10 Galleries That Had a Breakout Year in 2025

The article highlights 10 galleries that achieved significant growth and recognition in 2025, despite a challenging market environment marked by tariffs and trade uncertainty. Featured galleries include Tokyo's CON__, which gained global visibility through standout presentations at Frieze Seoul and NADA New York; Munich and New York-based LOHAUS SOMINSKY, which debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach and opened a Tribeca outpost; and Chicago's Hans Goodrich, which quickly established itself with a cross-generational exhibition program and international fair appearances.

‘Lust for Life’: The Van Gogh book designed to fit in pockets of US soldiers during the Second World War

Irving Stone's 1934 novel *Lust for Life*, a fictionalized biography of Vincent van Gogh, was published as an Armed Services Edition during World War II for U.S. soldiers. These pocket-sized books, measuring 11cm by 17cm, were designed to fit in uniform pockets and withstand harsh conditions. Over 123 million copies of various titles were printed from 1943 to 1947, with distribution including parachute drops to troops on Pacific islands and handouts to soldiers before the Normandy Landings. The surviving copies are scarce and often damaged, with browned pages and covers marked as U.S. government property, not to be resold.

Must-see art exhibitions in Hong Kong right now! (2025)

Hong Kong is hosting a vibrant array of must-see art exhibitions in December 2025, as highlighted in a curated guide. Key shows include 'Zao Wou-Ki: Master Printmaker' at M+, focusing on the artist's lithograph prints; 'Violet Veil' by Laura Zhang at The Extension, featuring meditative violet-hued works; 'Guan Yu vs. Wilson Shieh' at JPS Gallery, blending traditional gongbi painting with AI technology; and 'The Villepin House' at Villepin, celebrating the gallery's fifth anniversary with works by Zao Wou-Ki and Myo.

‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’: entire Nan Goldin series gets first-ever UK show

Gagosian gallery in London will present the first-ever UK exhibition of Nan Goldin's complete series 'The Ballad of Sexual Dependency' (126 prints, 1973-1986) at its Davies Street location from January 13 to March 21, 2025. Simultaneously, the gallery's Grosvenor Hill space will host 'Richard Avedon: Facing West,' featuring 21 portraits from Avedon's 'In the American West' series, including several unseen since 1985. Both exhibitions mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of the two landmark photography books.

Comment | Why Frank Gehry was the ultimate artist’s architect

Frank Gehry (1929-2025) is remembered as the ultimate artist's architect, a figure whose career was deeply intertwined with the visual arts. The article highlights his lifelong friendships with numerous Los Angeles artists, his design of exhibitions for them, and his creation of iconic art museums like the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (1997) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2014). Gehry believed his buildings offered artists a strong alternative to the white cube, and he renovated museums such as the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art with a remarkably light touch. His early exposure to art through a ceramics course with Glen Lukens at USC helped steer him toward architecture.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings of the Week (12/08—12/14)

In pictures: a sculptural celebration at Art Basel Miami Beach

Nora Lawrence, executive director of Storm King Art Center, curated a selection of her favorite three-dimensional works at Art Basel Miami Beach, highlighting sculptures by Thaddeus Mosley, Rashid Johnson, Mary Ann Unger, Paloma Varga Weisz, and Claes Oldenburg, as well as a painting by Saif Azzuz. The tour, published by The Art Newspaper, showcases works from galleries including Karma, Hauser & Wirth, Berry Campbell, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, Konrad Fischer Galerie, and Paula Cooper.

New tech and old names drive sales at Art Basel Miami Beach

Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) saw strong sales and a cautiously optimistic mood, with Pace gallery reporting nearly $5 million in sales including a $1.1 million Sam Gilliam painting. The fair debuted a new digital art section, Zero 10, where a Beeple installation of robotic dogs excreting NFTs sold out within five hours for $1 million total, and generative art from Larva Labs sold for up to $45,000 each. However, the opening day crowd was thinner than in past years, and about 20 galleries did not return, replaced by a record 48 new exhibitors. Dealers noted a slower, quieter pace, with buyers more cautious than during the indulgent pre-pandemic era.

Steely gaze: a look back at Richard Hunt’s early work at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami has opened "Richard Hunt: Pressure," the largest survey to date of American sculptor Richard Hunt (1935-2023), focusing on his work from 1955 to 1989. The exhibition traces Hunt's evolution from self-taught welder at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to a master of welded steel, featuring early pieces like *Telescopic Construction* (1955) and *Hero's Head* (1956), the latter created after attending Emmett Till's open-casket funeral. Co-curated by Gean Moreno and Alex Gartenfeld, the show highlights Hunt's negotiation between formal innovation and social awareness, with works that balance beauty and brutality.

