From The Drama to Malcolm in the Middle: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

The article is a weekly entertainment guide covering cinema, gigs, art, stage, streaming, games, albums, and other cultural events. In the art section, it highlights two major exhibitions in London and its surroundings: a solo show of new paintings by British artist Cecily Brown at the Serpentine Gallery, created in response to Kensington Gardens, and a display of Henry Moore's iconic Shelter Drawings at his studio in Perry Green, focusing on his depictions of Londoners during the Blitz.

How Dalí’s Amber Varnish May Have Caused This Painting to Decay

A new scientific study has revealed the cause of deterioration in Salvador Dalí's 1946 painting 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony.' Researchers from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and an international team used advanced imaging techniques to determine that the degradation, which includes areas becoming transparent or textured, is linked to the chemical interaction between a zinc white paint layer and an amber varnish layer, both materials specifically advocated by Dalí in his own artistic manual.

Local Resort Reportedly Pays $45 M. for Rauschenberg’s Famed Captiva Island Property

South Seas, a resort on Florida's Captiva Island, has purchased Robert Rauschenberg's 22-acre property, including his studio and beachfront, for $45 million. The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation sold the estate, citing unsustainable maintenance costs and the need to focus on its core mission, despite the property having survived Hurricane Ian.

manet morisot cleveland legion of honor impressionism

The Cleveland Museum of Art is hosting "Manet & Morisot," an exhibition that explores the deep artistic and personal relationship between Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. Moving beyond traditional narratives that cast Morisot as a secondary figure or mere muse, the show highlights her role as a peer who actively influenced Manet’s transition toward modernism. The exhibition features key works such as Morisot’s "View of Paris from the Trocadero" and Manet’s "The Railway," emphasizing their shared motifs and collaborative vision.

trump ballroom construction plans halted

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction to halt President Donald Trump’s controversial $400 million overhaul of the White House’s East Wing, which includes the construction of a massive new ballroom. Despite the ruling, the National Capital Planning Commission voted to approve the project, following the submission of over 30,000 public comments, the majority of which were negative. The legal challenge, led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, argues that the President lacks the constitutional authority to bypass Congress and use private funds for major structural changes to the historic landmark.

Stolen Van Gogh Back on View at Dutch Museum After Dramatic Restoration

A Vincent van Gogh painting, 'The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring,' stolen from the Singer Laren museum in 2020, has been restored and returned to public display at the Groninger Museum. The painting was recovered in 2023 by Dutch police and art sleuth Arthur Brand, and underwent a meticulous, months-long restoration by conservator Marjan de Visser to repair damage and remove historical overpainting.

Meet the Gallerists Trading White Cubes for Unconventional Architecture

A growing number of gallerists are moving away from the traditional 'white cube' gallery model, opting instead for spaces with unconventional architecture and distinct character. These include locations in repurposed industrial buildings, historic structures, and uniquely designed new constructions that actively shape the visitor's experience of the art.

An expert's guide to Alexander Calder: six must-read books on the US sculptor

An exhibition of nearly 300 works by Alexander Calder opens at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, exploring the development of his mobiles and wider practice. Guest curators Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer have compiled a list of six essential books to deepen understanding of the artist's life and work.

A brush with… Karen Archey, head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums

Karen Archey, the head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums, shares personal insights in an interview format. She reveals her obsession with painter Alice Neel, discusses a formative 2007 summer touring major European art events, and lists the poetry and audio currently occupying her attention.

imagenet roulette trevor paglen kate crawford

Artist Trevor Paglen and AI researcher Kate Crawford have launched ImageNetRoulette, a viral digital art project that uses artificial intelligence to label user-uploaded photos. The project, which is part of their "Training Humans" exhibition at Fondazione Prada, gained massive social media traction by generating often offensive or bizarre classifications for users. By exposing the problematic labels—ranging from "mediatrix" to racial slurs and criminal accusations—the creators aim to reveal the deep-seated systemic biases embedded in the ImageNet database, one of the world's most influential AI training sets.

Pixels and paintings: video games return to the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum hosted a special Friday Late event in collaboration with the London Games Festival, transforming its historic galleries into a playground for interactive and independent video games. Visitors could play titles like the Bafta-winning 'Thank Goodness You’re Here!' and the comedic 'Sex With Friends' amidst the museum's permanent collection, while live-coding music performances and participatory art projects like 'Robot Karaoke' and 'The Line is the Game' emphasized communal, performative experiences.

