How Alexander Calder Set Sculpture in Motion

Wie Alexander Calder die Skulptur in Bewegung setzte

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched a major retrospective titled "Rêver en Équilibre," dedicated to the American sculptor Alexander Calder. Featuring over 300 works, the exhibition traces Calder’s journey from his 1926 arrival in Paris to his invention of the "mobile," a term coined by Marcel Duchamp. The show includes iconic large-scale hanging sculptures like "Rouge triomphant," wire figures from his famous "Cirque Calder," and rarely seen private loans, alongside paintings and jewelry that highlight his engineering background and poetic approach to abstraction.

Joan Semmel Is Doing Her Best Work at 93

Nonagenarian painter Joan Semmel is experiencing a significant career renaissance, marked by a major survey exhibition at the Jewish Museum and a concurrent solo show at Alexander Gray Associates. At 93, Semmel continues to work from her Soho studio, where she has lived for over fifty years, producing unflinching figurative paintings that explore the female body, aging, and the gaze. The article traces her trajectory from her early education at Cooper Union and a formative period in Madrid to her pivotal role in feminist art history.

Marcel Duchamp & Sturtevant | Dialogues are mostly fried snowballs

Thaddaeus Ropac Milan is hosting a landmark exhibition titled "Dialogues are mostly fried snowballs," marking the first-ever joint presentation of Marcel Duchamp and Sturtevant. The show stages a cerebral confrontation between Duchamp’s original readymades, such as "Porte-bouteilles" and "Trébuchet," and Sturtevant’s radical repetitions of his work. By showcasing these pieces alongside archival materials and films, the exhibition traces how Sturtevant used Duchamp’s style as a medium to investigate the canonization and "understructure" of conceptual art.

Marcel Duchamp at MoMA: Five Revelations From the Artist’s First North American Survey in Over 50 Years

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has launched a major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, marking the artist's first comprehensive North American survey in over half a century. The exhibition traces Duchamp’s evolution from his early satirical drawings and avant-garde paintings to his revolutionary experiments with movement and mechanization, featuring iconic works like "Nude Descending a Staircase" and "L.H.O.O.Q." alongside technical diagrams and studies for "The Large Glass."

Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice has announced a major exhibition for 2026 titled "Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector." The show focuses on the pivotal period between 1938 and 1939 when Guggenheim operated her first gallery, Guggenheim Jeune, on Cork Street. It will feature approximately 100 works by avant-garde masters such as Vasily Kandinsky, Jean Cocteau, and Yves Tanguy, alongside archival materials documenting her early career as a gallerist and patron.

Alexander Calder, Brilliant Sculptor of Air and Color Celebrated at the Fondation Vuitton

Alexander Calder, génial sculpteur de l’air et de la couleur célébré à la fondation Vuitton

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is hosting a major celebration of Alexander Calder, the American sculptor who revolutionized 20th-century art by introducing movement and play into the medium. The article traces Calder's formative years in Paris starting in 1926, where the young engineer-turned-artist gained avant-garde fame with his 'Cirque Calder'—a miniature circus of wire and fabric figurines. This period marked his transition from traditional painting to his signature 'drawings in space,' featuring wire sculptures of figures like Josephine Baker that projected dancing shadows and captured the kinetic energy of the era.

Orientalism, Tales and History at the Louvre-Lens

L’orientalisme, contes et histoire au Louvre-Lens

The Louvre-Lens has launched "Beyond the Arabian Nights," an ambitious exhibition exploring the evolution of Orientalism in France. Moving past simple clichés of odalisques and flying carpets, the show features over 300 items, including masterpieces by Delacroix, Ingres, and Gérôme, alongside popular culture objects like porcelain figurines and film clips. The exhibition traces cultural exchanges from medieval trade and the Crusades to the 19th-century obsession with Islamic art, utilizing a scenography that emphasizes the construction of fictional narratives.

Edmonia Lewis Was the Earliest Known Black Artist to Depict Emancipation. This Is Her First Retrospective.

