Sainsbury Centre Receives £91.2 Million Donation for Refurbishments

The Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, England, has received a £91.2 million donation from politician and philanthropist Lord David Sainsbury, one of the largest gifts ever made to a UK museum. The funds will support a major refurbishment of the Grade II* listed building, originally designed by Norman Foster, including the conversion of the south cafe terrace into a sustainable space and the installation of photovoltaic panels. The museum was founded in 1973 through a donation from Lord Sainsbury’s parents, Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury, who also commissioned Foster to design the gallery.

Father Daughter Counterfeiting Duo Face Twenty Years in Prison

A father-daughter duo from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski (50) and Karolina Bankowska (26), pleaded guilty to creating and selling over 200 counterfeit artworks falsely attributed to artists including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Fritz Scholder, and Banksy. They admitted to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresentation of Native American-produced goods, defrauding buyers out of at least $2 million. The pair fabricated provenances and collection histories, forged gallery stamps, and attempted to auction the works for up to $160,000 each. They each face up to 20 years in prison.

Telfair Museums presents Impressionism and Modernity: French and American Painting opening May 15

Telfair Museums will present "Impressionism and Modernity: French and American Painting" at the Jepson Center for the Arts from May 15 through August 16, 2026. Organized for the museum's 140th anniversary, the exhibition brings together Telfair's collection of American Impressionist works with key French Impressionist paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., featuring artists such as Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, and Vincent van Gogh. The show explores Impressionism's origins in France, its transatlantic influence, and its impact on American art and identity, with works addressing themes of modern life, leisure, the city, and nostalgia for nature.

A Napoli torna il Gallery Weekend tra Chiaia e centro storico: tante mostre e una nuova associazione di galleristi

The third edition of the Napoli Gallery Weekend is scheduled for May 22–24, 2026, spanning the Chiaia district and the historic center of Naples. This year’s key development is the formation of an association of organizing galleries—Acappella, Alfonso Artiaco, Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art, Galleria Fonti, Gallerie Riunite, Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, Studio Trisorio, and Umberto Di Marino—aiming to coordinate openings, exhibitions, and special visits while strengthening the city’s contemporary art scene. Highlights include shows by Valentina Artone, Adam Pendleton and Antoni Tàpies, David Bowes, Edoardo Aruta, Martin Kippenberger at Galerie Gisela Capitain’s Naples space, Salvatore Emblema and Luisa Lambri, and a geopolitical group exhibition titled "Global Folklore."

Interview with the frontier gallerist who opened his space in Vasto, Abruzzo

Intervista al gallerista di frontiera che ha aperto il suo spazio a Vasto in Abruzzo

Sangallo Fine Art, a modern art gallery located in Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy, is profiled in an interview with its founder Giorgio di Michele Marisi. The gallery, born from a chance encounter and a passion for 20th-century art, has carved out a distinctive space in the periphery of the art world. It is currently presenting the exhibition "Permanenza della materia espansa" (2026), curated by Lorenzo Madaro, which exemplifies its commitment to critical rediscovery and experimental display. Despite being geographically distant from traditional art hubs, the gallery has built a loyal clientele of knowledgeable collectors and international buyers, relying on direct relationships and participation in art fairs.

New York's Art Week 2026 is underway. A guide to all the fairs to see in the city: Frieze and the others

È in corso l’Art Week di New York del 2026. La guida di tutte le fiere da vedere in città: Frieze e le altre

New York's spring Art Week is underway in mid-May 2026, anchored by two major fairs: Frieze New York (May 13–17) at The Shed, featuring about 70 galleries from over 25 countries, and TEFAF New York (May 15–19) at the Park Avenue Armory, celebrating its tenth edition with 88 galleries. Additional fairs include Independent Art Fair at Pier 36 (May 14–17) with 76 galleries and site-specific installations, and NADA New York at the Starrett-Lehigh Building (May 13–17), promoting emerging artists. The week also involves museums, cultural institutions, and galleries citywide.

The MAR Museum in Ravenna Opens a Permanent Gallery Dedicated to Fashion Photographer Paolo Roversi

Il museo MAR di Ravenna apre una galleria permanente dedicata al fotografo di moda Paolo Roversi

The MAR museum in Ravenna, Italy, is opening a permanent gallery dedicated to fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, set to launch on May 20. The space, curated by Chiara Bardelli Nonino, will showcase Roversi's poetic and visual universe, featuring his iconic portraits of models like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Rihanna, along with his fashion work and still lifes. The gallery is designed by scenographer Ania Martchenko with lighting by Silvestrin & Associati, and includes areas such as the Studio, the Archive, and the Room of the Muses.

