Sotheby's May 2026 auctions in New York generated $433.1 million in sales over under three hours, a 132.7 percent increase compared to the same period last spring, despite offering fewer lots. This strong performance signals a top-heavy recovery in the art market after three years of contraction. Separately, the Neue Galerie will merge with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2028, and Art Dubai continues despite disruptions from the U.S.-Iran war.
French designer and musician Lucas Lecacheur is creating wildly unconventional yet functional surfboards and skateboards, including a split board resembling crab pincers, a stingray-like shape, and a Brutalist board. Currently in Australia for Melbourne Design Week, Lecacheur is living and working out of At The Above gallery in Fitzroy, where he is crafting new boards like the cowboy boot-nosed Château Rouge. His designs, made with traditional materials like fiberglass, push the boundaries of surfboard norms while remaining rideable.
The 61st Venice Biennale is underway, and while it is officially a non-commercial exhibition, market forces are increasingly influential behind the scenes. Artnet News host Margaret Carrigan reports on auction houses actively participating in opening week, and highlights Sotheby’s upcoming single-owner sale in London featuring works from billionaire Joe Lewis’s collection, expected to exceed $200 million. Meanwhile, Whitechapel Gallery has created a new economist-in-residence position to address ongoing financial strain in museums.
A collection of rare Keith Haring artworks, gifted to his childhood friend Kermit Oswald over nearly three decades, is coming to auction at Sotheby’s Breuer Building in May 2025. The trove includes a self-portrait from 1985 (estimated at $3–5 million), a painted crib and dresser ($250,000–350,000), a carved wood sculpture from 1983 (up to $800,000), and other early works on wood, fabric, and paper. These pieces trace Haring’s artistic evolution before his subway drawings and international fame, and were kept by Oswald, who was Haring’s best friend since kindergarten and later installed his shows.
A major retrospective of Alexander Calder's work is currently on view at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, marking the 100th anniversary of the artist's arrival in the city. The exhibition, running through August 16, 2026, presents a comprehensive overview of his career, featuring sculptures, drawings, archival material, and jewelry that highlight his innovative fusion of engineering and abstraction.
The ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran has severely disrupted the global art logistics network, particularly in Asia. A report in the Art Newspaper details soaring costs and shipping delays, with international air freight for fine art spiking up to 300% due to increased oil prices. Some exhibitions, like a Per Kirkeby show in China, have opened with fewer works, and shipments for Art Basel Hong Kong were stuck at sea for over a month. Shippers are now considering alternative routes, such as the China-Europe Railway Express, to mitigate delays and costs.
Five UK museums have been shortlisted for the 2026 Art Fund Museum of the Year prize. Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, recently restored through a £27.5 million redevelopment, is nominated alongside the National Gallery in London, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, The Box in Plymouth, and the V&A East Storehouse in London. The winner, to be announced on 25 June, will receive £120,000.
A solo presentation of self-taught artist Sam Doyle's work at the Outsider Art Fair in New York is generating significant attention, particularly a painting titled "Dr Bus Ha.Lo." being offered for sale for the first time at $85,000. The immersive booth, organized by London's Gallery of Everything, recreates the artist's front yard and showcases his vivid portraits of local Gullah community figures and Black cultural icons.
The global art landscape is set for a significant transformation in 2025 with the opening of several high-profile museum projects. These range from the long-awaited reopening of New York’s Frick Collection and the Studio Museum in Harlem to ambitious international debuts like the PoMo museum in Norway and the Fenix Museum of Migration Stories in Rotterdam. These projects feature designs by world-renowned architects including Annabelle Selldorf, India Mahdavi, and MAD Architects, often repurposing historic structures with bold contemporary additions.
Geoffrey Kelly, the FBI’s lead investigator on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist for over two decades, has released a new book titled 'Thirteen Perfect Fugitives'. Published ahead of the 36th anniversary of the 1990 theft, the book provides an insider’s perspective on the investigation into the world’s largest art heist, where 13 works valued at over $1 billion were stolen. Kelly, who retired in 2024, details the FBI's findings regarding the individuals involved and the ongoing, unsuccessful efforts to recover the missing masterpieces.
old masters records gentileschi michelangelo rembrandt
Old Masters Week in New York saw a resurgence in the sector, highlighted by the Italian Ministry of Culture's $14.9 million private acquisition of a rare two-sided panel by Antonello da Messina from Sotheby’s. The week featured high-profile sales at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s, resulting in new auction records for major figures including Artemisia Gentileschi and Michelangelo, as well as a record price for a Rembrandt drawing. The success was attributed to a high level of museum participation and more realistic pricing strategies compared to previous seasons.
