1996 in art

• 8 January – Shortly after publication of the Italian edition of his book The Art Forger's Handbook, English-born art forger Eric Hebborn is found lying in a street in Rome, his skull crushed with a blunt instrument; he dies in hospital on 11 January.{{cite book|title=False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes|first=Thomas|last=Hoving|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1996|isbn=0-684-83148-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/falseimpressions00thom}}
• 15 March – Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, designed by Søren Robert Lund, opens.
• November – Museum für Gegenwart (contemporary art museum) in former Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, converted by Josef Paul Kleihues, opens.
• Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow opens.
• Museum Tinguely in Basel, designed by Mario Botta, opens.
• For an exhibition at the de Appel Arts Center in Amsterdam, Maurizio Cattelan steals the entire contents of another artist's show from a nearby gallery with the idea of passing it off as his own work, Another Fucking Readymade, until the police insist he return the items on threat of arrest.{{cite web|url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3961|title=Maurizio Cattelan: All|year=2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606223350/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3961|archivedate=2014-06-06|publisher=Guggenheim Museum|location=New York|accessdate=2019-01-26}}

• Archibald Prize – Wendy Sharpe, Self Portrait as Diana of Erskineville
• Jan Amos Comenius Medal (UNESCO) – Yaacov Agam, for the "Agam Method" for visual education of young children
• The Inaugural Hugo Boss Prize – Matthew Barney
• Turner Prize – Douglas Gordon
• Wynne Prize – William Robinson, Creation landscape – earth and sea

• British Art Show 5 – various venues in Manchester
• Sol LeWitt Prints: 1970–1995 – travelling exhibition by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Vermeer – nearly complete exhibition of 25 works, The Hague and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

{{see also|Category:1996 paintings|Category:1996 sculptures}}

• Stephen Antonakos – The Room Chapel (mixed media sculpture){{Cite web|url=https://www.booksteinprojects.com/news/stephen-antonakos-the-room-chapel-at-allentown-art-museum|title=Stephen Antonakos: "The Room Chapel" at Allentown Art Museum - News - Bookstein Projects}}
• George Beasley – Five Points Monument (Atlanta)
• Robert Calvo – Ascension (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Maurizio Cattelan – Bidibidobidiboo (sculpture)
• Angela Conner – Rising Universe (water sculpture)
• Paul DiPasquale – The Arthur Ashe Monument on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia{{Cite web|url=https://onmonumentave.com/blog/2017/11/20/an-avenue-for-for-all-people-how-arthur-ashe-came-to-monument-avenue|title = "An Avenue for All People": How Arthur Ashe Came to Monument Avenue| date=22 November 2017 }}
• Raymond Kaskey – Gateway of Dreams (Atlanta)
• David LaChapelle – "Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow"{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/artwork/david-lachapelle-alexander-mcqueen-and-isabella-blow-1|title=David LaChapelle | Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow (1996) | Artsy}}
• Roy Lichtenstein – Brushstrokes (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Liza Lou – Kitchen (completed){{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/media/46661|title = The Making of Liza Lou's Kitchen}}
• Ron Mueck{{cite book|title=Ron Mueck (Exhibition Catalog)|last=Hurlston|first=David|year=2010|publisher=National Gallery of Victoria|location=Melbourne|display-authors=etal}} – Big Baby, Mongrel and Pinocchio (sculptures
• Alexander Stoddart – Ossian: in memoriam James Macpherson 1736–96 (bronze head)

• Basquiat

• 3 January – Terence Cuneo, English railway and military painter (b. 1907).
• 6 January – Duane Hanson, American sculptor (b. 1925).
• 9 January – Félix González-Torres, Cuban artist (b. 1957).
• 11 January – Eric Hebborn, English-born art forger (b. 1934).
• 11 February – Pierre Edouard Leopold Verger, French photographer and ethnographer (b. 1902).
• 18 January – Leonor Fini, Argentine-born surrealist painter (b. 1908).
• 28 January – Jerry Siegel, American comic book artist (b. 1914).
• 20 February – Audrey Munson, American actress and artist's model (b. 1891).
• 5 March – Joshua Compston, British gallerist (b. 1970).
• 15 March – Helen Chadwick, British artist (b. 1953).
• 14 April – Mervyn Levy, Welsh-born art critic and artist (b. 1914).
• 25 April – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker (b. 1920).
• 7 May – William Copley, American artist (b. 1919).
• 10 June – Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Austrian painter (b. 1906).

• 17 July - Rico Puhlmann, German photographer (b. 1934).
• 28 July – Roger Tory Peterson, American naturalist, ornithologist, artist and educator (b. 1908).
• 27 August – Abram Games, English poster artist (b. 1914).
• 24 October – Lin Onus, Scottish-Aboriginal Koori artist (b. 1948).
• 22 November – Edmund Teske, American photographer (b. 1911).
• 26 November – Paul Rand, American graphic designer (b. 1914).
• 29 November – Dan Flavin, American minimalist artist (b. 1933).
• 3 December – Jean Tabaud, French artist (b. 1914).
• 11 December – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer (b. 1937).
• 16 December – Quentin Bell, English art historian and author (b. 1910).
• 25 December – Gabriel Loire, French stained glass artist (b. 1904).

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Category:Years of the 20th century in art

Category:1990s in art