national endowment for humanities sculpture garden trump

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant program to fund statues for President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes, a sculpture garden first proposed in 2021. The garden will feature life-size statues of 250 notable Americans, with a location still to be determined. Selected artists, who must be U.S. citizens, can receive up to $200,000 per statue, which must be made of traditional materials like marble or bronze and depict figures in a realistic style. The application deadline is July 1, and the project is jointly funded by the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts with a total of $34 million, drawn from federal grants originally allocated to other cultural programs but later canceled by the administration.

In Giverny, Monet does not benefit everyone

À Giverny, Monet ne profite pas à tout le monde

The article examines the economic paradox of Giverny, the French village where Claude Monet lived and painted. While Monet's gardens attract nearly one million visitors annually—with ticket sales estimated at €9-10 million—the village itself, with a population of just 430 and an annual budget of €600,000, sees almost none of that revenue. Visitors flood in for half-day trips, queue for hours to see the gardens, and leave by evening, spending little in local shops. The gardens, run by the Académie des beaux-arts, are tax-exempt and operate as a closed economic loop, with their boutique and restaurant generating income that stays within the institution.

Fred Tomaselli Turns Newspaper Headlines Into Mulch at His New Show at James Cohan

Fred Tomaselli presents his new exhibition “Blooms Disrupted,” opening May 15 at James Cohan’s 48 Walker Street location in New York. The show features his signature densely layered resin paintings embedded with organic matter like leaves and pharmaceutical pills, alongside a new series of collages constructed from New York Times front pages. The anchor piece, *Month of August (evening)*, combines a geometric spiral of headlines with a photographic Mexican sunflower, while other works reference art-historical gardens such as Frederic Edwin Church’s estate. Tomaselli, a Brooklyn-based artist born in 1956, uses the garden as both subject and metaphor throughout the exhibition.

Exhibition | Nengi Omuku, 'We Were Like Those Who Dreamed' at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London presents 'We Were Like Those Who Dreamed,' the second solo exhibition by Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku. The show features new paintings that explore the politics of green spaces in urban centers, particularly Lagos, where rapid urbanization has created a 'concrete jungle.' Omuku transposes figures from contemporary and archival images of Lagos into lush, Impressionistic landscapes painted with pointillist brushstrokes and a Fauvist palette, using the garden as a radical symbol of equality and resistance. She paints on sanyan, a hand-spun Yoruba cloth, working with local artisans in Ilorin to revive the tradition. Works like 'Dream Logic' and 'One Particular Man' address socio-economic tensions, while 'A quiet nation' captures the dichotomy between urban Brutalist architecture and natural foliage.

Fifteen Standout Exhibitions to Catch This Winter

Boston Art Review (BAR) has published a curated list of fifteen standout exhibitions to visit this winter, highlighting a diverse range of contemporary art shows across Boston and beyond. The selection includes both local gallery presentations and major museum exhibitions, offering readers a guide to the season's most compelling visual art experiences.

Culture Type | The Month in Black Art: Here’s What Happened in May 2025

The May 2025 roundup of Black art news reports the deaths of two influential figures: international curator Koyo Kouoh and artist-curator Evangeline J. Montgomery, who died at 94. Montgomery's career spanned metalwork, fiber art, and photography, and she was a key advocate and mentor in the African American art community, later working at the U.S. Information Agency. Other highlights include historian Edda L. Fields-Black winning a Pulitzer Prize for her book on Harriet Tubman, the acquisition of Adam Pendleton's entire "Who is Queen" installation by MoMA, and Kapwani Kiwanga winning the Joan Miró Prize. The Met Gala also featured Black dandy style inspired by the Costume Institute's exhibition "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style."

15 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This Summer

This guide highlights 15 art exhibitions across Upstate New York for summer, featuring moody paintings by Emily Pettigrew at Fenimore Art Museum, Native artists exploring time and memory at Hudson River Museum, Renée Green’s conceptual word shuffling at Dia Beacon, and Black history in the Hudson Valley at Vassar College's Loeb. Other shows include Arlene Shechet's intimate sculptures at Catskill Art Space and Larry Fink's photography at CPW in Kingston.