Omar Lopez-Chahoud’s fresh curatorial project debuts at Miami Produce

Curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud has launched his first independent project since leaving his role as artistic director of Untitled Art Miami Beach. Titled *Fragments of Displacement*, the group exhibition debuted on December 2 at Miami Produce, an open-air fruit and vegetable market in the Allapattah neighborhood. Co-organized with Eduardo Lopez, founder of Mexico’s FF Projects, the show features works by established artists including Jorge Méndez Blake, Helmut Lang, and Andrea Geyer, alongside emerging talents like Chantal Peñalosa Fong. The exhibition runs until March 1, 2026, and is designed to activate unconventional spaces and engage the local community.

At the Aspen Art Museum, Glenn Ligon inspects the record

Glenn Ligon's exhibition "Break It Down" opened at the Aspen Art Museum on November 21, showcasing 47 works spanning three decades. The show examines how the artist constructs a portrait of self by drawing on external institutional documents, including school reports, museum conservators' notes, and James Baldwin's essay "Stranger in The Village." Key works include 50 screenprinted self-portraits with printing glitches that question stable identity, and a final gallery centered on a painting built from Baldwin's text, surrounded by dark carbon and graphite rubbings that reinterpret the essay through physical mark-making.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This December

This December, Los Angeles presents a diverse array of art exhibitions that engage with contemporary social issues, cultural protest, and new possibilities. Highlights include Alan Luna's subversive reinterpretations of Mexican history and American modernism at the new La Plaza Projects, a group show at The Box featuring nearly 200 artists challenging normative sexuality, and Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack's assemblages at Night Gallery that poetically repurpose discarded objects from LA streets. Other notable shows include Edith Dekyndt and Richard Long's dialogue on nature at Okey Dokey Konrad Fischer, and Sam Shoemaker's performance-based mushroom boat project at Fulcrum Arts.

Van Gogh’s family used an erotic Gauguin ceramic as a flower vase

A researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, Joost van der Hoeven, has revealed that Paul Gauguin's erotic ceramic, the Cleopatra Pot (winter 1887-88), was used as a flower vase by Vincent van Gogh's family. Gauguin brought the pot to Arles when he stayed with Van Gogh in 1888, and after Van Gogh's ear incident, Gauguin gave the pot to Vincent's brother Theo as a gift. The pot later remained with Theo's widow, Jo Bonger, and a photograph from 1925-26 shows it on her piano holding flowers, surrounded by still-life paintings.

Gagosian’s Kara Vander Weg On Shaping the Afterlife of an Artist’s Work

Gagosian debuted a show titled “Walter De Maria: The Singular Experience” at its Le Bourget gallery in Paris, featuring The Truck Trilogy—three vintage Chevrolet pickup trucks fitted with the artist’s signature stainless-steel rods. The exhibition is part of the gallery’s “Building a Legacy Program,” launched in 2017 after De Maria’s death without a will threw his estate into turmoil. The program, spearheaded by managing director Kara Vander Weg, aims to preserve and promote artists’ legacies through educational efforts, ambitious shows, symposia, and content in Gagosian Quarterly.

Paris art exhibitions to see this month

Paris is hosting a diverse array of art exhibitions this month, ranging from Jeffery Gibson's first solo show in France at Hauser & Wirth to a retrospective on photographer Denise Bellon. Other highlights include 'Radical Making' at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, featuring designs by Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé alongside contemporary artists; Gareth Mason's ceramic-focused exhibition at the same gallery; Inez & Vinoodh's 'Think Love' series at India Mahdavi's Project Room #21; and a major Art Deco centenary exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. The guide also notes ongoing photography shows following Paris Photo 2025.

Miami Art Week 2025: Your Essential Guide to the Fairs, Exhibits, and Chaos

Miami Art Week 2025 takes place December 2-7, transforming Miami Beach and Wynwood into a sprawling art hub anchored by Art Basel Miami Beach, which features 281 galleries from 43 countries. The week includes over a dozen major fairs such as SCOPE, NADA, UNTITLED, and Pinta, alongside off-program events like street art battles at the Museum of Graffiti, a collaborative mural by RETNA and El Mac at Wynwood Walls, and David LaChapelle's world premieres at VISU Contemporary. The event follows record-breaking New York auctions totaling over $1.5 billion, including a $236 million Gustav Klimt and a $55 million Frida Kahlo.

