February - A painting of a Head of an Old Man, previously rejected as an authentic Rembrandt, from the reserve collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, is confirmed through dendrochronology as painted on a board which had been in Rembrandt's studio.[2]
May 26 - It is announced that this year's Turner Prize award in the United Kingdom is to be replaced by a bursary for 10 artists which will be announced in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]
June 11 - Fugitive art dealer Inigo Philbrick, accused of swindling artworks valued in excess of $20 million US is apprehended and arrested by U.S. government agents on the South Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu and then transported to the U.S. territory of Guam to face federal charges.[17][18][19]
July - It is announced that the history of Salvator Mundi (c.1500) by Leonardo da Vinci, the most expensive artwork on record ever sold will be the subject of a forthcoming Broadway musical set to take the stage in 2021.[22]
July 15 - A statue rendered in black resin by Marc Quinn of a British Black Lives Matter protestor, A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, is installed clandestinely by the artist on the plinth vacated by overthrow of the Statue of Edward Colston in Bristol without official permission;[24] it is removed from this location 24 hours later by Bristol City Council which tweets "This morning we removed the sculpture. It will be held at our museum for the artist to collect or donate to our collection".[25]
July 22 - Berlin-based American-born German curator Rebeccah Blum is murdered and the suspect in the case, her former partner, the English Berlin-based photographer, Saul Fletcher, commits suicide.[26][27]
^Brown, Mark (20 January 2020). "Gloomy Van Gogh self-portrait in Oslo gallery confirmed authentic". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
^Hughes, Pete (31 August 2020). "Ashmolean Museum Rembrandt confirmed as authentic". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
^Dafoe, Taylor (10 February 2020). "A Small Pennsylvania Museum Just Discovered It Has Owned a Rembrandt for 70 Years Without Knowing It". artnet news. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
^"David Hockney's The Splash fetches £23.1m at auction". BBC News. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
^"Banksy confirms Bristol Valentine's Day artwork is his". BBC News. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
^"Coronavirus: Who is behind Glasgow's Covid street art?". BBC News. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
^"Thrift Store Wood Engraving Print Turns Out To Be Salvador Dalí Artwork". NPR. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
^"Van Dyck painting stolen from University of Oxford gallery". BBC News. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
^"Van Gogh painting Spring Garden stolen from Dutch museum". BBC News. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
^King, Grace. "Iowa's beloved 'Hula-Hoop Tree' cut down by landowner". The Gazette.
^"Coronavirus: Banksy makes 'bathroom' lockdown art". BBC News. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
^Small, Zachary (24 March 2020). "San Francisco's Top Art School Plans Closing After Almost 150 Years". The New York Times.
^Gompertz, Will (6 May 2020). "New Banksy artwork appears at Southampton hospital". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^Jones, Rebecca (7 May 2020). "Sir Quentin Blake does 'The Robot'". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^"Turner Prize 2020 axed and replaced by £100k fund for struggling artists". BBC News. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
^"George Floyd death: Protesters tear down slave trader statue". BBC News. 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
^Bekiempis, Victoria (16 June 2020). "The Art World's 'Mini Madoff' Has Been Arrested in the South Pacific". Vulture.
^"The Gray Market: Why Inigo Philbrick's Arrest Doesn't Mean the Art Market Is Done With Him Yet (and Other Insights)". artnet News. 15 June 2020.
^"Who Is Inigo Philbrick, the Art World Scammer Who Tricked Clients Out of $20 Million?". Observer. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^Bote, Lorenzo Reyes, Jessica Flores and Joshua. "Protest updates: Atlanta police officer won't be 'state's witness,' lawyers say; Senate Republicans push police reform". USA TODAY.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Richmond, Virginia Removing Statue Of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart". 7 July 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020.
^"Salvator Mundi! The Musical—tale of world's most expensive painting to be turned into a stage blockbuster". www.theartnewspaper.com. 29 July 2020.
