The art world, in context
The latest news and developments from across the art world.
Image: ArtskSotheby's will sell a dozen Impressionist and modern paintings assembled by Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier, valued near $450 million. A Van Gogh of chestnut blossoms, estimated around $180 million, could set a new auction record for the artist. The works go on view in London on September 30 ahead of a November sale in New York.
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Image: ArtskPeople · Policy · Washington DC
Kehinde Wiley has written to President Donald Trump asking to repurchase his 2015 painting Young Artists After Siamesas 1960, which the State Department removed from the US Embassy in Santo Domingo in August. Officials had branded the work 'woke' during a broader purge of embassy art.
Source date ·Image: ArtskUnion workers at the Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum have reached tentative contract agreements, averting threatened strikes. Members of UAW Local 2110 were scheduled to vote on the deals starting September 29.
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Image: ArtskPeople · United States
Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez and Chip Thomas have won 2026 MacArthur Fellowships, each receiving $800,000 with no strings attached. The 'genius grants' honor exceptional creativity across disciplines.
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Image: ArtskAnn Temkin is stepping down as chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in January, ending an 18-year tenure in the role. She will stay on as a strategic adviser working on the museum's 2029 centenary.
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Image: ArtskDáiddadállu, a 22-strong network of Sámi artists, has won the MUNCH Award, Munch's prize honoring artistic freedom of expression. It is the third edition of the NOK 300,000 award.
Source date ·Image: ArtskA senior executive at the National Gallery of Victoria has been accused of stealing AUD 8 million over six years, allegedly reselling mobile phones at a profit. The case, investigated by IBAC, comes to court on October 20.
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Image: ArtskThe Leiden Collection has acquired its 18th Rembrandt painting, Saint John on Patmos (c. 1661), which depicts the artist's son Titus as the exiled evangelist. The work had sold at Sotheby's London in 2025.
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Image: ArtskThe UK government has confirmed England's national museums will keep universal free admission, ruling out charging overseas visitors. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the museums 'must be free, forever, for everyone.'
Source date ·Image: ArtskEd Ruscha has designed the poster for Alejandro González Iñárritu's new dark comedy Digger, starring Tom Cruise, unveiled at LACMA on September 27. The design sets the film's title vertically in Ruscha's own typeface against an iceberg.
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Image: ArtskChng Hak-Peng has been appointed chief executive officer of National Gallery Singapore, succeeding Dr Eugene Tan effective January 1, 2027. The announcement also reshuffles leadership at the Singapore Art Museum.
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Image: ArtskMuseums · Exhibitions · New York
A Morgan Library & Museum exhibition surveys the art collection of poet John Ashbery, celebrated as much for his collecting as for his verse. The show examines how visual art shaped his writing.
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