7 Artists Who Capture the Essence of Black Dandyism

The article highlights seven contemporary artists whose work embodies Black dandyism, timed to the 2025 Met Gala theme 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' and the corresponding exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. It traces the history of Black dandyism from its 18th-century European roots through its evolution during slavery and the 20th century, emphasizing its role as a defiant, empowering form of self-expression that challenges gender norms and racial stereotypes. Featured artists include Barkley L. Hendricks, Derek Fordjour, and Tyler Mitchell, among others.

MFA's Nude Exhibition Challenges Art History's Gender Norms

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has opened a new exhibition that challenges traditional gender norms in art history, featuring a dozen artists who disrupt the conventional nude. The show includes Xandra Ibarra's performance "Nude Laughing," where she paraded naked through the museum's European galleries, and works by Betty Tompkins, whose "Fuck Paintings" and "Women Words Painting" series confront misogyny and the male gaze. The exhibition juxtaposes these contemporary pieces with historical works like Jean-Léon Gérôme's "Moorish Bath" to highlight entrenched racial and gender hierarchies in art.

May Things to Do: Visual Art

This article from a Seattle arts publication rounds up May visual art events, including the Seattle Art Book Fair (May 9–10) at Washington Hall featuring over 85 artists and free admission; Timothy White Eagle's exhibition "Once Wild River" (May 9–June 21) at Mini Mart City Park, culminating his EPA artist-in-residency; "Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan" (May 13–Jan 17, 2027) at the Seattle Art Museum, where Donovan responds to Alexander Calder's black works; "Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman" opening May 15 at MoPOP, the largest collection of her iconic musician portraits; and Drie Chapek's "Then Is Now" (May 21–June 27).

Readers react to LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries: L.A. arts and culture this weekend

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is preparing for the public debut of its $724-million David Geffen Galleries, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Ahead of the April 19 member opening, public discourse has intensified following a series of reports detailing the building's architecture, the reinstallation of Alexander Calder’s "Three Quintains (Hello Girls)," and the project's massive budget. Reader reactions remain deeply polarized, reflecting a two-decade-long debate over the structure's unconventional design and its impact on the urban landscape.

At the Galleries for March 26, 2026

The Hamptons art scene is hosting a diverse array of exhibitions this March, ranging from intimate solo shows to expansive group surveys. Key highlights include Cait Porter’s still-life explorations of grief at Halsey McKay Gallery, Bruce Mermelstein’s photography retrospective at Southampton Town Hall, and a music-centric exhibition at ARDT Gallery featuring works by Kim Simmonds and David Edward Byrd. Other notable shows include "The Light of Awakening" at LTV Studios and a contemporary narrative group show at Slattery Gallery that pairs emerging artists with blue-chip masters like Picasso and de Kooning.

5 Artists on Our Radar in January 2026

Artsy's January 2026 edition of 'Artists on Our Radar' highlights five emerging visual artists: Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, Xiaochi Dong, and Bobbye Fermie (with two others implied). Deloumeaux, born in Guadeloupe and based in Paris, paints solitary figures exploring identity and displacement; his work is featured in a group show at Loft Art Gallery in Marrakech and he has a solo show upcoming at Musée de la Parure de Marrakech. Xiaochi Dong, a Shanghai-born artist trained in classical Chinese painting, creates intimate works evoking gardens and ecosystems, currently in a two-person exhibition at Albion Jeune in London. Bobbye Fermie, an Amsterdam-born London-based artist, produces dreamlike watercolors and collages, with works available at Wilder Gallery.

Sixteen must-see exhibitions in South Florida during Miami Art Week

The article highlights sixteen must-see exhibitions in South Florida during Miami Art Week, including a comprehensive museum survey of Joyce Pensato at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, a group show of Brazilian women artists titled "Mulheres: Proposals from Brazil" at ArtNexus Space, and Jack Pierson's exploration of queer Miami at the Bass Museum of Art. Other featured shows include Lawrence Lek's NOX Pavilion at the Bass, among others, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and multimedia installations.

Asian galleries move westward: their growing presence and influence in New York

Hong Kong-based gallery Kiang Malingue is opening a new outpost on the Lower East Side of New York on May 9, joining a wave of Asian galleries expanding into the city. The 3,500 sq. ft space at 50 Eldridge Street, formerly an artist's studio, will debut with a solo show by Japanese artist Hiroka Yamashita titled 'The Lights from the Deep Mountains.' Other recent arrivals include Manila's Silverlens (Chelsea, 2022), Taipei's Nunu Fine Art (Lower East Side, 2023), Hong Kong's Alisan Fine Arts (Upper East Side, 2023), and Shanghai's Bank (Lower East Side, March 2025).

