‘Broadening access to contemporary art’: The best art-inspired stays in Europe

A Euronews Travel article highlights several European hotels that integrate contemporary art into the guest experience, positioning themselves as destinations for cultured travelers. Featured properties include the MACAM Hotel in Lisbon, which opened in March 2025 and shares a building with the Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins, offering guests access to a private collection spanning Portuguese and international art from the 19th century to the present. Other hotels mentioned are the Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà in Verona, blending Renaissance architecture with avant-garde works by artists like Andy Warhol, and the Elizabeth Arthotel in Ischgl, Austria, which has showcased art and sculpture since 1976 and recently added a rooftop commission by the artist duo NONOS.

Das alles bin ich! Christoph Müller’s gift, part 4

Art collector Christoph Müller has gifted approximately 200 works on paper—drawings, prints, and watercolours—to the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin. The gift is being presented in four successive exhibitions at the Gemäldegalerie under the title "Das alles bin ich" (I am all that!), with the final installment, "Leaf by leaf – A life with art," running from 10 March to 14 June 2026. The works span five centuries and originate from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and France, covering themes such as nature, portraits, landscapes, history, and everyday life.

Corazón Cafe’s Chingonas gallery honors ‘badass women’ through art

Corazón Cafe in downtown San Luis Obispo hosts an annual art gallery called "Chingonas" during March and April, celebrating Women's History Month. The gallery, curated by co-owner Sara McGrath, features around 20 participants ranging from ages 5 to 85, displaying works that honor "badass women"—from famous figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gloria Steinem to everyday family members. The term "Chingonas" is a reclaimed Mexican-Spanish slang for strong, independent women.

The Vatican brings Hildegard of Bingen to the Biennale. "The ear is the eye of the soul", by Brian Eno and Patti Smith

The Holy See Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul," centers on the 12th-century Benedictine abbess and visionary Hildegard of Bingen. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective, the pavilion spans two Venetian venues—the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice—and features new sound works by 24 artists, musicians, and poets including Brian Eno, Patti Smith, FKA Twigs, Meredith Monk, and Jim Jarmusch. The title is borrowed from the final work of German director Alexander Kluge, who died in March 2026, and his monumental film installation forms a core part of the exhibition.

Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College Unveils New Exhibitions and Spring Events

The Mitchell Art Museum at St. John’s College has announced its spring programming lineup, headlined by the exhibition "In the VIDEODROME: Abjection and Alienation." Opening March 26, the show features seminal video works by Martha Rosler and Pipilotti Rist that critique systemic injustice and the societal treatment of women's bodies. The museum is also continuing its survey of Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, which encourages community participation through instructional art scores.

Auctions of the week: Art, design, jewelry and comics

Auctions of the week: Art, design, jewelry and comics

The global auction calendar for the week of March 19–25, 2026, features a dense schedule of sales across major hubs including Milan, Rome, Paris, Hong Kong, and New York. Italian houses like Il Ponte, Wannenes, and Finarte are leading with diverse offerings in Modern and Contemporary art, design, and niche collectibles like European comics and militaria. Simultaneously, international giants Christie’s and Sotheby’s are hosting major sessions ranging from Modern British art in London to luxury spirits and private sales in Asia and the United States.

Post War & Contemporary Art

Rago / Wright has announced its upcoming Post War & Contemporary Art auction scheduled for March 18, 2026, in Lambertville, New Jersey. The sale features a diverse selection of works from influential 20th and 21st-century artists, headlined by Andy Warhol’s 1983 screenprint "Parrot" and a late-career acrylic painting by Sam Francis. Other notable entries include two canvases by Gertrude Abercrombie and pieces by contemporary figures like KAWS and Robert Longo.

