Kim Gordon Nixes Noise Show, Lucien Smith and Jens Hoffmann Mount Comebacks, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip

Kim Gordon canceled her noise show at Lonti Ebers's Amant nonprofit in East Williamsburg at the last minute due to illness, leaving her Body/Head bandmate Bill Nace to improvise with Aaron Dilloway. The concert marked the closing of 'Folded Group,' a group exhibition curated by Gordon and Nace, and featured opening sets by MV Carbon and Jeff Hartford, with audio bleeding into Amant's upscale restaurant Zoli.

U.K. Arts Center Lands Seismic $122.4M Gift

The Sainsbury Centre near Norwich, England, has received a landmark gift of £91.2 million ($122.4 million) from Lord David Sainsbury through his Gatsby Charitable Foundation. In other news, Art Basel has appointed Wassan Al-Khudhairi as artistic director for its 2027 Qatar edition; Christie's led New York's spring auction season with $1.3 billion, driven by the S.I. Newhouse collection; Sotheby's brought in $737 million; Phillips rebounded with $115.2 million; and Bonhams achieved $22 million. Pace now represents the Constantin Brancusi Estate, Yinka Shonibare joined Mennour, and several other gallery and museum appointments were announced, including Clarissa Morales as COO of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and new interim leadership at Dallas Contemporary. The Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt will inherit Henrike Naumann's estate, Dubai announced a new Museum of Digital Art, and the Centre Pompidou partnered with Chanel.

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.

Yinka Shonibare Joins Mennour, a Fake Fake Monet, and More: Industry Moves for May 20, 2026

The article reports on several key moves in the art world as of May 20, 2026. Tina Kim Gallery will represent the estate of Singaporean British sculptor and printmaker Kim Lim, with a debut at Art Basel in June and a solo show in 2027. Yinka Shonibare has joined Paris gallery Mennour, which will host his first solo exhibition in October. Pace Gallery now represents the Brâncuși estate, planning a London exhibition this fall. Clarissa Morales has been named the first Chief Operating Officer of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, moving from the Carnegie Museum of Art. Additionally, Jackson Pollock's Number 7A, 1948 sold for $181.2 million at Christie's, setting a new artist record. A viral social media post featuring a fake Monet painting created by AI sparked debate online.

Wet Paint Does Frieze Week: The Dinosaur Dealer Downtown, David Zwirner Tribeca, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip

Artnet News' gossip column 'Wet Paint' covers the opening week of Frieze New York, beginning with the group show 'Statics of an Egg' at David Zwirner's newly renamed Tribeca gallery (formerly 52 Walker). Curated by Martin Germann, the exhibition features Japanese artists gathered by Yu Nishimura and Kenji Ide, with Nishimura's painting 'in waiting' highlighted. The column also reports on a private party at the River art-world hangout and a visit to Amanita gallery for 'A Land Before Time: Three Dinosaurs and a Gondola,' which includes a John Chamberlain sculpture. Notable attendees include artists Sasha Gordon, Olivia van Kuiken, Calvin Marcus, and Josh Smith, as well as dealers Marlene Zwirner and Matthew Brown.

Pioneering Kinetic Artist Julio Le Parc Dies Aged 97—and More Art Industry News

Argentine kinetic and optical art pioneer Julio Le Parc has died at age 97. In other art industry news, François-Henri Pinault has been appointed board chairman of Christie's; Art Basel Paris returns to the Grand Palais for its fifth edition under new director Karim Crippa; Tiwani Contemporary has permanently closed its London gallery; Gehry Partners will design a major renovation of the Getty Center; and the estate of Ansel Adams has spoken out against an unauthorized AI-colorized version of his photograph. The weekly roundup also covers auction highlights, including a T. rex fossil expected to fetch up to $30 million at Sotheby's, and the launch of new art fairs and residency programs.