Why Hong Kong is one of the greatest places in the world to buy art

Hong Kong has overtaken London to become the world's second-largest contemporary art auction market, according to ArtTactic. The city's commercial art scene is bolstered by outposts of top international galleries like Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian, Pace, and David Zwirner, as well as a successful annual Art Basel fair. Major auction houses including Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams operate significant spaces there, with Sotheby's selling a Claude Monet for $65.5 million in Hong Kong in 2024. The city's art calendar peaks during March's Art Month, which hosts both Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central.

One Fine Show: “Anselm Kiefer, Becoming the Sea” at the Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum has opened “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea,” an exhibition featuring 40 works by the German artist from the 1970s to the present, including over 20 pieces made in the last five years and five monumental site-specific paintings. The show highlights Kiefer's 1991 journey up the Mississippi River during a visit to St. Louis, a formative trip that inspired new works such as the 30-by-27-foot painting *Missouri, Mississippi* (2024), which depicts the artist encountering the Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton, Illinois. The exhibition also includes pieces like *Die Milchstraße* (1985-87) and two works dedicated to beat poet Gregory Corso, whose lines about eternal life gave the show its title.

Pipilotti Rist: 4th Floor to Mildness

Pipilotti Rist's major installation *4th Floor to Mildness* has opened at the Portland Art Museum's Crumpacker Center in its West Coast premiere and only second U.S. exhibition. The immersive work features underwater film projected onto two biomorphic screens, a soundtrack by experimental musician Soap&Skin/Anja Plaschg, and raft-like beds for visitors to lie on while experiencing floating imagery and moving light circles. The exhibition was adapted from its original 2022 presentation at the New Museum in New York, with local production partners including Portland Garment Factory and Figure Plant contributing to the installation.

Digital art is going mainstream

Digital art has achieved mainstream acceptance in the art world, ranking third in total spending among high-net-worth collectors after painting and sculpture, according to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025. Over half of the 3,100 respondents purchased a digital artwork in 2024 or 2025, and the average share of digital art in collections rose from 3% in 2024 to 13% in 2025, signaling a maturation beyond the NFT boom of 2022. Art Basel is launching a new section called Zero 10 at Miami Beach 2025, featuring 12 exhibitors including AOTM, bitforms gallery, and Pace Gallery, with an interactive installation by Beeple. Major museums like MoMA, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou have hosted significant digital art exhibitions, further boosting collector confidence.

Art Collaboration Kyoto holds its most global edition yet

Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) opened its fifth edition at the Kyoto International Conference Center, running until 16 November. The fair, launched in 2021 to connect Japanese and international galleries, has grown to a record 72 exhibitors, half from overseas. Special exhibitions are staged at historic temples across Kyoto, including shows by Isabella Ducrot at Kousei-in, Carrie Yamaoka at Manshu-in, and Shio Kusaka with Jonas Wood at Ryosoku-in. Sales were strong on opening day, with galleries like KAYOKOYUKI, Kurimanzutto, Mendes Wood DM, and TARO NASU reporting brisk transactions.

Van Gogh’s ‘Sower’ will soon go on sale at Sotheby's—where it's set to make record price

Van Gogh's drawing 'Sower in a Wheatfield with setting Sun' (July 1888) will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York on 18 November with an estimate of $8m-$10m. The work, which belonged to the late cosmetics heir and collector Leonard Lauder, is expected to set a new auction record for a Van Gogh drawing if it exceeds the $8.8m achieved by 'La Mousmé' in 2021. The drawing was originally made for the artist Émile Bernard and later passed through notable hands including dealer Ambroise Vollard and critic Théodore Duret before entering the Lauder collection. It will be sold alongside 23 other major works from Lauder's collection, including three important Gustav Klimt paintings, in a sale expected to fetch over $400m.

K11 founder Adrian Cheng on Hong Kong’s art scene, the future of collecting and the creative potential of AI

Adrian Cheng, founder of the K11 property business and a prominent figure in Hong Kong's art scene, discusses his two-decade role in shaping the city's cultural landscape. He founded K11 in 2008 to integrate museum-quality art with retail, developed the Victoria Dockside district and K11 MUSEA, and established the K11 Art Foundation and K11 Craft & Guild Foundation. Cheng has launched new ventures including K11 by AC and the ALMAD Group, and his foundations have partnered with major institutions like the Palais de Tokyo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Serpentine Galleries. He also initiated a regular salon series focused on art and technology, held during events like Frieze Seoul and Asia Now.

