Peggy Guggenheim’s Heirs Lose Case Against Guggenheim Foundation – The case lodged by Peggy Guggenheim’s heirs against the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has been dismissed by France’s court of final appeal. The New York-based foundation has been tied up in court since 2013 after a branch of the family objected to the display of works from other donors alongside her art in her Venice Palazzo. (AFP)

Marina Abramović to Make Her Opera Debut – The performance artist is immersing herself in the role of a legendary diva, playing on film the singer Maria Callas in death scenes from Tosca and other operas in a production due to get its premiere in Munich in 2020. Abramović has long hoped to stage the project, called Seven Deaths, nursing the ambition for 30 years. (The Art Newspaper)

Kahlo’s Family Member Decries Frida Barbie – The great-niece of Frida Kahlo is threatening to take action against Barbie manufacturer Mattel for including a new doll based on the Mexican artist in its “Inspiring Women” series, alongside Amelia Earheart and Katherine Johnson. But the Miami-based Frida Kahlo Corporation, which partnered with the US toy-maker, insists it owns of the rights to the artist’s likeness and is free to license the doll (even if it doesn’t have a unibrow). (AFP)

Grandson’s Story of Picasso’s Messy Love Life – Picasso’s grandson tells the story of how the artist met his grandmother, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who became his muse and young mistress, leading to feverish years of creativity and frustration in the 1930s. (Picasso’s first wife, Olga, flatly refused a divorce.) Olivier Widmaier Picasso also describes his own fraught relationship with the artist: “My grandfather only began to come to life for me the day he died,” (Guardian)​ Read more