The Louvre has weathered both revolutions and occupations over the centuries. Yet, the past few months have exposed a different kind of vulnerability in its leaking pipes, aging cameras, and institutional drift. The world’s most-visited museum is struggling to find steady footing in the wake of a series of mishaps and misdemeanors.
Art News
Throckmorton Fine Art will present an exhibition of 65 distinguished jade carvings spanning the 800-year period of the Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (770–221 BCE) Dynasties. Mandate of Harmony: Jade Carvings from the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou Dynasties will be on view from March 5 through April 11, 2026.
The Joachim-Ma violin, crafted in 1714 by the great luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy, sold at Sotheby’s New York on February 7 for $11.3 million (est. $12-18 million). While it had been expected to top the $15.9 million paid in 2011 for the so-called “Lady Blunt” Stradivari, the record remained intact.
Charles Byrne, born in 1761 in Ulster, Ireland, was over 7 feet and 6 inches tall. By age 21, his health was deteriorating rapidly due to then unknown growth disorders which caught the attention of many in the London medical field where he resided. It was during this decline that John Hunter, surgeon and anatomist, offered to pay Charles for his body after his death. Charles feared the mistreatment of his corpse and, in an attempt to thwart would-be body snatchers, he asked his friends to procure a weighted coffin and bury him at sea.
This list presents a handful of notable, historical moments from the institution's 150-plus years of existence. From the museum’s murky accession of its first artwork in 1870 to the ground-breaking introduction of its Open Access Initiative in 2017, The Met and its artworks have reflected the cultures they came from.
The White House’s recent push to reshape President Donald Trump’s image at the National Portrait Gallery raises questions about who gets to write history and who gets to erase it. A series of interactions between the current administration and this particular Smithsonian institution during the past year has made clear the extent to which Trump is invested in curating his own national story.
In October 1900, a 19-year-old Picasso first arrived in Paris to visit the World’s Fair while simultaneously navigating the road to recognition in the city’s art scene. His first sale—three small canvases depicting bull-fights—sold for just 100 francs to Berthe Weill, an up-and-coming gallerist. Before long, Weill had sold the trio, with a profit of 50 francs, to publisher Adolphe Brisson.
“When I hit a beautiful porcelain vase with a baseball bat, I provoke a visual shock. There is a contrast between the beauty and luxury of the objects and the violence that is submitted to. I want to make people conscious of the fragility of our world.”— Laurent Craste
Tavares Strachan approaches art the way he thinks about music—fluid, improvisational, and open to interpretation. “Because I grew up listening to so much music, I just love the idea that it frees you up,” he said in an interview at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). “It doesn’t put this constraint on what you’re looking at. It empowers you in a way that visual art doesn’t.”
Ironically, the most iconic portrait of the president was never completed.
