Lillian Blades' first solo exhibition sparkles and shines at Sarasota Art Museum

Lillian Blades' first solo exhibition, "Through the Veil," is on view at the Sarasota Art Museum (SAM) through October 26. The Bahamian-born artist presents large, quilt-like mixed-media installations made from found objects such as toys, jewelry, utensils, and mirrors, wired together and hung from PVC piping. Her work is displayed on the museum's third floor, while a concurrent exhibition of Gee's Bend quilts occupies the second floor, creating a thematic dialogue between the two shows.

One Fine Show: “Alex Da Corte, The Whale” at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth has opened “Alex Da Corte, The Whale,” a solo exhibition dedicated to the painting practice of artist Alex Da Corte (b. 1980). Featuring more than forty paintings, the show highlights Da Corte’s lesser-known work in two dimensions, as he is more widely recognized for his installations and video pieces. The exhibition includes works such as *Siren (After E K Charter)* (2015) and *Electronic Renaissance* (2021), and places Da Corte’s paintings alongside those of Robert Mapplethorpe and Vija Celmins to explore themes of self-representation and perception.

Landmark Exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts Reframes an Iconic Historical Era

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., will present "Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600–1750" from September 26, 2025, to January 11, 2026. This landmark exhibition features nearly 150 artworks by 40 Dutch and Flemish women artists, including Judith Leyster, Rachel Ruysch, and Clara Peeters, alongside works by unnamed textile makers. Co-curated by Virginia Treanor and Frederica van Dam, the show includes loans from over 50 institutions such as the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Prado Museum. It will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, from March to May 2026.

Pallets, not plinths: the V&A opens its vast storehouse to the public

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London will open its V&A East Storehouse on 31 May, a vast open-access working store at the 2012 Olympics site in Stratford. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 16,000 sq. m space holds over 250,000 objects and 1,000 archives, allowing visitors to browse collections without glass cases via a self-guided route and an 'Order an Object' booking service. Deputy director Tim Reeve compares the experience to shopping at Ikea, emphasizing flexibility and public access.

The Met Reopens Newly Reimagined Galleries Dedicated to the Arts of Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania, Following a Multiyear Transformation of The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has reopened its newly reimagined galleries dedicated to the arts of Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania, following a multiyear transformation of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The renovated spaces present a refreshed installation of the museum's extensive collection, highlighting cross-cultural connections and updated interpretive approaches.

‘Halo effect’ of powerful art dealers’ collections boosts Sotheby’s sale

Sotheby's held a successful three-part evening auction in New York on May 15, 2025, achieving a total of $154.2 million in hammer sales ($186.1 million with fees), within its pre-sale estimate. The sale included 12 lots from the estate of late dealer Barbara Gladstone, which sold 100% for $15.1 million, and 15 works from the collection of Daniella Luxembourg, which brought $33.6 million. The main event, Sotheby's The Now and Contemporary evening auction, featured 41 lots—including works from the Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein collection and three deaccessioned by US museums—and achieved a 93% sell-through rate, hammering $105.4 million. A standout was Andy Warhol's 'Flowers' (1964) from the Gladstone estate, which sold for $3.1 million hammer, more than double its high estimate.

Rejected by Museums Around the World, This New Art Exhibition Explores the Historical Roots of the Term 'Homosexual'

An ambitious new exhibition titled “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939” has opened at Chicago’s Wrightwood 659 gallery, featuring over 300 works by more than 125 artists from 40 countries. Curated by Jonathan D. Katz, the show traces the historical roots of the term 'homosexual,' coined in 1868 by Hungarian writer Karl Maria Kertbeny, and explores the artistic and social transformations surrounding the emergence of homosexual identity up to 1939. The exhibition includes loans from major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée d’Orsay, with works by artists such as George Catlin, Jean Cocteau, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Eakins, organized into eight thematic sections.

Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 season

LUMA Arles has launched its 2025/26 season with three exhibitions, including 'Sensing the Future: Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)', which explores the 1960s collaboration between artists and engineers from Bell Labs, featuring works by Andy Warhol, Jean Dupuy, and Forrest Myers. The season also includes 'Maria Lassnig: Living with art stops one wilting!', examining the Austrian artist's 'Body Awareness' concept and her connection to curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. The exhibitions are bookended by fog and cloud-themed works, including a fog sculpture by Fujiko Nakaya.

Key member of Die Brücke art movement gets museum in hometown

A new museum dedicated to Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, a founding member of the German Expressionist group Die Brücke, has opened in his hometown of Rottluff, a village on the western edge of Chemnitz. The Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Haus, acquired by the city in 2023 and opened in April, displays works spanning the artist's entire career, including early pieces never before shown publicly. The museum also features works by fellow Brücke artists and a secretly painted 1944 self-portrait created in the same house during the Nazi era, when Schmidt-Rottluff was branded a degenerate artist and banned from painting.

Review: “Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The article reviews "Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the artist's first nationally touring retrospective in 20 years. Organized by the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, the exhibition features some 100 artworks from the 1950s until her death in 2011, including large-scale ceramics, weavings, and paintings. It traces Takaezu's journey from her childhood on a Maui watercress plantation to her transformative studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art and a pivotal trip to Japan, where she studied Zen Buddhism and worked under various ceramicists.

Spiders of Paradise to open at Tweed Regional Gallery

Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre will present 'Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise' opening on May 9, 2025. The exhibition, developed and toured nationally by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia), features Colombian Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso's photographic project on the Australian Maratus spider. It includes 17 large-scale digital photographic portraits created with scientific imager Geoff Thompson and entomologist Andy Wang, plus an immersive projection of Cardoso's video 'On the Origins of Art I-II' (2016), co-owned by MCA Australia and Tate.

10 Must-See Gallery Shows to Catch in New York This May

This article highlights ten must-see gallery shows opening in New York this May, timed to coincide with major art fairs like Frieze and TEFAF. Featured exhibitions include Yu Nishimura's debut U.S. solo show at David Zwirner, Thalita Hamoui's first U.S. solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky, and presentations by Willem de Kooning, Anastasia Komar, Theodora Allen, Ilana Savdie, Rosana Paulino, Alicjia Kwade, Xingzi Gu, and Moffatt Takadiwa. The roundup spans venues across the Upper East Side, Chelsea, and Tribeca, reflecting the city's vibrant gallery scene during a packed season of auctions and fairs.

Fragility, resilience and humour: Wolfgang Tillmans and Boris Mikhailov to open photography show in war-torn Kharkiv

A major photography exhibition pairing Wolfgang Tillmans and Boris Mikhailov opens today at the Yermilov Centre in Kharkiv, Ukraine, despite ongoing Russian attacks on the city. Titled "Pairs Skating" (April 25–September 28), the show is organized by the non-profit RIBBON International and curated by Maria Isserlis and Tatiana Kochubinska. It features Mikhailov's never-before-shown Crimean seascapes from the 1990s alongside Tillmans's works including "The State We’re In" (2015), with all prints produced specially for the venue, which is a certified bunker allowing public access during the war.

Outgoing Tate Director Argues for Bigger Tax Breaks for Donors

Outgoing Tate director Maria Balshaw has publicly called on UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves to implement larger tax breaks for wealthy philanthropists who donate to museum endowment funds. She argues this would level the playing field with US institutions and provide crucial financial stability for UK museums.

Humans, Machines, and Possible Futures: The Last 100 Years at New Museum

HUMANS MACHINES AND POSSIBLE FUTURES THE LAST 100 YEARS AT NEW MUSEUM

The New Museum has launched "New Humans: Memories of the Future," a massive exhibition spanning its entire building and featuring over 200 international contributors. The show traces a century of artistic, scientific, and social evolution, pairing 20th-century masters like Constantin Brâncuși and Salvador Dalí with contemporary commissions from artists such as Hito Steyerl and Wangechi Mutu. By exploring themes of automated labor, artificial intelligence, and mechanized warfare, the exhibition frames the relationship between humanity and technology as a series of cyclical leaps and reversals rather than linear progress.

LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS AT THE BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2026

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled 'In Minor Keys' and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, will run from May to November 2026. The exhibition will feature 15 artists from Latin America, including Alvaro Barrington, Carolina Caycedo, Alfredo Jaar, and Guadalupe Maravilla, among others, who will present works across the Giardini, Arsenale, and other Venetian venues.

Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Withdraw From Awards En Masse

Almost half of the artists in the 61st Venice Biennale's international exhibition, along with 16 national pavilion teams, have withdrawn from awards consideration in solidarity with the jury's resignation. The jury resigned on April 30 after stating it would not consider countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC, effectively disqualifying Israel and Russia. The Biennale Foundation then replaced the traditional Golden Lions with new "Visitor Lions" decided by public vote, reinstating all pavilions including Israel and Russia. The withdrawal follows protests at the Russian and Israeli pavilions and a historic labor strike that shuttered multiple pavilions.

Future Fair Is a Big Artist Party

Future Fair, held at Chelsea Industrial in New York from May 13–16, 2026, brought together 69 exhibitors from nine countries. Unlike traditional art fairs with segmented booths, the fair emphasized interconnectedness and interpersonal connection, featuring artist-run booths and family-led presentations. Notable participants included Nanor Hakimian showing her brother Garo's paintings, Olivia Janna Genereaux exhibiting with her son Hans Silas Jovine, and artists Cloe Galasso, John Vitale, and Miles Ingrassia. The fair also highlighted its profit-sharing model, dedicating 15% of proceeds plus exhibitor donations to subsidize emerging galleries.

Maria Britton: Second Sleep

Artist Maria Britton presents "Second Sleep," a solo exhibition at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art featuring her "Draperies" series. Britton transforms discarded, patterned bedsheets into three-dimensional abstract works that blur the line between painting and sculpture through expert layering and pleating.

A Faceless Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi Goes to Auction

Va in asta una Maria Maddalena di Artemisia Gentileschi senza volto

The Viennese auction house Dorotheum has announced the sale of a rare, fragmented painting of Mary Magdalene by the Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi. Dating from the artist's influential Florentine period (1615–1618), this autograph version of a work held in Palazzo Pitti is notably missing its central element: the head and shoulders of the saint have been physically cut from the canvas. Despite this dramatic mutilation, which experts speculate may have occurred in post-war Berlin, the work is estimated to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000 at the Old Masters auction on April 28, 2026.

Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater

The first UK presentation of Nancy Holt's work, titled "MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater," opens at the Goodwood Art Foundation in Sussex from 2 May to 1 November 2026. The exhibition includes both a gallery-based show and works in the landscape, featuring key pieces such as the monumental site-responsive installation "Ventilation System" (1985-92) and the earthwork "Hydra's Head" (1974). The show aims to highlight Holt's exploration of perception, language, and light, and includes works from her diverse practice spanning concrete poetry, film, photography, and public sculpture.

Keeping It Simple

On Valentine's Day, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas, opened the inaugural "Kansas Triennial 25/26" exhibition, featuring works by four Kansas-based visual artists: Mona Cliff, Mark Cowardin, Poppy DeltaDawn, and Ann Resnick. The museum engaged young visitors by handing out paper hearts and inviting them to place their heart in front of the artwork they loved best, creating a reflective and participatory experience.

Annette Messager's 'A Swallow Does Not Make Spring' exhibition brings her menagerie to life at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature

An exhibition titled 'A Swallow Does Not Make Spring' by French artist Annette Messager has opened at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris. The show transforms the museum's spaces with a menagerie of taxidermy, drawings, and installations, blending the artist's signature surreal and feminist sensibilities with the museum's focus on hunting and nature.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn's Museum Show | Herbie Hancock Returns Home | The Lake Plans Opening

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, a Chicago-born artist who grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes, will present his first solo museum exhibition in his hometown at the National Public Housing Museum. The show, titled "Nathaniel Mary Quinn: A Love Letter To My Mother," features ten works on canvas and paper, a recreated living room from his family's apartment circa 1984, and a reading room with historical materials about the housing project. Separately, Mariane Ibrahim gallery now represents Chicago-based artist Leasho Johnson, whose work draws on Jamaican mythology and appeared on the cover of Newcity's April 2026 issue. In other local news, a new social club called The Lake is set to open in River North this fall, designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, and construction has begun on the next phase of the Southbridge development on the site of the former Harold Ickes Homes.

