The year 2023 in art involves various significant events.
Events
February - The
Joan Mitchell foundation issues a
cease and desist letter to
Louis Vuitton to stop using
Joan Mitchell's paintings as the backdrop in one of the advertising campaigns for their signature handbags, saying that it is unauthorized and improper usage.[1]
February 16 - A woman attending the Art Wynwood art fair in the
Wynwood section of
Miami, Florida taps a limited edition
porcelainJeff KoonsBalloon Dog sculpture displayed at the Bel-Air Fine Art booth, knocking it to the floor and shattering it into many many pieces and shards. There was no "Break it You Buy It" policy at the temporary gallery outpost and it was covered by insurance.[2]
March 29 - The German born Belgian art collector and patron
Myriam Ullens is shot dead allegedly by her stepson, Nicolas Ullens de Schooten Whettnall.[4]
May - American visual artist and academic
Shellyne Rodriguez has online and in-person confrontations in New York City with
anti-abortion activists and when a New York Post reporter tries to interview her at her home she threatens him with a
machete. She is then dismissed from her position as a professor at
Hunter College, arrested and charged with menacing and harassment.[5]
June 27 -
Gustav Klimt's last painting, Lady with a Fan (Dame mit Fächer, 1918), is sold by
Sotheby's in London for UK£85.3M (US$108.4) to a Hong Kong collector, the highest-priced artwork ever sold at auction in Europe.[6]
September -
Edouard Manet's Olympia comes to the U.S. for the very first time as part of the exhibition Manet/Degas, a show which originated at the famed work's home, the
Musée d'Orsay in Paris.[7]
October 6 - An American tourist visiting
Israel throws two second century Roman statues to the floor in the
Israel Museum damaging them and is subsequently arrested. Upon questioning by
Israeli police the vandal said that he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the
Torah.”[8]
November 8 - The collection of
Emily Fisher Landau (1920-2023) sets a record for the highest total proceeds ever obtained at auction from the sale of a collection of a female collector, 406 million $US at
Sotheby's in New York City. The sale includes
Pablo Picasso's Femme à la montre (1932), which changed hands for 121 million $US , the second highest price ever achieved at auction for a work by Picasso after Les Femmes d'Alger (1955), which sold for 179.4 million $US in 2015, then a record for a painting sold at auction.[9][10]
Australian artist
Mike Parr is dropped by his longtime representative the Anna Schwartz Gallery in
Melbourne after staging a performance and instillation where he placed the words
Israel and
Nazis side by side.[12]
Departing the booth he curated at Art Miami during
Art Basel Miami Beach week art dealer Rodrigo Salomon leaves a small painting by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682), "Madonna and Child" valued at between 500,000 and 1 million $US in a
Lyft vehicle before it can be retrieved from the trunk and the driver speeds away with the painting in the hold. The painting is subsequently returned.[13][14]
October 13 until January 21, 2024 - Vertigo of Color:
Matisse,
Derain, and the Origins of
Fauvism at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[44]
The year 2023 in art involves various significant events.
Events
February - The
Joan Mitchell foundation issues a
cease and desist letter to
Louis Vuitton to stop using
Joan Mitchell's paintings as the backdrop in one of the advertising campaigns for their signature handbags, saying that it is unauthorized and improper usage.[1]
February 16 - A woman attending the Art Wynwood art fair in the
Wynwood section of
Miami, Florida taps a limited edition
porcelainJeff KoonsBalloon Dog sculpture displayed at the Bel-Air Fine Art booth, knocking it to the floor and shattering it into many many pieces and shards. There was no "Break it You Buy It" policy at the temporary gallery outpost and it was covered by insurance.[2]
March 29 - The German born Belgian art collector and patron
Myriam Ullens is shot dead allegedly by her stepson, Nicolas Ullens de Schooten Whettnall.[4]
May - American visual artist and academic
Shellyne Rodriguez has online and in-person confrontations in New York City with
anti-abortion activists and when a New York Post reporter tries to interview her at her home she threatens him with a
machete. She is then dismissed from her position as a professor at
Hunter College, arrested and charged with menacing and harassment.[5]
June 27 -
Gustav Klimt's last painting, Lady with a Fan (Dame mit Fächer, 1918), is sold by
Sotheby's in London for UK£85.3M (US$108.4) to a Hong Kong collector, the highest-priced artwork ever sold at auction in Europe.[6]
September -
Edouard Manet's Olympia comes to the U.S. for the very first time as part of the exhibition Manet/Degas, a show which originated at the famed work's home, the
Musée d'Orsay in Paris.[7]
October 6 - An American tourist visiting
Israel throws two second century Roman statues to the floor in the
Israel Museum damaging them and is subsequently arrested. Upon questioning by
Israeli police the vandal said that he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the
Torah.”[8]
November 8 - The collection of
Emily Fisher Landau (1920-2023) sets a record for the highest total proceeds ever obtained at auction from the sale of a collection of a female collector, 406 million $US at
Sotheby's in New York City. The sale includes
Pablo Picasso's Femme à la montre (1932), which changed hands for 121 million $US , the second highest price ever achieved at auction for a work by Picasso after Les Femmes d'Alger (1955), which sold for 179.4 million $US in 2015, then a record for a painting sold at auction.[9][10]
Australian artist
Mike Parr is dropped by his longtime representative the Anna Schwartz Gallery in
Melbourne after staging a performance and instillation where he placed the words
Israel and
Nazis side by side.[12]
Departing the booth he curated at Art Miami during
Art Basel Miami Beach week art dealer Rodrigo Salomon leaves a small painting by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682), "Madonna and Child" valued at between 500,000 and 1 million $US in a
Lyft vehicle before it can be retrieved from the trunk and the driver speeds away with the painting in the hold. The painting is subsequently returned.[13][14]
October 13 until January 21, 2024 - Vertigo of Color:
Matisse,
Derain, and the Origins of
Fauvism at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[44]