Taco Dibbits to succeed Wim Pijbes at Rijksmuseum

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Taco Dibbits to take over at Rijksmuseum | Taco Dibbits is to succeed Wim Pijbes as general director of the Rijksmuseum when the latter departs for his new job at the Museum Voorlinden later this summer. Dibbits, who was previously director of the Old Masters department at Christie’s London, has been an instrumental player in some of the Rijksmuseum’s major acquisitions since he joined the institution in 2002. He was also behind some of the museum’s recent blockbuster shows, and played a key role in its decade-long renovation. ‘The Rijksmuseum shines and that is to the merit of Taco’, Pijbes says of his successor. ‘I am delighted that he is to become the next director.’

Spanish court denies extradition request for Knoedler forgery suspect | Spain’s national court has ruled that José Carlos Bergantiños Díaz – one of two brothers allegedly connected to the Knoedler forgery case – should not be extradited to the United States to face trial, reports the New York Times. Earlier this year, the court agreed to the extradition of Bergantiños Díaz’s brother, Jesús Ángel. The court has cited health problems for its refusal to extradite José Carlos, who is believed to be suffering from a neurological disorder.

Suspects arrested in connection with Francis Bacon thefts | Spanish police have arrested a group of men suspected of involvement with the theft of five paintings by Francis Bacon from a private residence in Madrid last year, reports El Pais. (Spanish language article.) According to the Times, (£), an art dealer and his son are among the individuals who have been detained, all of whom are Spanish nationals.

Recommended reading | The art storage facility in the Geneva Freeport has been a major point of contention in the news recently, but the works behind the complex’s fence have been somewhat neglected in the discussion. Turn to the New York Times to find out what consequences might be in store for the masterpieces housed inside the controversial facility. Elsewhere, the Sunday Times (£) appears to be on the fence in its appraisal of Tate Modern’s new ‘Switch House’ extension: on the one hand, Bryan Appleyard praises it as a ‘triumph’; on the other, Waldemar Januszczak is sceptical. Britain needs an artistic ‘revolution’, he says – ‘and the one thing we know for sure about it is that it will not break out in a £260m museum extension.’