Have we reached peak painting?

The article examines the enduring dominance of painting in the art world, despite repeated predictions of its demise. It cites record-breaking sales—Leonardo's *Salvator Mundi* ($450m), Jasper Johns's *Flag* ($110m), and Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* ($13.6m)—and highlights the upcoming Jenny Saville survey at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Turner Prize shortlist includes painter Mohammed Sami, whose work *Poor Folk II* sold for $571,500 at Sotheby's, far exceeding estimates. Exhibitions like *Painting after Painting* at SMAK in Ghent and *R U Still Painting???* in New York explore how artists continue to use the medium, with curators and market figures affirming painting's resilience.

‘Wear layers and chic waterproof shoes’: Cherry Cheng on the art she collects, the London food she loves and how she survives Frieze week

Cherry Cheng, an art collector and founder of the high-end perfume house Jouissance, discusses her art-buying habits, favorite London spots, and Frieze week plans in an interview. She studied at Sotheby's Institute of Art and Goldsmiths, worked for Gurr Johns, and now collects works by artists such as Tancredi di Carcaci and Anastasia Pavlou, while supporting institutions like the Serpentine, Studio Voltaire, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Alexander Morrison

Alexander Morrison, a prominent figure in the art world, has passed away. The article, published by The Art Newspaper, reports on his death and likely includes tributes to his contributions, though the provided text is limited to subscription prompts and footer information, lacking full details on his life and career.

Salman Toor to See First Solo Show in Europe Next Year

The Courtauld Gallery in London has announced its 2026 programme, headlined by Pakistani-born, New York-based painter Salman Toor's first solo exhibition in Europe. Titled "Someone Like You," the show will feature around 20 of Toor's emblematic canvases, including "The Bar on East 13th" (2019), which directly references Édouard Manet's "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" (1882) from the Courtauld's collection. The exhibition will also include a selection of Toor's works on paper, such as "Fag Puddle in Vitrine" (2021), recently acquired by the museum. Toor's profile has risen sharply over the past five years as his intimate paintings of queer, South Asian men have resonated with institutions and the art market.

Van Gogh’s two pictures of the hospital in Arles—painted while he was recovering after cutting his ear—head to the Courtauld

Van Gogh's two paintings of the hospital in Arles, created after he mutilated his ear, are being lent from the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland, to the Courtauld Gallery in London for the exhibition "Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection" (14 February–26 May). The works—"The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles" and "The Ward in the Hospital at Arles"—were both acquired in the 1920s by Swiss collector Oskar Reinhart and have rarely been lent due to restrictions that have now been modified. The museum in Winterthur is temporarily closed for renovations, enabling this loan.

‘I paint extreme emotions’: Rachel Jones on her riotously colourful paintings – and her obsession with mouths

Rachel Jones, a 34-year-old British artist, is preparing for a major retrospective at Dulwich Picture Gallery, her first institutional solo show in the UK and the museum's first solo exhibition of a contemporary artist in its main space. After graduating from the Royal Academy Schools in 2019, Jones was quickly represented by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, had work acquired by the Tate, and exhibited at Chisenhale Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, and the Hepworth Wakefield. She has since left gallery representation, expanded into sound and performance, and created a short opera titled 'Hey Maudie' (2023), now being developed into a full-length opera. Her upcoming show at Dulwich, 'Gated Canyons', will pair her large-scale abstract paintings with works from the museum's collection, and she also has a site-specific commission at the Courtauld Gallery opening in September.

The Top Exhibitions To See In London: May 2025

London's galleries and museums are opening a wave of major exhibitions in May 2025. Highlights include a 30-year survey of South Korean artist Do Ho Suh at Tate Modern, featuring fabric corridors replicating his former homes; two blockbuster shows at the British Museum—Hiroshige's prints of a transforming Japan and an exploration of ancient Indian religious art; a tech-and-nature residency by physicist-artist Jasmine Pradissitto at the London Museum of Water & Steam; and an immersive tree visualization by Marshmallow Laser Feast at Kew Gardens. The Francis Crick Institute also hosts the final weeks of its free multisensory exhibition "Hello Brain!"

