Thieves stole a painting by Vincent van Gogh overnight from the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands, its director said on Monday. The gallery, in the town of Laren to the east of Amsterdam, is currently shut to the public due to the coronavirus epidemic.

If you’re socially isolating right now, it’s entirely possible that you’re catching up on some film or TV watching. Maybe you’re binge-watching an old favorite; maybe you’re using the time to watch something you’d meant to watch in the theater in previous weeks. But there’s also something to be said for trying out something you’ve never seen before. And what better guide to that than an internationally acclaimed filmmaker?

This unprecedented challenge called Covid-19 has become the topical issue of today and we have to cope with it both personally and as a society. The crisis will be reflected in art, but it calls for a talented interpretation, says theatre director Andrey Avramov in an interview to Monitor.

Bulgarian poetess Aksinia Mihaylova won France's prestigious national award for poetry Prix Max Jacob 2020. She received the prize for her collection of poems Le baiser du temps (The Kiss of Time). “At last, good news comes in these sad and insecure days,” Mihaylova wrote on Facebook and added that the awarding ceremony which had to take place in the Centre National du Livre was cancelled due to the declared state of emergency and quarantine imposed because of the coronavirus.  

After eight years of silence Bob Dylan released a new song, news wires reported. It is a 17-minute reflection on the 1960s and the assassination of John Kennedy. "They blew out the brains of the king. Thousands were watching at home and saw the whole thing," he sings in the opening of Murder Most Foul.

Aachen Cathedral has dug out the relics of little-known Saint Corona, patron saint of resisting epidemics, from its treasure chamber and is polishing up her elaborate shrine to go on show once the coronavirus pandemic has passed, Reuters reported. The pandemic has boosted public interest in the Christian martyr, believed to have been killed 1,800 years ago.

The Cannes Film Festival in May has been postponed due to the spread of the coronavirus, organizers of the annual event in southern France said on Thursday.

As the coronavirus pandemic hits indefinite pause on concerts and touring, many musicians are instead streaming shows for tens of thousands of fans self-quarantining. Artists including Neil Young, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Christine and the Queens are among those who have played online shows for the folks at home, as governments worldwide ban mass gatherings and urge people to hunker down.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest scheduled for May in Rotterdam has been cancelled for the first time in the event's 64-year history due to the coronavirus outbreak, organisers said Wednesday. Broadcasters were now in talks with the Dutch port city for it to host the event - a glitzy pageant of songs that has millions of viewers across Europe and further afield - in 2021, they said.

The Sofia Opera and Ballet is continuing its new initiative to stream some of its classics for free. On 15 March the cultural institution's Facebook page launched the online platform SOFIA OPERA PEARLS STREAMS - a series of streams of live recordings of shows from the opera's vast repertoire.