The frescoes, on which archaeologist August Mau based his subdivision of styles of mural painting in Rome , were torn out of Roman houses in the 18th and 19th centuries and were taken to the museum. Now they have been placed in a new order, based on chronological as well as in the recreation of the atmosphere and their original order in houses in Pompeii with halls dedicated to the House of Meleagro and Villa Boscoreale, among others.

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Through the program “Guest Work of Art”, the Museo del Prado inaugurates a new exhibition model that pretends to allow visitors to get closer to great Works of art from other museums with the double objective of enriching the visitor´s experience and to estbalish a comparative term that allows reflection on the museum´s own works of art.

The work of art selected to open the program, The Penitent Magdalene by Georges de la Tour, presents Magdalene, symbol of redemption through repentance, in a night scene, illuminated by a candle that creates violent contrasts in her meditation instruments, the sacred books, the cross and the Skull, symbol of death, objects that conform one of the most beautiful still lifes made by the author. La Tour shows the saint with a delicate aspect, far away from her common laborers, soldiers or street musicians.

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The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of two new works: Landscape with the Temptation of Saint Anthony (1617) by 17th-century Flemish landscape and still-life painter Roelandt Savery (1576-1639) and a brown wash and graphite drawing entitled Sphinx (c. 1898-1900) by renowned 19th-century French sculptor and draftsman Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).

Savery's Landscape is one of the most important works by the artist to become available in several decades, and will go on in Winter 2009 in the Museum's East Pavilion, alongside Hans Hoffmann's A Hare in the Forest (about 1585) and in close proximity to Jan Brueghel's Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark (1613) and later Dutch landscape paintings. Rodin's Sphinx will not be on permanent view because of the light sensitivity of the material, but will temporarily go on view December 16, 2998 alongside two complementary drawings from the collection: Edgar Degas' Miss Lala at the Fernando Circus and Paul Gauguin's Eve ('The Nightmare').

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The Museum of Islamic Art, a new cultural icon for the Gulf region, will open its doors to the public on December 1, 2008. Dedicated to reflecting the full vitality, complexity and diversity of the arts of the Islamic world, the Museum of Islamic Art will collect, preserve, study and exhibit masterpieces spanning three continents from the 7th to the 19th century.

Under the leadership of Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority’s Board of Trustees, the Museum of Islamic Art will be a new international centre for learning and creativity that advances the cultural vision of the State of Qatar.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei, the 376,740-square-foot Museum of Islamic Art rises from the sea, in Doha Bay in the Arabian Gulf and houses a collection of international masterpieces in galleries encircling a soaring, five-storey-high domed atrium.

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The unveiling of a stunning all glass and aluminum pavilion and state-of-the-art curatorial center will take place tomorrow, August 13, 2008. Remarks by city public officials, Susan Henshaw Jones, the Museum’s President and Director, James G. Dinan, Chairman of the Board, and architect James S. Polshek will begin at 10 a.m.

The ribbon-cutting marks the completion of the $28 million Phase I of the Museum’s modernization project, with major funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Renovations include a three-level addition, one level of which is the spectacular 3,000 sq. ft. James G. Dinan and Elizabeth R. Miller Gallery.

The Museum of the City of New York's name says it all. Their unique mandate – to explore the past, present, and future of New York City and celebrate its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation – enables the museum to present a variety of exhibitions, public programs, and publications, all investigating what gives New York its singular character.

In this year alone, the museum presented exhibitions on the golden age of New York baseball, the city's transformation under planner Robert Moses, and the hip-hop fashion revolution in New York. Recent public programs have included a talk by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Robert Caro, an interior design symposium on New York's great
residential spaces, and a musical tribute to the rich heritage of Yiddish theater and its influences on Broadway.

From Artdaily.