Art, Painting | featured news

In one of the most significant gifts in the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the philanthropist and cosmetics tycoon Leonard A. Lauder has promised the institution his collection of 78 Cubist paintings, drawings and sculptures.

Vladimir Tretchikoff's original painting of the Chinese Girl, believed to be the world's most reproduced print, sells at auction for £982,050, around twice its anticipated sale price.

A mystery portrait donated to a British heritage charity as part of a mixed lot of paintings has been identified as a work by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn -- worth more than $30 million.

Going once, going twice ... sold for $43 million. Wednesday night in New York City, Christie's auctioned off Claude Monet's "Nympheas" and two other paintings inherited by the Hackley School for a combined total of more than $50 million.

On Tuesday, the art world reeled after the theft of seven valuable paintings from the Kunsthal gallery in Rotterdam. Before dawn, thieves broke into the museum and, in five minutes, made off with famous works by the likes of Picasso, Monet and Matisse.

A 1932 portrait by Pablo Picasso of his young lover and a pioneering 3-D Andy Warhol painting of the Statue of Liberty are expected to sell for at least $35 million each, but could fetch much more when they are auctioned next month.

A woman unknowingly purchased a Renoir painting at a flea market which may fetch up to $100,000 at an upcoming auction.

On the heels of PBS' hit Mister Rogers video mashup, a second public TV favorite is getting the star treatment. PBS said Thursday it has posted a video remix with clips from "The Joy of Painting" instructional series, featuring the late Bob Ross.

A Salvador Dali painting stolen from a Manhattan art gallery last week has apparently been returned to the United States, New York police said.

A woman who punched, scratched and rubbed her buttocks against a $30 million painting has been sentenced to two years of probation, prosecutors said on Thursday.