Georg Baselitz (1938-2026)

Georg Baselitz, born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938, has died at age 88. The German painter and sculptor, who changed his name in 1961, built a career on aesthetic dissent. Expelled from art school in East Berlin, he first gained notoriety with a 1963 exhibition at Galerie Werner and Katz in Berlin, where two works were seized for obscenity. His signature gesture—inverting his images, beginning with "Der Wald auf dem Kopf" in 1969—became his most recognizable trademark, shifting focus from subject to the act of painting itself. Baselitz also produced significant sculptures, often carved with a chainsaw and axe, and his work was the subject of major retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou (2021-2022) and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2011-2012).

Inside Burger Collection: Tadanori Yokoo: A Visionary Renegade

The article profiles Tadanori Yokoo, the 89-year-old Japanese artist and graphic designer, who remains active despite a recent bout of Covid-19. It details his early life in Nishiwaki, his failed attempts to enter art school and the postal service, and his eventual career in commercial printing, which shaped his innovative approach to graphic design and painting. The piece highlights his ongoing exhibition at Tokyo's Setagaya Art Museum and his enduring influence in Japan's cultural world, including the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in Kobe.

Gallery Weekend Berlin opens ranks as city faces identity crisis

Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB) expands from 50 to 57 participating galleries in 2025, introducing a new section called Perspectives that features smaller, younger galleries previously excluded from the event. The 20-year-old event, which began with 21 dealers aiming to attract international collectors to Berlin, has grown into a major sales week for galleries. Perspectives includes galleries like Anton Janizewski and Persons Projects, with a reduced participation fee of €4,500 (half the usual €9,000), subsidized by the Berlin Senate. The selection committee invites galleries rather than accepting applications, a process that has faced accusations of elitism.

The Artists Who Ruled the Biennial Circuit Over the Last Four Years

Artnet News critic Ben Davis analyzed 130 recurring global art events—including biennials and triennials—that opened between the 2022 and 2026 Venice Biennales, tallying over 15,000 participating artists. He identified the most frequently featured artists, with Nolan Oswald Dennis topping the list at 14 biennial appearances. Dennis, a South Africa-based artist born in Lusaka, is known for works like "Black Liberation Zodiac" (2017-ongoing) and was included in the 2026 Venice Biennale curated by the late Koyo Kouoh.

Jarvis Cocker Is Bringing His Eclectic Eye to the Hepworth Wakefield

Musician Jarvis Cocker and his wife, creative consultant Kim Sion, will curate an exhibition titled “The Hodge Podge” at the Hepworth Wakefield in the U.K., opening in May 2027. The show will feature artworks selected by the couple that challenge conventional definitions of art, spanning diverse media and time periods, with artists including Peter Doig, Barbara Hepworth, Jeremy Deller, and Emma Kunz. The exhibition will be bookended by an immersive Dreamachine, a 1959 light-art device by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. Cocker and Sion have outlined their curatorial philosophy in a Hodge Podge Manifesto, celebrating beauty in chaos and disorder.

Behind every great artist... there is a great gallery. A look at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Dietro ogni grande artista… c’è una grande galleria. Un punto sulla Biennale Arte 2026

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" (May 9 – November 22, 2026), features over 90% living artists, a significant shift from recent editions focused on historical rediscoveries. Curated by the late Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the first African woman to lead the Biennale, the exhibition includes 111 artists, with a majority of women (64 vs. 48 men) and the highest percentage of African-born artists ever (20%). Notable participants include Nick Cave, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, and Kader Attia, with a focus on mid-career and established figures rather than emerging or deceased artists.

If you show up in a swimsuit, you get free entry to the Cézanne exhibition. It happens in one of Switzerland's most serious institutions.

Se ti presenti in costume da bagno entri gratis alla mostra di Cézanne. Succede in una delle istituzioni più serie della Svizzera

The Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, is hosting a major monographic exhibition dedicated to Paul Cézanne, running until May 25, 2026. Curated by Ulf Küster, the show brings together around 80 works focusing on the artist's late career, including portraits, landscapes, variations on Mont Sainte-Victoire, and bather scenes. On May 1, 2026, the museum held a "Bathers Day" promotion inspired by Cézanne's bathers and Maurizio Cattelan's playful approach, offering free entry to visitors who came in swimwear. The event attracted families and individuals, with some even swimming in the foundation's garden pond afterward.

