100 Masterpieces to See at the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has released a curated guide to 100 essential masterpieces within its massive one-million-square-foot campus. The selection spans global art history, ranging from ancient Egyptian mummies and Greek statues to iconic American sculptures like Edward Kemeys’s bronze lions and Narcissa Niblack Thorne’s intricate miniature rooms. The list is designed to help visitors navigate the museum's vast collection by grouping works by their physical location within the galleries.

Georg Baselitz obituary

Georg Baselitz, the German painter and sculptor known for his provocative, expressionistic works and his iconic upside-down paintings, has died at the age of 88. The article traces his life from his childhood in war-torn Germany, through his early career as a rebellious artist in divided Berlin, to his rise as an international art star. It highlights his 1961 manifesto poster "Pandemonium I," his rejection of American abstraction, and his controversial 1963 exhibition that was raided by police for its explicit content.

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Art Basel Paris is undergoing a major transformation for its third edition, officially rebranding from 'Paris+ par Art Basel' and moving into the newly renovated Grand Palais. The historic venue, fresh from a $500 million restoration, allows the fair to expand its footprint by 26 percent, hosting 194 galleries compared to last year's 154. The move includes the opening of the ornate balconies for emerging galleries and a new sector called Premise, signaling the fair's transition from a successful 'preamble' to a permanent fixture in the French capital.

Filthy fossil fuels, a dizzying debut and the ominous side of the moon – the week in art

The Guardian’s weekly art roundup highlights the opening of 'Extraction' at Jupiter Artland, an exhibition featuring artists like Marguerite Humeau and John Gerrard that explores the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Other notable UK openings include Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s museum debut at The Whitworth, a survey of Paula Rego’s drawings at Victoria Miro, and a showcase of Thérèse Oulton’s textured landscapes at Vardaxoglou.

Zoe Leonard Departs Hauser & Wirth for New York’s Maxwell Graham Gallery

Zoe Leonard, a celebrated conceptual artist whose work will appear at the Venice Biennale next week, has left Hauser & Wirth—a global gallery with 14 locations—to join Maxwell Graham, a smaller New York-based gallery known for spare conceptual presentations. Leonard will continue to be represented by her longtime galleries, Cologne’s Galeria Gisela Capitain and Milan’s Raffaella Cortese. Maxwell Graham staged its first Leonard exhibition last year with “Display,” featuring photographs of historical objects in museums. Leonard is the second artist to depart Hauser & Wirth in the past year, following George Condo’s exit in November.

‘Of course I accepted!’ Angel Otero on Bad Bunny – and bringing some Puerto Rican flair to Somerset

Angel Otero, a Puerto Rican artist based in Somerset, discusses his emotional collaboration with musician Bad Bunny on the stage set "La Casita" for his 31-show residency in Puerto Rico. Otero's new solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset features large-scale, semi-abstract paintings that draw from his childhood memories in Santurce, San Juan, including motifs like a pink vanity cabinet, birdcages, and a turbulent sea. His signature technique involves applying paint skins—dried sheets of oil paint on Perspex—to canvas, creating layered, sculptural surfaces. The show includes a diptych based on a photograph of Otero and his grandmother, marking his most figurative work to date.

Is Hong Kong Back? The GRAND PRIX de Basel 2026

Hong Kong’s art scene experienced a massive surge of activity in March 2026, anchored by Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central. The city hosted 240 galleries at the main fair, drawing over 91,000 visitors, alongside numerous boutique fairs, auction previews, and major institutional exhibitions. Highlights included a reassembled 1964 Yayoi Kusama installation at Art Intelligence Global, a lecture by Zhang Xiaogang at Asia Art Archive, and a poignant solo show by artist duo Chow and Lin at SC Gallery.

Philadelphia Is Rich With Museums and Galleries. ‘Elsewhere’ Aims to Find Out If It Can Support an Art Fair

Philadelphia gallerist Megan Galardi is launching a new art fair called Elsewhere, set to debut June 4–6 at the Yowie Hotel on South Street. The fair will feature 27 exhibitors from cities including London, New York, and Philadelphia, with seven local dealers such as Fleisher/Ollman, Blah Blah Gallery, and Fjord. Galardi, who founded Blah Blah Gallery in 2023 and has participated in small New York fairs like Spring/Break and Future Fair, designed Elsewhere as a boutique, hotel-based event that offers a lower-cost, more intimate alternative to large-scale art fairs.