Smithsonian Women’s Museum chaos, Oliver Beer and Rufus Wainwright, Jasper Johns in Bilbao—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three main stories. Host Ben Luke discusses the US House of Representatives striking down a bill to build the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall, a setback amid broader government interference at the Smithsonian under President Trump. He also interviews artist Oliver Beer and musician Rufus Wainwright about their collaboration for Beer's exhibition 'The Sky in the Cave' at Thaddaeus Ropac during London Gallery Weekend, and examines Jasper Johns's painting 'Painting with Two Balls' (1960), featured in the retrospective 'Night Driver' at the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Elle Pérez Envisions New Residency Built on Family Legacy

Artist Elle Pérez is raising $100,000 to buy out relatives from a family home in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, that has been in their family since the 1920s, with the goal of transforming it into an artist residency called Casa Pérez. To fund the project, Pérez is selling a portfolio of chromogenic studio prints for $1,795 each, produced in collaboration with the cultural office Public Relations. The artist’s work, known for intimate portraits and scenes of underground music, has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and solo exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Art.

Celia Paul, Edward Hopper, Saif Azzuz

Pace Gallery has cut 50 artists from its roster and laid off 50 staff members, with CEO Marc Glimcher calling it a "model correction" for the gallery business. This comes shortly after the gallery opened a $100 million flagship in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. In other news, Marjane Satrapi has died at 56, over 100 participants threaten legal action against the Venice Biennale over award withdrawals, and Lucian Freud's painting "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" could fetch up to $47 million at Sotheby's. The newsletter also highlights an opinion piece by Laura Raicovich arguing for reintegrating art with everyday life, and mentions exhibitions featuring Saif Azzuz, Ali Eyal, Edward Hopper, and Celia Paul.

Comment | Farewell, Los Angeles’s ‘punk’ Box gallery

Mara McCarthy, founder of the Box gallery in Los Angeles, announced the closure of the boundary-pushing commercial space on April 24 after 19 years. The gallery, which opened in 2007 in LA's Chinatown and later moved to the Arts District in 2012, was known for spotlighting under-recognized post-war and contemporary artists, including performance pioneers Barbara T. Smith and Simone Forti, moving-image artist Stan Vanderbeek, and political artist Wally Hedrick. McCarthy described the gallery as a "punk version" of New York spaces, grounded in humanity and community. The closure was driven by declining sales of her father Paul McCarthy's work, collectors turning away from experimental art during the pandemic, and the devastating Eaton Fire in 2025 that destroyed Mara's home and her parents' home in Altadena.

The Wild Nine-Month Journey that Led to Nathaniel Mary Quinn Designing the Rolling Stones’ New Album Cover

Nathaniel Mary Quinn was commissioned to create the cover art for the Rolling Stones' new album *Foreign Tongues*, due July 10, after a three-way call with Mick Jagger and producer Andrew Watt. Over nine months, Quinn developed a composite portrait merging the faces of Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood, and also redesigned the band's iconic tongue-and-lips logo. The process involved regular conversations with Jagger and Richards, a private rehearsal session, and a lunch at the Baccarat Hotel, culminating in the band choosing Quinn's original composite over a second option featuring a vintage sports car.

Rare ‘Ocean Dream’ Diamond Sells for Record $17.3 Million at Christie’s

A rare 5.5-carat blue-green diamond known as the 'Ocean Dream' sold for $17.3 million at Christie’s Geneva jewelry sale, setting a record for a fancy vivid blue-green diamond at auction. The sale far exceeded its presale estimate of $9 million to $13 million after a 20-minute bidding battle. In other auction news, Sotheby’s New York sold over $433 million worth of art in its contemporary art sales, including 11 pieces from the Robert Mnuchin collection. Meanwhile, London’s Wellcome Collection agreed to return around 2,000 sacred Jain manuscripts to the Jain religious community under a new restitution framework, acknowledging they were acquired unethically. Several art fairs were announced, including Zero 10 curated by Trevor Paglen at Art Basel in Switzerland, CAN Art Fair Ibiza’s fifth edition, and Art-o-rama’s 20th edition in Marseille. Notable gallery news includes the bankruptcy and closure of French gallery Air de Paris after 36 years, and Carine Karam becoming director of Opera Gallery’s New York outpost. Hong Kong’s M+ and Paris’s Centre Pompidou announced a multi-year strategic alliance, and New York’s Frick Collection entered a three-year partnership with Louis Vuitton.

