Culture Minister: "Madness" to abolish DCMS
PLUS: Capital Jewish Museum "heartbroken" at deadly shootings
— In partnership with the Chrysler Museum of Art
Friday 23 May 2025 | news from museums, galleries, heritage and art, including:
Lifelong friends Hambling and Lucas unite 👩❤️👩
Grayson Perry nonplussed by AI 🤷
Brand new Frida Kahlo museum announced 🇲🇽
Happy Friday.
IMO, spring is the most wonderful time of the year.
So when I was offered the chance to go on a trip that combined the springtime and one of Europe’s greatest artists, I grabbed my passport.
I headed on Eurostar to a Northern European country that in the 17th century was in the grip of tulip mania. No, not the Netherlands — but Belgium. My destination was Antwerp.
It turns out that Belgium’s second city (and a city I love) also went loopy for tulips just like the Dutch did in the 1630s. But this fascinating fact has only just been discovered. Before now, no one knew tulips were ‘a thing’ in Antwerp.
I heard about it while at the newly restored garden of the great European master Peter Paul Rubens. The Rubenshuis museum is situated on the site of the artist’s former townhouse, although the building itself is currently closed for extensive renovations that will last until at least 2030.
While this overhaul is going on however, the museum has taken the opportunity to restore Rubens’ actual garden to its 17th-century splendour. The fully-enclosed urban oasis reopened in its replanted form in summer 2024, but my trip marked the first time where the garden — and its all-important tulips — could be seen in springtime bloom.
What I wasn’t expecting however, was to hear the story of how the garden’s redesign unearthed the previously unknown Antwerp Tulipmania.
The Rubenshuis garden curator Klara Alen has dug deep to make this garden authentic. And it was in this research she found that the tulip bulb market was every bit as crazed as in Dutch cities. She discovered there was even a thriving black market that saw the bulbs traded for more than gold. Rubens himself might have been involved in this illicit trade, as Klara found that the city’s most notorious tulip dealers all had links to him, and that they met just meters from his home.
A lot of Klara’s research came from studying the historical documents in the nearby Plantin-Moretus Museum, which houses one of the greatest historical print collections in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One of the most important books she examined — and which I was lucky enough to see alongside her on my trip — is 1613’s Hortus Eystettens. Featuring 1,000 stunning botanical images, only 300 copies were ever printed. It was eye-wateringly expensive at the time, but Rubens bought one. It was the only botanical book in his collection. While the museum’s copy is not the one owned by Rubens, it’s very closely linked. The Plantin-Moretus archive has the ledger of his purchase.
I spent a fascinating morning getting up-close to this and the many other documents Klara studied. A trip to the garden and a trip to see books, prints and archives that are hundreds of years old: very, very good for the soul.
Which is all to say that as we enter the final weeks of spring, the infinite value of museums and heritage bloom on. Not only does the Rubenshuis garden tick the boxes of what a heritage site should be — a place that can make you think, feel, or just escape modern life for a hot minute — it’s also is a reminder that major chapters of history are still being dug up by curious minds.
I think that’s worth shouting from the rooftops — or whispering to your friends on a visit to this remarkable oasis of art and nature.
— maxwell
ps. a huge thank you to Visit Flanders and Visit Antwerp for inviting me on the trip!
— In partnership with the Chrysler Museum of Art
Watch the art of glassmaking up-close
Sometimes, watching an artwork be created is just as mesmerising as looking at the finished piece.
The Chrysler Museum of Art knows this more than most. They’ve just reopened their world-class hub on the art of glassmaking, with daily live demonstrations where visitors can get up-close to the highly-skilled action.
“Audiences can see every detail from their seat,” Robin Rogers, the museum’s Perry Glass Studio Program Director told me. “It’s a place of learning which invites inquisitiveness.”
Robin also hopes everyone interested in glassmaking comes to try out the new facilities. “Whether it’s a five-year-old making their first glass ornament with the help of our team, or an experienced artist using the facility to create their newest work, we support makers at all stages.”
The revamped Perry Glass Studio joins a rich list of cultural destinations in Norfolk, Virginia.
“Norfolk is a creative city. With our cultural institutions and arts district, it’s a great place to visit for art lovers.”
Discover glassmaking at the Chrysler Museum of Art.
Top stories 🚨
£9m Degas leads National Gallery acquisitions
Three major new artworks have been acquired by the National Gallery, including a major work by Edgar Degas.
Ballet Dancers (1888) is a pastel by the French Impressionist Degas and is worth £9.4m. It was acquired through the UK government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which allows inheritance tax debts to be written off in exchange for artwork donations to the public.
The acceptance from the estate of Ann Marks settled a £7.89m tax bill. Michael Clarke CBE, Chair of the Acceptance in Lieu Panel, said the work “demonstrates Degas’s mastery of this medium” and “is a marvellous addition to the Gallery’s small but exceptional collection of pastels.”
The other works acquired are A View of the Sky from a Prison Window (1823) by Carl Gustav Carus and is the first painting by the 19th-century German Romantic painter to enter a UK public collection; and the largest surviving work by the Delft-born still-life artist Floris van Dijck. (Read more)
“This tragedy is devastating” says Capital Jewish Museum
Bosses at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC have said they are “heartbroken” after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead by a gunman as they left an event at the venue.
