Art history in today's news

On 2 October 2026, The Art Newspaper told the full story behind the Van Gogh that could become the most expensive the artist has ever sold at auction. Châtaigniers en fleurs ( Blossoming Chestnut Trees ), painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in May 1890 and not exhibited in public since 1964, leads the 12-work Blaquier-Arrieta Collection that Sotheby’s unveiled on 30 September and will sell in New York on 18 November, with an estimate in the region of $180 million. Quick facts What: Legendary: The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection , a single-owner evening auction of 12 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings estimated at about $450 million Where: Sotheby’s, Breuer Building, 945 Madison Avenue, New York When: Announced 30 September 2026; auction 18 November 2026, 6pm EST Who: Heirs of Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier; works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet Section: Auctions ...

The house where William Morris spent his teenage years reopens to the public on Saturday, 3 October 2026. The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, east London, closed for the summer for its first major rehang since 2012, and returns with six transformed rooms, objects never shown before and a new opening exhibition, Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK , according to The Art Newspaper and Time Out London . Quick facts What: Reopening of the William Morris Gallery after a rehang and restoration Where: Water House, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, London E17 When: Reopens 3 October 2026; Earthly Paradise runs to 28 March 2027 Who: Waltham Forest Council's gallery, director Hadrian Garrard, with designers Sam Jacob Studio Section: Places & Heritage What happened The Art Newspaper reports that the project cost about £1.5 million, funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Wolfson Foundation and Waltham Forest Council. Six gallery spaces have been rework...

On 29 September 2026, The Art Newspaper reported that two Nazi-loot claims filed in California on 14 September — two days before a 2024 state filing window closed — are now the only cases ever to use that statute. One asks the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to give up Lucas Cranach the Elder’s life-size diptych Adam and Eve (c. 1530). The other asks the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland to return watercolours that Dina Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to paint in the camp in 1944. Quick facts What: Two lawsuits over Nazi-era losses, filed under a now-expired 2024 California statute Where: Los Angeles Superior Court and U.S. District Court, Los Angeles When: Filed 14 September 2026; analysed by The Art Newspaper on 29 September 2026 Who: Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles and Daniel Gryczman v. Norton Simon Museum; heirs of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt v. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Section: Heists, Law & Restitution What happened According to The Art...

Christie’s Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on 29 September 2026 found buyers for its headline lots, but not at the top of the estimates. EFE reported that Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Ancient Scientist (1984) sold for HK$62.5 million (about US$7.9 million) and Yayoi Kusama’s A-Pumpkin (YHP) (2011) for HK$47 million (about US$5.9 million). Paul Cézanne’s still life L’Assiette bleue (1879–80), offered in Hong Kong by the house for the first time, made HK$32.5 million (about US$4.1 million). Quick facts What: Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sale, with Basquiat, Kusama and a Cézanne still life among the top lots Where: Christie’s Asia Pacific headquarters at The Henderson, Central, Hong Kong When: 29 September 2026 (Day Sales follow on 30 September) Who: Christie’s Hong Kong; works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yayoi Kusama, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse Section: Auctions & Market What happened The sale was part of Christie’s year-long mark of 40 years in Asia. Before the h...

Restorers working in the Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, a Renaissance residence a short walk from the Colosseum in Rome, are bringing back to light a series of 16th-century frescoes full of nude gods, goddesses and mythological scenes that were painted over some 300 years ago by the nuns who then owned the building, The Art Newspaper reported on 28 September 2026. The paintings are thought to be by leading artists of the time, probably including Perino del Vaga, one of Raphael's closest assistants. Quick facts What: 16th-century mythological frescoes uncovered during restoration Where: Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, near the Colosseum and the Imperial Forums, Rome When: Full-scale restoration under way in 2026; guided visits to the work in progress Who: Istituto Centrale per il Restauro; Lazio Region and Italian Ministry of Culture Section: Discoveries & Restorations What happened According to The Art Newspaper, the villa was built in the mid-16th century for Eurialo Silvestri, an...

The Fondation Beyeler, the Swiss museum best known for its Monets, Mondrians and Picassos, has started opening a three-building expansion designed by the architect Peter Zumthor. Visitors have been admitted on a limited basis since Saturday 26 September 2026, and the enlarged museum in Riehen, on the edge of Basel, will open fully to the public on 15 January 2027. The project cost around SFr 120m (about £109.7m), according to The Art Newspaper. Quick facts What: A three-building expansion of the Fondation Beyeler by Peter Zumthor Where: Riehen, near Basel, Switzerland When: Limited access from 26 September 2026; full opening on 15 January 2027 Who: Fondation Beyeler; Atelier Peter Zumthor Section: Museums & Exhibitions What happened Instead of adding one large wing to the museum, Zumthor designed three separate buildings. The largest, the Wyss building, named after the Swiss entrepreneur Hansjörg Wyss, who paid most of its cost, is a gallery built of rammed concrete with a...

