As London’s National Gallery prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2024, it is planning a major renovation project, a $34.7-to-$41.7 million (£25-30 million) upgrade of its public-facing amenities. “We are extremely fortunate to have a superb building and a modern classic in the Sainsbury Wing,” says director Dr. Gabriele Finaldi, “one that has more than met its original brief, notably in the practically perfect picture galleries. The dual challenge of a huge increase in visitor numbers and the changing expectations and needs of those visitors over the last 30 years, means we do need to look again at the spaces we have, and in particular the ground floor entrances and amenities.” (more…)

A piece in the BBC looks at how museums are adapting to closure, and how its employees are feeling as museums remain shuttered. “I’ve absolutely loved it,” says James Maclaine, senior fish curator at the Natural History Museum. “Obviously I have missed my colleagues but the peace and quiet has been really nice.” (more…)

The NYT takes a tour of Angel Otero’s new studio in Malden-on-Hudson, N.Y., where the artist has taken over a converted church. “I embrace all this history,” he says. “I have always tried to mold my creativity and my lifestyle around moments like this.” (more…)

A Basquiat work is set to sell in Asia for at least $31 million, setting it up to become the most expensive Western work auctioned in Asia. “It is simply a masterpiece,” says Cristian Albu, Christie’s international director of postwar and contemporary art. (more…)

MOCA in Los Angeles is restructuring, with Klaus Biesenbach stepping into a role as Artistic Director, while the museum looks for an executive director.“This is a natural progression of MOCA’s growth and successes, and we are excited by what the strong partnership between Klaus and the executive director will allow us to accomplish,” says board chair Maria Stefarian. “Klaus has made incredible advances possible under his leadership, and this new structure allows us to invest even further in his exceptional artistic vision, his extraordinary fundraising results and his creative and dynamic development of new initiatives for the museum.” (more…)

Damien Hirst will take over Gagosian London’s Britannia Street Gallery for the next year, showcasing a range of new works. “We need to do things differently at an altered time. It’s a definite takeover,” says Gagosian director Millicent Wilner. (more…)

A Picasso stolen nine years ago from the National Gallery of Athens may still be in the country, Art News reports. (more…)

The Getty Trust has created a $38.5 million recovery fund for LA arts organizations to aid with expenses during the pandemic. “In our experience, this is the largest collaboration of L.A. and national philanthropic organizations to come together for Los Angeles, particularly to support small and midsize local arts organizations,” says Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation. (more…)

LACMA is selling the Mid-Wilshire home of Michael Govan.  “Due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, the museum is selling the director’s residence to realize these proceeds,” said a museum spokesperson. “The director will no longer live in housing owned by the museum.” (more…)

The NYT has a profile on artist KAWS, as he prepares to open his major retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, which is already sold out in its first weekend. “His years as a graffiti artist were incredibly important for him, and really formed his artistic vision,” says Eugenie Tsai, the show’s curator. “I think his studio practice is one part of that, but it’s still predicated on showing in public spaces.” (more…)

SFMoMA director Neal Benezra will step down. “What we are announcing is the beginning of a transition,” he says, “not a departure.” (more…)

Actor Riz Ahmed and Chisenhale Gallery curator Sandy Nairne are part of a new commission to diversify London’s public sculptures, the Art Newspaper reports. “For far too long, too many Londoners have felt unrepresented by the statues, street names and building names all around them, and it’s important that we do what we can to ensure our rich and diverse history is celebrated and properly commemorated in our city,” says Mayor Sadiq Khan.  (more…)

The German government’s advisory panel on Nazi-looted art has ruled that the city of Cologne should return an Egon Schiele that was likely sold under duress by Heinrich Rieger, a Jewish Viennese dentist and art collector. “We are relieved that there are now prospects for a fair and just solution with the return of the work to the family,” says Yilmaz Dziewior, the director of the Museum Ludwig. (more…)

The WSJ takes a tour of Annabelle Selldorf’s art-filled home this week, as she reflects on her many projects with galleries, and how it has informed her taste in art. “I’ve worked on art-related projects since early days,” she says. “Art is the thing that stimulates, inspires and informs in ways that sort of activate this part of the brain.” (more…)

A piece in The Guardian this week features snapshots from the organizer of the late Christo, which features a range of meetings and appointments, including several lines like “CALL ANDY WARHOL.” “Christo and Jeanne-Claude also spent quite a bit of time with Andy Warhol. They had lots of friends in common and would lunch or dine together or go to the movies. Christo said he was a very sweet, almost shy in person,” says Lorenza Giovanelli, Christo’s studio manager, friend and confidante. (more…)

The NYT has a piece this week on the number of Florine Stettheimer pieces appearing on the market of late, and the allegations of fake works that have followed in their wake. “The challenge with Stettheimer,” says Christie’s deputy chair Eric Widing, “is so little of her art comes to market that there is a dearth of good pricing data for people to make an assessment.”  (more…)

The Met is considering selling off works from its collection to fund for the collection’s care and current expenses. “This is the time when we need to keep our options open,” says director Max Hollein. “None of us have a full perspective on how the pandemic will play out. It would be inappropriate for us not to consider it, when we’re still in this foggy situation.” (more…)

NBC reports this week on the newly approved National Museum of the American Latino, and the efforts to spearhead funding for getting the museum built, including using funds. already on hand. “We’ll go ahead and do that, but Congress is going to have to appropriate later as we move forward,” says interim director Eduardo Diaz. (more…)

The Netherlands will embark on an ambitious new plan to repatriate artifacts removed from former colonies. “We must treat colonial collections with great sensitivity,” says Ingrid van Engelshoven, the minister of education. “There is no place in the Dutch State Collection for cultural heritage objects that were acquired through theft.” (more…)

Artist Nick Cave has won his court case in Kinderhook, NY over the right to show a massive text piece on the facade of Jack Shainman’s Schoolhouse gallery. Ruling that the words in the piece “were displayed as a political message and art for a temporary period of time and therefore Kinderhook Village Code does not apply to regulate the exhibit as a sign.” (more…)

The Parrish Art Museum has tapped Kelly Taxter as its next director. “We’re at a crucial moment for change in the art world,” she tells the NYT. “And I’m excited to be a part of it. I hope to make the museum relevant year-round, on both a local and global level.” (more…)

The New York Times charts the challenges faced by dealers and arts professionals in the UK as post-Brexit trade restrictions and fees cause increasing challenges to doing business. “Brexit has made the U.K. a faraway country,” says Belgian collector Andre Gordts. “It just makes things extremely difficult, enhancing the trade of bureaucrats and punishing hard-working artists and honest tradesmen in their galleries.” (more…)

French arts institutions have written an open letter to the government asking for permission to reopen.  “For an hour, for a day, for a week or for a month, let us half open our doors, even if we have to close them,” it reads. “We express the wish to be able to take care of visitors now, because it seems essential to us that places of culture can once again offer a sensitive aid to mental well-being to cope with this crisis. Art, like health, helps heal the human soul.” (more…)

A piece in the New York Times notes the varied responses museums in the U.S. surrounding the pandemic, noting some institutions’ prolonged closures while others lobby the government to push for broader reopening. “The decision making has been really erratic,” said Laura Lott, president of the American Alliance of Museums. “There are 50-plus sets of different rules and thousands of museums making different decisions.” (more…)