^"Banksy: New coronavirus-inspired artwork appears on Tube". BBC News. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
^ ab"Black Lives Matter protester statue appears on Edward Colston plinth". BBC News. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
^Harris, Gareth (16 July 2020). "Marc Quinn's Black Lives Matter sculpture removed by Bristol council". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
^Durón, Maximilíano (27 July 2020). "Artist Saul Fletcher Is Murder Suspect in Berlin-Based Curator Rebeccah Blum's Death [Updated]".
^"'Remember her name and nobody else's': shock at suspected murder of curator Rebeccah Blum". www.theartnewspaper.com. 31 July 2020.
^Alberge, Dalya (26 July 2020). "A Renaissance masterpiece, Nazi looters, a double murder … and a happy ending". The Observer. London. p. 21. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
^"Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth swirl of cream sculpture unveiled". BBC News. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020..
^Jacobs, Julia (25 September 2020). "Philip Guston Blockbuster Show Postponed by Four Museums". The New York Times.
^Jacobs, Emma. "Museums Postpone Show Over Late Artist's Images Of Hooded Klansmen". www.capradio.org.
^"The Postponed Philip Guston Show Will Now Open in 2022 With New Contributions From Artists and Historians". artnet News. 5 November 2020.
^Pidd, Helen (16 November 2020). "Manchester prepares for fall of its 'Berlin Wall'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
^ ab"The Motorcycle". Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art.
^"Edvard Munch exhibited in London with contemporary artist Tracey Emin". Oslo: Munchmuseet. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
^"A Romantic Duel: Delacroix's fascination for the Giaour by Lord Byron". Le Louvre. 17 March 2021.
^"A Romantic Duel, Delacroix's Fascination for "The Giaour" by Lord Byron - Musée Delacroix". www.musee-delacroix.fr.
^"MUSEUM POWER - National Museum in Krakow". mnk.pl.
^"Marcus Rashford thanks artist for Withington mural". BBC. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
^"The Hudson Valley's Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is getting an artsy makeover". 6sqft. 26 July 2023.
^"Aachoo!! A Sneezing Pensioner Knocks Down a Row of Houses in New Banksy Work in Bristol". 10 December 2020.
^"Emma Berger's Mural of George Floyd Sparked a Massive Community Art Project Downtown". Willamette Week. 2 September 2020.
^"Central Park unveils statue of women's rights pioneers — its first statue of real-life women". www.cbsnews.com. 26 August 2020.
^Paskett, Zoe (6 August 2020). "I Saw The World End: Imperial War Museum unveils new installation commemorating Hiroshima bomb". GoLondon. London: Evening Standard. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^Solomon, Tessa (12 October 2020). "#MeToo Medusa Sculpture Met with Controversy Ahead of Unveiling in New York".
^"The Artist Behind a (Very Questionable) Nude Public Statue of Medusa as a Feminist Avenger Defends His Work". artnet News. 13 October 2020.
^Halle, Howard (28 May 2020). "This giant new NYC mural is a tribute to the city's healthcare workers". Time Out New York.
^"Desert X installs 14 site-specific works in Saudi Arabian desert". Dezeen. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"The Complicated Story Behind Jasper Johns's Dispute with a Cameroonian Teen over a Drawing of a Knee (It Has a Happy Ending)". October 2021.
^"Review: 'Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art,' a fascinating $80 million con". Los Angeles Times. 23 February 2021.
^"The Oracle in the CARDS: Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Conner, and Michael McClure | Essays | Shuffle". shuffle.rauschenbergfoundation.org.
^"The Art Scene Rebels of San Francisco". 2 September 2016.
^Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (15 May 2020). "Beatles photographer Astrid Kirchherr dies aged 81". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
^Sanderson, Bill (26 June 2020). "Milton Glaser, designer of iconic 'I ♥ NY' logo, dies at age 91". nydailynews.com.
^"Zemřel emeritní rektor a dlouholetý pedagog AVU, doc. Jiří Tomáš Kotalík | AVU". www.avu.cz. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.