The Greenville County Museum of Art has launched "American Stories," a comprehensive exhibition drawn from its permanent collection to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. Featuring pivotal works such as Thomas Sully’s "Passage of the Delaware," the show spans two centuries of artistic production to explore the complexities of the American experience, from the Revolutionary War to the modern era.
Monmouth University senior Thea Merritt has curated the exhibition "Robert Mueller: Man and Machine" at the Ice House Gallery, focusing on the interdisciplinary legacy of the late artist and scientist Robert E. Mueller. Drawing from a massive estate donation of 1,500 objects, Merritt selected works that highlight Mueller’s unique fusion of electronic science, philosophy, and fine arts. The show represents the culmination of Merritt's work cataloging the collection and her research into contemporary curatorial practices.
Abu Dhabi is celebrating World Art Day 2026 with a series of high-profile events centered in the Saadiyat Cultural District, most notably the exhibition "Picasso, the Figure" at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Running until May 31, the show features loans from the Musée National Picasso-Paris and the Musée du Louvre, exploring the artist's lifelong obsession with the human form. The festivities also include documentary screenings, olfactory art experiences, and extensive community workshops at Manarat Al Saadiyat covering ceramics, textiles, and printmaking.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has unveiled the first look at its new David Geffen Galleries, a radical horizontal structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Scheduled to open to the public in May 2026, the sinuous concrete and glass building is elevated thirty feet above the ground, spanning Wilshire Boulevard. The interior departs from the traditional "white cube" museum model, featuring 27 non-linear galleries that utilize natural light and custom-designed metallic curtains to showcase the museum's encyclopedic collection in a fluid, interdisciplinary environment.
Latin American Art: Structural Growth between Market and Institutions
Latin American contemporary art is experiencing structural growth and increased global visibility between 2024 and 2026, moving beyond speculative trends toward deep-seated institutional legitimacy. This shift is highlighted by the prominent inclusion of regional artists in major international platforms, most notably the 2026 Venice Biennale and the Pinault Collection. Key figures such as Rosanna Paulino, Adriana Varejão, and Paulo Nazareth are leading this movement, utilizing diverse media to explore themes of post-colonialism, racial violence, and ecological memory.
The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched a major retrospective dedicated to the American artist Alexander Calder, featuring approximately 300 works. The exhibition showcases 139 of his signature kinetic sculptures and 33 paintings, utilizing the institution's vast internal galleries as well as its external gardens. This marks the first time the museum's outdoor spaces, designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, have been used to host such a comprehensive display of Calder's monumental works.
The Brandywine Museum of Art has announced a new group exhibition titled "Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life," featuring works by 10 contemporary artists. The show is divided into two thematic sections: "Abundance," which examines the history of wealth and commerce in America, and "Excess," which focuses on the environmental and social consequences of overconsumption. Curated by Kerry Bickford, the exhibition includes diverse media ranging from traditional painting to works made from discarded materials like trash-picked toys and grocery flyers.
Art Sonje Center in Seoul has launched 'Spectrosynthesis Seoul,' a landmark exhibition featuring 74 artists and collectives that explores the history and current state of queer art. The show, organized in collaboration with the Hong Kong-based Sunpride Foundation, features major international figures like Mark Bradford and Shin Wai Kin alongside prominent Korean artists such as Ayoung Kim and Mire Lee. By moving beyond small-scale independent shows into a major institutional space, the exhibition aims to map a comprehensive landscape of LGBTQ+ artistic practices.
The National Gallery in London, established in 1824, continues to evolve as the primary repository for Great Britain’s national collection of European paintings. Originally founded with the purchase of 38 works from John Julius Angerstein, the museum now houses over 2,600 masterpieces, including significant Italian Renaissance, Dutch, and French Impressionist works. Recent developments include a 2025 announcement that the institution will expand its remit to collect 20th-century art, supported by a new wing planned for the 2030s.
