Sotheby’s May Auctions: Rothko’s $100M Masterpiece Headlines

Sotheby's is holding its most ambitious May auction series in New York, headlined by Mark Rothko's monumental painting *Brown and Blacks in Reds* (1957), estimated at $70–100 million. The sales include a dedicated auction for the collection of legendary dealer and collector Robert Mnuchin, valued at over $130 million, featuring works by Rothko, Franz Kline, and Jeff Koons. Other highlights include Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)* (1983), estimated at over $45 million, and Willem de Kooning's *Untitled III* (1975), making its auction debut with a $25–35 million estimate. The series spans Modern and Contemporary art, with additional works by Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.

Arnaldo Pomodoro | Arnaldo Pomodoro - Untitled for Art and Research (Ca… (2003) | For Sale

Arnaldo Pomodoro's 2003 etching "Untitled for Art and Research (Ca…" is being offered for sale. The work is an artist's proof on wove paper, signed and annotated p.a., one of only 15 proofs aside from the regular edition of 150. It was created to support the "Art and Research" event in Milan, sponsored by the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute, and published by Art 3, Alberto Serighelli. The piece is framed under UV Plexiglass and measures 12.75 x 12.5 x 1.5 inches framed.

Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony

Acquavella Galleries in New York presents "Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony," an exhibition running from April 9 to May 22, 2026, featuring fifty works by Henri Matisse including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. The show is organized across two floors, with early pieces on the ground floor north gallery, sculptures and early works on the second floor north, later works on the second floor south, and a concluding display of the four bronze castings of Matisse's "Back" series on the ground floor south. Key highlights include the painting *Male Model* (ca. 1900) paired with the bronze *The Serf* (1900–04), and the portrait *Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg* (1914), which demonstrate Matisse's transformative approach to traditional genres.

The Top Collections Leading the May Marquee Auctions

The article reports that the May 2025 marquee auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's are being driven by a resurgence of major single-owner collections, reversing a period of trophy scarcity in the secondary market. Key collections include the $130 million Robert E. Mnuchin collection at Sotheby's, the personal collection of gallerist Marian Goodman at Christie's, and the S.I. Newhouse collection expected to generate around $450 million, featuring Jackson Pollock's 'Number 7A (1948)' and Constantin Brancusi's 'Danaïde (1913)'. The article notes that the ultra-high tier above $10 million rose 30% year-on-year, and single-owner collections in New York auctions totaled $730.9 million, an 89.9% increase from Q1 2025.

Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials

The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles presents "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials," a spring 2026 exhibition running from April 5 to August 23. Curated by Jill Spalding, the show features works by artists including Edgar Calel, Guadalupe Maravilla, Carmen Argote, and others, exploring the concept of "Brownness"—a fluid identity rooted in ancestral memory, animal kinship, and a profound connection to living materials. The exhibition is organized into three acts: large-scale installations, paintings and works on paper, and ceramics, offering a visceral and immersive experience that draws on precolonial traditions across the Americas.

DOZIE KANU’S FIRST FORAY INTO MASS-PRODUCTION

Artist Dozie Kanu has debuted his first mass-production collaboration with Knoll, a line of leather-tasseled tables launched in 2026 during Milan's Salone del Mobile, shortly after the opening of his solo exhibition at Fondazione ICA Milano. The Texas-born, Portugal-based artist, who first appeared in PIN–UP magazine in 2018 as an emerging design wunderkind, has since expanded his practice beyond collectible design into art, exhibition-making, film, and music. His recent projects include a documentary short screened at South by Southwest, a two-person exhibition with László Moholy-Nagy at Meyer Voggenreiter's project space piece*unique in Cologne, and a solo show at ICA Milano that dialogues with Marc Camille Chaimowicz and Jean Cocteau, featuring works alongside selections from the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation collection.

Festival of Art and Music ‘tent event’ to connect local artists

Local independent band Elephant's Eye is organizing a free festival of art and live music at CitySpace's Blueroom in Easthampton's Old Town Hall on Saturday, May 16, from 6-9 p.m. The event features art exhibits, live music from local bands, spoken word performances, and a multimedia experience, with a suggested $5 donation. Performers include Dr. James Hartley, Jonny Allen, Kentucky Dave Chandler, and Elephant's Eye Band, who will close the show with paintings circling the stage.

