Artists

Afghan artists concerned about their future under Taliban rule

The last Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001 saw women brutally suppressed, as well as music banned and the destruction of artworks and heritage, including dynamiting ancient statues of the Buddha.

Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl team up for a pandemic anthem

The duo musicians created a hard-rock pandemic anthem called “Eazy Sleazy” which Jagger said is about coming out of lockdown "with some much needed optimism"

Cuban protesters demand freedom of expression in rare demonstration

The protest outside the culture ministry was triggered by the eviction of fourteen artists - members of the San Isidro Movement – were evicted by the authorities from their premises in the historic centre of Havana.

Tahitian Gauguin sold for 9.5 million euros

“Te Bourao II” was the only artwork from Paul Gauguin still in private hands and one of a series of nine paintings produced by the artist while working on a much larger project later titled “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”

Leonardo Da Vinci’s future-proof design for an Istanbul bridge

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say that had it been built, a design for a bridge in the transcontinental city would have been viable.

Wanted: Artists to live and work in Lagos, Nigeria

Artist Yinka Shonibare's programme aims to bring painters, sculptors and other creatives to the West African nation's commercial capital, Lagos.

Paris mounts first Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition in three decades

Artworks of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec never shown before will be shown in an exhibition that opens next week in the French capital.

Picasso, Leger paintings seen fetching millions at London auction

Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and French artist Fernand Lege’s abstract paintings are expected tens of millions of dollar at a London auction.

Leonardo da Vinci and the Ottoman Empire

Five hundred years after his death, Leonardo da Vinci’s interaction with the Ottomans is memorialised in his designs for a bridge and his overtures to the Ottoman Sultans of the time.

Jeff Koons 'Rabbit' goes for record $91.1M for a living artist

The shiny, faceless, stainless steel 104 cm high rabbit, regarded as one of the most celebrated works of 20th-century art, was sold for more than $20 million over its pre-sale estimate.

'Sistine Chapel of the UK' re-opens in London after renovation

The Painted Hall of the 17th century Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is decorated with the work of British artist James Thornhill, which he began in 1707 and finished in 1726.

Foreign buyers flock to Cape Town's booming art scene

Dozens of venues, including the Association of Visual Arts Gallery and the converted grain silos of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA), are catering to aficionados seeking a good investment as well as the general public.