Homer's Odyssey Tops Box Office, Rembrandt Export Bar, and More

This week in the art world, Homer's Odyssey, a 2,800-year-old public domain epic, became the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, according to the Washington Post. Emily Wilson announced a from-scratch retranslation of the epic, despite her previous version being widely considered definitive, as reported by AP. In Kyiv, the Odyssey was performed on stage by professional actors alongside active-duty soldiers, exploring themes of homecoming during wartime, also per AP. In the UK, the government placed an export bar on a £71 million Rembrandt portrait, preventing it from leaving the country, as reported by The Art Newspaper. The US State Department removed a Kehinde Wiley portrait from its wall, deeming it ideologically unacceptable, according to The New York Times. Thieves stole 66 pieces of Bronze Age gold from a Spanish museum in just four minutes, as reported by The Guardian. Audience engagement remains high, with three-quarters of Australians attending a live event last year, per ArtsHub. Institutional labor disputes intensified: Boston Symphony musicians averted a strike for the first time in the orchestra's 145-year history, gaining an enhanced role in selecting the next music director (WBUR), while V&A staff voted 95% in favor of a walkout (BBC). These stories and more are detailed below, organized by topic.