# 2001 in art

The year 2001 in art involved various significant events.

## Events

* 1 January – A black monolith measuring approximately 9 feet tall appears in Seattle, Washington's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
* 4 June – Unveiling of Rachel Whiteread's Untitled Monument on the Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square, London.
* 17 July – Inauguration of the Altamira cave replica created by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel.
* 11 September
** An estimated $100 million worth of art is destroyed in the 11 September attacks on New York City. Public artwork accounts for around $10 million of this figure, which includes works by Alexander Calder, Joan Miró and Roy Lichtenstein.
** Fritz Koenig's Great Spherical Caryatid ("The Sphere") is the only surviving artwork following the September 11 attacks. It is repurposed as a memorial.
** Several works of photojournalism become iconic for their portrayal of the events surrounding the September 11 attacks, including The Falling Man and Raising the Flag at Ground Zero.
* 27 September – Resale Rights Directive in the European Union provides a Droit de suite for artists.
* 1 October – The Ghibli Museum opens in Mitaka, Tokyo.
* 16 November – The Neue Galerie New York opens in Manhattan.

### Undated

* A new wing in the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery of the University of Tel Aviv, Israel, is dedicated to the memory of Michel Kikoine.
* The Leopold Museum opens in Vienna.
* The Pupils is created by Michaël Borremans in Belgium.
* They Could Still Serve is created by Ellen Gallagher in the United States.
* Traditional Chinese Studies Institute is created by Chen Danqing in China.

## Exhibitions

* September 11 until November 11 - Caspar David Freidrich: Moonwatchers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
* Max Beckmann retrospective at the Pompidou Centre, Paris

## Awards

* Archibald Prize – Nicholas Harding for John Bell as King Lear
* Beck's Futures – Tim Stoner
* Schock Prize in Visual Arts – Giuseppe Penone
* Turner Prize – Martin Creed for Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (Tate)
* Venice Biennial
** Lion d'Or Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement: Richard Serra (USA), Cy Twombly (USA)
** Lion d'Or for Best Pavilion: Gregor Schneider (Germany)

## Works

* Michaël Borremans – The Pupils
* Ingvar Cronhammar - Elia in Herning, Denmark
* Jeremy Deller – Battle of Orgreave
* Lucian Freud – Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II
* Tracy Harris – Funnel
* Michael Landy - Breakdown
* Daniel Richter – Tarifa
* Rigga - sculptures in Portland, Oregon jointly with artists
* Grzegorz Łagowski - Miles Davis Monument
** Ean Eldred - Echo Gate
** James Harrison - Ghost Ship
** Peter Nylen - Alluvial Wall
* Tamsie Ringler - Living Room (sculpture, Gresham, Oregon)
* Michael Stutz - Facing the Crowd
* Zeng Fanzhi – The Last Supper

## Deaths
### January to June

* 14 January - Fred Hughes, American art executive (Founder of the Warhol Foundation) (b. 1943)
* 30 January – O. Winston Link, American photographer. (b. 1914)
* 12 February – Kristina Söderbaum, Swedish-German film actress, producer and photographer (b. 1912)
* 17 February – Barry Burman, English painter and educator (b. 1943)
* 18 February – Balthus, French modern artist (b. 1908)
* 4 March
** Jean René Bazaine, French painter, stained glass window designer and writer (b. 1904)
** Fred Lasswell, American cartoonist (b. 1916)
* 1 June – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
* 19 June – David Sylvester, English art critic and curator (b. 1924)
* 27 June – Tove Jansson, Swedish-Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author (b. 1914)

### July to December

* 1 July – Hélène de Beauvoir, French painter (b. 1910)
* 4 July – Anne Yeats, Irish painter and stage designer (b. 1919)
* 11 July – Herman Brood, Dutch musician, painter and media personality (b. 1946)
* 28 August – Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor (b. 1953)
* 23 October
** Josh Kirby, English commercial artist (b. 1928)
** Daniel Wildenstein, French international art dealer and scholar (b. 1917)
* 3 November – Sir Ernst Gombrich, Austrian-born art historian (b. 1909)
* 19 November – Marcelle Ferron, Canadian painter and stained glass artist (b. 1924)
* 25 November – Harry Devlin, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918)
* December – Mercedes Matter, American painter (b. 1913)
* 29 December – György Kepes, Hungarian-born painter, designer, educator and art theorist (b. 1906)