The Dealers: Rajiv Menon Connects Cultures

This article from Contemporary Art Review LA profiles dealer Rajiv Menon, focusing on his role in connecting cultures through art. The piece, part of the magazine's regular 'The Dealers' series, includes photos and text by Claire Preston and appears in Issue 44 (May 2026), alongside other features on contemporary archives, censorship, and reviews of exhibitions in Los Angeles and beyond.

Interview with Reynaldo Rivera

Project a Black Planet review: spits out dreary academic theory where it should sing

The Guardian reviews the Barbican's exhibition "Project a Black Planet," which explores Panafricanism and Négritude in art and culture. The show features works by artists including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, El Anatsui, Abdias Nascimento, and Marlene Dumas, with Yiadom-Boakye's new paintings of fictional figures and ancestral elders singled out as a highlight. The exhibition is organized around theoretical concepts from figures like Aimé Césaire and Stuart Hall, aiming to conjure a utopian "Panafrica."

MoMA to Present the First Survey of Piet Mondrian’s New York Paintings

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced "Mondrian Boogie Woogie," the first survey exhibition focused on Piet Mondrian's New York paintings. Opening March 21 through July 31, 2027, the show will bring together 30 works made or completed between his 1940 move to New York and his death in 1944. It highlights the influence of the city's boogie-woogie music scene on his late style, including iconic pieces like Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942–43) from MoMA's collection and Victory Boogie Woogie (1942–44) on loan from the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. The exhibition also traces the history of boogie-woogie from its roots in the American South to its migration north.

Boy Punctures Magritte’s ‘The Castle of the Pyrenees’ With a Pinecone at the Israel Museum

A young boy visiting the Israel Museum in Jerusalem accidentally punctured René Magritte's painting 'The Castle of the Pyrenees' (1959) with a pinecone before a guard could intervene. The canvas has been sent to the museum's conservation lab, where head conservator Sharon Tager expects repairs to take several weeks, involving stitching and treating the oil paint layers. The work was not behind glass or alarmed to enhance visitor experience.

Wallace Chan exhibitions pair intricate sculptures with Venetian heritage

Wallace Chan, a Hong Kong-based jeweler and sculptor, has mounted a dual exhibition across two historic Venetian sites timed to the Venice Biennale. At Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, he presents "Mythos," a site-specific installation of suspended titanium sculptures that reimagine figures from Tintoretto's paintings, including the Three Graces and Mercury, as abstract, dissolving faces. Inside the palazzo, three sculptures hang beneath Tintoretto's "Paradise," accompanied by a soundscape from Chan's Shanghai workshop. The exhibition is curated by James Putnam, who has long specialized in placing contemporary art in dialogue with historical collections.

Win a Tate membership, Tracey Emin merch and more

The Guardian is running a competition in partnership with Tate to promote the exhibition "Tracey Emin: A Second Life" at Tate Modern. The prize includes a special-edition one-year Tate Membership for the winner and a friend, lunch for two at Tate Modern, a Tracey Emin Teacup and Pancake blanket (worth £200), an exhibition catalogue, a tote bag, and a cap. Entrants must answer a question before 11:59pm on Sunday 5 July 2026, and the competition is open to UK residents aged 18 and over.

‘Central to human identity’: exhibition at the Met connects bodies with musical instruments

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has opened a new exhibition titled 'Musical Bodies,' which explores 4,000 years of musical history by examining the relationship between human bodies and musical instruments. Curated by Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, the show features over 600 instruments from the Met's collection, including African drums, ancient Egyptian clappers, Prince's symbol guitar, Renaissance violins, a Tibetan kangling, and MiMu Midi gloves. The exhibition traces common threads across six continents and highlights how instruments serve as extensions of human identity and creativity.

Cello belonging to artist John Constable to be played for first time in 100 years

John Constable's personal cello, commissioned by the artist in 1802, will be played in public for the first time in a century after a restoration funded by the Friends of Ipswich Museum. The instrument, made by Constable's neighbor and mentor John Dunthorne Sr., had been unplayable since a botched repair in 1926. Restorers James and Sylvie Fawcett, along with cellist Melanie Woodcock, have revived the cello, which is believed to have been played by Constable in a local band in East Bergholt, Suffolk.

