It’s not all movies: LA’s art, museums and exhibitions are world class

Los Angeles is expanding its cultural offerings with several new and renovated art institutions. The Museum of AI Arts, called Dataland, is set to open this spring at the Grand L.A. complex, created by artist Refik Anadol. It claims to be the world's first museum dedicated to AI art, featuring immersive installations like an Infinity Room with AI-generated scents. Meanwhile, the Natural History Museum completed a $75 million renovation in 2024, adding a 60,000-square-foot wing and displaying a unique green-boned dinosaur named Gnatalie, along with Barbara Carrasco's previously censored mural. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is opening the David Geffen Galleries on May 4, a 110,000-square-foot space for its permanent collection.

Arles Drawing Festival: What Not to Miss at This Fourth Edition

Festival du dessin d’Arles : ce qu’il ne faut surtout pas rater pour cette quatrième édition

The fourth edition of the Arles Drawing Festival has opened, featuring over forty exhibitions across the city. The highlights include two major private drawing collections being publicly presented: Marin Karmitz's collection, displayed at the Sainte-Anne church under the title "Et la vie continue…", and the Collezione Ramo from Milan, showcased at the Museon Arlaten chapel as part of a focus on Italian art.

Editor’s Letter: Still, Listening

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, opens in May 2026, shifting focus from Eurocentric narratives to quieter, relational, and improvisational voices from the Global South. ArtAsiaPacific's May/June issue honors Kouoh's vision with features on artists including Gala Porras-Kim (a 2025 MacArthur Fellow), Khaled Sabsabi (representing Australia), and others like Liang Yuanwei, Yuko Mohri, Mona Hatoum, Tadanori Yokoo, Gayane Umerova, Li Yi-Fan, Hyeree Ro, and Ei Arakawa-Nash, with contributions from a curatorial team that carried Kouoh's work forward after her death in 2025.

‘It’s about processing’: the artist who spent three months recreating the most poignant moments with her ex

Photographer Diana Markosian has created a new project titled "Replaced," in which she spent three months recreating intimate moments from her past relationship with an ex-partner. To document the experience of falling in and out of love, she hired an actor to play her ex and traveled with him to locations they once visited together, including Miami, Paris, Naples, Capri, and Nice. The series blurs documentary and fiction, using staged reenactments to process grief, heartbreak, and healing.

Major Exhibition Surveys 60 Years of Chicano Art Across the United States

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, California, has opened a major exhibition titled "We the People: Chicano Art in the U.S.A.," surveying 60 years of Chicano art across the United States. Organized by artist and curator Benito Huerta, the show features 126 works by 61 artists drawn from the collection of Cheech Marin, the museum's permanent holdings, recent acquisitions, and artist loans. The exhibition spans painting, sculpture, installation, printmaking, and mixed media, including works by historic collectives like Los Four and Con Safo alongside contemporary artists, exploring themes of migration, labor, cultural memory, identity, and everyday life.

Looking for art, culture? See the latest Central Illinois exhibits

A roundup article highlights current and upcoming art and cultural exhibitions across Central Illinois, featuring venues such as the McLean County Museum of History, Krannert Art Museum, Prairie Aviation Museum, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Eaton Studio Gallery, Illinois Art Station, Illinois State Museum, McLean County Arts Center, Main Gallery 404, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Dickson Mounds Museum, and David Davis Mansion State Historic Site. Specific shows mentioned include "Material Memory" fiber arts show at Brandt Gallery, "Goya's Ghosts" at Armstrong Gallery, "Arts Alive!" auction at Dolan Gallery, "Lincoln: Sight, Sound & Touch" at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, "Ken Kashian Botanical Photography Exhibit" at IAA Credit Union, and "Kelly Pile Pyrography Pop-up Sale" at Main Gallery 404.

Confronting audiences with the real history

Carla Hemlock, a Kanien’keha:ka artist, has seen a surge in interest from curators and institutions, allowing her to work at her own pace. Her collaborative installation with her son, filmmaker Raohserahawi Hemlock, titled *In the Arms of the Natural World*, has been donated to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) and is now on view in the exhibition *Rising Suns: Art from the Confederacies of the Great Lakes and Rivers*. The piece, featuring three quilts and two films, explores the legacy of residential schools with what the artists describe as absolute delicacy and care.