Montclair Art Museum Hires Esteemed Curator Kate Kraczon After Layoffs at Brown University

The Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey has appointed Kate Kraczon as its new chief curator, effective June 15. Kraczon previously served as director of exhibitions and chief curator at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, where she was laid off in late 2024 amid a wave of cuts. She succeeds Gail Stavitsky, who held the post since 1994. The museum also recently hired Todd Caissie, an enrolled member of the Osage Nation and former director of Canada’s New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum, as its director.

Georg Baselitz, German artist who turned figurative painting on its head, has died, aged 88

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter and sculptor, died on 30 April at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, he grew up amid the ruins of Nazi Germany and later adopted his surname from his birthplace. Expelled from the East Berlin Academy for "sociopolitical immaturity," he moved to West Berlin, where he rejected both gestural abstraction and Expressionism. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was shut down for obscenity. In 1969 he pioneered his signature inverted paintings, turning subjects upside down to sever image from representation. He also created large carved sculptures using axes and chainsaws. His later series, from 2014 onward, are considered his most astonishing work, culminating in a sustained focus on his wife, artist Elke Kretzschmar.

Dallas Art Fair brings Texas's relationship-driven collecting community into focus

The Dallas Art Fair has returned for its 2026 edition, signaling a period of stability with approximately 90 exhibitors and a higher retention rate than previous years. The fair continues to serve as a vital hub for the North Texas collecting community, characterized by a deliberate, relationship-driven approach to acquisitions. Notable activity included the Dallas Museum of Art's acquisition of six works for its permanent collection, including pieces by Nicole Eisenman and Raymond Saunders, funded through a $100,000 partnership with the fair's foundation.

Miami Beach’s Bass Museum picks architect for new pavilion

The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach has appointed the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee to design a new 22,000-square-foot pavilion. The expansion, funded in part by a $20.1 million municipal bond, will occupy a site currently used for parking and will feature an elevated gallery designed to withstand South Florida’s environmental challenges, alongside an outdoor patio and performance stage.

SP-Arte underscores Latin America’s resilient rise amid global market recalibration

The 22nd edition of SP-Arte has opened at São Paulo’s Oscar Niemeyer-designed pavilion, featuring over 180 galleries and design studios. While global art markets face a period of recalibration, the Latin American sector—and Brazil in particular—is reporting significant growth, including a 21% year-on-year increase in sales for Brazilian dealers according to the latest Art Basel and UBS report.

Is Dubai’s loss Palma's gain? Newly revived Mallorca fair offers ’sun, sand and safety’ for wealthy Germans

The Art Cologne Palma Mallorca fair has been successfully revived at the Palau de Congressos, attracting 88 exhibitors with a heavy concentration of Spanish and German galleries. The event capitalizes on Mallorca's status as a premier second-home destination for wealthy Europeans, particularly Germans, and benefits from significant local government backing of €500,000. Early sales reports indicate strong performance in the lower and mid-market price brackets, with artists like Neo Rauch and Brian Eno finding quick buyers, though seven-figure works by Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz moved more slowly.

The Venice Biennale’s Polite Fiction of Being ‘Above the Market’ Is Wearing Thin

The 61st Venice Biennale is underway, with art world figures flocking to Venice for the opening. While the Biennale is officially a non-selling curatorial platform, commercial interests are increasingly visible: galleries are funding artists' projects to recoup investments, auction houses like Christie's are hosting private selling exhibitions (including a 'Ghost Pavilion' at the Ca' Dario Palazzo), and fashion houses such as Bottega Veneta and Chanel are sponsoring events. Sotheby's has pulled support for the U.S. Pavilion, which is now crowdfunding, while Frieze is bankrolling the British Pavilion for a second time.

The Defining Themes of Today’s Biennial Art

The article analyzes the defining themes and styles of the past four years in the international biennial circuit, based on a survey of 130 biennials. It identifies a core group of artists who appeared most frequently, including Ali Eyal, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Carolina Caycedo, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, among others. Many of these artists are also featured in the upcoming 61st Venice Biennale curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. The piece categorizes their work under two broad themes: "Post-Colonial Post-Conceptualism," which involves poetic engagement with colonial history and artifacts, and "Families and Networks," where artists explore personal and political family histories.

