maxwell museums

your memoir is gonna be 🔥

The Box museum CEO Victoria Pomery on displaying Joshua Reynolds' £50m Mai Portrait The Box museum and gallery in Plymouth has a new exhibition centred around the sensational painting Portrait of Mai by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

🟦 Farewell to a £50m portrait 👋

Sir Joshua Reynolds’ 1776 work Portrait of Mai is soon to head to Los Angeles to spend a number of years in the USA 🇺🇸

Its swan song display has just opened at the Box in Plymouth — here I speak to its Director about its farewell exhibit

Art and climate in Oulu, Finland's European Capital of Culture 2026 Oulu is the European Capital of Culture 2026, and its year of celebrations have already kicked off with a bang.

🟦 Oulu is the European Capital of Culture 2026

To mark the occasion, in my new interview I speak to the CEO of Oulu2026 to find out why Finland is putting art and climate in the spotlight in this year-long celebration

🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮

Rijksmuseum discover new Rembrandt painting depicting biblical Zacharias scene The Rijksmuseum has discovered a new painting by Rembrandt, it has been announced.

Full story here on the new Rembrandt painting at the Rijksmuseum

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | A new painting by Rembrandt has been discovered

Researchers at the Rijksmuseum have confirmed that the painting Vision of Zacharias in the Temple (1633) was made by Rembrandt

It will go on public display on Wednesday

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum will go on sale on 01 July 2026 🎟️

Can you email instead please: hello@maxwellmuseums.com

(can’t get DMs)

V&A acquires YouTube PLUS: Europe's newest museum + Emin takes over London

🟦 YouTube has joined the collection of the V&A

A 2006 YouTube watch page has been carefully reconstructed and has now gone on display in the museum

It's a landmark new acquisition for how museums collect ‘the internet'

ha! i have to grab the attention at this time on a Friday night 🤣

Louvre robbery reveals 'systemic failures,' inquiry finds Presenting an interim assessment of their work, MPs Alexandre Portier and Alexis Corbière openly questioned why museum director Laurence des Cars remains in her position.

🟦 NEWS 🚨 | The interim inquiry into the Louvre heist has blamed "systemic failures" in its interim assessment

MPs leading the inquiry also says that management of the Louvre "is currently failing" and questions why Director Laurence des Cars is still in post

www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/a...

London’s National Gallery to cut staff as it faces £8.2m deficit The institution is offering a “voluntary exit scheme” for all employees and will be reducing its activities

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | Staff to be axed at the National Gallery as an £8m deficit is revealed

A “voluntary exit scheme” will soon be available to all staff of the gallery and its commercial arm. Compulsory redundancies are possible if more savings needed

Projects and exhibitions also due to be cut

The Guardian's chief art critic Adrian Searle is stepping down from his full-time role after 30 years. Searle will continue to contribute articles occasionally after leaving at the end of March

London Museum workers vote to strike over pay - Museums Association But Tate dispute is resolved after staff accept improved offer

News | London Museum workers vote to strike over pay – but Tate dispute is resolved after staff accept improved offer

Ironbridge Gorge to lose 47 roles after National Trust transfer - Museums Association Trust plans new 'economically viable' operating model for site when it takes over in March

News | Ironbridge Gorge to lose 47 roles after National Trust transfer

Trust plans new 'economically viable' operating model for site when it takes over in March

see Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft's post about a "planned pause" i.e. indefinite closure last week!

it's a real shame when a museum closes. which obscure messaging trying to sound positive does not help

Tate staff vote to bring 'hard-fought' dispute to end - Arts Professional Strike action at Tate galleries across London, Liverpool and St Ives has been called off, with members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS)

🟦 NEWS 🚨 | This month's strike at Tate is called off — as a 3.6% pay offer is accepted by union members

Bosses will also reinstate subsidised meals in Tate canteens for staff, and agree to consultation over the exhibition scheduling and installation/deinstallation plans

UK Treasury tried to axe free museum entry PLUS: Pokémon crashes Natural History Museum shop sales

🟦 Free entry to England’s national museums came close to be being abolished last year

The UK Treasury only backed down in November’s Budget after pressure from DCMS ministers

It’s the lead story in my latest newsletter — alongside the rest of the week’s news from museums, art and heritage

I attended the press preview of the shop this morning

The pop-up collection features entirely new and exclusive items created in collaboration with the Natural History Museum

A mind blowing 105,000 people have snapped up all the free tickets to the 3-month run already — so it's already sold out!

🟦 NEWS 🚨 | Pokémon has arrived at the Natural History Museum!

The much anticipated collaboration opened its doors on-site and online today — and there's currently 89,000 people in a queue to purchase items from the museum's web store 🤯

📍 @nhm-london.bsky.social

thank you 🙏

DCMS pledges £1.5bn funding. Is it enough? PLUS: V&A director wants more gratitude from government

🟦 Why this week’s announcement of £1.5bn in cultural funding was not quite the transformative moment it claimed to be

Hockney slams British Museum "madness" PLUS: Prado says no more visitors

🟦 my latest newsletter:

🚨David Hockney vs British Museum
🚨Prado says NO MORE VISITORS
🚨National Trust's record cash donation

+ my 2026 exhibitions to see outside the UK

David Hockney: Why it’s madness to move the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain Writing exclusively for The Independent, David Hockney fears that the British Museum is taking too much of a risk by moving the fragile tapestry to these shores – and any damage could be irreparable

🟦 "Some things are too precious to take a risk with. Moving the Bayeux Tapestry is one of them."

David Hockney slams the plan to bring the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum.

Writing exclusively in the @the-independent.com, he calls the move "madness."

Regional museums are in crisis Tony Butler's fears for the future

🟦 Britain's regional museums are in crisis

"There’ll come a point when the Mr Micawber school of management will become untenable" says Tony Butler OBE, Director of Derby Museums

Tony pens a wake up call column in my newsletter today, on what must be done to save our local museums

Read here ⬇️

Inside the Philadelphia Art Museum’s Epic Meltdown The exclusive story behind the brutal ouster of Sasha Suda and the new civil war at Philadelphia’s premier cultural institution

🟦 This is a STAGGERING deep-dive into the civil war within the leadership of the Philadelphia Art Museum

The war that's led to the brutal ousting of Director Sasha Suda, which is heading to court

A must-read on the somewhat opaque (and sometimes murky) world of museum governance

🗞️ @phillymag.com

Today is the Smithsonian's deadline to give thousands of documents to the White House The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology."

The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f

Mauritshuis moving Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to Japan in rare loan Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is going to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka.

🟦 NEWS | The Mauritshuis museum is moving Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to Japan in a rare loan

Tate Britain to open Hurvin Anderson's first ever major retrospective exhibition Opening in March, 80 Anderson paintings will be brought together at Tate Britain

🟦 The Telegraph have called him "one of Britain’s finest living painters"

Now he's getting his first ever major retrospective, at Tate Britain no less

Here's all the info on Hurvin Anderson's upcoming exhibition of his colour-drenched landscapes and interiors ✨

£10 it never happens

Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’ The long read: The president has vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in his second term in office, and the venerable cultural institution a few blocks from the White House is in his sights

🟦 A definitive account of the President's assault on the Smithsonian — if you read one thing today, make it this

Another excellent (and vital) Guardian long-read from Charlotte Higgins