“In an act of horrific antisemitic violence, a gunman attacked our beloved community” the Board and director said in a statement. “This tragedy is devastating.”
Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were a couple, who the Israeli embassy said were in the "prime of their lives."
The suspected gunman, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested at the scene after mistakingly being let into the museum after the shooting. It’s thought security believed he was a witness or bystander. He’s now been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
The museum said it was “working to re-open the museum in the coming days, with all necessary security in place, so we can return to telling the story of Jewish Washington for thousands of visitors.” (Read more)
UK news 🇬🇧
Chris Bryant slams DCMS axe rumours🫸
Culture minister Sir Chris Bryant has hit back at persistent rumours that the UK’s Culture Department DCMS is to be abolished by the Prime Minister. When asked about the issue in the House of Commons he said “I am not going to put this rumour to bed — I am going to bury it.” He went on to add that “the department is not going to be abolished; it would be absolute madness.” (Read more)
Lifelong friends Hambling and Lucas unite 👩❤️👩
A new joint exhibition by Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas will open in Mayfair this winter. The show marks 25 years of friendship between the two artists, and will highlight the affinities between their output, especially their sense of life’s proximity to death. It will open in November at both Sadie Coles HQ and Frankie Rossi Art Projects on London’s Bury Street. (Read more)
🔗 MORE: ‘It went black’: Maggi Hambling describes life as an artist after recent finger amputation
Sound and Vision galleries reopening 📻
The transformed permanent galleries of Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum will reopen on 10 July, as display highlights — such as Jim Henson’s March Hare puppet from Alice in Wonderland — have been revealed. The galleries have had a £7m overhaul over two years. Other star items include an "interactive" recreation of a community radio station studio, and the camera used to document Captain Scott's 1910 Antarctic expedition. (Read more)
Perry nonplussed by AI 🤷
Grayson Perry has said he doesn’t “really mind” if his work is used to train AI models, adding that throughout his career he’d been “ripping off” others. He said he also doesn’t expect payment from those uses. His comments at the Charleston Festival came before former Meta executive Nick Clegg told the festival that asking technology companies to request permission before scraping artist’s copyrighted content will “basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.” (Read more)
Global news 🌎
Belgium 🇧🇪
A date has been set for the opening of the Centre Pompidou’s new outpost in Brussels. The Kanal-Centre Pompidou Museum will open on 28 November 2026 in a canal-side former car garage. The opening will be three years after the first proposed opening date when the project was announced in 2017. With spaces totalling 40,000 square metres, bosses say it will be one of the largest museums in Europe. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
Director George Lucas’ $1bn Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has axed nearly 14% of its staff, mostly from the education and public programming team. 22 roles have been terminated, including the curator of film programs, who was informed while he was at the Cannes film festival. A statement said the layoffs were “due to a necessary shift of the institution’s focus to ensure we open on time next year.” (Read more)
Qatar 🇶🇦
Art Basel — the world’s largest organizer of contemporary art fairs — will hold a new event in Doha next year. One of the three partners involved is the commercial arm of Qatar Museums. The Financial Times says this move “cements the Middle East as the next frontier in the global art market” as sales in Europe and North America decline rapidly. This was highlighted by London-based Art advisor Philip Hoffman who said “This is the worst year I’ve seen for 10 years.” (Read more)
Mexico 🇲🇽
The surviving family of Frida Kahlo have announced they will open a new museum dedicated to the artist in Mexico City later this year. It will be housed in a private residence purchased by Frida Kahlo’s parents and handed down ultimately to Mara Romeo Kahlo, the artist’s grandniece, her closest living relative and heir. It’s now been gifted to the new Museo Casa Kahlo, which will focus on Kahlo’s origin story. (Read more)
News in brief 🗞️
Blake flags go back to school
Flags designed by Sir Peter Blake and which were seen in Tate Liverpool’s cafe for a decade, have been donated to a local school. Kirkby High School now display the pop art pieces, after they wouldn’t fit in the gallery’s new cafe opening in 2027. (More)
“No obvious resemblance with the first lady”
A much-derided statue of Melania Trump has gone missing from her hometown in Slovenia. Police are investigating. The bronze sculpture replaced a wooden version which arsonists torched in 2020. (More)
First sentence for gold toilet artwork heist
The first of three sentences for the men convicted of stealing artist Maurizio Cattelan’s golden toilet from Blenheim Palace has been handed down. “Middle man” Fred Doe was given a suspended sentence for agreeing to help sell the gold. (More)
Outrage at Adidas at the Acropolis
Greece has filed a lawsuit after illuminated drones seemingly advertising Adidas appeared over the Acropolis. Drones formed the logo and an Adidas shoe near the ancient site. The Culture Minister said it was “like the Adidas shoe kicking the Acropolis.” (More)
Clooney reaffirms reunification fight
George Clooney has said the Parthenon Sculptures are “going to come back. I know they are” as he reiterated his support for ownership to transfer to Greece. In a new interview he said that along with wife Amal they’ll “keep pushing until it happens.” (More)
The wonder of glass — LIVE*
“Audiences can see every detail from their seat” at the daily glassmaking demonstrations. Programme Director Robin Rogers says the new Perry Glass Studio is a window “to the wonders of glass.” (Learn more)
*This is sponsored
— Want to sponsor a future edition and get your work in front of readers? Email me at hello@maxwellmuseums.com and let’s make it happen!
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