LONDON (Reuters) – This year’s Notting Hill Carnival will swap the streets of West London for computer screens around the world, as the event turns online-only due to the coronavirus pandemic, streaming hours of music and performance. Held at the end of August... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Raphael probably didn’t like his nose, and replaced it with an idealised version in his famous self-portrait. That is the conclusion of Rome University scientists who produced a 3D computer reconstruction of the Renaissance master’s face from ... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Havana was once dubbed the ‘Paris of the Caribbean’ for its beautiful architecture, vibrant arts scene, and flourishing nightlife. Now it even has its own Eiffel Tower. The illuminated four-meter (13-ft) high replica by Cuban blacksmith Jorg... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A 9-tonne sculpture of a giant swirl of whipped cream with a cherry on top, as well as a fly and a drone, was unveiled on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth in London on Thursday. The sculpture by Heather Phillipson, entitled “THE END”, is the... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Stuck at home during lockdown, Dutch researcher Wouter van der Veen finally found time to look through old postcards of the French village where Vincent Van Gogh died and made a remarkable discovery. One postcard showing gnarled roots and tre... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus rose by nearly 1,300 on Tuesday, the biggest one-day increase since May, according to a Reuters tally. California, Florida and Texas, the three most-populous states, reported one-day record spikes in deaths on... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway began tearing down a landmark building adorned with giant murals by Pablo Picasso on Monday as part of efforts to rebuild government headquarters after a deadly far-right bombing. Oslo’s ‘Y block’ office building, with a Picasso drawing... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Works by Rembrandt, Miro and Picasso are being offered to entice life back to the auction world next week when Sotheby’s holds its first face-to-face sale since the coronavirus in London with a line-up from the Renaissance to the European Av... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – With Britain’s coronavirus lockdown eased, sculptor Anish Kapoor can finally exhibit his work at Houghton Hall, one of the country’s best-known stately homes. Kapoor’s exhibition of 24 sculptures was due go on show thoughout the grounds and ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German drugmaker Merck said on Wednesday it had agreed to supply its potential COVID-19 drug Rebif to European Union countries should orders be placed for the treatment. The comment followed a Reuters report earlier on Wednesday about a d... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – A French artist has painted a large biodegradable fresco on the lawn of the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, marking Friday’s 75th anniversary of its founding. Saype, who was born Guillaume Legros, created the “World In Progr... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Louvre Museum is getting ready to reopen almost four months after COVID-19 forced it to close, but visitors will find one feature missing: the heaving crowd jostling to get a view of the “Mona Lisa”. With many foreign tourists not ex... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The Musee d’Orsay in Paris, home of the French Impressionists, reopened to the public on Tuesday, three months after being forced to shut by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its head called for state help to recover from the financial costs of the ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon, whose book “The Shadow of the Wind” sold more than 15 million copies, has died of cancer aged 55 in Los Angeles, his publishing house said on Friday. Zafon began his career in juvenile literature before pu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Boarded-up shops, a depressing sight for New Yorkers after looters infiltrated anti-racism marches in the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, are being transformed into canvases of hope with paintbrushes wielded by a small army of artists. The... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Filmmaker Ava DuVernay is urging writers, dancers, poets and other artists to help make the names of abusive police officers as well known as their victims. Media company ARRAY, founded by DuVernay, has launched the Law Enforcement Acco... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Days into nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, demonstrators began to fill a tall fence in front of the White House with posters, flowers, paintings and photos in honor of black men, women and children who have lost thei... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – A group of artists climbed ladders up one of the many blast walls snaking through the Afghan capital Kabul this week to paint a mural of George Floyd in solidarity with the anti-racism protests kindled by his death in police custody. Floyd, a... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The coronavirus lockdowns have hit the world’s museums very hard and more than 10 percent may never reopen while others will have to put new projects on hold, the United Nations’ cultural body UNESCO said. A survey of almost 1,600 museums in ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A mural by secretive British street artist Banksy stolen from the Bataclan theater in Paris, where Islamist gunmen killed 90 people in 2015, has been found in a farmhouse in central Italy, police said on Thursday. The work, one of a series of ... More »