One of the most important galleries in Brazil is in Rome these weeks with an exhibition. The interview

Una delle più importanti gallerie del Brasile in queste settimane è a Roma con una mostra. L’intervista

Brazilian gallery A Gentil Carioca has brought the first Italian solo exhibition of artist Miguel Afa to the Fondazione Capitolina in Rome, in collaboration with the Rhinoceros space. Titled "Il tempo che vive in me" (The Time That Lives in Me), the show features works created during Afa's residency in Rome, exploring themes of time, memory, and light through oil paintings that blend Brazilian and Roman imagery.

In London, you can discover an unpublished Luigi Ghirri in an exhibition made of photographs and words. Review

A Londra si può scoprire un Luigi Ghirri inedito in una mostra fatta di fotografie e parole. Recensione

A new exhibition titled "Felicità" at Thomas Dane Gallery in London presents previously unseen works by Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri (1943–1992). Curated by Alessio Bolzoni and filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, the show features unpublished photographs, fragments of atlases, postcards, posters, and mirrors, exploring Ghirri’s unique vision of everyday life as visual discovery. The exhibition spans two gallery spaces on Duke Street, juxtaposing interior and exterior scenes, and includes works by conceptual artists Félix González-Torres and Giorgio Morandi. A bilingual book, "Luigi Ghirri. Felicità" (MACK), accompanies the show, collecting the exhibited works and three essays by the artist.

Joe Macken Spent 22 Years Building a Miniature New York by Hand

Joe Macken, a truck driver from upstate New York, spent 22 years building a 50-by-27-foot miniature scale model of New York City entirely from balsa wood, cardboard, and glue. The model, which includes all five boroughs and landmarks like the Twin Towers and One World Trade Center, went viral on TikTok after Macken’s daughter encouraged him to post a video. It is now on display at the Museum of the City of New York in an exhibition titled *He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model*.

In Naples, an International Exhibition to Map Instability and Deactivate Borders

A Napoli una mostra internazionale per mappare l’instabilità e disattivare i confini

The exhibition "Atlante" at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples, curated by James Lingwood, brings together works by eight international artists—Igshaan Adams, Teju Cole, Luigi Ghirri, Emma McNally, Claudio Parmiggiani, Anri Sala, Tatiana Trouvé, and Akram Zaatari—to challenge traditional cartographic representations. Through maps, drawings, textiles, and photographs, the show interrogates the ideological and political assumptions embedded in mapping, reframing the Mediterranean not as a border but as a connective space, and exposing the instability and power asymmetries underlying historical worldviews.

Blank Spaces. Sung Tieu by Sarah Johanna Theurer

Sung Tieu's installations, characterized by austere, bureaucratic surfaces, explore the hidden architectures of power embedded in everyday systems. The article examines her series of works that deconstruct administrative forms used in asylum procedures, reducing them to blank spaces and quantified grids to expose how institutional power operates through seemingly neutral documents. Her exhibition "In Cold Print" at Nottingham Contemporary physically manifests these themes by using steel fences to control viewer movement, drawing direct parallels between minimalist sculpture and the dehumanizing design of border controls.

In ‘Door to Life,’ Pacita Abad Evokes Traditional Yemeni Architecture

The article reports on 'Door to Life,' the third solo exhibition of works by the late Filipino artist Pacita Abad (1946-2004) at Tina Kim Gallery in New York. The show focuses on a body of work Abad created after her 1998 visit to Yemen, where she was inspired by the country's traditional architecture and decorative arts, particularly its ornate doors and qamariya (semicircular stained-glass windows). The works, executed in her signature trapunto style—a technique of stitched, padded canvas—layer geometric patterns, botanical motifs, and vibrant colors to evoke Yemeni design. The exhibition runs through June 20.

Sylvie Retailleau : « Pendant cinq ans, tout a été remis en jeu »

Sylvie Retailleau, former French Minister of Higher Education and current president of Universcience since January 2026, details the tense negotiations between the Grand Palais and the Palais de la découverte. She reveals that the Palais de la découverte nearly disappeared during the Grand Palais renovation, but will reopen in March 2027. Universcience ceded a 1,200 m² gallery to the Grand Palais as a financial contribution (worth about €30 million over ten years) and is lending another 350 m² gallery until June 2030 for Centre Pompidou exhibitions during its renovation. In exchange, Universcience gains full control over the programming of the Palais des enfants.

