Pioneering Brazilian artist Lygia Pape's estate is now represented by Mendes Wood DM

Mendes Wood DM now represents the estate of pioneering Brazilian artist Lygia Pape (1927-2004), a central figure in the Concrete and Neo-Concrete art movements. The gallery, founded by Pedro Mendes, Felipe Dmab, and Matthew Wood, operates spaces in São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, and New York. It plans a career-spanning exhibition of Pape's work in São Paulo in April 2026, coinciding with SP-Arte and her centenary year, and will bring works to Art Basel in Paris this October. Pape's first retrospective in France, 'Tisser l'espace (Weaving Space),' opens next week at the Pinault Collection's Bourse de Commerce in Paris, running from 10 September to 23 February 2026.

An Incomparable Art Exhibition

Lana Jokel, a documentary filmmaker known for 18 films about contemporary art, has put her personal art collection on view at the Bridgehampton Museum’s Nathaniel Rogers House in an exhibition titled “Echoes & Nostalgia.” The show features around 100 works from artists including Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and John Chamberlain, many of which were gifts from the artists themselves. Jokel’s collection reflects her deep personal relationships with these figures, such as Warhol paying her with a "Flowers" series work for co-editing his film "Heat" (1972), and Jasper Johns creating custom pieces for her. The exhibition also includes works by Sven Lukin, with whom she had a long-term relationship, and a portrait by Ed Ruscha made during their romantic partnership.

Behind-the-scenes Beatles photographs shot by Paul McCartney to go on sale at Gagosian London

Gagosian London will present 'Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris' from August 28 to October 4, showcasing behind-the-scenes photographs taken by Paul McCartney between December 1963 and February 1964. The images, remastered from long-lost negatives and contact sheets, capture pivotal moments in the Beatles' early fame, including their Paris residency at the Olympia Theatre and their appearance on BBC's Juke Box Jury. The prints are signed by McCartney, available in editions of six to ten, and priced between $20,000 and $85,000. The exhibition follows a larger presentation at Gagosian Beverly Hills earlier this year.

How did the only painting sold by Van Gogh in his lifetime end up in Russia?

The article explores the history and conservation of Vincent van Gogh's "The Red Vineyard," the only painting he is certain to have sold during his lifetime. Sold for 400 francs at a Brussels exhibition in March 1890, the work now resides at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. A recent conservation project used modern scientific techniques to uncover new details about the painting's creation, including Van Gogh's use of paint straight from the tube, compositional changes, and the fading of chrome yellow pigments. The article also recounts the painting's origin during Van Gogh's time in Arles with Paul Gauguin and its journey to Russia.

Alton Yan

Alton Yan has been appointed as the new director of the Asia Society Museum in New York, effective immediately. Yan, previously a curator at the museum, succeeds the outgoing director and brings extensive experience in Asian contemporary art to the role.

This Contemporary Icons Auction Packs Blue-Chip Firepower

Artnet Auctions has launched "Contemporary Icons: Part II," a summer auction now live for bidding through August 20, 2025. The sale features over 100 lots from a single private collection, including works by blue-chip artists such as Rashid Johnson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shara Hughes, Marilyn Minter, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, and Jean-Baptiste Bernadet. Highlights include Johnson's "Write me In" (est. $120,000–$180,000) and Adeniyi-Jones's "ESHU" (est. $60,000–$80,000). Head of post-war and contemporary art Johannes Vogt noted the rarity of an online auction offering so many lots from one cohesive collection, with most pieces acquired in the last 15 to 20 years.

Van Gogh’s love of Hiroshige, the Japanese master of the landscape, is reflected in a British Museum exhibition

The British Museum's exhibition "Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road" (through September 7) showcases over 100 prints by the Japanese master Utagawa Hiroshige, including rare loans that highlight his influence on European avant-garde artists. A key display is Vincent van Gogh's own copy of Hiroshige's "The Plum Garden at Kameido" (1857), on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, along with Van Gogh's squared-up tracing used for his painting. New research by British Museum senior scientist Capucine Korenberg reveals a short pencil line on the print that confirms Van Gogh used this exact copy as a guide for his tracing and subsequent painting.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, July 2025

The article provides a roundup of current and upcoming exhibitions at San Francisco museums and galleries in July 2025. Highlights include 'People Make This Place: SFAI Stories' opening July 26 at SFMOMA, 'Jess Young: Return' at 500 Capp Street, and 'Ferlinghetti for San Francisco' at the Legion of Honor. Shows closing soon include 'Yuan Goang-Ming: Everyday War' at the Asian Art Museum and 'Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art' at the Legion of Honor. The gallery scene is covered with mentions of Voss Gallery, Incline Gallery, and Hosfelt Gallery, along with ongoing exhibitions like 'Kunié Sugiura: Photopainting' and 'Ruth Asawa: Retrospective' at SFMOMA.