Art Workers Plan Venice Biennale Strike

Cultural workers, labor unions, and grassroots groups are planning a strike at the Venice Biennale on Friday, May 8, organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance and others. The action, described as the first organized strike within the Biennale, aims to protest Israel's inclusion in the event, with participants withholding their labor and calling to "shut down the genocide pavilion." The article also covers other art news, including exhibitions in Los Angeles, a profile of nonagenarian artist Mohammad Omer Khalil, and memes about the Met Gala.

At 90, Printmaker Mohammad Omer Khalil Gets His Due

Mohammad Omer Khalil, the 90-year-old Sudanese-born printmaker based in New York, is the subject of a multi-city retrospective titled "Common Ground." The anchor exhibition runs through May 31 at the Blackburn Study Center in Manhattan, with satellite events at venues including Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia, the Arab American National Museum in Michigan, the New York Public Library, and Anthology Film Archives. Curated by Amina Ahmed and Jenna Hamed, the show spans Khalil's entire career, from his first etching made in Florence in 1964 to large-scale works inspired by Bob Dylan songs, poetry by Adonis, and films such as "The Chalk Garden."

No Need to Shed a Tear for the Jury

"Man muss der Jury keine Träne nachweinen"

The entire jury of the Venice Biennale resigned shortly before the opening, prompting criticism of Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli accused Buttafuoco of pursuing a misguided "pacificist fantasy" by readmitting Russia to the six-month exhibition, calling it failed "side foreign policy." Commentators in German media, including Niklas Maak (FAZ) and Marcus Woeller (Die Welt), see the resignation as a symptom of a crisis in the art world, with the jury having acted as a "political tribunal" by pre-judging artists based on nationality, particularly regarding Israel. The Biennale leadership defended inclusion, but the standoff has caused significant "image damage." Separately, Dirk Knipphals (wochentaz) delivers a scathing review of Wolfram Weimer's first year as cultural policy commissioner, accusing him of empty rhetoric and failing to counter right-wing cultural politics. Juliane von Mittelstaedt (Der Spiegel) reports on Saudi Arabia's use of a spectacular new art museum in Riyadh as a stability narrative amid regional conflict.

Fondation Beyeler: Freier Eintritt im Bikini

The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, invited visitors to enter the museum for free if they came wearing swimwear, as part of a "Bathing Day" promotion. The event was inspired by Paul Cézanne, whose famous paintings of bathers are the subject of a current exhibition at the museum. The museum reported strong attendance and stated that the unusual setting brings art and visitors closer together, changing perception and reducing distance.

Cécile Debray : « Une proposition poétique de dialogue entre trois œuvres pour une délectation esthétique »

Cécile Debray, president of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, discusses a rare collaboration with galleries to present a three-artist exhibition in Venice during the Biennale. The show brings together Pablo Picasso, Giorgio Morandi, and Claudio Parmiggiani around the theme of the object and still life, highlighting unexpected philosophical and poetic connections. Debray explains how the selection of 14 Picasso works balances iconic pieces with lesser-known ones, including sculptures, to create a dialogue with Morandi's rigorous, serial approach and Parmiggiani's metaphysical art.

The invisible worlds of Hilma af Klint, pioneer of abstraction, finally revealed at the Grand Palais

Les mondes invisibles d’Hilma af Klint, pionnière de l’abstraction, enfin révélés au Grand Palais

The article reveals the long-overlooked story of Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), the Swedish artist who created abstract paintings years before Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Malevich, yet kept her work secret until 20 years after her death. Her monumental output—1,600 abstract paintings and 124 notebooks—was first publicly shown in 1986 at the Los Angeles exhibition 'The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting, 1890–1985'. A 2019 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York drew 600,000 visitors, a museum record. Now, the Grand Palais in Paris presents the first-ever French exhibition of her work, focusing on her 'Paintings for the Temple' cycle (1906–1915), a series of 193 works that synthesize her spiritual quest.

The Bahamas returns to the Venice Biennale with a joy-filled posthumous collaboration

The Bahamas will return to the Venice Biennale in 2026 after a 13-year absence with a posthumous exhibition for artist John Beadle, who died in 2024 at age 60. Beadle was originally selected to represent the country in 2015 but the government withdrew funding. The exhibition, titled "In Another Man’s Yard," will feature Beadle’s work alongside that of his mentee, Lavar Munroe, using materials from Beadle’s studio including sails from Haitian migrant sloops. The pavilion is organized by commissioner Amanda Coulson and curator Krista Thompson, who raised private funds after the government declined to support the project.

