It is the great Mark Rothko leading Sotheby's first auctions in New York

È il grande Mark Rothko a guidare le prime aste di Sotheby’s a New York

Sotheby's kicked off New York's art and auction week with two major sales on May 14, 2026, led by the highly anticipated Robert Mnuchin: Collector at Heart Evening Auction. The top lot was Mark Rothko's "Brown and Blacks in Reds" (1957), which sold for $85.8 million, the second-highest price ever for the artist at auction. The Mnuchin auction achieved a "white glove" sale, selling all 11 lots for a total of $166.3 million, followed by The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction which brought in $266.8 million. Combined, Sotheby's generated $433.1 million, a 133% increase over its May 2025 session. The sales reflect a strong return of high-value trophy lots to the secondary market, driven by the dispersal of prominent collectors' estates.

Art Busan Is Building a More Sustainable Art Market

Art Busan, celebrating its 15th anniversary, will be held from May 21 to 24, 2026, at BEXCO in Busan, South Korea, bringing together over 110 galleries from 18 countries. The fair introduces two new integrated segments: DEFINE, which expands the fair to include collectible design, furniture, and craft, and LIGHTHAUS, which transforms gallery booths into curated spatial experiences to encourage deeper engagement. These initiatives aim to move beyond purely transactional sales and speculative momentum.

Want to See a Variety Show With Barbara Kruger, Anne Imhof, Julio Torres, and More?

Performa, the New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to performance art, is hosting a one-night-only variety show fundraiser on June 10 at Midtown's Town Hall theater. The cabaret-style event will feature 12 acts blending comedy, dance, music, and acrobatics, with participants including visual artists Barbara Kruger, Laurie Simmons, and Marcel Dzama, performance artist Anne Imhof, dancer Yvonne Rainer, actor Julio Torres, and musicians Slauson Malone, Precious Renee Tucker, and Lonnie Holley. The fundraiser supports Performa's biennial, which takes place every other November.

Mary Frank Creates Her Own Pantheon

Mary Frank, an artist in her early 90s known for mythologically rooted sculpture and works on paper, is the subject of a focused exhibition at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in New York. Curated by Steven Harvey, the show presents 11 sculptures in wood, bronze, and ceramic from 1958 to 1985, alongside five works on paper, including a monotype and an oil-on-paper piece. Frank’s work, influenced by her study with Martha Graham, centers on self-sustaining female figures that embody agency, tenderness, and survival, often rendered in ceramic slabs or carved wood.

The Guardian view on the legacy of the Festival of Britain: look to the future | Editorial

The Guardian editorial reflects on the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, launched by King George VI on 3 May 1951 as a "tonic" for a war-weary nation. It highlights the festival's most enduring legacy: the construction of the South Bank, including the Royal Festival Hall, which later became the Southbank Centre—the UK's largest arts complex. This summer, commemorations include poems from London schoolchildren projected onto its walls and a mobile poetry library visiting coastal towns, recreating the journey of the repurposed naval ship Campania. The festival, a triumph for the Labour government, faced critics like Evelyn Waugh and Noël Coward, and much of its physical infrastructure was demolished by the incoming Conservative government, save for the Royal Festival Hall.

Remembering James Hayward, LA’s Adored Cowboy Painter

Abstract painter James Hayward, known for his monochromatic oil and wax impasto works, died last week at age 82. A legendary figure in the LA art scene, Hayward was equally celebrated for his magnetic personality, ribald humor, and storytelling. He rose to prominence in 1977 when included in the group show "Less is More" at Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, and was admired by art-world giants such as Dave Hickey, Chris Burden, Nancy Rubins, Ed Moses, and Mike Kelley. Hayward also taught at colleges across the country, including a guest seminar at the University of Southern California, and was a longtime supporter of the LA contemporary art magazine Artillery.

Dartmouth Students Turn to Moldy Beef Jerky Installation in Renewed Bid to Remove Leon Black’s Name from Arts Center

Art students at Dartmouth College installed a provocative piece titled "Something Rotten" in the Black Family Visual Arts Center, consisting of 20 moldy beef sticks arranged into a smiley face over the dedication wall honoring billionaire financier Leon Black and his family. The work, created by students Erik Siegel, Angeles Juarez-Ruiz, and Roan Wade, was removed one week after the exhibition "Storage Room" opened on April 14. The piece references Black's documented friendship and business dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the wall label quoting an Epstein email mentioning "jerky." The installation is part of a broader student and alumni campaign to remove Black's name from the arts center, which was funded by a $48 million gift from Black and his wife Debra.

