Art | featured news

It's a scream that's still reverberating around the world. One of the most iconic images in art history - Edvard Munch's "The Scream" - has become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. During an intense 12 minutes, the 1895 artwork - a modern symbol of human anxiety - was sold at Sotheby's in New York City on Wednesday for a record $119,922,500. Neither the buyer's name nor any details about the buyer was released.

There's a new twist in the aftermath of the death of Thomas Kinkade, the artist called the "Painter of Light."

A family member says painter Thomas Kinkade battled alcoholism over the past several years and had a relapse just before his death at his home in Santa Clara County. Kinkade's brother, Patrick, tells the San Jose Mercury News (http://bit.ly/IxRfr0) that decades of attacks on Kinkade's work and a split with his wife two years ago had taken a toll on the famous "Painter of Light."

Thomas Kinkade’s paintings of bucolic landscapes and light-filled cottages have been scooped up by collectors nationwide ever since the artist’s death at 54 on Friday.

Popular California artist Thomas Kinkade died of natural causes Friday at his home in Los Gatos, a family spokesman said in a statement. Kinkade labeled himself the nation's most collected living artist. His paintings and spin-off products bring in about $100 million a year in sales, and are said to be in 10 million homes in the United States.

A still life once thought to be by Vincent van Gogh but later downgraded to the work of an anonymous artist because of doubts about its authenticity is indeed by the tormented Dutch impressionist, researchers said Tuesday.

The journey of “Levitated Mass” followed a circuitous route through four counties and 22 cities and took 11 days to get to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Katie Ward’s first book takes its inspiration from a handful of paintings, drawings and photographs. Though labeled a novel, “Girl Reading” is more an intricately woven collection of stories, each centered on an image of a woman holding a book, the first set in the 14th century, the last in the future.

A Picasso painting, given to the Athens National Gallery by the artist himself, has been stolen along with two other valuable works.

The New York native, whose staining technique was essential to the development of Color Field painting, was one of the most admired artists of her generation.