At MAXXI L'Aquila, exhibition dedicated to Ai Weiwei recounts catastrophes and memory

From April 29 to September 6, 2026, MAXXI L'Aquila presents "AI WEIWEI: Aftershock," an exhibition curated by Tim Marlow featuring approximately seventy works by Chinese artist, architect, and activist Ai Weiwei. The show spans his entire career, focusing on themes of earthquakes, wars, political repression, and memory. The centerpiece is the installation "Straight" (2009–2012), made from 150 tons of steel rods recovered from schools that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, displayed across three rooms. The exhibition is held at Palazzo Ardinghelli, a Baroque building that houses MAXXI L'Aquila and was itself restored after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, creating a dialogue between the works and the building's history of recovery.

See Some of the Most Outrageous, Stylish Looks at the 2026 Met Gala

The 2026 Met Gala raised $42 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, surpassing last year's $31 million. The event, themed "Costume Art" with a dress code of "Fashion is Art," featured honorary chairs Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, whose involvement sparked protests. Co-chairs included Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with artists Anna Weyant, Tschabalala Self, and Amy Sherald on the host committee. The gala precedes the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, also titled "Costume Art," opening May 10.

Alvaro Barrington takes a road trip to the Venice Biennale

Artist Alvaro Barrington has created a vibrant haulage truck titled "Labor Day Parade ’91" (2026) as his contribution to the 61st Venice Biennale, part of the exhibition "In Minor Keys." The truck, decorated with scenes linked to his background and art historical references, was driven from London to Venice on an epic road trip across Europe. It is now parked in the Giardini next to the Austrian pavilion, with its front tyres punctured to prevent movement. During the preview, the work was admired by artist Julie Mehretu and Dia Art Foundation director Jessica Morgan.

Hotel and art hub Casabianca opens on Italy's Lake Como

The De Santis family, accomplished hoteliers on Lake Como, has opened Casabianca, a new hotel and art hub in a 1930 villa designed by Piero Ponci. The property features three apartment-style suites launching later this year, while its lower floors are already open to the public for €15, displaying around 50 works from the family's collection of post-war Italian art, including pieces by Arte Povera artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, and Jannis Kounellis. The venture is the latest in a series of heritage hotel restorations by the family, who previously revived the Grand Hotel Tremezzo and Passalacqua.

Cosmic, concrete, earthy: Nancy Holt’s Land Art on show in UK

Nancy Holt (1938-2014), a pioneering land artist who studied biology at Tufts University, is the subject of her first major UK exhibition at the Goodwood Art Foundation in West Sussex. The show includes the first posthumous installation of *Hydra's Head*, an earthwork of six pools aligned with the Hydra constellation, originally sited on the Niagara River in 1974, and *Ventilation System* (1985-92), which extends from the gallery into the landscape. Curated by Ann Gallagher, the exhibition draws on Holt's archives and the Holt/Smithson Foundation, which preserves her legacy and that of her husband Robert Smithson.

Treasures From Matthew Perry’s Estate Head to Auction for a Good Cause

Heritage Auctions will sell a trove of artifacts from Matthew Perry's estate starting June 5, including scripts and memorabilia from the sitcom *Friends*, artworks by Banksy and Mel Bochner, and personal items like a 3D portrait of his invented superhero "Mattman." Proceeds benefit the Matthew Perry Foundation, a nonprofit focused on ending addiction stigma and expanding access to evidence-based care, founded after the actor's death in 2023.

Derrick Adams Offers Monumental Tribute to Koyo Kouoh in Venice

American artist Derrick Adams has installed a monumental portrait of the late curator Koyo Kouoh on a building façade near the Arsenale in Venice, ahead of the 2026 Venice Biennale that Kouoh was to curate. The painting, titled "Heavy is the head that wears the crown (2026)," depicts Kouoh with a crown that transforms into the word "JOY" emitting golden light. The project was spearheaded by curator Francesco Bonami, who invited Kouoh to serve on the jury of the 50th Venice Biennale, and is intended as an accessible public homage rather than an exclusive art-world event.

art venice faustin linyekula the galeazze project dance

Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula is staging "The Galeazze Project," a performance commissioned by the Venice-based nonprofit Scuola Piccola Zattere (SPZ) in the 16th-century Galeazze shipyard complex, which has been inaccessible since World War II and never open to the public. The performance, a collateral event of the 2026 Venice Biennale, brings up to 500 people into the 32,291-square-foot open-air ruin for two nights, featuring local students, musicians from the Venetian label Cosmogram, and trumpeter Heru Shabaka-Ra, with a soundtrack composed collaboratively.

