A $35 M. Warhol, a $45 M. Basquiat, and More: Who’s Selling The Top Works in the May Sales?

The article reports on the upcoming May marquee sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, detailing high-value consignments from major collections. Christie’s will offer works from the estates of S. I. Newhouse (including a Brâncuși sculpture and a Jackson Pollock painting, each estimated at $100 million), former MoMA board president Agnes Gund (a Rothko estimated at $80 million), and the late dealer Marian Goodman (a Gerhard Richter estimated at $50 million). Sotheby’s counters with a Rothko from the collection of the late Robert Mnuchin (estimated at $100 million) and works from David and Shoshanna Wingate, including a Giacometti sculpture. The article also reveals previously unnamed consignors for top lots, such as collector John Sayegh-Belchatowski for a $45 million Basquiat and the Moore family for an Elizabeth Peyton painting.

A $15M De Kooning Leads Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s New Auction-Style Sales Experiment

Lévy Gorvy Dayan is launching LGD Hammer, a new live-bidding platform that blends private sales with auction dynamics. The inaugural sale on May 16 will feature a 1984 Willem de Kooning painting estimated at $10–15 million, led by co-founder Brett Gorvy, a former auction veteran. The article also reports on gallery closures (Stephen Friedman Gallery, Galerie Philipp Zollinger, Astor Gallery), artist moves (Zoe Leonard to Maxwell Graham, Kehinde Wiley among creditors), and Sotheby’s upcoming single-owner sale of Joe Lewis’s collection expected to exceed $200 million.

Lost ‘cloud’ of artist who wrapped the Reichstag to be created in UK gallery

Six years after Christo's death, Gagosian London will realize a monumental installation he designed in 1968 titled "Air Package on a Ceiling," originally conceived for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia but never built due to technical constraints. The plans and a detailed scale model were discovered by studio manager Lorenza Giovanelli in 2018, hidden inside a hollow plinth in Christo's studio. The work, a vast internally illuminated suspended form resembling a cloud, will fill a 16-meter-long, 10-meter-wide space at Gagosian London, descending just above head height, in collaboration with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation.

Artist Mel Kendrick Is Mining New Possibilities From Wood and Color

American artist Mel Kendrick, who began his career in the early 1970s integrating Minimalism and architecture, presents his ninth solo exhibition at David Nolan Gallery in New York. Titled “Mel Kendrick: Tilt,” the show runs through June 6, 2026, and features new and recent wood sculptures alongside older works, including pieces like *Walnut Shelf* (2026), *Gemstone* (2026), and *Yellow Drum* (2025). Kendrick works without pre-planning, allowing the material to guide his process, and treats color as a material with its own weight, inspired by Gothic and medieval architecture.

Andy Warhol | Cow II.11A (1971) | For Sale

Andy Warhol's screenprint "Cow II.11A" (1971) is being offered for sale by Composition.Gallery, priced at $15,200. The work is a color screenprint on wallpaper, printed by Bill Miller's Wallpaper Studio, Inc., New York, and published by Factory Additions, New York, for a Warhol exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art from May 1 to June 13, 1971. It is part of a limited edition of 100, stamped by the artist's estate, and includes a certificate of authenticity.

Who’s Showing What—and What They Love—at Market Art Fair

Market Art Fair in Stockholm celebrated its 20th edition, the largest to date with 150 exhibitors, after moving from Liljevalch’s to Magasin 9, a former warehouse at the city’s port. The fair, founded in 2006 as a joint Nordic initiative, expanded its scope in 2025 to include international presentations. During the preview day, Malin Ebbing captured exhibiting artists, gallerists, and notables with her Polaroid, asking about their work and favorite booths. Artists such as Arvida Byström, Hans Berg, Sigrid Soomus, and Gabriel Karlsson discussed their artistic expressions and discoveries at the fair, with many gallerists reporting significant sales.

If you show up in a swimsuit, you get free entry to the Cézanne exhibition. It happens in one of Switzerland's most serious institutions.

Se ti presenti in costume da bagno entri gratis alla mostra di Cézanne. Succede in una delle istituzioni più serie della Svizzera

The Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, is hosting a major monographic exhibition dedicated to Paul Cézanne, running until May 25, 2026. Curated by Ulf Küster, the show brings together around 80 works focusing on the artist's late career, including portraits, landscapes, variations on Mont Sainte-Victoire, and bather scenes. On May 1, 2026, the museum held a "Bathers Day" promotion inspired by Cézanne's bathers and Maurizio Cattelan's playful approach, offering free entry to visitors who came in swimwear. The event attracted families and individuals, with some even swimming in the foundation's garden pond afterward.

New Met Gala fashion exhibit seeks to ‘reclaim’ body types that art history has ignored

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will launch a new fashion exhibition titled "Costume Art" at the 2026 Met Gala, curated by Andrew Bolton. The show features 400 items across sections exploring body types historically marginalized in art, including the corpulent, disabled, pregnant, and aging body. It debuts in the newly renovated Conde M. Nast galleries on the museum's main floor, with custom mannequins modeled on real individuals such as Sinéad Burke, Aariana Rose Philip, and Goddess Bunny. The exhibition pairs fashion garments with art objects to argue that fashion is art, and will be open to the public from May 10 for eight months.

La galerie contemporaine de la cathédrale d’Angers plaît

The article reports that the contemporary art gallery at the Cathedral of Angers has been well received. It highlights the cathedral's new exhibition space dedicated to contemporary works, marking a notable integration of modern art within a historic religious site.

Biennale di Venezia 2026. Le grandi mostre da non perdere in città

The article previews major exhibitions in Venice during the 2026 Biennale, highlighting a rich lineup of shows across the city's museums and foundations. Key highlights include a retrospective for Marina Abramović at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, a Peggy Guggenheim exhibition at her former home, and dual shows at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana featuring artists like Michael Armitage, Amar Kanwar, Lorna Simpson, and Paulo Nazareth. Other notable venues include Fondazione Prada, Ca' Pesaro, and the Museo Correr, with artists ranging from Joseph Kosuth to Jenny Saville.

Fiona Pardington’s portraits of the lost birds of Aotearoa New Zealand – in pictures

Fiona Pardington has created a new series of human-scale photographic portraits of native New Zealand birds, many of which are extinct or endangered, using taxidermy specimens from regional museums. The series, titled "Taharaki Skyside," will be exhibited at the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Pardington, who has Māori and Scottish ancestry, incorporates the birds' eyes with superimposed historical landscapes to evoke their lost habitats and spiritual significance as intermediaries between human and divine worlds in Māori culture.

Mystery sitter in Holbein portrait could be Anne Boleyn, AI analysis finds

Researchers using AI have analyzed two Renaissance sketches by Hans Holbein from the Royal Collection, known as the Windsor sketch and the Unidentified Woman. The AI model, developed by Professor Hassan Ugail at the University of Bradford, compared the entire Holbein corpus and found that the Unidentified Woman may actually be Anne Boleyn, while the Windsor sketch—long thought to depict Boleyn—may instead show her mother, Elizabeth Howard. The study suggests the works were incorrectly inscribed in the 1700s, leading to centuries of misidentification.

Eat Frida food off a Frida plate: Kahlo kitsch raises eye...

A major Tate Modern exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo and her circle opens next month in London, accompanied by a wave of commercial spin-offs including a Kahlo-inspired menu, dinner plates, a Netflix documentary, a clothing line, and an opera premiering in New York. The show, titled "Frida: The Making of an Icon," will also display over 200 souvenir objects and knick-knacks, examining Kahlo's transformation into a global brand. A new whodunnit novel by Oscar de Muriel reimagines Kahlo as a detective, and a culinary collaboration with Mexican chef Santiago Lastra will run at the Tate Modern restaurant.

Meet the Mona Lisa! A free new immersive exhibition opens at Hong Kong Heritage Museum

A free immersive digital exhibition titled 'Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance' opens on May 1 at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, running through July 27. Created in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre and the Grand Palais Immersif, the show is split into two sections: a multimedia journey guided by a narrated Mona Lisa across six chapters, including an interactive photo booth, and a second section featuring over 100 Renaissance treasures from European institutions. Highlights include four original manuscripts of the human body and faces by Leonardo da Vinci, shown for the first time in Hong Kong, alongside loans from the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Musée national de la Renaissance, works by mainland artist Xu Lei, and items from the museum's own collection.

Ruminations on Rashid Johnson’s “A Poem for Deep Thinkers”

The article is a reflective review of Rashid Johnson's exhibition "A Poem for Deep Thinkers" at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The author describes standing before Johnson's work "Falling Man" (2016), a piece incorporating broken mirrors, burned wood, and personal objects like a copy of Harry Haywood's "Black Bolshevik" and shea butter, which prompts meditations on visibility, identity, and Frantz Fanon's "Black Skin, White Masks." The review also examines Johnson's large-scale installation "Antoine's Organ" (2016/2026), which fills a gallery typically reserved for Ellsworth Kelly's minimalist canvases, transforming the space with scaffolding, plants, books, and video monitors.

Inside the New Madison Avenue Flagship of the Powerhouse Gagosian Gallery

Larry Gagosian has opened a new flagship gallery at 974 Madison Avenue (preferring the address 980 Madison at 76th Street) after Bloomberg Philanthropies took over the building's upper floors, which had housed Gagosian's New York flagship since the late 1980s. The megadealer relocated to the street level, creating a 12,000-square-foot complex with exhibition spaces, offices, meeting rooms, and private viewing areas designed by Jonathan Caplan of Caplan Colaku Architects. The gallery launched with a double-header presentation of works by Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg, and features ceilings just over 12 feet high, adaptable walls, and a vestibule display of art books.

