The flesh artist: Jenny Saville returns to the spotlight with a US$2.7m drawing and major London retrospective

British figurative painter Jenny Saville has returned to the spotlight with a new auction record and a major retrospective. Her charcoal drawing *Mirror* (2011-12) sold for £2.11 million (US$2.7 million) at Sotheby’s London, setting a record for a work on paper by the artist. The sale coincides with *Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting*, a retrospective at London’s National Portrait Gallery running through 7 September, which features 45 works tracing her evolution from early oil paintings to recent charcoals.

Art Basel Diary: star brings K-pop magic, scents and sensibility, and Liam Gallagher’s romantic side

Art Basel 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, saw K-pop star RM (of BTS) visit the fair's Unlimited section, drawing screaming fans and highlighting his role as an art collector. Other notable moments included Friedrich Kunath's romantic portrait of Liam Gallagher (priced at $135,000) on view with Pace gallery, Italian collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo announcing a dual-site exhibition in Turin for her foundation's 30th anniversary, and Fondation Beyeler drawing luminaries like Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Don and Mera Rubell to Jordan Wolfson's VR experience 'Little Room'. The fair also introduced a bespoke fragrance called 'Racing Anticipation' in collaboration with Givaudan, though some staff reported allergic reactions.

Introducing CULTURED’s Inaugural Young Dealers List

CULTURED magazine has launched its inaugural Young Dealers List, highlighting 23 galleries under five years old that are reshaping the art world. Selected from over 100 recommendations gathered from more than 40 collectors, advisors, and curators, the list features ambitious new spaces in cities from Accra to Berlin. One featured gallerist, Adora Mba of ADA \ Contemporary Art Gallery in Accra, comes from a family of collectors and opened her gallery after working as a cultural news producer; she has dedicated her 2025 program to women artists and curators.

8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in June

Galerie magazine has curated a list of eight must-see solo gallery shows across the United States for June, featuring artists from New York to Los Angeles. Highlights include Will Cotton's fantasy paintings of cowboys and mermaids at Templon in New York, Salman Toor's narrative works depicting gay South Asian diaspora life at Luhring Augustine, and Beverly Fishman's hybrid sculptural paintings addressing the pharmaceutical industry at Miles McEnery Gallery.

15 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This Summer

This guide highlights 15 art exhibitions across Upstate New York for summer, featuring moody paintings by Emily Pettigrew at Fenimore Art Museum, Native artists exploring time and memory at Hudson River Museum, Renée Green’s conceptual word shuffling at Dia Beacon, and Black history in the Hudson Valley at Vassar College's Loeb. Other shows include Arlene Shechet's intimate sculptures at Catskill Art Space and Larry Fink's photography at CPW in Kingston.

11 Must-See Museum Exhibitions This Summer

This article highlights 11 must-see museum exhibitions for summer 2025, curated by Monica Jae Yeon Moon. Key shows include Melissa Joseph's site-specific installation 'Tender' at the Brooklyn Museum, a comprehensive solo exhibition of 18th-century Dutch still life painter Rachel Ruysch at the Toledo Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and a queer photography exhibition at the Getty Center. Other notable events include the Venice Architecture Biennale, Berlin Biennale, and Ljubljana Biennial, with a focus on women artists like Emily Kam Kngwarray and Takako Yamaguchi receiving overdue recognition.

Exhibition Walkthrough: ‘Pat Steir. Song’

Hauser & Wirth Zurich is hosting a guided tour of 'Pat Steir. Song' coinciding with Zurich Art Weekend, led by Corinne Erni, Chief Curator at the Parrish Art Museum. The event includes a preview of 'Ed Clark. Paint is the Subject' on the ground floor. Erni, who joined the Parrish in 2016, has curated numerous exhibitions including works by Shirin Neshat, Nina Yankowitz, Sanford Biggers, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and leads the Dorothy Lichtenstein ArtsReach Fund.