Early 2026 Art Books From Yale University Press

Yale University Press has announced its early 2026 art book lineup, featuring exhibition catalogues such as "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Gwen John: Strange Beauties" from the Yale Center for British Art, "Edward Steichen and the Garden" from the George Eastman Museum, and "Frederic Church: Global Artist" from Olana NY State Historic Site. New releases also include a biography of Anni Albers by Nicholas Fox Weber, a catalogue titled "Anni Albers: Constructing Textiles" accompanying a European traveling exhibition, and Alyce Mahon's "Dorothea Tanning: A Surrealist Life," named a Best New Art Book of 2026 by Christie's. The press will hold a 50% off annual sale in May.

2026 Spring Arts Preview: The top visual art exhibitions we’re excited about this season

The article previews the spring 2026 visual arts season in San Diego County, highlighting a diverse range of exhibitions and events. It announces the return of Art Gallery Month, a collaborative effort involving 11 local galleries aimed at boosting the visibility of the commercial gallery ecosystem and encouraging local art collecting. Key exhibitions featured include Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya's first California solo museum show, 'In the Garden of Earthly Delights: I Bend to Paradise,' at the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the La Jolla Historical Society's 'Space Maker,' which explores the intersection of art and architecture. The preview also notes Richard Allen Morris's work at R.B. Stevenson Gallery and lists numerous participating commercial galleries.

Les jardins de Monet à l’épreuve du surtourisme

Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, France, which were recreated in 1980 after being abandoned in the 1950s, are now suffering from severe overtourism. The site, which attracted 70,000 visitors in its first year, is expected to exceed one million visitors in 2026, the centenary of Monet's death. Crowds are so dense that visitors report feeling unable to experience any emotion, and gardeners spend hours each morning repairing damage from trampling. The gardens have become a kind of industrial product, with 15,000 plants propagated each season to replace those destroyed.

U.K. Museum Races to Acquire 18th-Century Portrait of Black Gardener

The Garden Museum in London has launched a campaign to raise £420,000 ($560,000) to acquire the earliest known portrait of a Black British gardener, John Ystumllyn. Painted by an unknown artist in 1754, the work depicts Ystumllyn as a young man in a blue suit and waistcoat. He was abducted from West Africa as a child, trained as a gardener on the Ystumllyn estate in Wales, and later became a renowned horticulturist. The painting has been on loan to the museum since 2023, and the institution aims to permanently display it alongside another portrait of a Black gardener from 1905.

museo del prado visitor numbers

Museo del Prado director Miguel Falomir announced at a press conference unveiling the museum's 2026 exhibition schedule that the institution does not need more visitors, stating it is comfortable with 3.5 million annual visitors and fears becoming "over-saturated." Falomir cited concerns about circulation around iconic works like Velázquez's *Las Meninas* and Bosch's *The Garden of Earthly Delights*, and emphasized improving visitor experience through optimizing entrances, reducing group sizes, and enforcing photography bans. The Prado, last expanded in 2007, is significantly smaller than the Louvre, which topped 2024 visitor figures with 8.7 million.

prado museum clara peeters exhibition

The Museo del Prado in Madrid has opened its first-ever exhibition dedicated to a female artist, "The Art of Clara Peeters," 197 years after the museum's founding. The show features 15 major works by the Flemish still-life painter, active in early 17th-century Antwerp, and is curated by Alejandro Vergara, the museum's Chief Curator of Flemish and Northern School Painting. The exhibition runs from October 25, 2026, to February 19, 2017, and is co-organized with the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp.

Mummy, is this a video game? The dangers of showing kids art on a screen

A parent takes their toddler to Frameless, an immersive digital art experience in London, where works by Hieronymus Bosch, Claude Monet, and Georges Seurat are projected onto walls, ceilings, and floors. The child reacts with mixed engagement—enjoying some moments but feeling overwhelmed by the frenetic, screen-based environment—while the author reflects on the tension between traditional static art and animated digital reproductions.

