Mother Exhibition Palazzo Reale Milan

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Milan’s Palazzo Reale has launched "The Great Mother," a massive exhibition exploring the evolution of motherhood and female power throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Curated by Massimiliano Gioni and produced by the Nicola Trussardi Foundation, the show features over 400 works by 127 international artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, and Rineke Dijkstra. The exhibition spans 29 halls, juxtaposing avant-garde historical works with contemporary installations to examine how gender roles and the maternal image have been constructed, challenged, and reclaimed.

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Major international museum projects are nearing completion for 2026, signaling a period of significant institutional expansion despite global economic and political pressures. Key highlights include the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry, which will finally open its doors on Saadiyat Island after two decades of planning. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is preparing for two major debuts: George Lucas’s $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and Refik Anadol’s Dataland, a dedicated space for AI-driven digital art.

Damien Hirst offers his hot take on art dealers

On a recent podcast, artist Damien Hirst identified his manager, Joe Hage, as the most influential person he's met, praising his work with other major artists. Hirst also downplayed the role of major galleries like Gagosian and White Cube, comparing them to 'estate agents,' and revealed a new private commission: an amethyst-encrusted grotto for the Getty family.

massive 44 foot long david hockney print to headline christies spring prints season in london 1234777342

Christie’s London has announced that David Hockney’s monumental print 'Autour de la maison, été' (2019) will headline its spring prints season. Measuring nearly 40 feet long and printed on a single sheet of paper, the work depicts the artist’s Normandy estate with a high estimate of £300,000 ($400,000). The piece is noted for its cinematic scale and narrative structure, drawing direct inspiration from the medieval Bayeux Tapestry.

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British portrait artist Jonathan Yeo is bringing his augmented reality exhibition, "Spectacular," to South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin following its debut at the Centre Pompidou. Developed in collaboration with Snap Inc., the showcase utilizes AR glasses to animate Yeo’s traditional oil paintings, including his famous portrait of King Charles III and a depiction of Cara Delevingne. The experience allows viewers to interact with the works, such as having a digital butterfly from the King's portrait land on their hand, while exploring the intersection of static portraiture and immersive technology.

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London’s Design Museum has announced a major retrospective for the Japanese creative polymath NIGO, marking his first significant museum exhibition outside of Japan. Opening in May, the show will feature over 700 objects, including vintage clothing, childhood artifacts, and runway looks that trace his evolution from a punk-influenced student at Bunka Fashion College to the founder of A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and the current artistic director of Kenzo.

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Aardman Animations is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a major immersive exhibition titled "Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More" at London’s Lightroom venue. Opening in October 2026, the 50-minute experience will utilize 36-foot-high projections to showcase the studio's claymation legacy, featuring archival footage, original sets, puppets, and newly created animation sequences. The show will be narrated by co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton alongside various voice actors, tracing the studio's history from its school-day origins to its status as an employee-owned powerhouse.

christies triple header 20th and 21st century evening sales nets 265 m as london proves its still a draw to collectors 1234776027

Christie’s London achieved a robust £197.5 million ($265 million) across a triple-header of evening sales, including the 20th/21st Century, Art of the Surreal, and the Vanthournout Collection auctions. The evening was headlined by a record-breaking £26.3 million sale of Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture 'King and Queen', alongside new auction highs for Surrealist artists Toyen and Dorothea Tanning. Despite some pre-sale withdrawals and a marathon four-hour runtime, the house achieved a 96 percent sell-through rate by lot.

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Christie’s is launching its first New York auction dedicated to Japanese anime and manga, titled "Anime Starts Here: Japanese Subculture Reimagines Tradition." Scheduled for March 18–31 during Asian Art Week, the online sale features over 40 lots including original production cels from Hayao Miyazaki’s films, manga drawings by Tezuka Osamu, vintage Godzilla posters, and Hokusai prints. Most items are priced accessibly, with many estimates falling below $3,000.

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Artist Tod Lippy is launching a mobile protest piece titled "All Of the Gang" during Frieze Los Angeles, featuring an LED truck that displays emails and documents linking prominent art world figures to Jeffrey Epstein. The project highlights correspondence and associations involving major industry names like Larry Gagosian, Leon Black, and David A. Ross, aiming to confront the public with the industry's perceived complicity and lack of accountability.

