Gagosian Opens a New Ground-Floor Flagship at 980 Madison Avenue with Duchamp-Rauschenberg Double Header

Gagosian is opening a new ground-floor flagship gallery at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, moving from its former upper-floor space in the same building. Designed by Caplan Colaku Architects, the 12,000-square-foot, two-level space consolidates three storefronts into a continuous layout with restrained materials like Portland Taupe stone and brushed stainless steel. The inaugural exhibition pairs a major Marcel Duchamp show with six early works by Robert Rauschenberg on loan from the Cy Twombly Foundation, coinciding with a Duchamp retrospective at MoMA and referencing a 1965 Duchamp exhibition held in the same building.

East Africa meets Western Europe as Michael Armitage takes on Venice's Palazzo Grassi

The artist Michael Armitage opens a monographic exhibition titled 'The Promise of Change' at Venice's Palazzo Grassi, featuring 46 large paintings and nearly 100 sketches that survey his past decade of work. At 42, Armitage is the youngest artist to receive a solo show at the palazzo, which is owned by François Pinault and has previously hosted Albert Oehlen, Luc Tuymans, and Marlene Dumas. The exhibition highlights Armitage's fusion of East African and Western European artistic influences, drawing on his upbringing in Kenya and his training at London's Byam Shaw School of Art, the Slade, and the Royal Academy.

Inside Gagosian’s Quiet Power Move to Street Level on Madison Avenue

Gagosian has opened a new 2,275-square-foot ground-floor gallery at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, relocating from its longtime sixth-floor space after 37 years. The move was prompted by Bloomberg Philanthropies' acquisition of the building in 2024, which displaced several fine art tenants. The inaugural exhibition features works by Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg, and the space was designed by architect Jonathan Caplan with advanced lighting by Dot Dash.

Anna Zemánková Estate Joins Gladstone Gallery, Sándra Vasquez de la Horra Joins Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, and More: Industry Moves for April 29, 2026

The article reports a series of industry moves in the art world as of April 29, 2026. Key developments include Gladstone Gallery taking on the estate of Anna Zemánková, Sándra Vasquez de la Horra joining Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Elijah Wheat Showroom opening a new location in Beacon, New York, and Mariane Ibrahim now representing Leasho Johnson. Additionally, Denniston Hill launches its 2026 residency season with 30 artists, the Minneapolis Institute of Art receives restoration funding from TEFAF, Charlie White is appointed dean of the Sam Fox School, and Jesús Hilario-Reyes and Tichacoco are named inaugural recipients of the Clemente Center’s Van Lier Fellowship. The article also notes a whistleblower claim of $3 million missing from the Palm Springs Art Museum’s investment account, and a New York Times essay by Robin Givhan on Derrick Adams.

A Smaller Art Brussels Represents a Shift in the Fair Ecosystem Toward a ‘Quality-First’ Approach

Art Brussels, now in its 42nd edition (April 23–26), has downsized from 164 to 138 participating galleries, a 15% reduction that allows the fair to fit entirely within one hall of Brussels Expo. Director Nele Verhaeren openly acknowledged the shift, framing it as a deliberate move toward a 'quality-first' approach that prioritizes visitor experience over sheer scale. The fair introduces a new section called Horizons, curated by Devrim Bayar of the upcoming Kanal-Pompidou museum, featuring seven large-scale works in the freed-up space. Dealers like Xavier Hufkens and Nadja Vilenne support the strategy, noting that galleries must now carefully choose which fairs to attend amid rising costs and geopolitical tensions.

Venice Biennale 2026: all the national pavilions, artists and curators so far

The 61st edition of the Venice Biennale, the world's oldest and most prestigious art biennial, will open on 9 May 2026 and run through 22 November. The main exhibition follows the curatorial plan of the late Koyo Kouoh, while national pavilions have been announcing their participating artists and organizers. The article provides a comprehensive list of confirmed pavilions so far, including artists such as Genti Korini (Albania), Matías Duville (Argentina), Khaled Sabsabi (Australia), Florentina Holzinger (Austria), Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijan), and many others, with details on venues and organizers.

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.

From Mother Mary to Foo Fighters: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

This article is a weekly entertainment guide from The Guardian, covering cinema, gigs, art, stage, streaming, games, albums, and brain food. In the art section, it highlights two exhibitions: "Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today" at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, featuring artists like Henri Rousseau and Lubaina Himid; and a show of South African photographer George Hallett's work at the John Lennon School of Art and Design in Liverpool, documenting black resistance in 1970s Britain. It also mentions an open house for Lonnie Holley's new works at Edel Assanti gallery in London.

