Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995). Photograph: Ai Weiwei

The cavernous space of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall has been dwarfed by a massive spider, cleaved by a 167-metre crack and baked by an artificial sun. Now, the gallery has announced, the space is to be filled by its most politically adventurous commission yet.

Continue reading — Tate Modern Turbine Hall to host China’s Warhol

Sotheby’s today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009.
Despite a 7% decrease in net auction sales, Sotheby’s reported a substantial improvement in fourth quarter 2009 earnings over the prior year fourth quarter. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 is the second highest in Company history at $73.6 million, [...]

The “five-to-10 good years” phenomenon, first articulated by former Tate director Alan Bowness, suggests that virtually all artists do their best work in a relatively short period, whether it was the 10 years Delacroix had between 1824 and 1834, Courbet’s six (1849 -1855) or Munch’s three (1892-95).
After a major artist makes his breakthrough, he will [...]

Some of the most magnificent drawings ever executed – physical manifestations of Michelangelo’s love and infatuation for a handsome and intelligent teenage boy – will on Thursday go on display as a group for the first time.
The groundbreaking show at the Courtauld gallery in London, with loans from the Vatican and the Queen, is essentially [...]

The reputations of artists are almost always in a state of flux, but the works of few painters can have suffered a more graphic illustration of the descent from superstar to pariah than Paul Delaroche. At the height of his fame this French painter of mostly English historical scenes was critically applauded and popularly fêted [...]

The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí presented the loan of the work Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pommegranate One Minute Before Awakening (1944), from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Madrid). The oil painting will be exhibited at the Drawings Room (number 6) of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres from 9 February until 2 May [...]

Markets around the world are looking to China to buoy their financial prospects. So are art auction houses.
After a dismal year, Sotheby’s and Christie’s International PLC are set to begin a major round of art auctions in London on Tuesday, and experts say Chinese collectors may emerge as the latest power players to bid up [...]