5 cultural destinations that tell the story of los angeles 2747825

Los Angeles boasts a dense museum landscape that reflects the city's unique architectural history and commitment to contemporary art. This guide highlights five essential cultural destinations, including The Broad, which houses the expansive postwar collection of Eli and Edythe Broad within its innovative 'veil and vault' architecture, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, a UNESCO World Heritage site that pioneered California's indoor-outdoor living aesthetic.

Collaborations: Robert Rauschenberg, Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, and Merce Cunningham at BAM

collaborations robert rauschenberg laurie anderson trisha brown and merce cunningham john cage bam dancing 1234774618

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is hosting "Dancing with Bob," an international tour celebrating the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth. The program features restagings of seminal avant-garde dance collaborations, most notably the 1983 masterpiece "Set and Reset," which combined the choreography of Trisha Brown, the music of Laurie Anderson, and the visual design of Rauschenberg. The tour also includes a rare professional restaging of the 1977 piece "Travelogue," a collaboration between Rauschenberg and Merce Cunningham.

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The Art Business Conference in Paris recently highlighted the growing trend and inherent risks of collaborations between artists and commercial brands. Keynote speaker Vadim Grigoryan and other industry experts discussed how these partnerships have evolved from historical precedents like Dalí and Schiaparelli into a modern necessity for brands seeking cultural relevance. While these deals offer artists financial stability and massive public exposure, the conference warned of the dangers of "commodity" marketing and the exploitation of artistic vision.

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The British Museum has allocated £1.2 million to facilitate the transport of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry from Normandy to London for a high-profile exhibition scheduled for 2026. This funding covers the logistical complexities of moving the 230-foot-long masterpiece, which is further protected by a £800 million UK Treasury guarantee. Despite the museum's rigorous planning and expert oversight, the loan has faced significant pushback from conservationists and public figures.

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The inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar launched with a unique booth-less format, prioritizing single-artist presentations and regional connections over the typical high-speed frenzy of European fairs. While the pace of transactions was more measured, significant sales were reported, including a $250,000 video installation by Kutlug Ataman sold by Niru Ratnam to an institution and multiple works by regional stars like Ahmed Mater and Ali Cherri. High-value blue-chip items, including a $42 million Picasso, remained tucked away in private viewing rooms to accommodate the region's preference for discretionary collecting.

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The U.S. Department of Justice has released approximately 3 million additional files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, sparking a new wave of resignations and investigations across the global art world. The documents detail extensive connections between Epstein and high-profile figures, including museum leaders, major collectors, and artists. While inclusion in the files does not prove criminal wrongdoing, the public pressure following these revelations has forced several prominent individuals to step down from influential institutional roles.

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London’s Lightroom venue has announced a major new immersive multimedia experience titled “David Bowie: You’re Not Alone,” scheduled to open in April 2026. Developed in partnership with the Bowie estate and designed by 59 Studio, the hour-long spectacle utilizes 36-foot walls to project rare performance footage, interviews, and never-before-seen archival material. The production is led by Mark Grimmer, who previously co-curated the Victoria & Albert Museum’s landmark 2013 retrospective of the artist.

wassily kandinsky painting worth 15 5 m to headline christies 20 21 spring evening sale in london alongside henry moore work 1234773512

Christie's London will offer Wassily Kandinsky's painting *Le Rond Rouge* (1939) with a high estimate of £15.5 million ($21.3 million) in its 20th/21st Century evening sale on March 5. The work, a key piece from the artist's Paris period, has been in prominent collections and was last sold at Sotheby's New York in 2018 for $20.6 million. The sale will also feature a fresh-to-auction Henry Moore bronze sculpture, *King and Queen* (1952-53), estimated at up to £15 million.

david hockney to paint 32 foot window installation for turner contemporary in margate 1234773520

David Hockney will create a monumental 22-by-32-foot window installation for the Sunley Gallery at Turner Contemporary in Margate, UK. The work, based on a 2020 iPad painting of a Normandy sunrise, will be illuminated at night and is scheduled to be on view from April 1 to November 1 as part of the gallery's 15th-anniversary celebrations.

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Sotheby's will auction ten works donated by Royal Academicians during its London spring sales to raise funds for the financially struggling Royal Academy of Arts. The sale, with a cumulative high estimate of £2.6 million, includes major works by El Anatsui, Sean Scully, William Kentridge, Tony Cragg, Georg Baselitz, Anish Kapoor, Mimmo Paladino, and Jeff Koons.

henry moore sculpture worth 15 m to headline christies 20th 21st century evening sale in london this spring 1234773231

A major bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, 'King and Queen' (1952-53), will be the top lot at Christie's 20th/21st Century evening sale in London on March 5. The work, estimated at £15 million ($20.5 million), is the first cast from an edition and the only one remaining in private hands, having been acquired directly from the artist by its current anonymous owner.