Sotheby’s Closes Marquee Week With $186.1M in Contemporary Sales

Sotheby’s closed its May marquee auction week with $186.1 million in combined contemporary sales across three sessions on May 16. The evening began with a white-glove sale of 12 works from Barbara Gladstone’s personal collection, fetching $18.8 million, followed by a $40.4 million sale from Daniella Luxembourg’s collection, which signaled revived appetite for Italian postwar art. The main Contemporary Evening Auction saw strong bidding for emerging artists like Danielle Mckinney and Mohammed Sami, though some high-profile lots like Richard Prince’s Man Crazy Nurse fell short of estimates.

The Art Market Defies Doom and Gloom With Independent, Esther and Future Fair in Full Swing

New York City is hosting an unprecedented concentration of art fairs this week, with over nine fairs running simultaneously, including Independent, Esther, and Future Fair. Independent, held at Spring Place in Tribeca, opened on May 8 and is positioning itself as a boutique, hyper-curated alternative to mega-fairs like Frieze, featuring mostly solo presentations. Early sales were reported by several galleries: Europa sold works by Suyi Xu ($9,000–$20,000), Long Story Short sold six works by Keita Morimoto (up to $26,000), Charles Moffett nearly sold out his booth of Julia Jo ($10,000–$45,000), The Approach sold four works by John Maclean ($13,500 or less), and Copperfield presented works by Ada Patterson ($8,000–$23,000).

How To Do New York Art Week 2025 Like An Insider

Sophia Penske, founder of Penske Projects and an art advisor at Gagosian Art Advisory, provides an insider guide to New York Art Week 2025, running May 5–12. She highlights three main fairs: Frieze New York at The Shed (May 7–11), Independent Art Fair at Spring Studios (May 8–11), and TEFAF. The guide includes notable artists to see—such as Daisuke Fukunaga at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Doron Langberg at Victoria Miro, Moka Lee at Carlos/Ishikawa, Julia Jo at Charles Moffett, Laura Footes at SHRINE, and Nicole Economides at Callirrhoe—along with nearby dining, spa, and gallery recommendations.

Antonia Ruder On the Role of Gallery Weekend Berlin in a Changing Art Market

Gallery Weekend Berlin returns for its 21st edition from May 2-4, 2025, featuring fifty-two galleries showcasing established and emerging artists. Antonia Ruder, who joined the event in 2023 and is now preparing her second full edition as director, discusses the festival's origins as a private initiative by five art dealers in 2005, its growth to become a global art calendar highlight, and its role as a premier platform for contemporary art in Germany in the absence of an international art fair in Berlin.

Franco Vaccari Recasts the Viewer as Creator

Franco Vaccari, a pioneering Italian artist associated with Arte Povera and conceptual art, is the subject of a new exhibition that repositions the viewer as an active participant in the creative process. The show, featured in Frieze's Critic's Guides, highlights Vaccari's interactive works, including his famous photomatic booth installations where visitors become both subject and author of the artwork.

9 Must-See Summer Shows in Upstate New York

Galerie magazine has compiled a curated list of nine must-see summer art exhibitions in upstate New York, highlighting the region's growing cultural significance. Featured shows include a Leonora Carrington survey at the Katonah Museum of Art, a historical exhibition on the Baghdad Modern Art Group at CCS Bard Galleries, and a collaborative installation by Antonio Marras and Maria Lai at Magazzino Italian Art. Other venues include The School in Kinderhook, The Campus near Hudson, Sky High Farms in Germantown, and the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center.

Salvador Dalí’s Frustrating Vision of the Divine

A feature article examines Salvador Dalí's controversial religious painting "Christ of Saint John of the Cross" (1951), which was physically attacked by vandals on two separate occasions—once with a rock in 1961 and later with an air rifle. The painting, part of Dalí's "Nuclear Mysticism" phase, depicts a floating, unblemished Christ from an aerial perspective, based on a drawing by the mystic St. John of the Cross and modeled by a Hollywood stunt double.

Lost for More Than a Century, the First ‘Sci-Fi’ Film Ever Made Resurfaces

Lost for More Than a Century, the First ‘Sci-Fi’ Film Ever Made Resurfaces

A lost 1897 silent film by pioneering French director Georges Méliès, "Gugusse et l'Automate," has been rediscovered and digitally restored. The 45-second slapstick short, featuring a magician battling a robot, was found in a collection of early film reels passed down through a family of traveling showmen and has now been preserved in 4K by the Library of Congress.

Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington’s Portraits

Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington’s Portraits

New Zealand artist Fiona Pardington will present her photographic series *Taharaki Skyside* in the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The large-scale, spectral portraits depict preserved specimens of endemic birds, including extinct and critically endangered species like the huia and the South Island Takahe, captured from within the country's natural history collections.

digital art mile basel

The Digital Art Mile returns to Basel, Switzerland, from June 16 through 22, 2025, timed to coincide with Art Basel. Organized by Artmeta and staged at the historic Rebgasse, the event features a fair, exhibition, and public program showcasing a wide spectrum of digital and computer-based practices—from 1960s early computer art to humanoid robots and autonomous AI agents. This year's edition includes roughly 11 exhibitors, with solo presentations by Nigerian digital artist Osinachi (at Kate Vass Galerie) and generative artist Tyler Hobbs (via LaCollection), as well as group shows and a conference program exploring themes like the digital art market, AI in generative practices, and institutional engagement with new media. A central exhibition, Paintboxed—part of the Tezos World Tour—examines the legacy of the Paintbox, an early digital painting system.

Must-See National Pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale features standout national pavilions from Japan, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Singapore, and India. Japan presents Ei Arakawa-Nash's 'Grass Babies, Moon Babies,' an interactive exhibition with hand-sewn baby dolls and sound pieces exploring queer parenthood and collective care. The Philippines showcases Jon Cuyson's 'Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig,' a solo show using 'mussel thinking' to highlight Filipino seafarers. Timor-Leste's 'Across Words' brings together three artists addressing ethnolinguistic diversity and cultural memory, while Singapore presents Amanda Heng's 'A Pause,' a feminist performance on vulnerability and resilience. India's pavilion features Ranjani Shettar's work, supported by Talwar Gallery.

ghantous artworks customs tariffs

A shipment of artworks by artist Sam Ghantous, destined for a New York exhibition at YveYang Gallery, has been detained at Newark Airport by U.S. Customs. The works, which include prints on silicon wafers, contain materials similar to those used in microchips, leading to potential confusion over trade regulations. The exhibition, titled "your golf course made my GPU," explores the global supply chain of sand and raw materials used in technology. Gallery manager Erica Kyung reported the delay, and the artist noted that the wafers are non-functional and cannot be used in computers.

London 20th/21st Century Frieze Week sales achieve a running total of £141.8m / $189.7m / €162.75m

Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale during Frieze Week 2025 achieved £106.9 million, up 30% year-on-year, with a 90% sell-through rate by value. The top lot was Peter Doig’s *Ski Jacket* (1994), sold for £14.27 million after intense bidding, part of the Ole Faarup Collection, which raised £27.3 million total for the Ole Faarup Art Foundation. Other notable sales included works by Lucian Freud, Paula Rego, Gerhard Richter, Pablo Picasso, and Suzanne Valadon, with more than half of all lots selling above high estimate.

art hilma af klint nature studies moma

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is presenting "What Stands Behind the Flowers," an exhibition centered on Hilma af Klint's "Nature Studies" portfolio of 46 works on paper acquired in 2022. Completed from 1919 to 1920, these precise botanical renderings include abstract diagrams, and the show features over 50 additional pieces contextualizing the series within the Swedish artist's broader practice, including earlier works like her 1889 mushroom studies and "The Atom Series" from 1917.

patricia udell onna house hamptons show

Patricia Udell, an artist known for modernist works in clay, plaster, wood, and canvas, is unveiling her first tapestry at Onna House in East Hampton in a show titled “My Life Has Been a Tapestry,” opening tomorrow and running through Sept. 1. The exhibition takes its name from the 1971 Carole King song. Udell, who has exhibited at Meislin Projects, Quogue Gallery, and amArtHouse, discusses her move into textiles, her inspirations from Calder and Matisse, and the solitary, intuitive nature of her practice. Onna House, founded by designer Lisa Perry, focuses on women artists, making it a fitting venue for Udell’s work.

Going Out: Top 20+ arts & nightlife events, May 21-29

The Bay Area Reporter has published a curated list of over 20 arts and nightlife events taking place from May 21 to May 29. The article serves as a local guide, highlighting a range of cultural activities including visual art exhibitions, performances, and nightlife gatherings in the San Francisco Bay Area.