(Reuters) – A massive “Black Lives Matter” mural was painted in yellow letters on a street near the White House on Friday, ahead of expected large demonstrations on Saturday to protest racism and police brutality in the United States. The huge mural occupies t... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An art gallery in Paris has sought inspiration in ancient China to help it enforce social distancing, by providing hats with winged extensions for visitors. The colourful papier-mâché hats are modelled on headgear from the Song dynasty, which... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – From “White Fragility” to “The New Jim Crow,” literature about the history of racial discrimination in the United States is selling out as white Americans seek to educate themselves as nationwide protests grow over the killing of unarme... More »
GAZA (Reuters) – Every day Ammar Abu Shamalla adds a little colour to drab routine life in Gaza, loading up his camper van with pictures he displays and sells in the Palestinian territory’s streets and markets. He and wife Arwa, both jobless college graduates,... More »
WALENSTADT, Switzerland (Reuters) – Two Swiss conceptual artists are offering seven open air “hotel rooms” this summer across a “performance space” encompassing eastern Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Guests “perform”, without an audience, by spending the night... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian fashion designer Sefiya Diejomaoh likes to wear bright, bold clothes to match her personality. She believes a global pandemic should not get in the way of her sense of style. The mask she wears, which has become compulsory attire as ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A young boy chooses a nurse as the superhero he wants to play with over Batman and Spiderman in a new artwork by Banksy that encapsulates the gratitude Britons have felt toward the country’s National Health Service during the coronavirus cri... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s artists are rising to the occasion during the coronavirus lockdown, taking to rooftops and balconies to create music or dance. A pair of twins in the Acosta Dance Company are stuck at home after the troupe’s world tour was suddenly ca... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally. America’s worst flu season in recent years was in 2017-2018 when more than 61,000... More »
TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia’s National Ballet, the former Soviet country’s famous folk dance ensemble, started giving lessons online after the group’s popular dance schools closed their doors due to the coronavirus. Around 5,000 kids and teenagers, who used to... More »
ZHELEZNOVODSK, Russia (Reuters) – When an art gallery in southern Russia closed its doors to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, one artist asked to self-isolate there rather than leave his place of work. Sergei Pronin had only just started work as an adm... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – From a bunch of radishes to a sleeping cat, Parisian Agnes Goyet has turned to her life indoors for inspiration as France’s coronavirus lockdown frees her up to pursue her hobby – art. Goyet, who normally works as a real estate manager, is am... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda, best known for his book “The Old Man Who Read Love Stories,” died on Thursday of COVID-19 in a hospital in Asturias, the region of northern Spain where he lived for several decades, his publisher and Spanish me... More »
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian brothers Nikita and Egor Zigura work on their sculpture of a giant fingerprint as art enthusiasts look on via a live-streaming internet link and make bids for the developing work. The online auction is part of a new “Stay Art Home” s... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian ballet dancers on partial lockdown have begun giving performances at home to keep fans engaged online after theatres across the country closed their doors due to the coronavirus. Seven dancers from the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Pet... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – While making blinis one morning in self-isolation, Natalia Goroshko noticed one in her pan had taken the floppy form of one of Salvador Dali’s melting clocks. The 31-year-old Belarusian living in Texas placed three blinis in her kitchen to m... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Theater has begun streaming some of its most notable past performances online after being forced to shut its doors to the public as a result of tough new restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. The... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc will lower video streaming quality on its platform and on Instagram in Latin America, replicating measures adopted in Europe, to ease network congestion in a region that is starting to feel the grip of the coronavirus. On Sun... More »
