Painter Peter Doig is highlighted in the Wall Street Journal this week, as he opens a broad exhibition of works at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel.  “I think you only have so many ideas that you think are good ideas,” Doig says. (more…)

A recent article on Arnet reviews the story over assailant Andrew Shannon’s attack on a Claude Monet painting, and notes that he is not the first to punch one of the artist’s Impressionist masterworks.  In 2007, a group of vandals entered the Musée D’Orsay and punched a hole in another of the artist’s Argenteuil landscapes.   (more…)

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 trailer for Woman in Gold has been released, a film focusing on the attempts of former refugee Maria Altmann to reclaim the Gustav Klimt masterwork Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, stolen from her family during the reign of the Third Reich. (more…)

Michael Anthony, the executive chef of Gramercy Tavern, has been named as the head chef for the Whitney’s new Meatpacking District location.  The museum will include two restaurants: Untitled, a fine dining establishment run out of the museum’s ground floor, and the Studio Cafe, which will be located on the Museum’s 8th Floor. (more…)

As the U.S. renews diplomatic relations with Cuba, critics and market leaders are predicting a new rush of interest in the island’s arts community.  “I believe Cuban art has been a best-kept secret among a few collectors,” says collector Howard Farber, “and now that Cuba is opening up to us I think more people will discover a genre that’s fresh and great.” (more…)

The LA Times reviews the departure of both Christie’s and Sotheby’s CEO’s this year, and investigating the motivations behind each’s departure.  “I think it makes dramatic copy to characterize boardroom confrontations,” says William Ruprecht, the soon to depart Sotheby’s head.  “The fact is, the board and I have had extremely civilized conversations. Dan has been respectful to me and only respectful. It has been an orderly and thoughtful process.” (more…)

NADA at the Deauville, all photos by Art Observed

Again located up Collins Ave at the Deauville Beach Resort in North Beach, the New Art Dealers Alliance fair seems perfectly content to let the buyers come to them.  Boasting a tightly curated but welcoming atmosphere for younger artists and smaller galleries, the fair has remained a yearly mainstay in the proceedings of Miami Art Week. (more…)

The Guggenheim has released a list of finalists in the competition to design the prospective new Guggenheim in Helsinki, Finland. The final six selections include a variety of designs, including repurposed buildings and a series of pavilion-style structures linked through an interconnected walkway. The design contest “opens extraordinary possibilities for a Guggenheim in Helsinki and asks us to imagine what a museum of the future can be,” according to director Richard Armstrong. (more…)

Over £45 million in art was donated to the British nation in the past year, a new report by the Arts Council England reports, among them a landmark collection of works from the collection of late artist Lucian Freud.   “There is something of special significance in the perception that one great artist has of another,” says Arts Council England chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette of the Freud collection. “It was this group of paintings and drawings, rather than his own works, that Freud chose to surround himself with in his home.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal heads upstate for a tour of artist Richard Prince’s Catskill Mountains home, where the artist has built a studio and a number of immense sculptures and special projects he has never exhibited. “A lot of stuff here I don’t consider art, or at least it didn’t begin as art,” Prince says. “I’m just trying to make something I haven’t seen before. Cool stuff.” (more…)

Steven Murphy, the Christie’s CEO who has presided over the company during its record-setting run of auctions over the last several years, has announced that he will be leaving his position at the end of the year. “We have now successfully concluded an ambitious three year plan and the company is in the strongest leadership position in its history,” Murphy said in a statement. (more…)

A Manhattan court has decided the lawsuit between Larry Gagosian and Ronald Perelman in favor of Gagosian, ruling that Perelman’s lawsuit “does not establish that [Gagosian] exercised control and dominance over [Perelman], who by [his] own description, frequently purchased, sold and exchanged works of art as investments.” (more…)

Artist Paul Chan, the winner of this year’s Hugo Boss Prize, is interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week, discussing the temporary retirement the artist took in 2008.  “At a certain point I realized I had no more ideas I was interested in making something out of, so I realized maybe this is time to stop,” he says.  “I cleaned my house and read and tried to live, but at a certain point I realized I needed something else to do besides just living, and that’s where publishing came in.” (more…)

Outgoing Sotheby’s head Bill Ruprecht will receive a $4 million severance package from the company. The news was disclosed in an SEC filing today.  (more…)

ArtPrize, the Grand Rapids-based art contest that has made the city an unexpected stop on the global art circuit, has announced plans to expand its event to Dallas in 2016.  “We want to make sure there’s an appetite for this sort of thing, and we think there is and we’ll go wherever the appetite is,” says Executive Director Christian Gaines. (more…)

Uta Werner, a cousin of embattled collector Cornelius Gurlitt, has stepped forward to challenge the late man’s will in a Munich court.  The move comes as Kunstmuseum Bern is preparing to announce its decision on the artworks, which were initially bequeathed to the institution when Gurlitt passed away earlier this year. (more…)

Former auction house head Simon De Pury is branching out once again into the world of curating, preparing a show at 3 Grafton Street in London, focusing on the work of 92-year-old Polish artist Wojciech Fangor.  “The idea is to show great art in this space, we will have an international program,” De Pury says. (more…)

As construction gets underway for the new Tate Modern extension, Guardian writer Well Self asks if the new renovations to the museum is just another step in the ongoing transformation of the museum as an extension of influence by the hyper wealthy, and an indication of the financial impact the contemporary market has made on the museum’s curatorial practices. “The new Tate Modern will not be an art gallery per se, but a sort of life-size model of what an art gallery might be should our culture have need of one,” he writes.  “Since it doesn’t, but rather has a requirement for visitor attractions that reify the ever‑widening gulf between haves and have-nots, I’m absolutely certain it will prove an outrageous success” (more…)

An article in the New Statesman takes a hard look at the state of British art schools this week, noting tuition fees higher than anywhere else in Europe, and a change in the curriculum that has changed how students practice, both of which have limited access to education for lower income classes and discouraged Britain’s famously egalitarian higher education system. (more…)

The record for the most expensive work of art by a female artist fell in unexpected fashion at Sotheby’s in New York last night, as a Georgia O’Keefe painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1 from 1932 sold for more than three times its estimate for $44 million.  The work was included in a sale of American Art last night, and beats the previous $11.9 million auction record for a female (held by Joan Mitchell).  (more…)

The Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland, which found itself as the unlikely recipient of the late Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove of looted artworks, is preparing to announce its decision of the collection following a lengthy discussion among museum officials.  Initial reports are claiming that the museum will in fact accept the works. (more…)

The Park Avenue Armory has announced the list of events and exhibitions for its 2015 season, which will include a new work from Laurie Anderson’s “Language of the Future” series, a multimedia installation by Philippe Parreno, and a collaboration Marina Abramovic and the pianist Igor Levit. (more…)

Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht has announced that he will be stepping down from his position at the auction house, following a nearly year-long battle over control against investor Dan Loeb.  “The last few years have been the most successful in the company’s history,” Ruprecht said in a statement.  “I am comfortable and confident saying Sotheby’s is well positioned for the next chapter of its success and I will do all I can to contribute to a smooth leadership transition.” (more…)