New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that the rooftop of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan will open for free public tours starting in June. The initiative, part of a $6 million improvement project, will allow visitors to access the cupola directly beneath the building's iconic 25-foot-tall gilded statue, Civic Fate, and enjoy panoramic views of the city.
Frederic Remington's 1905 painting *Coming to the Call* sold for $13.3 million at Christie's in New York, setting a new auction record for the artist. The work was part of the two-part sale "Visions of the West: The William I. Koch Collection," which became the most successful Western art auction ever, realizing $84.1 million.
A major exhibition titled 'El Galeón Acapulco – Manila Somos Pacífico: El Mundo que emergió del Trópico' has opened at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. It features 300 works, including 80 from Singapore's national collections, exploring the centuries-old cultural and economic exchange between Asia and the Americas facilitated by the Manila Galleon trade route. The show was launched to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Mexico-Singapore diplomatic relations and a state visit by Singapore's president.
The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation has donated 14 artworks to two Parisian museums, the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The donation includes preparatory collages, silkscreens, lithographs, and a scale model related to both realized and unrealized projects by the artist duo, such as the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and Pont-Neuf, as well as early sculptures.
Newly released documents from the Department of Justice reveal that the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was deeply involved in facilitating major art transactions between mega-collector Leon Black and Gagosian gallery. The files detail Epstein's personal communications with Black's lawyers regarding the acquisition of Pablo Picasso's 1931 sculpture *Buste de Femme (Marie-Thérèse)*, a work that was the subject of a legal dispute before Black acquired it for over $115 million. Epstein also assisted in a complex $48 million swap of a Rothko painting for a Picasso through Gagosian in 2012.
Art Basel has launched its first edition in Doha, Qatar, with a deliberately small and tightly controlled format. The fair features only 87 galleries, all required to mount solo presentations, with strict limits on booth size, power sources, and rehanging of works. This creates a slower, calmer atmosphere distinct from its larger, more chaotic sister fairs in Miami and Paris.
Qatari patron and dealer Tariq Al Jaidah is a pivotal figure in building a grassroots commercial art market in Qatar. He opened the country's first commercial gallery, Waqif Art Centre, in 2007, later established the non-profit Katara Art Centre, and most recently founded the commercial gallery Wusum in 2023 to showcase emerging Qatari artists and cultivate young local collectors. He advocates for more private museums, foundations, and corporate collecting to create a self-sustaining ecosystem beyond the state-run institutions.
A German scholar, Christof Metzger, has published a new catalogue raisonné claiming that a portrait of Albrecht Dürer's father held by London's National Gallery is an authentic work by the master, painted in 1497. This directly challenges the gallery's long-standing position that the painting is a later copy made after a lost original.
Chicago-based artist Jan Tichy has created a new exhibition titled 'Darkness' at Michigan State University's Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The project is the result of a nearly nine-month collaboration with four MSU labs, most prominently the Department of Entomology, where Tichy worked with researchers and students to incorporate insects and scientific methods like blacklight sampling into the artwork.
Archaeologists in Oaxaca, Mexico, have discovered a remarkably well-preserved Zapotec tomb dating to around 600 CE. The tomb, found in San Pablo Huitzo, features intricate carvings, including a sculpture of an owl with a human head in its beak, and multicolored murals depicting a procession of figures.
A 51-page document released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files appears to catalog the extensive private art collection of billionaire collector and former MoMA board chair Leon Black. The document, which lists works by masters from Michelangelo to Picasso under corporate entities linked to Black, reveals valuations and details of a collection largely kept from public view, including works held as promised gifts to major museums like MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A newly released tranche of documents from the US Department of Justice reveals a $5,000 donation from Jeffrey Epstein's foundation, Enhanced Education, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Benefit (the Met Gala) in 2014. The check was part of millions of pages made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Anish Kapoor has announced plans to launch a large-scale sculpture into space, a project he estimates will cost nine figures. While details of the artwork remain secret, Kapoor suggested it might involve mirrors and aims to be a "useless" yet "magical" poetic occupation of the cosmos. He confirmed his backers are "not necessarily American" and explicitly stated Elon Musk is not involved.
