Martin Bailey

2 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Martin Bailey

An exhibition opening this weekend focuses on one of the first female painters to have been deeply influenced by Van Gogh. Charley Toorop (1891-1955) was the daughter of the avant-garde Dutch artist Jan Toorop and his British wife Annie Hall. For Charley Toorop, discovering Van Gogh represented “the breakthrough to a new world”. Charley Toorop: Love for Van Gogh is at the Kröller-Müller Museum, in the east of the Netherlands (24 May-14 September).

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Martin Bailey

Gauguin’s final “self-portrait” is a fake, according to Fabrice Fourmanoir, a French researcher who lived for many years in French Polynesia. Following his investigation, the Kunstmuseum Basel has sent the painting for examination in its conservation studio. The technical results are expected by July. A Kunstmuseum spokesperson told The Art Newspaper that it is taking the attribution claim “very seriously”. The museum's Self-portrait was bequeathed to the museum in 1945.

4 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Martin Bailey

Hong Gyu Shin, now a New York-based gallery owner, became the first named Korean to purchase a Van Gogh when he acquired Head of a Peasant (January-March 1885) at Sotheby’s in May 2024. Shin paid $787,000 for the work—a bargain, since the estimate was £1.5m-$2.5m. Head of a Peasant has just gone on display in an exhibition of Shin’s collection in the city of Daejeon (south of Seoul), in the newly opened KAIST Museum. It is on the campus of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

1 month ago | theartnewspaper.com | Martin Bailey

Water from a hailstorm leaked into the Musée du Louvre on Saturday (3 May), almost dripping on Cimabue’s Maestà, arguably the greatest early Western European painting. Dating from 1280-85, it is the centrepiece of the exhibition A New Look at Cimabue: At the Origins of Italian Painting (22 January-12 May). I was in the gallery, noticing the drops before the guards were alerted.

1 month ago | theartnewspaper.com | Martin Bailey

On 10 May the National Gallery in London is to unveil the first full rehang of its collection since the opening of the Sainsbury Wing in 1991. The wing has been closed for just over two years, to create an enlarged and more welcoming entrance foyer. The Art Newspaper was given an early tour by Christine Riding, the director of collections and research, who has overseen the rehang. She describes her task as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.