Inside the Joseph Cornell studio: Wes Anderson recreates an artist’s private world in Paris

Gagosian Paris has opened "The House on Utopia Parkway," an immersive exhibition reconstructing Joseph Cornell's basement studio in Queens, New York. Running from December 16, 2025, to March 14, 2026, the show is a collaboration between filmmaker Wes Anderson and curator Jasper Sharp, transforming the gallery into a life-size tableau filled with over 300 objects from Cornell's personal collection—maps, toys, feathers, shells, and paper fragments. It also features key works such as "Pharmacy" (1943), "Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy)" from the Medici series, "A Dressing Room for Gille" (1939), and "Blériot II" (c. 1956), marking Cornell's first solo presentation in Paris in over forty years.

Climate protestors install Anish Kapoor work on North Sea gas platform

Climate activists from Greenpeace installed a new artwork by Anish Kapoor on a Shell gas platform in the North Sea. Titled "BUTCHERED," the 12m by 8m canvas was attached to the platform and drenched with a blood-red liquid made from seawater, beetroot powder, and non-toxic pond dye to symbolize the environmental destruction caused by fossil fuel companies. The protest coincided with record-breaking heatwaves in Europe. Kapoor described the work as a tribute to activists and a "visual scream" against the climate crisis, while Shell condemned the action as dangerous and illegal trespassing.

In pictures: Art Basel's Unlimited section offers visions of utopia

Art Basel's Unlimited section, curated by Giovanni Carmine, features monumental works and performances with themes of utopia, community, and being in sync. Highlights include Oscar Murillo's participatory drawing installation, David Owens' film on Lonnie Holley, Alia Farid's tapestries on Middle Eastern-Cuban migration, Taloi Havini's shell money piece, Atelier Van Lieshout's 160-sculpture march to utopia, Andrea Büttner's shame punishment prints, and Mario Merz's inhabitable igloo.

widow sues new york auction house stamp collection 1234756753

Shelley Entner, a Florida widow, is suing Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York for the return of her late husband Stanley Marks' stamp collection, valued at up to $2 million. Entner claims some stamps are missing from the collection, which Marks began in 1937 and continued until his death in 2016. The auction house sold the international portion in 2016 for $750,000, but Entner says a recent inspection revealed missing US stamps. The auction house denies the allegations, stating Entner changed her mind about auctioning the collection and refuses to reimburse $56,000 in insurance costs, while offering to return the stamps.

Exhibition | Shota Nakamura, 'Apple' at Karma, Los Angeles

Shota Nakamura's exhibition 'Apple' at Karma in Los Angeles presents a series of new paintings that explore familiar subjects—fruit, shells, sailboats, landscapes—through a dreamlike, tonally nuanced lens. The Berlin-based Japanese artist focuses on the tonality of light, using closely-valued hues to investigate relationships between color, luminosity, and illusion. Works such as 'Landscape with Apples' (2026), 'A Black Dog', and 'Violin Player' demonstrate his method of combining personal photographs, memory, and art historical references into compositions that balance representation with formal abstraction, often referencing modern Japanese painters like Zenzaburo Kojima and Morikazu Kumagai as well as Mark Rothko.

Exhibition | Anna Park, 'Hot Honey' at Lehmann Maupin, London, United Kingdom

Anna Park makes her United Kingdom solo debut at Lehmann Maupin London with 'Hot Honey,' an exhibition of large-scale charcoal works running from April 30 to May 30. The show features Park’s signature fractured, cinematic compositions that explore female archetypes like the 'vixen' and the 'bombshell.' For the first time, the artist introduces shaped supports that turn her drawings into sculptural reliefs, alongside restrained passages of color that heighten the psychological intensity of her social critiques.

In pictures: a season for newcomers at Art Basel Miami Beach’s Meridians

Yasmil Raymond returns for her second year as curator of Art Basel Miami Beach’s Meridians sector, focusing on showcasing a more diverse group of artists and providing opportunities for newcomers. She highlights several works, including Huang Yong Ping’s political sculpture referencing a US spy plane incident, Stephanie Syjuco’s critique of Western culture through a photography-studio installation, Ward Shelley’s post-truth library, Jesús Rafael Soto’s immersive Pénétrable, Luisa Rabbia’s feminist reimagining of a labor strike painting, and Anne Samat’s woven family portrait made from thrift-store objects.

