How to Bust Art Myths

Major retrospective sheds light on realist painter

(NEWSER) - Parlaying scandal into success may seem a terribly modern ploy, but Gustave Courbet, the subject of a new retrospective at New York's Metropolitan Museum, mastered the art 150 years ago. Courbet, the realist painter and father of modern art, painted both gorgeous, subtle scenes and uglier, intentionally awkward tableaux. They stand side by side in this "deeply engaging and utterly fascinating retrospective," Ariella Budick writes in Newsday. More»

Showcases darker tones of earlier work

(NEWSER) - For the first time in five years, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has added a new piece to its collection—and it looks a little different from your standard Vincent van Gogh. This one is an 1882 watercolor whose tones are much darker than those the artist later adopted. The painting shows what van Gogh called a "lonely and melancholy" dead willow leaning over a pond near the Hague. The young artist immediately wanted to paint it: "I'm going to attack it tomorrow morning," he wrote to his brother. More»

Pablo Picasso makes 2 appearances

(NEWSER) - Following the record-breaking sale of Edvard Munch's The Scream , the Guardian takes a look at the other biggest sales of art at auction. The top five:

1. Edvard Munch, The Scream, $119.9 million.
2. Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, $106.5 million.
3. Alberto Giacometti, L'homme qui Marche I, $105.2 million.
4. Pablo Picasso, Boy With a Pipe, $104.2 million.
5. Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, $87.9 million.

Dining-hall paintings show lighter side of Scream painter

(NEWSER) - The painter of The Scream was also an interior decorator of sorts: Edvard Munch painted a set of murals long displayed in the dining hall of an Oslo factory. Now, that canteen—currently owned by Kraft Foods—could be on its way to a sale, paintings included. Officials plan to keep an eye on the potential sale since the canteen is regarded as a national treasure; Kraft says it will make sure the paintings enter safe hands, the BBC reports. More»

It calls burnings 'political, necessary, and compelling'

(NEWSER) - An Italian art museum is so mad about the budget cuts coming its way that it has begun burning art works in protest. The Casoria Contemporary Art Museum's eccentric director, Antonio Manfredi, set fire to a painting by French Artist Severine Bourguignon yesterday, the BBC reports, and let it burn until it was completely destroyed. He's promising to do the same thing to three paintings a week until funding improves, in a protest he's dubbed "Art War." More»