Jean-Paul Engelen, currently president for the Americas and worldwide co-head of modern and contemporary art at Phillips auction house, will join Acquavella Galleries as a director starting July 1. Engelen spent a decade at Phillips, where he helped increase auction sales by 72 percent between 2015 and 2021, and previously worked at Christie’s for 16 years and at Qatar Museums.
Expo Chicago 2025 wrapped on Sunday with upbeat energy and larger crowds than usual, thanks to a scheduling change that allowed VIPs earlier access. The fair, now in its second edition under Frieze ownership, featured 170 exhibitors, a new magazine with artist profiles of Caroline Kent and Nick Cave, and a partnership with KIAF and the Galleries Association of Korea that brought 20 Korean galleries. Dealers reported healthy sales, including a sold-out presentation by Jaylon Hicks at Maximilian Williams gallery, with works priced from $3,000 to $20,000. Frieze leaders attended major events, signaling continued commitment to Chicago nearly two years after acquiring the fair.
2025 Art21 at the Movies
On October 8 and 10, 2025, Art21 hosted its second 'Art21 at the Movies' event in New York. The two-day program featured film premieres, artist talks, and screenings at venues including the Metrograph and the Museum of Modern Art. It highlighted artists from the 'Art in the Twenty-First Century' series and included discussions with filmmakers and curators.
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence suffered a significant cyberattack in February, with hackers reportedly stealing access codes, internal maps, CCTV camera information, and the institution's entire photographic archive. The attackers issued a ransom demand to director Simone Verde. In response, the museum moved valuable jewels to the Bank of Italy, sealed emergency exits at the Palazzo Pitti with bricks, and closed a section of the palace, though it attributes some actions to planned renovations and fire-safety compliance.
The US Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, often called the 'art world Olympics,' is mired in controversy and delays under the Trump administration. Curator Jeffrey Uslip insists the process has been smooth and artistically autonomous, but the selection of sculptor Alma Allen and commissioner Jenni Parido—a former pet supply shop owner with a new nonprofit—has raised eyebrows. The usual vetting process by the National Endowment for the Arts was disrupted, new language banning diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts was added to applications, and a government shutdown left only six months to fundraise and plan the exhibition, which coincides with the US's 250th anniversary.
A rediscovered 16th-century portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, titled *Portrait of a Canon Regular* (1552), is being shown at the Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. The painting was found in a private collection in Durham, North Carolina, after being known only through an old black-and-white photo at the Frick Art Reference Library. Old Master dealer Robert Simon is acting as the owners' agent, and the work is priced at $450,000.
Artnet News ranks the top 10 works of Renaissance master Titian, using criteria of suggestiveness, mystery, and pop culture relevance. The list includes paintings such as "Pietà" (1575–76), "Danaë" (1544–46), "Assumption of the Virgin" (1516–18), and "The Rape of Europa" (1560–61), with commentary on their composition, history, and cultural impact.
WWD asked top international gallerists, collectors, and artists to name the cities they find most exciting for contemporary art. Karen and Christian Boros recommend Naples and the Amalfi Coast, highlighting galleries like Galleria Giangiacomo Rossetti, Thomas Dane Gallery, and Lia Rumma, as well as Fondazione Morra Greco and Le Sirenuse hotel. Daniel Arsham points to Sugar Beach in St. Lucia for its large contemporary sculpture collection. Jean-Michel Othoniel champions South Korea, citing Seoul's Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Kukje Gallery, and the Kiaf Seoul fair, plus the city of Busan. Emma Lavigne of the Pinault Collection names Venice, especially during the Biennale Arte di Venezia, as an essential destination.
Phillips’ Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 19 achieved a white-glove result, totaling $115.2 million across 41 lots—a 122 percent increase from May 2025. The sale saw strong performances from works by Lee Bontecou, Salman Toor, and Cecily Brown, with Bontecou’s 1985 pastel on canvas setting a record for a two-dimensional work by the artist at $4.2 million. Other top lots included Andy Warhol’s *Sixteen Jackies* (1964) at $16.2 million, a Monet landscape at $9.3 million, and a Joan Mitchell at $6.9 million. Notably, less than half of the lots were guaranteed, with Phillips’ Priority Bidding incentive—offering a 4 percent discount on buyer’s premium—contributing to the strong results, as more than half of the lots attracted such bids.
Vanity Fair's Nate Freeman reports on New York's spring art season, where auction houses are poised to sell at least $2.6 billion in art alongside major museum exhibitions (Raphael at the Met, Duchamp at MoMA, Matisse at Acquavella) and the opening of Frieze New York at The Shed. The article follows the social and commercial frenzy, highlighting a David Shrigley gong installation at Anton Kern Gallery's booth and the enduring dominance of New York, where nearly 90% of U.S. art sales occur.
This article is a sales listing for Damien Hirst's sculpture "Hands in Prayer (Coral)" (2010), a limited-edition bronze work from his series "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable." The piece is offered by Kristy Stubbs Gallery in Dallas, Texas, priced at $225,000. The listing includes details about the work's materials, dimensions, edition number (2/3), and condition, along with a biography of Hirst highlighting his career as a Young British Artist, his major exhibitions at institutions like Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Art, and his record-breaking auction sales.