Billionaire collector William I. Koch is set to auction his extensive collection of Western American art at Christie’s New York in January. Titled "Visions of the West," the sale features 76 lots with a combined low estimate of $50 million, potentially doubling the current auction record for the genre. Highlighting the event is Frederic Remington’s 'Coming to the Call', which carries an estimate of $6 million to $8 million and could set a new individual record for the artist.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged veteran New York antiquities dealer Michael Ward with criminal facilitation following an investigation into the illicit trade of cultural property. Ward, who operated his Upper East Side gallery for nearly forty years, was convicted in September for his role in facilitating the sale of stolen artifacts, including a 1st-century gilded bronze plaque. Court documents reveal a broader pattern of misconduct involving 40 objects stolen from Italy, Greece, and Turkey, with a total value reaching into the millions.
New York's Metropolitan Opera is considering selling two monumental Marc Chagall murals, 'The Sources of Music' and 'The Triumphs of Music' (1966), valued at $55 million by Sotheby's, to address a severe financial crisis. The Met has already drawn $120 million from its endowment, reduced performances, and struck a controversial $100 million deal to perform in Saudi Arabia, which has drawn scrutiny over human rights abuses. The murals, which hang in the Grand Tier, would remain in place even if sold, and the Met is also exploring naming rights and theater leasing.
Arts Council England announced the results of the 2024-25 Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu initiatives, through which 32 artworks valued at nearly $80 million entered public collections. Highlights include Edgar Degas's pastel *Danseuses roses* (ca. 1897–1901) donated to the National Gallery, paintings by Max Liebermann and Max Pechstein given to the Ashmolean Museum, a historic desk used by Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and Winston Churchill acquired by the National Trust, and 77 photographs by Bill Brandt donated to Tate. The report covers transfers from April 2024 to March 2025.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has announced its Fall 2025 grant recipients, awarding over $4 million to 57 arts organizations across 17 states, Washington, D.C., and two international locations. Grantees range from established institutions like the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and Independent Curators International to smaller artist-run spaces such as Mini Mart City Park in Seattle and Transformer in Washington, D.C. Twenty organizations are first-time recipients, including Path with Arts in Seattle and Access Gallery in Denver. Exhibition support covers solo shows for artists like Ching Ho Cheng, Gisela Colón, and Leilah Babirye, as well as group exhibitions such as “Telenovelas” at the Americas Society and the Counterpublic 2026 Triennial.
The Barbican Centre in London will close for one year starting in June 2028 as part of a five-year "Barbican Renewal Programme" to renovate its three gallery spaces and other infrastructure. The City of London Corporation has committed £191 million (about $255.8 million) toward the £240 million ($321.3 million) project, with the remainder to be raised through a fundraising campaign. During the closure, the Barbican plans to collaborate with partners and present programming beyond its walls.
Maria Balshaw, director of London’s Tate, has announced she will step down in spring 2026 after nearly a decade leading the museum network. She joined in 2017, succeeding Nicholas Serota, and previously directed the Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery. During her tenure, she oversaw major exhibitions including “The EY Exhibition: Van Gogh and Britain” (2019), a Yoko Ono retrospective, and “Sargent and Fashion.” Her final project will be co-curating the largest-ever survey of Tracey Emin at Tate Modern, running from February 27 to August 31, 2026.
Tate Britain has announced that French-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira will create the next Tate Britain Commission, her largest project to date, set to run from May 2026 to January 2027 in the museum's Duveen Galleries. Curated by Jessica Vaughan, the commission will feature a new site-specific work responding to the architecture and history of Tate Britain. Sedira, who represented France at the 2022 Venice Biennale with her acclaimed pavilion “Dreams Have No Titles,” is known for exploring themes of diaspora, memory, and identity through photography, video, and installation.
A Frida Kahlo painting, *El Sueño (La Cama)* (1954), sold at Sotheby’s New York for $54.7 million, setting a new auction record for the most expensive artwork by a female artist. The article, using data from the Artnet Price Database, lists the ten most expensive women artists at auction, including Lee Krasner ($11.6 million for *The Eye is the First Circle*), Jenny Saville ($12.4 million for *Propped*), Marlene Dumas ($13.6 million for *Miss January*), and Agnes Martin ($18.7 million for *Grey Stone II*).
The Portland Art Museum has completed a $116 million expansion and renovation, integrating two neighboring buildings and adding nearly 100,000 square feet of public and gallery space. The centerpiece is a 21,000-square-foot glass pavilion named after Mark Rothko, who grew up in Portland and attended the museum's art school. The project, largely privately funded, unites the original 1932 Belluschi building with the 1927 Mark Building (a former Masonic Temple) via a transparent, 24-hour pedestrian tunnel. Director Brian Ferriso led the capital campaign, which also raised $30 million for the endowment, and recruited Hennebery Eddy Architects and Vinci Hamp Architects as designers.
