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The Headlines
SMITHSONIAN SUPPRESSION. On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump issued a new executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution’s museums. He demanded the restoration of public monuments that have been removed since January 1, 2020, many of which represented Confederate leaders, according to the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. The so-called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” order instructs Vice President JD Vance to cancel whatever he deems “improper” from the Smithsonian museums, education, and research centers, as well as at the National Zoo, all in an attempt to eliminate “divisive narratives.” That apparently includes “race-centered” and “anti-American ideology.” Examples include exhibits allegedly depicting American and Western values that the Trump administration believes to be “inherently harmful and oppressive.” The National Museum of African American History and Culture is specifically faulted for suggesting, according to Trump, “that ‘hard work,’ ‘individualism,’ and ‘the nuclear family’ are aspects of ‘White culture.’” The new order also forbids transgender women from being included in the forthcoming American Women’s History Museum. How the order would be implemented remains to be seen.
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MYANMAR’S HERITAGE SITES ARE AT RISK after a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake this morning that also rocked neighboring Thailand, killing at least three in a Bangkok high-rise collapse, reports CNN and the Associated Press. Many more feared dead and injured in the region. The earthquake damaged part of Myanmar’s historic royal palace in Mandalay, built in the 19th century, according to videos posted on social media. Additional photos show crumbling religious shrines in Myanmar’s capital city of Naypyitaw. Mandalay is home to ancient monasteries and palaces that draw international tourists.
The Digest
A drawing believed to have been a “newly discovered” artwork by Caravaggio has been officially declared a fake by experts at the Prado Museum. Madrid-based dealer Herennia Trillo is also under investigation for fraud in the case after selling the painting for about $297,000. [El Confidencial]
Serop Simonian, the alleged head of a massive Egyptian antiquities trafficking ring that involved the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre Abu Dhabi , managed to leave France amid a “breakdown” in the criminal investigation against him. He was permitted to leave Paris and return to his home in Hamburg, due to poor health, and has not responded to requests for his return since. [The Art Newspaper]
Russian officials say they have seized over 79 golden coins from between the 1st to the 5th centuries that are estimated to be worth $646,000. They were stolen from France’s Musée Saint-Rémi in Reims in 2023. More than 50 more coins were also taken from the museum, but their whereabouts remain a mystery. [Le Journal des Arts]
The climate activist group Just Stop Oil, which notoriously threw paint on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers and cornstarch on Stonehenge, said it is ending its protest campaign after the UK government committed to ban new oil-drilling licenses. “We will be hanging up the hi vis,” stated the group, calling its protests “one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history.” [Financial Times]
The Picasso Museum in Paris has opened a new research center called the Centre d’Etude Picasso, devoted to the artist. It contains some 200,000 of the artist’s personal archives, including letters, “poetic manuscripts,” and magazines, plus a library and over 18,000 photographs. [Le Quotidien de l’Art]
The Kicker
YALE MUSEUM’S LUMINOUS NEW DIGS. The Yale Center for British Art has been closed since 2023 and will soon reopen after a “luminous” renovation, Tessa Solomon writes in a review for ARTnews. Solomon takes the reader through the center’s two newest exhibitions: a J. M. W. Turner survey and a show of Tracey Emin ’s paintings and sculptures. If this isn’t reason enough to visit the center, there’s also a rehang of the museum’s collection, which is now being used to tell the story of British imperialism while also acknowledging its victims. The museum will officially open to the public tomorrow.