The best and worst we saw at the Venice Art Biennale 2026. Artribune's hits and flops

Il meglio e il peggio che abbiamo visto alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026. Top e flop di Artribune

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and directed by Koyo Kouoh, opened amid significant turmoil: the death of a newly appointed curator, diplomatic tensions over the presence of Russia and Israel, political protests, and the unprecedented collective resignation of the jury, which led to the Golden Lions being awarded by public vote for the first time. Despite this chaotic backdrop, the exhibition—featuring a record 100 national pavilions—has been widely praised for avoiding moralistic pedagogy and instead embracing visual seduction, formal quality, and sensory joy while addressing themes of identity, memory, colonialism, ecological crisis, and violence. The article highlights top and flop moments from the opening week, including strong showings by Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and a standout exhibition at Fondazione Prada.

In Perugia, Giotto and the Giotteschi to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis

A Perugia Giotto e i Giotteschi per celebrare gli 800 anni dalla morte di San Francesco

The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia has opened the exhibition "Giotto e san Francesco. Una rivoluzione nell'Umbria del Trecento" to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. Curated by Veruska Picchiarelli and Emanuele Zappasodi, the show brings together major international loans to reunite works by Giotto and his Umbrian and Sienese followers, exploring the artistic revolution sparked by Francis's life and Giotto's break from Byzantine tradition toward naturalism.

What Can the New Dib Bangkok Do for Thai Art?

Dib Bangkok, a new contemporary art museum housed in a former steel warehouse, opened in December with its inaugural exhibition, (In)visible Presence. The show features 80 works by 40 artists from the collection of late founder Petch Osathanugrah, including pieces by James Turrell, Alicja Kwade, and Pinaree Santipak. Curated by director Miwako Tezuka, the exhibition emphasizes immersive, sensory experiences over passive observation, with works like Marco Fusinato's sound installation and Hugh Hayden's threshold piece. However, the museum's pan-global focus and sleek, tranquil setting initially distance visitors from the local Thai art scene.

New Exhibitions Unveiled At Expanded Art Gallery

Newcastle Art Gallery in Australia has unveiled the first three exhibitions from its 2026 program, marking the first changeover since its major expansion reopened in February. The shows include "Multiverse," a survey of Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson featuring over 30 new and rarely seen works, including his first immersive installation; a debut solo exhibition by Newcastle-based artist Tiyan Baker; and "The Mordant Family Gift," presenting 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM from artists including Ian Abdulla, María Fernanda Cardoso, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

Multi-Museum Exhibition Spotlights Legacy of Betsy James Wyeth

A major multi-museum exhibition titled *By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth* will open across three U.S. institutions in 2026, re-examining the life and legacy of Betsy James Wyeth. The collaborative project—organized by the Farnsworth Art Museum, Colby College Museum of Art, and Brandywine Museum of Art—is the first to fully explore her role as an innovative designer of immersive spaces and key creative collaborator to her husband, Andrew Wyeth. Each venue highlights a different aspect of her work: the Farnsworth focuses on her built environments in Maine; Colby examines Allen and Benner Islands with new commissions by contemporary artists; and Brandywine centers on Brinton’s Mill and the Wyeths’ creative partnership, drawing from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

Art and politics clash at Venice Biennale, as world conflicts upstage exhibition's opening

The 61st Venice Biennale, the world's most prestigious art exhibition, opens under unprecedented turmoil. For the first time, its vision was shaped by the late Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, who centered artists from Africa and its diaspora. However, political conflicts over Russia and Israel have overshadowed the art. All five jurors resigned after the Italian culture minister investigated their decision to withhold prizes from Russia and Israel over alleged crimes against humanity. Protests erupted at the Russian pavilion, with Pussy Riot activists denouncing Russia's participation, while the Israeli pavilion artist threatened legal action over the jury's snub. The Biennale will proceed without a jury, with visitors voting for two awards, and the fate of the Golden Lion remains uncertain.

In Prague, the long-term future of Alphonse Mucha’s ‘Slav Epic’ hangs in the balance

Alphonse Mucha’s monumental 20-painting series *Slav Epic*, completed in 1928, has never received the permanent exhibition space in Prague that the artist demanded when he donated the work to the city. For decades the series has been displayed in Moravský Krumlov, and its current loan there was recently extended to 2031. Plans to install the Epic in a vaulted underground space designed by Thomas Heatherwick as part of Crestyl’s Savarin development have stalled due to permitting delays, though Crestyl now expects construction to begin in 2025 and open in 2029. Meanwhile, legal disputes persist: John Mucha (the artist’s grandson) had threatened to revoke the city’s ownership, and another granddaughter, Jarmila Mucha Plocková, has challenged the proposed location as unworthy.

