The Top 10 Exhibitions to See Around the World This May

Ocula's global team of editors has curated a list of the top 10 exhibitions to see worldwide in May, highlighting diverse shows from Rio de Janeiro to New York. Featured exhibitions include Jungjin Lee's photographic works blending Icelandic landscapes and intimate objects on traditional Korean paper, a millennial-themed group show titled "Genuine Premium Fake Economy" examining precarity through artists like Jasmine Gregory and Buck Ellis, Joan Semmel's solo exhibition "Continuities" at Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates showcasing her erotic self-portraiture at age 93, and Wynnie Mynerva's Berlin Gallery Weekend show addressing colonial violence and Andean mythology.

Lubaina Himid has been busy ‘Predicting History: Testing Translation’

Lubaina Himid has been selected to represent the United Kingdom at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2026 with a major solo installation titled 'Predicting History: Testing Translation' at the British Pavilion. The exhibition, running from May 9 to November 2026, features a new series of large, multipaneled paintings in dazzling colors, surreal settings, and a soundscape created in collaboration with artist Magda Stawarska. Himid, a Turner Prize-winning pioneer of the Black British Art Movement and Emeritus Professor at the University of Central Lancashire, explores themes of belonging, migration, and making a home in a new place.

PATRICK HERON: Early works, 1950-54

Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert presents a focused exhibition of Patrick Heron's early works from 1950 to 1954, tracing the British modernist's decisive shift from figuration to abstraction. The show brings together pieces from the artist's estate, including several never before exhibited, alongside loans from museums and private collections, highlighting a formative moment in post-war British art. Key works such as 'Christmas Eve: 1951' and 'Black Fish on Blue Table' demonstrate Heron's evolving visual language, influenced by the School of Paris and encounters with Braque, Matisse, and Bonnard.

Yoko Ono's First Museum Exhibition In SoCal Opens This May – Featuring An Outdoor Wish Tree Installation & John Lennon Collabs

Yoko Ono's first solo museum exhibition in Southern California, 'Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,' opens at The Broad in Los Angeles on May 23, 2026. The exhibition, organized with Tate Modern, features interactive works from the 1950s onward, including the outdoor Wish Tree installation, text-based pieces from her book 'Grapefruit,' and collaborative anti-war works with John Lennon like 'Bed Peace.'

Barkley L. Hendricks | Biography, Paintings, Photography & Legacy

Barkley L. Hendricks was a transformative American portrait artist known for depicting ordinary Black men and women with the scale and technical mastery typically reserved for European Old Masters. After a pivotal trip to Europe in the 1960s where he noted the absence of Black subjects in museum collections, Hendricks dedicated his career to elevating Black identity through bold, life-sized oil paintings and photography. His work often featured vibrant monochromatic backgrounds and subjects drawn from his personal life, popular music, and urban culture.

Sculptor Martin Puryear brings major exhibition to Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art has launched "Martin Puryear: Nexus," the first comprehensive survey of the influential American sculptor’s work in nearly two decades. The exhibition features approximately 50 pieces spanning over 50 years, including sculptures in wood, rawhide, and metal, as well as rarely seen drawings and models. Co-organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the show highlights Puryear’s unique blend of traditional craftsmanship, global cultural influences, and abstract forms.

10 Exhibitions Not to Miss During Mexico City Art Week 2026

Mexico City Art Week 2026 is set to begin, featuring a dense schedule of exhibitions and art fairs. The event, anchored by the ZONAMACO fair, includes satellite fairs like Feria MATERIAL and SALÓN ACME, and is supported by a robust ecosystem of galleries and museums. The week is a key destination for international collectors and curators seeking to discover emerging artistic voices from Central and South America.

Big prices, bigger confidence: Inside Indian art’s breakout era

The Indian art market is experiencing a significant boom, characterized by record-breaking auction prices for established masters like SH Raza and MF Husain, and growing international visibility for contemporary artists at biennales and fairs. A new generation of high-net-worth collectors is driving this growth, building collections with greater intent, knowledge, and personal connection rather than pure speculation.

The Best Exhibitions to See Around San Francisco During FOG Design+Art

January brings a full slate of exhibitions across the Bay Area timed to San Francisco Art Week, headlined by the 12th edition of FOG Design+Art at Fort Mason Center (January 21-25). Galerie highlights nine must-see shows, including "100 Candleholders" at Blunk Space, where international artists create candleholders inspired by JB Blunk; "New Work: Sheila Hicks" at SFMOMA, featuring fiber installations tied to personal places; "The Houses Are Haunted By White Night-Gowns" at The Future Perfect, a furniture-and-bowls installation by Studio Ahead; and "Auudi Dorsey: What’s Left, Never Left" at Jonathan Carver Moore, where the painter excavates histories of African American leisure sites.

