Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule May 29, 2026 visibility 50 link 10 artists, 1 gallery

Seminal Lucian Freud Painting Comes to Auction for the First Time

Sotheby's will auction Lucian Freud's monumental painting *Sleeping by the Lion Carpet* (1995–96) for the first time this June in London, as part of the Joe Lewis collection sale. The work, depicting sitter Sue Tilley, carries an estimate of £25–35 million ($34–47 million) and is the last of four canvases from Freud's "Benefits Supervisor" series. The 51-lot collection, which also includes works by Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani, and Francis Bacon, is expected to exceed £150 million ($202 million) in total.

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candle obituary schedule May 29, 2026 visibility 49 link 11 artists, 2 galleries

Alan Saret, Post-Minimal Sculptor of Spiritual Forms, Dies at 81

Alan Saret, the spiritually ambitious Post-Minimalist sculptor known for his ethereal wire sculptures and 'Gang Drawings,' has died at age 81. Born on Christmas Day 1944 in New York City, Saret studied architecture at Cornell University under Paolo Soleri and later studied art at Hunter College under Robert Morris. He debuted at SoHo's Bykert Gallery in 1967, participated in landmark exhibitions including Morris's '9 in a Warehouse' and 'Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form,' and won a Guggenheim fellowship in 1969. After a period of obscurity, a 2007 Drawing Center exhibition reintroduced his work to a new generation. His gallery, Karma, confirmed his death, noting his pursuit of 'ensoulment' through art informed by spirituality, mathematics, nature, and the built environment.

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article news schedule May 29, 2026 visibility 57 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

Smithsonian Women’s Museum chaos, Oliver Beer and Rufus Wainwright, Jasper Johns in Bilbao—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three main stories. Host Ben Luke discusses the US House of Representatives striking down a bill to build the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall, a setback amid broader government interference at the Smithsonian under President Trump. He also interviews artist Oliver Beer and musician Rufus Wainwright about their collaboration for Beer's exhibition 'The Sky in the Cave' at Thaddaeus Ropac during London Gallery Weekend, and examines Jasper Johns's painting 'Painting with Two Balls' (1960), featured in the retrospective 'Night Driver' at the Guggenheim Bilbao.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 28, 2026 visibility 44 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

Rediscovered Leonora Carrington painting to go on show for the first time at London's Freud Museum

A newly discovered painting by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, titled *Villa Pilar* (1940), will be exhibited for the first time at the Freud Museum in London starting July 1. The work was created while Carrington was hospitalized at the Morales sanatorium in Santander, Spain, following the arrest of her partner Max Ernst and her subsequent psychological breakdown. The painting, given to her psychiatrist Luis Morales upon her departure, depicts the hospital as an underworld of hybrid creatures. It will be shown alongside its companion piece *Down Below* in the exhibition *Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal*, which has been extended through August 10.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 28, 2026 visibility 56 link 6 artists, 1 gallery

Lost Leonora Carrington Painting Emerges After More Than 80 Years

A long-lost painting by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, titled *Villa Pilar* (1940), has been rediscovered in Spain with the family of her former psychiatrist, Luis Morales. The work was created during Carrington's six-month stay at Morales's Peña Castillo sanatorium in Santander, where she was treated after escaping Nazi-occupied France. The painting will debut publicly at the Freud Museum in London as part of the exhibition “Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal,” curated by Vanessa Boni, which gathers artworks from that period. The Morales family still owns the painting but is lending it to the show, which runs from July 1 to August 10, before the work travels to the Faro Santander art center in September.

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article news schedule May 22, 2026 visibility 45 link 4 artists, 2 galleries

Elle Pérez Envisions New Residency Built on Family Legacy

Artist Elle Pérez is raising $100,000 to buy out relatives from a family home in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, that has been in their family since the 1920s, with the goal of transforming it into an artist residency called Casa Pérez. To fund the project, Pérez is selling a portfolio of chromogenic studio prints for $1,795 each, produced in collaboration with the cultural office Public Relations. The artist’s work, known for intimate portraits and scenes of underground music, has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and solo exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Art.

