16 Hidden Art Gems You Can Visit for Free During Open House New York

Open House New York returns for 2025 from October 17 to 19, offering free or low-cost access to over 340 venues across all five boroughs, including architectural landmarks, cultural institutions, and hidden spaces not normally open to the public. Highlights include the filtration system at Astoria Pool, behind-the-scenes tours of a Goodwill in Brooklyn, a passive house in Harlem, and art-focused sites such as MTA Arts and Design subway tours, the Whitney Museum's flood mitigation system by Renzo Piano, and the Morbid Anatomy Museum. The event features 164 drop-in venues and 178 ticketed sites at $7 per person, with tickets released on October 3.

Smithsonian American Art Museum Debuts Monumental New Commission by Nick Cave in February 2026

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will debut "Nick Cave: Mammoth," a monumental new commission by artist Nick Cave, in February 2026. This marks Cave's first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., and represents the museum's largest-ever commission by a single artist. The installation combines sculpture, video, and found objects, drawing on Cave's childhood in Chariton County, Missouri, and exploring themes of family history, landscapes, and craft traditions. The exhibition will be on view from February 13, 2026, through January 3, 2027, and is organized by curator Sarah Newman.

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.

‘Landmark’ Tate exhibition to chart 40 years of works by Margate artist Dame Tracey Emin

Dame Tracey Emin will present a major retrospective titled 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life' at Tate Modern in London, running from February to August 2026. The exhibition spans 40 years of her career, featuring iconic works like the Turner Prize-nominated 'My Bed' alongside never-before-exhibited pieces across painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation. Emin, who rose to prominence in the 1990s, has recently been appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire and continues to invest in artist spaces in Margate.

Van Gogh’s two pictures of the hospital in Arles—painted while he was recovering after cutting his ear—head to the Courtauld

Van Gogh's two paintings of the hospital in Arles, created after he mutilated his ear, are being lent from the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland, to the Courtauld Gallery in London for the exhibition "Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection" (14 February–26 May). The works—"The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles" and "The Ward in the Hospital at Arles"—were both acquired in the 1920s by Swiss collector Oskar Reinhart and have rarely been lent due to restrictions that have now been modified. The museum in Winterthur is temporarily closed for renovations, enabling this loan.

Culture Type | The Month in Black Art: Here’s What Happened in August 2025

The Studio Museum in Harlem announced it will reopen on November 15, 2025, after being closed since 2018 for construction of its new building on 125th Street. The museum shared details about opening celebrations, community day, suggested admission prices, and hours. In other August 2025 news, Brazilian artist Ana Cláudia Almeida joined Stephen Friedman Gallery (London/New York) alongside Quadra and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel; Ekow Eshun was named curator of British Art Show 10, opening in September 2026 across five UK cities; and Vanity Fair previewed the new Studio Museum building in its September issue, featuring interviews with Director Thelma Golden and artists Karon Davis and Tshabalala Self.

Interisland - Department of Art and Art History

The Art Gallery at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa presents "Interisland: New Paintings from New York & Hawaiʻi," a survey exhibition running from August 31 to December 7, 2025. Featuring approximately 40 painters from New York City and Hawaiʻi, the show explores commonalities and differences in contemporary painting across these geographically distant regions. Curated by Liam Davis, Jan Dickey, and Debra Drexler, the exhibition marks the ten-year anniversary of "New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century" and includes a spectrum of representational and nonrepresentational works from artists such as Cody Anderson, Kiko Bordeos, and Clare Grill.

How the wealth transfer from Boomers to their children will shake up the art market

The article examines how the transfer of wealth from Baby Boomers to younger generations is reshaping the Australian art market. As Boomers downsize or pass away, their tightly held collections—featuring artists like Grace Cossington Smith, Howard Arkley, and Brett Whiteley—are entering auction houses, creating rare buying opportunities. Meanwhile, younger collectors (Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) face economic uncertainty, leading to a softening in the ultra-contemporary market and a decline in NFTs. New models of online and agency representation are bypassing traditional galleries, and galleries themselves are undergoing generational change, with some closing and others like Ames Yavuz and D'Lan Contemporary expanding.

