‘In art and literature, beauty and ugliness are deeply entwined with ideas of good and bad, but not always in straightforward ways.’ Hettie Judah on the dangers of playing the ‘beautiful’ game

Some of the UK's amazing art to see that's NOT in London

Big news from the National Gallery! Kengo Kuma and Associates with BDP and MICA have won the competition to design its new wing, part of the museum’s £750 million Project Domani. Can't wait to see the roof garden!

Experts Sound Alarm Over the New Normal of Museum Heists

Would you want a job where you have to 'constantly plan for shocks and disappointments'? (according to a source close to a Tate trustee)

This weeks @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'tiles' so here's a lovely Dragon tile from William de Morgan in @demorganfoundation.bsky.social www.demorgan.org.uk/collection/d...

From having 25 museums when the Communist Party gained power in 1949, to opening a museum every 1.5 days from 2010-2024, China’s massive cultural expansion shows museums have been framed as instruments of national storytelling.

While I don't agree that history of art is "radically egalitarian", I do 100% agree that it is "like every humanities subject... essentially an exploration of how to live."

The @metmuseum.org to acquire rediscovered Renaissance painting admired by Vasari 🙌

A long lost painting by Rembrandt has been rediscovered and authenticated by experts, after its whereabouts were unknown for decades. It's now going on show at the @rijksmuseum.bsky.social

France has appointed Christophe Leribault as the new head of the Louvre, bringing in the director of the Palace of Versailles to turn around the world’s most visited museum after a humiliating jewellery heist and staff strikes.

What's going on at the Barbican? Arts Director leaves but "her departure, after a comparatively short time in post and coinciding with the arrival of a new chief executive, raises serious questions about the institution’s commitment to sustaining global majority leadership at the highest levels.”

"But honestly, it’s an advert... Why the Tate felt the need to make such a song and dance about it, however, remains a mystery."

More trouble at the Louvre! A decade-long ticket fraud scheme targeting Chinese tour groups has led to the arrest of two Louvre employees and several tour guides, in a “large-scale” operation that siphoned millions of dollars from the world’s most visited museum.

Does nobody want Tate's top job?

The world’s most popular museums are bursting at the seams. As visitor numbers stop being the sole metric of success, is quality becoming more important than quantity?

Gagosian, David Zwirner, Hauser and Wirth, Pace Gallery, the Drawing Center in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles join nationwide strike protesting ICE news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...

David Hockney fears that the British Museum is taking too much of a risk by moving the fragile tapestry to these shores – and any damage could be irreparable

20 highlights to watch out for in 2026, EXCEPT just 6 of them are original stories and the rest are part of existing franchises, remakes or sequels. What is happening to cinema?

The Natural History Museum is opening two galleries that have been closed for decades

A lovely heartwarming story for Christmas. Happy holidays everyone! 🎁🥂🎄https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxwllqz1l0o

For today’s @artukdotorg.bsky.social #onlineartexchange as the theme is Christmas, here’s Botticelli’s gorgeous ‘Mystic Nativity’ from the National Gallery

Hundreds of items taken in high-value museum raid www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Incredibly sad to hear that legendary architect Frank Gehry dies aged 96 www.bbc.com/news/article...

Great to see a female artist being so celebrated! Oh, wait... 🫤

Non-E.U. visitors must pay $37 to go to the Louve starting in January 2026, as the museum raises funds for major infrastructure and security updates. Crikey! 💰https://news.artnet.com/art-world/louvre-ticket-price-hike-2721236

This week the #OnlineArtExchnage celebrates #MuseumShopSunday this weekend 🛍️ The @demorganfoundation.bsky.social has a lovely range of prints, tiles and coasters. You can also see more work by William and Evelyn De Morgan when you next visit Cannon Hall Museum #art #ceramic #tiles

Another Jonathan Jones masterpiece (I've actually never seen a ★★★★★ / ★☆☆☆☆ review before), where Sarah Lucas is "precise, witty and intelligent" and Maggi Hambling's work is a "slapdash mess". See what the fuss is about at Sadie Coles HQ. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Lovely Monet and Moomins at Ferens Art Gallery! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Woo hoo! Loved seeing this the last time we went to Oxford 💛

Gorgeous 'Golden age' London Underground posters go on show at London Transport Museum www.bbc.com/news/article...

A museum the size of 70 football pitches?! Count me in! 🏛️ www.bbc.com/news/article...

How Louvre gang carried out France's most shocking theft

Bearing in mind the Portrait of the Duke of Wellington was stolen from the National Gallery way back in 1961 by putting a ladder up against a window, it's BAFFLING that nobody saw this van was *not exactly* legit

Louvre museum in Paris closed after robbery, French minister says

Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange is ghosts! 👻 One of my favourites is Hokusai's The Mansion of the Plates from his One Hundred Ghost Tales series. The ghost is returning to haunt her murderer. This version is from the Art Institute of Chicago: www.artic.edu/artworks/474...

Smithsonian museums in Washington and New York close as US government shutdown drags on... The 21 museums, 14 research and education complexes, and one zoo overseen by the Smithsonian closed on Sunday, and until when, who knows?

8 Paintings that Vincent van Gogh copied: The Post-Impressionist master often painted reproductions of fellow artists' works in his characteristic style.

The National Gallery of Art closes indefinitely amid the U.S. government shutdown. The museum welcomed 3.8 million visitors in 2023, some 18 percent more than in 2022, when it was the most-visited museum in America.

British Museum’s ‘pink ball’ criticised by climate campaign group

How Museums Are Future-Proofing Their Finances Museums face shrinking funds and shifting values—can they reinvent support for the future?

Tate Britain plans to build new Mediterranean and East Asian-inspired green spaces and a "garden classroom" for children.

Shrinking audiences, a cash crisis and rivals on the rise: what’s gone wrong at Tate? The museum group is struggling with its identity – while the National Gallery is not only thriving but expanding into modern art

National Gallery gets £375m donations for new wing

I'm not quite sure how The British Museum is going to stop people forming queues, but fair play to them!

Ahead of the Bayeux Tapestry going on display at the British Museum next year, a modern inspiration by David Hockney will open at the Serpentine Gallery. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/fre...

Bold moves by the @vangoghmuseum.bsky.social calling out the Dutch government for lack of funding potentially forcing a future closure of the museum

Very sad news from the Whitney Museum in NYC

Town's hosting of Turner Prize 2026 a 'major coup' for Middlesbrough

Controversy continues over Israeli embassy event at British Museum - how can museums be non-political when they have to follow government policy?