Proof you should never give up comes from Spain where a pair of paintings missing for almost a century have been found.

The country's National Police recently recovered the two oil paintings on oval-shaped pine panels by 17th-century painter Lucas Valdes.

They went missing after being loaned by a church in Seville to an exhibition in the city in 1929 and were never returned until an investigation was launched by the Historical Heritage Brigade after they were spotted in an auction catalog.

The works were returned to the church by their owners after what the authorities politely described as informing "them of the legal and patrimonial status of the pieces" and "advising them of the advisability of returning them to their rightful owners".

Tributes have been paid to former Sotheby's chairman John Marion after his death aged 92.

The New York Times described him as "the God of auctioneers in America", while the auction house described him as "one of the most consequential and respected leaders in Sotheby’s history - and quite possibly the greatest auction showman".

Marion, whose personal motto was "have gavel, will travel", sold works by Van Gogh and Andy Warhol during his long career.

With his wife, Anne Marion, he founded the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico which was America’s first museum dedicated to a female artist.

The museum said it had "lost a founder, friend, and champion of the arts".

The number of pieces in the LEGO version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers which recently won a Licensing International Excellence Award for Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum and the Danish firm.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art founder Alice Walton will discuss its multi-million dollar expansion program this Friday.

The Walmart heiress will be in conversation with architect Moshe Safdie ahead of the public opening of the extension on June 6 and 7 which will add 114,000 square feet of new space to the gallery in Bentonville, Arkansas.

It comes as the museum announced "a significant expansion of its craft collection" to coincide with the opening of the extension which is reported to have cost around $150 million.

Among the new acquisitions are works by Jun Kaneko, Betty Woodman and Basil Kincaid whose work Melanin Activation (2020–2022) is quilted from his own clothing along with Ghanaian wax fabric, embroidery, and sequins.

Ho Tzu Nyen has been named this year's grand prize laureate of the Fukuoka Prize for Asian arts and culture.

He is the first Singaporean to win the $31,000 Japanese prize in its 36-year history with the judges saying his work "explores the multilayered histories of Southeast Asia, and traverses contemporary art, theater, and film".

The 49-year-old told The Straits Times he was "deeply humbled" by the win and paid tribute to his artistic role models including Nam June Paik, saying the prize "encourages me to continue, to strive to do better and, hopefully, to go further".

1 - This town ain't big enough for the both of us - Seattle Art Fair has competition in the shape of another fair running at the same time. The newcomer, Assembly, is set up by two of the city's galleries and will also run in the final few weeks of July this year.

2 - Twenty nations including Turkey, Italy and Brazil all backed Greece's call for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures during a UNESCO committee session. They are currently held by the British Museum in London which is in discussions over the future of the treasures.

3 - Ukraine's National Museum of Art in Kyiv was damaged during Russian bombing on Sunday. The Ministry of Culture said the building was hit by a shock wave caused by explosions and no staff were injured and the collection was not damaged.

4 - The nomadic Manifesta biennial launches on June 21 across 12 venues in four German cities. It will be the last one run by founding director Hedwig Fijen who is stepping down after this year's event which includes more than 100 artists across 12 venues in Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen.