The Philadelphia Museum of Art has announced a major new exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists," which will showcase over 200 works of American art from its collection. The show spans from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century and features paintings, decorative arts, and folk art by artists including Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, and Stuart Davis.
The University of North Texas (UNT) abruptly canceled and removed the exhibition 'Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá' by street artist Victor 'Marka27' Quiñonez from its College of Visual Arts and Design gallery. The university terminated its loan agreement with Boston University Art Galleries, which organized the show, and covered the gallery windows with brown paper without providing a public reason for the cancellation.
The Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid has closed its garden for maintenance and temporarily closed its two satellite buildings, the Glass Palace and Velázquez Palace in El Retiro Park, for renovation. The main museum remains open, showcasing its renowned collection of modern and contemporary art, including Picasso's Guernica and works by Dalí, Miró, and Bourgeois.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will open its new David Geffen Galleries building on April 19. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and will house the museum's permanent collection, featuring a non-hierarchical, single-level display of approximately 2,500-3,000 objects. The opening will be marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and two weeks of priority access for members.
The article is a transcript or description of a podcast episode featuring an interview with painter Louis Fratino. He discusses his artistic practice, which focuses on memory, daily life, and queer identity, and cites influences from Henri Matisse to Bhupen Khakhar. He also reveals details about his studio life and answers philosophical questions about art's purpose.
The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, will open the exhibition 'Regeneration: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care' on February 22, 2026. The show, part of the museum's yearlong 'PARRISH USA250' series, features works by eleven artists with ties to Long Island, including Sara Siestreem, Michelle Stuart, and Maya Lin, and will run through June 14.
The Frist Art Museum in Nashville opened a major group exhibition titled "In Her Place" to mark its 25th anniversary. The show features nearly one hundred works by 28 women artists with strong ties to the Nashville community, including painting, sculpture, textile, and installation. The artists, such as María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Alicia Henry, and Marilyn Murphy, represent an intergenerational group whose practices have significantly impacted the local art scene.
Jack Lang, France's former culture minister, resigned as president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) on February 7 following revelations in the Epstein files that his name appeared 673 times. Lang, 86, denies any wrongdoing, acknowledging a long "cordial relationship" with Jeffrey Epstein but claiming ignorance of his sex crimes. The Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into Lang and his daughter Caroline for "laundering of aggravated tax fraud," and Lang stepped down after being summoned by the French foreign ministry at the request of President Macron and Prime Minister Lecornu.
A comprehensive list of gallery exhibitions opening and closing in New York City for the week of February 9-15, 2026, has been published. The schedule includes openings at major galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Matthew Marks, featuring artists such as Michael Heizer, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Anish Kapoor, alongside shows at smaller spaces. The list also notes the final weekend to see exhibitions at venues including Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and Alexander Gray Associates.
The Dallas Museum of Art's exhibition "International Surrealism" is critiqued as a missed opportunity during the centennial of the surrealist movement. The author argues that while the show presents a broad survey of mixed-media works from around the world, divided into six thematic subgroups, it lacks the political urgency and revolutionary context that defined surrealism's origins in 1925. The exhibition, initially curated by Matthew Gale from the Tate Modern collection and presented locally by Sue Canterbury, is described as whimsical and decorous, reducing the movement's subversive power to quirky categories and gift-shop fodder.
A major retrospective of Gwen John, one of Britain's greatest 20th-century artists, is opening at National Museum Cardiff on the 150th anniversary of her birth. The exhibition, titled 'Gwen John: Strange Beauties,' brings together works from across the UK and the USA for the first time, including a significant collection acquired from her nephew Edwin in 1976 that has never been extensively researched or exhibited. John, born in 1876 in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was long overshadowed by her younger brother, the artist Augustus John, and was often dismissed as a 'reclusive spinster.' However, curators and biographers now challenge that myth, revealing her as a socially engaged, determined artist who pursued her own path despite Victorian-era constraints on women.
The Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) is hosting the exhibition “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine,” which opened on November 21, 2025, and runs through March 1, 2026. The show features over 150 original artworks spanning MAD Magazine’s 70-year history, from its comic book origins to its satirical magazine heyday. On January 30, 2026, CAM held a special “CAM goes MAD!” event as part of its monthly “Art After Dark” series, offering free admission, live music, local food, and activities such as caricature drawing by artist Joni Fleming and tabling by local comic sellers. The exhibition was organized by Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum, and satirical artist Steve Brodner.
The National Museum Cardiff is mounting a major survey exhibition of Gwen John (1876-1939), one of the most famous artists in its collection, titled "Gwen John: Strange Beauties." The show marks the 150th anniversary of John's birth in Wales and will be the most comprehensive exhibition of her work in decades, featuring major loans from institutions such as Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It will travel to Scotland and the US, emphasizing John's interest in form, materials, and color theory, including late watercolours she never sold or exhibited. The exhibition draws on the museum's extensive archive of over 900 drawings, letters, and photographs acquired in 1976, and aims to shift focus from John's biographical narrative—her relationship with Auguste Rodin and reputation as a recluse—to her artistic dedication and technical innovations.
The Art Newspaper's podcast covers the inaugural Art Basel Qatar art fair in Doha, discussing its impact on Qatar and the Middle East art scene. It also examines a debate over a Dürer portrait in London's National Gallery, long considered a copy but now argued to be an autograph work by a new catalogue raisonné author. The episode features a double-header exhibition at the Albertinum in Dresden pairing Paula Modersohn-Becker and Edvard Munch, with co-curator Andreas Dehmer discussing key works.
LACMA has announced that its David Geffen Galleries, the centerpiece of a two-decade campus transformation, will open to the public on April 19, 2025, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and priority member access, followed by general admission starting May 4. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, the $720-million Brutalist building spans Wilshire Boulevard and houses 110,000 square feet of exhibition space across 90 galleries, organized thematically rather than by medium or chronology. The inaugural installation will use global bodies of water as an organizing framework, featuring works such as Georges de La Tour's "The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame," Vincent van Gogh's "Tarascon Stagecoach," and Henri Matisse's "La Gerbe." The project was funded largely by private donors, including a record $150-million donation from David Geffen, with $125 million from L.A. County.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced the opening schedule for its long-awaited David Geffen Galleries, a new single-building replacement for its eastern campus. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 19, 2026, will kick off two weeks of previews for members and donors, with general public access beginning on May 4. The building, designed by architect Peter Zumthor, will feature a mix of returning collection highlights, recent acquisitions, and new commissions.
Three major museums have announced significant new acquisitions for their permanent collections. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem received a monumental 2014 sculpture by Anselm Kiefer, titled *Die Erdzeitalter (Ages of the World)*, donated by collector Martin Z. Margulies. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., acquired a $1.7 million Pachycephalosaurus dinosaur skull, donated by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. Meanwhile, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem purchased an early 16th-century genre painting by Maarten van Heemskerck.
The Huntsville Museum of Art is undergoing a significant transformation under the leadership of Chief Curator Natalie Mault Mead. Following extensive HVAC renovations that closed the museum, Mead is implementing a new vision focused on interactive storytelling, immersive experiences, and breaking down traditional barriers to art. This includes refreshed permanent installations, interactive elements like QR codes and audio descriptions, and a deliberate mix of internationally acclaimed and local artists.
A major exhibition titled 'El Galeón Acapulco – Manila Somos Pacífico: El Mundo que emergió del Trópico' has opened at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. It features 300 works, including 80 from Singapore's national collections, exploring the centuries-old cultural and economic exchange between Asia and the Americas facilitated by the Manila Galleon trade route. The show was launched to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Mexico-Singapore diplomatic relations and a state visit by Singapore's president.
The Royal Commission for AlUla has announced further details about the forthcoming AlUla Contemporary Art Museum, designed by architect Lina Ghotmeh. The museum's curatorial vision, centered on heritage, environment, and community, was unveiled alongside the opening of a preview exhibition, 'Arduna,' co-curated with the Centre Pompidou. The institution plans to build deep, long-term relationships with artists, acquiring comprehensive bodies of work, archives, and unrealized projects to be digitized and made accessible.