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trending_up market schedule May 19, 2026 visibility 42 link 7 artists, 2 galleries

15 Van Gogh Masterpieces that Set Auction Records

ARTnews published a listicle on May 19, 2026, detailing 15 Van Gogh masterpieces that set auction records, from *Landscape with Rising Sun* (1985) to *Portrait of Dr. Gachet* (1990). The article recounts landmark sales including *Sunflowers* ($39.9 million in 1987), *Irises* ($53.9 million in 1987), and *Portrait of Dr. Gachet* ($82.5 million in 1990), highlighting the buyers, provenance, and institutional homes such as the Sompo Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

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trending_up market schedule May 18, 2026 visibility 53 link 9 artists, 3 galleries

Mark Rothko Painting Agnes Gund Hung in Her Living Room Sells for $98 M., Setting a Record

A Mark Rothko painting, *No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)* (1964), formerly owned by prominent art patron and Museum of Modern Art president emerita Agnes Gund, sold at Christie’s on Monday night for $98.4 million (including fees). The work, which Gund purchased directly from Rothko in 1967 and kept in her living room until her death last September, received about a dozen bids before hammering at $85 million to a buyer represented by Christie’s specialist Rachael White Young. The sale broke Rothko’s previous auction record of $86.9 million set in 2012 for *Orange, Red, Yellow* (1961), also at Christie’s New York.

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person people schedule May 18, 2026 visibility 38 link 6 artists, 3 galleries

‘The story can be almost as important as the piece itself’: philanthropist Christian Levett on his approach to collecting

Philanthropist and collector Christian Levett, who opened the Mougins Museum of Classical Art in 2011 in southern France, closed that institution in 2023 and replaced it with Female Artists of the Mougins Museum, reflecting his growing focus on abstraction by women artists. Levett, a former investment manager, now owns around 1,700 works spanning antiquity to contemporary art, with significant holdings in post-war American art, African cutting-edge works, and the Zero movement. He recently bought Françoise Gilot's 1942 painting 'Geneviève Pensive' privately through Christie's and will speak at Tefaf Talks in New York on a panel titled 'Collecting with a Mission for Public Access.'

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article policy schedule May 15, 2026 visibility 47 link 6 artists, 1 gallery

Borghese Gallery Faces Pushback Over New Building Plan

The Borghese Gallery in Rome has proposed building an adjacent facility to expand its exhibition space and increase visitor capacity beyond the current limit of 360 people per two-hour slot. The museum, which welcomed over 630,000 visitors in 2025, argues the expansion is needed to display works long held in storage. A press conference is scheduled for May 19 to provide further details.

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trending_up market schedule May 15, 2026 visibility 54 link 27 artists, 3 galleries

Robert Mnuchin's $85.7m Rothko leads Sotheby's $407.5m auction in New York

Sotheby's evening auction in New York on May 13, 2025, realized $407.5 million ($433.1m with fees), led by Mark Rothko's "Brown and Blacks in Reds" (1957) from the collection of the late dealer Robert Mnuchin, which sold for $74m ($85.7m with fees). The sale opened with all eleven lots from Mnuchin's collection achieving a 'white glove' result, totaling $140.7m ($166.3m with fees), and continued with a mixed-vendor contemporary section that added $223m ($266.8m with fees), setting four new artist records.

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candle obituary schedule May 14, 2026 visibility 52 link 6 artists, 3 galleries

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Painter Who Defied the Bounds of Abstraction, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, the American painter known for her large-scale abstract works that defied easy categorization, died in Mérida, Mexico, on May 10 at age 84. Her death was confirmed by her galleries, Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky, on May 13. Active in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, O’Neal developed a distinctive practice that blended Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, and figurative elements, most notably through her Lampblack series and later the "Whales Fucking" series. Her work gained renewed attention in the 21st century, with exhibitions at Mnuchin Gallery and the Museum of the African Diaspora, and her painting *Blue Whale a.k.a. #12* (1983) was selected for the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 13, 2026 visibility 46 link 14 artists, 2 galleries