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – An award-winning U.S. screenwriter has swapped fiction for fact, donating medical supplies from the set of his hit Netflix series to a New York hospital in a bid to combat the coronavirus. Ryan Murphy, known for creating... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the coronavirus pandemic in the United States intensifying, Senate Democrats and Republicans will scramble on Monday to come to an agreement on a far-reaching $1 trillion-plus coronavirus stimulus package after a procedural vote to ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The World Snooker Championship in Sheffield became the latest staple of the British sporting diet to be postponed on Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 17-day season-ending showpiece, scheduled for April 18 to May 4 at the Cruci... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch national gallery, the Rijksmuseum, and the nearby Van Gogh museum, two of the Netherlands’ premier tourist attractions in Amsterdam, will be closed to the public at least until March 31 due to the coronavirus epidemic. Their ann... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A series of six paintings by the Venetian master Titian, commissioned by King Philip II of Spain and inspired by the works of the Roman poet Ovid, have been reunited for the first time in four centuries in an exhibition at London’s National ... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Dozens of renowned Cuban artists from across the political spectrum are calling for the release of dissident artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara who was arrested 10 days ago, decrying this as an outdated act of censorship. The 32... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – When Dominic Benhura started creating traditional Zimbabwean stone sculptures as a teenager four decades ago, he never imagined that art would bring him fame or fortune. Born to a peasant family in 1968 in Murewa, 90 kilometers northeast of ... More »
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Thursday it is banning posts that “dehumanize” people because they have a disease or disability or because of their age, a step that happens to correspond to an explosion of tweets about the spreading coronavirus. The company to... More »
ROME (Reuters) – An exhibition commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance artist Raphael opens in Rome this week but the show risks being overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak sweeping Italy. The Scuderie del Quirinale gallery has sold ... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s government appointed a new director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on Thursday, as the ruling nationalists face accusations of politicizing museums to reflect their view of history. POLIN, which opened its main ex... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – After a busy afternoon walking the catwalk in a luxury hotel in Kabul on Friday, Salma Hussaini was named Afghanistan’s first “Ms Valentine”. The 20-year-old from Bamiyan province took a final walk down the runway clad in a pink and yellow to... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Residents of a luxury London block who were trying to stop visitors to the neighboring Tate Modern art gallery from peering into their glass-walled apartments lost their case in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The dispute began in 2016 whe... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – David Hockney’s Los Angeles pool painting “The Splash” fetched 23.1 million pounds ($29.9 million) at a sale on London on Tuesday, auctioneers Sotheby’s said, compared with a pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million pounds. The 1966 work is a s... More »
KAJIADO, Kenya (Reuters) – Two life-size lions crafted from scrap metal guard the entrance to the studio of Kenyan metal sculptor Kioko Mwitiki. Nearby a leopard, with holes in its metal body to mimic spots, crouches next to a giant elephant sculpture. Mwitiki... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – International art organization Art Basel on Friday announced the cancellation of its high-profile Hong Kong annual show next month as the city grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. The fair had been due to take place from March 19 to 21... More »
SOFIA (Reuters) – The 29th edition of the Varna International Ballet Competition, the oldest ballet competition in the world, has been postponed due to insufficient financial support, organisers said on Thursday. A new date for the outdoor event, known in the ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An image of the Mona Lisa made of 330 Rubik’s Cubes is going on sale in Paris, just down the road from Leonardo da Vinci’s original. The 2005 work by French urban artist Invader is expected to fetch up to 150,000 euros ($165,000) at the moder... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Tamara de Lempicka’s “Portrait de Marjorie Ferry” is expected to fetch up to 12 million pounds ($16 million) when it comes up for auction in London next week. The painting was commissioned in 1932 by the husband of British-born cabaret star ... More »
PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (Reuters) – Stamen Karamfilov bends low over a canvas, adding the finishing touches to a woodland landscape – no mean feat considering the Bulgarian artist is almost totally blind. He initially gave up all hope of painting again when he sudde... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany on Wednesday returned three art works to a descendant of a Jewish French collector who owned them until his death in 1941 in Nazi-occupied France. Two of the pictures came from a trove of works held by Cornelius Gurlitt, which was di... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A rare Vincent van Gogh self-portrait, which had been contested as a forgery for decades, is a genuine work by the Dutch master, researchers have concluded after six years of study. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said on Monday that it ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Authorities in the Italian town of Piacenza on Friday confirmed a painting found hidden in a wall of the local art gallery was by the Austrian master Gustav Klimt, ending doubts over its authenticity. Workers discovered the painting in Decembe... More »