These Are the Winners of the 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced its 2026 fellowship recipients, naming 223 individuals across 55 disciplines. The cohort includes 76 professionals from the visual arts, photography, and fine arts research sectors, featuring notable figures such as Sheida Soleimani, American Artist, Kenneth Tam, and Sonya Clark. This year's selection process was notably competitive, drawing 5,000 applicants—a significant increase from previous years.

Steve DiBenedetto’s Cosmic Sense of the Absurd

Artist Steve DiBenedetto presents a new body of work in his solo exhibition, "Spiral Architect," at Derek Eller Gallery. The show features 17 paintings ranging from large-scale canvases to intimate works, all characterized by a restless movement between abstraction and figuration. DiBenedetto utilizes a process-heavy technique of adding, scraping, and reworking oil paint to create dense, visionary landscapes filled with octopi, cellular forms, and Rube Goldberg-esque machinery.

Who Do Chicago’s Art Fairs Serve?

Expo Chicago and its satellite fairs serve as a complex barometer for the Midwestern arts ecosystem, highlighting both the successes of local representation and the tensions of institutional growth. While galleries like Andrew Rafacz and Corbett vs. Dempsey demonstrate viable career paths for Chicago-based artists like Melissa Leandro and Gabrielle Garland, the fair's shifting structure reveals a narrowing field for smaller nonprofits.

parties bvlgari chateau marmont

Bvlgari and CULTURED magazine co-hosted a launch party for Bvlgari's new Icons Minaudière collection at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The event, held in Penthouse 64, brought together a mix of Hollywood actors, visual artists, art dealers, and fashion insiders, with guests including Camila Mendes, Lauren Halsey, Emma Webster, and dealers Shaun Regen and Hannah Hoffman. Attendees enjoyed cocktails, dinner, and a rare pink moon sighting, and left with a co-developed mini-magazine.

art where artists hang out nyc

Cultured magazine surveyed 30 New York-based artists to find out where they hang out in 2026, as affordable and easy gathering places have become scarce. The responses range from iconic spots like the Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to more offbeat locales such as a karaoke bar on Bowery, a Cantonese noodle house in Chinatown, and a church hosting vogue sessions. Artists including Coco Klockner, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Tiffany Sia, Amanda Ba, Lucy Bull, and others share their personal favorites, highlighting a diverse mix of libraries, restaurants, bars, and community spaces.

art fashion cato ouyang zoe gustavia anna whalen

The New Museum in New York is reopening on March 21 with a major expansion—a 60,000-square-foot addition designed by OMA, doubling its footprint. To celebrate, the museum paired three artists featured in its inaugural exhibition "New Humans: Memories of the Future" with three independent fashion designers for studio conversations. The article presents one such dialogue between artist Cato Ouyang and designer Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen, who discuss their New York origin stories and the challenges of creative life in the city.

art nicole saikalis bay london milan beirut patron

Nicole Saikalis Bay, an architect and patron, divides her time between Milan, London, Beirut, and Paris, where she has built a triple-pronged artist support network: the Saikalis Bay Foundation, a Milan exhibition space called Circolo, and the nonprofit WeAre Projects. Her collection began as a private impulse to live with art, focusing on modern Italian masters like Enrico Castellani and Fausto Melotti, and has expanded to contemporary artists such as William Kentridge, Nari Ward, and Tacita Dean. This month, Circolo presents work by ten rising artists of Lebanese heritage, reflecting her commitment to supporting artists from regions in need.

ulysses jenkins dead video artists

Ulysses Jenkins, a pioneering video artist, muralist, and performer, has died at the age of 79. His passing was confirmed by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the institution that hosted his major 2022 retrospective, "Without Your Interpretation." Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jenkins dedicated his career to using the camera as a tool for social commentary, famously documenting the Watts Festival to counter negative media stereotypes and exploring the complex relationship between mass media and Black American identity.

