Running from one image to another, from one time to another, from one hope to another: at Circolo, in Milan, an exhibition on the contemporary Lebanese scene

The article reviews "Shifting Crossroads. Beirut Contemporary," an exhibition at Circolo in Milan that surveys the contemporary Lebanese art scene. It features internationally recognized artists like Mona Hatoum and Simone Fattal alongside emerging talents, including works from the Saikalis Bay Foundation, founded in 2024 by Nicole Saikalis and Matteo Bay. The show spans historical-archival investigation, photography, installation, painting, and sculpture, with pieces such as Stéphanie Saadé's "Stage of Life" (2021), Catherine Cattaruzza's "I am Folding the Land" (2022), and Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige's "Waiting for the Barbarians" (2013) exploring themes of memory, fragility, and geopolitical instability.

Painterly Figures Entwine in Soojin Choi’s Ceramic Sculptures

Ceramic artist Soojin Choi creates intricate sculptures of entangled pairs, using stoneware slabs and nylon strands to achieve a precarious balance that minimizes contact with the ground. Her painterly background is evident in the gestural marks, visible brushstrokes, and drips on the white-slipped surfaces, with the artist describing her process as a "constant negotiation with gravity."

Women in Art Fair Returns to London

The Women in Art Fair (WIAF), the UK's leading fair dedicated exclusively to women artists, will return to London's OXO Gallery for its fourth edition from May 7-10, 2026. The event will showcase 80 artists selected from 600 applicants through a blind review process, featuring a program of exhibitions, awards, and events, including a Creative Health & Wellbeing Day.

Amy Sherald Cancels Her Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship

Amy Sherald, the acclaimed portraitist known for her official portrait of Michelle Obama, has canceled her upcoming solo exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, citing censorship concerns. Sherald stated that the institution imposed restrictions on the content and presentation of her work, which she found unacceptable, leading her to withdraw from the show entirely.

A semester of SLAM

The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) hosted two special exhibitions during the past semester: the annual "Art in Bloom" floral exhibition from February 27 to March 1, 2026, and the solo show "Currents 125: Blas Isasi" opening February 6, 2026. "Art in Bloom" pairs 30 permanent collection pieces with ephemeral floral arrangements created by local designers, featuring a centerpiece by New York-based floral designer Rachel Cho. The exhibition has grown from an invitational event with 7,000 attendees to an open call drawing over 30,000 visitors. Isasi's exhibition, titled "The weight of a gaze (is to listen to the sound of a kilogram)," is part of SLAM's "Currents" series and the WashU Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship, incorporating a Chincha Inka balance from the museum's collection alongside sandstone sculptures and aluminum foil pieces.

You Need To See This Queensland Artist’s New Solo Exhibition

Mitchell Fine Art in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley is hosting a free solo exhibition titled 'Unbound' by Sunshine Coast-based artist Odessa Mahony-de Vries, running from May 5 to May 16, 2026. The show features large-scale abstract expressionist oil paintings, with a launch event on May 8 offering the public a chance to meet the artist. Mahony-de Vries, a finalist in the 2025 Redland Art and 2024 Stanthorpe Art Prize, creates works that balance control and unpredictability, leaving earlier brushstrokes visible to embed the history of each piece.

The Museums That Helped Power Atlanta’s Rise Are Still Pushing Ahead

Atlanta’s cultural landscape is undergoing a significant transformation as its major museums spearhead ambitious expansions and programming shifts. Institutions like the High Museum of Art, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and the Atlanta Contemporary are leveraging the city's economic growth and its status as a hub for Black culture to redefine their roles within the community. These developments include physical renovations, record-breaking acquisitions, and a renewed focus on local and diverse artistic voices.

Brooklyn Museum Presents Hopi Kachina Dolls: Blessings for a Balanced World

The Brooklyn Museum has announced a landmark exhibition titled "Hopi Kachina Dolls: Blessings for a Balanced World," scheduled to open in October 2026. Featuring over 120 objects ranging from the 19th century to the present, the show draws from the museum's extensive Indigenous art collection alongside contemporary loans of ceramics, textiles, and jewelry. The presentation is uniquely structured around the life stages of Hopi women—from infancy to marriage—and includes newly commissioned video interviews with community members.

