Walk the auction: your guide to Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art sales in NY this November

Christie’s is holding its 20th and 21st Century Art auctions in New York this November, featuring masterpieces by David Hockney, Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, Lucian Freud, and Richard Diebenkorn. The sales include works from distinguished private collections such as The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, Elaine: The Collection of Elaine Wynn, the Edlis | Neeson Collection, and the Arnold and Joan Saltzman Collection. A free public exhibition runs from 7–20 November at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries, with live auctions on 18 and 20 November, including an Impressionist & Modern Works on Paper Sale and a Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale. Highlights include Edgar Degas’ pastel *Danseuses sur la scène* (c. 1879), a Joan Miró from 1942, and a Frida Kahlo painting with a storied exhibition history.

9 Contemporary Artists Conjuring Ghosts

Maxwell Rabb profiles nine contemporary artists who explore ghostly and spectral themes in their work, coinciding with two major museum exhibitions: Kunstmuseum Basel's "Ghosts: Visualizing the Supernatural" (through March 2026) and Tacoma Art Museum's "Haunted." The article traces the historical evolution of ghost imagery in art from Renaissance depictions to 19th-century psychological forms by Goya and Fuseli, through 20th-century surrealist and post-war treatments, and highlights living artists such as Xie Lei and Mariann Metsis who use haunting as a metaphor for memory, loss, and the unseen.

Frieze London 2025

Frieze London 2025 has opened with a wide-ranging program spanning contemporary art, photography, antiquities, and performance. Key highlights include the inaugural Echo Soho fair celebrating women-run galleries, the London edition of Dallas Invitational set to open at the former US embassy in 2026, and strong sales at Frieze Masters including a Triceratops skull. Christie's and Sotheby's auctions during the week showed a mixed market: Peter Doig's 'Ski Jacket' sold for £106.9m, but overall estimates and price corrections indicated caution. The fair also features Sophia Al-Maria performing stand-up as winner of the Frieze London Artist Award, a new pricing structure for greater gallery diversity, and a pop-up by The Art Newspaper and L'OFFICIEL.

Fairfield University Art Museum Receives CT Humanities Grant for U.S. 250th Anniversary Exhibition

Fairfield University Art Museum has received a $15,000 grant from CT Humanities to support a 2026 exhibition titled *For Which It Stands…*, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States. The show will run from January 23 to July 25, 2026, featuring 75 works by diverse artists from the early 20th century to the present, all centered on depictions of the American flag. Highlights include Childe Hassam’s *Italian Day, May 1918* (lent by the Art Bridges Foundation), a new textile sculpture by Maria de Los Angeles, and works by Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, and Julie Mehretu. Loans come from private collections, artists, galleries, and institutions such as the Yale University Art Gallery, the Gordon Parks Foundation, and the Orlando Museum of Art.

Manetti Shrem Museum Fall 2025 Exhibitions Explore the Borderlands; Environmental Justice

The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis presents two fall 2025 exhibitions: “OJO” Julio César Morales, a midcareer survey exploring the U.S.-Mexico border as a lived human experience through over 50 works in various media, and “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice,” a group exhibition from the Hammer Museum at UCLA that connects environmental and social injustice. The exhibitions run through Nov. 29, with a free public opening celebration on Sept. 28 featuring artists, curators, art making, and music. Morales’ show marks his California homecoming after a decade in Arizona as a senior curator and museum director, and includes an outdoor neon commission, “tomorrow is for those who can hear it coming” (2025).

11 Must-See Museum Shows This Fall

Maxwell Rabb's article for Google News highlights 11 must-see museum exhibitions opening worldwide in fall 2025. Among the featured shows are Ayoung Kim's "Delivery Dancer" video trilogy at MoMA PS1 in New York, the largest UK survey of Kerry James Marshall's work titled "The Histories" at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and "Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination" at the Art Institute of Chicago, which explores the Symbolist movement across Europe. The article also mentions other major retrospectives and thematic exhibitions spanning Symbolism to Nigerian modernism.

The School That Became a Refuge for Artists From Georgia O’Keeffe to Tony Smith

The Art Students League of New York, founded in 1875, is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition titled "Shaping American Art: A Celebration of the Art Students League of New York at 150." The show features 87 works by famous alumni and instructors, including Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Norman Rockwell, Tony Smith, and Robert Rauschenberg, drawn from the school's collection and supplemented by loans. Curated by Esther V. Moerdler and Ksenia Nouril, the exhibition spans the school's main gallery, lobby, registration office, and café, highlighting the League's unique open-enrollment, non-degree atelier model that has instructed some 200,000 students since its founding.

