Harriet Cooper's guide highlights 16 free art exhibitions in London for spring 2026, including David Hockney's inaugural show at Serpentine North Gallery, a solo display by designer Simone Brewster at the Design Museum, and Somerset House's 'Holy Pop!' exploring modern idolatry. Other featured shows range from Paula Rego drawings to Gilbert & George works, all accessible without admission charges.
Photo London has opened its latest edition at Olympia London, marking a significant move from its previous home at Somerset House. The fair brings together international galleries from cities including New Delhi, Cologne, New York, Glasgow, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Zurich, Paris, Tokyo, Taipei, Munich, and London, creating a global conversation around photography. Highlights include Alfredo Jaar's installation 'Searching for Africa in LIFE,' which interrogates the absence of African voices in Western media, and presentations by Autograph, Leica Gallery London, and others that explore themes of migration, memory, identity, and representation.
The J. Paul Getty Museum unveils Artemisia Gentileschi's long-lost painting *Hercules and Omphale* (ca. 1635–37) after three years of restoration. The work was nearly destroyed in the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, which caused severe damage to the Sursock Palace where it was housed. Senior conservator Ulrich Birkmaier led the delicate process of reassembling the canvas, removing glass shards and debris, and restoring the original colors.
An exhibition titled "Vasari and Rome" has opened at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, running until July 19, 2026. Curated by Alessandra Baroni and promoted by Roma Capitale, the show features over seventy works—including drawings, prints, engravings, letters, medals, sculptures, and paintings—that trace Giorgio Vasari's relationship with 16th-century Rome. Sixteen autograph works and seven drawings are among the highlights, arranged in four sections that follow the chronology of Vasari's Roman sojourns, from his arrival in 1532 under Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici to his later engagements with patrons like Bindo Altoviti and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The exhibition is staged in an intimate, chamber-like setting on the top floor of Palazzo Caffarelli, contrasting the small space with the vast theme of Vasari's role in papal Rome's political and cultural life.
The Art Newspaper's podcast covers the inaugural Art Basel Qatar art fair in Doha, discussing its impact on Qatar and the Middle East art scene. It also examines a debate over a Dürer portrait in London's National Gallery, long considered a copy but now argued to be an autograph work by a new catalogue raisonné author. The episode features a double-header exhibition at the Albertinum in Dresden pairing Paula Modersohn-Becker and Edvard Munch, with co-curator Andreas Dehmer discussing key works.
The Musée Bonnat-Helleu in Bayonne, France, reopens on November 26 after a 14-year renovation and expansion. The project, led by French architecture firm BLP, doubled the display area to 3,000 square meters, restored the original building's glass roof and a mosaic by Giandomenico Facchina, and converted an adjacent school into a wing with a café, shop, research center, and study room. The museum now houses 7,000 works, including 2,500 long-term loans from the Louvre, and features discoveries such as autographs in El Greco paintings and pentimenti in Simon Vouet's work.
Monomi Park, the indie game studio behind the Slime Rancher franchise, has partnered with Gallery Nucleus to host "The Art of Slime Rancher" exhibition, opening November 8, 2025. The event will feature concept art, exclusive pieces, and tribute works from over 30 artists, alongside a developer panel moderated by Andrea Rene with Q&A, autograph sessions, and a special appearance by FINAL FANTASY art director Yusuke Naora. Fans can submit questions via social media, and the exhibition will run through November 23, with online viewing available from November 9.