Frieze New York, the Cranach in Hitler’s Munich apartment, Ajamu X—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast covers several art-world stories. Ben Sutton and Kabir Jhala discuss the current edition of Frieze New York, alongside other concurrent fairs like Esther and Tefaf, and preview the upcoming New York auctions. Ben Luke interviews Martin Bailey about a Lucas Cranach the Elder painting, 'Cupid Complaining to Venus' (1526-27), which once hung in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment, with a newly published photograph from the 1940s. The episode also features a segment on Ajamu X's 'Glamour Posse' series from the early 1990s, part of the touring exhibition 'Gender Stories' opening at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, with comments from gallery head Charlotte Keenan.

Who Went to Venice Last Week? Jenny Saville, Glenn Lowry, Jewel, and Many Other Power Players

Artnet News reporter Katya Kazakina recounts her experience at the opening week of the 61st Venice Biennale, describing a whirlwind of art, parties, and chance encounters. Notable figures spotted include former MoMA director Glenn Lowry, singer-songwriter Jewel (who debuted her visual art show "Matriclysm: An Archaeology of Connections Lost"), and Japanese Nintendo heir and collector Banjo Yamauchi. High-profile events included Thaddaeus Ropac gallery's reception for Georg Baselitz's final paintings (priced up to $1.5 million) and François Pinault's annual party at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, attended by Selma Hayek, Lorna Simpson, and JR. The article also highlights the social dynamics of the biennale, where dealers, curators, and collectors network across historic palazzos and hotels.

Celia Paul Makes Her Own Way

This week's Hyperallergic newsletter highlights artists forging their own paths. Celia Paul, known as a painter-chronicler and former muse to Lucian Freud, has her first New York exhibition in over a decade at Gladstone Gallery in Chelsea, featuring stark, desaturated portraits. Separately, the late Frank Stella's personal collection of 19th-to-20th-century Navajo weavings is on public display for the first time at Arader Galleries on the Upper East Side, ahead of a sale. The issue also covers the What Now: 2026 festival in Philadelphia, Greenpoint Open Studios in Brooklyn, a new mosaic at Brooklyn's Borough Hall subway station, and local backlash over new signage in Kingston, New York.

Someone Stole Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana, and the Centre Pompidou-Metz Is Pressing Charges

On Saturday, the Centre Pompidou-Metz announced that Maurizio Cattelan's iconic artwork *Comedian*—a banana duct-taped to a wall—was stolen from the museum. Staff quickly replaced the fruit with a fresh banana and tape, as is routine every three days. The museum filed a legal complaint against unknown persons, marking the second such incident at the venue after a previous theft in 2024. The artwork's value resides in its certificate of authenticity and presentation protocol, not the perishable banana itself.

The True Crime Story of a Notorious Looter

Hyperallergic reports on a new book, Matthew Campbell's 'The Man Who Stole the Gods' (2026), which centers on British dealer Douglas Latchford, who trafficked looted Cambodian antiquities on a massive scale before his death in 2020. Latchford sold objects to institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the book examines the criminal network that supplied and transported these works, as well as the museum professionals and scholars who enabled it. The article also covers Frank Stella's collection of Diné (Navajo) textiles, now on view for the first time at Arader Galleries in New York, alongside an obituary for abstract painter Jay Milder, who died at age 92.

Art Movements: Wolfgang Tillmans Wins Europe's Richest Art Prize

Wolfgang Tillmans has been awarded the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, Europe's largest monetary award for living visual artists, worth CHF 150,000 (~$191,361). The prize, established in 2001 in honor of Swiss art dealer Roswitha Haftmann and administered by Kunsthaus Zürich, recognizes Tillmans for his artistic oeuvre and social commitment. In other news, Cheryl Finley was named the 2026 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize from the High Museum of Art, and El Museo del Barrio will honor Isabel and Agustín Coppel, J Balvin, and Estrellita Brodsky with its Tony Bechara Legacy Award. Additionally, Art Basel announced over 200 exhibitors for its Paris fair, and Jack White's first public exhibition of his visual artwork will open at Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery on May 29.

Gala Season! Shaggy and Jewel Hit the Whitney, Henry Taylor and Pharrell Toast Gordon Parks, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip

Artnet News' gossip column "Wet Paint" reports on the Whitney Museum's 2026 annual gala, a major fundraising event. The author describes the scene: donors and celebrities like Jewel, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nigel Barker mingled with artists Julie Mehretu (the honoree) and Glenn Ligon. Notably, the 56 artists in the current Whitney Biennial were not invited due to limited seating, a policy confirmed by the museum. The evening raised $6.3 million, with individual seats costing $7,500.

