opening of the 2026 Whitney Biennial in New York, and the authentication of Rembrandt’s “The Vision...
Pussy Riot Slams Russia’s Return to Venice Biennale
Russia will return to the Venice Biennale for the first time since its 2022 invasion, presenting a three‑day festival of folklore and world music titled “The tree is rooted in the sky.” The pavilion, organized by cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy...
Leading Russian Archaeologist Arrested in Poland over Crimean Excavations
Alexander Butyagin, senior archaeologist at the State Hermitage Museum, was arrested in Warsaw at Ukraine’s request for illegal excavations in Crimea and the seizure of thirty gold coins, including items bearing Alexander the Great’s name. Polish courts have extended his detention...
The Big Review | The Woman Question 1550-2025 ★★★★½
The Woman Question 1550‑2025, curated by Alison M. Gingeras at Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art, assembles nearly 200 works by about 140 women artists spanning five centuries. The exhibition juxtaposes historic figures like Artemisia Gentileschi with contemporary voices from Ukraine, mapping a continuous...
‘No One Was Really Interested in Finding Those Works’: Major Brazilian Art Theft Still Unsolved as Statute of Limitations Expires
Two decades after a daring heist at Rio de Janeiro's Museu da Chácara do Céu, Brazil's statute of limitations has expired, shielding the thieves of five high‑profile works from prison. The stolen pieces include Monet's *Marine*, Matisse's *Le Jardin du...