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced plans to convert its centrally located gift shop off the Great Hall into a new gallery space dedicated to its Costume Institute, with a $50 million fundraising goal and an expected opening in 2026. The 11,500-square-foot space will replace the current Anna Wintour Costume Center, offering a more prominent location for the institute's annual blockbuster exhibitions, such as this year's "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty." Anna Wintour, Condé Nast global editorial director and Vogue editor, will lead fundraising for the project, which also includes reconfiguring ground-floor dining and retail spaces and opening a new public entrance at East 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is preparing to move into a new Renzo Piano-designed building in New York's Meatpacking District, set to open to the public about a year from now. The new downtown location is vastly larger than its current Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue, with 50,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space—a 33 percent increase—and a total of 220,000 square feet, nearly triple the size of the old space. The museum's best attendance year was 372,000 visitors in 2009-10, far below MoMA's 3.22 million that same year, but the new building's proximity to the High Line and tourist-heavy neighborhood is expected to dramatically boost visitor numbers.
New York's major art museums, including MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney, are experiencing attendance figures that have not surpassed their peaks from several years ago. MoMA projects reaching 3.24 million visitors for the 2012–13 fiscal year, just shy of its 2009–10 record of 3.22 million, driven by blockbuster exhibitions like "Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary" and a Sigmar Polke retrospective. Meanwhile, the Guggenheim's attendance peaked in 2009, the Met saw its busiest season in 2011–12 with 6.28 million visitors and is now on track for a second consecutive decline, and the Whitney's high was 372,000 in 2009–10. Factors cited include a harsh winter, ongoing construction at the Met, and a shift toward more scholarly exhibitions, though tourism growth in New York continues, especially among international visitors.
A judge at London's Kingston Crown Court sentenced Larry Fraser to 13 months in jail for stealing a Banksy print of the iconic *Balloon Girl* image from Grove Gallery in September 2024. Fraser, who pleaded guilty, used a hammer to break a glass door and stole the print in 36 seconds, hoping to pay off a drug debt. The Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad recovered the artwork within days after Fraser and accomplice James Love stashed it on the Isle of Dogs. Love was acquitted by a jury, claiming he was unaware of the theft until after the fact.
New York's Performa biennial postponed a new work by artist Lina Lapelytė, titled *The Speech (NYC)*, just one day before its scheduled debut because the planned venue, Federal Hall National Memorial, was closed due to the U.S. government shutdown. The piece involves 100 children making primal sounds and was to be performed on Wednesday at the historic site, which is operated by the National Park Service. Performa rescheduled the performance for November 17 and is seeking an alternative venue.
Gaëtane Verna, executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, has resigned effective immediately. Her resignation follows a report by the Columbus Dispatch revealing a $1.1 million deficit for fiscal year 2024 and a formal letter of no confidence signed by more than a dozen employees. The letter cited high turnover, organizational dysfunction, financial instability, and reputational harm under Verna's leadership, which began in August 2022. Senior vice provost Trevor Brown will guide the transition until an interim leader is named.
La notte dei record di Christie’s a New York. Ecco com’è andata la mega asta d’arte da più di un miliardo di dollari
On May 18, 2026, Christie’s in New York held a landmark evening auction that surpassed $1.1 billion in total sales, driven by two sessions: Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse and a sale of 20th-century art. The Newhouse collection alone brought in $631 million, making it the second most valuable collection ever sold at auction, behind Paul Allen’s $1.7 billion sale in 2022. Record prices were set for Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948, which sold for $181.2 million, and Constantin Brancusi’s Danaïde (1913), which fetched $107.6 million, a record for a sculpture at auction. Other artists achieving strong results included Mark Rothko, Joan Miró, and Alice Neel.
On May 8, thousands marched through Venice and more than two dozen national pavilions were partially or fully shuttered during a 24-hour strike organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance and local activist groups. The strike, which included Palestinian flags draped over artworks, marks the first cultural strike in the Venice Biennale's 131-year history. Italian police beat back protesters as Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara reported from the scene. Separately, a nesting seagull near the Polish pavilion became an unexpected star, and the LA Art Book Fair opened with a focus on archival materials.
Hundreds of protesters, led by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, blocked the entrance to the Israeli pavilion at the Venice Biennale on May 6, waving Palestinian flags and accusing Israel of operating a "genocide pavilion." Activists from Pussy Riot and FEMEN also staged a pink smoke-filled protest against Russia's participation. Meanwhile, the Biennale jury suddenly resigned, and Israeli pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru made legal threats against the Biennale alleging antisemitism and discrimination. The article also covers exhibitions in Upstate New York, a tribute to Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac, and obituaries for performance art champion Steven Durland, artist Georg Baselitz, cartoonist Nicole Hollander, and arts patron Doris Fisher.