New Exhibition Explores the 60 Artists At the Forefront of Contemporary Fiber Art

The Golden Thread 2, a new exhibition organized by Karin Bravin and John Lee of BravinLee Programs, showcases the work of 60 contemporary fiber artists at an 18th-century mercantile building in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport neighborhood. Running until May 16, 2025, the show features a wide range of techniques including weaving, crochet, knitting, embroidery, tufting, and quilting, with pieces by artists such as Julia Bland, Lucia Engstrom, Mark Fleuridor, Sammy Bennet, Ali Dipp, Ana Maria Hernando, and Ellie Murphy. This second iteration is larger and longer than the first, which coincided with Frieze New York in 2024.

Free-speech groups celebrate return of Sally Mann photos seized from Fort Worth museum

Free-speech groups announced that four photographs by Sally Mann, seized by Fort Worth Police from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in January 2025, have been returned. The police removed the images following allegations that they constituted child pornography, but a Tarrant County Grand Jury found no grounds for further action. The photos were part of the exhibition *Diaries of Home*, which featured work by women and nonbinary artists. The seizure drew widespread criticism from organizations including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship, who called it an abuse of government power and a violation of the First Amendment.

Dealer Yves Bouvier to stand trial in Paris over missing Picassos

Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier has been ordered to stand trial in a Paris criminal court over the alleged disappearance of dozens of works by Pablo Picasso from a storage unit. The unit was rented by Picasso's stepdaughter, Catherine Hutin, from Bouvier's company. Bouvier faces charges of concealing stolen goods and laundering, while his business partner, Olivier Thomas, is charged with breach of trust, embezzlement, and laundering. The investigation, triggered by Hutin's 2015 complaint, found that nearly 70 works went missing, with some, including two portraits and 60 drawings, later discovered to have been sold by Bouvier to Russian collector Dmitri Rybolovlev for €36 million.

Can You Climb a Ladder? A Conversation with Yvonne Garcia

Yvonne Garcia, owner and director of Houston's oldest operating gallery, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, discusses her journey from aspiring actor to gallery leader in a new interview. She details her initial career in acting and talent representation, her return to the art world through roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Sicardi Gallery, and her fateful hiring by pioneering gallerist Geri Hooks in 2006.

Pourquoi ce secret autour du Désespéré de Gustave Courbet ?

Gustave Courbet's painting *Le Désespéré* (1843-1845), owned by Qatar Museums Authority, was loaned to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The French art publication La Tribune de l'Art requested the loan agreement under transparency laws, but the museum refused, citing a confidentiality clause. The publication then appealed to the Commission d'Accès aux Documents Administratifs (CADA), which has not responded for five months. Separately, the heritage association Sites & Monuments made a similar request to the Ministry of Culture and received a negative response from CADA in March 2026, citing a Conseil d'État ruling that disclosure could harm France's foreign policy.

No, the courts have not cleared the way for contemporary stained-glass windows at Notre-Dame

Non, la justice n'a pas laissé la voie libre aux vitraux contemporains de Notre-Dame

The article clarifies that legal challenges against installing contemporary stained-glass windows in Notre-Dame Cathedral are still ongoing, contrary to misleading headlines. Two judicial procedures remain active: an appeal by the heritage association Sites & Monuments after losing a first-instance ruling on procedural grounds, and a separate case contesting the legitimacy of the works themselves. Although an emergency injunction was denied because the judge found no urgency, the core legal arguments—that replacing Viollet-le-Duc's windows is not conservation or restoration—remain strong. The author warns that if the windows are installed before the appeals are resolved, they may later have to be removed at great expense.

‘We refuse_d’: rehearsing refusal as method, memory, and possibility.