Preview

The Art Newspaper is promoting its digital newsletter, which delivers a daily digest of essential news, views, and analysis from the international art world directly to subscribers' inboxes. The article serves as a brief call-to-action for readers to subscribe.

American Rousseaus Return to Paris

Les Rousseau américains de retour à Paris

The Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris is hosting a landmark exhibition titled "Henri Rousseau, l’ambition de la peinture," featuring 50 works by the self-taught master. The show is distinguished by a historic loan from the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, which has sent nine paintings to France for the first time since they were acquired a century ago by Albert Barnes. A highlight of the exhibition is the rare gathering of three "manifesto paintings"—The Sleeping Gypsy, Unpleasant Surprise, and The Snake Charmer—displayed together in a dedicated gallery.

elizabeth denny outsider art fair director 1234753664

Elizabeth Denny has been appointed as the new director of the Outsider Art Fair, which was founded in 1993 and specializes in art brut, folk art, and self-taught art. Denny previously served as director at Eric Firestone Gallery and founded her own gallery in 2013 with locations in New York and Hong Kong. She holds degrees from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Columbia University, lectures at Columbia and Sotheby’s Institute, and is a founding board member of Less Than Half, an organization supporting underrecognized women artists. The fair's next edition is scheduled for March 2026 in New York.

One of London’s Most Unmissable Art Exhibitions in 2026 Will Open This Week

The Courtauld in London is opening 'Seurat and the Sea,' the first exhibition dedicated to Georges Seurat's seascapes, on February 13, 2026. The show will feature 26 paintings, oil sketches, and drawings created by the artist between 1885 and 1890, including works like 'The Beach at Gravelines' and 'Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy.'

A brush with… Peter Doig—podcast

The article is a podcast interview with renowned painter Peter Doig, who discusses his upcoming exhibition "House of Music" at Serpentine South in London, running from October 10, 2025, to February 8, 2026. Doig reflects on his career, his evolving body of work informed by memory, personal photographs, art history, and music, as well as his time living in Trinidad and Canada. He delves into specific paintings in the show, his influences including Edward Burra, Henri Matisse, and Caravaggio, his collaboration with poet Derek Walcott, and the repertory cinema he founded in Port of Spain.

Sound and vision: artists take to the decks for Peter Doig’s Serpentine show

Peter Doig's exhibition 'House of Music' at Serpentine South in London centers on the relationship between visual art and sound, featuring paintings like 'Maracas' (2002-08) and 'Music of the Future' (2002-07) alongside a restored Western Electric/Bell Labs sound system from the late 1920s. The show includes a series of live Sunday events called 'Sound Service,' where Doig, Ed Ruscha, Arthur Jafa, and others play records, transforming the gallery into an immersive audio-visual experience.

Marina Abramović and Peter Doig win £77,000 Praemium Imperiale prizes

Marina Abramović and Peter Doig have been awarded the 2025 Praemium Imperiale prizes for sculpture and painting, respectively, each receiving a 15 million yen (£77,000) honorarium. The awards, presented by the Japan Art Association under honorary patron Prince Hitachi, also recognized Belgian filmmaker Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (theatre/film), Hungarian pianist András Schiff (music), and Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto De Moura (architecture). The National Youth Theatre received the 2025 Grant for Young Artists.

All the complexity of Cézanne on display at the legendary Fondation Beyeler in Basel

Tutta la complessità di Cézanne in mostra alla mitica Fondation Beyeler di Basilea

The Fondation Beyeler in Basel has opened a major exhibition dedicated to Paul Cézanne, marking the 120th anniversary of his death. Curated by senior curator Ulf Küster, the show features 80 works—58 paintings and 21 watercolors—drawn from public and private collections across Switzerland, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, and the United States. Highlights include nine versions of Mont Sainte-Victoire, rare comparisons of two watercolor versions of "Boy in a Red Waistcoat," and two versions of "The Card Players" from the Courtauld Gallery and the Musée d'Orsay. The exhibition runs until May 25, 2026, and is accompanied by a catalog published by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