Thomas Rom, Art Adviser and Performance Space Chair, On His Top Exhibitions in Venice This Year

Art adviser and Performance Space New York board chair Thomas Rom shares his personal reflections on the 2026 Venice Biennale vernissage week, highlighting the main exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, as well as collateral shows and national pavilions. Rom describes the main exhibition as deeply compelling and essential for understanding a global cultural landscape outside traditional frameworks, and he offers observations on works by artists including Maja Malou Lyse, Abbas Akhavan, Bogna Burska, Daniel Kotowski, Tori Wrånes, and Miet Warlop.

Templon Gallery Shutters New York Branch

Templon Gallery has closed its New York branch in Chelsea, becoming the latest international dealer to downsize its presence in the city amid a prolonged art market downturn. The Paris-based gallery, founded in 1966 by Daniel Templon, opened its 6,500-square-foot space in 2022 but decided to leave after the landlord demanded a substantial rent hike as the lease neared renewal. Mathieu Templon, who oversaw the New York operation, said the gallery was paying $55,000 a month and that the increase was unsustainable. The closure follows similar moves by London-based galleries Stephen Friedman and Timothy Taylor, which also shuttered New York locations after expanding during the post-pandemic boom.

New photography museum in Cincinnati foregrounds the medium’s democratic power

The FotoFocus Center, a new museum dedicated to photography, has opened in Cincinnati after over three years of construction. Designed by local architect Jose Garcia, the building's three-tone palette of black, white, and sepia references the medium's origins, while its materials blend regional elements (black iron bricks, indigenous woods) with foreign stone from Argentina. The inaugural exhibition, "Big Tent," curated by Kevin Moore, features works by dozens of artists including Gordon Parks, Catherine Opie, and Robert Mapplethorpe, and reflects on American diversity through photography. The 14,700-square-foot museum occupies a former gas station lot and gives the non-profit organization FotoFocus a permanent home for year-round programming.

New digital archive reconstructs Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts for the first time in four centuries

A new digital archive called Leonardotheka has launched, reuniting thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts that were cut apart and separated over 400 years ago. The project merges the Codex Atlanticus, held at the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, with around 550 sheets from the Royal Collection at Windsor, UK. Overseen by Museo Galileo in Florence over ten years, it includes 50 confirmed page reconstructions, such as reuniting a drawing of a horse with text about the Regisole monument. The initiative involved the Royal Collection Trust, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, and the Biblioteca Leonardiana.

AI cultural companion Artlas expands pilots as founder argues institutions need trusted AI tools

Artlas, an AI-powered cultural companion launched in 2025 by former Google engineer Grace Yao, is expanding its pilot programs at institutions including the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Dib Bangkok, and the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami. The platform generates personalized audio guides, artwork recognition, navigation, and conversational tools that adapt to visitors' interests, language, time, and knowledge level, supporting over 20 languages. Since December 2025, it has produced more than 25,000 personalized audio guides, offering tailored interpretations of artworks—such as Georges Seurat's *A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte*—for different audiences, from children to specialists.

The Art World’s Quiet Embrace of A.I. Is Not Gender Neutral

Artnet News, in partnership with the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA), published a series examining gender equity in the art world, including a second annual Hardwiring Change survey. The article reports that 62 percent of over 2,000 arts workers surveyed already use AI tools at work, with ChatGPT the most common entry point. However, research shows AI-driven automation disproportionately threatens women, who are more likely to hold jobs vulnerable to disruption and less likely to be early adopters. The piece highlights how commercial AI startups, like Caroline Taylor's Appraisal Bureau, are entering the art market, but warns that AI models trained on historically biased data risk perpetuating gender discrimination—for example, male artists' works are appraised at 45 percent higher values than female artists'.

Leonardo’s ‘Codex Atlanticus’ Is Complete for the First Time in 400 Years

Florence's Galileo Museum has digitally reunited Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus with over 500 pages that were cut from it in the late 16th century, completing the full manuscript for the first time in 400 years. The museum launched Leonardotheka 2.0, adding pages excised by sculptor Pompeo Leoni—now held by the U.K.'s Royal Collection Trust—to the 1,119-page tome owned by Milan's Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana. The reconstruction, which matches dimensions, materials, and watermarks, includes notable reunions such as a drawing of a horse returned to Leonardo's notes on the Regisole monument.