Looking for art, culture? See the latest Central Illinois exhibits

A roundup article highlights current and upcoming art and cultural exhibitions across Central Illinois, featuring venues such as the McLean County Museum of History, Krannert Art Museum, Prairie Aviation Museum, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Eaton Studio Gallery, Illinois Art Station, Illinois State Museum, McLean County Arts Center, Main Gallery 404, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Dickson Mounds Museum, and David Davis Mansion State Historic Site. Specific shows mentioned include "Material Memory" fiber arts show at Brandt Gallery, "Goya's Ghosts" at Armstrong Gallery, "Arts Alive!" auction at Dolan Gallery, "Lincoln: Sight, Sound & Touch" at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, "Ken Kashian Botanical Photography Exhibit" at IAA Credit Union, and "Kelly Pile Pyrography Pop-up Sale" at Main Gallery 404.

BUSINESS MONDAY: Spotlight on Art in the Berkshires—now open on Castle Street

Art in the Berkshires, founded in 2024 as an online resource, has opened a physical gallery and studio space at 8 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The venture is led by Shany Porras, an abstract painter and founder who serves as gallery director, aiming to make Berkshire creativity more accessible through artist directories, venue listings, and a weekly newsletter.

Foster + Partners lines Shanghai art gallery with tubular glass

British architecture firm Foster + Partners has completed the Jia Art gallery in Shanghai's Putuo district, a building wrapped in ribbed tubular glass that takes its curvilinear form from the blossoming flowers in nearby Changfeng Park. The gallery features a double-height atrium dividing exhibition spaces on the north side from community-oriented event and education areas on the south, with cantilevered upper levels and curved stainless steel tubes framing the facade.

Sir John Akomfrah’s Venice Biennale Exhibition Comes To Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery

Sir John Akomfrah's exhibition, originally presented at the Venice Biennale, is now on view at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery. The show brings together a selection of the artist's acclaimed film and video works that explore themes of memory, migration, and the African diaspora, offering UK audiences a rare chance to see the Biennale presentation in a new context.

Newcastle Art Gallery unveils three new exhibitions

Newcastle Art Gallery in New South Wales, Australia, will open three new exhibitions on May 23, 2026, following its major expansion and reopening in February. The shows include the largest solo exhibition to date by Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson, titled "Multiverse"; the first institutional solo show by Tiyan Baker, "Mouth Mnemonica"; and "The Mordant Family Gift," featuring 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM. The gallery has already attracted over 80,000 visitors, surpassing its previous annual record.

Major summer exhibitions bring international artists to seaside gallery

Hastings Contemporary in the UK is hosting three major summer exhibitions until September 13, featuring international contemporary and modern artists. The shows include the first major UK solo exhibition of German-Brazilian artist Janaina Tschäpe, a solo show by Argentinian artist Miguel Rothschild with a new seascape installation, and "Moore / Freud," which brings together 20 works by Lucian Freud and Henry Moore exploring familial and personal connections.

브루클린뮤지엄: 패션디자이너 아이리스 반 페르펜전 'Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses'(5/16-12/6)

The Brooklyn Museum will present the North American debut of "Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses" from May 16 to December 6, 2026. The exhibition features over 140 haute couture creations by Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, displayed alongside contemporary art, design objects, and scientific artifacts. It explores her fusion of traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology, sustainability, and themes from nature and science. The show first opened at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023 and has traveled to QAGOMA, ArtScience Museum Singapore, and Kunsthal Rotterdam. The Brooklyn presentation coincides with the museum's annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, where Van Herpen will be honored.

How Tasmania became one of the world’s most exciting art destinations

Helen Ochyra reports on how Tasmania, particularly Hobart, has emerged as a leading global art destination, driven largely by MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). The privately funded museum, founded by art collector David Walsh, recently opened a $100 million AUD wing housing a towering concrete amphitheatre by German artist Anselm Kiefer. Beyond MONA, Hobart hosts the provocative winter festival Dark Mofo, the science-and-culture Beaker Street Festival, and the inaugural Island Readers & Writers Festival, cementing its reputation for cutting-edge arts and culture.