25th Biennale of Sydney – Rememory

The 25th Biennale of Sydney, titled 'Rememory,' opened on March 14, 2026, across multiple venues including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, White Bay Power Station, and the Sydney Opera House. Artistic director Hoor Al Qasimi curated the event around the concept of 'rememory,' inspired by Toni Morrison's novel *Beloved*, featuring over 143 works by 83 artists and collectives from 37 countries. The biennale centers First Nations voices and diasporic communities, with standout pieces like the Ngurrara Artists' *Ngurrara Canvas II* (1997) and works by Yaritji Young. However, the event has faced controversy due to Al Qasimi's opposition to the war in Gaza, leading to criticism from donors and board members, as well as logistical disruptions from the Iran war affecting the curator and artists.

Joan Miró | Silence (1967) | For Sale

Joan Miró's 1967 lithograph 'Silence' is being offered for sale by Epicentrum Art Gallery for €6,000. The work is a limited edition print on Arches paper, hand-signed by the artist, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Miró, a leading Surrealist and pioneer of automatism, created the piece during a prolific period of his career, and it is part of an edition of 100.

An old hat gets a new show: ‘Matisse’s Femme au chapeau’ opens at SFMOMA

SFMOMA has opened "Matisse's Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal," a new exhibition centered on Henri Matisse's iconic 1905 painting "Femme au chapeau" (Woman with a Hat). The show recreates the atmosphere of the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris, where the painting first caused a scandal for its bold, fauvist colors. It reunites the work with three other Matisse paintings from that debut, alongside pieces by contemporaries like André Derain, Albert Marquet, and Jelka Rosen, and later artists inspired by the painting, such as Mickalene Thomas. The exhibition also includes a gallery dedicated to the Haas bequest, which brought the painting to SFMOMA in 1991.

The Top Gallery and Museum Exhibitions to see in late May in London

Tabish Khan, the London-based art critic, selects his top gallery and museum exhibitions to see in late May in London. Highlights include Christopher Page's illusionistic mirror paintings at Ben Hunter, Dirk Braeckman's chemically altered photographs at Grimm, a historical exhibition on Hawai'i's relationship with the UK at The British Museum, a pairing of James Capper's claw-like machines with Anthony Caro's metal sculptures, and a focused display of George Stubbs' horse portrait and anatomical drawings at The National Gallery.

MFA's Nude Exhibition Challenges Art History's Gender Norms

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has opened a new exhibition that challenges traditional gender norms in art history, featuring a dozen artists who disrupt the conventional nude. The show includes Xandra Ibarra's performance "Nude Laughing," where she paraded naked through the museum's European galleries, and works by Betty Tompkins, whose "Fuck Paintings" and "Women Words Painting" series confront misogyny and the male gaze. The exhibition juxtaposes these contemporary pieces with historical works like Jean-Léon Gérôme's "Moorish Bath" to highlight entrenched racial and gender hierarchies in art.

The 10 Best Museum and Gallery Shows to See in the Bay Area This Summer

The article highlights ten notable museum and gallery exhibitions opening in the Bay Area during summer 2026, including Ranu Mukherjee's solo show 'The Long Middle' at Gallery Wendi Norris, a group survey 'Slice of the Pie' at Fraenkel Gallery featuring 14 Bay Area galleries, and 'Giant Steps' at Personal Space in Vallejo focusing on innovative ceramic works. Other featured shows include Will Yackulic's 'A Certain Slant of Light' at pt.2 in Oakland and several other exhibitions across San Francisco and Oakland.

Artist Henry Ossawa Tanner

This article profiles Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), the pioneering African American artist who achieved international fame in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Pittsburgh to a bishop father and a mother who escaped slavery, Tanner studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before moving to Paris to escape racial discrimination. He studied at the Académie Julian, became a mentor to Black artists including Aaron Douglas and Hale Woodruff, and gained renown for his biblical paintings such as "Daniel in the Lions' Den" (1896). Tanner traveled widely—to Egypt, Morocco, and Palestine—and was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 1927. The article lists numerous works by Tanner held in major collections, including the first painting by an African American artist acquired for the White House Collection.