France's Francoise Gilot, who died Tuesday aged 101, survived what she called the "hell" of being Spanish artist Pablo Picasso's mistress and muse to become a renowned artist in her own right.…

British graffiti artist Banksy on Tuesday unveiled his latest UK street artwork, which appears to take aim at domestic violence against women as the world celebrates Valentine’s Day. The mural, which appeared in Margate in southeast England, depicts a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a real chest freezer. Despite…

A large sculpture used as Nazi propaganda in Adolf Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery headquarters has gone on display in Berlin as part of an exhibition examining the city’s history of “toxic” monuments. The Nazi propaganda piece is part of many similar works in the exhibition “Unveiled. Berlin and its Monuments” which explores how various state powers tried to shape the Berlin…

The Uffizi art gallery in Florence said on Tuesday it was increasing its basic ticket price to cover spiralling energy costs. During the high season from March 1 to November 30, standard admission to the world- famous collection of paintings and statues will cost 25 euros ($27), up from 20 currently. The change was agreed “to cope with the increase…

A German court on Tuesday recommended jail sentences of several years for six members of a notorious criminal gang suspected of stealing priceless 18th-century jewels from a state museum. Insurance experts had said the loot was worth at least 113.8 million euros ($120 million at the current rate), with German media dubbing it the biggest art heist in modern history.…

The Prosecutor General’s Office in Kiev has initiated proceedings against the thief of a Banksy mural.  The man, together with several accomplices, cut a picture by the British street artist out of a wall in the Kiev suburb of Hostomel at the beginning of December.  The proceedings are directed exclusively against the man for theft under martial law, the authorities said. He…

The suspected mastermind behind the removal of a Banksy mural in a Ukrainian town could face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty, Ukraine’s interior ministry said on Monday. The artwork, depicting a woman in a gas mask and a dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher, was taken off a wall in the town of Hostomel on Dec. 2,…

Italian police said on Friday they had seized a painting on display by the 17th century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens after a fraud investigation into its owners. The masterpiece, called “The resurrected Christ appears to his mother”, was part of a “Rubens in Genoa” exhibition in the city’s Doge’s Palace. The police are not accusing the exhibition of any…

English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has died at the age of 81, her representatives have confirmed. The pioneering designer made a name for herself on the fashion scene in the 1970s, with her androgynous designs, slogan T-shirts and irreverent attitude towards the establishment. Dame Vivienne died on Friday “peacefully, and surrounded by her family in Clapham, south London,” her representatives…