Vancouver Art Gallery's "Future Geographies" Exhibit Explores How Art Responds to Climate Change

The Vancouver Art Gallery has opened "Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change," an exhibition curated by Eva Respini, the gallery's interim co-CEO and curator at large. Featuring over 30 artists and 35 works—including sculptures, paintings, video installations, and photographs—the show explores climate change through themes of living knowledge, consumed earth, speculative worlds, and material memory. Highlights include Brian Jungen's whale-skeleton sculpture made from plastic chairs and Clarissa Tossin's multimedia weaving of Amazon boxes. The exhibition also incorporates sustainability in its organization, using recycled cardboard for labels, overland shipping for loans, and commissioning local artists.

Wiscasset Bay Gallery exhibition will take viewers on grand tour

Wiscasset Bay Gallery in Maine is presenting "The Grand Tour in Thirty Days," an exhibition running from May 23 through June 24 that showcases the evolution of painting from realism to impressionism to modernism. The show features works by European and American artists depicting popular and remote locales across Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including pieces by Jean de Botton, Luigi Moretti, Robert Weir Allan, Polly Parker Nordell, and Mary Cassatt.

Loveland artist brings colorful, bold florals to new Fort Collins gallery exhibit

Loveland artist Annie O'Brien Gonzales, who specializes in bold, colorful floral paintings, is featured in 'The Bright Side' exhibition at The Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. The show, which runs until June 12, includes her expressive acrylic and mixed-media works alongside pieces by Laura Merage, Tricia Soderberg, and Randall Steinke. O'Brien Gonzales, a former labor and delivery nurse and medical professor who became a full-time artist in 2004, will also teach a floral still life workshop at The Gardens on Spring Creek on May 31.

Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art: Online - Christie's

Christie's is presenting an online sale titled "Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art: Online" from June 2–16, 2026, in London. The auction features 62 lots by leading modern and contemporary artists from the Gulf, the Levant, Iraq, Iran, and North Africa, including works by Samia Halaby, Saliba Douaihy, Baya, Parviz Tanavoli, Mohamed Melehi, and Abdul Halim Radwi. The sale marks 20 years since Christie's inaugural Middle Eastern art auction in the UAE in 2006.

Singapore Art Museum at 30: tough decisions

The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is celebrating its 30th anniversary while navigating the challenges of its 2022 relocation to Tanjong Pagar Distripark, a remote industrial building that has drawn mixed reactions—some visitors find it too inaccessible, while younger audiences applaud the move away from the colonial civic district. Director and CEO Eugene Tan defends the decision, citing the building's high ceilings and flexible spaces as ideal for contemporary art, and announces a fifth gallery opening by 2026 that will bring total exhibition space to 3,800 square meters. The museum also plans to experiment with open-air exhibition techniques in the new space, aiming to reduce energy demands.

Art Gallery of NSW to unveil landmark exhibition exploring the many forms of Vishnu

The Art Gallery of New South Wales will open 'Avatar: Forms of Vishnu' in June, its largest exhibition of South and Southeast Asian art in over two decades. Featuring more than 200 works spanning 1,500 years, the show includes ancient sculptures, paintings, textiles, photography, and contemporary installations from institutions such as the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, and National Museum of Cambodia. Curated by Melanie Eastburn and Chaitanya Sambrani, the exhibition explores artistic interpretations of Vishnu and his avatars across cultural, political, and spiritual contexts, with new commissions by Desmond Lazaro and Sumakshi Singh, and works by Nalini Malani, Pushpamala N, Gulammohammed Sheikh, and Jumaadi.

New Exhibition Explores Modern British Printmaking

The University of Liverpool's Victoria Gallery & Museum will present "Making a Mark: Artworks from the Studio Prints Collection" from June 13, 2026 to January 30, 2027. The free exhibition features 45 prints by seven British artists—including Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, and Celia Paul—created at Studio Prints, a pioneering printmaking workshop founded by Dorothea Wight in 1968. The works were gifted to the university in 2019 through the Arts Council England Cultural Gifts Scheme and will be displayed for the first time.

Exclusive | Met Gala 2026 and ‘Costume Art’ brashly transform flesh, bones and guts into too-cool couture

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will debut its spring 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” on May 10, preceded by the Met Gala on May 4. The exhibition explores the dressed body in all forms—nude, pregnant, plus-size, disabled, aging, and internal—and features fashion designer Renata Buzzo’s hand-stitched “Corset Anatomia” from her 2024 collection “The Body.” Buzzo was personally selected by curator Andrew Bolton and donated her pieces. The exhibition will be housed in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, an 11,500-square-foot space that will make fashion galleries the first thing visitors see upon entering the Great Hall. The Met Gala, co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, raised a record $31 million in 2025 and will follow the dress code “Fashion is Art.”