DAKAR (Reuters) – Five towering wooden figures dwarf visitors to the “Lend Me Your Dream” exhibition at Dakar’s Museum of Black Civilisations. The sculptures of fire-darkened cedar stand in a circle, as if deep in conversation. The imposing work by Ivorian art... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s Hengyi Petrochemical Co Ltd is operating its new 160,000 barrels per day refinery in Brunei at near full capacity after trial production began in July, two company officials told Reuters. The plant in Palau Muara Besar is one of f... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The French capital’s Opera Bastille has been silent for nearly a month because its orchestra is on strike, but on Tuesday the musicians performed on the steps of the opera house to bring attention to their anger at planned pension reforms. Th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British police have charged a man with criminal damage after a painting, reported by the BBC to have been by Spanish master Pablo Picasso, was attacked at a London gallery over the weekend. The incident happened on Saturday at the Tate Moder... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Artist Simone Fugazzotto defended on Tuesday a widely criticized anti-racism campaign launched by Italy’s Serie A soccer league which features his paintings of apes. Racism has long plagued Italian soccer, with black players frequently target... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – At first glance the works of Singaporean artist Qixuan Lim have a familiar, edible appearance. But upon a closer look at the sardine tin – and it’s packed with tiny human hearts made of clay, cherubic arms and legs or other human body par... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – They could be called the Vatican’s vampire prints – works by masters such as Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch and Salvador Dali so delicate that they usually lie dormant for years in dark storage in its museums. Now, 150 etchings, woodcuts,... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – A cave painting found on Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi, depicting human-like figures hunting animals, appears to be the earliest known pictorial record of story-telling, according to a study by a team of Australian and Indonesian researche... More »
BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Elusive British street artist Banksy has highlighted the issue of rough sleeping in a seasonal mural showing two flying reindeer pulling a homeless man on a street-bench sleigh. The artwork, created in Banksy’s trademark stencil... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that was stolen in 1997 might have been discovered, hidden in a wall of the Italian gallery where it was taken from, officials said on Wednesday. Workers discovered the painting, a portrait of a y... More »
MARTIGNY, Switzerland (Reuters) – Christoph Blocher’s vast collection of works by Switzerland’s master painters is a fitting accompaniment to the 79-year-old billionaire’s decades at the vanguard of right-wing Swiss politics. A 127-piece sample from his privat... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A painting by French post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin fetched 9.5 million euros ($10.5 million) in a Paris auction on Tuesday. “Te Bourao II”, which depicts a stream with birds and flowers in a rich palette of blues and greens, was pain... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A rare portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sold for 4 million euros on Wednesday at Christie’s in Paris, rocketing past the auction house’s presale estimate of 800,000-1.2 million euros. The artwork, one of four portraits of the Austrian comp... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A 17th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was sold on Tuesday at Sotheby’s auction house in Paris for 552,500 euros ($611,950), much more than the initial valuation of 70,000-90,000 euros. The Mona Lisa itself, on which da Vinci ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – An international crime gang that ransacked ancient sites in southern Italy and trafficked stolen archaeological goods worth millions of euros has been broken up, police said on Monday. Police conducted more than 80 searches in Italy, France, B... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Oxford University said on Monday a golden ring given by Irish author Oscar Wilde to a close friend will be returned almost two decades after it was stolen from Magdalen College where he studied. Dutch art detective Arthur Brand recovered ... More »
(This 4th November story is refiled to fix punctuation in name of foundation) By Alexis Akwagyiram and Nneka Chile LAGOS (Reuters) – An artist who was born in Britain and raised in Nigeria has announced plans for a program to get painters, sculptors and other ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Treasures from the tomb of boy-king Tutankhamun will go on show in London from Saturday as part of what organizers say will be their last world tour before they return to Egypt for good. More than 150 items – from statues and sculptures to a... More »
