The 1960s Counterculture Artist Peter Max Has Died, Sotheby’s Paris to Auction Possible Record-Breaking ‘Iris’ Monet Painting, and More: Morning Links for September 17, 2026

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Good Morning!

• Peter Max, whose cheerful graphic images helped define 1960s hippie culture, has died at age 88.
• Sotheby’s Paris is auctioning a rare Monet painting of irises from the Jeanne Schlumberger collection, expected to break the country’s auction record.
• The Interior Department has detailed plans for 12 signs to be installed outside the National Museum of American History, which will warn the public that the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibitions are inaccurate.

The Headlines

IN MEMORIAM. Peter Max, whose cheerful graphic images helped define 1960s hippie and Summer of Love culture, has died at age 88, reports The New York Times. You know his colorful, kaleidoscopic imagery even if you don’t think you do. He is the hand behind psychedelic, beaming peace signs and suns with swirling planets and rainbow skies traversed by flower children in bellbottoms, funky hats, and long hair. Reprinted on all kinds of products and posters hung in the bedrooms of youth around the world, Max’s eye also made him a financial success, as the cheeky Life Magazineheadline attested: “Peter Max: Portrait of the artist as a very rich man.” As for his art practice, “My cosmic art subjects were always euphoric: Himalayan sages levitating under a shower of flowers beside snowcapped mountain peaks; faces and flowers exploding into a symmetrical cosmic butterfly … My inspiration came from the new youth movement in America and in return spoke to it.”

MAD FOR MONET. In October, Sotheby’s Paris is auctioning a never-before publicly shown, stunning Claude Monet painting of irises from the secretive Jeanne Schlumberger collection, carrying an estimate of €22 to €30 million ($25 to $34 million), setting it up to break the country’s auction record, ARTnews learned after viewing the painting unveiled today. The sale, titled “Le Temps Retrouvé: The Schlumberger Collection,” includes 28 lots estimated to be worth over $45 million, and it offers an intriguing provenance story of its own. Two women: Jeanne Schlumberger, heiress of the Schlumberger oil company, and art dealer Katia Granoff are behind the visionary collection, including late-career Monets, works by Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard, Gustave Moreau, Chaïm Soutine, and Georges Rouault. Granoff acted as an advisor and dealer to Schlumberger, helping the latter acquire some of Monet’s most modern, abstract works at a time when much of the rest of the world did not understand them. The sale during Art Basel Paris also coincides with the centenary of Monet’s death and a slew of exhibitions honoring him.

The Digest

A letter from the Interior Department details plans for 12 signs to be installed outside the National Museum of American History, which will warn the public that the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibitions are inaccurate, according to the current administration, while specifically denouncing “ideologies that sex is not binary,” and claiming Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch harbors “anti-white animus.” [The New York Times]

Xu Huping, the former director of the Nanjing Museum in China’s Jiangsu province, was sentenced to three years in jail and fined nearly $30,000 for accepting bribes, as well as approving the illegal sale of ancient paintings and calligraphy artworks from the museum’s collection. [Global Times]

Federal officials at the National Park Service said building the president’s planned, massive triumphal arch at Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., would have “adverse effects” on a “highly sensitive historic and commemorative landscape,” but asked preservationists and other groups to agree to the project anyway. [The Washington Post]

The Canada Council for the Arts has revealed the eight winners of the prestigious 2026 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts, which come with C$25,000 ($18,000), a bronze medal, and an exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick opening November 7. [CTV News]

German art publication Monopol Magazine is launching an English-language, digital publication. [Monopol Magazine]

Couldn’t nab a ticket to see the Bayeux Tapestry in London? Luckily, there’s always the museum gift shop, which has a host of Bayeux merch on offer, to the delight of one fashion writer. [Vogue]

The Kicker

IN THE MOOD-MIN. A first exhibition in the UK dedicated to illustrations by Tove Jansson, the Finnish artist and author behind the beloved Moomins books, is opening in London’s Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration this November, reports The Guardian. Over 30 million copies of Moomin books have been sold around the world since they appeared between 1945 and 1977, according to The Guardian. Jansson’s enchanting world that celebrates “eccentricity and going with the flow of life” has touched young and older readers alike, said Paul Gravett, a guest curator of the show. While some past UK exhibitions have shown Jansson’s paintings, none have focused on her illustrations, many of which have never been seen publicly. In all, over 100 items, including sketches, photographs, films, and letters, will make up the show, which also marks the 25th anniversary of Jansson’s death.