The Top 3 Japanese ultra-contemporary artists

The article profiles three Japanese ultra-contemporary artists—Miwa Komatsu, Justin Caguiat, and Yukimasa Ida—who are gaining significant traction on the international art market. It details Komatsu's rise from a 2015 Christie's Hong Kong sale to becoming the first Japanese ultra-contemporary artist ranked among the world's top 1,000 sellers, with $2 million in sales in 2022.

What to Look for at Frieze New York 2025

Frieze New York 2025, its 13th edition, opens May 7 at The Shed in Hudson Yards with over 65 international galleries. The fair features solo, group, and themed presentations, including the Focus section curated by Lumi Tan showcasing 12 emerging galleries. Highlights include the Artist Plate Project (a collaboration with Coalition for the Homeless featuring limited-edition plates by Cindy Sherman, Rashid Johnson, and Takashi Murakami), performances by Pilvi Takala, Asad Raza, and Carlos Reyes, and notable presentations by Christine Sun Kim at François Ghebaly and Jennie C. Jones at Alexander Gray Associates. Frieze’s director of Americas, Christine Messineo, shares her top picks.

The 10 Exhibitions to See in May 2025

The article highlights ten exhibitions to see in May 2025, including the Venice Architecture Biennale curated by Carlo Ratti, which explores intelligence in natural, artificial, and collective forms, alongside a parallel show by AMO/OMA at Fondazione Prada. It also covers Gallery Weekend Berlin, featuring Sky Hopinka's new film and photographs at Tanya Leighton, an exhibition by exiled Russian journalists Meduza at Kunstraum Kreuzberg, and a study group on Palestinian agrarian initiatives at Spore Initiative.

Hydrojustice: A Review

A Non-Aspirational Justice: Review of Hydrojustice

The article is a critical review of Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos's book 'Hydrojustice,' which uses the concept of water as a lens to critique traditional, top-down legal justice and propose a more fluid, collective, and embodied alternative. The review frames this analysis through the recent erasure of a Banksy graffiti piece on the London Courts of Justice, which depicted a judge violently silencing a protester.

Near death experiences, ‘crip memes’ and the tyranny of the DWP: the new exhibition powered by illness and disability

Flare Up, a group exhibition co-curated by Mariana Lemos and Natasha Hoare at CCA Goldsmiths in London, showcases art centered on illness, chronic conditions, disability, neurodivergence, and deafness. The show features works by artists including Benoît Piéron, Avril Corroon, Derek Jarman, Christine Sun Kim, Jesse Darling, and the collective Freestylers, exploring themes such as near-death experiences, crip memes, government bureaucracy, and the fluctuating nature of symptoms. Highlights include Piéron's bunting made from hospital sheets, Corroon's installation on poverty and health, and Jarman's 1992 painting Act Up.

‘Woman Impressionist’ No More: A New Catalogue Raisonné Restores Eva Gonzalès’s Legacy

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI) has released a new digital catalogue raisonné for French painter Eva Gonzalès, correcting long-standing misattributions and omissions from the 1990 printed edition. The project reattributes works like *Apples in Basket* (previously assigned to Belgian painter Isidore Verheyden) and adds newly discovered pieces, including a portrait of Madame Georges Haquette and Gonzalès’s sketchbooks now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. WPI executive director Elizabeth Gorayeb emphasizes that the digital format allows for iterative updates and brings overlooked figures in Gonzalès’s orbit to light.

S.I. Newhouse’s Brâncuși Sells at Christie’s for Record-Breaking $107.6 M.

A Constantin Brâncuși sculpture titled *Danaïde* (1913), formerly owned by media magnate and top art collector S.I. Newhouse, sold at Christie’s on Monday night for a hammer price of $93 million, totaling $107.6 million with fees. This set a new auction record for the modernist sculptor, surpassing the previous record of $71.2 million set by another Brâncuși work in 2018. The bronze head with gold leaf and black patina attracted half a dozen bids before selling to a client represented by Maria Los, deputy chairman of client advisory Americas. The work was one of six bronze casts, the only gilded example still in private hands, and had notable provenance, having been purchased by Eugene and Agnes Meyer at Brâncuși’s first solo exhibition in 1914.

TEFAF New York Opened to Crowded Aisles, Bullish Collectors, and Strong Booths

TEFAF New York opened at the Park Avenue Armory with unexpectedly strong crowds and a buoyant mood, defying the typical afternoon lull. Dealers reported heavy foot traffic and sustained conversations, with gallerist Sean Kelly calling it the best edition in years. The fair, running through May 19, features a mix of antiquities, design, modern, and contemporary art, with standout booths including Alison Jacques’s pairing of Dorothea Tanning, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Gordon Parks, and Sean Kelly Gallery’s display of works by Shahzia Sikander and Sam Moyer. The newly launched Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries made its TEFAF debut with works by Eugène Delacroix, Willem de Kooning, and Alexander Calder.