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Announces 314 New Acquisitions During 50th Anniversary Year

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden announced 314 new acquisitions in 2025, its 50th anniversary year. The additions span photography, mixed-media works, and contemporary American artists, including pieces by Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, Mickalene Thomas, Danny Lyon, Graciela Iturbide, Adam Pendleton, and Mark Bradford. Major gifts include a multi-year donation from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon of 176 works forming an archive of Pendleton's works on paper, as well as 13 contemporary Chinese works tied to a 2022 exhibition. The museum also acquired nine architectural photographs by Ezra Stoller documenting its 1974 opening and 19 prints by Joel-Peter Witkin.

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trending_up market schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 54 link 19 artists, 5 galleries

‘I am very decisive’: designer Jennifer Gilbert on what she collects and why

Designer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Jennifer Gilbert, based in Detroit, is selling select works from her contemporary art and design collections at Sotheby's in New York this spring to fund the opening of her own cultural space, Lumana, in Detroit's Little Village neighborhood. Highlights include Joan Mitchell's 1976 canvas *Loom II* (est. $5m-$7m) and Kenneth Noland's 1958 *Circle* (est. $4m-$6m), with proceeds supporting new generations of artists and institutions. Gilbert, who serves on the boards of Cranbrook Academy of Art and BasBlue, recently featured works from her collection in the exhibition *Seen/Scene* at the Shepherd art space.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 29 link 15 artists, 2 galleries

At a Powerful Carnegie International, Solidarity Is a Means of Survival

The 2026 Carnegie International, titled “If the word we,” opened at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, featuring 61 artists from around the world. Curated by Ryan Inouye, Liz Park, and Danielle A. Jackson, the exhibition emphasizes collective survival and interdependence, with works including Khalil Rabah’s video about Palestinian resilience, Shala Miller’s abstraction inspired by Toni Morrison, and a performance by Brooke O’Harra and collaborators celebrating teamwork through a historic basketball dunk by Julius Erving. The show extends to three other venues, including the Mattress Factory, where married artists Claudia Martinez Garay and Artur Kameya present a sprawling installation.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 42 link 10 artists, 9 galleries

Asian Artists Set the Stage at Independent Art Fair 2026

At the 17th edition of the Independent art fair in New York, six galleries are presenting solo booths dedicated to Asian artists, including a U.S. debut by Taiwanese artist Tseng Chien-Ying and works by Japanese painter Rika Minamitani and Chinese conceptual artist Pu Yingwei. Founder Elizabeth Dee highlights the trend as reflecting broader geopolitical shifts and artists' desire to engage with complex cultural debates in New York.

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candle obituary schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 62 link 16 artists, 4 galleries

Bruno Bischofberger, Swiss Art Dealer and Early Backer of Basquiat, Dies at 86

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss art dealer, collector, and historian, died on Saturday at age 86. He opened his first galleries in Zurich and St. Moritz in 1963, championed American Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and became an early backer of Jean-Michel Basquiat, representing him from 1982. Bischofberger also helped found Interview magazine with Peter Brant and was a longtime exhibitor at Art Basel.

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candle obituary schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 52 link 17 artists, 2 galleries

Gallerist Bruno Bischofberger, Who Catalyzed Basquiat/Warhol Collaboration, Dies at 86

Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, who catalyzed the famous collaboration between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, died on May 9 at age 86. His death was announced by his namesake gallery, which he had operated since 1963. Bischofberger played a pivotal role in introducing US Pop artists to Europe, representing Warhol and Basquiat, and commissioning collaborative works that led Warhol to return to painting after a two-decade hiatus. He also represented European artists like Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Gerhard Richter, and Jean Tinguely, and his idiosyncratic ads graced Artforum's back cover for nearly four decades.

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person people schedule May 22, 2026 source 3 sources visibility 44 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

Wolfgang Tillmans wins 2026 Roswitha Haftmann Prize

Wolfgang Tillmans has been awarded the 2026 Roswitha Haftmann Prize, worth CHF 150,000. The German photographer, based between London and Berlin, rose to prominence in the 1990s with intimate portraits of the European club scene and LGBTQIA+ community. Over nearly four decades, his practice has expanded to include still life and landscape photography, while maintaining a focus on social critique and the materiality of images. He has also been active in democracy promotion, launching an anti-Brexit campaign in 2016, encouraging voting in German and European elections, and founding the Between Bridges foundation in 2017 to support arts, LGBTQIA+ rights, and anti-racism work. The award ceremony will take place on 17 September at the Kunsthaus Zürich.

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article culture schedule Jun 8, 2026 visibility 13 link 15 artists, 1 gallery

‘I make casts of their feet!’ Rachel Whiteread, Michael Armitage and more on how they get their kids into art

Five artist parents—Rachel Whiteread, Michael Armitage, Chantal Joffe, and Rachel Maclean—share their personal approaches to introducing young children to art. Whiteread describes letting her boys play in her studio and casting their hands and feet for fun; Armitage lets his daughter lead, using his materials in unexpected ways; Joffe emphasizes good materials and allowing mess; Maclean prefers making art at home over museum visits. The article includes practical tips and photographs of children interacting with artworks.

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article news schedule Jun 6, 2026 visibility 39 link 15 artists, 1 gallery

Celia Paul, Edward Hopper, Saif Azzuz

Pace Gallery has cut 50 artists from its roster and laid off 50 staff members, with CEO Marc Glimcher calling it a "model correction" for the gallery business. This comes shortly after the gallery opened a $100 million flagship in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. In other news, Marjane Satrapi has died at 56, over 100 participants threaten legal action against the Venice Biennale over award withdrawals, and Lucian Freud's painting "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" could fetch up to $47 million at Sotheby's. The newsletter also highlights an opinion piece by Laura Raicovich arguing for reintegrating art with everyday life, and mentions exhibitions featuring Saif Azzuz, Ali Eyal, Edward Hopper, and Celia Paul.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 6, 2026 visibility 33 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

Sotheby’s Quietly Tried to Sell Arne Glimcher’s Pollock for $50 M.—It Didn’t Go as Planned

Sotheby's secretly organized a private auction for Jackson Pollock's "Number 19, 1951," owned by Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher, with an asking price of $50 million. The sale was held at the Breuer Building in Manhattan with unusual secrecy, including flying in star auctioneer Oliver Barker from London and sending a recorded pitch to prospective buyers. However, Sotheby's could not secure enough bidders, and the auction was ultimately called off; the painting's current whereabouts remain unclear.

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article news schedule Jun 5, 2026 visibility 42 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

Comment | Farewell, Los Angeles’s ‘punk’ Box gallery

Mara McCarthy, founder of the Box gallery in Los Angeles, announced the closure of the boundary-pushing commercial space on April 24 after 19 years. The gallery, which opened in 2007 in LA's Chinatown and later moved to the Arts District in 2012, was known for spotlighting under-recognized post-war and contemporary artists, including performance pioneers Barbara T. Smith and Simone Forti, moving-image artist Stan Vanderbeek, and political artist Wally Hedrick. McCarthy described the gallery as a "punk version" of New York spaces, grounded in humanity and community. The closure was driven by declining sales of her father Paul McCarthy's work, collectors turning away from experimental art during the pandemic, and the devastating Eaton Fire in 2025 that destroyed Mara's home and her parents' home in Altadena.

