— Protestors Topple Lenin Statue: On Sunday, a group of Ukrainian nationalists took down the country’s tallest statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, which once stood 66 feet tall. Residents of Kharviv, the statue’s former home and Ukraine’s second-largest city, had initially been reluctant to remove it — making its destruction a potent symbol in the ongoing conflict. [NY Mag]
— Guggenheim Plans Expansion: While local controversy around the Guggenheim’s Helsinki outpost rages on, the museum has announced more expansion plans for its New York space. Few details are being released, but the Guggenheim has said that this new building will be called the Collection Center and that it will be “one efficient, multi-use building” with a “dynamic public-programming component.” The space will hold the museum’s collection and staff. [TAN]
— Da Vinci Painting Drafts Revealed: French scientist Pascal Cotte used an innovative scanning technique to uncover new layers of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Lady With Ermine.” Underneath the portrait of his patron’s mistress holding a white ermine, Da Vinci painted two different drafts — one in which she’s holding nothing at all, another in which she’s holding a different rodent. “We know that he fiddled around a good deal at the beginning, but now we know that he kept fiddling around all the time and it helps explain why he had so much difficulty finishing paintings,” said Oxford art history professor Martin Kemp. “Leonardo is endlessly fascinating, so getting this intimate insight into his mind is thrilling.” [Guardian, BBC]
— Van Gogh Flowers Up For Sale: An 1890 Van Gogh still life, one of the few paintings by the artist to make it to the open market in the past 30 years, is set to hit the block at Sotheby’s with an estimate of $30 million to $50 million. [NY Observer]
— Kazakh Ancient Land Art Revealed: Via Google Earth, a research team in Kazakhstan has uncovered 50 ancient geoglyphs. [Hyperallergic]
— Another Day, Another Banksy: A new Banksy piece in Folkestone has popped up just in time to coincide with the town’s triennial. [Telegraph]
— Berlin gallery Mathew will open Mathew NYC at 47 Canal Street on Friday. [ARTnews]
— RIP Robert Ellis, former director of the Hardwood Museum of Art. [Taos News]
— In gallery roster news, Priska Pasquer added Pieter Hugo, while Lehmann Maupin added Roberto Cuoghi. [Art Media Agency, Artnet]
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