The best exhibitions of 2025, as chosen by curators and museum directors

Curators and museum directors from leading institutions worldwide selected their favorite exhibitions of 2025, highlighting a diverse range of shows. Standouts include Wolfgang Tillmans at Centre Pompidou, Paris, praised for its generous scope and integration of the library space; 'Encounters: Giacometti x Mona Hatoum' at Barbican Art Gallery, London, noted for its dialogue across time; and Ithell Colquhoun's retrospective at Tate St Ives, which repositions the artist from a Surrealist footnote to a major figure. Other acclaimed exhibitions include Noah Davis at Barbican Art Gallery, Linder at Hayward Gallery, Hamad Butt at Whitechapel Gallery, and Caroline Walker at Hepworth Wakefield.

A brush with… Tai Shani—podcast

Tai Shani, a London-based artist born in 1976, is the subject of a podcast episode in the "A brush with…" series. She discusses her multidisciplinary practice, which draws on cultural forms, historical events, and theoretical ideas to create fantastical, utopian worlds infused with contemporary political and social themes. Shani reflects on the gendered nature of her mediums, the influence of works like John Everett Millais's *Ophelia* and Valie Export's exhibition at Camden Art Centre, and the revolutionary potential of art in an era of right-wing politics. The episode also covers her upcoming exhibitions: *The Spell or The Dream* at Somerset House (August–September 2025), *Gathering* in London (September–November 2025), a sculpture at Dulwich Picture Gallery's new sculpture park, and her High Line commission in New York, on view through March 2026.

An exhibition of an artist who brought post-impressionism to England

The Museum of Somerset is hosting "A Life in Art: Roger Fry," an exhibition dedicated to the painter, critic, and curator Roger Fry, who introduced post-impressionism to England. The show features nearly 40 of Fry's paintings from a recent Charleston exhibition, alongside works by his wife, Arts & Crafts artist Helen Coombe, whose career and life have been largely overlooked. Through artwork, archival photos, and a film, the exhibition explores Fry's complex personal life, including Coombe's institutionalization for mental illness, and his role within the Bloomsbury Group.

Art Fund celebrates decade of lending programme with Rossetti and Surrealist loans

The Art Fund is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its Weston Loan Programme by facilitating the loan of major masterpieces to 15 regional UK institutions. High-profile works, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s 'Beata Beatrix' and Joseph Wright of Derby’s 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump', will travel from national collections like the National Gallery and Tate to smaller galleries in Newcastle, Derby, and Ipswich. The program covers essential logistical costs such as insurance, transport, and security that are typically prohibitive for local museums.

Van Gogh visited Georges Seurat's studio the day he left for Provence

The Courtauld Gallery in London is hosting a major exhibition of Georges Seurat’s work, highlighting the profound influence the Neo-Impressionist leader had on Vincent van Gogh. Historical records reveal that Van Gogh visited Seurat’s studio on February 19, 1888—the very day he departed Paris for Arles—to view masterpieces like 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.' This meeting underscores the deep respect Van Gogh held for Seurat’s scientific approach to color, even as he prepared to embark on his most famous creative period in Provence.

Why this rarely seen Van Gogh self-portrait deserves more attention

A blog post examines Van Gogh's lesser-known self-portrait, *Self-portrait with bandaged Ear and Pipe* (January 1889), held in a private collection and rarely exhibited—last lent outside Switzerland in 1990. The painting shows the artist clean-shaven, smoking a pipe, with a striking orange-red background, painted just weeks after he mutilated his ear following a row with Paul Gauguin. The post contrasts it with the more famous version in London's Courtauld Gallery, analyzing compositional details and the artist's psychological state.

The Year Ahead 2026: the big exhibitions and the key museum openings—podcast

In the first episode of 2026, Ben Luke, Jane Morris, and Gareth Harris preview the year's major art events, including museum openings, biennials, and exhibitions. Highlights include the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, V&A East, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, along with the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, and shows dedicated to artists like Gainsborough, Raphael, Zurbarán, and Matisse.