Ten of the best by Banksy — from Queen Victoria to Kate Moss

Christie’s has highlighted ten of Banksy’s most iconic works following a dedicated online auction held in March 2026. The selection spans the artist's career, featuring famous motifs such as the 'Flower Thrower Triptych'—originally sold through his Gross Domestic Product pop-up shop—and 'NOLA,' a commentary on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other notable entries include his 'Pulp Fiction' parody featuring bananas and the globally recognized 'Girl with Balloon,' which continues to command high prices on the secondary market.

LAMA: PRESENT TENSE: Ultra-Contemporary & Street Art

Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) is hosting a specialized sale titled "PRESENT TENSE: Ultra-Contemporary & Street Art" via the Artsy platform. The auction features a curated selection of works from high-profile contemporary and street artists, including Barry McGee, Shag, and RETNA. Bidders are invited to participate through pre-registered max bids or real-time live bidding as the sale concludes on March 17, 2026.

‘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.

Museum exhibition highlights the network behind Frederic Church

The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is launching "Kindred Spirits: Artists in the Tenth Street Studio Building" on March 7, an exhibition exploring the collaborative network of 19th-century American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church. Centered on Church’s "Scene on the Catskill Creek," the show highlights the significance of New York’s Tenth Street Studio Building—the first purpose-built space for artists—where figures like Albert Bierstadt and Martin Johnson Heade fostered the Hudson River School movement.

Sotheby’s to hold $141M Modern, Contemporary Art Sale in London

Sotheby’s is preparing to host a major Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at its London headquarters on March 4. The auction features a high-profile selection of works with a total estimated value exceeding £110 million ($140.8 million), anchored by masterpieces from the impressionist and modern eras.

A Francis Bacon self-portrait and a Surrealist avian painting: our pick of the March auctions

Major auction houses in London are preparing for a series of high-profile sales in March, featuring significant works by Francis Bacon, René Magritte, and Osman Hamdi Bey. Highlights include a 1972 Bacon self-portrait gifted to his doctor following a studio injury, a rare Magritte "leaf-bird" painting appearing at auction for the first time in 25 years, and a monumental 19th-century work by Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey being sold by the Penn Museum.

Kindred Spirits: Artists in the Tenth Street Studio Building, Celebrating Frederic Church at 200 Through Art, Community, and Connection

The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is launching "Kindred Spirits: Artists in the Tenth Street Studio Building" on March 7, 2026. This exhibition is part of the global Frederic Church 200 celebration, marking the bicentennial of the influential landscape painter's birth. Centered around Church’s "Scene on the Catskill Creek," the show highlights the collaborative environment of the nation’s first purpose-built artist studio space in New York City.

TIERRA FUTURA: Boricua Land Futures, a solo exhibition by Shey Rivera Ríos and a group exhibition of 22 Boricua artists

The WaterFire Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, is presenting "TIERRA FUTURA: Boricua Land Futures," a dual exhibition featuring a solo show by Shey Rivera Ríos and a group exhibition of 22 Boricua (Puerto Rican) artists from both Puerto Rico and its U.S. diasporas. The exhibition, curated by Rivera Ríos with co-curators Ruchika Nambiar and Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez, runs from March 5 to March 29, 2026, and explores themes of land-based memory, eco-feminism, queer joy, and cultural sovereignty through diverse media.

Closed for decades, a historic L.A. theater reopens for an ambitious late-night video art experience

The historic Variety Arts Theater in downtown Los Angeles is reopening after decades for a six-week exhibition titled "What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem." The show, running through March 20, presents a non-linear, late-night experience featuring over 120 years of moving images, from early cinema to contemporary video art, allowing visitors to wander freely from 5 p.m. to midnight.

Heartware Store transforms into a love hotel for a NSFW art exhibition by Taiwanese artist IKUIKU

Heartware Store & Gallery in Singapore has been transformed into a love hotel for a NSFW art exhibition by Taiwanese artist Ikuiku, titled 'Ikuiku Love Hotel.' Running from January 24 to March 15, 2026, the solo show pairs cute, seemingly innocent illustrations with sexual humor, featuring risograph prints, a new zine debut, and themed merchandise such as hotel keychains, towels, memo pads, and a condom blind box. The opening weekend includes an invite-only preview, live portrait drawing, and an artist talk.