The Broad: Yoko Ono Exhibition Draws Spring Crowds in 2026

As of March 2026, The Broad in Los Angeles is hosting Yoko Ono's first major solo museum show in Southern California, titled 'Music of the Mind.' The exhibition traces Ono's career from her 1950s Fluxus experiments to large-scale conceptual works, featuring interactive installations such as 'Wish Trees for Los Angeles' on the museum's East West Bank Plaza. The show opened on March 5, 2026, and has drawn record crowds to the free museum, which offers timed tickets for entry. The article also highlights other permanent attractions at The Broad, including Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room and galleries dedicated to Cy Twombly and Jeff Koons.

In Warsaw, the Poster Museum reopens and it is the oldest in the world

A Varsavia riapre il Museo del Manifesto ed è il più antico del mondo

The Poster Museum in Wilanów, a suburb of Warsaw, has reopened after a major conservation restoration co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Founded in 1968 as an autonomous institution from the National Museum in Warsaw, it is the oldest museum of its kind in the world. Its collection now holds approximately 63,000 posters from Poland and abroad, dating from the late 19th century to the present, including works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Stasys Eidrigevičius. The reopening exhibition, "Polish Posters: The Collection," features 240 works spanning 130 years of Polish urban life, covering themes from politics and propaganda to cinema, theater, music, and fashion. The museum also hosts the International Poster Biennale, founded in 1966, with the next edition scheduled for 2027.

Beyond Body-Con: In the the Met’s Spectacular New Exhibition, “Costume Art,” the Human Form Connects Fashion and Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new fashion exhibition titled "Costume Art" in its newly established Condé M. Nast Galleries. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show features faceless mannequin heads by sculptor Samar Hejazi that reflect visitors' own images, encouraging self-reflection and empathy. The exhibition is structured around a typology of bodies, using mannequins of diverse body types modeled after named individuals to challenge traditional beauty standards. It explores the connection between fashion and the human form, positioning the dressed body as a unifying thread across the museum's collections.

Asian Heritage Month 2026 at the Vancouver Art Gallery

The Vancouver Art Gallery is hosting a month-long program of talks, tours, and workshops for Asian Heritage Month 2026, celebrating Asian art and ideas. Highlights include weekly Lunchtime Look tours led by Senior Curator Diana Freundl and a Mandarin-language tour by Lynn Chen, a panel discussion titled "Modernity in Translation: Art, Architecture and Poetry in Iran" moderated by curator Pantea Haghighi with architect Hossein Amanat and Dr. Jeff Derksen, and a hands-on collage workshop by artist Vanessa Lam. The program also previews the gallery's upcoming landmark exhibition "Modern Iran and the Avant-Gardes, 1948–78," opening December 11, 2026, which will be the largest presentation of Iranian modernism ever mounted in Canada, featuring over 30 artists and approximately 100 works.

The Parrish Art Museum Held Annual Spring Fling Benefit Honoring Bobbie Braun

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill held its annual Spring Fling benefit on April 25, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Access Parrish, an initiative that makes art accessible to visitors of all needs and abilities. The event featured art, dance, music, and food, and honored Bobbie Braun of The Neuwirth Foundation as the museum's inaugural Civic and Community Leader Honoree for her unwavering commitment to the program since its inception in 2016.

What Is the 2026 Met Gala Exhibit “Costume Art” All About?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will unveil its 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” on May 4, 2026, coinciding with the Met Gala. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show explores the relationship between fashion and the human body, juxtaposing garments like Rei Kawakubo's bulbous Comme des Garçons ensemble with artworks such as Hans Bellmer's “La Poupée” and Albrecht Dürer's “Adam and Eve.” Mannequins cast from real bodies and mirrored heads by artist Samar Hejazi will enhance the immersive experience. The exhibition runs from May 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries.

Al Padiglione del Giappone della Biennale di Venezia vi affidano una bambola da accudire

The Japan Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2026 features an immersive, interactive exhibition titled "Grass Babies, Moon Babies" by Japanese-American artist Ei Arakawa-Nash. Visitors are invited to care for one of 200 dolls, each with a QR code that provides a "diaper poem" linked to the doll's symbolic birth date—reflecting the artist's personal experience of becoming a father in 2024 and broader social dynamics in Japan. The pavilion, curated by Lisa Horikawa and Mizuki Takahashi, evolves over the seven months of the Biennale as a platform for shared care and participation.

