1991 in art

Events

• 14 April – In the Netherlands, thieves steal 20 paintings worth $500 million from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Less than an hour later they are found in an abandoned car near the museum.
• 25 May – Opening of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
• 9 July – The Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London, designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott, is opened.
• September – Opening of the Weserburg modern art museum in Bremen as the Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen.

  Publications

• Charles, Prince of Wales - Watercolours.
• Eric Hebborn, Drawn to Trouble

  Exhibitions

• Damien Hirst solo exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Arts.

  Dance

• May – First performance of Candoco Dance Company

  Awards

• John Moores Painting Prize - Andrzej Jackowski for "The Beekeeper's son"
• Turner Prize – Anish Kapoor

  Works

• Las niñas en la alborada – Félix Arauz
• "The Umbrellas" - Christo and Jeanne Claude
• Chain Reaction – Paul Conrad
• Field – Antony Gormley
• Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purposes of Understanding – Damien Hirst
• The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – Damien Hirst
• Capitalism – Larry Kirkland
• Guardians of the Gate – Miles Metzger
• Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View – Cornelia Parker
• Self – Marc Quinn
• Host Analog – Buster Simpson
• Cascade Charley'' – Alice Wingwall

  Births

• Probable date – Cartяain, English graffiti urban artist.

  Deaths

January to June

• 3 January – Doris Zinkeisen, British theatrical designer and commercial artist.
• 11 January – Charles Mozley, British artist and art teacher
• 7 February – Jean-Paul Mousseau, Canadian artist.
• 13 February – Arno Breker, German sculptor.
• 15 March – Vladimir Seleznev, Russian painter.
• 29 March – Guy Bourdin, French photographer.
• 10 June – Jean Bruller, French writer and illustrator.

  July to December

• 16 July – Robert Motherwell, American abstract expressionist painter and printmaker.
• 3 August – Boris Ugarov, Russian painter, a last President of the Academy of Arts of the USSR.
• 30 August – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor.
• 5 September
• *Alexander Pushnin, Russian painter and art educator.
• *Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid, Turkish abstract artist.
• 14 September – Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer and author.
• 24 September – Dr. Seuss, American illustrator.
• 27 October – Pyke Koch, Dutch painter.
• 7 November – Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist.
• 11 November – Nadezhda Shteinmiller, Russian painter and theater artist.
• 18 November – Reg Parlett, English comics artist.
• 21 November – Joseph Delaney, American painter.
• 9 December – Gisèle Lestrange, French graphic artist.
• 10 December – Greta Kempton, Austrian-American artist.
• 12 December - Moshe Castel, Israeli painter.