A series of significant artworks are heading to auction in February, led by an early Artemisia Gentileschi self-portrait making its auction debut at Christie's New York with an estimate of $2.5m-$3.5m. Other highlights include Rembrandt's last privately-held animal drawing, 'Young Lion Resting', at Sotheby's New York ($15m-$20m estimate), a Judy Chicago print of Mary, Queen of Scots at Phillips, and an Odilon Redon work on paper at Artcurial Paris.
A delegation of senior UK museum directors, including Tim Reeve of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Doug Gurr of the Natural History Museum, Keith Merrin of North East Museums, Sara Wajid of Birmingham Museums Trust, and Laura Pye of National Museums Liverpool, accompanied Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a three-day diplomatic and trade mission to China. The trip aimed to strengthen bilateral relations, with the museum leaders highlighting existing partnerships and exploring new opportunities for cultural exchange and commercial collaboration in the Chinese market.
The article examines the resilience of the high-end art market amid rising geopolitical tensions and shrinking public funding for culture. It notes that while sales at major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's have rebounded, political forces in the US and Europe are increasingly prioritizing military spending and exerting pressure on cultural institutions, drawing parallels to the rise of fascism in the early 20th century.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has launched an open call for 50 digital content creators to produce short videos reinterpreting 100 selected works from its collection. The campaign, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, offers a $3,000 honorarium to each selected creator and will feature their work on the museum's social media channels and within the museum itself.
The Kanal-Centre Pompidou, a major new modern and contemporary art museum in Brussels, will open on November 28. Housed in a converted 1930s Citroën garage, the €230m institution will launch with ten exhibitions, including a 350-work show drawn from the Centre Pompidou's collection in Paris and installations by artists like Otobong Nkanga.
Rodrigo Moura is stepping down as artistic director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba) after only one year in the role. His departure follows the museum's acquisition of the Daros Latinamerica Collection, which doubled Malba's holdings with over 1,200 works and triggered a major institutional restructuring, including the creation of a new chief executive position. Moura, a Brazilian curator who previously worked at El Museo del Barrio, Masp, and Inhotim Institute, will leave next month as the museum prepares for its 25th anniversary and a physical expansion to twice its current capacity.
The Bard Graduate Center in New York is opening the first major US exhibition on French architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), known for restoring Notre-Dame de Paris and other medieval French monuments. Titled "Viollet-le-Duc: Drawing Worlds," the show features over 150 drawings spanning five decades, from his teenage sketches to late studies of medieval weaponry, drawn largely from the archives of the Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie. Co-curated by Martin Bressani and Barry Bergdoll, the exhibition highlights his creative approach to preservation, including his iconic spire for Notre-Dame, which was faithfully rebuilt after the 2019 fire.
Beirut-born artist and composer Tarek Atoui has been selected to create the next Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, running from 13 October 2026 to 11 April 2027. Known for his innovative musical performances with intricately engineered instruments, Atoui will transform the vast space into a multisensory environment exploring sound and vibration. His previous works include performances at Tate Modern's South Tank in 2016 and a presentation at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The announcement comes amid reports that Tate chair Roland Rudd floated offering naming rights to the Turbine Hall for £50m, though a Tate spokesperson called that hypothetical.
London galleries are launching a packed week of late-January exhibitions, featuring solo shows by Jessica Rankin at White Cube (embroidered paintings and works on paper), R. Crumb at David Zwirner (a survey of his six-decade career in countercultural drawing), Alexandra Christou at Sadie Coles HQ (rarely seen 1990s paintings of Greek life), Christina Mackie at Goldsmiths CCA (interdisciplinary installation), and a group show 'Geometry in Motion' at Stephen Friedman Gallery (exploring geometry and seriality).
The Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, VA, has opened “Abstract Expressionists: The Women,” an exhibition featuring nearly 50 paintings by 32 women artists who were pivotal to the Abstract Expressionist movement. Running from January 23 through April 26, 2026, the show draws from the Christian Levett Collection and the FAMM (Female Artists of the Mougins Museum), France, and is organized by the American Federation of Arts. It spans the movement’s development from the late 1930s to 1977, with works by artists such as Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, and Grace Hartigan, and is structured around four thematic sections covering New York, San Francisco, Paris, and the artists’ own voices.