Rediscovering Roger Fry, the overlooked Bloomsbury artist who helped bring Cézanne and Van Gogh to the world

The Charleston museum in Firle, East Sussex, will mount a major solo exhibition of paintings by Roger Fry (1866-1934) from 15 November 2025 to 15 March 2026. Fry, a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, was a polymath who introduced Post-Impressionists like Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin to British and American audiences, co-founded the Omega Workshops and the Burlington Magazine, taught at Cambridge, and curated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show brings together nearly 80 works, over 60 from private collections, including portraits of friends like E.M. Forster and Vanessa Bell, and landscapes that reveal his experimental range from Gauguin-esque outlines to Cubism.

Show at the Barnes Foundation charts Henri Rousseau's rise from mockery to acclaim

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is opening "Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets" (October 19–February 22), reuniting for the first time in over a century the two largest collections of Rousseau's work—18 paintings from the Barnes Foundation and 11 from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The exhibition, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, uses new conservation research to challenge the long-held myth of Rousseau as a naive, unworldly amateur, revealing instead a strategic artist who revised compositions, reused canvases, and actively sought an audience through Paris's open salons.

Wayne Thiebaud’s first UK show reveals the hidden depths of his deceptively simple paintings

Wayne Thiebaud's first museum exhibition in the UK has opened at the Courtauld Gallery, featuring 21 paintings on loan from US public and private collections, including the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation. The show, titled "Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life," highlights the artist's deceptively simple depictions of cakes, pies, and deli counters, and includes a concurrent exhibition of works on paper called "Delights." Co-curator Barnaby Wright emphasizes that seeing the works in person reveals their extraordinary painterly quality, which reproductions flatten.

Nigerian Modernism, Tehran’s art scene after the war, Wayne Thiebaud’s ‘Cake’—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast covers three major stories. First, Tate Modern's new exhibition 'Nigerian Modernism' explores modern art beyond Western canons, featuring co-curator Osei Bonsu and artist Jimoh Buraimoh. Second, correspondent Sarvy Geranpayeh reports on Tehran's art scene following the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June 2025. Third, the 'Work of the Week' segment highlights Wayne Thiebaud's painting 'Cakes' (1963), now on view at the Courtauld Gallery in London for the artist's first UK museum exhibition.

Somerset House to mark 25 years as a public space with weekend of free events

Somerset House, a central London center for contemporary art and innovation, will host a free weekend of interactive events on September 13-14 to celebrate 25 years as a public space. The Step Inside 25 Weekend will feature installations by Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani, musician Gaika, and sound artist Nick Ryan, alongside works from the inaugural Talent 25 awardees—a new mentorship program led by artist Yinka Ilori. The event will open rarely accessible areas like the Deadhouse subterranean spaces and the Portico Rooms.

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

The Courtauld Gallery in London is hosting 'Seurat and the Sea,' the UK's first exhibition dedicated to Georges Seurat's seascapes. The show features over half of the artist's lifetime output of canvases, painted during summer trips to the Channel coast between 1885 and 1890, which he intended as visual cleansers from studio work. The exhibition highlights his pointillist technique, using contrasting dots of color to capture seaside light.

Open Letter on Auction of “Tributes” to the Russian Avant-Garde

An open letter signed by art historians, curators, and researchers protests an upcoming auction at Stanley's Auction House in Zaventem, Belgium, scheduled for April 23, titled “Tributes to the Russian Avant-Garde & Constructivists.” The second sale is organized in cooperation with Drouot, a major French auction platform, and offers approximately one hundred works from the so-called Toporovsky collection, which has been linked to a scandal involving forged Russian modernist paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent. The alleged suppliers, Igor Toporovsky and Olga Toporovsky, face criminal charges including the sale of 171 forged works for about €20 million, with court proceedings beginning in May in Ghent. The signatories argue that the auction, with works priced around €300 each, is deeply troubling given the pending legal case and the undisclosed consignor identity.

courtauld gallery and institute in london receives record breaking 30 m donation from reuben foundation 1234757172

London's Courtauld Gallery and Institute has received a £30 million ($40.06 million) donation from the Reuben Foundation, the largest gift in its 93-year history. The foundation, established by billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben, will also share their extensive art collection to support future exhibitions as part of a long-term partnership. The donation will help fund the refurbishment of the Courtauld's academic wing, which still requires an additional £65 million to complete.