Art Vibes Only: This Week’s Must-See Stories

Welcome to your weekly quick drop of the boldest art, freshest ideas, and creative fuel worth saving. In just 5 minutes.

TOP 3 ART STORIES THIS WEEK

1. A “Copy” of a Caravaggio Might Actually Be the Real Deal 🖌️

What if the first-ever painting by Caravaggio was hiding in plain sight… as a copy?

An Italian art expert, Gianni Papi, now believes that a small painting called Boy Peeling Fruit (long thought to be just a student copy) is actually the original work painted by Caravaggio himself at the very start of his career.

The artwork shows a young boy peeling citrus fruit at a table. It looks simple. But a recent X-ray scan revealed a surprising hidden detail: the faint shadow of a small dog, possibly one that Caravaggio painted over from an earlier work. That detail doesn’t appear in any of the ten known versions of this painting.

The painting was bought quietly at auction last year by a private collector, then handed to Papi for study. His analysis points to this being the oldest known painting by Caravaggio, possibly painted before he even arrived in Rome.

And that ghostly little dog might be Cornacchia, a real dog often linked to Caravaggio by his biographer, a silent signature hiding in the shadows. Link.

Caravaggio (1571–1610), Boy Peeling Fruit, 1592, version held by the Royal Collection Trust in England.
© Royal Collection Trust

2. Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney Over AI-Copied Characters

Disney and NBC Universal have filed a major lawsuit against Midjourney, the AI tool that turns text prompts into images – like Simba on Pride Rock or Darth Vader in action.

The studios claim Midjourney trained its AI on thousands of copyrighted images from Star Wars, Frozen, Marvel, and more, without permission. The result: millions of lookalike images, made in seconds.

Midjourney earned $300 million last year. Disney and Universal say that profit came from using their work unfairly. Now they’re asking the court to:

Make Midjourney pay damages
Block it from generating images of their characters

Midjourney hasn’t responded yet. The studios say they believe AI can be a great tool for creativity, but it must respect artists and their rights.

This case could set an important example for how AI and human creativity can co-exist in the future.

3. Surprise Strike Shuts Down the Louvre 🚷

On Monday, visitors to the Louvre in Paris got a surprise: the museum was closed for over four hours because staff walked off the job. The reason: they’ve had enough.

What started as a normal union meeting turned into what one rep called a “mass expression of exasperation.” Staff are fed up with bad working conditions, constant overcrowding, and too few people to keep things running smoothly.

What’s Going On?

The Louvre has lost 200 jobs in the last 15 years, according to the union
Staff say they’re overworked and exhausted
Even with a daily visitor cap of 30,000 people, the museum still feels packed
A leaked letter from the museum’s director said the visitor experience can feel like a “physical ordeal”

Ouch. To help with the chaos, President Macron announced big changes:

The Mona Lisa will get her own special room in the courtyard
It’ll need a separate ticket to view her
A new museum entrance will also be built

The plan will cost around €400 million and should be finished by 2031. Part of the money will come from the Louvre Abu Dhabi. 💰

Was it a strike or not?

Technically, the Louvre called it a “social movement,” not a strike, because under French law, strikes need to be announced in advance. But for the tourists turned away at the gates, it didn’t really matter. P.S. The Louvre eventually reopened at 2:30 p.m.

Hot Take: Art World Promotes Depressive Mindset? 🧠

British art critic Dean Kissick has stirred the pot again. His now-infamous essay The Painted Protest (first published in Harper’s) is now out in Danish language, and the conversation isn’t cooling down.

“I think contemporary art has become depressed and depressing. I think society is very depressing, and contemporary art is part of that. It reacts to that, but I also think it actively promotes that mindset and tells people things are really bad and you should be depressed. That is the message of most shows right now.”

“I wish artists could be thrilled about the present again. There are many exciting things about being alive now. There are many things to get into as an artist.”

Kissick’s core frustration? That contemporary art (especially in major institutions) has become trapped in repeating political tropes and heavy-handed curatorial gestures. He thinks that art isn’t just reacting to a difficult world; it’s sometimes amplifying the hopelessness.

Do you agree? 🤔

Kissick challenges artists to go deeper:

“I think it would be interesting to explore identity and selfhood in more experimental ways that go beyond just these kind of simple categories of identity, gender and sexuality, and race. I think what it means to be a person has really changed radically in the last ten years, mostly because of technology. (…) Challenging experimental work involving contemporary advanced technology, but really trying to explore questions of what it is to be a human.

That’s a good example of what I want to see in terms of challenging, bold art. Art that does not just look to the past, but finds kind of new forms of expression. Art that also explores conceptions of the self within the present.”

Either way, that’s an interesting interview – read it here.

This Week’s Movie Recommendation

🎥 A Finnish Film About Torn Pantyhose Just Won BIG in Tokyo
Yes, you read that right.

Fabian Munsterhjelm (aka your new favorite Finland-Swedish filmmaker) made a short film about pantyhose ripping… and just walked away with the George Lucas Grand Prix (the main prize!) at Tokyo’s Short Shorts Film Festival — one of Asia’s most prestigious short film fests.

Instagram post by @wildhog_productions

🏆 Oh, and did we mention? That win makes the film Oscar-eligible.

What’s the movie?
🧦 Sukkahousut (Swedish: Strumpbyxor, English: Pantyhose)
It’s weird, it’s artsy, it’s kinda brilliant, turning a wardrobe malfunction into a micro-epic of emotion and everyday drama.

Bottom line:
It’s short. It’s smart. It slaps.
Go watch it before the Oscars do. 😜