The Box Shutters in Los Angeles After Nearly Two Decades

The Box, a pioneering Los Angeles gallery known for its nonprofit-style support of experimental and performance art, has announced its closure after nearly two decades. Founded in 2007 by Mara McCarthy, the gallery’s final exhibition featured late California painter Wally Hedrick, and a closing event will include a fashion show by Johanna Went. Mara McCarthy cited the shifting market for her father Paul McCarthy’s work and the loss of family homes in the Eaton Fire as factors behind the decision.

David Hockney décroche la lune dans une lumineuse exposition gratuite à Paris

David Hockney presents "The Moon Room," a series of fifteen iPad drawings of full moons created during the 2020 lockdown, at Galerie Lelong in Paris until May 7, 2026. The exhibition, free and open to the public, features nocturnal landscapes Hockney painted from his farm in Normandy, inspired by Maupassant's "Clair de lune" and his own nightly observations. The works were first shown at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen in 2024 and later at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

The curator awakens: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art reveals inaugural exhibition lineup

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, will open in Los Angeles on 22 September with 18 inaugural exhibitions featuring over 1,200 objects. Curated by Lucas himself, the shows span media like photography, architecture, and cinema, as well as genres such as manga, anime, comics, and children's stories. Six solo exhibitions will highlight American artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Frazetta, and Norman Rockwell. The museum's collection now exceeds 40,000 works, including the Separate Cinema Archive and Lucas Archives of film memorabilia.

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.

America’s Finest Renaissance Tapestry Set for Major Restoration

The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has awarded its €25,000 Museum Restoration Fund to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) for the conservation of *The Meeting of Dante and Virgil*, a mid-16th century Italian Renaissance tapestry. This is the first time TEFAF has funded a tapestry restoration since the initiative began in 2012. The wool and silk tapestry, made between 1547 and 1549 by the Florentine workshop of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and designed by Francesco Salviati, depicts the opening scene of Dante’s *The Divine Comedy*. It is the only early Medici tapestry held by a public collection outside Italy, standing 17 feet tall and eight feet wide. Due to structural weaknesses and light sensitivity, it has been largely in storage for 70 years. Conservation work by the Midwest Art Conservation Center will include wet cleaning, stabilization, and partial reweaving, along with a new display system. The tapestry is scheduled to return to public view at MIA on July 11.

New US exhibition explores power of monuments – with help from Rocky

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled "Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments," which uses the iconic Rocky Balboa statue as a focal point to explore the power and meaning of monuments across two millennia of boxing and celebrity culture. Curated by Paul Farber, co-founder of Monument Lab, the show features ancient sculptures, 19th-century works, images from boxing's golden age, and contemporary pieces by artists including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Glenn Ligon. The Rocky statue, placed on the museum's steps in 1982, attracts an estimated 4 million visitors annually, rivaling the Statue of Liberty.

Art Fair Report: Stress Test

Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 drew 91,500 visitors and featured 240 galleries at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, alongside over 100 galleries at Art Central, three new boutique fairs, four new art spaces, multiple auction previews, and dozens of institutional shows and gallery openings. Despite a challenging 2025 that saw mega-galleries Pace and Perrotin close their Hong Kong spaces and auction results hit an eight-year low, blue-chip galleries reported strong sales, including David Zwirner’s USD 3.8 million sale of Liu Ye’s "Snow White" (2006) and Hauser & Wirth’s USD 2.95 million sale of a Louise Bourgeois work. The prevailing sentiment among collectors and gallerists was cautious optimism, with the phrase "Are you surviving?" overheard frequently.

What Does Damien Hirst Have to Do With This Giant McDonald’s Ball Pit in Milan?

An installation called "POOL. Ti sblocco un ricordo" was on view during Milan Design Week, organized by Nicolas Ballario and presented as part of the Tortona Rocks offsite exhibitions. The centerpiece is a giant swimming pool-shaped pit filled with hundreds of thousands of colorful balls, celebrating McDonald's 40th anniversary in Italy. The installation claims to be "informed by" Damien Hirst's "Spot Paintings" and also features a work from Vedovamazzei's "Early Works" series, which imagines how famous artists might have drawn as children. Other elements include vitrines of Happy Meal toys, a Ronald McDonald replica, and nostalgic McDonald's memorabilia.

