Lee Ufan stars in Venice with a major exhibition by Dia Art Foundation

Dia Art Foundation presents a major solo exhibition of Lee Ufan at SMAC Venice, opening May 9, 2026, as an Official Collateral Event of the 61st Venice Biennale. Curated by Jessica Morgan, the show spans over sixty years of the artist's career, featuring historical and unseen paintings, monumental installations, and new site-specific works across eight rooms. It includes seminal series such as *From Point*, *From Line*, *From Winds*, *With Winds*, *Correspondance*, and *Dialogue*, tracing Lee's evolution from the 1960s to the present.

The Parrish Art Museum Presents ‘Sanford Biggers: Drift,’ The Artist’s First Major East End Solo Show

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, will present 'Sanford Biggers: Drift,' the artist's first major solo exhibition on the East End of Long Island, opening in summer 2026. The show features new works, site-responsive installations, and signature sculptures and textiles, including the monumental cloud installation 'Unsui (Cloud Forest)' (2025). The exhibition is part of the museum's 'PARRISH USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness' series, which marks America's semi-quincentennial by exploring the ideals of the Declaration of Independence through the lens of Long Island's artistic heritage.

Exhibition | Paula Rego, 'Drawing from Life' at Galerie Lelong, 38 Avenue Matignon, Paris, France

Galerie Lelong in Paris is presenting 'Paula Rego, Drawing from Life,' an exhibition focused on the artist's intense three-year period from 2005 to 2007, during which she devoted herself almost exclusively to drawing and lithography in her London studio. The show features works inspired by literary sources such as 'Jane Eyre,' 'Peter Pan,' and the sixteenth-century tale 'The King of Pigs,' as well as her connection with playwright Martin McDonagh. Key pieces include 'Shakespeare’s Room,' 'Scarecrow,' and 'Turtle Hands.' The exhibition is made possible with the support of Nick Willing, the artist’s son, and Cristea Roberts Gallery in London.

Exhibition | Kiki Smith, 'Flight' at Galerie Lelong, 13 Rue de Téhéran, Paris, France

Kiki Smith presents her tenth solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong in Paris, titled 'Flight'. The show features bronze sculptures, two large stained-glass windows, drawings, and an imposing print, all exploring themes of continuity and unity across humans, animals, and plants. Birds such as eagles, doves, and owls carry symbolic weight, reflecting the artist's fears, desires, and dreams.

Leading French Gallery Air de Paris Is Declaring Bankruptcy and Closing After 36 Years

Air de Paris, a leading French gallery, is declaring bankruptcy and closing after 36 years, as announced by cofounders Florence Bonnefous and Edouard Merino to Cultured. The gallery owes money only to its landlord and bank, not to its artists. The closure is attributed to fragile finances and health issues, including Bonnefous's Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The gallery's farewell exhibition, “Oh What a Time,” featured artists such as Trisha Donnelly, Joseph Grigely, Pati Hill, Pierre Joseph, Allen Ruppersberg, Lily van der Stokker, Mona Varichon, and Amy Vogel. Bonnefous will continue to manage the estates of Guy de Cointet, Pati Hill, Dorothy Iannone, Bruno Pelassy, and Sarah Pucci, and work as a curator.

10 Artist-Run Galleries Around the World You Should Know

Artsy Editorial profiles ten artist-run galleries worldwide that are thriving despite the challenge of balancing gallery operations with active art practices. These spaces, founded and operated by working artists, leverage their founders' firsthand experience navigating the art world to curate distinctive programming and build meaningful client relationships. Examples include galleries in underserved neighborhoods in Thailand and other global locations, highlighting the diversity of this grassroots movement.

California Art Dealer Esther Kim Varet Falls Short in House Bid

California art dealer Esther Kim Varet, who runs Various Small Fires gallery, failed to advance to the general election in California’s 40th Congressional District. With 85% of votes counted, she placed third behind Republican incumbents Ken Calvert and Young Kim, who will face off in the general. California’s non-partisan “jungle primary” system allowed only the top two candidates to advance, despite Varet being the highest-ranking Democrat. The race was complicated by a mid-decade redistricting that consolidated Republican votes in the heavily Democratic state.