On 27 September 1917, Edgar Degas died in Paris at the age of 83. For half a century he had been one of the sharpest eyes in French painting: he showed ballet dancers rehearsing, racehorses at the start line and women at the laundry, all with an unsentimental precision. He died with the First World War still raging, almost blind, and having painted nothing for five years. What happened to his studio in the months after his death is one reason we can still see so much of his late work today. Quick facts What: Death of the painter and sculptor Edgar Degas Where: Paris, France When: 27 September 1917 (born in Paris, 19 July 1834) Who: Edgar Degas, one of the founders of the Impressionist exhibitions Section: On This Day in Art + Weekly Roundup What happened Degas's eyesight had worried him for most of his adult life. His eye problems were first detected in 1870, during rifle training in the Franco-Prussian War, and after 1890 his vision got much worse. He kept working in past...

This weekend, more than 300 publishers from 41 countries have set up their tables inside MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, for Printed Matter's 2026 NY Art Book Fair, which opened on Thursday 24 September and runs until Sunday 27 September. The edition is a triple anniversary. The fair turns twenty, and the two institutions behind it, Printed Matter and PS1, both opened to the public in 1976. Quick facts What: Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair 2026, 20th anniversary edition Where: MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, New York When: 24 September (opening night) to 27 September 2026 Who: Printed Matter, with more than 300 exhibitors from 41 countries Section: Books & Ideas What happened According to Printed Matter, this year's exhibitors range from small presses, zine collectives and self-publishing artists to antiquarian dealers, galleries and museum publishers. Tickets cost $10 a day from Friday to Sunday and $60 for the opening night, a...

A portrait by Diego Velázquez that had been missing for almost four centuries is heading to Los Angeles. On 24 September 2026, the J. Paul Getty Museum announced that it has acquired the rediscovered Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares (c. 1626), the first painting by Velázquez to enter its collection. Quick facts What: Velázquez, Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares , c. 1626, oil on canvas Where: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (on view from autumn 2026) When: Acquisition announced 24 September 2026 Who: Identified by Salvador Salort-Pons, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts Section: Discoveries & Restorations What happened The portrait shows Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, the all-powerful minister of King Philip IV, in armour. According to reports by Artnet News and Finestre sull'Arte, it was painted around 1626 as a diplomatic gift for Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the papal nephew who visited Madrid that year. A 1631 inventory of the Barb...

For more than a century she was remembered mainly as "Manet's only pupil". Since 15 September 2026, the Petit Palais in Paris has been making the case that Eva Gonzalès (1847–1883) deserves to be seen on her own terms, with the first major retrospective of her work since a memorial show held in 1885, two years after her death. Quick facts What: Eva Gonzalès (1847–1883): Parcours d'une artiste libre , about 100 paintings, pastels and prints Where: Petit Palais, Paris, with the Musée d'Orsay and the Van Gogh Museum When: 15 September 2026 – 24 January 2027 Who: Eva Gonzalès, pupil of Édouard Manet Section: Museums & Exhibitions What happened The exhibition brings together around 100 works, arranged chronologically, according to the Petit Palais. It is curated by Stéphanie Cantarutti of the Petit Palais and Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho of the Van Gogh Museum, with the support of the Musée d'Orsay. Alongside Gonzalès's own paintings it shows Manet...

On 23 September 2026, Christie's in Paris sold the collection of Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares, and the room did not hold back. The star was a small canvas by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, L'Instant désiré (also known as Les Amants heureux ), which reached €10.6 million including fees, roughly three times its top estimate. Quick facts What: Fragonard's L'Instant désiré sold for €10.6 million (estimate €2.5–3.5 million) Where: Christie's, Paris When: 23 September 2026 Who: Collection of Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares Section: Auctions & Market What happened The sale of 59 lots brought in a total of €38.7 million against a pre-sale estimate of €23–33 million, according to The Art Newspaper , with most lots selling above their high estimates. Fragonard's canvas, a lovers' scene measuring about 50 by 60 centimetres, became the artist's second most expensive work ever sold at auction, the same report says. Art History News gives the price as €...