The long read: Forgeries have got so good – and so costly – that Sotheby’s has brought in its own in-house fraud-busting expert

It's a story that won't come as a surprise to anyone who's watched enough Antiques Roadshow -an old, not-very-well-loved relic kept out of sight by a family that doesn't like it much, only to later learn it's worth a staggering sum of money. In this case, a vase stashed for years wrapped in newspaper in a shoebox in an attic in France turned out to be a rare, exquisite Qing dynasty artifact and sold at auction Tuesday for a staggering €16 million this week - about $19 million, 20 times the estimate.

An original print by renowned street artist Banksy was stolen from an unauthorized exhibition of his works in Toronto, police said Thursday as they investigated the theft. The piece valued at $45,000 is believed to have been stolen over the weekend, according to police, who explained that officers were called to the “Art of Banksy” exhibition after gallery staff saw security video showing someone taking the print.

Repetition is an inevitable part of creation.

This is a story about two roads — Should and Must. It’s a pep talk for anyone who’s chosen Should for far too long 

A French family made the discovery everyone who cleans out their attic secretly hopes for: a priceless work of art overlooked for decades. After finding an intricately decorated porcelain vase in an old shoebox, the owners took it to Sotheby's Paris to be appraised, whereupon the auction house told them it dated from the Qing dynasty, and could be worth upwards of $600,000.

A brief look at the earth from above, based on the shapes we make, the game of life, our playing ground - Arena.

What this $5 million mural says about art and finance stewing in the same nihilistic culture pot. By James McElroy.

The Parisian art collector Nicolas Laugero-Lasserre bought a new artwork created by an artificial intelligence for around $12,000.

These incredible images will be shown across the UK in 2019, in the largest exhibition of the artist's work in over 65 years.

When it went bankrupt in 2009, thousands and thousands of pounds of brand new clothes were abandoned. I’m always hunting for new projects to work on. When I met Laura Francois on the TedX stages in Penang, I offered to help with her mission to fight against fast fashion… on the condition that she find me the raw materials to work with. Somehow, with the help of an ethical clothing company called Dorsu, she stumbled across this gem.

A state-owned French art museum has discovered that more than half of its collection consists of worthless fakes and experts fear that other public galleries may also be stuffed with forgeries.

Things are not what they seem. If you ever needed proof, there's an arrow we could show you, one that points to a different kind of truth.

Rather than a golden ratio or a moral judgment, beauty is more like a radical jolt that awakens us to the world, By Shahidha Bari.

Mr. Hendricks, known for both his sky paintings and his experiments in art as performance, was also a longtime teacher at Rutgers. By Neil Genzlinger.

The Long Night of Ideas in Berlin took a look this year at growing threats to freedom of expression around the world. A talk at the Maxim Gorki Theater examined what Germany can do to help protect this human right.

I’m trying to make consistency a habit. But DAMN—consistency is tough.

Truly vibrant red was elusive for many years: until a mysterious dye was discovered in Mexico. Devon Van Houten Maldonado reveals how a crushed bug became a sign of wealth and status.

Non-invasive imaging reveals landscape painting beneath Pablo Picasso’s The Crouching Beggar but who created it remains a mystery

Squonks, Lindworms, Dijiangs, and more.

More art is being produced and sold than ever before, at ever higher prices.

Japanese design meets produce.

When they first appeared on the scene in the 19th century, the Impressionists hardly received a warm welcome from the artistic institutions of their day. Their work was, supposedly, unfinished- you could see individual brush strokes, and the art wasn't focused on great historical moments and figures, but on everyday life and landscapes, with a focus on color and light. Indeed, the Impressionists were so named because their work seemed to offer a mere impression of the things depicted-the footprint but not the foot. The Impressionists and the public embraced their name, pejorative as it was meant to be- today, to describe a work as...

For centuries, people who were born blind have been the intellectual curios of philosophers studying consciousness. This is particularly true for those exploring the way our consciousness is effected by our bodies, especially our eyes, which Leonardo da Vinci described as the “window of the soul”.

Both are 75 by 115 cm, done in acrylics and spraypaint and both are for sale. The one with the joint is a selfportrait, the other one is from my best friend, two hours after he got his new teeth.

In a few days I will join a group exhibition, so some of the works are made ready to go on a short holiday. :-) In the clip you'll see all that take part, except one. I forgot that one until after I uploaded this clip. Of course. :-)

Britain's National Gallery sent its collection of masterpieces into a Welsh slate mine during World War Two, writes Holly Williams.

He looks at you. You're not interesting. You live. -- 24 * 30 cm, acrylics on canvas -- For Sale

Acrylics on linen, 80 * 80 cm - Description: Gerrit is my housespider, this will his third year. He is handicapped due to a working accident that left him with seven legs. No flies or mosquitos in my home thanks to this hero! :-)

A 1917 painting by Amedeo Modigliani of a reclining nude woman that was once considered obscene in Paris sold for over $157 million at an auction in Manhattan on Monday. “Nu couche (sur le cote gauche)” was the highlight of Sotheby’s “Impressionist & Modern Art” sale featuring Pablo Picasso works spanning seven decades, and paintings by Claude Monet, Edvard Munch and Georgia O’Keeffe.

The Hamburg based artist of Norwegian descent creates magnificent sculptures inspired from fine arts, mythology and sculptures in the ancient periods which he then casts with a dark, elegant twist resulting in minimal yet striking creations.