Three artists, three questions: Contemporary art

Three Israeli artists—Ronit Porat, an evacuated photographer working with archival materials; an emerging artist using shrapnel from rocket shells as art material while serving as an IDF reservist; and a young artist opening a new exhibition after a break—are profiled in this column by Basia Monkaj. Each answers three questions about inspiration, the definition of art, and what makes their work unique, set against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Israel and the centenary of Surrealism.

Shelley’s hair to Schindler’s list: the most fascinating objects in the State Library of NSW – in pictures

The State Library of NSW is celebrating its 200th anniversary with a new exhibition featuring 200 objects from its collection of 6 million items. Lead curator Elise Edmonds and her team selected highlights including a lock of Mary Shelley's hair, the smallest book in the library's collection (measuring 6mm by 6mm), bread wrappers from the 1960s, a colonial sketchbook from 1817, a Dharawal Indigenous language wordlist, Australia's oldest surviving political cartoon from 1808, and a contemporary artwork by Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens. The objects span literature, colonial history, Indigenous culture, sport, and everyday life.

New York Court Orders Restitution of a Modigliani to the Oscar Stettiner Estate

La justice new-yorkaise ordonne la restitution d’un Modigliani à la succession d’Oscar Stettiner

A New York court has ordered the restitution of Amedeo Modigliani’s 1918 painting 'Seated Man with a Cane' to the heirs of Oscar Stettiner, a Jewish art dealer. The work was seized during the Nazi occupation of Paris and sold at a forced auction in 1944 before eventually being purchased by the billionaire Nahmad family via an offshore company in 1996. Judge Joel M. Cohen ruled that the evidence of Stettiner’s prior ownership was "unusually strong" and dismissed the defense's claims that the painting was a different version or that the claim was filed too late.

The Nahmad family ordered to return a Nazi-looted Modigliani, valued at 21.5 million euros, to a French farmer

La famille Nahmad sommée de restituer à un agriculteur français un Modigliani spolié par les nazis, estimé à 21,5 millions d’euros

The New York State Supreme Court has ordered the restitution of Amedeo Modigliani’s 1918 painting, 'Seated Man (with a Cane)', to Philippe Maestracci, the grandson of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner. The artwork, valued at approximately €21.5 million, was looted from Stettiner’s Paris gallery by the Nazis in 1944. Despite a 1946 court ruling in Stettiner's favor, the painting remained hidden for decades before being acquired in 1996 by the billionaire Nahmad family through an offshore entity.

dubai reveals plans for first modern and contemporary art museum 1234759438

Dubai has announced plans for its first museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art, the Dubai Museum of Art (DUMA), designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Located along Dubai Creek, the five-story museum will feature a curved shell inspired by the sea and pearl, with a central roof opening, library, study rooms, and flexible spaces for art fairs. The project is developed by the Al-Futtaim Group with support from Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. No opening date has been set.

Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle

Shellburne Thurber's retrospective exhibition "Full Circle" runs from October 24, 2025 to March 21, 2026 at the Bates Museum of Art. The show surveys Thurber's decades-long photographic investigation of interior spaces—from her grandmother's home in southern Indiana in the 1970s to psychoanalytic offices published as a book in 2023 by Kehrer Verlag. Curated by Bates curator Samantha Sigmon, the exhibition traces how Thurber has consistently explored the relationship between constructed space and human energy, focusing on private, domestic, and psychological interiors that blur the line between public and private.

London National Gallery’s deficit bombshell, Simon Schama on birds and art, Vilhelm Hammershøi—podcast

The National Gallery in London has announced unexpected and significant budget cuts, including potential staff reductions, due to a projected deficit of £8.2 million for the upcoming year. This financial crisis comes as a surprise following the recent completion of a major building project and the announcement of another ambitious expansion planned for the 2030s.

Dubai’s first art museum to include ‘space for fairs’

Plans have been announced for Dubai’s first art museum, the Dubai Museum of Art (DUMA), a private initiative by the Al Futtaim Group. Designed by architect Tadao Ando, the five-story building will be built on an artificial jetty in Dubai Creek and shaped like a curved shell. The model was unveiled at a ceremony attended by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The museum will include galleries, a restaurant, VIP lounge, and space for art fairs, though no timeline or collection details have been released.

