Outsourcing a service is not prohibited, but managing the provider's employees is

Externaliser un service n’est pas interdit, diriger les salariés du prestataire l’est

A wave of legal complaints has been filed against several major French cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Pinault Collection, and the MuCEM, alleging illegal labor practices. Labor unions Sud-Culture, SUD-PTT, and Solidaires claim these museums are engaging in "illicit lending of labor" and "bargaining" by exercising direct authority over outsourced staff from third-party agencies like Marianne International and Pénélope. While outsourcing services like ticketing and reception is legal in France, the lawsuits argue that museums are illegally managing these external employees' daily schedules, rotations, and disciplinary actions as if they were their own staff.

When Masha met Ragnar: Pussy Riot member’s life-changing encounter

Maria "Masha" Alyokhina, a member of the protest group Pussy Riot, recounts her life-changing meeting with Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson at the opening of the GES-2 art centre in Moscow in late 2021. In an extract from her new book *Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia*, she describes their encounter, during which Kjartansson praised her group's "Punk Prayer" as one of the greatest performances in art history. The book charts her years of dissent, including her 2012 imprisonment with fellow Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova and her 2022 escape from Russia disguised as a food courier, allegedly facilitated by Kjartansson.

Infectious creativity

CIMA Gallery in Kolkata is hosting an exhibition titled "Outsider Art," on view until May 2, featuring works by a diverse group of individuals without formal artistic training. Participants include entrepreneur Dilip De, chartered accountant Amartya Mukherjee, danseuse Amala Shankar, musician Ayaan Ali Bangash, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others. The show highlights a wide range of media, from digital paintings and watercolors to photography and stoneware, all united by a raw, instinctive creativity.

Global share of contemporary art auction revenue 2024

A Statista chart published in April 2025 shows the geographical distribution of post-war and contemporary art auction revenue worldwide in 2024. The United States dominated with 48% of the combined post-war and contemporary market, followed by China (17%), the United Kingdom (15%), France (6%), Germany (2%), and other countries (11%). When broken down, the U.S. held 50% of post-war and 45% of contemporary revenue, while China captured 13% of post-war and 25% of contemporary revenue, reflecting its stronger position in the contemporary segment.

Jersey Artist Registry presents works by over 30 artists in exhibit at Oyster Point Hotel

The Jersey Artist Registry (JAR) is presenting "Uncharted Territory," an exhibition featuring over 50 works by 31 New Jersey artists at The Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank. Curated by JAR founder Ellen Martin, the show runs from May 8 through June 29, 2026, and includes a diverse range of styles and media, from surreal photography to geometric abstraction and mystical fractals.

7th Annual K-8 Student Art Exhibition 'Creativity Unbound' Opens at USU's Sorenson Center

Utah State University's Arts Are Core program has opened its seventh annual 'Creativity Unbound' student art exhibition at the Lyndsley Wilkerson Gallery. The show features over 300 artworks from K-8 students across multiple northern Utah school districts and charter schools, highlighting arts-integrated learning and student creativity. The exhibition will remain open to the public until March 20.

From intimate still lives to shadowed saints: the many sides of Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán go on show at London’s National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is opening a major survey exhibition of Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), the first on this scale since 1987. The show expands beyond his famous austere saints to include intimate still-lifes, late private devotional works, and large-scale altarpiece reconstructions. Curator Daniel Sobrino Ralston highlights two newly discovered paintings, including *Alcarraza on a Plate*, and a rare reconstruction of the second tier of the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera altarpiece, reuniting works from museums in Grenoble and Poznań.

pritzker art collection sothebys breuer 1234751864

Sotheby's will open its first auction season in the Breuer building this fall with the Pritzker collection, a private cache of paintings never before seen outside a Chicago living room. The collection, built by Cindy and Jay Pritzker, carries an overall estimate north of $120 million, with the lead lot being Vincent van Gogh's 1887 still life *Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes)*, estimated at close to $40 million. Other highlights include works by Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Joan Miró, Camille Pissarro, and a 15th-century sea chart by Petrus Roselli.

These 16 Artists Are the Biggest at U.S. Museums Right Now

This article presents a quarterly analysis of which living artists are most featured in temporary exhibitions across U.S. museums during September 2025. The author ranks artists based on the number and type of shows they appear in, prioritizing career retrospectives, dedicated exhibitions, and special commissions. The list is dominated by Black and Indigenous artists whose work addresses racism, colonialism, and nature, with Jeffrey Gibson topping the chart due to his Met facade commission, Broad show, and Venice Biennale U.S. Pavilion recreation. Other prominent artists include Firelei Báez, Rashid Johnson, Anila Quayyum Agha, and Ai Weiwei, the only non-U.S.-based artist on the list.

art historian dieter buchart lvmh jean michel basquiat art world 1234751799

Art historian Dieter Buchhart, a leading expert on Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, will debut a new Basquiat exhibition titled “Signs: Connecting Past and Future” at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, opening September 23 and running through January 31, 2026. In a recent interview with Jing Daily, Buchhart discussed the growing convergence of branding, fashion, and art, highlighting the role of luxury companies like LVMH in underwriting major exhibitions, citing their sponsorship of the 2023 show “Basquiat x Warhol. Painting 4 Hands” without special requests, though the exhibition premiered at LVMH’s Fondation Louis Vuitton.

‘Landmark’ Tate exhibition to chart 40 years of works by Margate artist Dame Tracey Emin

Dame Tracey Emin will present a major retrospective titled 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life' at Tate Modern in London, running from February to August 2026. The exhibition spans 40 years of her career, featuring iconic works like the Turner Prize-nominated 'My Bed' alongside never-before-exhibited pieces across painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation. Emin, who rose to prominence in the 1990s, has recently been appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire and continues to invest in artist spaces in Margate.

Inside Pauline Karpidas’s Legendary Surrealist Collection Bound for Auction

The legendary Surrealist collection of the late Pauline Karpidas, a renowned art patron and collector, will be auctioned at Sotheby's London in September 2025. The sale spans approximately 250 lots from her eccentric London home, featuring masterworks by René Magritte, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, and Les Lalannes. The collection is expected to fetch over £60 million ($81 million), the highest estimate ever placed on a single collection at Sotheby's Europe. Highlights include Magritte's 'La Statue volante' (1940–41), estimated at £9–12 million, and works acquired directly from the estates of Surrealist figures like André Breton and Paul Éluard.

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Kim Sajet, the former director of the Smithsonian-run National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., resigned after President Donald Trump claimed he fired her via social media. Despite Trump's demand, Sajet continued reporting to work until formally quitting. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, intervened to block internal board suggestions to follow Trump's orders, leading the board to issue a resolution affirming its sole authority to fire museum directors. The controversy followed Trump's executive order accusing the Smithsonian of promoting a "divisive, race-centered ideology" and his post calling Sajet a "highly partisan person" and "strong supporter of DEI." Separately, artist Amy Sherald withdrew her mid-career survey from the National Portrait Gallery after being asked to remove a portrait of a trans woman posing as the Statue of Liberty.

On View: 'Amy Sherald: American Sublime' at Whitney Museum of American Art in New York Charts Artist's Two-Decade Career

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York has opened "Amy Sherald: American Sublime," the largest exhibition of the artist's work and her first solo museum show in the city. Featuring over 40 paintings created between 2007 and 2024, the exhibition includes iconic portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, as well as works inspired by Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph and filmmaker Wes Anderson. The show is organized chronologically, beginning with the rarely seen "Hangman" (2007), and includes "If You Surrendered to the Air, You Could Ride It" (2020), shown for the first time since its acquisition by the Whitney five years ago.