7 Art Books You Should Read This Pride Month

Hyperallergic has published a Pride Month reading list featuring seven art books that highlight queer and trans artists, past and present. The selection includes a joint biography of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, a catalog on Martin Wong's Chinatowns, Catherine Opie's portraiture, and a compendium of queer nightlife photography. Notable titles include 'Cancelled Confessions (Or Disavowals)' by Claude Cahun, 'Vaginal Davis: Magnificent Product' edited by Hendrik Folkerts, and 'The Wonderful World That Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek' by Andrew Durbin. The article also mentions a retrospective of Vaginal Davis at MoMA PS1.

My Queasy, Forest-Scented Stroll Through LA’s New AI Art Museum

Hyperallergic critic Matt Stromberg reviews Dataland, a new AI art museum in Los Angeles co-founded by media artist Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, opening to the public on June 20. The inaugural exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," is an immersive audio-visual-olfactory experience synthesizing 1.2 billion data points about the natural world, using a "Large Nature Model" trained on datasets from partners including the Smithsonian Institution and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Visitors wear a scent-dispensing device and receive a Data.Token wristband as they navigate a 25,000-square-foot space in the Frank Gehry-designed Grand LA tower, with ticket prices ranging from $49 to $129.

Child Punctures Magritte Painting With Pinecone at Israel Museum

A young child visiting the Israel Museum in Jerusalem punctured René Magritte's painting "The Castle of the Pyrenees" (1959) with a pinecone taken from the museum's garden. The painting has been removed from display and is undergoing restoration at the museum's conservation lab, where director Sharon Tager explained the multi-step process to repair the canvas and oil paint layers. The incident occurred despite the presence of a museum guard, and the child was reported to be five or six years old.

Duchamp after Duchamp. The Venice Biennale curated by Koyo Kouoh is an expanded ready-made

Duchamp dopo Duchamp. La Biennale di Venezia curata da Koyo Kouoh è un ready-made espanso

The article analyzes the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh, and the concurrent exhibition "Helter Skelter" at Fondazione Prada, arguing that Marcel Duchamp's concept of the ready-made has undergone a profound transformation. Rather than applying to industrial objects as in Duchamp's original gesture, the ready-made now operates on subjects, communities, minorities, vernacular traditions, and cultural archives, which are repositioned within the exhibition space to generate meaning. The author sees this shift as a curatorial strategy that extends the reach of the institution, turning any presence—material or immaterial—into an exposable element.

A First Look at the Art in the New Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, a $850 million campus designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, is set to open later this month in Jackson Park. The center features over 28 commissioned works by contemporary artists including Idris Khan, Theaster Gates, Lorna Simpson, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Maya Lin, alongside a basketball court, a Chicago Public Library branch, gardens, and civic spaces. Curators Virginia Shore, Crystal Moten, and Louise Bernard assembled the collection to intertwine art with the Obama legacy and the broader public art landscape of Chicago's South Side.

Al Musée d’Orsay ci sono due grandi mostre per scoprire e riscoprire Renoir

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has opened two major parallel exhibitions dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, marking the artist's return to the museum after forty years. Inaugurated on March 17, "Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity" and "Drawings by Renoir" offer fresh perspectives on the Impressionist master's work. The first exhibition, curated by Paul Perrin, focuses on Renoir's early career and his depictions of modern life through themes of love, friendship, and conviviality, featuring masterpieces such as "Luncheon of the Boating Party" (1880-81) and rarely seen works from private collections. The second exhibition is the first ever dedicated to Renoir's drawings, highlighting the importance of graphic techniques in his artistic evolution and including around one hundred works from international collections, some never exhibited before.

Museo Igor Mitoraj opens in Pietrasanta: interview with director Frank Boehm between contemporary art and craftsmanship

A Pietrasanta apre il Museo Igor Mitoraj: intervista al direttore Frank Boehm tra arte contemporanea e artigianato

The Museo Igor Mitoraj opens in Pietrasanta on June 6, 2026, housed in the former municipal market designed by Tito Salvatori and renovated by OBR studio. The inaugural exhibition, "Mitoraj. Present," showcases a significant selection of 69 works donated to the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj, highlighting the Polish sculptor's legacy beyond his monumental works. Director Frank Boehm, formerly of Miart and the Museum Insel Hombroich, outlines plans for the museum to become an international platform for contemporary sculpture research, featuring exhibitions, residencies for young artists and curators, and educational activities.

