Visual arts news and stories by mail.com

September 24, 2016

Florence museum head defends party rental in Pitti Palace

A wild bachelor's party at the Pitti Palace art museum in Florence? Nothing of the kind, says museum director Eike Schmidt, ...

September 22, 2016

Czech center builds giant 'airship' for literature

Is that a zeppelin on the roof? The huge object appears to have landed on the roof of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in ...

September 21, 2016

UK's Tate galleries acquire replica of anti-war protest camp

A replica of an anti-war protest camp that stood outside Britain's Parliament for a decade has been acquired by the country's ...

September 20, 2016

Iconic works by expressionist Kirchner go on show in Berlin

Three bathers jumping through the green waves of the Baltic Sea with a fourth watching from the beach. Two Berlin prostitutes ...

September 19, 2016

Piranesi exhibition opens in Moscow

A new exhibition of 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi has opened in Moscow. The exhibition at Moscow's ...

September 15, 2016

NYC museum invites viewers to use 18-karat gold toilet

A New York City museum is offering visitors a chance to sit on a golden throne, but only in private. As part of his "America" ...

September 13, 2016

Russian oligarch leads art donation to Paris museum

An exhibition with more than 250 works of Russian and Soviet art, donated by one of Russia's richest oligarchs, opened ...

September 11, 2016

The Latest: 9/11's Annual 'Tribute in Light' beams in NYC

The Latest on commemorations marking the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks (all times local): 7:45 p.m. Two giant ...

September 10, 2016

AP PHOTOS: A selection of pictures from the past week

Highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have ...

September 07, 2016

New private museum showcases Dutch tycoon's art collection

The sculpture "Open Ended" by American artist Richard Serra could be a symbol for the new Museum Voorlinden near the Dutch ...

September 03, 2016

Widow of pioneer winemaker Robert Mondavi dies at 91

Margrit Biever Mondavi, the widow of California wine pioneer Robert G. Mondavi who served as the company's cultural affairs ...

August 29, 2016

Lost heritage: Quake deals blow to Italy's art treasures

Within hours of last week's devastating earthquake in central Italy, members of the national police squad of art experts were ...

August 23, 2016

Nazi-looted "Adam" and "Eve" paintings to stay in California

A judge has ruled in favor of a Southern California museum in its 10-year legal battle over the ownership of two German ...

August 18, 2016

National Gallery returns drawing to heir of Holocaust victim

The National Gallery of Art has returned a 200-year-old drawing to the heirs of an Austrian woman who had to sell it during ...

August 05, 2016

X-ray uncovers hidden portrait beneath famed Degas painting

A powerful X-ray technique has unveiled a hidden portrait beneath a famed painting by French impressionist artist Edgar ...

August 05, 2016

Queen portrait that hung in Winnipeg arena looking for home

The large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that once watched over hockey games at Winnipeg Arena is again looking for a home.

August 04, 2016

Early Leonardo drawing to be shown in artist's native Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci's earliest-known drawing will go on display in the artist's Tuscan hometown of Vinci in three years to mark ...

July 14, 2016

Germany: 91-year-old in trouble over avant-garde crossword

A 91-year-old woman is in trouble with a German museum after taking an art work depicting part of a crossword too literally.

Spencer Tunick's Sea of Hull installation

July 09, 2016

Thousands strip and paint themselves blue for UK art event

Thousands of people have stripped naked and painted themselves in four shades of blue to celebrate the English city of Hull's ...