Marianne Vitale exhibition and performance in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents "Marianne Vitale: On Liberty: A Summoning," an exhibition and performance project at SPACE gallery in downtown Pittsburgh, running from May 1 to October 11, 2026. Guest curated by Benjamin Tischer of New Discretions, the project explores the layered social and cultural history of the 818 Liberty Avenue building, a former hub of nightlife, performance, and queer gathering. Vitale's work incorporates sculpture, painting, film, and live activations, using decommissioned locomotive parts and industrial debris to engage with post-industrial America. The exhibition transforms into a functioning club during select Final Fridays, drawing on the site's history as home to venues like Pegasus Lounge, a key LGBTQ+ space during the AIDS crisis.

Flávia Ventura joins Nara Roesler and Mariana Rocha signs with A Gentil Carioca

Two Brazilian artists have secured new gallery representation. Flávia Ventura, whose work explores the body, sexuality, and power through painting, has joined São Paulo's Nara Roesler gallery. Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro-based A Gentil Carioca gallery is now representing Mariana Rocha, an artist whose practice investigates the body, memory, and the feminine through drawing, painting, and photography.

This Exhibition Proves That Blackness Is as Vast and Limitless as the Universe Itself

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco has launched "Unbound: Art, Blackness, and the Universe," a major exhibition marking the institution's 20th anniversary. Spanning all three floors, the show features an international group of African diasporic artists whose work intersects with astrophysics, spirituality, and mythology. Organized into three thematic sections—Geo-Cartographic, Religio-Mythic, and Techno-Cyborgian—the exhibition showcases diverse media ranging from Mikael Owunna’s ultraviolet photography and Harmonia Rosales’s Yoruba-inspired paintings to David Alabo’s virtual reality installations.

BRAFA 2026: the art market heats up from the opening

The 71st edition of BRAFA art fair in Brussels opened with strong sales, signaling a promising start to the 2026 art market. During the first three invitation-only days, major works were sold by galleries including Greta Meert, which placed a €500,000 Enrico Castellani, and Mulier Mulier Gallery, which sold a Tom Wesselmann for €80,000. Other notable sales include a Kim Tschang Yeul work at Boon Gallery, a Renoir painting at Stern Pissarro, and a James Ensor piece at Patrick Derom Gallery. The fair features 147 exhibitors and has attracted loyal collectors, with many galleries reporting multiple red dots and strong interest from younger buyers.

Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection | Exhibition

The exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection" will be on view from February 27 to July 26, 2026, featuring approximately 80 works by nearly 70 influential women artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Artists include Magdalena Abakanowicz, Cecily Brown, Sheila Hicks, Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Joan Mitchell, Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Pat Steir, Sarah Sze, Kara Walker, and Zarina. The show is organized into seven thematic sections—Gestural Abstraction, Luminous Abstraction, Pixelated Abstraction, Disobedient Bodies, Of Selves and Spirits, The Power of Form, and Craft is Art—juxtaposing emerging artists with their predecessors to highlight intergenerational connections and subversions of traditional art hierarchies.

Explore 200 Years of American Art at the PEM

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, is hosting "Making History: 200 Years of American Art," an exhibition organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and on view through September 21, 2025. The show features 85 original works by American artists, including Charles Willson Peale's *The Artist in His Museum*, Patience Wright's wax sculpture of George Washington, and portraits of Ruth St. Denis and Mrs. Chase. PEM's curators have reimagined the exhibition with local relevance and immersive design, and the final gallery invites visitors to contribute personal reflections on history.