SENLIS, France (Reuters) – A long-lost painting by 13th century Italian master Cimabue that was found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman was sold for 24 million euros ($26.6 million), more than four times the pre-auction estimate, auction Acteon house s... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Louvre museum, home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, is putting the final touches to one of the biggest ever exhibitions of the Italian master’s work with the presence of the world’s most expensive painting agonizingly unresolved. T... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Andrea Gandini, a 22-year-old Roman sculptor, is making a growing name for himself by turning the Eternal City’s dead tree stumps into much-admired pieces of art. Gandini, who began his tree carvings around five years ago, chipped away at his ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British street artist Banksy is selling a Union Jack stab vest, riot helmet ‘disco balls’ and a ‘designer handbag’ made from a brick to randomly selected buyers who can answer the question: “Why does art matter?”. The works are offered in th... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Ajna Jusic, the first baby to be registered as born of rape during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, describes to a packed Sarajevo theatre the discrimination and bullying she endured as a child with an unknown father and a mother branded a “w... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – American artist Jeff Koons unveiled in Paris on Friday his sculpture Bouquet of Tulips, a tribute to the victims of militant Islamist attacks in the French capital in November 2015. The 12-meter (40 ft) high piece depicts a giant hand squeezi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An exhibition showing the works of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, famed for his portrayal of Paris’s cafes, brothels and cabarets at the end of the nineteenth century, opens next week in the French capital. It is the first Parisian retros... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A large Banksy painting depicting primates sitting in Britain’s parliament sold for more than $12 million on Thursday, a record price at auction for a work by the secretive British street artist, according to Sotheby’s. “Devolved Parliament”... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A painting by French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin is to be sold in Paris in December in an auction expected to fetch at least 5 million euros ($5.48 million). The oil on canvas titled “Te Bourao II” and believed to have been create... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Banksy has set up a “homewares” store in a south London suburb, displaying politically-provocative pieces such as the Union Jack stab-proof vest he designed for British rapper Stormzy. The anonymous British street artist from the western Eng... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A Banksy painting of primates sitting in Britain’s parliament goes under the hammer next week and is expected to fetch up to $2.5 million. “Devolved Parliament”, in which chimpanzees replace politicians, measures 13 feet (4 m) long, making i... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A long-lost painting by a 13th century Italian master discovered in the kitchen of an elderly French woman has been valued at up to six million euros and will be sold at auction next month. The “Christ Mocked” painting by early Renaissance ar... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish artist Vahit Tuna has mounted 440 pairs of high heels on the facade of a building on a busy Istanbul street, to symbolize the number of women murdered in domestic or sexual violence in Turkey in 2018. “We are standing in a street n... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A battered copper rooster that used to sit atop the spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral is to go on public display more than five months after the massive fire that almost burnt the iconic building to the ground. The rooster was one of several cult... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French auction house Millon denied accusations by the Mexican government that a sale of dozens of pre-Columbian artifacts was illegal and proceeded with an auction on Wednesday. Mexico’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said that 95 of the 120 pie... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Marc Chagall, the 20th century French-Russian artist who delighted fans with his vividly coloured, whimsical works, did many of his paintings using the same nine pigments – and hardly ever used black, researchers said on Friday. He was al... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An ornate tapestry woven in the early 1800s and rescued from Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral after a massive fire in April is going on public display for only the third time in recent decades. Donated to the cathedral in 1841 by King Louis-Phil... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – One of Madrid’s hidden cultural gems, up to now only accessible to private guests or art aficionados willing to endure a near three-year waiting list, the neoclassical Palace of Liria will open its doors to the general public from Sept. 19. ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City rules limiting the number of art and book vendors in four popular Manhattan parks are constitutional, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday, overturning an injunction against the rules. In a 5-0 decision, the appeals court r... More »
LAVAUX-SAINTE-ANNE, BELGIUM (Reuters) – A 60-metre tall semi-circle of steel cast to look from a distance like a towering but incomplete ring, is set to surprise drivers taking a scenic tour in the south of Belgium to France or Luxembourg. Designed by French c... More »