Threshold Art Gallery and the Hermitage Museum Present Landmark Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art

Threshold Art Gallery and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, are presenting a landmark exhibition of contemporary Indian art titled "Sediments of Becoming: Fossilised Present, Summoned Pasts." Opening on 4 June 2026 and running until 4 October 2026, it is the first dedicated presentation of contemporary Indian art in the Hermitage's 260-year history. The exhibition features works by eleven Indian artists—including Afrah Shafiq, Anindita Bhattacharya, Debashish Mukherjee, Gargi Raina, Lakshmi Madhavan, Manjunath Kamath, Maya Krishna Rao, Pushpamala N., Ravinder Reddy, Sumakshi Singh, and V. Ramesh—several of whom created new commissions after a 2025 residency at the Hermitage. Curated by Marina Schulz and Tunty Chauhan, the show places contemporary works alongside historical objects from the museum's vast collections, fostering a dialogue across time and geography.

Of This Earth: Transforming Culture and Country Through First Nations Ceramics

The National Gallery of Australia presents 'Of This Earth: Transforming Culture and Country Through First Nations Ceramics,' an exhibition featuring over thirty works by twenty-eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, including Thancoupie, Billy Bain, Nicole Foreshew, and Janet Fieldhouse. The show highlights diverse ceramic techniques and narratives drawn from the National Collection, emphasizing cultural continuity and contemporary expression.

One of England’s greatest art galleries is set for a £90 million transformation

The Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, one of England's greatest art galleries, has received a £91.2 million donation from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, created by David Sainsbury. The funds will finance a major refurbishment of the Grade II-listed building, originally designed by Norman Foster in 1978, including structural repairs, energy efficiency upgrades, and enhanced visitor amenities. The centre houses a renowned collection featuring works by Picasso, Degas, Bacon, Moore, and Lalique.

World record for Carla Accardi in Contemporary Art auction at Dorothem's

Dorotheum's Contemporary Art auction in Vienna on May 20, 2026, set a new world record for Italian artist Carla Accardi, whose work *Fonda notte - Pieno giorno* (1986) sold for €520,000 to a telephone bidder. The sale also saw strong results for Martha Jungwirth (€429,000), Miriam Cahn (€195,000), and top lots including Thomas Schütte's *Vater Staat* (€520,000) and works by Mikuláš Medek (up to €546,000). International participation was robust, with particular demand for female artists and Central European figures.

Clark Art Institute to Exhibit Priceless Art Donated by Tavitian Foundation

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, announced an upcoming exhibition titled “An Exquisite Eye: Introducing the Aso O. Tavitian Collection,” on view from June 13, 2025, through February 21, 2027. The show features approximately 150 works from the Tavitian Collection, a major private collection of European art assembled by the late collector and philanthropist Aso O. Tavitian. Spanning c. 1450–1850, the exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, and decorative arts by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Jean-Antoine Houdon, and Elizabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun. The collection, comprising 331 objects, was donated to the Clark and will eventually be housed in a new wing designed by Selldorf Architects, set to open in 2028.

KMSKA stages major Antony Gormley exhibition across museum and city

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) is opening 'Geestgrond', the largest solo exhibition by British sculptor Antony Gormley ever staged on the European mainland. Curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the show spans all of the museum's modern galleries and extends to the roof, Museumplein, and Antwerp quays, featuring over 100 works including sculptures, installations, early sketches, notebooks, and new pieces. Highlights include 'The Heart', an intimate Wunderkammer of Gormley's process, and 'Cave', a monumental walk-in steel installation.

Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection | Broad Strokes Blog

The article features an interview between NMWA Assistant Curator Hannah Shambroom and collector Komal Shah about the exhibition 'Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection.' The show, drawn from Shah and her husband Gaurav Garg's collection, presents approximately 80 works by women artists exploring abstraction, including pieces by Howardena Pindell, Sarah Sze, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Jacqueline Humphries. Shah discusses her transition from a technology career to art collecting, her focus on women working in abstraction, and how the exhibition emerged after publishing a book on the collection in 2023, with curation by Cecilia Alemani.

