Why did Van Gogh sign his paintings as ‘Vincent’?

Art historian Julia Engelmayer has published a study titled 'Simply ‘Vincent’: An Overview of Van Gogh’s Signed Paintings' on the Van Gogh Museum's website, analyzing why and how Vincent van Gogh signed his works. The research reveals that only 133 of his 840 surviving paintings bear a signature (16%), an unusually low proportion for a 19th-century artist. Van Gogh signed with only his first name due to strained family relations and the difficulty non-Dutch speakers had pronouncing his surname. The study also highlights his predominant use of red signatures (on 75 works), angled signatures on over half of his signed pieces, and a distinctive horseshoe-shaped 'V' used during his Arles period.

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.

Watching You, Watching Me: On Panteha Abareshi and the Spectacle of Illness

What am I bid for a blown-up van? The bizarre art auction aiming to build an eco power station in Reform-held Clacton

Artists Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn are auctioning off their work from the past 15 years this Saturday to raise at least £250,000 for a community-led renewable power station in Clacton, the constituency of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The auction, which will be conducted by former YBA Gavin Turk, includes a gold Ford Transit van wreckage containing fake banknotes that the pair blew up in 2019 as part of their film *Bank Job*, now reconstituted as a mobile sculpture. An online auction runs until 31 May, but currently only £750 has been raised.

‘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.

Everyone Keeps Getting Yoko Ono Wrong

Paul Morley's new biography of Yoko Ono, *Love Magic Power Danger Bliss*, attempts to reframe the artist beyond her reputation as a 'Beatles wife' but ultimately fails, according to this critical review. The book covers Ono's first three decades, from her birth in Japan in 1933 to meeting John Lennon in 1969, but is dominated by lengthy asides on male avant-garde figures like George Maciunas and Pete Townshend, leaving Ono a passive presence in her own story. Morley promises not to mention Lennon but breaks that promise, and the review argues the book is aimed more at 'rock dads' still upset about the Beatles breakup than at understanding Ono's artistic contributions.

A $1B Evening With Nicole Kidman

Hyperallergic's newsletter reports on a record-setting $1 billion evening sale at Christie's on May 18, which included works by Jackson Pollock and Constantin Brancusi alongside Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. Other stories cover an exhibition at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center celebrating Black American artists in Paris, a painted book cover trend analyzed by Tara Anne Dalbow, a Gaza Square sculpture unveiling in Paterson, New Jersey, and a performance event by Bahar Behbahani on Governors Island.

À New York, le Metropolitan Museum of Art absorbe la Neue Galerie et sa collection de Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka…

On May 14, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie in New York announced a historic merger set for 2028. The Neue Galerie, founded in 2001 by billionaire Ronald Lauder in a Fifth Avenue mansion, will become part of the Met under the name The Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie, modeled after the Met's Cloisters. The transfer includes the historic building and a collection of 600 works valued at over $1.5 billion, featuring artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, and Oskar Kokoschka. Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer are also donating thirteen works from their personal collection, and a $200 million endowment fund has been established.

Russian art today is blood. A tough interview with Pussy Riot

“L’arte russa oggi è il sangue”. Una dura intervista alle Pussy Riot

During the preview of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Russian Pavilion became the site of a protest by Pussy Riot and FEMEN, who staged an action called "STORM OF VENICE." Wearing pink balaclavas and carrying radical slogans, they denounced Russia's presence at the Biennale, accusing the Kremlin and the European cultural system of complicity. The protest centered on the phrase "Blood is Russia's art." In an interview, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova argues that artists who represent the official Russian Pavilion become instruments of the aggressive imperial state, and that the Biennale confuses cultural dialogue with political normalization.

Art in America’s Summer “New Talent” Issue Names 20 Artists to Watch

Art in America, the sister publication of ARTnews, has announced its Summer 2026 "New Talent" issue, featuring 20 emerging artists selected by the magazine's editors. The list includes international artists working across various mediums, such as Joeun Kim Aatchim, Jenny Calivas, Kiah Celeste, Malo Chapuy, Mitchell Charbonneau, Isaiah Davis, Elizabeth Glaessner, Juliana Halpert, Craig Jun Li, Kinlaw, Koyoltzintli, Kyung-Me, Chyrum Lambert, Terran Last Gun, Satchel Lee, Claudia Pagès Rabal, Ren Light Pan, Emma Safir, Frank Wang Yefeng, and Alexa West. Profiles of each artist appear in the print edition and will be published online in the coming weeks.

Krakow’s MOCAK Sacks Director Adam Budak, Angering Artists

The City of Krakow dismissed Adam Budak as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) on May 16, citing improper performance of duties related to work organization and team management. Budak, who took the helm last summer, was replaced by acting director Grzegorz Kuźma, formerly the museum's deputy director, and will be officially terminated when his contract ends June 30. The dismissal followed an internal investigation spurred by a complaint signed by thirty-seven MOCAK staffers. In response, artists and curators including Paulina Olowska, Sabine Breitweiser, Alison Gingeras, and Candice Breitz signed a petition demanding Budak be heard, while several artists withdrew from MOCAK's 2026–27 programming.

Maine Institutions Dissect the American Semiquincentennial

Boston Art Review (BAR) has published an article examining how Maine-based cultural institutions are approaching the American Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026. The piece explores the programming, exhibitions, and institutional strategies being developed by museums and art centers across Maine to mark this milestone, focusing on how they interpret American history and identity through contemporary art.

Canadian Museum of Human Rights Threatened With Legal Action Over Palestinian Nakba Show

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg has been threatened with legal action by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center over an upcoming exhibition titled "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present," scheduled to open June 27. The exhibition focuses on the 1948 expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians, known as the Nakba, and features video testimonies, photography, visual art, and text exploring human rights violations and forced displacement. Shurat HaDin's letter, sent to the museum's board and senior leadership, argues the exhibition omits Jewish historical ties to the region, politicizes history, and could fuel hostility against the Jewish community. The organization demands the museum halt work on the show, commission an independent review, and retract statements about Israeli human rights violations, threatening litigation if the museum does not respond within 14 days. The museum has confirmed the letter is under review but stated the exhibition is still expected to open as scheduled.

Controversial art show canceled at NY archdiocese venue finds home at Jesuit parish

Jesuit artist Nicholas Leeper's solo exhibition "Twilight of the Idols," which blends Byzantine iconography with pop art and advertising imagery, was abruptly canceled by the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in New York about two weeks before its scheduled opening in May 2026. The center, founded by the New York Archdiocese, cited phone calls and emails expressing concern about the work, which includes pieces like "Madonna and Child (Tomatokos)" depicting Mary as a Campbell's soup housewife and "The Visitation" reimagining Mary and Elizabeth in a cigarette ad. Within a day, the exhibition found a new venue at the Mary Chapel of St. Francis Xavier Church, organized in partnership with Xavier High School, where Leeper teaches.

Sarah Rowe Will Light Up Native Neon Residency in Kingston, NY

A new residency program for Indigenous artists working with neon for the first time has been launched through a collaboration between the Walker Youngbird Foundation and Lite Brite Neon Studio in Kingston, New York. Sarah Rowe, a painter and installation artist from Omaha, Nebraska, was selected as the first recipient from over one hundred applicants. She plans to create a work inspired by the heyoka, a trickster figure from Lakota tradition, and will receive a $10,000 stipend plus fully funded fabrication, materials, studio time, and technical instruction valued at around $50,000. The resulting artwork will be publicly presented, and Rowe will retain full intellectual property rights and ownership.

Harris County Juried Exhibition

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.