The Best Booths at Frieze New York, From Cindy Sherman’s Newest Photos to UFOs

The article reviews the best booths at Frieze New York 2026, held at the Shed in Hudson Yards. It highlights eight standout presentations, including Hauser & Wirth's debut of new Cindy Sherman photographs, Andrew Edlin Gallery's themed booth featuring artists like Paulina Peavy and Melvin Way who explore extraterrestrial themes, and Carlos/Ishikawa's display of Evelyn Taocheng Wang's monumental paintings that engage with Agnes Martin and Georgia O'Keeffe. The author notes that while art fairs prioritize commerce, some galleries successfully balance good art with monetization.

Contemporary Icons and Modern Masters Headline This Major May Sale

Rago/Wright is hosting two major spring sales on May 14, 2026: 'Pure Edge: American Geometric Abstraction, Selected Works from the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires' and a Post War and Contemporary Art sale. The first features 19 works from the museum's premier collection of American geometric abstraction, while the second spans 20th- and 21st-century art. Highlighted lots include Sam Gilliam's 'Sun Woman' (1970, est. $300,000–$500,000), Annie Morris's 'Stack 7 (Ultramarine Blue)' (2015, est. $150,000–$200,000), Miyoko Ito's 'Adam and Eve' (1957, est. $200,000–$300,000), and Maria Martins's 'Impossible' (1946, est. $150,000–$200,000).

‘I shared a single bed with my mother for three years’: Sung Tieu on her monument to immigrant workers in Venice

Artist Sung Tieu has clad the German pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale with a mosaic replica of the Gehrenseestrasse complex, a now-abandoned housing estate in Berlin where she lived as a child. The work, titled "Human Dignity Shall Be Inviolable," uses three million mosaic stones to recreate the facade of the prefabricated blocks that housed Vertragsarbeiter—contract workers from Vietnam, Mozambique, Angola, and Cuba who bolstered East Germany's economy. Tieu, who shared a single bed with her mother in the complex for three years, conceived the pavilion alongside the late artist Henrike Naumann.

Venice Diary Day 3: Offsite Highlights Include Fleshy Films and Vegetarian Videos

The article reports on the author's third day at the Venice Biennale, focusing on offsite exhibitions. Highlights include Li Yi-Fan's animated video "Screen Melancholy" (2026) at the Taiwan Pavilion, described as chaotic, absurdist, and uncanny, featuring a naked CGI character interacting with ChatGPT. The author also praises Janis Rafa's video installation "Baby I'm Yours, Forever" (2026) at Fondazione In Between Art Film, which transforms scenes from a meat refrigeration plant into haunting surreal imagery. The piece notes the resurgence of video art, aided by LED screens that create immersive environments.

Sound-based Holy See pavilion opens at Venice Biennale as Vatican’s contemporary art ambitions grow

The Holy See's pavilion at the Venice Biennale has opened, featuring a sound-based exhibition titled "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul" (9 May–22 November). The show, inspired by the medieval Benedictine nun Saint Hildegard of Bingen, includes commissioned audio works by high-profile artists and musicians such as Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, Patti Smith, Jim Jarmusch, and Precious Okoyomon. The exhibition takes place across two Venetian sites—the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelite and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice complex—and is co-organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery, and curator Ben Vickers, in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective.

At the Venice Biennale, Koyo Kouoh’s ‘In Minor Keys’ Looks Deeply at Lush Gardens and a Scarred Earth

Koyo Kouoh's exhibition 'In Minor Keys' at the 2026 Venice Biennale centers on the practices of two deceased artists, Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan, whose ways of thinking animate the show through dedicated 'Shrines' in the Central Pavilion. The exhibition also draws on Marcel Duchamp's legacy, featuring works by over a dozen contemporary artists including Akinbode Akinbiyi, Guadalupe Rosales, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Guadalupe Maravilla, Sofía Gallisá Muriente, and Avi Mograbi, whose installation 'Between a River and a Sea' contrasts pre-1948 business directories with a 2023 Gaza Yellow Pages. A section called 'The Schools' highlights artist-run spaces such as Denniston Hill, Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation, blaxTARLINES, and the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute.

Claude Monet’s Market Triumph: 12 Record‑Smashing Paintings That Define an Era

Claude Monet's market dominance is analyzed through twelve record-breaking paintings sold at auction over the past decade, led by *Meules (Haystacks)* (1890), which achieved $110.7 million at Sotheby's New York in 2019—a record for any Impressionist work. The article highlights key sales including *Le Bassin aux Nymphéas* (1919) at $80.45 million, *Nymphéas* (1906) at $54 million, and *Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil* (1873–74) at $41.4 million, tracing how Monet's serene yet radical landscapes have consistently commanded top prices across Christie's and Sotheby's.