New group exhibition at Art of Contemporary Africa SF

Art of Contemporary Africa (AOCA), the first Pan-African contemporary gallery in San Francisco, will open a major group exhibition titled *Memory in Motion: Identities, Materials and Resonances* on 2 May 2026. Curated by Gilles Yoro (Felin Light), the show brings together contemporary African artists including Gerald Chukwuma, Mederic Turay, Mwass Githinji, Ayanda Mabulu, Opa Bathily, Kebe Ibrahim Bemba, Ndabuko Ntuli, Kenof Franck Kemkeng Noah, Ange Arthur Koua, Alexis Daniel Onguene Tassi, and Dieudonne Djiela Kamgang. Their works in painting, sculpture, assemblage, and mixed media explore memory as an active, evolving force shaping identity across time, geography, and materiality.

Beyond the Sagrada Família: These 6 Surprising Places in Barcelona Reveal a Lesser-Known Gaudí

Au-delà de la Sagrada Família, ces 6 lieux étonnants à Barcelone qui révèlent un Gaudí méconnu

Beaux Arts Magazine highlights six lesser-known architectural works by Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, beyond his famous Sagrada Família. The article features Casa Vicens (1883–1885), his first private commission; Torre Bellesguard (1900–1909), a medieval-inspired tower with panoramic views; Casa Calvet (1897), a residential building with textile-themed details; and the Finca Güell and Palau Güell, experimental projects for his patron Eusebi Güell. These sites showcase Gaudí's organic style, fusion of nature and architecture, and influences from Japanese, Arabic, and Catalan Gothic traditions, with several recently opened to the public.

The Future Will Be Neither Good Nor Bad, But Strange

"Die Zukunft wird nicht gut oder schlecht, sondern seltsam"

Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, has brought his "Regular Animals" series to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The works feature digital creatures that blend pop-culture figures like Mark Zuckerberg with art-historical references such as Picasso, continuing Beeple's signature style of satirical, software-generated imagery. The exhibition marks a significant institutional debut for the artist, who rose to fame by selling the most expensive NFT ever and posting daily digital art online.

Video: The secrets of the unicorn, a legendary creature at the heart of an exhibition at the Musée de Cluny

Vidéo : Les secrets de la licorne, créature légendaire au cœur d’une exposition au musée de Cluny

The Musée de Cluny in Paris is presenting an exhibition titled "Licornes!" from March 13 to July 12, 2026, exploring the history and symbolism of the unicorn from antiquity to the present day. Curated by Béatrice de Chancel-Bardelot, the show traces the creature's evolving depiction in literature, illuminated manuscripts, frescoes, tapestries, and contemporary art, highlighting its shifting meanings from a wild, aggressive beast to a symbol of purity, virtue, and, more recently, LGBTQIA+ pride and feminine power.

In Stockholm, the Tech scene supports art

Stockholm's art fair, featuring 54 galleries and around 150 artists, offers a democratic layout with no sections, placing established and emerging galleries side by side. Prices range from €300 to €300,000, with most works under €50,000. Notable presentations include Olafur Eliasson's new works at i8 gallery, Benjamin Orlow's sculpture destined for the Venice Biennale's Nordic Pavilion, and emerging galleries like Coulisse Gallery showing Jonatan Pihlgren. The fair reflects a strong local collector base, though some galleries note a recent market contraction.

Art Gallery Shows in Bangkok to Check Out in May

A roundup of art gallery exhibitions in Bangkok for May 2026 highlights four shows: 'The Fourth Decade of the Bualuang Paintings' at The Queen's Gallery, featuring 141 works by 52 Thai artists from the Bualuang painting contests; 'New Beginning' at ART Space by MOCA Four Seasons, a group show with artists from Japan and Thailand exploring renewal; 'Museum of Monsters' at River City Bangkok, a solo exhibition by artist FAHFAHS (Napath Kuntaruck) confronting hidden memories; and 'Beneath the Horizon Line' at Art Jewel Gallery, Siam.

New Joyful Noise exhibition coming to Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral will host a new art exhibition titled 'Joyful Noise' from May 16 to October 25, featuring works by international artists including Denzil Forrester, Christine Sun Kim, Yuri Suzuki, Sokari Douglas Camp, Phyllida Barlow, Caroline Walker, Tim Etchells, and Emeka Ogboh. The exhibition reimagines the biblical call to 'make a joyful noise unto the Lord' and spans painting, sculpture, video, text, and sound, with installations both inside and outside the cathedral. Highlights include Tim Etchells' neon piece 'Songs (2026)' in the North Porch, Phyllida Barlow's six-metre-high sculpture 'untitled: megaphone (2014)' on Choristers' Green, and Emeka Ogboh's outdoor choral sound installation 'Abide with me (2026)' featuring the Salisbury Cathedral Choir. Entry is included with cathedral admission and free for local residents in SP1 to SP5 postcode areas.