The Peabody Essex Museum is hosting "Said in Stone," the first-ever comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Edmonia Lewis, a pioneering 19th-century sculptor of Black and Ojibwe heritage. The exhibition assembles a significant body of her marble works, including the landmark sculpture "Forever Free" (1867), which is recognized as the first formal visual representation of emancipation by a Black American artist. The show traces her journey from her upbringing with her Ojibwe family and her traumatic years at Oberlin College to her eventual success as an expatriate artist in Rome.

The Music Is Black: Frequencies of Belonging in Britain

V&A East Museum is launching its inaugural exhibition, 'The Music is Black: A British Story,' a comprehensive exploration of Black British music spanning over a century. Curated by Jacqueline Springer, the show features more than 200 objects—including instruments, fashion, and personal artifacts—alongside significant artworks by figures such as Sonia Boyce and Frank Bowling. The exhibition traces the evolution of genres from early 20th-century compositions to contemporary grime and drill, framing them as vital expressions of migration, resistance, and cultural identity.

The Antwerp Six and the Problem of Now

A new exhibition at MoMu in Antwerp, guest-curated by Geert Bruloot, explores the enduring legacy of the 'Antwerp Six'—a group of visionary designers who graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s. The show features dedicated rooms for members including Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene, showcasing their distinct aesthetics ranging from maximalist rave-wear to surrealist runway recreations. It traces their journey from a self-funded trip to a London trade fair in 1986 to becoming global icons who challenged the dominance of Parisian couture.

Exhibit traces 250 years of American history at Greenville County Museum of Art

The Greenville County Museum of Art has launched "American Stories," a comprehensive exhibition drawn from its permanent collection to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. Featuring pivotal works such as Thomas Sully’s "Passage of the Delaware," the show spans two centuries of artistic production to explore the complexities of the American experience, from the Revolutionary War to the modern era.

Exhibition | Yue Minjun, 'Crab' at Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

Tang Contemporary Art in Hong Kong is hosting 'Crab', a comprehensive solo exhibition by the renowned Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun. The show traces three decades of his career, featuring his iconic 'Laughing Face' series alongside newer works like the 'Flower Series' and 'Stack Series' that utilize diverse mediums including oil, sculpture, and printmaking.

At the Guggenheim, Pop Art Engages With Art of the Present

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has unveiled a new exhibition that juxtaposes iconic Pop Art works from the 1960s with contemporary pieces recently added to the museum's permanent collection. By placing historical landmarks of the movement alongside modern practice, the show traces the enduring influence of mass media, consumerism, and vernacular imagery on artists across different generations.

With "Video Games & Music," the Philharmonie de Paris Gets Into the Game

Avec « Video Games & Music », la Philharmonie de Paris se prend au jeu

The Philharmonie de Paris has launched "Video Games & Music," an immersive exhibition exploring the history and evolution of video game music (VGM). Curated by Fanny Rebillard and Jean Zeid, the show features a non-linear scenography inspired by open-world games, incorporating 29 playable consoles, archival photography by Ira Nowinski, and contemporary art by Mounir Ayache and Invader. The exhibition traces the medium's journey from 8-bit bleeps to complex orchestral scores and its influence on club culture and mainstream pop.

All of Italy Rediscovers Bice Lazzari: After the Brera Exhibition, the Second Stage Opens at the National Gallery in Rome

Tutt’Italia riscopre Bice Lazzari. Dopo la mostra a Brera, ecco la seconda tappa alla Galleria Nazionale di Roma

The major retrospective "Bice Lazzari: The Languages of Her Time" has arrived at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAMC) in Rome following its debut at Palazzo Citterio in Milan. Curated by Renato Miracco and featuring over 200 works, the exhibition traces the Venetian artist’s journey from her early collaborations with architects to her late-career mastery of abstract painting. The show highlights her constant experimentation across various media, including textiles and jewelry, before she fully dedicated herself to painting in her fifties.

‘Out of Place’ : The Afterlives of Landscape.

