Artist and Filmmaker Steve McQueen Wins $172,000 Erasmus Prize
British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen won the 2026 Erasmus Prize from the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, receiving €150,000 (about $172,000) plus a ceremonial “adornment” in the form of a folded paper booklet printed with text in Desiderius Erasmus’s script, ARTnews reports. McQueen is known for works including “Occupied City” (2023), “Ashes” (2015), and “Static” (2009), and for directing “12 Years a Slave” (2013), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The prize honors exceptional contributions to the humanities, social sciences, or arts in Europe and beyond, and past recipients include Trevor Noah (2023), Barbara Ehrenreich (2018), and Renzo Piano (1995), as well as organizations such as Wikipedia (2015) and Amnesty International (1976). The 2026 theme for the award was “Ecce Homo, Behold the Human Being,” which the foundation linked to McQueen’s focus on empathy amid polarization and inequality.
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This story was covered in Masterworks Stolen, Restitution Wars Escalate