art lauren halsey los angeles park

Lauren Halsey, an artist known for immersive architectural projects rooted in South Central Los Angeles, is expanding her civic engagement with a new sculpture park titled "sister dreamer," opening in March in collaboration with the nonprofit LAND. The article, presented as a studio visit, details her creative process, influences, and upcoming projects, including a limited-edition cycling jersey with Rapha and the Miami Design District to raise funds for cancer research. It also highlights her recent exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Venice Biennale, and the Serpentine Galleries.

louvre museum closes gallery greek antiquities

The Louvre Museum in Paris has temporarily closed a gallery housing Greek antiquities and several offices after an audit revealed structural weaknesses in beams on the second level of the southern Sully wing. The affected gallery, the Campana Gallery, which displays antique Greek ceramics, was shut as a precaution, and 65 employees have been relocated while experts assess the damage. The closure comes amid a difficult period for the museum, following a $102 million theft of France's crown jewels in October and a scathing report criticizing leadership for prioritizing acquisitions over security upgrades.

art nicole eisenman 52 walker politics

Nicole Eisenman's solo exhibition "STY" is on view at 52 Walker in New York through January 10, 2026. The show features recent paintings including "The Auction" (2025) and "Archangel (The Visitors)" (2024), which blend styles from realism to post-Cubist caricature. Curated by Ebony L. Haynes, the gallery is transformed into a single room lined with Homasote board, creating an intimate studio-like atmosphere that includes reference ephemera from Eisenman's Brooklyn studio, such as a printout of Martin Kippenberger's 1984 abstraction.

anastasia samoylova casa tua breakfast with

Anastasia Samoylova, an artist who works in photography and painting, is presenting her rarely shown "Breakfasts With" series at Casa Tua Aspen this summer. The series, begun in 2015 after she received her green card, combines breakfast food with photo books by notable creatives, creating still-life "conversations" that serve as daily creative prompts. The exhibition follows her dual show with Walker Evans at the Met, which showcased two differing visions of Florida. In an interview, Samoylova discusses how the series developed from a meditative morning ritual into a practice that helped her ground herself after leaving a tenured teaching position, and how intuitive pairings—like a cut mango with Barbara Kasten's work—emerged from spontaneity rather than conceptual planning.

art cool summer activities new york museum guide

Cultured's guide to summer art activities in New York highlights five museum exhibitions, each paired with the gallery's air-conditioned temperature setting. Featured shows include Temitayo Ogunbiyi's first institutional solo at the Noguchi Museum, MoMA's "Woven Histories" exploring textile art, Saya Woolfalk's "Empathetic Universe" at the Museum of Arts and Design, Ben Shahn's "On Nonconformity" at the Jewish Museum, and "Vermeer's Love Letters" at the newly renovated Frick Collection.

gucci aspen cocktail anna freedamn anderson ranch

On Tuesday, Gucci, CULTURED magazine, and Anna Freedman hosted a cocktail party at the Gucci Aspen boutique to celebrate the Anderson Ranch Summer Series, curated by CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson for the second consecutive year. The event honored artist Kelly Akashi and MoMA PS1 Chief Curator Ruba Katrib, who will lead upcoming conversations in the series. The boutique was transformed into an intimate salon, with guests including collectors, museum curators, and patrons mingling over champagne and hors d'oeuvres, while a violin performance set the tone for the evening.

laura de gunzburg gabriel chipperfield art family young collectors

Laura de Gunzburg, a 35-year-old cultural advisor and daughter of arts patron Nathalie de Gunzburg, and Gabriel Chipperfield, a 36-year-old developer and son of architect David Chipperfield, discuss their art collection and collecting philosophy in an interview. The couple, who support institutions like the Dia Art Foundation, Serpentine Galleries, and Turner Contemporary, share insights on their first purchases, rookie mistakes, and the artists they follow, including Alvaro Barrington, Alicja Kwade, and Mary Stephenson.

