The year 2006 in art involves various significant events.

• Rembrandt 400 – Series of activities to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt.^[1]
• 1 January – Resale Rights Directive in the European Union, providing a Droit de suite for artists, is implemented (in the United Kingdom by the Artist's Resale Right Regulations (February 13)).
• 1 July – Mudam museum of modern art in Luxembourg (city), designed by I. M. Pei, is opened by Grand Duke Jean.^[2]
• 31 August – Stolen Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna are recovered in a police raid in Oslo, Norway.^[3]
• 17 November – The Metropolitan Borough of Bury in the north of England sells its L. S. Lowry painting A River Bank^[4] (1947; bought in 1951 for £150) for £1.25 million at a Christie's auction to a private buyer to help fund a £10 million budget deficit.^[5]

• Archibald Prize – Marcus Wills, The Paul Juraszek Monolith
• Artes Mundi Prize – Eija-Liisa Ahtila
• Beck's Futures – Matt Stokes, Long After Tonight
• Hugo Boss Prize – Tacita Dean
• Caldecott Medal – Chris Raschka, The Hello, Goodbye Window
• John Moores Painting Prize – Martin Greenland for "Before Vermeer's Clouds"^[6]
• Turner Prize – Tomma Abts
• Wynne prize – John Beard, The Gap

• Art School Confidential
• Factory Girl
• Goya's Ghosts
• Klimt

• The Masterpieces Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2 Jan – 31 December 2006
• All the Rembrandts, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 26 Jan – 31 December 2006
• Frank Stella 1958, 4 February - 7 May at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts then traveled to the Wexner Center at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from September 1 – December 31.^[7][8]
• Rembrandt – Caravaggio Van Gogh Museum in cooperation with the Rijksmuseum, 24 Feb – 18 June 2006
• A summer with Rembrandt Mauritshuis, The Hague, 26 Jun – 18 September 2006
• Rembrandt, the Etcher The Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, 8 Jul – 3 September 2006
• Rodin (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 23 September 2006 – 1 Jan 2007)
• Everyone Sang: a view of Siegfried Sassoon and his world by 25 contemporary painters (Francis Kyle Gallery, London, November–December)
• Peter Prendergast retrospective, Oriel Ynys Môn, 14 Jan – 26 February 2006 (toured throughout UK)
• "Barely Legal" (Banksy)

• Magdalena Abakanowicz – Agora, Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Gary Breeze – Bali Bombings Memorial, London
• Ed Carpenter – Tecotosh (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Brian Goldbloom – Festival Lanterns (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Dan Graham – For Gordon Bunshaft (sculpture, Washington, D.C.)
• David Hockney
  • Woldgate Woods, March 30 - April 21 2006 Archived 29 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  • Woldgate Woods, 6 & 9 November 2006 Archived 29 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Anish Kapoor – Cloud Gate aka "The Bean" (construction begun 2004 work finished 2006) at AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois^[9]
• Mel Katz – Daddy Long Legs (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Gopal Swami Khetanchi
  • Bani-Thani
  • Devashree
• Frank Meisler – Kindertransport – The Arrival (sculpture, London)
• Asylum NYC^[10]
• Lovejoy Columns (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
• Statue of James Meredith

• 1 January – John Latham, Zambian conceptual artist (b.1921)
• 8 January – Mimmo Rotella, Italian artist and poet (b.1918)
• 14 January – Jim Gary, American sculptor (b.1939)
• 29 January – Nam June Paik, South Korean-born American video artist (b.1932)
• 15 February – Joash Woodrow, English artist (b.1927)
• 23 February – Mauri Favén, Finnish painter (b.1920)
• 4 March
  • David Rose, American animator (b.1910)
  • Edgar Valter, Estonian writer and illustrator of children's books (b.1929)
• 7 March - Mary Spencer Watson, English sculptor (b.1913)
• 9 March – Jean Leymarie, French art historian (b.1919)
• 25 March – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish photographer (b.1950)
• 27 March – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener (b.1925)
• 28 March – Pro Hart, Australian painter (b.1928)

• 5 April – Allan Kaprow, American painter, assemblagist and art theorist (b.1927)
• 15 April – Davidee Itulu, Inuit artist (b. 1929)
• 23 April – Isaac Witkin, South African sculptor (b.1936)
• 3 May – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor and poet (b.1921)
• 8 May – Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer (b.1938)
• 9 May – Edouard Jaguer, French poet and art critic (b.1924)
• 27 May – Alex Toth, American comic book artist and cartoonist (b.1928)

• 8 July – Catherine Leroy, French photographer (b.1944)
• 15 July – Andrée Ruellan, American painter (b.1905)
• 28 July – Richard Mock, American painter, sculptor and cartoonist (b.1944)
• 1 August
  • Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (b.1965)
  • Bob Thaves, American illustrator (b.1924)
• 4 August – Julio Galán, Mexican artist (b.1958)
• 20 August – Joe Rosenthal, American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer (b.1911)
• 26 August – Vladimir Tretchikoff, Russian artist (b.1913)
• 1 September – Sir Kyffin Williams, Welsh landscape painter (b.1918)
• 17 October – Marcia Tucker, American museum curator (b.1940)
• 25;October -- Emilio Vedova, Italian painter (b. 1919)
• 26 November – Dave Cockrum, American comic book artist (b.1943)
• 6 December – Robert Rosenblum, American art historian (b.1927)
• 16 December – Larry Zox, American painter and printmaker (b.1937)
• 18 December – Ruth Bernhard, American photographer (b.1905)