Review: “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists” at Hyde Park Art Center

The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago presents “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists,” a group exhibition curated by Dr. Rikki Byrd, the center’s inaugural Radicle Curatorial Resident. The show features works by Lisa DeAbreu, Lex Marie, Natasha Moustache, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and Ciarra K. Walters, each exploring mark-making as a conceptual and material practice. Highlights include Walters’ video “Eileen’s Daughters,” which uses fragile eggshell-covered suits to evoke familial intimacy and vulnerability; DeAbreu’s textile works that transform household items into visual heirlooms; Ogbara’s sculptural piece “Hopscotch (A Safe Space to Land),” combining bronze and soil to address Black beauty and West African heritage; and Marie’s reimagined American flags made from hospital blankets and beads, critiquing the nation’s relationship with Black maternity and childhood.

Lesia Vasylchenko wins the PinchukArtCentre Prize

Lesia Vasylchenko, a Kyiv-born artist, has won the 2025 PinchukArtCentre Prize, receiving 400,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (about $10,000). Her winning installation includes two video works: one reflecting on the shelling during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and another using AI to compress 30 years of sunrises into a single event. At the awards ceremony held on 18 June in Kyiv—a day after a deadly Russian drone attack killed at least 28 people—Vasylchenko announced she would donate the entire prize to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Special prizes were awarded to painter Kateryna Aliinyk and artist Yevhen Korshunov, each receiving 100,000 hryvnia and additional support.

Thomas Gentille, Artist Who Made Wearable Sculpture, Dies at 89

Thomas Gentille, an influential American artist and master jeweler, has died at the age of 89. His work, which he described as "wearable sculpture," blurred the lines between jewelry and contemporary art, favoring abstract, architectural forms in materials like eggshell, wood, and stone over traditional precious gems and metals.

Sands and Rituals from the Antipodes: To Be Discovered in a Former Church in Venice

Sabbie e riti dagli antipodi. Da scoprire in una ex chiesa di Venezia

The Church of San Lorenzo in Venice, home to Ocean Space, is hosting "Tide of Returns," an exhibition by the Repatriates Collective. The installation transforms the historic nave with sand dunes populated by thousands of decorated shells known as Dadikwakwa-kwa, or shell dolls, from the Anindilyakwa people of Australia. The show also features a tripartite installation of video, textiles, and braids by German-Bolivian artist Verena Melgarejo Weinandt, exploring themes of ancestral connection and the universal significance of water.

Spouses of PIF leaders visit Art Gallery

Spouses of Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders visited the National Art Gallery in Honiara on Monday as part of the official program for the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting. Hosted by Madam Jocelyn Manele, spouse of the Solomon Islands Prime Minister, the delegation toured exhibitions featuring shell money, wood carving, and lava-lava textiles, and engaged with local artisans demonstrating traditional crafts. Acting Curator Julie Fakaia noted that the exhibition showcased gallery collections and live demonstrations, including shell money making and weaving from Rennell and Bellona. The spouses also purchased handmade items from the Solomon Islands Artisans, with traditional gifts exchanged during the visit.

NYU Steinhardt Presents 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions

NYU Steinhardt's Department of Art and Art Professions is presenting its 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions in two parts at the 80WSE Gallery in Greenwich Village. The first exhibition, titled 'Hoodwinked,' runs from April 1 to April 18 and features works by Nicholas Koby, Richard Medina, Roselynn Sadaghiani, Mario Saponaro, and Brooke Schneider. The second, 'Eggshells,' runs from May 6 to May 23 and showcases artists Ariel Barish, Christopher Chan, Mélanie Dumas, Roxie de Là, and Fan Qi.

MFA candidate brings ecological art to the Broad Art Museum

Hailey Becker, a Master of Fine Arts candidate at Michigan State University, has debuted a large-scale ecological sound sculpture at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The installation features over 10,000 hand-cracked walnut shells suspended in a human-sized chime, which are struck by a mechanical arm to mimic the sound of water hitting a coastline. The project is the culmination of Becker’s interdisciplinary research, blending her background in engineering and material science with her current studies in forestry and fine arts.

‘Final spurt’: decades-long rebuilding of Dresden’s Royal Palace nears completion

The decades-long reconstruction of Dresden's Royal Palace (Residenzschloss), a project costing €400 million, is nearing completion after beginning in 1985. The palace, which was reduced to a burnt-out shell by Allied bombing in February 1945 and remained a ruin through much of East Germany's history, will see its final phases unfold from autumn 2024 through 2027. These include a new installation in the former picture galleries, the rebuilt Schlosskapelle (palace chapel) opening in November, a Rüstkammer installation in the ballroom in early 2026, the completion of the Grosser Schlosshof courtyard in 2027, and a new exhibit in the Gothic Hall chronicling the palace's history. The palace now houses major collections of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD), including the Grünes Gewölbe, Kupferstich-Kabinett, and Rüstkammer.