“Aether” group exhibition opens in Baku

A group exhibition titled "Aether" has opened at the Exhibition Gallery of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum in Baku. The show features approximately eighty-five works by thirty-five artists, primarily students from the LèRami art studio led by artist and educator Ramila Shamilova. The exhibition includes paintings in oil and graphic techniques, ranging from small A5 works to large two-meter canvases, and also features contributions from child artists.

Emerging painter shows what it means to be a Maine artist | Column - Portland Press Herald

Dean McCrillis, an emerging painter from Rumford, Maine, is the subject of a solo exhibition titled "Dog Years" at Cove Street Arts in Portland, running through January 17. The show features oil paintings that depict distinctly Maine activities—hunting, fishing, camping—while employing layered, translucent brushstrokes to evoke the ephemerality of time and experience. McCrillis, who also works as a framer at Greenhut Galleries, uses a bright, saturated palette and techniques that make his images appear to simultaneously emerge and dissolve, capturing fleeting moments in the state's rugged landscape.

Louvre’s €666m plans for new entrance ‘financially unsound’—and security should come first—auditor says

A report from the Cour des comptes, France's state auditing body, has deemed the Louvre's €666 million plan for a new entrance and subterranean complex around the Mona Lisa as "financially unsound." The report, released on November 6 by chairman Pierre Moscovici, criticizes the museum's management under director Laurence des Cars, highlighting severe delays in security upgrades—only 4% of an €83 million infrastructure budget has been spent since 2018. The audit follows an audacious heist of French crown jewels on October 19, which the report says was enabled by inadequate security. It urges the Louvre to prioritize a €450 million infrastructure plan over the grand renovation project, which has already seen a 45% cost overrun from its initial €450 million estimate.

Straight-line storytelling: how will the British Museum display the Bayeux Tapestry?

The British Museum (BM) is planning to display the Bayeux Tapestry from September 2026 to July 2027, following a loan agreement with the French government. The tapestry, owned by the French state, will return to England for the first time in nearly a thousand years after its dedicated museum in Bayeux closed for renovations. The BM's Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery is long enough to accommodate the 70-meter embroidered strip in a single straight line, a key factor in securing the loan over other contenders like the Victoria and Albert Museum. Conservators will display the tapestry at a 60-degree angle with low lighting to minimize fading, and visitors will likely follow an audio-guided tour with 25 minutes to view the 58 scenes.

In Rome, the extension of the Galleria Borghese provokes a revolt

À Rome, l’extension de la Galerie Borghèse provoque une fronde

The Galleria Borghese in Rome has sparked controversy by initiating a feasibility study for a new building attached to its 17th-century villa. Museum director Francesca Cappelletti, in office since 2020, cites the need to increase visitor capacity, improve security, and create spaces for mediation, conferences, and temporary exhibitions. The museum, which saw nearly 630,000 visitors in 2025, operates with strict two-hour time slots capped at 180 people, often sold out in high season. Engineering firm Proger has offered to fund the study for €875,750 in exchange for institutional visibility, and Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtieri has declared the project of public interest.

Chuck Connelly Masterpiece “Coliseum” Comes Out of Storage for First Time in 21 Years

Chuck Connelly's monumental 1994 painting "Coliseum" has been unveiled at One Art Space in Tribeca, New York, after spending 21 years in storage. The 90-by-108-inch oil on canvas, a signature work of the late American artist known for his fiercely expressive style, is now on public view for the first time since 2005. The May 2, 2026 unveiling was attended by family members including Adrienne Connelly, as well as notable figures such as MaryAnn Giella McCulloh, Mei Fung, and others.

The Muskegon Museum of Art Announces a Landmark Exhibition showcasing the Women who shaped Animation History

The Muskegon Museum of Art has announced a landmark exhibition titled "HerStory of Animation: Mary Blair & Beyond," premiering June 6 through September 27, 2026. The show highlights the overlooked contributions of women animators and artists who shaped animation history, featuring figures such as Helena Smith Dayton, Bessie Mae Kelley, Lotte Reiniger, Mary Blair, Faith Hubley, Lillian Schwartz, Caroline Leaf, Joan Graz, Brenda Chapman, and Nora Towmey. Curated by historian and author Mindy Johnson, the exhibition includes production artwork, studio artifacts, rare imagery, films, and newly uncovered research spanning over a century of animation.