Across Venice, Artists Defy Censorship to Mourn and Memorialize Gaza

The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled “In Minor Keys,” features numerous artworks that mourn and memorialize the destruction of Gaza, despite censorship pressures. The main exhibition opens with a poem by slain Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, and includes works by artists such as Theo Eshetu, Mohammed Joha, Manuel Mathieu, and Avi Mograbi that directly or indirectly address the conflict. Outside the official Biennale, South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s performance series “Elegy” was censored by her country’s culture minister after she proposed a version honoring murdered Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, leading her to present the work independently at a church in Venice.

Where the WashU community goes to see art in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis community members—including students, faculty, and alumni—share their favorite places to view visual art around the St. Louis region during the summer. Recommendations include the St. Louis Virtuoso Collective, a co-op gallery of over 50 local artists on Cherokee Street; the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, which is showing exhibitions like “Like Water” and “Make the River Present”; the Saint Louis Art Museum, featuring works by Van Gogh, Sorolla, and Cézanne; and neighborhood public art projects in areas such as Holly Hills, The Grove, and the Delmar Loop.

Various Small Fires OC pulls back the Orange Curtain in Tustin

Various Small Fires (VSF) founder Esther Kim Varet opened a new gallery space, VSF OC, in Tustin, Orange County, in April 2025. The inaugural exhibition, “The Orange Curtain,” features Southern California contemporary artists Edwin Arzeta, Jackie Castillo, and Marcel Alcalá, all born and raised in Orange County. Curated by Varet, the show explores the cultural and political divide between Orange County and Los Angeles, and runs through May 31. The opening drew local art leaders, collectors, and families, including Heidi Zuckerman, CEO of the Orange County Museum of Art.

For Carly Glovinski, Art and Gardening Grow Side by Side

Maine artist Carly Glovinski has opened "Into the Garden," her third solo exhibition with New York's Morgan Lehman Gallery. The show explores gardening as a parallel practice to art-making, inspired by her residency at Surf Point in southern Maine, where she discovered the overgrown grounds of Wild Knoll, the former home of author May Sarton. Glovinski planted a community garden there, the Wild Knoll Foundation Garden, and the experience led her to return to painting after a two-decade hiatus, creating acrylic works that express the experience of gardening rather than traditional landscapes.

AIG × The Value Quarterly Special: Expert insights from New York’s November auction week

The article, published by TheValue.com in partnership with AIG, provides expert analysis and insights from New York’s November auction week. It covers key sales, market trends, and notable results from major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips, with commentary from specialists and market observers.

Record $236.3m Klimt leads Sotheby’s first night of auctions in Breuer Building

Sotheby's first evening auctions in its new Manhattan headquarters, the former Whitney Museum building designed by Marcel Breuer, achieved a record total of $605.1 million ($706 million with fees) on November 18. The night was headlined by the sale of 24 works from the collection of the late billionaire Leonard Lauder, which alone brought in $456.2 million. The standout lot was Gustav Klimt's 'Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, 1914-16)', which sold for $205 million ($236.3 million with fees) after a nearly 20-minute bidding war, becoming the second-most-expensive painting ever sold at auction. A subsequent contemporary art auction added $148.8 million ($178.5 million with fees) across 44 lots.

Koons lobster snapped up amid day two sales at Art Basel

On the second day of the Art Basel VIP preview, sales continued at a slower pace. White Cube sold Michael Armitage's 2015 painting *In the garden* for $3.2 million, while Gagosian placed a large lobster sculpture by Jeff Koons for a seven-figure sum. Pace Gallery reported that a Pablo Picasso painting *Homme à la pipe assis et amour* (1969), priced at $30 million, remains on reserve, though it did sell a 1964 bronze by Louise Nevelson for $850,000. Berlin's Galeria Plan B sold an untitled 2025 Adrian Ghenie painting for €1 million, and Hauser & Wirth sold Frank Bowling's *Iceni* (1975) for $1.8 million, with Felix Gonzalez-Torres's *"Untitled" (Go-Go Dancing Platform)* (1991), priced at $16 million, placed on serious hold for an institution.

ArtReview Asia Spring 2026 Issue Out Now

The Spring 2026 issue of ArtReview Asia has been published, featuring a cover profile of artist Li Yi-Fan. The issue includes an in-depth look at Li's work, which explores the relationship between humans and machines through video installations and performance lectures, ahead of his representation of Taiwan at the Venice Biennale. Other articles examine the contemporary art scene in Bangkok, urban redevelopment in Colombo, a colonial-era plant hunting exhibition in London, and Taiwan's museum boom.