The major retrospective ‘Out of Place’ at ART AFRICA showcases over 200 images by South African photographer Jo Ractliff, spanning four decades of her career. The exhibition traces Ractliff’s evolution from her early 1980s street photography to her mature, atmospheric landscapes that examine the scars of colonialism, apartheid, and regional conflicts in Southern Africa. By focusing on the 'afterlife' of violence rather than the events themselves, the collection highlights her unique ability to capture how history sediments within the physical terrain.

Hungarian Modernity: the exhibition that sheds light on an overlooked painter at the Petit Palais, our photos

The Petit Palais in Paris is hosting the first French retrospective dedicated to Károly Ferenczy, a seminal figure in Hungarian art history. Running from April 14 to September 6, 2026, the exhibition features nearly 140 paintings and drawings, many on loan from the Hungarian National Gallery and private collections in Budapest. The showcase traces Ferenczy’s stylistic evolution from naturalism to symbolism and impressionism, highlighting his role as a founder of the Nagybánya artists' colony and a pioneer of en plein air painting in Central Europe.

Kansong's Cultural Defense Exhibition Features National Treasure Vase

The Kansong Art Museum in Seoul has launched a special exhibition titled "Cultural Defense of the Nation: The Spirit of Our People Preserved Through Faith," showcasing 46 significant artifacts reclaimed by collector Chun Hyung-pil during the Japanese colonial period. The centerpiece of the show is a rare 18th-century white porcelain bottle decorated with underglaze blue, iron-red, and copper-red, which Chun famously acquired at the Gyeongseong Art Club auction in 1936. He outbid a prominent Japanese dealer with a record-breaking bid of 14,580 won—a sum equivalent to the price of 15 houses at the time—to prevent the treasure from leaving Korea.

Explorations: A State Affair? The historical exhibition unfolds at the Army Museum

The Army Museum in Paris is hosting "Explorations: A State Affair?", a comprehensive exhibition running from April 15 to August 16, 2026. The showcase traces three centuries of French global expeditions, from the aftermath of the Seven Years' War in 1763 through the space race to contemporary missions focused on climate change and resource security. Featuring a diverse array of artifacts including maps, scientific instruments, military uniforms, and paintings, the exhibition highlights the military's central role in scientific discovery, territorial expansion, and state power.

Exhibition in Barcelona explores an artist's journey into nature

The Vila Casas Foundation has launched a major retrospective of Esther Boix at the Espais Volart gallery in Barcelona, marking the centenary of the artist’s birth. Featuring 180 works, the exhibition traces Boix’s evolution from early figurative portraits and social realism to her later, more abstract explorations of nature and ecology. The show highlights her role in the anti-Franco movement, her involvement with the Postectura group, and her significant contributions to art education through the founding of the L’ARC school.

Does the Neue Nationalgalerie Have Feelings?

Hat die Neue Nationalgalerie Gefühle?

The Kunsthalle Bremen has opened "Remix. Photographie – Fiktion und Wahrheit," an exhibition drawn from its permanent collection that explores the tension between reality and artifice in photography. The show traces a lineage from Heinrich Zille’s unvarnished turn-of-the-century street scenes to the objective industrial typologies of Bernd and Hilla Becher, eventually moving into the postmodern manipulations of the Düsseldorf School, including works by Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

Divinity in print | The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting "Household Gods: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860–1930," an exhibition exploring the evolution of Hindu visual culture through the rise of chromolithography. The show traces how mass-produced prints transitioned sacred imagery from exclusive temple environments into the intimate, everyday spaces of domestic shrines.

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Art Speaks in a Language Left for Us to Translate

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is concluding "Multiple Offerings," the most comprehensive retrospective of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s work in 25 years. The exhibition traces the multidisciplinary career of the Korean American artist, who explored themes of exile, diaspora, and the fluidity of language through poetry, film, and performance before her tragic death in 1982. Curated by Victoria Sung, the show features over 100 works paired with pieces by mentors and contemporary artists influenced by her legacy.