Meet the Canadian artists heading to Venice Biennale

Five Canadian artists have been selected for the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, titled *In Minor Keys*, which opens to the public next Saturday. The participants are Abbas Akhavan (featured in the Canada Pavilion), Manuel Mathieu, Rajni Perera, Marigold Santos, and one additional artist. The exhibition is the first Biennale curated by a Black woman, Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, who died suddenly in May last year after a cancer diagnosis, just six months after her appointment. Despite her death, the Biennale proceeded with her plans, with her team completing the work.

New York's New Museum Unveils $82 Million Expansion

The New Museum in Manhattan has officially unveiled its $82 million expansion, a transformative project designed by architects Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu. The renovation has doubled the institution's footprint, adding three levels of gallery space and a new 'public spine' featuring an atrium staircase. To mark the reopening, the museum launched 'New Humans: Memories of the Future,' a massive 732-object survey curated by Massimiliano Gioni that explores the intersection of art, visual culture, and emerging technologies like AI.

The portrait

López de la Serna CAC has launched a collective exhibition exploring the evolution of portraiture through the works of four major contemporary artists: Francesco Clemente, Alex Katz, David Salle, and Henry Taylor. The exhibition moves beyond traditional representation to examine how identity is constructed in the postmodern era, utilizing diverse approaches ranging from Clemente’s mystical pastels and Katz’s flat, vibrant aesthetics to Salle’s fragmented collages and Taylor’s socially conscious figuration.

‘La Musée’: The history and challenges behind a landmark acquisition of works by women artists

The Museums of Poitiers in France have officially acquired 'La Musée,' a landmark collection of 523 works by women artists spanning the 17th to the 21st centuries. Assembled by artist and historian Eugénie Dubreuil since 1999, the collection includes paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts intended as a 'counterproposal' to the male-dominated art historical canon. The acquisition was finalized in March 2024 following a rigorous two-year review process and was accompanied by a €150,000 grant from the Les Beaux Yeux endowment fund to support a five-year project dedicated to women artists.

Oliver Jeffers: Artist's first Belfast exhibition in more than 20 years

Artist and author Oliver Jeffers is holding his first exhibition in his hometown of Belfast in over 20 years. The show, titled "Disasters and Interventions," is on view at the Naughton Gallery at Queen's University and features a series of works where Jeffers inserts calamitous scenes—such as an oil tanker spill or an airship crash—into tranquil vintage landscapes, transforming calm into catastrophe. The project began when he found a discarded print in New York's Chinatown and began painting into it, eventually building a collection over 14 years that balances tragedy with a wry, thoughtful humor.

Exhibition Highlights Jewelry by 45 Female Artists

The Museum of Applied Arts Cologne (MAKK) in Germany is presenting an exhibition titled “From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono: Jewellery by Female Artists,” featuring 101 pieces of jewelry created by 45 female artists. The show, which opened November 11 and runs through April 26, highlights works by well-known figures such as Yoko Ono and Louise Bourgeois, including Ono's yellow and white gold ring shaped like a vinyl disc inscribed with “Imagine Peace” and Bourgeois’ gold spider brooch and silver shackle neckpiece. The exhibition was curated by Lena Hoppe in collaboration with museum director Petra Hesse, and an accompanying book edited by the curators will be published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers in February 2026.

Komal Shah on ‘Making Their Mark’

Komal Shah discusses the exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works From the Shah Garg Collection" at Washington University in St. Louis' Kemper Art Museum. The show spans nearly eight decades and features nearly 70 artists, including Howardena Pindell, Joan Mitchell, Jaune Quick-to-see Smith, Katharina Grosse, Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, and Mary Weatherford. Shah, who established the collection with her husband Gaurav Garg, emphasizes the importance of celebrating women artists and challenging the notion that excellence is limited to men.

Comment | Fine balance: fairs up the exclusivity while appealing to younger clients

Art Basel Paris in October introduced a new ultra-exclusive preview called Avant Première, catering to top-tier galleries with seven- and eight-figure works, while some emerging exhibitors felt sidelined. Meanwhile, the fair's organizers dropped the term "VIP," renaming its dedicated department to "collector and institutional relations," as CEO Noah Horowitz explained that the term could be off-putting to a new generation of buyers. Parallel events like Trauma, a curatorial platform founded by artist Adrian Ghenie, and the Basel Social Club offered more inclusive, youth-driven alternatives, though they still maintained guest lists.