London is set to debut the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in May 2026, a major new cultural hub located in a restored 18th-century waterworks building in Clerkenwell. The center will feature three galleries, a library, and learning spaces, opening with a solo exhibition titled 'Ever Feel Like…' by the rising illustration star MURUGIAH.
The University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Art and Art History has announced a series of spring events, including the 'Art History Showcase' featuring scholarship by Tylyn King, Bella Malherbe, and Felicity Wong. The program also highlights the second group of the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition featuring Ethan Cherry, Brionna Garcia, and Cal Young, alongside a visiting artist lecture by Rutgers professor Barbara Madsen and a symposium on Black Queer Aesthetics.
The Cafesjian Art Trust Museum in Shoreview has launched "Abstraction and Ourselves," an ambitious exhibition that bridges the gap between contemporary abstract painting and monumental glass sculpture. Curated by Jill Ahlberg Yohe, formerly of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the show pairs the museum’s renowned glass collection—including works by Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová—with significant loans such as a Georgia O’Keeffe oil painting and works by Dyani White Hawk.
Canadian artist Steven Shearer will present a major exhibition of new figurative oil paintings, drawings, and significant loans at David Zwirner’s London gallery in June 2026. The showcase marks Shearer’s first solo presentation in the city since 2007, highlighting his unique ability to blend canonical art history with contemporary subcultures. His work frequently explores classical subjects like the artist’s studio and the Rückenfigur through a modern, often visceral lens.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., has launched "Dear America," a major exhibition commemorating the United States' 250th anniversary. Featuring over 100 prints, drawings, and photographs from the museum’s permanent collection, the show spans from the late 18th century to the present day. The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections—"Land," "Community," and "Freedom"—showcasing works by iconic artists such as Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, and Richard Avedon alongside contemporary voices like Tom Jones of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
A group of 74 artists and curators invited to the 61st Venice Biennale have issued an open letter to the institution's president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. The signatories are protesting the decision to relocate the Israeli Pavilion to the Arsenale, placing it in close proximity to the central exhibition 'In Minor Keys' curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. The letter demands the exclusion of official delegations from countries accused of war crimes—specifically Israel, Russia, and the United States—and accuses the Biennale of complicity through its silence on global atrocities.
Pablo Picasso remains the most influential figure of 20th-century art, credited with co-founding Cubism alongside Georges Braque and fundamentally altering the trajectory of Western representation. Over an eighty-year career, he produced approximately 50,000 works across diverse media, including seminal paintings like 'Les Demoiselles d’Avignon' and 'Guernica,' which moved art away from Renaissance-era naturalism toward abstraction.
The Cameron Art Museum (CAM) in Wilmington, North Carolina, has announced its upcoming summer exhibition, "Fresh Air: Inflatable Sculptures." Running from June 19 through September 6, 2026, the show features large-scale, immersive works by a roster of high-profile contemporary artists including Nick Cave, Andy Warhol, and Claire Ashley. The exhibition is designed to be interactive, utilizing scale and movement to engage visitors with contemporary art in an accessible, unconventional format.
The silkscreen print 'Blame Game X' (2014) by KAWS is currently being highlighted as a significant individual work from the artist's rare portfolio of ten. This brightly colored screenprint, limited to an edition of 100, features the artist's signature aesthetic of subverted cartoon imagery and 'X' motifs. The work exemplifies KAWS's transition from street art and commercial animation into the high-end contemporary art market.
Street art pioneer Shepard Fairey has released a collaborative screen print titled "Modular Frequency" in partnership with Portuguese artist Add Fuel (Diogo Machado). The limited-edition work, produced by Obey Giant Studios, features a fusion of Fairey’s signature propaganda-style aesthetics with Add Fuel’s contemporary take on traditional tile patterns. The hand-signed and numbered edition is currently being offered through New Union Gallery on the Artsy platform.
