Art Movements: Larry Gagosian Heads to the Big Screen

This week's Art Movements roundup covers several major art world developments. Larry Gagosian is the subject of a new unauthorized documentary by Canadian director Barry Avrich, completing his trilogy on the art industry. Pace Gallery has taken on representation of the Constantin Brancusi Estate. The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation announced five winners of its 2026 Awards in Craft, each receiving $100,000. Selldorf Architects and Studios Architecture Paris have been selected to lead a $1 billion renovation of the Louvre Museum, including a new room for the Mona Lisa. Other news includes the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program's 2026–2027 cohort, A Blade of Grass's 2026 In Fellowship cohort, and several appointments.

Shared Crafting, Touching, and Lying Down

"Gemeinsames Basteln, Anfassen und Hinlegen"

Christie's in New York achieved record auction results, with Jackson Pollock's "Number 7A, 1948" selling for $181.2 million and Constantin Brâncuși's bronze sculpture "Danaïde" reaching $107.6 million, both from the S. I. Newhouse collection. Meanwhile, critic Gesine Borcherdt published a scathing review of the Marina Abramović exhibition "Balkan Erotic Epic" at Gropius Bau Berlin, arguing that museums increasingly demand audience participation—crafting, touching, lying down—under the guise of democracy, which she likens to group therapy and warns carries authoritarian tendencies. In London, makeup artist and designer Isamaya Ffrench opened a hybrid gallery and concept store called Studio Iron, featuring works by Abramović, Paul McCarthy, Kelly Wearstler, and Anne Imhof, aiming to blur boundaries between art, design, and function.

‘Woman Impressionist’ No More: A New Catalogue Raisonné Restores Eva Gonzalès’s Legacy

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI) has released a new digital catalogue raisonné for French painter Eva Gonzalès, correcting long-standing misattributions and omissions from the 1990 printed edition. The project reattributes works like *Apples in Basket* (previously assigned to Belgian painter Isidore Verheyden) and adds newly discovered pieces, including a portrait of Madame Georges Haquette and Gonzalès’s sketchbooks now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. WPI executive director Elizabeth Gorayeb emphasizes that the digital format allows for iterative updates and brings overlooked figures in Gonzalès’s orbit to light.

Expansion plans for Rome's Galleria Borghese draw fierce response

Rome's Galleria Borghese, a 17th-century villa museum housing masterpieces by Caravaggio, Bernini, and Canova, is facing controversy over a privately funded feasibility study for a potential expansion. Sponsored by Italian engineering firm Proger, the €900,000 initiative would fund an international architecture competition to explore adding exhibition and visitor space to the Villa Borghese Pinciana grounds. Museum officials cite operational constraints: the historic interiors limit access to 360 visitors per two-hour slot (about 4,000 daily), reservations require weeks of waiting, many works remain in storage, and accessibility is poor. Visitor numbers hit a record 630,760 in 2025, up from 506,000 a decade earlier. Preservation groups including Italia Nostra Roma and Amici di Villa Borghese have objected to any new construction in the sensitive historic landscape. Director Francesca Cappelletti emphasized at a May 18 press conference that no project exists yet and the museum is only beginning a study process, with a winner possible by year's end.

“Villa Borghese è perfetta e non si tocca”. Siamo andati a vedere se è proprio così perfetta

A private company donated a design competition to the Galleria Borghese in Rome, aiming to expand the museum's exhibition spaces and services. Before any winning project was selected, associations like Italia Nostra protested, claiming the initiative would desecrate Villa Borghese. The article's author visited the park to document its current state, finding decay: a wrecked Globe Theatre, neglected ponds, graffiti, trash, dilapidated buildings, and a degraded horse-riding track. The author argues that while the park is defended as "perfect and untouchable," it is actually suffering from real neglect that goes unaddressed by the same groups opposing development.

10 Open Calls To Apply for in Summer 2026: International Opportunities Shaping the Season

The article lists ten international open calls for artists and creatives to apply for in summer 2026, including residencies, grants, and exhibition opportunities. Featured programs include the Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) Emerging New Media Artists Program in Saudi Arabia, the International Digital Art Contest at the University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Collaborative Prototyping Lab at Medialab Matadero in Spain, among others. Each call provides details on deadlines, eligibility, application links, and support.