The arts

 A mysterious creature playing piano, a white tiger baring its fangs, and a huge Batgirl: dozens of artists are busy this June painting giant frescoes for the tenth edition of Montreal's Mural festival.

Started in 2012, the street art event is looking to be crowned the "leader in urban art" in North America, organizer Pierre-Alain Benoit told AFP.

When digital artist Robbie Barrat handed out free NFT coupons at Christie's four years ago, most guests dumped them in the bin, not realizing they would soon be worth millions of dollars.

Barrat, then still in his teens, had been invited by the London auction house to talk about the rise of online art.

Left: Graphic designed by Trio design studio marking the tenth anniversary of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. Right: Poster designed by Asim Djelilovic depicting a sniper saying "Perfect", inspired by the shooting of two female peace demonstrators in Sarajevo in 1992.

Pablo Picasso's track-record with women certainly would not make him a feminist pin-up today.

There were two wives, at least six mistresses and countless lovers with a tendency to abandon women when they became ill, a voracious appetite for prostitutes, and some eye-popping age differences (his second wife was 27 when he married her at 79).

An unprecedented Picasso exhibition opened last week in Senegal's capital Dakar, where about a dozen of the Spanish master's works are displayed alongside African art, from which he drew inspiration.

A pioneering modern artist who died in France in 1973, Picasso left behind a vast and influential body of work including paintings, sculptures, and ceramics.

Thieves have stolen over $200,000 worth of props from the set of Netflix series "The Crown" while the production was shooting nearby, Variety has reported.

Over 350 items were taken during the heist, including a replica Fabergé egg, a grandfather clock clockface, a dressing table, crystal glassware and silver and gold candelabras.

During the excavations in the ancient city of Germanicia in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, a mosaic describing an open-air feast where three women are dancing to music has been unearthed. The mosaic is believed to date back to 1,500 years.

The French art world was shaken on Jan. 26 by news that the Art Basel fair has swooped in to replace France's own, long-running FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris.

The shock decision comes at a time when Paris is regaining its place as a pre-eminent center for art in the world, helped by a slew of new museums and the impact of Brexit on its main rival London.

Emma Thompson's naked scene in her new film about an older woman hiring a sex worker was "probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do," she told the Sundance film festival on Jan. 22.

Milan's central train station plays host from Dec. 3 to a "World of Banksy", featuring reproductions of provocative works by the British street artist in something akin to their original real-world settings.