2001 in art

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The year 2001 in art involves 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") survives though damaged.
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.

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)

Jeremy Deller – Battle of Orgreave
Lucian Freud – Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II
Tracy Harris – Funnel
Michael Landy - Breakdown
Daniel Richter – Tarifa
Rigga - sculptures (Portland, Oregon) jointly with artists
- Ean Eldred - Echo Gate
- James Harrison - Ghost Ship
- Peter Nylen - Alluvial Wall
Tamsie Ringler - Living Room (sculpture, Gresham, Oregon)
Michael Stutz - Facing the Crowd (sculptures, Portland, Oregon)
Zeng Fanzhi – The Last Supper

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)

4 July – Anne Yeats, Irish painter and stage designer (b. 1919)
11 July – Herman Brood, Dutch musician, painter and media personality (b. 1946)
July – Hélène de Beauvoir, French painter (b. 1910)
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)