Marking the fifteenth anniversary of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the traveling exhibition ‘we refuse_d’ has opened at M HKA in Antwerp. Curated by Nadia Radwan and Vasif Kortun, the project draws on the intellectual lineage of Hannah Arendt’s reflections on displacement and the historical precedent of the Salon des Refusés. The exhibition features a constellation of works by artists including Khalil Rabah, Barış Doğrusöz, and Nour Shantout, exploring refusal not as a simple negation, but as a complex strategy for survival, dignity, and the preservation of memory.

art black museums moad mocada auc

CULTURED magazine assembled a roundtable of three Black women leaders at prominent Black art museums in the U.S.—Key Jo Lee of the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, Cheryl Finley of the Atlanta University Center Art History and Curatorial Studies Collective (AUC), and Amy Andrieux of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) in New York. The discussion explores how each arrived at her role, the challenges these institutions face—including financial pressures and heightened scrutiny under the current U.S. administration—and their strategies for preserving and building legacies. Lee, who joined MoAD three years ago after a tenure at the Cleveland Museum of Art, is curating the exhibition “UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe,” named one of Hyperallergic’s top 25 of 2025. Finley, a curator, art historian, critic, and author, directs the AUC collective at Spelman College. Andrieux, who came from music and media roles at Red Bull Media House and MTV World, was recruited in 2018 to save MoCADA from closure and later became its executive director and chief curator, overseeing a capital expansion in 2023.

art christine mack southampton art center

Christine Mack, a collector born in the Philippines and raised in Sweden, is bringing her collection to the Southampton Arts Center this summer. The exhibition, titled “Beyond the Present: Collecting for the Future,” opens July 26 and features works by 71 artists, including blue-chip names like Rashid Johnson and Cindy Sherman as well as emerging talents such as Ana Benaroya and Woody De Othello. The show also includes pieces by 12 artists who have participated in a residency at the Mack Art Foundation’s Greenpoint space. Mack, who serves on councils for the Studio Museum and the Guggenheim, sees the exhibition as a platform to support artists and highlight her residency program.

Fifty years after Franco, Spain begins to give back art seized during the Civil War

A 2022 Spanish law has quietly triggered a wave of restitutions of art looted during the Spanish Civil War, more than 50 years after dictator Francisco Franco's death. The Museo del Prado has identified 166 confiscated artworks in its collection, including works by Joaquín Sorolla and Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra, and has begun returning pieces such as a panel painting by Maestro de Lupiana to the parish of Yebes. Scholar Arturo Colorado Castellary has uncovered over 26,000 confiscated objects, with around a third never returned to their owners, many deposited in museums, churches, and public administrations.

Expansion plans for Rome's Galleria Borghese draw fierce response

Rome's Galleria Borghese, a 17th-century villa museum housing masterpieces by Caravaggio, Bernini, and Canova, is facing controversy over a privately funded feasibility study for a potential expansion. Sponsored by Italian engineering firm Proger, the €900,000 initiative would fund an international architecture competition to explore adding exhibition and visitor space to the Villa Borghese Pinciana grounds. Museum officials cite operational constraints: the historic interiors limit access to 360 visitors per two-hour slot (about 4,000 daily), reservations require weeks of waiting, many works remain in storage, and accessibility is poor. Visitor numbers hit a record 630,760 in 2025, up from 506,000 a decade earlier. Preservation groups including Italia Nostra Roma and Amici di Villa Borghese have objected to any new construction in the sensitive historic landscape. Director Francesca Cappelletti emphasized at a May 18 press conference that no project exists yet and the museum is only beginning a study process, with a winner possible by year's end.

UK’s Palestinian Ambassador Calls on Government to Have British Museum Reinstate the Word ‘Palestinian’

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has called on the British government to intervene in a dispute with the British Museum over the removal of the word “Palestinian” from wall texts in its Middle East galleries. Zomlot raised the complaint with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office after reports that the museum had stripped the term from maps and didactics, following lobbying by UK Lawyers for Israel. The museum denies removing the word entirely, stating it still appears elsewhere, but photographic evidence suggests otherwise. Zomlot declined a tour with director Nicholas Cullinan, calling the issue “existential.”

Hundreds of ‘Piss Bottles’ Left at the Met Gala in Protest of Jeff Bezos

Hundreds of bottles filled with what appeared to be urine were discovered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the Met Gala on May 5, 2026, according to the New York Post. The protest was claimed by the anti-billionaire group Everybody Hates Elon, which targeted the event over Jeff Bezos serving as the gala's chair. The group left the bottles with signs labeling them a "Met Gala VIP toilet" and criticizing Bezos for alleged labor practices at Amazon, where workers reportedly feel forced to urinate in bottles due to lack of bathroom breaks. The group later clarified on Instagram that the bottles did not contain real urine.

