The year 2001 in

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

involves various significant events.

Events

*1 January – A black

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

measuring approximately 9 feet tall appears in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the movie '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. *4 June – Unveiling of

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British Ar ...

's ''Untitled Monument'' on the

Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square The Fourth plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. It was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds. For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was deba ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. *17 July – Inauguration of the Altamira cave replica created by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel. *11 September **An estimated $100 million worth of art is destroyed in the

11 September attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Public artwork accounts for around $10 million of this figure, which includes works by

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

, Joan Miró and Roy Lichtenstein. ** Fritz Koenig's ''Great Spherical Caryatid'' ("

The Sphere ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

") is the only surviving artwork following the September 11 attacks. It is repurposed as a memorial. **Several works of photojournalism become iconic for their portrayal of the events surrounding the September 11 attacks, including ''

The Falling Man ''The Falling Man'' is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew of a man falling from the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in New York City. The Unidentified Man in the image was trapped on the upp ...

'' and ''

Raising the Flag at Ground Zero Raising may refer to: * Raising (linguistics), a syntactic construction * Raising (phonetics), a sound change * Raising (metalworking), a metalworking technique * Barn raising, a community event to erect the wooden framework for a building * Fundra ...

''. *27 September –

Resale Rights Directive Directive 2001/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art is a European Union directive in the field of copyright law, made under the int ...

in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

provides a ''

Droit de suite ''Droit de suite'' ( French for "right to follow") or Artist's Resale Right (ARR) is a right granted to artists or their heirs, in some jurisdictions, to receive a fee on the resale of their works of art. This should be contrasted with policies suc ...

'' for artists. *1 October – The

Ghibli Museum The is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city of Tokyo, Japan. The museum combines features of a children's museum, technology museum, and a fine a ...

opens in

Mitaka, Tokyo 260px, Inokashira Park in Mitaka is a city in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 190,403, and a population density of 12,000 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Mi ...

. *16 November – The

Neue Galerie New York The Neue Galerie New York ( German for "New Gallery") is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. Established in 2001, ...

opens in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Undated

*A new wing in the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery of the

University of Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, Israel, is dedicated to the memory of

Michel Kikoine Michel Kikoïne ( be, Міхаіл Кікоін; russian: Михаил Кико́ин, ''Michail Kikóin''; 31 May 1892 – 4 November 1968) was a Lithuanian Jewish-French painter. Life Kikoine was born in Rechytsa, present-day Belarus. The ...

. *The

Leopold Museum The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl. It contains the w ...

opens in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. *'' The Pupils'' is created by Michaël Borremans in Belgium. *''

They Could Still Serve ''They Could Still Serve'' is a 2001 painting by Ellen Gallagher. It is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, New York in the United States. ''They Could Still Serve'' represents Gallagher's biggest focused body of work ...

'' is created by

Ellen Gallagher Ellen Gallagher (born December 16, 1965) is an American artist. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is held in the permanent collections of many major museums. Her media include painting, works on paper, film and ...

in the United States. *''

Traditional Chinese Studies Institute ''Traditional Chinese Studies Institute'' () is a 2001 oil painting by Chinese painter Chen Danqing. It portrays five masters of Chinese language and literature who taught at Tsinghua University, Zhao Yuanren, Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Che ...

'' is created by

Chen Danqing Chen Danqing (born 11 August 1953, Shanghai, China) is a Chinese-American artist, writer, and art critic. He is well known for his realist paintings of Tibetans. Chen graduated from China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Life Chen Danqing's fa ...

in China.

Exhibitions

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

until

November 11 Events Pre-1600 * 308 – At Carnuntum, Emperor ''emeritus'' Diocletian confers with Galerius, ''Augustus'' of the East, and Maximianus, the recently returned former ''Augustus'' of the West, in an attempt to end the civil wars of the ...

- '' Caspar David Freidrich: Moonwatchers'' at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. *

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s ...

retrospective at the

Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris

Awards

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...

–

Nicholas Harding Nicholas Harding (1956 – 2 November 2022) was a British-born Australian artist, known for his paintings, in particular portraits. Early life Harding was born in London, England in 1956. In 1965 his family emigrated to Australia, settling ...

for ''John Bell as King Lear'' * Beck's Futures – Tim Stoner * Schock Prize in Visual Arts –

Giuseppe Penone Giuseppe Penone (born 3 April 1947, Garessio) is an Italian artist and sculptor, known for his large-scale sculptures of trees that are interested in the link between man and the natural world.

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

–

Martin Creed Martin Creed (born 21 October 1968) is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, ''Work No. 22 ...

for ''Work No. 227: The lights going on and off'' (

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

) *

Venice Biennial The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

** Lion d'Or Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement:

Richard Serra Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, Urban area, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material q ...

(USA),

Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American painter, sculptor and photographer. He belonged to the generation of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Twombly is said to have influenced younger artists such as ...