The 2026 Venice Biennale is embroiled in controversy, with the US Pavilion at the center of a political storm. The Trump administration's State Department overhauled the selection process, bypassing the usual NEA panel and commissioning a nonprofit, the American Arts Conservancy, to organize the pavilion. Artist Alma Allen, who accepted the invitation despite threats from galleries and curators, presents a show that critics find politically muted. The Biennale's jury resigned days before the opening, and annual prizes were canceled, adding to the turmoil.
The 61st Venice Biennale opens amid significant turmoil. The entire jury of the International Art Exhibition resigned after a statement about withholding prizes from countries with leaders charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC, leading to the cancellation of the Golden Lion awards in favor of 'Visitors' Lions' to be given at the exhibition's end. The event has been further marred by the sudden death of artistic director Koyo Kouoh from liver cancer in early 2025, and the death of artist Henrike Naumann, who was set to debut work in the German pavilion. Additionally, the selection process for the American pavilion artist, Mexico-based sculptor Alma Allen, sparked controversy after a delayed grant application process.
The Los Angeles art scene is preparing for a major surge of activity anchored by the return of Frieze Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Airport from February 26 to March 1. The week features a dense schedule of satellite fairs including the inaugural West Coast edition of Indianapolis’s Butter Fine Art Fair, the boutique Post-Fair in a historic Art Deco post office, and the poolside Felix Art Fair at the Hollywood Roosevelt. Major gallery presentations include James Turrell at Pace, Sam Gilliam at David Kordansky, and a high-profile opening for Christina Quarles at Hauser & Wirth.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) celebrated the opening of its new David Geffen Galleries with a star-studded gala that raised nearly $11.5 million. The event brought together architect Peter Zumthor, museum director Michael Govan, and a high-profile mix of Hollywood celebrities, artists, and major donors. The $720 million building, Zumthor's first major project in the United States, marks the culmination of a decades-long development process and is set to open to the public next week.
Michael Armitage is the subject of a major solo retrospective at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, marking his largest exhibition in Europe to date. Organized by the Pinault Collection, the show features monumental paintings that blend African identity, local Kenyan chronicles, and mythological narratives. Armitage’s work is noted for its physical scale and its ability to transform the chaos of human affairs into a syncretic epic, utilizing traditional materials like Lubugo bark cloth to ground his contemporary subjects.
Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London achieved a rare 'white-glove' result, with all 53 lots finding buyers for a total of £131 million ($175 million). The auction was highlighted by a selection of four School of London masterpieces from the private collection of billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur. These works, including a 1972 Francis Bacon self-portrait and two Lucian Freud portraits, realized a combined £35.8 million ($47.8 million) and established a new auction record for artist Leon Kossoff.
Billionaire Joe Lewis, the former owner of Tottenham Hotspur, is set to auction four significant works from the School of London at Sotheby’s London on March 4. The selection is headlined by a 1972 Francis Bacon self-portrait estimated at £8 million, alongside major paintings by Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. This marks the first time Lewis has publicly sold works from his renowned collection, which is estimated to be worth approximately $1 billion and is famously housed in part on his superyacht.
Art Basel Qatar opened its inaugural edition to VIPs in Doha, featuring an unconventional 'boothless' format with 87 exhibitors each presenting a solo artist. The fair, curated by artist Wael Shawky, is split between two venues in the Msheireb district, with blue-chip galleries in M7 and more emerging to mid-tier galleries in the Design District. The event is heavily subsidized by Qatar, significantly lowering costs for exhibitors and encouraging a focus on market education over immediate sales.
Artsy has published a list of 11 must-see museum exhibitions scheduled for 2026, highlighting major retrospectives and biennials. The article opens by reflecting on 2025's trend of amplifying marginalized voices, citing exhibitions like "Paris Noir" at the Centre Pompidou and the Turner Prize win of neurodivergent artist Nnena Kalu. For 2026, the piece notes a shift toward large-scale retrospectives of established figures, including Tracey Emin's "A Second Life" at Tate Modern and "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, alongside major biennials such as the 61st Venice Biennale, the 18th Lyon Biennale, and the 16th Gwangju Biennale.
Fall 2025 brings a wave of major monographic museum exhibitions worldwide, featuring artists such as Allan Rohan Crite, Wifredo Lam, Suzanne Jackson, Woody De Othello, and Theaster Gates. Highlights include the first mainstream museum shows for Crite in his hometown of Boston, the first solo museum exhibition for Gates in Chicago, and the first U.S. retrospective for Lam at MoMA. Other notable shows include surveys of Robert Colescott, Coco Fusco, Richard Hunt, Jacob Lawrence, and Cauleen Smith, spanning institutions from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town.
