Bob Dylan in incognito mode

Your digest of the top events, art news and gossip       Get more great writing every day – from just £1 a week     Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse National Gallery, London | 12 Mar–31 May A rarely seen bay joins Whistlejacket and other handsome horses       Rothko in Florence Palazzo Strozzi, Florence | 14 Mar–23 Aug The city made a great impression on the Abstract Expressionist       Whitney Biennial 2026 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York | 8 Mar–23 Aug It's time to take the temperature of contemporary US art       Unicorns! Musée de Cluny, Paris | 10 Mar–12 Jul The mythological beast has always been in the top tier of imaginary animals         Russia will take part in the Venice Biennale for the first time in six years | UNESCO World Heritage sites are under threat as the conflict in the Middle East widens | the Rijksmuseum has a new Rembrandt, thanks to an act of reattribution | the director of the Museo Nacional de Colombia has died at the age of 51 | in appointments: the Kimbell Art Museum's new chief curator is Emerson Bowyer, and Nicholas Bell is the new director of the Royal Ontario Museum         Bob Dylan in incognito mode         SPONSORED CONTENT FROM     Franz Marc was killed at the Battle of Verdun, on 4 March 1916 – 110 years ago this week. In his brief career – he was 36 – the German Expressionist painter sought what he called the 'animalisation' of art: he wanted not only to depict the physicality of animals but also to convey a sense of their spirit. Across cultures and centuries, animals have served as subjects for realistic representation and as symbols of forces beyond human comprehension – guardians of sacred knowledge, embodiments of divine attributes, bridges between earthly and celestial realms. Many artists have seen animals as embodiments of certain qualities – wildness, innocence, instinct, vitality – and have often turned to animals to express what human forms cannot, finding primal or spiritual energies in their presence. This week we examine four works that explore animals as conduits to the sacred or the cosmic. This is part of our 'Four things to see' series, which offers you a new way in to some of the world's greatest collections, sponsored by Bloomberg Connects: the free arts and culture app.       It's never been clearer that museums are vulnerable to all kinds of risk, be it theft, attacks on artworks by activists, or environmental pressures such as heat and flooding. But these institutions are meant to be safeguarding the works in perpetuity. What can be done to protect these collections? Is it still safe for collectors to lend works to galleries? And how can art be preserved as safely as possible without being cut off from the public? A talk presented in Maastricht by Apollo and ARTE Generali at 7pm on Friday 13 March explores these questions in depth. Christopher Maxwell, the Samuel and M. Patricia Grober Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago; Valentina Sabucco, a security and protection manager at Arts Council England; and the collector and art historian Jan Six XI tackle these issues in a discussion moderated by Edward Behrens, editor of Apollo. If you happen to be in Maastricht on Friday and would like to join, please register using this link.     More from Apollo Current issue | Advertise | Podcasts   View this email in your browser   Follow us Apollo Magazine, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP. All Articles and Content Copyright © 2026 by Apollo Magazine. All Rights Reserved. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time. To ensure our emails are delivered to your inbox, please add Apollo to your email address book and safe-sender list.