How Lillian Bassman Pushed Fashion Photography to the Edge of Abstraction

A new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Lillian Bassman: Harper's Bazaar and Beyond," highlights the pioneering work of fashion photographer Lillian Bassman. The show reveals how Bassman, through darkroom experimentation like selective exposure and blowing cigarette smoke under the enlarger, created moody, abstract images that often reduced clothing to mere suggestion, pushing the boundaries of commercial fashion photography in the 1940s and 1950s.

president trump plans presidential library skyscraper miami

President Donald Trump has unveiled a rendering for his planned presidential library in downtown Miami, envisioned as a 47-story skyscraper. The proposal features a gold entranceway, a 20-foot-tall golden statue of the former president, and a replica of the Oval Office, alongside a hotel and office space. The project is being designed by architecture firm Bermello Ajamil and is reportedly seeking to raise nearly $1 billion in donations to fund the construction on highly valuable waterfront land.

bampfa quilts routed west

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) has launched "Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California," the first major thematic exploration of the 3,000-piece Eli Leon bequest. Curated by Elaine Yau, the exhibition features over 100 quilts by approximately 80 artists, tracing the migration of improvisational textile traditions from the American South to the Bay Area. The show highlights how these portable objects served as both functional necessities and vital forms of self-expression for Black women during the mid-20th century Great Migration.

Claire Tabouret’s Stained-Glass Windows for Notre-Dame Divide French Society, with a Legal Threat Looming

French contemporary artist Claire Tabouret has been commissioned to create six new stained-glass windows for the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, replacing six existing 19th-century grisaille windows designed by architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The project, announced by President Emmanuel Macron and the Archbishop of Paris as a "contemporary gesture" following the 2019 fire, has sparked a major public and institutional controversy, with a petition against it gathering over 335,000 signatures.

German artist Anne Imhof to be subject of ‘ambitious’ Hong Kong solo exhibition

German artist Anne Imhof will present her first solo exhibition in Asia at the Tai Kwun culture complex in Hong Kong from September 26, 2025, to January 3, 2027. The ambitious show will feature a survey of key works and a new commission, converging performance, image, sound, and architecture to create immersive encounters.

Whitney Biennial Trends, a New Baroque Art Star, and Banksy Unmasked

The Art Angle podcast, hosted by Ben Davis and Kate Brown with guest Eileen Kinsella, recapped major art stories from March 2026. The discussion centered on three key developments: the opening of the 2026 Whitney Biennial, the rising art historical prominence of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, and a new investigation claiming to have definitively unmasked the identity of the anonymous street artist Banksy.

orientalist painting philadelphia penn museum auction

The Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania is courting controversy by consigning a major 1891 painting by Ottoman artist Osman Hamdi Bey, titled "At the Mosque Door," to Bonhams London with an estimate of $2.7–$4 million. Although the museum purchased the work directly from the artist in 1895, it was never formally accessioned into the collection, allowing the institution to bypass strict industry regulations that typically prohibit using art sale proceeds for anything other than new acquisitions or collection care. The museum intends to use the funds to establish a permanent endowment for the long-term maintenance of its vast archaeological holdings.

Newly Authenticated Modigliani Heads to Sale at Art Basel Hong Kong via Pace with a $13.3 M. Price Tag

A newly authenticated painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeune femme brune" (1917–18), is being offered for sale by Pace gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong with a price tag of €11.5 million ($13.3 million). The work, the highest-priced piece at the fair, was only recently included in art historian Marc Restellini's forthcoming Modigliani catalogue raisonné after decades of authentication disputes and legal battles.

From technology to Gen Z collectors, Adrian Cheng shares the key trends in Hong Kong’s art scene

Adrian Cheng, a key figure in Hong Kong's art world, identifies major trends shaping the city's art scene ahead of Art Basel Hong Kong. He highlights the convergence of major art fairs, auction house sales, and new gallery openings during the 'Art March' period, drawing a global audience with high-profile exhibitions by international artists like Mary Weatherford, Nicole Eisenman, and El Anatsui.