Alvaro Barrington takes a road trip to the Venice Biennale

Artist Alvaro Barrington has created a vibrant haulage truck titled "Labor Day Parade ’91" (2026) as his contribution to the 61st Venice Biennale, part of the exhibition "In Minor Keys." The truck, decorated with scenes linked to his background and art historical references, was driven from London to Venice on an epic road trip across Europe. It is now parked in the Giardini next to the Austrian pavilion, with its front tyres punctured to prevent movement. During the preview, the work was admired by artist Julie Mehretu and Dia Art Foundation director Jessica Morgan.

Our pick of the best pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale

The article highlights standout national pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale. The Belarus Pavilion features a powerful installation by the Belarus Free Theatre, including a wheat field built by former political prisoners, straw spiders made from prison bars, and a confession booth that runs facial recognition. The Brazil Pavilion presents a joint exhibition by Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão, focusing on colonial wounds and trauma through works like Paulino's 'Aracnes' and Varejão's 'Still Life amid Ruin'. The Bosnian Pavilion by Mladen Bundalo invites tactile engagement with themes of diaspora and migration, while the Austrian Pavilion by Florentina Holzinger draws attention with nude performers in water-filled pools.

An expert's guide to Tracey Emin: five must-read books on the British artist

The Art Newspaper published a reading list curated by Jess Baxter, assistant curator of Tracey Emin's exhibition 'Second Life' at Tate Modern. The list features five key books about the British artist, including her autobiography 'Strangeland' (2006), a monograph co-authored by gallerist Carl Freedman, a recent painting survey, a personal photo album, and a forthcoming study by Martin Gayford. The exhibition, inspired by Emin's recovery from bladder cancer, runs until 31 August.

Cosmic, concrete, earthy: Nancy Holt’s Land Art on show in UK

Nancy Holt (1938-2014), a pioneering land artist who studied biology at Tufts University, is the subject of her first major UK exhibition at the Goodwood Art Foundation in West Sussex. The show includes the first posthumous installation of *Hydra's Head*, an earthwork of six pools aligned with the Hydra constellation, originally sited on the Niagara River in 1974, and *Ventilation System* (1985-92), which extends from the gallery into the landscape. Curated by Ann Gallagher, the exhibition draws on Holt's archives and the Holt/Smithson Foundation, which preserves her legacy and that of her husband Robert Smithson.

Major Greek contemporary art non-profit Neon to close after 14 years

Neon, a major Greek contemporary art non-profit founded by businessman and patron Dimitris Daskalopoulos, is closing after 14 years, stating it has fulfilled its cultural and social mission. Between 2012 and 2026, the organization presented 44 exhibitions across museums, historical sites, and public spaces, commissioning 105 works by Greek and international artists. Notable projects include donating Antony Gormley's sculpture 'RULE II' (2019) to the island of Delos—the first contemporary work permanently installed at an ancient site—and funding the €1.4m renovation of the Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory in Athens into a cultural center. Neon will present its final exhibition, the third installment of 'Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures,' later this year at the Old Acropolis Museum.

From monumental glass sculptures to a lagoon in the sky: what to see beyond the Venice Biennale pavilions

The article highlights several must-see exhibitions and installations beyond the main Venice Biennale pavilions. Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo's redevelopment of the island of San Giacomo opens on 7 May, transforming abandoned Napoleonic-era powder magazines into exhibition spaces with a solo show by British artist Matt Copson and a group show from her collection. American artist Melissa McGill presents 'Marea', a street-spanning installation of 100 paintings created with local residents and students, addressing climate change and rising sea levels. Dale Chihuly returns to Venice with 'Chihuly: Venice 2026', featuring monumental glass installations along the Grand Canal, including 'Gold Tower' (2025). Wallace Chan unveils titanium sculptures at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà, with a parallel exhibition at the Long Museum in Shanghai.

Titian's ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’ to get a refresh with bank conservation grant

Bank of America’s annual art conservation program has awarded grants to 18 projects this year, including the restoration of Titian’s *Bacchus and Ariadne* (1520-23) at the National Gallery in London. The painting will be removed from display next month for conservation work that involves placing it on a new fabric support and repairing paint loss. Other funded projects include Rembrandt’s *The Night Watch* at the Rijksmuseum, bronze palms at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, *Gaki Zōshi* at the Tokyo National Museum, Matisse’s *La Négresse* at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and works at the Museo de Arte de Lima and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Tate at a turning point: new director must confront unwieldy ‘beast’ of an art institution

Roland Rudd, chair of Tate, insists the institution is thriving despite recent leadership changes, citing record visitor numbers of 6.2 million, strong exhibition attendance (Turner and Constable at Tate Britain, Lee Miller, and Tracey Emin at Tate Modern), and 155,000 members. However, Maria Balshaw has stepped down as director after nine years, leaving her successor to confront a financially strained organization hit by pandemic losses, multiple redundancies, and low staff morale amid culture war battles.