Culture Type | The Month in Black Art, Here’s What Happened in June 2025

The June 2025 edition of Culture Type's 'The Month in Black Art' roundup reports multiple developments: the Detroit Institute of Arts acquired Tiff Massey's installation 'Baby Bling' (2023) for its reimagined Modern and Contemporary galleries opening in 2026; Aperture magazine released a summer issue guest-edited by Tanisha C. Ford focusing on Black style and fashion; Different Leaf, a cannabis culture journal, relaunched with guest editors Nick Cave and Bob Faust; and Sean Kelly Gallery announced representation of artist Lindsay Adams in collaboration with PATRON Gallery. The article also notes updates on the Studio Museum in Harlem, a shakeup at the Afro Brazil Museum, new Art Basel Awards, and Suzanne Jackson's exhibition at SFMOMA.

5 Artists on Our Radar in May 2025

Artsy's May 2025 edition of 'Artists on Our Radar' highlights five emerging visual artists: Julia Jo, Raina Lee, Yaya Yajie Liang, and two others. Julia Jo, a Korean painter based in New York, showed new works at the Independent art fair with Charles Moffett, featuring emotionally charged, abstract figurative paintings. Raina Lee, a Taiwanese American ceramicist, presented pocket-sized glazed stoneware at NADA and Future Fair during New York Art Week, inspired by travel and cultural relics. Yaya Yajie Liang, a Chinese painter based in London, creates oil paintings with fluid brushstrokes exploring bodily sensations and interconnectedness.

Tefaf New York: determination in the face of Trump’s tariff chaos

Tefaf New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory with 91 exhibitors from four continents, presenting 7,000 years of art amid uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's recently announced tariff regime. The fair's director, Leanne Jagtiani, sent a letter to exhibitors acknowledging the "significant impacts" on the industry, assuring them of close communication with shippers and legal advisers, and advocating for the exclusion of artworks from potential EU reciprocal tariffs. While artworks are understood to be exempt, antiques and contemporary works in unconventional materials may be subject to the new tariffs, creating confusion among dealers and collectors.

Tefaf New York wish list: objects and treasures to suit every collector’s taste

Tefaf New York presents a curated wish list of objects and treasures catering to diverse collector tastes. Highlights include Lee Bontecou's monumental mixed-media sculpture 'Untitled (1980-2001)' shown by Ortuzar and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, a rare René Magritte collage from 1926 offered by Di Donna Galleries, an ancient Egyptian bronze Osiris statue from David Aaron, and an Aboriginal painting by Mantua Nangala from Salon 94. Each piece is accompanied by price estimates and provenance details, reflecting the fair's focus on high-quality, historically significant works.

Activity and optimism at Expo Chicago attest to the city's 'fearless' community of collectors and patrons

Expo Chicago's 12th edition opened at Navy Pier on April 24, featuring over 170 galleries from 36 countries, with a strong South Korean contingent supported by the Galleries Association of Korea and notable participation from Canada, Latin America, and smaller US cities. Highlights include a knitted men's locker room installation by Nathan Vincent at Walter Maciel Gallery and a video project by Deborah Oropallo and Andy Rappaport at Catharine Clark Gallery, alongside a tribute to veteran gallerist Rhona Hoffman, who is closing her namesake gallery after nearly 50 years.

New gallery Slip House to open in 1,000sqft, three-story former carriage house during Frieze Week.

Slip House, a new gallery co-founded by Ingrid Lundgren and Marissa Dembkoski, will open to the public on May 9, 2025, during Frieze Week. Located in a 1,000-square-foot, three-story former carriage house at 246 East 5th Street in New York's East Village, the gallery's inaugural exhibition features a multigenerational roster of artists, including historic works by Jack Whitten and Claude Viallat alongside contemporary pieces by Anne Hayden Stevens, Lizzy Gabay, Max Guy, and others. Former Sprüth Magers Director Jessica Draper co-curates the debut presentation. The space includes a second-floor fireplace and kitchen, and a third-floor live/work area that will host a rotating artist residency, with co-founder Dembkoski living onsite during the first year.