Lorna Simpson Comes Full Circle in Venice with ‘Third Person’

American artist Lorna Simpson has opened a major solo exhibition titled 'Third Person' at Punta della Dogana in Venice, featuring over 50 works across painting, collage, sculpture, installation, and film. The show surveys her practice from the last decade, including new works created in response to the venue, and runs through November 22. Curated by Emma Lavigne of the Pinault Collection, the exhibition also includes pieces from her 2015 Venice Biennale participation and series such as 'Ice,' 'Special Characters,' and 'Earth and Sky.'

Tang Museum presents Pursuing Possibilities: Explorations in Glaze

The Tang Museum at Skidmore College will present 'Pursuing Possibilities: Explorations in Glaze,' a student-curated exhibition running from May 30 to September 12, 2026. Organized by Emily Lin, the 2025–26 Charina Endowment Fund Endowed Intern, the show features works from the Tang collection that examine the chemical composition of ceramic glazes and their expressive possibilities. Lin used X-ray fluorescence to analyze glazes and consulted with ceramics professor Matt Wilt, bringing together art history, chemistry, and studio practice.

Japan’s Art Museums and Creative Spaces Offer Travelers a Unique Cultural Journey Across Modern and Traditional Design

Travel And Tour World published an article highlighting Japan's art museums and creative spaces as a unique cultural journey for travelers, blending modern and traditional design. The piece showcases various institutions across Japan, emphasizing their architectural significance and the immersive experiences they offer, from contemporary art galleries to historic venues that reflect the country's rich aesthetic heritage.

‘Picasso-Klee-Matisse’ exhibit brings modernist masterpieces to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is hosting "Picasso-Klee-Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen" from May 20 to September 13, 2026. The exhibition features dozens of works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse from the private collection of dealer and collector Heinz Berggruen, on loan from the Museum Berggruen – Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The show is organized thematically—portraits, landscapes, still life, and the human figure—and includes paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures, and archival materials, alongside pieces from MFAH's own collection. It has already attracted over 1 million visitors on its international tour.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts receives major gift of photography

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) announced a major gift of 1,986 photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), a nonprofit founded by financier Howard Stein. The donation includes works by over 450 artists, spanning the 19th century to the present, with highlights such as rare daguerreotypes by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, prints by Gustave Le Gray and Eugène Atget, and significant holdings in American documentary photography from figures like Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. The gift follows an earlier 2023 donation of portfolios and series, and positions VMFA to open five new photography galleries in 2027 as part of its expansion.

Yoo Young-kuk’s inner landscapes spotlighted in Seoul retrospective

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) has opened its largest-ever retrospective of pioneering Korean abstract painter Yoo Young-kuk, titled "Yoo Youngkuk: A Mountain Within Me," marking the 110th anniversary of his birth. Running through Oct. 25 at SeMA's Seosomun branch, the exhibition brings together 178 works, including 115 oil paintings, drawings, photographs, archival materials, and previously unseen pieces, as well as BTS RM's collection "Mountain." Rather than a chronological format, the show begins in 1964—the year of Yoo's first solo exhibition—and moves backward and forward through time, highlighting his geometric compositions and bold primary colors inspired by the mountains and sea of his hometown Uljin.

Christie’s New York surpasses $1 billion

Christie’s New York kicked off its 20th and 21st Century Art sales week on 18 May 2026 with a record-shattering evening, generating over $1.12 billion across two sales: Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse and the 20th Century Evening Sale. The top lot was Jackson Pollock’s *Number 7A, 1948*, which sold for $181.2 million, setting a new auction record for the artist. Other artist records were set for Constantin Brancusi, Joan Miró, Alice Neel, and Mark Rothko. The S.I. Newhouse collection alone achieved $631 million, selling 100% of lots, and its cumulative total across four Christie’s sales reached $1.05 billion, making it the second-highest collection ever sold at auction after Paul Allen’s.

Stirling Art Collection awarded National Significance status

The University of Stirling's Art Collection has been designated a Collection of National Significance by Museums Galleries Scotland, joining four other collections receiving the honor on International Museums Day. The collection comprises over 800 prints, paintings, and sculptures, many displayed across the campus, particularly in the A-listed Pathfoot Building. Founded on a policy set by Principal Dr Tom Cottrell in 1967 to allocate 1% of building costs for art, the collection has grown through purchases and donations, including 14 works by Scottish Colourist J.D. Fergusson gifted by Margaret Morris. The collection team runs exhibitions, workshops, and an Artist in Residence programme to integrate art into university life.