Major museums worldwide have announced their flagship exhibitions for 2026, featuring a diverse array of artists and historical periods. Highlights include a Frida Kahlo retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exploring her rise to icon status; a survey of Ovid's influence on art from Caravaggio to Louise Bourgeois at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum; a centennial exhibition for Mary Cassatt at the National Gallery of Art; and the largest career survey to date for Tracey Emin at Tate Modern. Other key shows feature Carol Bove at the Guggenheim Museum, Korean national treasures at the Art Institute of Chicago, and exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Louvre.
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art has opened "Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art," the largest-ever exhibition dedicated to LGBTQ+ African art. The show, curated by Kevin Dumouchelle and Serubiri Moses, features nearly 60 works by 30 artists from across Africa and its diasporas, spanning photography, painting, tapestry, collage, and sculpture.
Researchers at Curtin University in Australia have published a study in Communications Earth and Environment providing geological evidence that humans, not glaciers, transported the massive stones used to build Stonehenge. The team tested sediments from streams near the monument and found no signs of glacial activity during the Pleistocene, ruling out the theory that ice sheets carried the megaliths. The stones, including sandstone boulders from the Marlborough Downs and bluestones from Wales, weigh up to 40 tons, but exactly how ancient peoples moved them remains unknown.
Hong Kong's M+ museum has selected Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander's hand-painted animated film *3 to 12 Nautical Miles* (2026) for its latest M+ Facade commission, a massive LED media screen. Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel, the work will screen from March 23 through June 21. The animation explores entangled histories of empire and commerce, linking Imperial Britain, the Indian subcontinent, and Qing China, and chronicles the Mughal Empire's decline, the East India Company's rise, and the First Opium War.
The Grolier Club, a private members-only society for bibliophiles on New York's Upper East Side, has opened a free public exhibition titled "Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen," tracing Jane Austen's legacy through rare books, letters, and archival material. Organized over three years by three club members—Mary Crawford, Janine Barchas, and Sandra Clark—the show draws entirely from their personal collections, charting Austen's rise from relative anonymity to literary canonization.
The Studio Museum in Harlem has temporarily closed due to water damage caused by a sprinkler emergency during a snowstorm. The incident, which affected the gift shop near the entrance, prompted an evacuation of staff and visitors. The museum will remain closed through February 7 for repairs, with all programs and events cancelled and refunds issued to ticket holders. No artworks or galleries were affected, according to a museum representative.
Anish Kapoor will open an exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin in Venice on May 5, focusing on his architectural-scale sculptural projects—both realized and unrealized. The show includes around 50 to 70 models, with highlights such as *Cloud Gate* (2006) in Chicago, the Monte Sant’Angelo Metro Station in Naples, and unrealized plans for a work in outer space. New works include an immersive painting room, and *At the Edge of the World* (1998) has been remade in a dark black paint related to Vantablack. The exhibition runs through August, after which *Descent into Limbo* (1992) will be permanently installed on the Cannaregio site.
Emilia Galatis Projects, a Perth-based gallery focusing on Western Australian First Nations artists, will present the first Melbourne solo exhibition by Corban Clause Williams at Melbourne Art Fair 2026, running February 19-22. The show will debut 15 new paintings and design works extending Williams' Manyjilyjarra Country and culture into sculptural and textile forms, accompanied by a Martu Wangka artist talk with Anya Judith Samson. Williams, born in 1994 and based in Parnngurr Community, has gained rapid acclaim for canvases weaving ancestral knowledge with contemporary visual language, and was named an inaugural Creative WA Fellowship recipient in late 2025.
ArtDependence has announced "Common Ground," billed as Belgium's most anticipated exhibition of emerging artists in 2026. The show will spotlight a new generation of Belgian and international talents, though specific artists, venues, and dates have not yet been detailed in the available text.