Artistic discs

Kolkata Ink Studio presented a group exhibition of graphic art at Gallery Charubasona, featuring 18 artists who each contributed two disc-shaped copperplates and matching prints. The works ranged from Manik Kumar Ghosh's clever double-disc brassiere to Partha Pratim Deb's absurd clownish figures, Laxma Goud's restrained goddess imagery, and Rm. Palaniappan's three-dimensional illusions. Other highlights included Siddhartha Ghosh's identity-less human figures, Sukla Poddar's environmental themes, and Swapnesh Vaigankar's archaeological inspirations. The exhibition was described as neat but lacking in challenge, with most works in monochrome and only faint touches of color.

New book highlights Vorticism’s toxic side—and puts its women pioneers back in the frame

A new book by Canadian art historian James King, titled "Our Little Gang," examines the Vorticist movement, highlighting its toxic internal dynamics and the marginalization of its female pioneers. King details how Wyndham Lewis, the movement's self-appointed leader, belittled followers like Jessica Dismorr and Helen Saunders, even painting over one of Saunders' works. The book also explores the movement's artistic tensions, balancing abstraction with representation, and features works by Lewis, David Bomberg, and Saunders.

This Is What Happens When an Art Auction Bidder Changes Their Mind

Auction houses are grappling with a rise in bidders attempting to back out of winning bids, often citing flimsy excuses like cats jumping on keyboards. Richard Wright, CEO of Rago/Wright, describes a 'cat button' on their website that locks the bid button to prevent accidental clicks, but some buyers still renege by blaming spouses or pets. The problem has worsened with online bidding, as remote participants may not grasp the binding nature of a winning bid. Houses like Freeman | Hindman and Eldred's require deposits and registration to mitigate risks, but defaults persist, with Wright estimating 1% of sales become problematic.

The Sky High Farm Biennial Cultivates Something Special

The Sky High Farm Biennial, curated by former Downtown art star Dan Colen, opened in a cold storage warehouse in Germantown, N.Y., featuring over 160 works by 50 artists across two floors. The exhibition is loosely themed around humanity's relationship with the natural world, with immersive installations by Anne Imhof (a maze of cider crates) and Rudolf Stingel (a mirrored floor requiring paper booties). Highlights include works by Nan Goldin, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Stephen Lichty, Carrol Dunham, Pia Camil, and Ann Craven. The show balances informal and polished elements, offering a breezy summer experience while serving as a thesis on artist community.

Palo Alto gallery adds new artist to the fold whose layered pieces unite chaos and calm

Bryant Street Gallery in Palo Alto has added Louisiana-based painter Lynn Sanders to its roster, featuring her large-scale abstract works in a solo exhibition titled "Lessons in Patience," on view through August 30. Gallery owner Karen Imperial discovered Sanders while searching online for abstract contemporary art, bypassing traditional portfolio submissions. Sanders uses a layered process with acrylic paints, stains, and ink to create fluid, color-rich compositions that she describes as a diary of her life and emotions.

A Wave of Japanese Art and Culture Immerses College of DuPage in ‘Floating World’ Exhibition

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage has opened "Hokusai & Ukiyo-e: The Floating World," an immersive exhibition exploring Japanese ukiyo-e art from the Edo period. The show features woodblock prints and scrolls, including Hokusai's iconic "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa," drawn from the collection of 19th-century Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone. Many prints are on view in the U.S. for the first time. The exhibition extends beyond traditional display with an outdoor garden, manga and anime rooms, and a recreated Edo village built by the college's theater department.

At Kunsthalle Praha, Anna-Eva Bergman and Hans Hartung are reunited in art, as they were in life

Kunsthalle Praha has opened a dual exhibition, "Anna-Eva Bergman & Hans Hartung: And We’ll Never Be Parted," reuniting the two artists in art as they were in life. The show traces their youthful infatuation, creative partnership, divorce, and reunion, highlighting Bergman's neglected contributions to abstract art inspired by nature and Hartung's prominence in the Art Informel movement. Featuring paintings, sketches, archival material, and mutual gifts, it is billed as the first major museum exhibition to place the two in dialogue.