Remembering Peter Phillips, the pioneering British Pop artist, who has died, aged 86

British Pop artist Peter Phillips has died at age 86. Known for his collage-like, saturated compositions incorporating mechanical parts, comic books, and pin-up imagery, Phillips emerged from Birmingham's industrial landscape and studied at the Royal College of Art alongside peers like David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj. His work, such as *The Entertainment Machine* (1961) and the *Custom Painting* series, reflected his working-class upbringing and fascination with car manufacturing and commercial design.

The flesh artist: Jenny Saville returns to the spotlight with a US$2.7m drawing and major London retrospective

British figurative painter Jenny Saville has returned to the spotlight with a new auction record and a major retrospective. Her charcoal drawing *Mirror* (2011-12) sold for £2.11 million (US$2.7 million) at Sotheby’s London, setting a record for a work on paper by the artist. The sale coincides with *Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting*, a retrospective at London’s National Portrait Gallery running through 7 September, which features 45 works tracing her evolution from early oil paintings to recent charcoals.

Art Gallery of Ontario acquires more than 200 Peter Hujar photographs

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has acquired 210 photographs by Ukrainian American photographer Peter Hujar (1934-87) from the Hujar Archive. The acquisition coincides with the gallery’s photography department preparing for its 25th anniversary exhibition, Collective Visions: Celebrating 25 Years of Photography, opening November 7, which will feature around 80 works chosen by the local community. The exhibition uses a unique chain-selection process where local artists, collectors, donors, community leaders, and scholars pick works in sequence, each inspired by the previous choice.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, June 2025

This article from Mission Local provides a roundup of current and upcoming exhibitions at San Francisco museums and galleries in June 2025. Highlights include the reopening of 500 Capp Street with "Mildred Howard Collaborating with the Muses Part 2" and a forthcoming show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ant Farm's "Media Burn." At the de Young Museum, Henri Matisse's "Jazz Unbound" closes July 6, Isaac Julien's first U.S. retrospective runs until July 13, and Paul McCartney's photography exhibition has been extended to October. SFMOMA's "Around Group f.64" closes July 13, and the Asian Art Museum features "Yuan Goang-Ming: Everyday War" through August 4. The piece also notes Ashley Voss's local gallery guide and a Q&A with Isaac Julien.

To help preserve her works, Cindy Sherman is offering to destroy and reprint old photographs

Photographer Cindy Sherman has launched the Cindy Sherman Legacy Project (CSLP), a formal initiative to preserve her photographic works by offering to destroy and replace damaged prints with new, artist-approved reprints. The project, announced on June 16, includes condition assessments, a controlled replacement process, and an online catalogue raisonné. Collectors can submit works for evaluation at a New York facility; eligible prints are destroyed and replaced with mint-condition reprints signed by Sherman, with a $10,000 administrative fee plus production costs. The fee is waived for non-profit institutions.

Sotheby’s offers peek at Breuer building’s makeover

Sotheby's has released renderings of its upcoming renovation of Marcel Breuer's former Whitney Museum building at 945 Madison Avenue, which it purchased for $100 million in June 2023. The auction house plans to open in the autumn, in time for its November sales. Renovations, led by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, include a new service elevator, upgraded lighting and climate systems, and restored gallery floorplans, while preserving the building's landmark-protected exterior and many interior spaces. Charles Simonds's site-specific installation Dwellings (1981) will remain on long-term loan from the Whitney.

Introducing CULTURED’s Inaugural Young Dealers List

CULTURED magazine has launched its inaugural Young Dealers List, highlighting 23 galleries under five years old that are reshaping the art world. Selected from over 100 recommendations gathered from more than 40 collectors, advisors, and curators, the list features ambitious new spaces in cities from Accra to Berlin. One featured gallerist, Adora Mba of ADA \ Contemporary Art Gallery in Accra, comes from a family of collectors and opened her gallery after working as a cultural news producer; she has dedicated her 2025 program to women artists and curators.

Have we reached peak painting?

The article examines the enduring dominance of painting in the art world, despite repeated predictions of its demise. It cites record-breaking sales—Leonardo's *Salvator Mundi* ($450m), Jasper Johns's *Flag* ($110m), and Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* ($13.6m)—and highlights the upcoming Jenny Saville survey at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Turner Prize shortlist includes painter Mohammed Sami, whose work *Poor Folk II* sold for $571,500 at Sotheby's, far exceeding estimates. Exhibitions like *Painting after Painting* at SMAK in Ghent and *R U Still Painting???* in New York explore how artists continue to use the medium, with curators and market figures affirming painting's resilience.