During the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Anish Kapoor presents a major new exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin, a 16th-century Venetian landmark in Cannaregio that houses the artist's foundation. The show, titled 'Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin,' features around 100 architectural models from the past 50 years, alongside large-scale installations and stainless-steel works, including a monumental black-pigment version of 'At the Edge of the World' (1998), a towering mirror work, 'Descent into Limbo' (1992), and Vantablack sculptures. The exhibition explores Kapoor's concept of the 'non-object' and the transformative quality of sculpture.
A new documentary, *Once Upon a Time in Harlem*, is screening at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, offering an intimate look at the Harlem Renaissance. The film is assembled from 28 hours of 16mm footage shot in 1972 by the late filmmaker William Greaves at Duke Ellington's home in Harlem, capturing a gathering of key figures from the movement. Greaves's son David, who was one of the original cameramen, completed the film after his father's death. The footage includes interviews and reflections from artists, writers, musicians, and activists such as Romare Bearden, Aaron Douglas, James Van Der Zee, Eubie Blake, and Arna Bontemps.
Rodrigo Moura is stepping down as artistic director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba) after only one year in the role. His departure follows the museum's acquisition of the Daros Latinamerica Collection, which doubled Malba's holdings with over 1,200 works and triggered a major institutional restructuring, including the creation of a new chief executive position. Moura, a Brazilian curator who previously worked at El Museo del Barrio, Masp, and Inhotim Institute, will leave next month as the museum prepares for its 25th anniversary and a physical expansion to twice its current capacity.
Artist Tarek Atoui has been selected for the next Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, opening October 13 and running into April 2027. The Beirut-born, Paris-based artist is known for complex installations with specially designed instruments incorporating glass, water, or ceramics, activated by touch, breath, or motors. Curators Nabila Abdel Nabi and Dina Akhmadeeva will oversee the exhibition. Atoui has previously shown at S.M.A.K., Luma Westbau, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and won the Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize in 2022.
Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei returned to China last month for the first time in a decade, visiting Beijing for three weeks after years of exile in Europe. His passport had been confiscated in 2015, ending travel restrictions tied to his political dissent. Upon arrival, Ai was interrogated for nearly two hours at Beijing's airport before being granted entry. He documented the trip on Instagram, including a reunion between his 17-year-old son and 93-year-old mother, and described the experience as like reconnecting a long-disconnected phone call.
A 450-year-old watermill in Wrexham, Wales, that was the subject of a J.M.W. Turner watercolor has been listed for sale at £1.5 million ($2.05 million). The Rossett Mill, built in 1588, has been converted into a four-bedroom home with modern amenities while retaining its historic features, including a restored corn mill. The property is listed with Currans Unique and was previously owned by Celia and Branden Wilson, who restored it after it was rescued from demolition in 1973.
The Gallerist, a new satire directed by Cathy Yan, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film follows struggling gallerist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman), who is betting everything on a one-artist debut at Art Basel Miami Beach. After an obnoxious art influencer, Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis), dies accidentally by impalement on a sculpture titled The Emasculator, Polina and her assistant Kiki (Jenna Ortega) conspire to pass off his corpse as part of the artwork, duping wealthy clients. The ensemble cast also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as a legendary dealer reminiscent of Marian Goodman, Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the earnest artist Stella Burgess, and Sterling K. Brown as Polina's ex-husband.
Nifty Gateway, one of the earliest and most prominent NFT marketplaces, announced it will shut down on February 23, 2026, citing sharply declining activity. The platform, founded in 2018 by twins Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster and acquired by Gemini in 2019, has entered withdrawal-only mode, advising users to move their assets before the deadline. At its peak in 2021, Nifty Gateway reported $300 million in gross merchandise value, boosted by a Sotheby's partnership for a $17 million NFT drop by the artist Pak. The closure follows the collapse of the NFT boom, with trading volumes plummeting and other platforms like Async Art, KnownOrigin, and MakersPlace already shuttered.