Michaelina Wautier review – an astounding lost artist steps out of her male contemporaries’ shadows

A major exhibition at the Royal Academy is presenting the work of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, an artist whose significant oeuvre was long misattributed to her male contemporaries, including her brother Charles. The show acts as a real-time art historical investigation, using scientific analysis, scholarship, and connoisseurship to reconstruct her career and assert her authorship of ambitious works like the monumental 'The Triumph of Bacchus'.

Anni Albers Wasn’t Afraid to Start From Zero

Nicholas Fox Weber's new biography, *Anni Albers: A Life*, draws on his nearly 25-year friendship with the artist to offer an intimate, nuanced portrait of the pioneering textile artist. The book traces Albers's journey from her birth in Berlin in 1899, through her studies and teaching at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, her escape from Nazi Germany in 1933, and her later years in Connecticut. Weber, who serves as executive director of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, fills the biography with lively anecdotes—from her love of Kentucky Fried Chicken to her sharp wit—while correcting the "stock stories" she often repeated, revealing her personality and artistic dedication with rare depth.

A $1B Evening With Nicole Kidman

Hyperallergic's newsletter reports on a record-setting $1 billion evening sale at Christie's on May 18, which included works by Jackson Pollock and Constantin Brancusi alongside Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. Other stories cover an exhibition at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center celebrating Black American artists in Paris, a painted book cover trend analyzed by Tara Anne Dalbow, a Gaza Square sculpture unveiling in Paterson, New Jersey, and a performance event by Bahar Behbahani on Governors Island.

The Carnegie International Looks Back at Itself

The 58th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh looks back at its own 130-year history, featuring a gallery dedicated to past iterations. The exhibition includes Chris Ofili's "The Adoration of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars" (1998), which was originally shown in the 53rd International in 1999, the same year Ofili's more notorious "The Holy Virgin Mary" sparked controversy at the Brooklyn Museum. The article reviews how the current iteration captures the excitement of earlier exhibitions while providing commentary on authoritarianism and militarism.

A Venezia una mostra ripercorre l’opera di Jenny Saville con un inedito omaggio a Tiziano. La recensione

A major solo exhibition of British painter Jenny Saville has opened at Ca' Pesaro in Venice, tracing her career from early works like "Propped" (1992) and "Hybrid" (1997) to new paintings explicitly inspired by Titian. The show, curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, highlights Saville's monumental female nudes, her engagement with Renaissance masters, and her place within the Young British Artists generation that also included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Harry Bertoia Gets His Moment

The city of Detroit is experiencing a significant Harry Bertoia revival, centered around the rediscovery and restoration of a massive 26-foot suspended sculpture. Originally commissioned in 1970 for a Michigan mall and long presumed lost or destroyed during building demolitions, the steel-wire and brass work was found languishing in a basement in 2017. Following an extensive restoration process, the monumental piece has been installed in General Motors' new global headquarters at the historic Hudson’s site, a feat that required complex engineering and a five-story opening in the building's facade.

40 Years Later, Houston's FotoFest Keeps Its Edge

Houston’s FotoFest is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a massive retrospective titled "Global Visions: FotoFest at 40," featuring over 450 artists from 58 countries. Founded by Wendy Watriss and Frederick Baldwin after a transformative trip to the Rencontres d'Arles, the biennial was established to combat American parochialism by introducing international photography to the U.S. The current iteration spans multiple venues, including the Sawyer Yards Galleries and Project Row Houses, showcasing the festival's history of thematic curation ranging from Russian Pictorialism to contemporary Arab media.