Weekly News Roundup: June 9, 2025

Sydney Contemporary 2025 will debut a new photography section called Photo Sydney, curated by Sandy Edwards and selected by a committee of experts. The fair runs September 11–14 at Carriageworks with 114 exhibitors. Separately, Jack Ball won the AUD 100,000 Ramsay Art Prize for their installation 'Heavy Grit' at the Art Gallery of South Australia. KIAF Seoul 2025 announced its gallery lineup, featuring 176 exhibitors from over 20 countries, running September 4–7 alongside Frieze Seoul.

The 10 Exhibitions to See in June 2025

The article highlights 10 exhibitions to see in June 2025, curated by editors. Key shows include the Serpentine Pavilion in London, designed by Dhaka-based architect Marina Tabassum, titled "A Capsule in Time" (6 June–26 October), a semi-open wooden structure inspired by South Asian tent designs that engages with light and public activation. Another featured exhibition is Hiền Hoàng's "Garden of Entanglement" at FOAM Amsterdam (6 June–ongoing), presenting works that explore trauma's imprint on human bodies and nature, including a soundscape installation developed with scientists and a VR piece on the Agarwood tree.

Kinetic energy: events across Europe and the US celebrate Jean Tinguely anniversary

A series of exhibitions and events across Europe and the US in 2025 mark the centenary of Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, known for his Dadaist kinetic sculptures that often self-destruct. Key shows include a focus on his relationship with Eva Aeppli at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, and two major exhibitions on his partnership with Niki de Saint Phalle at Hauser & Wirth Somerset and the Grand Palais in Paris. The Museum Tinguely in Basel has commissioned artists Rebecca Moss and Augustin Rebetez to create a new installation inspired by Tinguely's work.

Tentatively, Photo London's tenth edition moves away from traditional content and crowds

Photo London's tenth edition, under new director Sophie Parker, opened at Somerset House with a deliberate shift away from its traditional focus on established male photographers and celebrity subjects like Kate Moss. The fair eliminated its 'Master of Photography' award and revived the Positions section for unrepresented artists, featuring Palestinian-American Adam Rouhana and British Indian photographer Kavi Pujara. While the main pavilion still showcased familiar names like Sebastião Salgado, newer galleries reported strong early sales, including a £10,000–£15,000 portrait by Chou Ching Hui sold to a Norwegian museum via Taipei's Chini Gallery, and multiple sales at Amsterdam's Hungry Eye Gallery and Paris's Galerie XII.

The Art Market Defies Doom and Gloom With Independent, Esther and Future Fair in Full Swing

New York City is hosting an unprecedented concentration of art fairs this week, with over nine fairs running simultaneously, including Independent, Esther, and Future Fair. Independent, held at Spring Place in Tribeca, opened on May 8 and is positioning itself as a boutique, hyper-curated alternative to mega-fairs like Frieze, featuring mostly solo presentations. Early sales were reported by several galleries: Europa sold works by Suyi Xu ($9,000–$20,000), Long Story Short sold six works by Keita Morimoto (up to $26,000), Charles Moffett nearly sold out his booth of Julia Jo ($10,000–$45,000), The Approach sold four works by John Maclean ($13,500 or less), and Copperfield presented works by Ada Patterson ($8,000–$23,000).

On the Met Gala’s Cy Gavin-designed blue carpet, art was front and centre

The 2025 Met Gala, held on May 5 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, raised a record $31 million while celebrating the opening of the Costume Institute's new exhibition, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" (May 10-October 26). The event's dress code, "Tailored for You," inspired attendees to embrace Black-dandy fashion, with guests including Rihanna, Cynthia Erivo, Stevie Wonder, and Kamala Harris. The exhibition, curated by Andrew Bolton and Monica L. Miller, explores the evolution of Black style in the Atlantic diaspora from the 18th century to today, drawing on Miller's 2009 book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity." It is the Costume Institute's first show to directly address race's impact on style and the Met's first menswear exhibition in over 20 years.

Stockholm’s 10 Contemporary Art Galleries You Should Visit

Rebecca Steel's article for Google News highlights ten contemporary art galleries in Stockholm, Sweden, that are essential for visitors interested in the local and international art scene. Featured spaces include Wetterling Gallery, which has championed Swedish and international artists since 1978; Magasin III Museum & Foundation for Contemporary Art, housed in a 1930s warehouse and known for its ambitious shows and private collection; Fotografiska, a premier photography museum in an Art Nouveau building; and Bonniers Konsthall, named after the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation, which presents themed group and solo shows. The list also includes artist-run initiatives and galleries specializing in photography, all promoting Swedish talent alongside global artists.