5 Artists on Our Radar in January 2026

Artsy's January 2026 edition of 'Artists on Our Radar' highlights five emerging visual artists: Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, Xiaochi Dong, and Bobbye Fermie (with two others implied). Deloumeaux, born in Guadeloupe and based in Paris, paints solitary figures exploring identity and displacement; his work is featured in a group show at Loft Art Gallery in Marrakech and he has a solo show upcoming at Musée de la Parure de Marrakech. Xiaochi Dong, a Shanghai-born artist trained in classical Chinese painting, creates intimate works evoking gardens and ecosystems, currently in a two-person exhibition at Albion Jeune in London. Bobbye Fermie, an Amsterdam-born London-based artist, produces dreamlike watercolors and collages, with works available at Wilder Gallery.

Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition ‘Presence’ challenges visitors’ senses and perception

A new Olafur Eliasson exhibition, 'Olafur Eliasson: Presence,' opens December 6, 2025, at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and runs through July 12, 2026. The immersive show transforms GOMA’s ground floor with multi-sensory installations spanning over three decades of the artist’s career, including early works like 'Beauty' (1993) and 'Riverbed' (2014), alongside new commissions such as the large-scale 'Presence 2025' and the magnetic sculpture 'Lost compass' (2013). Visitors are invited to become co-creators, navigating environments that play with light, mist, mirrors, and even a LEGO city.

Inside the Brighton studio of painter David Shrigley, as an exhibition of his work opens in London

The article offers a behind-the-scenes look at British artist David Shrigley’s Brighton studio, where he prepares for a London exhibition titled 'Exhibition of Old Rope' at Stephen Friedman Gallery. Shrigley, known for his humorous, naive-style paintings and conceptual approach, describes his process of working from word lists generated by assistants, producing up to 12 paintings a day, and embracing absurdity and chance. The studio, a former office building he bought two years ago, is filled with recent large-scale works, a guitar collection, and studio paraphernalia, reflecting his playful yet disciplined practice.

India’s art market is fast growing—is it also maturing?

The third edition of Art Mumbai (13-16 November) saw strong sales and record auction prices for Indian Modernists, including MF Husain's *Gram Yatra* (1953) becoming the first Indian painting to sell for over $10 million. The fair, held amid surging private wealth in India, featured leading contemporary galleries reporting up to 90% sales on opening day, with works priced from $1,000 to $300,000. A recent reduction in India's goods and service tax on art from 12% to 5% has further boosted the market.

‘The government understands what is at stake’: Italian art world weighs in on tax cut at Artissima

The Italian parliament reduced VAT on art sales from 22% to 5%, the lowest rate in Europe, a move announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government. The tax cut was celebrated at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, where politician Federico Mollicone noted it had been over 30 years in the making. The contemporary art fair Artissima, holding its 32nd edition in Turin, became the first Italian fair to test the new tax policy. Italian dealers reported positive effects, including easier deal closures and increased sales to both Italian and European collectors, with some galleries experiencing their best opening day ever.

Rarely seen Matthew Wong works to go on show in Venice

A major exhibition of rarely seen works by the late Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong will open at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi in Venice from 9 May to 1 November 2025, coinciding with the 61st Venice Biennale. The show features 35 works dating from 2015 to 2019, curated by John Cheim of Cheim & Read gallery, and is organized by the Matthew Wong Foundation, founded by the artist's parents Monita Wong and Raymond KP Wong after his death by suicide in 2019. The exhibition catalogue includes a text by Nancy Spector, former chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum.

25 of 2025: 5 Groundbreaking Fiber Artists You Need to Know

Artnet News profiles five groundbreaking fiber artists as part of its "25 of 2025" series, highlighting Diedrick Brackens and Melissa Joseph among them. Brackens, born in 1989, has seen his textile works exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and LACMA, with a solo show "the shape of survival" at the SCAD Museum of Art and a U.K. debut at the Holburne Museum in 2025. Melissa Joseph, who only began working with felt in 2020, has rapidly gained attention through solo exhibitions and major public commissions, including a 2024 installation at Rockefeller Center and the 2025 UOVO Prize-winning work "Tender" at the Brooklyn Museum.

Rarely seen Walter Sickert painting to go on sale in London

A rarely seen Walter Sickert painting, *Ennui* (1913), will be offered for sale in a selling exhibition at Piano Nobile gallery in London on 26 September. The work, once owned by Hollywood actor Edward G. Robinson and later by collectors Herbert and Ann Lucas, has not been publicly exhibited since 2001. Priced around £750,000, it is one of five versions Sickert painted in the 1910s depicting a pub landlord and his wife; three are held by British institutions including the Royal Collection and the Ashmolean Museum. The sale also includes a Sickert pastel of a sex worker unseen since 1908, plus works from his Dieppe period.

New York Dealer Hal Bromm Can’t Remember His Last Art Fair. He Couldn’t Be Happier

Hal Bromm, a New York art dealer who opened his gallery in Tribeca decades before it became a gallery hub, is celebrating 50 years in the neighborhood. He opened in 1974, predating the wave of galleries that moved to Tribeca around 2013, and has remained at 90 West Broadway since 1977. To mark the milestone, he will present the exhibition “50: The View from Tribeca” on September 19 and publish a book, *New Art, Old Buildings: Stories from Hal Bromm’s Tribeca*. Bromm reflects on his early career, including introducing artists like Donald Judd, Alighiero Boetti, and Mario Merz to New York audiences, and his instinct-driven approach to selecting artists.

For its 10th edition Photo London aims to look beyond the notorious ‘Kate Moss Index’

Photo London, the UK's leading photography fair, is preparing for its 10th edition from 15 to 18 May at Somerset House under new director Sophie Parker. Parker, the fair's first female director and a longtime staff member, aims to move beyond the so-called 'Kate Moss Index'—industry slang for the prevalence of safe, traditional photographic subjects like supermodel portraits—by rewarding galleries that take risks with more experimental work. The fair has cycled through several directors in recent years, including Roderick van der Lee and Kamiar Maleki, but Parker brings an insider's perspective and a working-class background to the role.

Asian galleries move westward: their growing presence and influence in New York

Hong Kong-based gallery Kiang Malingue is opening a new outpost on the Lower East Side of New York on May 9, joining a wave of Asian galleries expanding into the city. The 3,500 sq. ft space at 50 Eldridge Street, formerly an artist's studio, will debut with a solo show by Japanese artist Hiroka Yamashita titled 'The Lights from the Deep Mountains.' Other recent arrivals include Manila's Silverlens (Chelsea, 2022), Taipei's Nunu Fine Art (Lower East Side, 2023), Hong Kong's Alisan Fine Arts (Upper East Side, 2023), and Shanghai's Bank (Lower East Side, March 2025).

Alla Tate Modern di Londra arriverà una super mostra di Claude Monet nel 2027

The Tate Modern in London has announced its 2027 program, headlined by the first solo exhibition ever dedicated by the institution to Claude Monet. Titled "Monet: Painting Time," the show opens on February 25, 2027, and explores the Impressionist founder's relationship with time against the backdrop of the industrial era. It will feature celebrated works and rarely seen canvases from international lenders, supported by Morgan Stanley and AI company Anthropic. The exhibition follows an initial presentation at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris starting September 30, 2026, which marks the centenary of Monet's death with 40 paintings from the Musée d'Orsay and Musée Marmottan, including a virtual reality component. The iconic Water Lilies series and the 1877 masterpiece "The Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare" will travel to London.

15 Artists Share the Best Advice They Got From Their Mother

Hyperallergic asked 15 artists to share the best advice they received from their mother or a maternal figure, in honor of Mother's Day. The article features reflections from artists including Pat Oleszko, Maddy Inez, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, and Shahzia Sikander, who recount maternal wisdom ranging from encouragement to pursue art to life lessons about empathy and resilience. Each anecdote is accompanied by images of the artists' works or personal photos.

Damien Hirst's studio has been recreated in Seoul for a major exhibition dedicated to him (including the original floor)

Lo studio del celebre artista Damien Hirst è stato ricreato a Seoul per una grande mostra a lui dedicata (c’è pure il pavimento originale)

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul has launched "Nothing Is True But Everything Is Possible," the largest retrospective of Damien Hirst’s work ever held in Asia. Spanning 35 years of his career, the exhibition features over 50 iconic works, including his formaldehyde-preserved animals, diamond-encrusted skull, and a recreation of his Pharmacy Restaurant. A unique highlight is the meticulous reconstruction of Hirst’s London studio, complete with the original paint-stained floor transported to South Korea and 30 previously unseen unfinished canvases from his new "River" series.