U.S. Crowdfunds Its Venice Biennale Pavilion

The United States is crowdfunding its pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, which opens in ten days, due to the absence of major sponsors like the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. The pavilion, featuring sculptures by Alma Allen, is being organized by the American Arts Conservancy (AAC), which is soliciting donations through a campaign that has been live since at least November. The U.S. government contributes $375,000, but the installation costs significantly exceed that amount. Donors include Nevada-based Republican donors Jim and Aimee Battista, talent manager Tom Ierna, and actor Alex Pita. The AAC has not disclosed the campaign's fundraising goal, amount raised, or end date.

Art Basel Curbs Pre-Fair Sales—and More Art Industry News

Art Basel has launched a "Basel Exclusive" initiative to curb pre-fair PDF sales, encouraging galleries to withhold works from previews to drive in-person discovery at its flagship Swiss event (June 16–21). Around 170 of 232 exhibitors have opted in. Meanwhile, Volta returns to Basel with a new "5,000 Edit" section for works under CHF 5,000 to attract younger collectors, and the alternative fair Esther will hold its third edition in New York during Frieze Week. In other news, Sotheby's set a U.S. record for design auctions with the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection totaling $96 million, and billionaire collector Mitchell P. Rales pledged $116 million to the National Gallery of Art to fund loans to smaller museums. The Smithsonian American Art Museum named Lynda Roscoe Hartigan as its new director, and Gladstone Gallery plans a new Seoul space for 2026.

The Philosopher Who Predicted Our Post-Literate Art Moment

Art critic Martha Schwendener has released a new book titled 'The Society of the Screen: Vilém Flusser’s Radical Prescience,' exploring the prophetic theories of the late philosopher Vilém Flusser. Flusser, a Prague-born thinker who lived in Brazil and Europe, argued in the 1980s that society was transitioning from a text-based culture to one dominated by 'technical images,' a shift he believed would fundamentally alter human consciousness and the function of the 'apparatus' in daily life.

5 Highlights of Art Düsseldorf

5 Highlights der Art Düsseldorf

The Art Düsseldorf contemporary art fair has opened its latest edition, showcasing a diverse range of works that balance humor with urgent political and global themes. Highlights from the fair include Christian Jankowski’s monumental sculptures based on children's clay models at Galerie Crone, Julian Charrière’s environmentally conscious installations at Dittrich & Schlechtriem, and Jody Korbach’s satirical paintings that reference German art history and pub culture at Petra Martinez.

Georg Baselitz, artist who turned painting upside down, 1938–2026

Georg Baselitz, the German painter, sculptor, and printmaker known for turning his canvases upside down, has died at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in Saxony in 1938, he witnessed the bombing of Dresden as a child, an experience that shaped his artistic vision. Expelled from art school in East Berlin, he moved to West Berlin and adopted the name Baselitz. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was deemed obscene and confiscated. In 1969, he created his first upside-down painting, which became his signature. He rose to international prominence as a neo-expressionist in the late 1970s and 80s, represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1980, and continued working until his death. A recent series of his paintings will be shown at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice from May to September 2026.

Siteless Athens Arts Institution NEON Closing After 14 Years

The Athens-based cultural institution NEON, founded by prominent art collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos in 2012, is closing after 14 years. Operating without a permanent building, NEON organized 44 exhibitions across unconventional spaces, including ancient archaeological sites, commissioning works by artists such as Marina Abramović, Anastasia Douka, and Danh Vo. Its final project is a trilogy by artist Michael Rakowitz titled "Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures," which began at the Old Acropolis Museum and will conclude later this year.

Georg Baselitz, Lion of German Neo-Expressionism, Dead at 88

Georg Baselitz, the influential German Neo-Expressionist painter, printmaker, and sculptor, died on April 30 at age 88. His death was announced by Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, his longtime representative. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Saxony, Baselitz was profoundly shaped by his childhood experience of war and the destruction of Nazi Germany. He was expelled from art school in East Berlin for "socio-political immaturity," moved to West Berlin, and adopted his pseudonym from his hometown. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was raided by police for obscenity, cementing his reputation as a provocateur. Known for his upside-down figures and fierce brushwork, he created series such as "Heroes" and "Fracture" that addressed trauma, violence, and the psychic toll of postwar life.