As Kazakhstan cautiously strengthens ties with western Europe, new art venues herald a change of direction

Two wealthy Kazakh entrepreneurs, Kairat Boranbayev and Nurlan Smagulov, are opening private art institutions in Almaty this year: the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture and the Almaty Museum of Arts. The Tselinny Center, designed by British architect Asif Khan, will open in September in a repurposed Soviet-era cinema, while the Almaty Museum of Arts, a 10,000 sq. m building by Chapman Taylor, aims to open the same month. These developments come as Kazakhstan cautiously strengthens ties with western Europe to reduce dependence on Russia, following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and positions itself as an energy supplier to Europe and a logistical hub for China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Observer’s 2025 May Art Fair Calendar (Updated)

Observer has published its updated 2025 May Art Fair Calendar, highlighting a packed schedule of art fairs in New York and around the world. Key fairs include CONDUCTOR 2026 (April 29–May 3), a Brooklyn-based fair focused on artists of the global majority; the Aotearoa Art Fair 2026 (April 30–May 3) in New Zealand; the Clio Art Fair 2026 (May 7–10 and 14–17), known as an "anti-fair" for unrepresented artists; and PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai 2026 (May 7–10), a leading platform for contemporary photography in China. The article notes that May is one of the busiest months in the spring art calendar, with many fairs concentrated in New York City during "Frieze Week."

When—and why—did Van Gogh paint a pair of crabs?

An article explores the story behind Vincent van Gogh's still life "Two Crabs," revealing that the two crabs are likely the same individual—a female Cancer pagurus missing its first pair of walking legs. Paul Clark, a crustacean specialist at London's Natural History Museum, confirmed the sex based on the broad abdomen visible in the painting. The work is on long-term loan to London's National Gallery, where it was recently redisplayed as part of the gallery's major rehang ahead of the Sainsbury Wing reopening on May 10. The article also traces the painting's provenance: it was the first Van Gogh bought by a British collector, William Cherry Robinson, in 1893 for 200 guilders, later sold at auction in 1906 for half that amount, and eventually resold at Sotheby's in 2004 for £5.2 million to an anonymous collector who lent it to the National Gallery.

Chicago's Intuit Art Museum set to unveil $10m renovation

Chicago's Intuit Art Museum has completed a two-year, $10 million renovation that triples its footprint and adds a lower level featuring the Henry Darger Room, a permanent installation recreating the artist's apartment. The museum will preview publicly on April 25 during Expo Chicago and officially reopen on May 23. The renovation, led by president and CEO Debra Kerr and local architecture firm Doyle & Associates, balances improved accessibility and natural light with preservation of the building's historic character. The inaugural exhibition, "Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-taught Art in Chicago" (May 23–January 11, 2026), features 75 works by 22 artists exploring migrant and immigrant contributions to outsider art from the 1930s to today.

The Langmatt Museum in Baden Reopens Its Doors

Le Musée Langmatt de Baden rouvre ses portes

The Langmatt Museum in Baden, Switzerland, has reopened after a two-year, €21 million renovation of its Art Nouveau villa, which required urgent structural intervention. The project was co-financed by the city of Baden and the canton of Aargau, with the city contributing CHF 10 million. To secure the museum's endowment fund, the Langmatt Foundation controversially sold three Paul Cézanne masterpieces at Christie's New York in November 2023 for a total of CHF 40.32 million, sparking ethical debate in museum circles. The renovation covered all 75 rooms, including new fire protection, an elevator, accessibility upgrades, a glass pavilion, and restoration of the historic park, while preserving the villa's character.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie New York Announce Plans for a Landmark Merger

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie New York have announced a landmark merger agreement, set to take effect in 2028. The merger will unite the Neue Galerie's collection of 20th-century Austrian and German art—including Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I*—with The Met, while preserving the Neue Galerie's distinct museum experience. Ronald S. Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer plan to donate 13 additional paintings from their personal collection, and several Met trustees have pledged significant endowment gifts to support the integration and long-term operations.

The 10 Best Museum and Gallery Shows to See in the Bay Area This Summer

The article highlights ten notable museum and gallery exhibitions opening in the Bay Area during summer 2026, including Ranu Mukherjee's solo show 'The Long Middle' at Gallery Wendi Norris, a group survey 'Slice of the Pie' at Fraenkel Gallery featuring 14 Bay Area galleries, and 'Giant Steps' at Personal Space in Vallejo focusing on innovative ceramic works. Other featured shows include Will Yackulic's 'A Certain Slant of Light' at pt.2 in Oakland and several other exhibitions across San Francisco and Oakland.