National Gallery takes art to town centres

The National Gallery is displaying high-quality reproductions of masterpieces by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, J.M.W. Turner, and Vincent van Gogh in town centres across the UK, starting with Croydon. The three-year initiative, called Art on Your Doorstep, places artworks in locations such as Croydon Minster and Queen’s Gardens, and will expand to Torquay, Derry, Birstall, and the Isle of Wight in 2026. Local residents help select the pieces and contribute creative responses, embedding the project within each community.

India pavilion returns to the Venice Art Biennale 2026 with a bang after seven-year hiatus

India has returned to the Venice Art Biennale with a national pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition, after a seven-year hiatus. The pavilion, titled "Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home," is presented by India's Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre and Serendipity Arts Foundation, curated by Amin Jaffer. It features five artists—Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Skarma Sonam Tashi, and Asim Waqif—whose works explore themes of home, loss, displacement, and cultural memory through materials like soil, thread, bamboo, and clay.

First look: Berggruen's collection of masterworks by Picasso, Klee and Matisse make U.S. debut at MFAH

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is hosting the U.S. debut of a major collection of masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse, assembled by the Berggruen family. The exhibition brings together iconic paintings, drawings, and sculptures from one of the most renowned private collections of modern art, offering American audiences a first look at works that have rarely been seen outside Europe.

Zurbarán: a ‘magnificently choreographed’ showing of the Spanish ‘genius’

The article reviews the first-ever British exhibition dedicated to Spanish Baroque painter Francisco de Zurbarán, held at the National Gallery in London. The show brings together 40 works from collections spanning Seville to San Diego, featuring his hyper-real religious paintings and radiant still lifes, described as a 'magnificently choreographed' trawl through his oeuvre. Critics praise the exhibition for its dramatic lighting and revelatory presentation, though some note uneven quality in his later works.

Lauder heir hands gallery and $135mn Klimt to New York’s Metropolitan Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has received a major donation from the Lauder family: a historic townhouse gallery on the Upper East Side and Gustav Klimt's 1907 portrait "Adele Bloch-Bauer II," valued at $135 million. The gift comes from the estate of Estée Lauder heir Ronald S. Lauder, a longtime museum trustee and collector, and includes the former Neue Galerie building at 1048 Fifth Avenue, which will be renovated to expand the Met's modern and contemporary art exhibition space.

Boxing News: WBC Honors Rocky Exhibition & Joe Frazier Legacy At Philadelphia Museum Of Art » May 13, 2026

The World Boxing Council (WBC) presented two commemorative championship belts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in connection with the exhibition "Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments," which marks the 50th anniversary of the film "Rocky." On April 23, 2026, Rasheen Farlow of the WBC gave a belt to the family of Joe Frazier, accepted by his daughter Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde. The following evening, a second belt was presented to the exhibition itself, accepted by guest curator Paul Farber. The belts honor boxing figures Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, and Jose Sulaiman, and one also features the film character Rocky.

Grand Rapids Art Museum presents: ‘Decadent Spirit: French Art at the Turn of the Century’

The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) has announced its summer exhibition 'Decadent Spirit: French Art at the Turn of the Century,' on view from May 29 to September 6. Featuring over 130 works spanning 1880 to 1910, the show highlights artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Jules Chéret, Hector Guimard, and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, alongside early film pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière, Georges Méliès, and Alice Guy-Blaché. The exhibition includes works on paper, painting, sculpture, metalwork, interior and urban design, and early film, exploring the cafés, streets, theaters, and domestic scenes of fin-de-siècle Paris. It closes with an 1899 French motorcar, symbolizing the era's new mobility.

Ali Banisadr: Temple of the Mind | Solo exhibition at Buffalo AKG Art Museum

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum will present "Ali Banisadr: Temple of the Mind," a solo exhibition running from June 26 to November 8, 2026. The show occupies the Hemicycle Gallery and, for the first time, the Wilmers Galleries, where Banisadr's works will be installed alongside Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist pieces from the museum's permanent collection. The exhibition includes an installation exploring the artist's influences, featuring works by Andō Hiroshige and Francisco de Goya, as well as studio materials, a new etching created with Mirabo Press, and an audio journey narrated by Banisadr.