Everything you need to know about the Met Gala 2026 and ‘Costume Art’ exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced details for its 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, titled 'Costume Art,' which is set to open on May 10, 2026. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show will explore the 5,000-year history of the 'dressed body' by juxtaposing contemporary and historical fashion with sculpture, antiquities, and portraiture from across the museum’s 17 departments. The exhibition will be preceded by the annual Met Gala on May 4, 2026, serving as the primary fundraiser for the department.

Weekender: Music, Live Sound Installation, Art

The UC Davis College of Letters and Science is hosting a weekend event titled "Weekender: Music, Live Sound Installation, Art" at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. The event features a live sound installation by artist and composer Pamela Z, alongside a performance by the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christian Baldini, which will include a piece by composer Gabriela Ortiz.

Comment | What is the role of art museums in times of civic stress?

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is navigating the civic distress caused by 'Operation Metro Surge,' a federal immigration enforcement initiative that has disrupted the lives of local artists, staff, and residents. In response to the atmosphere of fear and the shift to virtual schooling, the museum has positioned itself as a sanctuary, offering art-making kits, indigenous-led workshops, and public screenings to foster community resilience.

Walkable suspended labyrinth exhibit returns to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) has brought back its massive, immersive installation "SunForceOceanLife" by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto. The 35-foot-tall suspended labyrinth, hand-woven from vibrant paracord and filled with plastic balls, invites visitors to walk through its elevated pathways, requiring them to navigate the structure in museum-issued socks after signing a safety waiver.

Pussy Riot slams Russia’s return to Venice Biennale

Russia is set to return to the Venice Biennale for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, presenting a project titled "The tree is rooted in the sky" focused on folklore and multilingual cultures. The Russian pavilion, commissioned by Anastasia Karneeva and supported by Putin’s cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy, will feature a filmed three-day festival. The Biennale organizers defended the inclusion, citing a policy of non-censorship for any country recognized by Italy that owns a pavilion in the Giardini.

The Big Review | The Woman Question 1550-2025 ★★★★½

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw has launched "The Woman Question 1550-2025," a massive survey featuring nearly 200 works by 140 women artists spanning five centuries. Curated by Alison M. Gingeras, the exhibition uses the medieval concept of "la querelle des femmes" to explore how women have asserted their status as "citizen artists" against patriarchal structures. The show juxtaposes historical masterpieces by figures like Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofonisba Anguissola with contemporary provocations by Miriam Cahn and Lubaina Himid, focusing heavily on figurative painting and sculpture.

Lee Ufan retrospective will be among 2026 Venice Biennale collateral events

The Venice Biennale has announced 31 official collateral events for its 2026 edition, headlined by a major Lee Ufan retrospective at the San Marco Art Centre. Curated by Dia Art Foundation director Jessica Morgan, the exhibition will celebrate the artist's 90th birthday by tracing his seven-decade career from the Mono-ha movement to his recent dimensional paintings. Other notable collateral participants include national presentations from Scotland and Wales, a floating synagogue installation by Ukrainian artist Anna Kamyshan, and a Gaza-focused exhibition organized by the Palestine Museum US.

Profile | Pierre Rosenberg, the former Louvre president, on his long-awaited four-volume Poussin catalogue—and forthcoming museum

Pierre Rosenberg, the 89-year-old honorary president-director of the Louvre, is set to release a definitive four-volume catalogue raisonné of the works of Nicolas Poussin. This monumental publication, weighing eight kilograms, represents over sixty years of scholarship and aims to provide a comprehensive update to the field, addressing previous research by figures such as Anthony Blunt and Louis Marin.

DePaul Art Museum Closing In June: ‘It’s A Huge Loss’

DePaul University has announced the permanent closure of the DePaul Art Museum (DPAM), effective June 30, 2025. University leadership cited the need for long-term financial sustainability and ongoing budget planning as the primary reasons for the decision. The closure follows a period of significant financial strain for the institution, which has already resulted in over 100 staff layoffs and cutbacks to other campus facilities like the Loop library.

