Museums prepare for impact of Hurricane Irma

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Arts institutions prepare for Hurricane Irma | Museums and other arts institutions across Florida are taking precautions against storm damage as the category five Hurricane Irma approaches the US coast. According to Art News, several Miami museums – including the Pérez Art Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art – have decided to close their doors. On the US territory of Puerto Rico, museums are already grappling with the effects of the storm. A spokesperson for the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico said that an emergency plan was in place to secure the building and its holdings.

Sale dates for Berkshire Museum collection items announced | Sotheby’s has released auction dates and estimates for the artworks that are to be sold from the collection of Pittsfield’s Berkshire Museum, reports the Art Newspaper. The auction house’s American Art sale on 13 November will include two Norman Rockwell paintings from the museum, one of which is expected to fetch as much as $30m. Sales of works from the Berkshire collection will continue through to next spring.

Lévy Gorvy to open Shanghai office | The Lévy Gorvy gallery is to open an office and private viewing space in Shanghai, to be overseen by former Christie’s post-war and contemporary specialist Danqing Li. The gallery, founded earlier this year by gallerist Dominique Lévy and Brett Gorvy, also formerly of Christie’s, says that the Shanghai outpost will allow it to ‘deepen its relationships with collectors and artists in Asia’.

DNA test disproves Dalí paternity claim | A DNA test on the remains of Salvador Dalí has conclusively proved that the late artist was unrelated to a woman who claimed to be his daughter, the Dalí Foundation says. María Pilar Abel Martínez initially claimed that her mother had fallen pregnant after having an affair with the Catalan artist, leading a judge in Madrid to agree to the exhumation of his remains for DNA testing.