Husband of Gallerist Brent Sikkema Found Guilty of Ordering His Killing

A federal jury in Manhattan found Daniel Sikkema guilty of hiring a hit man to murder his estranged husband, esteemed New York gallerist Brent Sikkema. The killing occurred in January 2024, when Brent Sikkema was stabbed to death in his Rio de Janeiro vacation home. The hit man, Alejandro Triana Trevez, a former security guard for the couple, testified that Daniel paid him over $10,000 for the murder. Daniel Sikkema, who denied the charges, now faces a mandatory life sentence and has said he will appeal.

Art Movements: Meet MoMA's New Photo Chief

Makeda Best has been appointed as the new chief curator of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), starting in September. She comes from the Oakland Museum of California, where she served as deputy director of curatorial affairs, and previously held the role of photography curator at the Harvard Art Museums. The Asian Cultural Council awarded over $1.6 million in grants to 70 grantees across four fellowship categories. Additionally, Pace Gallery cut 50 artists and laid off 50 workers in what CEO Marc Glimcher called a "model correction," and a painting attributed to a follower of Hieronymus Bosch sold for $537,600 at Sotheby's, more than ten times its high estimate.

Gabrielle Goliath, Richard Avedon, “Chicken Linda”

Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara reflects on skipping the New York art fairs and a record-breaking $181 million Jackson Pollock sale at Christie's, instead focusing on a profile of pioneering performance artist Linda Montano (now 84) who welcomed a contributor in a chicken costume, and Gabrielle Goliath's exhibition "Elegy" which was banned from South Africa's Venice pavilion by the culture minister but is now on view in a church. The newsletter also announces Hyperallergic's New York Press Club journalism award for Noah Fischer's comic "A Prospect Heights Ghost Story," supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and rounds up other art news including a $1 billion Christie's sale, a Billie Holiday monument commission, and public sculptures by Sarah Lucas, Roberto Lugo, and Kyle Goen.

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.

Peter Doig, Tracey Emin, and More Sign Letter Defending Southbank Centre Chair

A letter signed by environmental activist Greta Thunberg and artists Tracey Emin and Peter Doig is circulating in support of Misan Harriman, chair of London's Southbank Centre. The letter defends Harriman against what it calls a "dishonest smear campaign" by the Telegraph and other right-wing outlets, which accused him of promoting conspiracies and comparing Reform Party voters to Nazis. The controversy stems from Harriman's social media comments about a knife attack on Jewish men and a video referencing Susan Sontag and Kurt Vonnegut on the Holocaust, which critics say minimized antisemitism or drew inappropriate parallels. Harriman denies making such analogies, and 70,000 people have complained to media watchdog Ipso, while 15,000 signed the letter.

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.

Metropolitan Museum und Neue Galerie in New York fusionieren

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie in New York are merging. Starting in 2028, the Neue Galerie will operate as a satellite of the Met, renamed "The Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie." Founded in 2001 by cosmetics entrepreneur and art collector Ronald Lauder, the Neue Galerie houses a renowned collection of German and Austrian art, including Gustav Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer I." Met director Max Hollein announced the merger, which also includes a donation of 13 works from Lauder and his daughter Aerin, plus an endowment for ongoing operations.

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

The Same Dead Thing Alive: Contemporary Archives in L.A. and Beyond

Brazilian Police Believe They Have Identified Architect of Matisse Theft at Biblioteca Mário de Andrade

Brazilian police have identified Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva as the alleged mastermind behind the December 2025 theft of eight Henri Matisse prints and five Cândido Portinari illustrations from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo, Brazil's second-largest library. The heist occurred on the final day of the exhibition “From Book to Museum,” organized with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art; two armed men held a guard and an elderly couple at gunpoint before fleeing with the works. Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva, already in custody for a separate attempted theft, is described by investigators as a longtime rare-book thief who allegedly coordinated the operation through intermediaries. Two other suspects have been arrested, but one gunman remains at large and the artworks have not been recovered.

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.