Biennale Arte 2026: the invited artists

The Venice Biennale has officially announced the list of invited artists for its 61st edition in 2026. The selection features a diverse global cohort including established figures like Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, and Carsten Höller, alongside influential collectives such as fierce pussy and blaxTARLINES KUMASI. The list also includes significant posthumous inclusions like Marcel Duchamp and Beverly Buchanan, signaling a curatorial approach that bridges contemporary practice with historical legacies.

Venice Biennale Names 111 Artists for International Exhibition

The Venice Biennale has officially announced the 111 artists, duos, and collectives selected for the 61st International Art Exhibition, titled "In Minor Keys." The exhibition follows the vision of the late Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May 2024 after conceptualizing the show and selecting the majority of its participants. The roster features a diverse global lineup including Wangechi Mutu, Kader Attia, Khaled Sabsabi, and Laurie Anderson, with a curatorial focus on quiet resistance, poetic improvisation, and the "lower frequencies" of social and psychic life.

Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space

The Royal West of England Academy in Bristol is hosting "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space," an expansive exhibition curated by artist Ione Parkin. The show bridges the gap between hard science and artistic imagination, featuring works that range from Susan Derges’s lunar photography to Christopher Le Brun’s monumental 12-panel painting of the moon’s phases. By blending scientific inquiry with creative expression, the exhibition explores how celestial phenomena, NASA data, and planetary movements inspire contemporary visual art.

Old Master Grandeur and Modern Patronage Converge at the 2026 Norton Museum of Art Gala

The Norton Museum of Art's 2026 annual gala drew nearly 700 guests and raised nearly $5 million for the museum's programs. The event featured a live auction hosted by Sotheby's Oliver Barker, selling works by contemporary artists like Julie Curtiss, Jeffrey Gibson, Jessie Henson, and Marilyn Minter, and honored trustee Ronnie Heyman and artist Loie Hollowell. The evening's design was inspired by the concurrent exhibition "Art and Life in Rembrandt's Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection."

France’s ex-culture minister Jack Lang resigns from L’Institut du Monde Arabe amid Epstein revelations

Jack Lang, France's former culture minister, resigned as president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) on February 7 following revelations in the Epstein files that his name appeared 673 times. Lang, 86, denies any wrongdoing, acknowledging a long "cordial relationship" with Jeffrey Epstein but claiming ignorance of his sex crimes. The Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into Lang and his daughter Caroline for "laundering of aggravated tax fraud," and Lang stepped down after being summoned by the French foreign ministry at the request of President Macron and Prime Minister Lecornu.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, February 2026

Several San Francisco museums are experiencing a period of transition and challenge in February 2026. Key exhibitions are closing soon, including "Manet and Morisot" at the Legion of Honor and Suzanne Jackson's first career retrospective at SFMOMA, both ending March 1. New shows are opening, such as "Video Craft" at the Museum of Craft & Design and "Echoes in the Small Mountain: Park Dae-sung and the West Coast" at the Asian Art Museum. Meanwhile, the city's cultural landscape faces strain, with the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts suspending operations, representing a significant loss of community programming.

Practice what you preach: artists reflect on ocean crisis at England's Baltic as centre wins sustainability award

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England, has opened a major group exhibition titled "For All at Last Return," featuring 13 international artists whose work addresses the ocean crisis. Inspired by Rachel Carson's 1950 book, the show explores marine habitats from the surface to the deep seabed, with works by Bianca Bondi, Kristina Ollek, Joan Jonas, Taloi Havini, Michael Toisuta, Shezad Dawood, Otobong Nkanga, and Michele Allen. The exhibition includes installations, videos, tapestries, and a public program that engages local communities and examines the fragile balance between industry and ecology on Britain's North East coast.

herzog & de meuron-designed memphis art museum takes shape ahead of 2026 opening

The Memphis Art Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with archimania and OLIN, is taking shape ahead of its December 2026 opening. The 11,475-square-meter building along the Mississippi River features a glass facade, a public plaza shared with the historic Cossitt Library, a shaded courtyard, flexible gallery spaces, and a rooftop sculpture garden. The museum is among the first major US museums to use laminated timber construction. Updated renderings and construction images by Houston Cofield have been released, along with details of a curatorial shift that will organize the collection into 18 exhibitions focused on lived experience rather than traditional art historical chronologies.