The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is presenting "Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea," a landmark exhibition featuring new, large-scale paintings and sculptures by the renowned German artist. The works, including 30-foot-tall paintings like "Missouri, Mississippi" (2024) and "Lumpeguin, Cigwe, Animiki" (2025), were created specifically for SLAM's soaring Sculpture Hall after Kiefer revisited St. Louis in 2023. The exhibition draws on Kiefer's 1991 visit to the city, where he was deeply impressed by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and brings together themes of rivers, borders, memory, and cultural metaphor.
Art Basel Paris has rewarded top dealers with significant sales during its new VVIP preview slot, Avant-Première, held on October 21. Hauser & Wirth led with over $30 million in sales, including Gerhard Richter's "Abstrakte Bild" (1987) for $23 million, while David Zwirner sold a Ruth Asawa sculpture for $7.5 million. Goodman Gallery sold two works by William Kentridge to museums, and White Cube placed Julie Mehretu's "Charioteer" (2007) for $11 million. However, some dealers like Philomene Magers found the opening too crowded, and adviser Aileen Agopian noted the market remains far from the frenzy of previous years, with no single sale surpassing the $40 million Mark Rothko painting brought by Pace two years ago.
Art Basel Paris 2025 returns to the Grand Palais, with off-site events across the city. For those without fair tickets, galleries throughout Paris are hosting notable shows alongside the fair, including Gerhard Richter at David Zwirner, Robert Rauschenberg's 'Gluts' series at Thaddaeus Ropac, Hans Op de Beeck at Templon, and Heinz Mack at Almine Rech. The article highlights ten must-see gallery exhibitions running concurrently with the fair.
MoMA is opening "Ruth Asawa: Retrospective" on October 19, 2025, running through February 7, 2026, featuring 275 works by the artist, including over 60 looped-wire sculptures, bronze casts, paper folds, and drawings. The exhibition, which previously appeared at SFMoMA, occupies 16,000 square feet on MoMA's sixth floor and is the largest show ever devoted to a woman artist at either institution by checklist count, though neither museum has emphasized this superlative.
Frieze Week London returns from October 15-19 at Regent's Park, but the city's galleries and museums are mounting a robust slate of concurrent exhibitions. Highlights include "Nigerian Modernism" at Tate Modern (October 8, 2025–May 10, 2026), the first UK survey of mid-century Nigerian modern art featuring over 200 works by 50 artists; "Emily Kam Kngwarray" at Tate Modern, Europe's first major solo show for the Aboriginal artist; "Kerry James Marshall: The Histories" at the Royal Academy of Arts, the artist's largest US exhibition outside the U.S.; and "House of Music" at Serpentine South Gallery, a multisensory presentation of Peter Doig's work. The article also previews several other shows across London.
Kenny Schachter's article opens with a broad critique of the political climate under the Trump administration, linking it to a chilling effect on free speech and democracy, before pivoting to the art world. He notes the absence of a U.S. representative for the 61st Venice Biennale, mentions Marilyn Minter's protest piece, and references David Hockney's *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* at Christie's. The piece also touches on market negativity, the resilience of art, and skepticism about the Middle East as a market savior.
This week's art news is dominated by the opening of Art Basel 2025, where dealers reported a strong start with numerous six-figure sales, including a David Hockney painting at Annely Juda Fine Art for $13–17 million and a $9.5 million Ruth Asawa sculpture at David Zwirner. Other major developments include the Museum of Modern Art announcing a major Marcel Duchamp survey for 2026, the reopening of a historic Paris building (temporary home for Centre Pompidou) after a £395 million rebuild, and the Studio Museum in Harlem receiving a significant gift from Vancouver real estate magnate Bob Rennie. The article also covers gallery representation changes, awards, and the passing of sculptor Joel Shapiro and businessman/art patron Leonard Lauder.
Art Basel 2025 opened with strong preview-day sales, surprising many galleries after a tough year in the art market. Dealers reported a 'buyer's market' with price reductions and flexibility, while high-priced works by Jeff Koons, Michael Armitage, Adrian Ghenie, and Frank Bowling sold. The fair introduced a new section called Premiere for works made in the past five years, aimed at easing participation for small to mid-sized galleries. Satellite fairs including Africa Basel, Liste, Volta, and Maze Design Basel also launched or celebrated anniversaries. Other highlights include the Baloise Art Prize awarded to Rhea Dillon and Joyce Joumaa, a Holbein drawings rehang at Kunstmuseum Basel, and a visa denial for artist Richard Mudariki. Qatar took center stage ahead of a new fair in 2026, and limited-edition Labubu figurines caused a frenzy at the Art Basel Shop.
Frieze New York (7-11 May) opens its 13th edition at The Shed with around 65 galleries, including mega-galleries Gagosian, David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, and White Cube. The fair arrives amid a turbulent art market: global art sales declined 12% in 2024 per Clare McAndrew's Art Market Report, and President Trump's tariff decisions have roiled the stock market. Frieze's owner Endeavor recently sold the fair to a new company founded by former CEO Ari Emanuel. Despite this, US fair director Christine Messineo expresses optimism, citing strong sales at Frieze Los Angeles in February. The Focus section features 12 emerging galleries, seven of which are first-time participants, including King's Leap, Management, Voloshyn Gallery (Kyiv), and Public Gallery (London).