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article culture schedule Jun 3, 2026 visibility 54 link 3 artists, 5 galleries

We Asked Artists, Dealers, Lawyers, and Advisers What Gallery Representation Means Today—And It’s Surprisingly Complicated

ARTnews explores the evolving and often ambiguous nature of gallery representation through interviews with artists, dealers, lawyers, and advisers. The article traces British painter Nigel Cooke's journey from his first representation by Stuart Shave/Modern Art in 2002 to his current gallery Pace, and his recent exhibition "Bad Habits" at Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. It highlights the gap between the romantic ideal of a dealer discovering and nurturing an artist's career and the commercial reality of contracts, commissions, and termination clauses.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 27, 2026 visibility 37 link 10 artists, 3 galleries

Lisson Grove's galleries collaborate to promote London's unsung art district

Lisson Gallery, The Showroom, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, and Palmer Gallery have formed the Lisson Grove Galleries initiative to promote the artistic activity of London's Lisson Grove district. The collaboration will launch during London Gallery Weekend (5-7 June 2025) with talks, tours, performances, and events, including discussions on collectivism, artist talks, and private views, with ongoing programming throughout the year.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 26, 2026 visibility 47 link 4 artists, 2 galleries

London's Royal Society of Arts launches new annual summer exhibition

The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and AOAP Projects (formerly Art on a Postcard) are launching a new annual summer exhibition in London titled "Illuminated." Running from 10-24 June at the RSA's headquarters on John Adam Street, the show features over 100 artists including Caroline Coon, Susie Hamilton, and Helen Beard, with all works limited to seven inches by seven inches. Artists receive 50% of sales proceeds, with the remainder funding the RSA's social impact programs. The exhibition marks AOAP Projects' strategic shift from its long-running postcard auction format toward curated exhibitions and broader fundraising initiatives.

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article culture schedule May 24, 2026 visibility 47 link 29 artists, 3 galleries

The 21st Century’s Biggest Art Trend is Not a Style. But Once You See It, You’ll Notice It Everywhere.

The article traces the evolution of "systems art," a term coined by critic Jack Burnham in 1968 to describe art that uses rules, seriality, and repetition to mirror and reveal the growing protocols of the Cold War era. It highlights early practitioners like Kenneth Noland, Robert Morris, Dan Flavin, and notably Hans Haacke and Adrian Piper, who shifted from atmospheric systems (e.g., Haacke's *Condensation Cube*) to social systems (e.g., Haacke's *Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings*). The piece argues that systems thinking has become unavoidable in contemporary life—from algorithms to systemic racism—and that art remains a crucial tool for making these invisible systems legible.

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article culture schedule May 22, 2026 visibility 20 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

Rocked on their heels: how exhibitions can change the course of artists’ lives

Alyce Mahon's new book, *Dorothea Tanning: A Surrealist World*, explores how the 1936 MoMA exhibition *Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism* profoundly transformed the young artist Dorothea Tanning, who described being "rocked on my run-over heels" by the experience. The article also recounts similar life-changing exhibition encounters for contemporary artists Lorna Simpson and Hurvin Anderson, as discussed on *The Week in Art* and *A brush with…* podcasts, highlighting how specific shows shaped their artistic trajectories.

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trending_up market schedule May 21, 2026 visibility 49 link 10 artists, 2 galleries

Tracey Emin, Katharina Grosse, and More Rally to Raise $2.7 Million for South London Gallery

Christie’s is partnering with the South London Gallery (SLG) on a special selling exhibition featuring works donated by 28 artists, including Tracey Emin, Frank Bowling, Katharina Grosse, Alvaro Barrington, and Ryan Gander. The exhibition is part of SLG’s “SLG Forever” fundraising campaign, which aims to raise £2 million ($2.7 million) to renovate the gallery’s historic Victorian building and support its outreach programs. The show will be open to the public at Christie’s London from June 5–25, with extended hours during London Gallery Weekend, and will continue online until September 30.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 21, 2026 visibility 52 link 46 artists, 8 galleries

Your Summer Guide: 20 Art World Highlights Not to Miss

ARTnews has published a summer guide highlighting 20 art world events and exhibitions not to miss in the coming months. Featured highlights include the opera 'El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego' at the Metropolitan Opera, the 'Costume Art' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Björk show titled 'echolalia' at the National Gallery of Iceland, a book on the Venice Biennale by Massimiliano Gioni, Raven Halfmoon's 'Flags of Our Mothers' at Ballroom Marfa, a Pierre Huyghe exhibition at Fondation Beyeler Basel, a James McNeill Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain, and the inaugural Medina Triennial in New York.

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