5* Art Openings in London this week.

Five major art openings are taking place in London this week, headlined by museum-scale gallery shows featuring Joseph Beuys, Nan Goldin, and Richard Avedon. Thaddaeus Ropac presents 'Bathtub for a Heroine,' the first UK exhibition focusing on Beuys' monumental sculpture, while Gagosian shows all 126 photographs from Goldin's 'The Ballad of Sexual Dependency' and Avedon's 'In the American West' series. The weekend culminates with Condo London, a city-wide collaborative exhibition linking 50 galleries across 23 spaces.

Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space Art and Science Symposium

A symposium titled "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space Art and Science Symposium" will take place at the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) headquarters in Burlington House, London, celebrating the major exhibition "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space" at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol (24 January–19 April 2026). Curated by visual artist Ione Parkin RWA, the exhibition features over 30 contemporary artists alongside loan items from public collections, all inspired by astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, and space exploration. The symposium includes talks by astronomers, archivists, and exhibiting artists, with a catalogue published by Sansom & Company featuring contributions from Professor Chris Lintott, Professor Amaury Triaud, Dr Sian Prosser, and Ione Parkin RWA.

Collection of 61 Matisse works—mostly portraying his daughter Marguerite—donated to Paris museum

Barbara Dauphin Duthuit, the wife of Henri Matisse’s late grandson Claude Duthuit, has donated 61 works by Matisse to the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The donation includes seven paintings, one sculpture, 28 drawings, and eight etchings, most of which depict Matisse’s eldest daughter Marguerite. Many of the works were featured earlier this year in the museum’s exhibition *Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes*. The pieces span the first half of the 20th century, from early childhood portraits to moving works created in 1945 after Marguerite survived deportation for her role in the French Resistance.

The Big Review | Fra Angelico at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco, Florence ★★★★★

A major two-venue exhibition dedicated to early Renaissance master Fra Angelico (c. 1395-1455) has opened at Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco in Florence. The show, four years in the making, features unprecedented loans from over 70 museums and 28 newly conserved works, including the Fiesole Altarpiece (c. 1420-23) and the San Marco Altarpiece (1438-43). It reunites dispersed predella panels and decorative components looted during the Napoleonic era, presenting the most complete picture of Fra Angelico to date while challenging the notion that his work was archaic.

These 16 Miami Art Week 2025 Exhibitions Are Already Creating Buzz Among Collectors

Miami Art Week 2025 is set to take place December 3–7, headlined by Art Basel Miami Beach (public days December 5–7) and concurrent fairs including Design Miami (20th anniversary) and NADA Miami. The article highlights 16 must-see exhibitions across venues such as the Miami Beach Convention Center, Wynwood, and the Miami Design District. Featured galleries include Pace Gallery (presenting Alexander Calder, Elmgreen & Dragset, James Turrell), Locks Gallery (Louise Bourgeois, Isamu Noguchi), Southern Guild (debuting at Art Basel with Zizipho Poswa and others), and Leon Tovar Gallery (focusing on Latin American women modernists).

Right to Rest

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) created a visitor experience for the exhibition "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" that centered on rest and well-being, inspired by Thomas's belief that art should offer beauty and restoration. The exhibition team, including an interpretive specialist, layered inclusive design practices such as specific interventions for rest, aiming to make Black audiences, disabled audiences, and older audiences feel comfortable and welcome. The DAM's Lifelong Learning and Accessibility division applied universal design principles and well-being outcomes to support the exhibition's goal of honoring Thomas's vision of art as a restorative space.

