Italians Rediscover Their Museums, With No Tourists in Sight

THE NEW YORK TIMES 
By Elisabetta Povoledo

Visitors at the Sistine Chapel on Monday, when the Vatican Museums reopened after a nearly three-month coronavirus closure.Credit...Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press

ROME — There was no red carpet, but even so, a cadre of photographers snapped frenziedly as the objects of their attention — the first visitors to the Vatican Museums when they reopened on Monday after the coronavirus lockdown — squirmed in the unexpected spotlight. With travel between Italian regions restricted until Tuesday, it was a local lineup, ready to experience what many Romans dream of: a tourist-free visit to one of the world’s greatest — and most popular — museums, which last year drew nearly seven million visitors. The museum’s coffers had suffered, she said, not only for lost ticket and trinket sales but also because the Vatican had refunded thousands of tickets booked for 2020. [More]

Andy Warhol’s “Sixty Last Suppers” Was One of the Catholic Artist’s Last Works

ALETEIA
By Zelda Caldwell

Ilya S. Savenok | GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA | Getty Images via AFP

LONDON - A major exhibition of the artist Andy Warhol’s work is on display at London’s Tate Modern (12 March – 6 September 2020). While the doors to the museum are shuttered due to the coronavirus lockdown, interested would-be gallery-goers can check out this room-by-room tour of the exhibit here. The retrospective, which includes the artist’s iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell’s soup cans, also includes a 1986 work entitled “Sixty Last Suppers,” a large-scale compilation made up of repeated images of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” As a leader in the contemporary art movement known as pop art, and a familiar figure in the drug-fueled celebrity culture of the 1960s, few think of Warhol as a religious artist. [More]

Artists, Curators, and Dealers Launch Initiatives to Support Black Lives Matter Movement

ARTNEWS
By Alex Greenberger

A mural devoted to George Floyd in Oakland, California. CHRIS TUITE/IMAGESPACE/SHUTTERSTOCK

As protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd by policemen in Minneapolis have continued to rock the United States, many in the art world have gotten involved. Earlier this week, artists, curators, and dealers began unveiling initiatives intended to garner financial resources for Black Lives Matter–focused efforts through the sales of artworks and promises to match donations. “We all need to take action immediately; there is no time to waste,” a Gladstone representative said in a statement to ARTnews. “We all must work every day to challenge the iniquities of the criminal legal system, and strive towards a more just future.” [More]