GRACIELA ITURBIDE: EYES TO FLY

GRACIELA ITURBIDE: OJOS PARA VOLAR

The C/O Berlin gallery is presenting "Eyes to Fly With (Ojos para volar)," the first major retrospective in Germany of renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. The exhibition, curated by Sophia Greiff and Melissa Harris in close collaboration with Iturbide, runs from February 7 to June 10 and features her iconic works like "Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas" alongside lesser-known series on fashion, the cholo community in Los Angeles, and her travels in India and Bangladesh.

Everything is Common

TODO ES COMÚN

The exhibition 'Todo es común' (Everything is Common) is on view until June 21, 2026, at the Sala Europa in Badajoz, Spain. Curated by Adonay Bermúdez, it brings together works by fifteen international artists to examine the agricultural landscape as a space where practices, memories, and political tensions intersect, moving beyond its purely material condition.

Pinta Panama Art Week 2026 Reaffirms the Country as a Hub for Regional Contemporary Art

PINTA PANAMA ART WEEK 2026 REAFFIRMS THE COUNTRY AS A HUB FOR REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART

The second edition of Pinta Panamá Art Week will be held from March 18-22, 2026, featuring works by Panamanian artists like Cisco Merel, Lulu Molinares, Arístides Ureña Ramos, and Isabel de Obaldía. Their projects, ranging from sculpture and textiles to immersive installations and studio visits, explore themes of memory, territory, and everyday life through the manipulation of materials and space.

Why Do the Women Have to Be Naked?

"Warum müssen die Frauen nackt sein?"

A series of cultural controversies highlight growing tensions between artistic freedom and political pressure. In Germany, cultural minister Wolfram Weimer faces criticism for opaque funding decisions and alleged interference in jury processes, with critics arguing this undermines artistic freedom and free speech. Simultaneously, the European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück defends filmmaker Basma al-Sharif against accusations of antisemitism, illustrating how cultural funding can become a test of political ideology.

Au Mémorial de Caen, les artistes africains font face à l’histoire de la colonisation

The Mémorial de Caen, a museum dedicated to World War II and the Cold War, has opened a new exhibition titled "(Dé)colonisations: des artistes africains interrogent l'histoire" (Decolonizations: African Artists Question History). Curated by Ayoko Mensah and Jean-Yves Marin, the show features 80 works by contemporary artists of sub-Saharan African origin, including Omar Victor Diop and Roméo Mivekannin. Swiss collector Jean Claude Gandur, who is building a foundation adjacent to the museum, lent 23 works, and his foundation's curator Olivia Fahmy helped organize the exhibition. The show is a prelude to a planned permanent section on colonial history at the memorial.

This week's openings in Parisian galleries

Les vernissages cette semaine dans les galeries parisiennes

This week's openings in Parisian galleries feature a wide range of exhibitions across the Marais, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and other districts. Highlights include Galerie Alain Margaron's group show "Du modèle à l'autoportrait" exploring the body in works by André Derain, Jean Hélion, Fred Deux, and Zoran Mušič; Kim Myoung Nam's first solo show at Galerie UNIVER / Colette Colla, presenting perforated paper pieces; and Galerie Wagner's collective exhibition dedicated to Latin American artists Milton Becerra, Olga Luna, and Claudia Lavegas. Other notable shows include Louis Pion's ink-on-envelope series at Galerie Incognito Artclub, Léonore Chastagner's raw ceramics at Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, and solo presentations by Quentin Gouevic and Jérôme Zonder at Galerie Nathalie Obadia.

Fairfield University Art Museum invites readers to private tour

Fairfield University Art Museum is offering an exclusive private tour to readers, as reported by the Westport Journal. The event provides a behind-the-scenes look at the museum's collections and exhibitions, allowing attendees to engage directly with curators and artworks in an intimate setting.

SFMOMA reimagines our connection to 250 works of art across four floors.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has unveiled "Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10," a major reinstallation of approximately 250 works from 35 artists across four floors. The project was led by project assistant curator Ted Mann and chief education and public engagement officer Gamynne Guillotte, who collaborated to transform how the collection is presented. Changes include rotating galleries, such as the Agnes Martin room, to improve sightlines, and incorporating artists' voices, archival video, and interpretive tools to make abstract works more accessible. The reinstallation marks the tenth anniversary of the Fisher Collection's long-term loan to SFMOMA, originally arranged in 2009 and later extended to 100 years.