art venice biennale gallery exhibition guide

Cultured magazine has published a guide to art exhibitions during the Venice Biennale, highlighting several major shows across the city. Featured exhibitions include "If All Time Is Eternally Present" at Palazzo Nervi-Scattolin with works by Tai Shani, Meriem Bennani & Orian Barki, and Kandis Williams; "Michael Armitage: The Promise of Change" at Palazzo Grassi; "Amoako Boafo: It doesn’t have to always make sense" at Palazzo Grimani; "Transforming Energy" by Marina Abramović at Gallerie dell’Accademia; and "Helter Skelter" by Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince at Fondazione Prada. The guide provides details on dates, locations, and curatorial themes for each show.

Venice Showcases an Array of Global Art Stars During the Biennale

During the 2024 Venice Biennale, museums and foundations across the city are presenting solo and group exhibitions featuring major international art figures, including Marina Abramović, Lorna Simpson, Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince, and a tribute to Peggy Guggenheim. These shows run concurrently with the main Biennale exhibition, drawing visitors to venues such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and other historic palazzos.

La grande fiera TEFAF si tiene a New York da 10 anni. Come sarà l’edizione 2026?

TEFAF New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from May 15–19, 2026 (with a collector preview on May 14), marking the fair's tenth anniversary. The 2026 edition will host 88 top international galleries from 15 countries across four continents, offering museum-quality selections of modern and contemporary art, jewelry, antiques, and design. Highlights include Andy Warhol's Mao (1973) at ML Fine Art, Cecily Brown's Functor Hideaway (2008) at Berggruen Gallery, and a 2026 work by Minjung Kim at Voena. The fair also extends into the Armory's historic period rooms, and the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund will support the conservation of a Medici tapestry owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Met Gala guests from Beyoncé to Nicole Kidman set to flaunt fashion as art

The article previews the 2025 Met Gala, where celebrities including Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams will ascend the Metropolitan Museum of Art's steps dressed according to the dress code "Fashion is art." The event, which raises funds for the museum's Costume Institute, encourages guests to treat fashion as an embodied art form, drawing on historical collaborations between designers and artists—such as Elsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí, Yves Saint Laurent with Piet Mondrian, and Marc Jacobs with Takashi Murakami. The red carpet will be livestreamed by Vogue and the Associated Press.

14 artists having major museum moments in 2026

The article previews 14 artists who will have major museum exhibitions in 2026, highlighting key shows such as a long-awaited US retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, a Calder exhibition in Paris, and a Rothko show in Florence. It also details concurrent auction highlights at Christie's New York, including works from the S.I. Newhouse collection by Brancusi, Lichtenstein, Matisse, and Pollock. Specific exhibitions covered include "Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Whitney Museum, and multiple European shows for Constantin Brancusi's 150th anniversary.

Isabel Nolan’s Work Challenges Everything We Think We Know About Creativity

Artist Isabel Nolan recently discovered she has aphantasia, a rare neurological condition that prevents her from visualizing mental images. Despite this, Nolan has built a successful career creating abstract sculptures, drawings, and tapestries, and her work is featured in the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her exhibition, "Dreamshook," explores themes of imagination versus reality and draws inspiration from late medieval history and the printer Aldo Manuzio.

‘It has become a symbol of hope’: the epic journey of Ukraine’s origami deer to the Venice biennale

Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova's concrete origami deer sculpture, originally installed in Pokrovsk in 2018, has been evacuated from the war-torn Donetsk region and transported across Europe to become the centerpiece of Ukraine's national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The sculpture, which replaced a Soviet fighter-bomber monument in a local park, was rescued in August 2024 by co-curator Leonid Marushchak amid intensifying Russian attacks, with the help of city authorities and museum staff.

“The Adventure of Domenico Gnoli” at Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York

Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York is presenting “The Adventure of Domenico Gnoli,” a survey of the Italian artist’s work including paintings, drawings, etchings, notebooks, and letters. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Gnoli’s widow, Yannick Vu, the artist’s estate, Mimì Gnoli, and the Livia Polidoro-Gnoli Archive, and follows his major 2021–22 retrospective at the Fondazione Prada in Milan.