Contemporary street artist Shepard Fairey’s 2021 screenprint titled "RAGE" has been listed for sale via New Union Gallery on the Artsy platform. The work, a limited edition screenprint on fine art paper measuring 12 by 12 inches, is part of an edition of 250 and is hand-signed and numbered by the artist.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is launching a major exhibition to mark the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth, seeking to re-examine her complex legacy. Moving beyond the simplified tropes of the tragic starlet, the show investigates whether Monroe was a passive victim of the Hollywood studio system or a savvy, self-aware architect of her own public persona.
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in West London has announced a major retrospective of Sir Peter Blake, scheduled to open in November 2026. The exhibition, titled 'Peter Blake: In the Studio,' features a full-scale reconstruction of the artist's Hammersmith workspace, providing an immersive look at the environment where his seven-decade career unfolded. The show will display a wide range of media, including his iconic Pop Art paintings, sculptures, and recent collages that respond to the works of William Hogarth.
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in West London has announced a major exhibition, "Peter Blake: In the Studio," scheduled to run from November 2026 to April 2027. The landmark show will feature a full-scale recreation of the artist’s Hammersmith workspace, providing an immersive look at the environment where the 'Godfather of British Pop Art' conceived his most famous works. The exhibition will span seven decades of Blake's career, showcasing paintings, collages, and sculptures alongside his personal collection of curiosities and memorabilia.
Sam Quigley, the director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut, has announced his retirement after 12 years at the helm. During his tenure, Quigley was instrumental in modernizing the institution by establishing the Near :: New Gallery for regional contemporary art, creating a permanent Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibition, and overseeing the development of the 12-acre Lyman Allyn Park. He also significantly bolstered the permanent collection with acquisitions by major figures such as John Singer Sargent and David Driskell.
The city of Pécs, Hungary, has reopened the Victor Vasarely Museum following a comprehensive renovation to mark the 120th anniversary of the artist's birth. The updated institution features a modernized building and a redesigned curatorial approach that showcases approximately 400 works, including monumental screen prints from the "VI-VA Album" that have been in storage for over 50 years. New interactive spaces and a focus on international dialogue place Vasarely’s Op Art legacy within the broader context of 20th-century geometric abstraction.
A hand-signed original exhibition poster by the late conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, titled "A Means to an End" (2006), has been made available for purchase through ArtWise in Brooklyn. Created for Weiner’s solo exhibition at Le Musée de Sérignan, the color offset lithograph features the artist's signature in black pen and exemplifies his career-long investigation into language as a sculptural medium. The work is priced at $700 and includes a certificate of authenticity from the gallery.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has launched "Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer’," the first major design retrospective of the artist’s work in nearly 25 years. Featuring approximately 200 objects, the exhibition spans Noguchi's diverse career, from early commercial products like the Radio Nurse and fashion illustrations to his iconic furniture for Herman Miller and Knoll. The show is organized thematically, exploring how Noguchi blurred the lines between industrial design, architecture, and fine art.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have launched "A Nation of Artists," a massive collaborative exhibition marking the United States' 250th anniversary. Spanning 20,000 square feet across both institutions, the show features over 1,000 works ranging from 18th-century portraiture and Hudson River School landscapes to contemporary pieces by local artists. The exhibition was catalyzed by significant loans from the private collection of Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton and his wife, Leigh, which filled critical gaps in the museums' permanent holdings.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, has launched "Perfect Nonsense," a comprehensive survey of Harmony Korine’s multidisciplinary career. Curated by Alex Gartenfeld, the exhibition features a vast array of works spanning film, painting, installation, and digital media, marking the artist's first major museum survey in the United States. The presentation highlights Korine’s experimental visual language, blending analog techniques with gaming aesthetics and contemporary digital culture across several gallery spaces.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is hosting "Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream," the first comprehensive U.S. retrospective of the Cuban modernist's career. Running from November 2025 to April 2026, the exhibition traces Lam’s artistic evolution from his formative years in Europe to his return to the Caribbean, where he integrated Afro-Caribbean histories and spirituality into the language of modern painting. The show features major loans, a documentary film, and a scholarly catalogue exploring his unique synthesis of Surrealism and decolonial thought.