Rediscovered Constable Goes on View for First Time in Decades

A long-lost painting by John Constable, titled *View of Salisbury from Harnham Ridge*, has been rediscovered after more than six decades in a private collection. The work, dated to the 1820s, will go on public view for the first time in decades at Salisbury Museum on June 11, where it will remain on long-term loan until 2030. The rediscovery was spearheaded by Constable specialist Timothy Wilcox, and the painting depicts a rural scene with the River Avon and Salisbury Cathedral's spire, showcasing Constable's characteristic naturalistic cloud studies.

Yemen heritage, US flags at the National Gallery in Washington, Felix Gonzalez-Torres—podcast

This podcast episode from The Art Newspaper covers three distinct topics. First, Ben Luke speaks with reporter Melissa Gronlund about the devastating impact of Yemen's civil war on its heritage, including damaged buildings and looted antiquities, alongside ongoing efforts to protect and restore historical landmarks. Second, the episode previews the exhibition "American Icon: The US Flag in Art" opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., featuring a conversation with chief curatorial and conservation officer E. Carmen Ramos. Third, the Work of the Week segment focuses on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled (Revenge)" (1991), a candy sculpture currently on view in the survey show "Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Sweet Revenge" at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, where curators Alejandro Cesarco and Nancy Spector discuss the work.

A Kennedy-connected Stiehl box and a pair of Van Huysum still-lifes: our pick of the June auctions

The article highlights four notable lots coming up for auction in June 2025. These include a rare gold and hardstone 'Steinkabinett' box by Christian Gottlieb Stiehl from the collection of Maurice Tempelsman (Sotheby's, New York), two Jan van Huysum still-life paintings estimated at around £3 million each (Christie's, London), a Maynard Dixon painting from actress Diane Keaton's collection (Bonhams, New York), and a William Morris glass hanging from the estate of Tina Hills (Phillips, New York). Each piece has a distinctive provenance, from historical royal ownership to celebrity collecting.

Re-Air: How Raphael Made—and Unmade—the Renaissance

This week, Artnet News re-airs a podcast episode in which Kate Brown interviews Ben Davis about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's blockbuster exhibition "Raphael: Sublime Poetry." The show is the first comprehensive international loan exhibition dedicated to Raphael in the United States, featuring 237 works including 33 paintings, 142 drawings, and the Sistine Chapel tapestries. Loans come from the Louvre, the Vatican Museums, the Prado, the Uffizi, and the British Museum, with many works never shown together before and some never previously leaving Europe. Curated by Carmen C. Bambach, the exhibition took 17 years to assemble.

Serial Museum Leader Philippe Vergne Named Artistic Director of the Bass in Miami Beach

The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach has appointed Philippe Vergne, a seasoned French curator and museum leader, to the newly created role of artistic director and chief curator, effective October. Vergne, who has led institutions including the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Marseille, the Walker Art Center, the Dia Art Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and most recently the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, will organize exhibitions and contribute to the museum's $20.1 million expansion designed by Johnston Marklee. The position was developed over six months of discussions between Vergne, executive director Silvia Cubiña, and the board.

Comment | As Pace slashes business, could shrinking be the next growth model?

Pace Gallery is cutting its workforce from approximately 250 to 200 staff and dropping up to 50 of its 135 artists, including teamLab, David Goldblatt, and Grada Kilomba. CEO Marc Glimcher described the current mega-gallery model as “unfixable,” citing unsustainable expansion and rising primary market costs. The gallery will maintain its global presence across seven locations, though it has not confirmed any space closures. This move follows the closure of Tiwani Contemporary in London and Lagos, whose founder Maria Tanava cited rising operational costs and market uncertainties.

MC Escher review – hallucinatory insights from the master of the mind-bending staircase

The Guardian reviews a major MC Escher exhibition at Somerset House in London, part of a world tour. The show presents over 100 works, including the iconic 1958 lithograph *Belvedere*, early nature studies, and cultural artifacts like Pink Floyd's *Ummagumma* album sleeve, revealing Escher's precise geometric vision and his journey from a patient observer of nature to a pop-culture phenomenon. The exhibition features videos, installations, and immersive environments to deepen the viewer's experience of his paradoxical spaces.