1986 in art

Events from the year 1986 in art.

Events

21 May – Eighteen Old Master paintings from the Beit collection are stolen from Russborough House in Ireland by Martin "The General" Cahill, the second major art theft from this location.
19 August – Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at Spencer Street station in Melbourne, Australia.
Opening of the Musée d'Orsay (formerly the Gare d'Orsay) in Paris.

23 November – The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890–1985 opens at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.{{cite book|title=The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890-1985|publisher=Los Angeles County Museum of Art|year=1986|isbn=0-89659-669-9}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/21/arts/art-view-how-the-spiritual-infused-the-abstract.html?pagewanted=all|title=Art view: How the spiritual infused the abstract|work=The New York Times|date=1986-12-21}} Organized by Maurice Tuchman, this is the first public showing of the abstract art of Swedish painter and mystic Hilma af Klint (died 1944).

David Adickes – Cornet (sculpture, Galveston, Texas)
Yaacov Agam - Fire and Water Fountain at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, Israel (Dedicated)
Ruth Asawa – Aurora (sculpture, San Francisco)
John Buckley – The Headington Shark (Untitled 1986; painted fibreglass sculpture)
Daniel Buren - Les Deux Plateaux in the inner courtyard (Cour d'Honneur) of the Palais Royal in Paris, France
John Burgee and Philip Johnson – Clarke Memorial Fountain (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Wayne Chabre – Einstein Gargoyle (sculpture, Eugene, Oregon)
John Doubleday – Royal Marines Commando Memorial (Lympstone, England)
Georgia Gerber – Animals in Pools (sculptures, Portland, Oregon)
Robert Graham - Monument to Joe Louis installed at Hart Plaza in Detroit, Michigan, United States
David Hockney – Pearblossom Highway #2 (photocollage)
Ellsworth Kelly – Houston Triptych (bronze sculpture, Houston, Texas)
Igor Mitoraj – {{Lang|fr|Heros de Lumiere}}
Odd Nerdrum – Return of the Sun
Kantilal B. Patel – Mohandas Gandhi (sculpture, New York City)
Andy Warhol
Camouflage
Map of Eastern U.S.S.R. Missile Bases
The Last Supper (Series completed )
Andrew Wyeth – Flood Plain
Jamie Wyeth – Kalounna in Frogtown (Terra Foundation for American Art)
Yu Tang Wang and Sun Chau – Chinatown Gateway (structure, Portland, Oregon)

6 March – Georgia O'Keeffe American artist (b. 1887).
26 April – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899).
11 May – Henry Plumer McIlhenny, American art collector, philanthropist and chairman of Philadelphia Museum of Art (b. 1910).
31 May – Jane Frank, American painter, sculptor, mixed media artist and textile artist (b. 1918).
9 June – Ilona Harima, Finnish painter (b. 1911).

7 April – Cecil King, Irish abstract-minimalist painter (b. 1921).
30 June – Guan Zilan, Chinese avant-garde painter (b. 1903)
22 July – Floyd Gottfredson, American cartoonist (b. 1905).
31 August – Henry Moore, English artist and sculptor (b. 1898).
9 September – Albert Malet, French painter (b. 1912).
12 September
Ernst Haas, Austrian photographer (b. 1921).
Jacques Henri Lartigue, French photographer and painter (b. 1894).
18 September – Corita Kent, American nun and silkscreen printer (b. 1918).
11 October – Barker Fairley, English-born Canadian painter, writer, and educator (b. 1887).
23 October – Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, British intelligence officer, mountaineer and painter (b.1893).