Michaelina Wautier Finally Known by Her Name

The Royal Academy of Arts in London has launched a monographic exhibition dedicated to Michaelina Wautier, a 17th-century Brussels-based painter whose work was misattributed to male contemporaries for centuries. Despite her mastery across diverse genres—including portraiture, floral still lifes, and large-scale history paintings typically reserved for men—her identity was obscured by patriarchal societal norms and a lack of biographical documentation. The show highlights her technical brilliance, notably in works like "The Triumph of Bacchus," which was long credited to male artists due to the era's restrictions on women studying nude models.

Revisiting One of Fauvism’s Wildest Painters

The Parisian gallery Helene Bailly Marcilhac is hosting a comprehensive monographic exhibition dedicated to the Dutch-French painter Kees van Dongen. The show traces the artist's career from his early days as a leading figure of the Fauvist movement through his later developments in portraiture, still life, and genre painting. Spanning several decades, the exhibition highlights Van Dongen's evolution from the "terrifying" bold colors of his youth to the more nuanced, expressive works of his later years, such as his 1950s floral studies and racing scenes.

The Rediscovery of the Female Old Masters

Die Wiederentdeckung der Alten Meisterinnen

The Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) has launched a major exhibition titled "Unforgettable: Women Artists from Amsterdam to Antwerp, 1600–1750," showcasing over 40 female Baroque artists who were once highly successful but later faded into obscurity. The show highlights figures like Michaelina Wautier, who defied gender norms by painting large-scale history scenes and male nudes, and Rachel Ruysch, whose floral still lifes commanded prices rivaling those of Rembrandt. These women were not merely exceptions but active participants in the art market, running workshops and securing royal patronage across the Low Countries.

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.

34 Of The Best London Art Exhibitions To See In May 2026

The article highlights 34 of the best London art exhibitions to see in May 2026, focusing on three major shows: the V&A's 'Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art', the first UK exhibition dedicated to designer Elsa Schiaparelli; Tate Modern's 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life', the largest retrospective of the YBA artist's 40-year career; and the Design Museum's 'NIGO: From Japan with Love', a retrospective of Japanese creative NIGO spanning over 700 objects. These exhibitions showcase fashion, contemporary art, and street culture, with the V&A show running until November, Tate Modern until August, and the Design Museum until October.

The best art exhibitions to see in London and beyond in 2026

A preview of major art exhibitions scheduled for 2026 in London and other UK locations has been released. The list highlights significant upcoming shows at major institutions, providing an early look at the cultural calendar for the year.

Embrace the Sparkle at 7 Jewelry-Themed Museum Exhibitions Across the Globe

Seven jewelry-themed museum exhibitions are on view globally in 2025, showcasing pieces from Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, and artist-designed adornments by Man Ray and Pablo Picasso. Highlights include "Cosmic Splendor" at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, featuring astronomically inspired Van Cleef & Arpels creations, and "Cartier" at the V&A in London, displaying over 350 objects including royal commissions and iconic panther jewels. Other shows feature contemporary and vintage designs, emphasizing jewelry as a wearable art form.

From Rembrandt to Warhol, a Paris exhibition asks: what do artists wear?

Annabelle Ténèze, now Director of the Musée du Louvre-Lens, has curated a new exhibition titled 'The Art of Dressing – Dressing like an Artist' at the museum. The show explores how artists from Rembrandt to Warhol use clothing and self-fashioning in their self-portraits and public personas, drawing on examples such as Niki de Saint Phalle's eccentric wardrobe and Rembrandt's deliberate sartorial choices. Ténèze was inspired by her earlier work on de Saint Phalle at Les Abattoirs in Toulouse and by Charlie Porter's book 'What Artists Wear'.

Gagosian reconstitue une œuvre oubliée de Christo

Gagosian Gallery in London has reconstructed Christo's unrealized 1968 work "Air Package on a Ceiling" for the first time. The installation, measuring 16 by 10 meters, was originally conceived for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia but never built due to technical constraints. The maquette and drawings were rediscovered in 2018 by studio manager Lorenza Giovanelli, hidden under a base in Christo's New York studio, and the full-scale work was realized in collaboration with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation.