At the Venice Biennale, Ukraine’s Pinchuk Art Centre finds fragile moments of joy amid loss

The Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv has transformed its Venice Biennale presentation from a glamorous celebration of young artists into a somber exhibition responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This year's show, titled "Still Joy — From Ukraine into the World" (9 May-1 August) at the Palazzo Contarini-Polignac, features works by international artists like Tacita Dean and Julian Charriere alongside Ukrainian artists, as well as testimonials from soldiers collected by former marine Hlib Stryzhko. The exhibition explores how joy can persist amid trauma, with installations including pink scrolls bearing survivors' quotes, light box photographs of bombed interiors with rescued pot plants, and a sculpture of bells with displaced women's fingerprints.

Britain and Ireland’s wildflowers – in pictures

The Eden Project's National Wildflower Centre is opening entries for its Wildflower Photographer of the Year 2026 competition on 29 May. A selection of photos from last year's competition will be on display at Eden Dock, Canary Wharf, London, during CWG's Nature Week from 13 July. The article showcases a gallery of winning and commended images from the 2025 competition, featuring wildflowers such as foxgloves, sea thrift, heath spotted-orchids, and common poppies, captured by photographers including Juliet Klottrup, Reece Gibbins, and Emma Eccles.

Three Venice shows everyone is talking about

The Korea Herald recommends three must-visit museum shows in Venice during the Venice Biennale. At Palazzo Grassi, the Pinault Collection presents "Michael Armitage. The Promise of Change," featuring the Kenya-born British painter's vivid works addressing sociopolitical tensions and migration. At Gallerie dell'Accademia, "Transforming Energy" by Marina Abramovic marks her 80th birthday, creating a dialogue between her performance art and Renaissance masterpieces. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection hosts "Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector," revisiting her formative years and her short-lived London gallery Guggenheim Jeune.

Sandra Gamarra: “Réplica” Is Not a Copy

Sandra Gamarra Heshiki's exhibition "Réplica" at MASP in São Paulo opens with an unplanned replica of Francisco Laso's "Habitante de las cordilleras del Perú" (1855), which could not travel from Lima due to bureaucracy. Gamarra produced an inverted, altered version, establishing a critical distinction between copying and responding. The exhibition is organized into sections that parody the classical chronology of encyclopedic museums—"Pre-colonial," "Colonial," "Post-independence," "Modern," and "Contemporary"—transforming the museum into an object of analysis. Gamarra's paintings engage with colonial iconographies, such as the pinturas de castas, by inscribing racial classifications directly onto the figures, making the colonial verdict inseparable from the bodies depicted.

Patricia Li: An Art And Design Guide To Venice

Patricia Li, writing for Vogue Circle, shares a curated guide to art and design destinations in Venice beyond the main venues of the Venice Biennale. Her recommendations include the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana (part of the Pinault Collection), the newly opened Fondazione Dries Van Noten, and Fondazione Prada, each hosting special exhibitions timed to the Biennale.

Meet the Mona Lisa! A free new immersive exhibition opens at Hong Kong Heritage Museum

A free immersive digital exhibition titled 'Meet Mona Lisa & Portraying the Renaissance' opens on May 1 at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, running through July 27. Created in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre and the Grand Palais Immersif, the show is split into two sections: a multimedia journey guided by a narrated Mona Lisa across six chapters, including an interactive photo booth, and a second section featuring over 100 Renaissance treasures from European institutions. Highlights include four original manuscripts of the human body and faces by Leonardo da Vinci, shown for the first time in Hong Kong, alongside loans from the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Musée national de la Renaissance, works by mainland artist Xu Lei, and items from the museum's own collection.

Latin American Art: Structural Growth between Market and Institutions

Latin American Art: Structural Growth between Market and Institutions

Latin American contemporary art is experiencing structural growth and increased global visibility between 2024 and 2026, moving beyond speculative trends toward deep-seated institutional legitimacy. This shift is highlighted by the prominent inclusion of regional artists in major international platforms, most notably the 2026 Venice Biennale and the Pinault Collection. Key figures such as Rosanna Paulino, Adriana Varejão, and Paulo Nazareth are leading this movement, utilizing diverse media to explore themes of post-colonialism, racial violence, and ecological memory.

Paris exhibition provides a new canon-busting vision of Minimalism

The Bourse de Commerce in Paris hosts "Minimal," a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation. The show centers on five large-scale natural-material works by 81-year-old US artist Meg Webster, while featuring over 100 works by more than 50 artists to challenge the traditional narrative that 1960s-70s Minimalism was exclusively a white, male, American movement. It includes thematic sections on light, balance, and monochrome, a gallery devoted to Japan's Mono-ha movement, and retrospectives of Agnes Martin and Lygia Pape, drawing largely from the Pinault Collection with international loans.

Pinacoteca de São Paulo and Chanel Culture Fund launch new residency for women artists

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo and the Chanel Culture Fund have launched a new residency for women artists, with Brazilian artist Juliana dos Santos as its inaugural recipient. Dos Santos, who holds a doctorate from São Paulo State University, creates work exploring plants, pigments, and the sensory experience of color, notably using the blue pigment of the Clitoria ternatea flower. She recently opened her first solo museum exhibition, "Juliana dos Santos: Temporã," at Galeria Praça within Pina Contemporânea, and will present a VR work at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo in September 2025.

Christie’s celebrates the late Syrian artist Marwan with non-selling London show

Christie’s is presenting a non-selling exhibition titled "Marwan: A Soul in Exile" at its London headquarters this summer, featuring over 150 works by the late Syrian artist Marwan (1934-2016). The show draws from major private and institutional collections including the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, the Pinault Collection, and the Berlinische Galerie. This marks Christie’s third such non-selling exhibition of Arab art in London over the past three summers, following shows focused on Arab artists from the Barjeel collection and Saudi artist Ahmed Mater. The exhibition coincides with Christie’s 25th anniversary in the UAE and a broader surge in the Middle Eastern art market, including a recent white-glove sale for its online Modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art auction in Dubai.

Climate protester splashes pink paint on Picasso work at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

On Thursday morning, a supporter of the environmental activist group Last Generation Canada splattered pink paint on Pablo Picasso's 1901 painting *L'hétaïre* at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). The painting, on loan from the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin and featured in the exhibition *Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-garde*, was behind protective glass and showed no immediate damage. The activist, identified only as Marcel, was arrested and charged with mischief under $5,000. The museum reopened the rest of the exhibition after about an hour.

‘Degenerate’ or ‘woke,’ Paris museum exhibit shows what happens to art in the crosshairs of politics

The Picasso Museum in Paris has opened an exhibition titled "Degenerate Art: Modern Art on Trial Under the Nazis," the first such show in France, running until May 25. It features works by Van Gogh, Klee, Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, and others that were condemned by Hitler and the Third Reich as "degenerate" — targeted for destruction, sale, or concealment. The exhibition is organized thematically around Nazi persecution, including sections on race, museum purges, and the art trade, and highlights the fates of artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who died by suicide, and Otto Freundlich, who was murdered in a concentration camp.

Fight Club Denounces the System From Within the System

Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou's first major institutional exhibition in Brazil, "Knockout!," has opened at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo's Pina Luz building. The show spans over 25 years of Tayou's career, featuring installations, sculptures, and paintings across seven rooms. Each room is themed around a historical international conference—including the Berlin Conference of 1884, Yalta, San Francisco, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Bandung, and a fictional Avignon conference—using these as political and historical axes to critique colonial power structures and global inequality.

Meloni takes control of Italian museums

Meloni reprend en main les musées italiens

Italy’s culture ministry under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has appointed 14 new directors for so-called “second-tier” museums, reinforcing a shift away from the international “super-director” model introduced by the 2014 Franceschini reform. All appointees are Italian except for French director Axel Hémery, who was reappointed at the Pinacoteca di Siena due to his strong performance. The move follows the earlier ousting of foreign directors at top-tier museums, with only two foreign-born directors—Eike Schmidt and Gabriel Zuchtriegel—remaining, both of whom hold Italian citizenship.

Guillaume Cerutti Out as President of Paris’s Pinault Collection After 13 Months

Guillaume Cerutti has stepped down from his position as President of the Pinault Collection in Paris after only thirteen months. The institution, founded by billionaire François Pinault, has stated it has no plans to replace him or appoint an interim president, signaling a potential restructuring of its leadership.

PinchukArtCentre opens new exhibition at the Venice Biennale

The PinchukArtCentre has opened a new exhibition titled "Still Joy — From Ukraine Into the World" as part of the official parallel program of the 61st Venice Biennale. The show, which opened on May 7 at Palazzo Contarini Polignac and runs through August 1, features works by over 20 international and Ukrainian artists exploring joy as an act of resilience and humanity. Central to the exhibition are testimonies from Hlib Stryzhko, a marine veteran who returned from Russian captivity, which are transformed into sculptural elements. Notable works include a protest performance by Yurii Hruzinov at the Russian pavilion, a video installation of Kyiv rave parties by Malashchuk and Khimei, and installations by Future Generation Art Prize laureates Ashfika Rahman and Zhanna Kadyrova.

Beatriz González travelling show kicks off in São Paulo

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo is hosting the first leg of a touring retrospective of Colombian artist Beatriz González, featuring nearly 100 works from across her career. The exhibition, co-curated by Pollyana Quintella and Natalia Gutiérrez, takes an art-historical reading from the perspective of the Global South and highlights González's direct confrontation with Colombia's history of violence, as well as her engagement with kitsch and popular culture. The show will travel to the Barbican Art Gallery in London and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo in 2026.

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.

fashion anthony vaccarello saint laurent designer

Anthony Vaccarello, creative director of Saint Laurent, has opened a new Paris flagship store at 37 Avenue Montaigne, housed in the former Canadian embassy. The store reflects his vision with a mix of modern design and vintage furniture, including pieces by Jean-Michel Frank and François-Xavier Lalanne, alongside contemporary artworks by Mark Bradford, Camille Henrot, and Thomas Houseago on loan from the Pinault Collection. Vaccarello discusses the two-year transformation, his approach to retail as a context for the clothes, and his broader creative expansions into film with Saint Laurent Productions and the revival of Charlotte Perriand furniture designs.

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.

Raphael and the Renaissance of Divine Beauty

The New York Times explores the enduring legacy of Raphael, the High Renaissance master whose work defined the pinnacle of 'divine beauty' and classical harmony. The analysis delves into his technical mastery, his ability to synthesize the influences of Leonardo and Michelangelo, and his prolific output during his brief life in Rome.

Territories in Connection: Latin American Art in Ciudad de las Artes Panama

TERRITORIES IN CONNECTION LATIN AMERICAN ART IN CIUDAD DE LAS ARTES PANAMA

The exhibition "Territorios en conexión" (Territories in Connection) opened at Ciudad de las Artes in Panama City, featuring Latin American artists working with video, textiles, and performance. Curated by Irene Gelfman, the show includes works by artists like Sandra Monterroso, Ana Barboza, and Ana Elena Tejera, and is part of the Pinta Panamá Art Week.

THREE PERUVIAN GALLERIES AT PINTA LIMA 2026 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL

Three prominent Peruvian galleries—Galería Enlace, Forum, and Livia Benavides—are presenting curated selections of artists at the Pinta Lima 2026 art fair. Their proposals blend emerging and established artists from Peru and abroad, working across painting, sculpture, installation, and new media, to foster a dialogue between local traditions and global contemporary practices.

Johannes Phokela: Exploring Virtue, Contradiction, and Power at the Venice Biennale 2026.

South African artist Johannes Phokela is set to showcase a significant body of work at the 2026 Venice Biennale, building on his recent series 'The Seven Virtues' and 'Original Sin'. Curated under a vision initiated by the late Koyo Kouoh and supported by Eclectica Contemporary, Phokela’s paintings subvert the aesthetics of European Old Master traditions. His works, including 'Fides' and 'Temperantia', utilize Baroque visual languages to critique constructed morality, institutional power, and the performance of virtue.

venice biennale russian pavilion eu threatens funding 1234776850

The European Union has threatened to withdraw funding from the Venice Biennale if the organization proceeds with hosting a Russian national pavilion for the 2026 edition. EU commissioners Henna Virkkunen and Glenn Micallef issued a joint statement arguing that providing a platform for Russia is incompatible with the EU's response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. While the Biennale Foundation maintains a policy of neutrality, stating it rejects the censorship of any country recognized by Italy, the EU warned that continued participation could result in the suspension or termination of active grants.

Francis Bacon’s Paris pad honoured with plaque

A commemorative plaque honoring artist Francis Bacon has been unveiled in Paris, installed by the City of Paris at the studio apartment near the Place des Vosges where Bacon lived and worked from 1974 to 1987. The unveiling was attended by art historian Michael Peppiatt, who wrote a biography of Bacon and served as his guide to the French capital, and Guillaume Cerutti, president of the Pinault collection. Bacon took the small studio after his hit 1971 exhibition at the Grand Palais, and Peppiatt helped him find the space, which Bacon used for both living and painting during his frequent visits to Paris.

A Painting by the Master of the Blue Jeans Joins a Museum in Ticino

Un tableau du Maître de la toile de jean rejoint un musée dans le Tessin

The Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst in Rancate, Switzerland, has acquired 'Woman Begging with Two Children,' a significant work by the anonymous 17th-century artist known as the Master of the Blue Jeans. The painting was notably featured in a landmark 2010 exhibition at Galerie Canesso that helped define the identity of this Lombard artist, famous for depicting lower-class subjects wearing indigo-dyed denim-like fabric.

Chilean textiles showcasing women’s stories of heritage on view at Krannert Art Museum

The Krannert Art Museum has opened "Memorias de la Mujer Lotina: Arpilleras, Women, and Coal in Chile," an exhibition featuring 23 arpilleras created by women from the coal-mining community of Lota. These colorful, hand-stitched textiles, which rose to prominence as a form of resistance during the Pinochet dictatorship, document the daily lives, heritage, and struggles of marginalized communities. The show features a centerpiece 16-foot-long collective textile created by 52 women ranging in age from 14 to 92, depicting scenes of labor, domestic life, and social activism.

CAF AND PINTA FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE ALLIANCE TO STRENGTHEN THE LATIN AMERICAN ART ECOSYSTEM

CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean – and the Pinta Foundation have formed a strategic alliance to bolster the Latin American art ecosystem. The partnership will support professional exchange, international visibility, and cultural integration for artists, artisans, and creators across the region, with CAF acting as a strategic partner for Pinta's network of events.

PCCA faculty, St. Pete artist Wasíl set to open exhibitions at Werk Gallery

Faculty members from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA) and St. Petersburg artist Wasíl are preparing to open new exhibitions at Werk Gallery. The shows will feature a range of visual works, highlighting the creative output of both established and emerging artists from the local Tampa Bay area.