Iran Guards Hidden Art Trove

Group broke into Paris museum during all-night culture festival

(NEWSER) - Four or five people broke into a Paris museum on Sunday and punched a hole in a Monet. The group broke open a back door to the Musee d'Orsay and fled when an alarm sounded, but not before tearing a four-inch hole in "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," a scene of a bridge and boats on the Seine painted in 1874. The vandals appeared to be drunk. More»

Security forces fire on activists: web site

(NEWSER) - Protesters clashed with security forces in Tehran today as hundreds of thousands of people mobbed the streets to mark Iran's Revolution Day, witnesses reported. Police fired bullets and teargas at supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi who were holding a rally in downtown Tehran, according to an activist website run by Iran's Green Voice. More»

Pablo Picasso's 'The Actor' is hardly the first expensive accident

(NEWSER) - The art student who tripped and tore a hole in a Picasso painting is probably fairly embarrassed—but will, perhaps, feel better knowing others can sympathize. The Independent lists nine other art catastrophes, some accidental and some not:

• Cy Twombly: A woman kissed one of his paintings, leaving it smeared with lipstick—she said she was “just trying to warm up” the white canvas.
• Qing vase: A Cambridge museum visitor slipped down the stairs, possibly thanks to an untied shoelace, and smashed a set of 300-year-old vases.

$1 million reward offered after fortune in original Warhol art vanishes

(NEWSER) - A multi-million dollar collection of portraits by Andy Warhol has been stolen from a prominent collector's home, the Los Angeles Times reports. Former investment banker Richard Weisman's housekeeper discovered that The Athletes series of 11 portraits—worth as much as a million a pop—had vanished when she entered the home last Wednesday. There were no signs of forced entry and other artworks, including other Warhols, were undisturbed. More»

Studio, burial ground private up til now

(NEWSER) - This summer, art fiends can visit Pablo Picasso’s final resting place for the first time—a château where “he devoted himself completely to his art,” the Telegraph reports. Picasso discovered Château de Vauvenargues in the foothills of France’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, a mountain made famous by Paul Cézanne. Visitors will see Picasso’s studio, untouched since he last used it, and objects including a dresser and mandolin that appear in his paintings. More»