Tate Britain will Exhibit ‘90s Art and Fashion, and Other News.

Tate Britain will stage "The 90s: Art and Fashion" in autumn 2026, guest curated by Edward Enninful, featuring nearly 70 artists, designers, and photographers including Steve McQueen, Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen, and Vivienne Westwood. The exhibition explores how the decade reshaped British cultural identity through art, fashion, and social commentary, highlighting DIY anti-fashion aesthetics and themes of identity, race, class, and representation. Separately, Gagosian opened a new ground-floor flagship at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, replacing its longtime sixth-floor space after 37 years. A rare 17th-century Mughal astrolabe is heading to Sotheby's London with a £1.5–2.5 million estimate. Fondazione Sozzani launched an award for emerging creative talent. A Manhattan federal jury ordered art publisher Michael McKenzie to pay $102.2 million in damages to the Morgan Art Foundation for producing unauthorized works by Robert Indiana.

Emails Suggest Venice Biennale Organizers Planned for Limited Russian Participation, SF Appoints First Arts and Culture Director, and More: Morning Links for April 28, 2026

Emails between Venice Biennale organizers and the Russian Pavilion commissioner reveal plans for limited Russian participation: the pavilion would open during the vernissage (May 5–8) with live performances, then close to the public after May 9, with multimedia documentation viewable from outside. The messages, dating to June 2025, also show Biennale staff helping Russian artists obtain visas. Organizers insist they complied with European sanctions, which prohibit financial support or direct collaboration with state-backed Russian entities. Separately, San Francisco has appointed Matthew Goudeau as its first executive director of arts and culture, a new role overseeing three public art agencies amid local arts closures.

Gallery Weekend Berlin opens ranks as city faces identity crisis

Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB) expands from 50 to 57 participating galleries in 2025, introducing a new section called Perspectives that features smaller, younger galleries previously excluded from the event. The 20-year-old event, which began with 21 dealers aiming to attract international collectors to Berlin, has grown into a major sales week for galleries. Perspectives includes galleries like Anton Janizewski and Persons Projects, with a reduced participation fee of €4,500 (half the usual €9,000), subsidized by the Berlin Senate. The selection committee invites galleries rather than accepting applications, a process that has faced accusations of elitism.

The Artists Who Ruled the Biennial Circuit Over the Last Four Years

Artnet News critic Ben Davis analyzed 130 recurring global art events—including biennials and triennials—that opened between the 2022 and 2026 Venice Biennales, tallying over 15,000 participating artists. He identified the most frequently featured artists, with Nolan Oswald Dennis topping the list at 14 biennial appearances. Dennis, a South Africa-based artist born in Lusaka, is known for works like "Black Liberation Zodiac" (2017-ongoing) and was included in the 2026 Venice Biennale curated by the late Koyo Kouoh.

Art Events May You Cannot Miss in London

An Artlyst guide highlights several major art exhibitions opening in London in May 2026. Key shows include 'Zurbarán' at the National Gallery (the UK's first major monographic exhibition of the Spanish master in over 30 years), 'Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific' at the V&A (a collaboration with QAGOMA featuring 40 artists), a James McNeill Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain (the first major European show in 30 years), and 'Winston Churchill: The Painter' at the Wallace Collection. Photo London is also moving to Olympia this year.

Zurbarán in London, the Carnegie International, Walter Sickert’s Ennui—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast covers three major art events opening this weekend. The largest career survey of 17th-century Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán since the 1980s opens at the National Gallery in London, co-curated by Francesca Whitlum-Cooper. The 59th Carnegie International, titled "If the word we," opens at the Carnegie Museum of Art and other venues in Pittsburgh, directed by Eric Crosby. The Work of the Week is Walter Sickert's "Ennui" (c.1914), featured in the exhibition "Walter Sickert: Working Notes" at Charleston in Lewes, curated by Robert Travers of Piano Nobile in partnership with Charleston.

Refik Anadol’s AI Art Museum DATALAND Will Open in Los Angeles in June

Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç will open DATALAND, a museum dedicated to AI art, in Los Angeles on June 20, 2026. Located in the Grand LA complex designed by Frank Gehry, the 25,000-square-foot venue will feature five gallery spaces plus 10,000 square feet for supporting technology. Its inaugural exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," created by Refik Anadol Studio, uses AI trained on ecological datasets to generate sensory experiences, including a version of Anadol's Infinity Room with a 1987 recording of an extinct Hawaiian bird and AI-generated scents. Membership starts at $350 per year.