High-quality youth artwork shines at Sovereign Young Artist Competition exhibition

The Sovereign Art Foundation and Gibraltar Cultural Services announced the winners of the 2026 Sovereign Young Artist Competition at an awards ceremony on April 16. The exhibition showcases finalists in two age categories, with winners including Aimee Linares (SAF Judges’ Prize), Amelie Romero (SAF Public Vote Prize), Sebastian Andlaw (Alwani Foundation Award), Shelli Abudarham (Ministry of Culture Award), and Tyrone Vera (AquaGib Second Prize). The top student winner received £800, with £2,000 awarded to their school's art department.

Can This New York Gallery Make You Reconsider Your Stance on Digital Art?

Offline gallery, a new brick-and-mortar space at 243 Bowery in New York (formerly Salon 94's location), has opened with a mission to bridge digital art and physical experience. Supported by the NFT marketplace SuperRare, the gallery is directed by Mika Bar-On Nesher and co-founded by Josh Long. It launched in July 2024 and has already hosted a book launch for Botto, an autonomous AI artist, and currently features a solo exhibition by Japanese multimedia artist Emi Kusano titled "Ego In The Shell," which explores AI, nostalgia, and pop culture. The gallery aims to create a tangible space where audiences can engage with digital and AI-generated art, fostering dialogue between crypto-natives and traditional art audiences.

Two new exhibitions debut today at St. Pete’s MFA

The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg has launched two major exhibitions: a career-spanning survey of Iranian-born artist Ali Banisadr and a site-specific installation by Ward Shelley and Douglas Paulson. Banisadr’s exhibition, "The Alchemist," features nearly 20 years of work including large-scale paintings that blend abstraction with intricate, emerging figures. Accompanying this is "The Last Library IV: Written in Water," a life-sized library constructed from corrugated cardboard that explores the fragility of the written word and the impact of censorship and AI on language.

Art Basel Miami Beach Diary: big feet, big muscles and big voices descend on Miami

Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 has kicked off with a series of high-energy events, including a Japanese women's wrestling match at the Miami Beach Bandshell featuring the Sukeban league, where Ichigo Sayaka was crowned victor with a belt designed by Marc Newson. The fair also features a performance by Diana Ross at Alex Prager's Mirage Factory launch, a set by rapper 2 Chainz at Soho Beach House, and notable artworks such as Sadao Hasegawa's erotic paintings at Garth Greenan's stand and Pat Oleszko's 13ft-tall inflatable 'Big Foots' at the David Peter Francis stand.

Elevating High Fashion. Issey Miyake and Ensamble Studio Together at Fuorisalone 2026

Valorizzare l’alta sartoria. Issey Miyake e Ensamble Studio insieme al Fuorisalone 2026

Satoshi Kondo, a director at the Miyake Design Studio, has partnered with the Madrid-based architecture firm Ensamble Studio to explore the creative potential of the Paper Log, a byproduct of Issey Miyake's signature pleating process. The collaboration will culminate in an exhibition titled 'The Paper Log: Shell and Core' during the 2026 Fuorisalone in Milan, featuring prototype furniture and sculptural forms made from the compressed paper rolls and unfolded pleated paper.

Canada's Art Gallery of Hamilton gets federal funding for expansion that will double its exhibition space

The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) in Ontario, Canada, announced on January 20 that it has received nearly C$1 million ($684,000) in federal funding from the Canadian Heritage Cultural Spaces Fund for a major expansion. The project will add a 745-square-meter gallery, increasing exhibition space by 70%, and is expected to attract up to 300,000 visitors annually. AGH President and CEO Shelley Falconer stated the funding will launch the first phase, including hiring an architectural firm and creating schematic drawings for a new Main Street entrance and a gallery dedicated to Hamilton's industrial history. The gallery is also exploring adding affordable housing for creative workers in partnership with City Housing Hamilton.

The Textile Museum: A Frayed Project

Le Musée des tissus, un projet décousu

The renovation and expansion of the Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs in Lyon has stalled despite being acquired by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region seven years ago. Although architect Rudy Ricciotti revised his initial designs to satisfy local urban planning requirements and resident concerns, the project faces significant delays, with no building permit filed and a fluctuating budget that recently dropped from 60 million to 32 million euros. Tensions between the regional leadership and the City of Lyon have further complicated the timeline, leaving the museum closed to the public for four years.