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Christie's will offer three major paintings by Gerhard Richter in its March evening sales in London and Hong Kong. The London sale on March 5 features the 1984 photo-painting 'Schober (Haybarn)', estimated at £6 million, and a 1991 'Abstraktes Bild' abstract work, estimated at £4.5-6.5 million. The Hong Kong sale on March 27 will offer a larger 1991 'Abstraktes Bild', estimated at HK$78-98 million ($10-13 million), coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong.

david bowie immersive exhibition london lightroom april 1234773146

A new immersive exhibition titled "David Bowie: You're Not Alone" will open at Lightroom in London on April 22. The show, organized by creative director Mark Grimmer, will feature projected performance footage, interviews, film clips, and drawings, including newly recovered footage of Bowie's 1978 "Heroes" performance at Earl's Court.

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Qatar has announced details for its inaugural contemporary art quadrennial, Rubaiya Qatar, set to launch in November alongside Frieze Abu Dhabi. Organized by Qatar Museums, the event will feature over 50 artists and new commissions, with a major exhibition titled 'Unruly Waters' curated by Tom Eccles, Ruba Katrib, Mark Rappolt, and Shabbir Hussain Mustafa. Confirmed artists include Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Sophia Al Maria, Mohamed Bourouissa, and Lydia Ourahmane. Additionally, a previously unpublicized pavilion dedicated to Gerhard Richter will open within the quadrennial. Separately, revelations from the Epstein files show ties between Jeffrey Epstein and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, including a donated artwork and potential financial backing for a piece by Neri Oxman. A small Michelangelo drawing of a foot sold at Christie's for $27.2 million, setting a new auction record.

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Andisheh Avini, a senior director at Gagosian who has been with the gallery for over 25 years, discusses his career trajectory and the gallery's evolution in an interview timed to the inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar. Avini, who is also an artist, recounts key moments such as the post-9/11 global market expansion that led Gagosian to open spaces in Europe and Hong Kong, and his work with artists including Cy Twombly, Adam McEwen, Piero Golia, and Maurizio Cattelan. He also shares insights into the gallery's approach to art fairs, emphasizing tailored presentations based on location and audience.

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Artist Jeff Koons has issued a statement clarifying his limited interactions with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Koons confirmed he and his wife attended a dinner at Epstein's home at the invitation of an MIT professor, but denied that Epstein ever visited his studio, contradicting earlier reports based on newly released court documents.

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A reproduction of Rembrandt's stolen masterpiece, *Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee* (1633), appears in the new Netflix film *Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man*. The painting, one of 13 works stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, is seen briefly in a character's study. The museum confirmed the use was not a collaboration, noting the image was used without permission.

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Yu Nishimura, a Japanese painter born in 1982, is experiencing a rapid rise in the art world, marked by major gallery shows in New York and Paris in 2025, a record auction price of $711,200 for his work "thicket" (2020) at Sotheby's, and an upcoming institutional exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations Foundation in Paris in 2026. His paintings, which blend landscape, still life, and figuration with layered washes and melancholic tension, have attracted representation from David Zwirner, Sadie Coles HQ, and Galerie Crèvecoeur, with collectors and institutions increasingly drawn to his quiet, introspective style.

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Art critic Ben Davis reflects on the cultural landscape of early 2026, identifying a chaotic aesthetic defined by AI-generated imagery, esoteric Nazi dog whistles, internet trolling, and gaudy luxury, which he calls the "Chaotic Style." He also discusses the muted response to the 2025 Fall of Freedom initiative, the ongoing credibility crisis of liberal institutions over Gaza, and the need for serious AI criticism that moves beyond dismissing it as "slop."

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STPI is launching the inaugural Print Show and Symposium Singapore during Singapore Art Week (January 22–31, 2026). The event will feature over 27 internationally acclaimed contemporary artists—including Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Takashi Murakami, and Do Ho Suh—showcasing their engagement with printmaking. A symposium titled "The Politics of Print: elephant in the room," curated by Stephanie Bailey, will bring together 25 curators, museum directors, and artists such as Michael Craig-Martin, Adele Tan, Sook-Kyung Lee, and Pinaree Sanpitak for six panels over two days.