'100 Candleholders' by Blunk Space is an exhibition to ignite creativity

Blunk Space gallery in Point Reyes Station, California, is presenting '100 Candleholders', an exhibition running from 17 January to 28 March 2026. The show features 100 artists and designers from around the world—including Max Lamb, Bethan Laura Wood, Ido Yoshimoto, and Jonathan Cross—each invited to create a candleholder inspired by the late sculptor JB Blunk, his work, or his self-built home and studio, Blunk House. This is the second installment in the '100' series, following '100 Hooks' in 2023-24, and takes its cue from Blunk's own 1981 exhibition '100 Plates Plus', which explored the artistic potential of everyday objects.

Kochi Biennale co-founder Bose Krishnamachari steps down as president

Bose Krishnamachari, co-founder of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India, has stepped down as president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and as a board trustee after 14 years, citing pressing family reasons. His departure will not affect the ongoing sixth edition, titled "For the Time Being," which opened last month and runs until March 31. Krishnamachari founded the biennial in 2012 in Fort Kochi, Kerala, alongside fellow artist Riyas Komu, who left in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations.

Art Department announces spring 2026 exhibitions, True Inspiration Artist in Residence

Furman University's Department of Art has announced its spring 2026 exhibition schedule at the Thompson Art Gallery, featuring three shows: Jessica Lambert's "Sportsball" (Jan. 12-Feb. 13), Alexa Wheeler's "ToastLab" (Feb. 19-March 27), and the 2026 Senior Thesis Exhibition. Wheeler will also serve as the spring 2026 True Inspiration Artist in Residence, working in an open studio and collaborating with university departments and the Greenville community. All events are free and open to the public.

Inside Kashi Hallegua House, The Historic Kochi Mansion Hosting One of the Biennale’s Most Provocative Art Exhibition

The historic 200-year-old Kashi Hallegua House in Kochi's Jewish quarter has been transformed into Ishara House, hosting the exhibition "Amphibian Aesthetics" during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale season. Running from December 13, 2025, to March 31, 2026, the show features 12 international artists including Shilpa Gupta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Dima Srouji, with works responding directly to the building's architecture and maritime histories. The exhibition is organized by Ishara Art Foundation and curated with an "amphibian" lens, exploring themes of transition, climate crisis, and cultural displacement.

Claire Tabouret Unveils Designs for Notre Dame's New Stained Glass Windows

French artist Claire Tabouret has unveiled her designs for new stained-glass windows at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The full-scale ink-on-paper maquettes are now on display at the Grand Palais as part of her solo exhibition "In a Single Breath," running through March 15. The exhibition also includes sketches and preparatory works, offering insight into the production process at the Simon-Marq atelier. Tabouret was selected in December 2024 from over 100 artists in a competition hosted by the French Ministry of Culture, tasked with creating contemporary designs based on the Pentecost story. Her windows will replace 19th-century monochrome windows by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus in six bays along the south aisle of the nave.

St. Peterburg Museum of Art showcases Caravaggio masterpieces

The St. Petersburg Museum of Art in Florida is hosting "In Caravaggio's Light: Baroque Masterpieces from the Fondazione Roberto Longhi," the first U.S. exhibition of 40 Baroque paintings from the private collection of art historian Roberto Longhi. The centerpiece is Caravaggio's "Boy Bitten by a Lizard," one of two Caravaggio works in the show, which runs until March 22. Curator Dr. Stanton Thomas notes the exhibition is designed to evoke a cinematic, dramatic experience of light and emotion.