(USA) ** Lion d'Or for Best Pavilion: Gregor Schneider (Germany)

Works

* Michaël Borremans – '' The Pupils'' *

Ingvar Cronhammar Ingvar Cronhammar (17 December 1947 – 20 May 2021) was a Swedish-Danish sculptor, who lived in Denmark from 1965 until his death. He gained a unique place in Danish art with his dark monumental works, often presenting an eerie confrontation ...

- ''

Elia Elia is a name which may be a variant of the names Elias, Elijah, Eli or Eliahu, and may refer to: People * Aelia (gens) or Elia, a ''gens'' of Ancient Rome Mononymic * Elia or Elijah, a biblical prophet * Elia, a pen-name of Charles Lamb First ...

'' in Herning, Denmark *

Jeremy Deller Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through th ...

– ''Battle of Orgreave'' *

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

– ''Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II'' * Tracy Harris – ''Funnel'' *

Michael Landy Michael Landy (born 1963) is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation '' Break Down'' (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the ''Art Bin'' project (2010) at the ...

- ''Breakdown'' * Daniel Richter – ''Tarifa'' * Rigga - sculptures in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

jointly with artists **Ean Eldred - '' Echo Gate'' **James Harrison - ''

Ghost Ship A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a ship, vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the ''Flying Dutchman'', or a physical Flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict, derelict found adrift with its cre ...

'' **Peter Nylen - '' Alluvial Wall'' *Tamsie Ringler - ''

Living Room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a residential house or apartment. Su ...

'' (sculpture, Gresham, Oregon) *Michael Stutz - '' Facing the Crowd'' * Zeng Fanzhi – ''The Last Supper''

Deaths

January to June

*14 January - Fred Hughes, American art executive (Founder of the Warhol Foundation) (b. 1943) *30 January – O. Winston Link, American photographer. (b. 1914) *12 February –

Kristina Söderbaum Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum (5 September 1912 – 12 February 2001) was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer, and photographer. She performed in Nazi-era films made by a German state-controlled production company. Early life S� ...

, Swedish-German film actress, producer and photographer (b. 1912) *17 February –

Barry Burman Barry Burman (1943–2001) was an English figurative artist known for his dark and often disturbing subject matter. He was a successful as an artist and teacher. He took an overdose and died aged 57. Early life Burman was born in Bedford in J ...

, English painter and educator (b. 1943) *18 February – Balthus, French modern artist (b. 1908) *4 March **

Jean René Bazaine Jean René Bazaine (21 December 1904 – 4 March 2001) was a French painter, designer of stained glass windows and writer. He was the great great grandson of the English Court portraitist Sir George Hayter. Studies Bazaine was born in Paris. He ...

, French painter, stained glass window designer and writer (b. 1904) ** Fred Lasswell, American cartoonist (b. 1916) *1 June –

Hank Ketcham Henry King Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painting ...

, American cartoonist (b. 1920) *19 June – David Sylvester, English art critic and curator (b. 1924) *27 June –

Tove Jansson Tove Marika Jansson (; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Stockholm, Helsinki and ...

, Swedish-Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author (b. 1914)

July to December

*4 July – Anne Yeats, Irish painter and stage designer (b. 1919) *11 July –

Herman Brood Hermanus "Herman" Brood (; 5 November 1946 – 11 July 2001) was a Dutch musician, painter, actor and poet. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the greatest and only Dutch rock 'n' ...

, Dutch musician, painter and media personality (b. 1946) *July –

Hélène de Beauvoir Henriette-Hélène de Beauvoir (6 June 1910 – 1 July 2001) was a French painter. She was the younger sister of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Her art was exhibited in Europe, Japan, and the US. She married Lionel de Roulet. When Hélène de ...

, French painter (b. 1910) *28 August – Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor, (b. 1953) *23 October **

Josh Kirby Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. ...

, English commercial artist (b. 1928) **

Daniel Wildenstein Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French art dealer, historian and owner-breeder of thoroughbred race horses. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one of the most succe ...

, French international art dealer and scholar (b. 1917) *3 November – Sir

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kin ...

, Austrian-born art historian (b. 1909)Obituary, Daily Telegraph *19 November – Marcelle Ferron, Canadian painter and stained glass artist (b. 1924) *25 November – Harry Devlin, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918) *December –

Mercedes Matter Mercedes Matter (née Carles; 1913 – December 4, 2001) was an American painter, draughtswoman, and writer. She was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, and the Founder and Dean Emeritus of the New York Studio School. ...

, American painter (b. 1913) *29 December –

György Kepes György Kepes �ɟøɾɟ ˈkɛpɛʃ(October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, photographer, designer, educator, and art theorist. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the S ...

, Hungarian-born painter, designer, educator and art theorist (b. 1906)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001 In Art 2000s in art Years of the 21st century in art