Woman With Her Back to the Viewer in Gallery Photos Speaks Out

A satirical article features an exclusive interview with the fictional archetype "Woman With Her Back to the Viewer in All Those Gallery Photos." She describes her daily routine of posing ambiguously next to artworks, her artistic influences like Caspar David Friedrich, and the challenges of her unseen labor, including a lack of sales commission and the need for side hustles like making herself blurry in photos.

Internet Goes Wild for The Met’s Newly Acquired Mannerist Painting

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's acquisition of a newly identified Mannerist painting, Rosso Fiorentino's "Madonna and Child with Saint John the Evangelist" (1512–13), has sparked a viral, irreverent reaction on social media. Commenters on the museum's Instagram post have described the muscular infant Jesus using contemporary slang like "baddie," "yasssified," and "caked up," drawing parallels to modern beauty trends.

CONTEMPORARY ART Day Sale on 6 December at 2pm - Christie's

Christie’s Paris has announced two major contemporary art auctions scheduled for late 2023, consisting of a live sale on December 6 and an online sale running from November 28 to December 8. The auctions feature over 200 lots with a combined global estimate of €8.5 million to €12.3 million, highlighted by two previously unseen paintings by Pierre Soulages and works by Jean Dubuffet and Georges Mathieu. A significant portion of the online sale is dedicated to "A Lifetime Collection," a prestigious private Parisian collection featuring works by David Hockney, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Combas.

Was in den Museen läuft

Munich's art festival "Various Others" kicks off this week with major city museums participating. The Pinakothek der Moderne presents "Reflexion," a group show of 100 works across fine art, architecture, graphic design, and design by artists including Isa Genzken, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Piet Zwart, and Ettore Sottsass. The Alexander-Tutsek-Stiftung celebrates its 25th anniversary with a glass-focused exhibition featuring Monica Bonvicini, Tony Cragg, and Laure Prouvost. The Villa Stuck reopens after renovation with four shows: Philipp Messner's sculptures, Ilit Azoulay's macro-film installation, a returning Franz von Stuck painting, and Delschad Numan Khorschid and Jan-Hendrik Pelz's migration-themed "Zehn Leben." The Lenbachhaus presents "Ein Ferngespräch. Szenen aus der Weimarer Republik" with works by Jeanne Mammen, Gabriele Münter, and Christian Schad. Museum Brandhorst's "Carrying" addresses the history of the Maxvorstadt art district, once site of a military barracks built by Ottoman prisoners. The Eres Stiftung continues "Seeing the Unseen" on quantum physics. The Flux meeting space, designed by Morag Myerscough, moves indoors at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

How Alexander Calder Set Sculpture in Motion

Wie Alexander Calder die Skulptur in Bewegung setzte

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched a major retrospective titled "Rêver en Équilibre," dedicated to the American sculptor Alexander Calder. Featuring over 300 works, the exhibition traces Calder’s journey from his 1926 arrival in Paris to his invention of the "mobile," a term coined by Marcel Duchamp. The show includes iconic large-scale hanging sculptures like "Rouge triomphant," wire figures from his famous "Cirque Calder," and rarely seen private loans, alongside paintings and jewelry that highlight his engineering background and poetic approach to abstraction.

One of the Greatest Photographic Documents of the 20th Century

"Eines der größten fotografischen Dokumente des 20. Jahrhunderts"

A New York court has concluded an eleven-year legal battle by awarding Amedeo Modigliani’s 'Seated Man with a Cane' to the heirs of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner. The ruling rejected the claims of the powerful Nahmad family, with the judge determining that Stettiner never voluntarily relinquished the work during the Nazi era. Additionally, a significant photographic archive belonging to darkroom technician Roland Haupt has surfaced, containing previously unseen World War II images by Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton.

Exhibitions, workshops, festivals… 7 family cultural outings in Paris to grow creativity during the holidays

Expos, ateliers, festivals… 7 sorties culturelles en famille à Paris pour faire pousser la créativité durant les vacances

Paris and the Île-de-France region are hosting a diverse array of family-oriented cultural events for the spring 2026 holiday season. Key highlights include the inauguration of the Manufacture at the Fondation Cartier, a Japanese-themed spring festival at le 19M, and the relocation of the Centre Pompidou’s Studio 13/16 for teenagers to the Gaîté Lyrique. Other notable activities include aerospace-themed workshops at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace and the fifth anniversary of the Atelier Rodin.