Which exhibitions and museums to visit in the evening this May in Paris?

Quels expos et musées voir en nocturne en ce mois de mai à Paris ?

Paris museums and galleries are extending their hours for evening visits in May, with many offering late-night openings on specific weekdays. The Palais de Tokyo is open until 10pm daily except Tuesday, the Musée du Luxembourg stays open until 10pm on Mondays, and the BnF Richelieu site is open until 8pm on Tuesdays. The Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, newly relocated near the Louvre, welcomes visitors until 10pm on Tuesdays, while the Jeu de Paume stays open until 9pm on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, the Musée du Louvre extends its hours until 9pm, alongside other museums. Current exhibitions include shows dedicated to Leonora Carrington, Martin Parr, and Nan Goldin, among others.

Whitney Biennial 2026: Care, Catastrophe, and Private Gestures

The Whitney Biennial 2026, the 82nd edition of the longest-running survey of American art, opened with a stripped-down, self-referential title and no subtitle, reflecting a moment of national self-questioning. The exhibition features 56 artists, duos, and collectives, with highlights including Agosto Machado's shrine sculptures dedicated to friends lost to AIDS, Emilie Louise Gossiaux's tender works about her guide dog London, and Michelle Lopez's apocalyptic video projection *Pandemonium*. Machado, a longtime downtown New York artist and caregiver, died shortly after the biennial opened, and his ashes are to be mixed with those of Marsha P. Johnson and spread in the Hudson River.

São Paulo Biennial Names Two Rising Brazilian Curators for 2027 Show

The Bienal de São Paulo has appointed Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca as chief curators for its 37th edition, opening in fall 2027. Both are Brazilian curators: Carneiro is a curator at MASP and previously assisted Adriano Pedrosa on the Venice Biennale's main exhibition; Fonseca, based in Lisbon, also curates the Taiwan Pavilion in Venice and works at Culturgest and the Denver Art Museum. The selection follows the success of Cameroonian curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung's 2023 edition.

Alexander Calder Thought 'It Would Be Fun' to Set Abstract Art in Motion. His Mesmerizing Mobiles Transformed the Definition of Sculpture

A major exhibition titled "Calder: Dreaming in Equilibrium" has opened at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, showcasing 300 works by Alexander Calder, including his pioneering mobiles, stabiles, paintings, drawings, and wire portraits. The show marks 100 years since the artist's arrival in France in 1926 and 50 years since his death in 1976. It features iconic pieces such as the 19-foot-long mobile *Triumphant Red* (1963) and his earliest known kinetic sculpture—a brass duck from 1909—alongside works by contemporaries like Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Klee, as well as photographs by Man Ray, Agnès Varda, and Gordon Parks.

Lucas Museum Reveals First Set of Exhibitions Curated by Founder George Lucas

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has announced its inaugural exhibitions, curated by founder George Lucas, ahead of its September opening. The initial hang will feature around 12,000 objects from the museum's collection of over 40,000, displayed across 30 galleries in the 300,000-square-foot building. Thematic galleries will highlight specific artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell, and N.C. Wyeth, as well as mediums like cinema, photography, muralism, and comics. Broader themes include "Everyday Life," "Narrative Forms," and "Western Stories."

Buffalo AKG Art Museum Director Janne Sirén to Depart After 13 Years

Janne Sirén, director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Upstate New York, will step down in October after 13 years. His tenure included a major $230 million expansion in 2023 that doubled the museum's square footage and drew a record 340,000 visitors in the following year. However, his departure follows local media reports that he used a museum loan to help finance his $710,000 home, with the Erie County Comptroller’s Office alleging he failed to repay it and that the loan may violate state nonprofit laws. The museum defended the loan as common in executive recruitment and stated it operates in full compliance with the law.

Tefaf restoration award goes to 500-year-old Medici tapestry

Tefaf has awarded its Museum Restoration Fund prize to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) for the restoration of a 500-year-old Medici tapestry, "The Meeting of Dante and Virgil" (circa 1547-49). The €25,000 grant will support cleaning, consolidation, and lining of the 5.3-meter-high work, which has not been displayed in over 60 years due to severe damage including silk weft loss and open slits. The conservation will be carried out by the Midwest Art Conservation Center, and the tapestry is expected to go on public view at MIA this summer.