2011 in art
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- February 28 – Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, designed by Fernando Romero, is officially opened.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
- April 3 – The Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei is arrested and detained and his studio sealed off, by the government of the People's Republic of China, during an apparent crackdown by the regime on activists and dissidents. The government later states that Weiwei is being held while investigated for economic crimes.
- April 16 – Turner Contemporary art gallery, designed by David Chipperfield, opens in Margate, Kent, England.[7]
- May 1 – UK publication of @earth.
- May 21 – The Hepworth Wakefield art gallery, designed by David Chipperfield, opens to the public in West Yorkshire, England.[7]
- June – Mougins Museum of Classical Art opens in France.
- June 22 – The Chinese legal authorities release Ai Weiwei on bail after three months' detention, after being charged with alleged tax evasion. His incarceration is widely viewed as an attempt to silence a prominent critic while authorities had time to decide on legal grounds for prosecuting him, and his detention prompts worldwide condemnation of the Chinese government.[8] According to China's Foreign Ministry, he is prohibited from leaving Beijing without permission for one year.[9][10] After his release Weiwei declines to give interviews saying that he is not allowed to talk.[10]
- September – firstsite's new art gallery, designed by Rafael Viñoly, opens in Colchester, England.[7]
- September 8 – Gerhard Richter Painting, a documentary about the German artist Gerhard Richter, written and directed by Corinna Belz, is released.[11]
- September & October – 2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts thefts. In two separate incidents, antique stone pieces are taken from the museum. One was recovered two years later in Edmonton. In 2017, Simon Metke pleaded guilty to possession of stolen goods.[12] The second stolen item has not yet been found.
- October 28 – ArcelorMittal Orbit, designed by Anish Kapoor, is erected at Olympic Park, London.[13]
- November 8 – Rhein II by the German photographer Andreas Gursky sells for US$4.3m (£2.7m) at Christie's, New York becoming the most expensive photograph ever sold.
- November 15 – Ai Weiwei pays 8.45 million yuan in taxes after receiving a large number of donations from supporters who believe the debt was politically motivated because of his criticism of the Chinese government.[14]
- November 28 – The Knoedler art dealership in New York City announces its permanent closure amid revelations that it had been dealing in forged paintings.
Exhibitions
- February 13 until June 6 - Picasso's Guitars 1912-1924 (curated by Anne Umland) at MoMA in New York City[15][16]
- February 24 – June 5 – Thomas Lawrence: "Regency Power and Brilliance", Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
- April 12 – September 11 – "The Luminous Interval: The Dimitris Daskalopoulos Collection at the Guggenheim Bilbao[17]
- April 14 – July 15 – "Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour Fou", curated by John Richardson and Diana Widmaier Picasso, at the Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st Street in New York City[18]
- May 4 – August 7 – Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
- June 4 – November 27 – Julian Schnabel: "Permanently Becoming and the Architecture of Seeing" curated by Norman Rosenthal, Museo Correr, Venice, Italy
- June 29 – September 25 – "Twombly – Poussin, Arcadian Painters"at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London
- September 18 (to January 9, 2012) – "de Kooning: A Retrospective", Museum of Modern Art, New York[19]
- November 9 (to February 5, 2012) – "Leonardo da Vinci, Painter at the Court of Milan", National Gallery, London
Works
- Douwe Blumberg - "America's Response Monument (De Oppresso Liber)" installed at Liberty Park, World Trade Center in New York City (conceived and executed small scale 2003 - cast and dedicated as a monumental sculpture 2011)[20]
- Louise Bourgeois and Peter Zumthor - the Steilneset Memorial in Vardo, Norway
- Maurizio Cattelan
- L.O.V.E. (sculpture)
- Turisti (installation, second version)
- Isaac Cordal - Politicians Discussing Global Warming (sculpture - Berlin)[21]
- Martin Creed – Work No 1059: Scotsman Steps (Edinburgh)
- Tracey Emin – Love Is What You Want[22]
- Floc'h – Déjeuner sur l'herbe revisited
- Lee Kelly – Moontrap, Oregon City, Oregon
- Lei Yixin – Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
- Mark Patterson – Surfing Madonna (Encinitas, California)[23]
- Ed Ruscha - Psycho Spaghetti Western #7 (completed)[24]
- John Howard Sanden – President George W. Bush
- Lorna Simpson – Momentum (video)
- Valentina Stefanovska – Warrior on a Horse (Skopje)
- Henry Taylor - Warning Shots not Required[25]
- The Red Popsicle, Seattle
Films
- The Mill and the Cross (inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1564 painting The Procession to Calvary), starring Rutger Hauer as Bruegel[26]