An Exhibition in Dallas Challenges the Traditional Notions of Jewelry

The Dallas Museum of Art has opened "Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art," its largest-ever exhibition of contemporary jewelry, featuring over 350 pieces by 233 artists spanning eight decades. Curated by Sarah Schleuning, the show emphasizes conceptual ideas over material value, with works made from unconventional materials like found objects, zinc, steel, and fair-trade gold. Highlights include pieces by Iris van Herpen, Andrea Branzi, Harry Bertoia, Ute Decker, Art Smith, and merry renk, displayed in a design by artist and architect Jarrod Beck. A 456-page catalog accompanies the exhibition, which runs through May 3, 2026.

The Woman Question 1550–2025 The City of Women

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN Warsaw) will launch two concurrent exhibitions, "The Woman Question 1550–2025" and "The City of Women," running from November 21, 2025, to May 3, 2026. Featuring nearly 200 women artists from around the world—spanning from Artemisia Gentileschi and Frida Kahlo to Yoko Ono and Tala Madani—the shows aim to present five centuries of art by women, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and a team of researchers including Julia Bryan-Wilson, Michalina Sablik, Vera Zalutskaya, Karolina Gembara, and Wiktoria Szczupacka. The exhibitions include works borrowed from major international institutions such as the Uffizi Gallery, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and the Nasjonalmuseet.

Ackland's new exhibit displays modern art from Robertson Scholarship founder's collection

Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill has opened a new exhibition, "Color Triumphant," featuring 54 modern artworks from the collection of Julian and Josie Robertson. Julian Robertson, a UNC alumnus and founder of the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, died in 2022. The exhibition traces the evolution of modern art from the late 19th century to the present, displaying works by 33 artists including Pablo Picasso, Oscar-Claude Monet, and Frank Stella. It includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, and is part of a traveling exhibition that will also visit Salisbury, North Carolina; San Antonio, Texas; and Austin, Texas.

On the ground at Art Week Tokyo: amid shifting national politics, Japan’s ‘sleeping beauty’ art scene is waking up

The fifth edition of Art Week Tokyo (AWT) took place from November 5-9, bringing together over 50 commercial galleries and museums across the city in a hybrid "post-art fair" model. The event unfolded against the backdrop of Sanae Takaichi becoming Japan's first female prime minister, a political shift that has sparked mixed reactions in the Japanese art world, with calls for improved tax incentives, international promotion, and stronger public collections. AWT, directed by Atsuko Ninagawa and organized in collaboration with Art Basel, featured museum shows including "What is Real?" at the Okura Museum of Art, curated by Adam Szymczyk, and "Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010" at the National Art Center, Tokyo.

The Top 10 Exhibitions to See Around the World This November

This article presents a curated list of the top 10 exhibitions to see around the world in November, highlighting key shows such as 'Project a Black Planet' at MACBA, which explores Pan-Africanism through art and culture, Sylvie Fleury's installation 'She-Devils On Wheels Headquarters' in New York, and Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's survey at Jameel Arts Centre. Other featured exhibitions include Karolina Jabłońska's paintings of pickled beets and severed limbs, among others, each offering unique perspectives on identity, gender, and mortality.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings of the Week (11/03—11/09)

Frieze in London, Hypha Studios and a Renoir drawing for ‘The Great Bathers’—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three main stories. Host Ben Luke discusses the mood at the Frieze art fairs in London with art market editor Kabir Jhala, amid ongoing debate about the health of the art market. The episode also explores Hypha Studios, a UK initiative that provides free exhibition and studio space to unrepresented artists in vacant properties, which has just launched an online sales platform called Hypha Curates. Finally, the podcast features a 'Work of the Week' segment on a Renoir drawing from the 1880s, a study for 'The Great Bathers,' now on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York as part of the exhibition 'Renoir Drawings.'