Barry X Ball’s Wild Sculptures Are Perfectly at Home at Venice’s Grand Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore

New York-based artist Barry X Ball's exhibition "The Shape of Time" has opened at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, featuring 23 sculptures centered on the elaborate silver and gold piece *Pope Saint John Paul II* (2012–24). The show, organized by curator Bob Nickas, includes many works shown publicly for the first time, such as *Pietà* (2011–22) inspired by Michelangelo and *Saint Bartholomew Flayed* (2011–20). The sculpture of John Paul II, cast in collaboration with Italian jewelry house Damiani, contains hidden references to the pope's life, including his nemeses Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin, as well as a bullet from the 1981 assassination attempt.

Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Misconduct at Palm Springs Art Museum, Where an Ex-Trustee Describes a ‘Shattered Moral Compass’

An anonymous whistleblower has filed a complaint alleging misconduct by leadership at the Palm Springs Art Museum, including improper movement of funds between accounts to address cash shortages, the forced resignation of a former director based on fabricated staff complaints, and a failure to properly interview external candidates for the director position. The complaint, forwarded to ARTnews, also references a $3 million discrepancy in the reported endowment value and the departure of several trustees, leaving the board below its required size. The museum has formed a special committee to investigate the allegations, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times in November 2025.

Pittsburgh’s burgeoning gallery community readies for its moment in art world spotlight

Pittsburgh's commercial gallery scene is experiencing a resurgence as the Carnegie International, the country's longest-running recurring exhibition, prepares to open its largest edition yet with 61 artists. Since the pandemic, several young gallerists with experience in New York and Los Angeles have opened spaces in the city, including Romance gallery (2023) by former Whitney curator Margaret Kross, and april april gallery (2024) relocated from Brooklyn by Patrick Bova and Lucas Regazzi. Longer-established galleries like Concept, Zynka, and James Gallery have welcomed these newcomers, with local figures such as collector Evan Mirapaul noting that Pittsburgh's robust arts ecosystem—including museums, universities, and nonprofits—has long lacked a strong commercial gallery presence.

Lalanne mirrors owned by Yves Saint Laurent and a classic Diane Arbus photo: our pick of the April auctions

Major auction houses are preparing for a series of high-profile sales in April, headlined by a suite of fifteen gilt-bronze mirrors by Claude Lalanne. Originally commissioned for the Paris apartment of fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, the mirrors are expected to fetch between $10m and $15m at Sotheby’s. Other notable lots include a rare Diane Arbus photograph from the collection of Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner, a pastoral landscape by Russian artist Konstantin Somov, and a centuries-old drawing based on Albrecht Dürer’s famous rhinoceros woodcut.

They Painted the American West. History Painted Them Out

The exhibition "Women Artists of the American West: Colorado and Utah: 1885–1935" at History Jackson Hole spotlights seven forgotten female artists, including the adventurous mountaineer and painter Helen Henderson Chain. Curated by the founders of the Paris-based nonprofit AWARE, the show uncovers the lives of women who documented the Rocky Mountains and local communities while navigating the restrictive social norms of the late 19th century. Through paintings and photographs, the exhibition challenges the traditional, male-dominated "heroic" narrative of Western expansion.

German artist Georg Baselitz dies aged 88

German artist Georg Baselitz has died at age 88, as confirmed by the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Known for his expressive paintings and sculptures, Baselitz rose to prominence in the 1960s after a scandal over sexually symbolic works led to a high-profile court case. He pioneered painting canvases upside down from 1969 onward, a technique he used to grapple with German history and collective guilt. His work spanned six decades and included notable sculptures, such as a wooden figure at the 1980 Venice Biennale that appeared to perform a Nazi salute, which he later clarified was inspired by an African artifact. Baselitz achieved international acclaim in the 1980s and became one of Germany's highest-priced living artists, alongside Gerhard Richter.

Archibald prize 2026: Jacob Collins portrait wins the Packing Room prize as finalists revealed

The Packing Room prize for the 2026 Archibald Prize has been awarded to Sean Layh for his portrait of actor Jacob Collins, titled 'The tragicall historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke'. The prize, worth $3,000, is chosen by Art Gallery of NSW staff who unpack and hang the exhibition. Layh, a self-taught Melbourne-based painter, drew inspiration from Collins' performance as Hamlet in a 2024 Melbourne Shakespeare Company production. The Archibald Prize main announcement, along with the Wynne and Sulman prizes, will take place on 8 May, with finalists including portraits of Bondi shooting hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, journalists Virginia Trioli and Jan Fran, surfer Layne Beachley, and artist Khaled Sabsabi.