Shoplifting, sex shows and sheepdog-breeding: great artists and the side-hustles they did to get by

The article explores the unconventional and often illicit side jobs that famous artists historically took to support their creative pursuits. It details examples like Jean Genet's specialized book theft, Jean-Luc Godard's pilfering of books and cash, Chantal Akerman's ticket-skimming at a porn theater, and Kathy Acker's simulated sex show performances, highlighting how financial necessity drove them to inventive, sometimes desperate, measures.

Raphael Died Before 40. His Met Retrospective Begs the Question: What If He Had Lived?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is preparing a major spring retrospective dedicated to Raphael, the Italian Renaissance master who died in 1520 before his 40th birthday. This will be his first such exhibition in the United States, aiming to reassess an artist traditionally viewed as a facile, efficient prodigy rather than a deep intellectual.

Hardwiring Change Survey 2026

hardwiring change survey 2026

Artnet and the Association for Women in the Arts (AWITA) have launched the second edition of their global research initiative, the Hardwiring Change survey. This project aims to collect comprehensive data from thousands of arts professionals regarding pay gaps, leadership representation, career mobility, and workplace conditions. The 2026 iteration introduces a new focus on how emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, are impacting gender equity and professional advancement within the industry.

Keeping up with the Kleins: exhibition brings together Yves’s talented artist family

The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in the Netherlands has opened an exhibition titled 'Yves Klein and His Artist Family,' which presents the work of the iconic French artist Yves Klein alongside that of his father Fred Klein, his mother Marie Raymond, and his widow Rotraut Klein-Moquay. The show features 30 works by Yves and over 40 pieces by his family members, highlighting their distinct artistic contributions within 20th-century Modernism.

A Trove of Vivian Maier’s Photographs Could Rewrite Her Market

A collection of 206 sold-out estate prints by photographer Vivian Maier is being offered as a single lot in Artnet's Important Photographs auction, with an estimate of $1–1.5 million. The trove, which includes gelatin silver and archival pigment prints from the 1950s to 1980s, represents a rare opportunity to acquire a comprehensive group of her work that is no longer available through primary market galleries.

British Museum did not remove Palestine from labels due to pressure campaign, museum sources say—as backlash continues

Over 200 cultural figures, including musician Brian Eno and writer Laleh Khalili, have signed an open letter condemning the British Museum for allegedly removing the word "Palestine" from labels in its Ancient Levant gallery. The letter, published in March, accuses the museum of historical revisionism and links the action to pressure from the advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel, while also criticizing the museum's broader ties to Israel.

Homework till midnight and ‘one breakdown a week’: the mysterious art school keeping a forgotten style alive

The École Van der Kelen-Logelain, a unique and mythologized painting school in Brussels founded in 1892, continues to operate under strict, traditional methods. Students endure a rigorous six-month winter course, adhering to rules like mandatory white lab coats, silence, and no phones, to master specialized decorative painting skills, most notably the art of trompe l'oeil, or illusionistic painting.

Remembering Axel Burrough, Kazumasa Nagai, and Éliane Radigue

This week's obituary column honors the recent passing of twelve significant figures from the global art and culture world. The list includes French experimental composer Éliane Radigue, Japanese graphic designer Kazumasa Nagai, British architect Axel Burrough, Indigenous Australian muralist Elizabeth Close, and Upper East Side gallerist Gertrude Stein, among other artists, patrons, and illustrators.

acer tags new museum graffiti

An anonymous graffiti artist known as Acer 444 successfully tagged the third-story facade of the New Museum on New York’s Bowery. The large-scale piece, featuring black lettering against a red background, was placed in a precarious, high-visibility location directly above Glenn Ligon’s neon installation. Despite the museum's security measures and its specialized aluminum mesh exterior, the artist managed to complete the work undetected before maintenance crews began removal efforts the following morning.

‘Absolutely transformative’: Willem de Kooning exhibition uncovers raw intensity of early work

The Princeton University Art Museum is presenting "Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years," an exhibition revisiting the pivotal period from 1945-1950 that led to the artist's first solo show and established his reputation. The show features 18 paintings, including key works like *Black Friday* and *Dark Pond*, highlighting his intense exploration between figuration and abstraction with a restricted palette.