Jenny Saville Is Getting a Landmark Exhibition in Venice

Jenny Saville will be the subject of a major new exhibition at Venice’s International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro, opening March 28, 2026 and running through November 22, 2026, alongside the 61st Venice Biennale. The show will feature around 30 paintings spanning her career from the 1990s to the present, including seminal works like *Hyphen* (1999) and *Reverse* (2002–13), and will conclude with a new series created in homage to Venice. The exhibition is curated by Ca’ Pesaro director Elisabetta Barisoni and supported by Gagosian.

Uman’s kaleidoscopic journeys

The article profiles Somali-born, self-taught artist Uman, whose vibrant, pattern-filled paintings are currently the subject of her first institutional solo exhibition, 'Uman: After all the things…', at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The show, curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, features works like *Zam Zam Bom Bom* (2023) and *Melancholia in a Fall Breeze* (2025), alongside a large-scale mural and a sculptural streetlamp. The article also reveals Uman's plan to relocate from upstate New York to the south of France next spring, marking the end of a 20-year chapter in her adopted home.

Five Groundbreaking Postwar Women Artists Lead New York’s Fall Art Season

New York's fall art season features five major exhibitions dedicated to groundbreaking postwar women artists, timed with the November auctions. Shows include Louise Bourgeois at Hauser & Wirth, a Joan Mitchell focus at David Zwirner, and MoMA's long-awaited Ruth Asawa retrospective. The article cites the 2025 Art Basel and UBS Report showing women artist representation in galleries rose to 41% in 2024, with sales growth correlating to higher representation. Artnet data notes 13 women among the top 100 auction sellers in early 2025, up from 10 the prior year.

The elusive artist Cady Noland has made a shock return: will it impact her reputation?

The elusive artist Cady Noland has made a shock return with a sprawling exhibition of almost entirely new work at Gagosian’s 555 West 24th Street space in New York. After withdrawing from the public eye for over a decade and becoming infamous for disavowing her own works and suing collectors over attribution, Noland re-emerged with a survey show at Frankfurt’s Museum of Modern Art in 2018, followed by commercial shows at Galerie Buchholz in 2021 and Gagosian in 2023. Her latest exhibition, featuring 38 entries mostly made this year, was a hit, with many works placed with major collectors and institutions.

Comment | As Cop30 opens in Brazil, it is time for the art world to embrace ethics with aesthetics

COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, opens in Belém, Brazil, with culture officially on its agenda for the first time, thanks to advocacy from the Amazonian activist group Labverde and Art of Change 21. The conference features interventions and performances by eight Brazilian and indigenous artists, including photographer Christian Braga and activist Beto Oliveira, alongside a flurry of artist-led activities in UK galleries and institutions. The article also marks the tenth anniversary of Gustav Metzger's environmental art project "Remember Nature," which mobilized over 140 artists including Judy Chicago, Olafur Eliasson, and Marina Abramović, and was revisited on November 4, 2025, with sixteen English arts institutions hosting public projects.

Exclusive: Philadelphia Art Museum to host sensational Van Gogh exhibition featuring two ‘Sunflowers’

The Philadelphia Museum of Art will host a major exhibition titled *Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow* from June 6 to October 11, 2026, bringing together two iconic Sunflower paintings: the museum’s own turquoise-background version (January 1889) and the original yellow-background version (August 1888) from London’s National Gallery. This marks a rare international loan for the London painting, which has only traveled abroad four times since 1924. The exhibition will explore Van Gogh’s use of color and brushwork, and will reunite the two canvases in a triptych arrangement with *La Berceuse* (January 1889, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), as originally envisioned by the artist in a letter to his brother Theo.

The Broad Sets Yoko Ono’s First SoCal Solo Exhibition ‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ for 2026

The Broad museum in Los Angeles will present 'Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind' in spring 2026, marking the artist's first solo museum exhibition in Southern California. Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, the show spans Ono's seven-decade career across visual art, music, and activism, featuring participatory works like 'Wish Trees for Los Angeles' on the East West Bank Plaza and materials from her peace campaigns with John Lennon, including 'Acorn Event' (1968) and 'Bed Peace' (1969).