MoMA has acquired the iconic Jasper Johns’s work Painted Bronze, a work that has sat in the Philadelphia Museum of Art for three decades, and which was purchased recently by collectors Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis.  Kravis, who serves as MoMA’s Board President, gifted the work shortly after purchase directly from the artist’s personal collection.  “It’s not easy to convince someone who’s kept something for himself for more than 50 years,” says dealer Matthew Marks. “It’s a big deal for him, emotionally. And one can imagine all the people over all the years who have asked, all the institutions, all the collectors who have been told no, since I was a kid.”

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The Metropolitan Opera, currently in need of cash, has collateralized two of its Marc Chagall works as part of a line of credit from Bank of America.  The organization has placed The Triumph of Music and The Sources of Music as collateral, both of which hang in its lobby, until it can balance its budget. “Recent changes at the Met – including the implementation of our historic new union agreements, and a program of institution-wide cost controls – are expected to lead to balanced budgets in fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2016 while significantly strengthening the long-term financial prospects of the institution,”  says Met spokesman Sam Neuman. (more…)

The Louvre is reportedly loaning over 300 works to its new museum in Abu Dhabi, The Guardian reports, including works by Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh and Matisse.  “This will be the first time many of these works will travel to Abu Dhabi or even the Middle East, and are a rare opportunity to see important art from French museums,” said Sultan bin Tahnoon al-Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. (more…)

Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale, Rome’s contemporary and modern art museum, is planning a new extension of the institution, which will feature works exclusively on loan from its next door neighbor, the Gagosian Gallery.  The museum is also planning an outdoor exhibition space that will feature sculptures by artists like Jeff Koons and Franz West. (more…)

The Art Newspaper reports that a 38-piece private collection of works by German artist Anselm Kiefer will be given to the Kunsthalle Mannheim on extended loan. The collection is owned by Hans Grothe, a German art collector who made his fortune in construction, and will be on loan to the museum for more than a decade. The article also reports on the statement released by the museum, which highlights the it’s high expectations for the collection. (more…)

Tracey Emin‘s “My Bed,” which set an auction record for the artist early this month, has given on a 10-year loan to the Tate by collector Count Christian Duerckheim, a Cologne-based industrialist.  “I always admired the honesty of Tracey, but I bought My Bed because it is a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die.” (more…)

MOCA is drawing criticism this week, following the loan of a Frank Stella painting to a Culver City art gallery, which many have called a conflict of interest.  The work Ctesiphon I, was loaned to Honor Fraser Gallery with approval of  the Acquisition and Collection Committee.  “MOCA is committed to loan artworks to encourage public enjoyment of objects,” MOCA said in an official statement. “MOCA lends to commercial art galleries only on a case-by-case basis.” (more…)

The Whitney Museum has loaned a pair of Cape Cod landscapes by Edward Hopper to the White House, where they have been installed in the Oval Office.  “We are pleased and honored to lend two paintings by Edward Hopper—the artist with whom the Whitney Museum of American Art is most closely identified—to The White House for display in the Oval Office,” said Director Adam D. Weinberg. “We hope these beautiful Cape Cod landscapes will give great pleasure to President Obama and to all who see them.”  (more…)

As tensions mount in the Middle East over a potential war with Syria, the Italian government has cancelled a museum loan that would have sent Botticelli’s The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala to the Israel Museum.  The Italian Ministry of Culture has cited logistic and safety concerns regarding the work, and expressed hope that the work would soon be exhibited in Jerusalem. (more…)

Pablo Picasso’s much-loved painting, Child with Dove (1901), is likely to leave the UK for good this year.  The work recently changed hands, and the anonymous new owner is free to take the work abroad once its current loan ends in May.  “With arts cuts the way they are, it’s going to be increasingly difficult. (The Picasso) is, of course, a catastrophic loss. (But) it’s about being realistic: work is going to leave.”  Said Alan Yentob, creative director at the BBC. (more…)

In an unprecedented move, French President François Hollande has cleared Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting Olympia to leave the French capital for the first time since it was given to the nation in 1890.  The painting will travel to Venice for this year’s Biennale, where it will sit beside Titian’s The Venus of Urbino, which itself is legally unable to leave Italy.  “We want to show how Italian cultural models influenced Manet,” says Guy Cogeval, director at the Musée D’Orsay, where the Manet masterpiece has been on view for over 100 years.
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