Inside Overtown’s 'Everyday People,' the Soul Basel exhibit celebrating Black art and community

The 'Everyday People' exhibition, part of Miami's Soul Basel celebration, has opened in Overtown across three venues: the City of Miami Black Police Precinct Courthouse and Museum, the Overtown Performing Arts Center, and The OVRTWN Corner. Featuring over 80 artworks by Black artists from around the world, the exhibit is curated by Terrance Cribbs-Lorrant, executive director of the Black Police Precinct Museum, and Elijah Rashaed, a curator from the Dayton, Ohio NAACP. The show includes historic works from the Miami Black Art Workshop, a pioneering 1970s collective that helped ignite South Florida's Black visual arts movement, and will run through March 2026.

Collection

An exhibition titled "Alphonse Mucha, Master of Art Nouveau Selections from the Dwahan Collection" will run from December 9, 2025, to March 14, 2026. It features 75 works by Alphonse Mucha, including rare original lithographs, proofs, drawings, a pastel, books, posters, portfolios, and ephemera, drawn from the Dhawan Collection in Los Angeles, one of the finest private collections of Mucha's work in the United States. The exhibition is organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions and offers free admission.

Liu Xiaodong major retrospective 'The River Divides, The World Connects' at Taikang Art Museum, Beijing

Taikang Art Museum in Beijing is hosting 'The River Divides, The World Connects', a major retrospective of Chinese painter Liu Xiaodong from 25 November 2025 to 31 March 2026. The exhibition features over 70 works spanning the late 1970s to 2025, organized around two thematic threads—'East of the River / West of the River' and 'What to Paint / How to Paint'—tracing the artist's four-decade career and his evolving realist approach to everyday life.

A look inside the ‘Dreamworld’ of surrealism at the Philadelphia Art Museum

The Philadelphia Art Museum opened 'Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100,' a traveling exhibition marking the centenary of surrealism, which originated in France in 1924. The show, curated by Matthew Affron, features about 180 works from the museum's own collection and loans from Europe and the Americas, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Remedios Varo, and Joseph Cornell. The opening occurred the day after the museum's board abruptly fired CEO Sasha Suda, with interim director Louis Marchesano declining to comment on the termination and focusing on the exhibition instead.

Comment | Bristol's Spike Island has become an environmental beacon—here's why it makes financial sense for others to follow suit

Spike Island, a creative hub in Bristol housed in a historic tea packing factory, has been recognized by the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) as a model of environmentally sustainable practice. After an energy audit revealed that 85% of its emissions and running costs came from heating the leaky 1950s building, the organization installed solar panels and began a major retrofit. Since March, the panels have saved 6,000 kilograms of CO2, and further upgrades—including heat pumps and insulation—are planned as part of a long-term capital masterplan developed with Max Fordham and 6a Architects.

Quilts by local artist stitch together pieces of Miami

Miami International Airport has opened a new art exhibition titled "Curious Geometries" at the Gate D31 Gallery, featuring large-scale quilted artworks by local textile artist Regina Durante Jestrow. The exhibition, on view until March 9, 2026, showcases sewn compositions and free-form art quilts made from repurposed fabrics sourced from various Miami locations, including the airport itself. Jestrow employs improvisational dyeing and piecing techniques inspired by Gee's Bend quilters, Anni Albers, Rosie Lee Tompkins, and Gego, blending organic geometry with tropical color palettes to explore the relationship between craft and fine art.

Japanese museum’s collection of Western art could bring $60m at auction

The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, a private museum near Tokyo that closed permanently in March 2025, has consigned 80 works from its collection of Western modernism to Christie’s. The consignment is expected to generate at least $60 million across multiple sales in New York this autumn, led by a 1907 Claude Monet *Nymphéas* painting estimated at $40 million. Other highlights include a Pierre-Auguste Renoir *Baigneuse* from 1891, two Marc Chagall paintings, and works by artists such as Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, and Cy Twombly. The museum’s parent company, DIC Corporation, plans to retain only about 100 works and sell the remaining roughly 280 pieces gradually.