Venice Biennale Jury Resigns in the Wake of Controversial Prize Ban

The jury for the 2026 Venice Biennale has resigned just days before the public opening on May 9, after announcing on April 22 that it would not consider artists from countries accused of crimes against humanity for the Golden and Silver Lion prizes. The jury, consisting of Solange Oliveira Farks (president), Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, cited its earlier statement of intention in its resignation, which directly impacted the participation of Russia and Israel—both subject to International Criminal Court warrants. In response, the Biennale postponed the awards ceremony from May 9 to November 22 and replaced the traditional jury with a public vote for best participant and best national participation, framing the move as upholding openness and rejecting censorship.

Israel’s foreign ministry accuses Venice Biennale's jury of ‘politicising’ exhibition

Israel’s foreign ministry has accused the Venice Biennale's jury of politicizing the exhibition after jurors announced they would not consider for prizes countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The jury’s statement, which did not name specific nations, is broadly understood to apply to Israel and Russia, both returning to the Biennale for the first time since the Gaza war and the Ukraine invasion, respectively. The Israeli ministry posted on X that the jury had decided to 'boycott' Israeli sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, calling it 'a contamination of the art world.' The Biennale distanced itself from the jury’s announcement, stating the jury acts autonomously, while the Russian pavilion is reportedly set to open only for a limited pre-opening period due to budget constraints amid sanctions.

France’s new restitution law passes final vote

The French parliament has officially passed framework legislation establishing a legal pathway for the restitution of cultural artifacts looted from former colonies. This landmark law, inspired by a report from former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, allows for the deaccession of items taken by force or under duress between 1815 and 1972. While the law fulfills a 2017 pledge by President Emmanuel Macron, it remains strictly supervised, requiring bilateral scientific committees to verify claims and excluding military archives and archaeological shares.

Canada returns 11 artefacts to Turkey in the first repatriation between the countries

Canada has returned 11 Ottoman-era artefacts to Turkey, marking the first official repatriation of cultural property between the two nations. The items, which include manuscript pages and calligraphy works from the 17th to 19th centuries, were handed over in a ceremony at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa following a federal court ruling.

underground railroad museum sues trump administration

The Underground Railroad Education Center (UREC) in Albany, New York, has filed a lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) following the cancellation of a $250,000 grant. The legal action, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, alleges that the funding was revoked based on race and as part of a broader federal effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The center claims this cancellation violates its First and Fifth Amendment rights.

russian archaeologist arrested poland ukraine crimea

Alexander Butyagin, a senior archaeologist at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, was arrested in Poland following an extradition request from Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities accuse Butyagin of conducting illegal excavations at the ancient Greek colony of Myrmekion in Crimea without the required permits following Russia's 2014 annexation. He is specifically accused of removing 30 gold coins, including rare artifacts bearing the name of Alexander the Great, while operating under Russian authority in occupied territory.

british museum staffer stole artworks

Nigel Peverett, a former staffer in the British Museum’s prints and drawings department, stole over 350 artworks during his tenure in the 1970s and 80s. The thefts, detailed in Barnaby Phillips’s upcoming book 'The African Kingdom of Gold', involved Peverett smuggling prints out of the museum, altering them with razors to remove catalog numbers, and selling them at London’s Portobello Road market. Although he was caught in 1992 with 35 prints in his possession, nearly 100 items remain unrecovered.

judge rules philadelphia museum director suit arbitration

A judge has ruled that the legal dispute between the Philadelphia Art Museum and its former director and CEO, Sasha Suda, must be resolved through private arbitration, not a public jury trial. Suda was dismissed in November, with the museum citing "for cause" but not providing specifics, and she subsequently sued, alleging the museum conducted a sham investigation and falsely accused her of misusing funds and theft.

alexis sablone inducted skateboarding hall of fame

Artist, designer, architect, and Olympian skateboarder Alexis Sablone has been inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2026, announced on January 15. The 18 inductees were selected for shaping skateboarding culture and global impact, with the ceremony set for May 15 at Vans Headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. Sablone is known to the art world for skateboarding down the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's spiral ramp in 2023 to promote her first sneaker design for Converse, and for creating skateable public art like 'Lady in the Square' in Sweden and 'Candy Courts' in New Jersey.

metropolitan museum art workers largest museum unions

Nearly 1,000 salaried and hourly workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art voted on Friday to join Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers (UAW), creating one of the largest museum unions in the United States. The vote passed 542-172, covering staff across 50 departments including curators, conservators, librarians, and archivists. Roughly 100 ballots remain sealed due to a management challenge, to be resolved through arbitration after certification by the National Labor Relations Board. The union drive had been brewing for over four years, driven by concerns over job security, pay equity, and transparency.