An exhibition in Spain delves into the complex relationship between Picasso and the Christian religion

Una mostra in Spagna approfondisce il complesso rapporto tra Picasso e la religione cristiana

A new exhibition titled "Picasso. Radici Bibliche" (Picasso. Biblical Roots) has opened in the cloisters of the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Burgos, Spain, exploring the complex relationship between Pablo Picasso and Christianity. Organized in collaboration with the Almine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Foundation, the show features 44 works—paintings, drawings, and small sculptures—many from the foundation's collection and some never publicly displayed before. The exhibition is curated by Paloma Alarcó and includes loans from the Museo Picasso Barcelona, Musée Picasso Paris, Museo Reina Sofía, and the Monastery of Montserrat. It is structured chronologically across six thematic sections—Education, Maternity, Vanitas, Golgotha, Vera Icon, and Hope—to highlight Christian symbols in Picasso's work.

Portrait of a Papal Artist

An exhibition at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, titled 'Bernini e i Barberini,' explores the relationship between Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his most powerful patron, Pope Urban VIII Barberini. The show traces Bernini's artistic development, beginning with works by his father and teacher Pietro Bernini, and features key sculptures such as 'Saint Sebastian' (1617–18) and 'The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence' (1616–17). However, the exhibition notably omits significant reference to Bernini's earlier sponsor, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, creating a misleading impression that the artist was purely a Barberini discovery.

Mass Cuts at Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery has laid off 50 workers and cut 50 artists from its roster, representing about a fifth of its staff and a third of its artists. CEO Marc Glimcher described the move as a “model correction,” stating that “the current gallery model isn’t only broken, it’s unfixable.” The cuts come just years after the gallery opened a $100 million flagship building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and positioned itself as a leader in the crypto art space.

The Black Photographers Who Exposed My Own Brainwashing

The article reviews "Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985" at the Getty's West Pavilion in Los Angeles. The exhibition features over 200 photographs by Black photographers who documented and shaped the Black Arts Movement, including better-known figures like Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems alongside numerous lesser-known artists. Organized into eight themes, the show explores how Black photographers reframed the Black American image through pride, beauty, strength, and artistic daring, emphasizing photography's power as evidence and a tool for liberation.

The Best Part of “Moss and Freud” Is When It’s Over

The article is a scathing film review of "Moss and Freud" (2025), a new movie directed by James Lucas that depicts the friendship between supermodel Kate Moss and painter Lucian Freud. The reviewer criticizes the film as shallow, exploitative, and predictable, noting that it glamorizes an artist-muse relationship without addressing darker realities like Moss's "Cocaine Kate" epithet or the power dynamics at play. The film stars Ellie Bamber as Moss and Derek Jacobi as Freud, and is described as a frivolous buddy film that revels in early aughts excess but lacks substance.

Now even the mega galleries are in crisis. Pace Gallery cuts both staff and artists from its stable: "The system no longer works"

Ora entrano in crisi anche le mega gallerie. Pace Gallery taglia sia staff che artisti della scuderia: “Il sistema non funziona più”

Pace Gallery, one of the world's largest and most influential art galleries, has announced a major downsizing: it will cut 20% of its staff (50 out of 250 employees) and reduce its artist roster by 50, from 130 to approximately 80 represented artists and estates. CEO Marc Glimcher stated that the current gallery model is not just in crisis but "impossible to repair," citing excessive commercialization, corporate impersonality, and unsustainable overhead from multiple global locations and dozens of art fairs. The cuts come amid a broader 2025 downturn for commercial galleries, contrasting sharply with recent high-value auction sales in New York, highlighting a disconnect between the primary and secondary markets.

“In minor keys” è la mostra delle cuciture e della lentezza. Cosa funziona e cosa non funziona alla Biennale di Venezia

The article reviews "In minor keys," the main exhibition of the 61st Venice Biennale curated by Koyo Kouoh. It describes the show as an anti-white cube, anti-modernist display dominated by manual craftsmanship, textiles, and natural motifs, contrasting sharply with the previous edition curated by Adriano Pedrosa. The review notes the exhibition's cohesive character but criticizes certain works, such as Alfredo Jaar's installation, as jarring dissonances.

Edward Hopper’s Distinctly American Solitude

An excerpt from Ed Simon's book "American Elegy" analyzes Edward Hopper's iconic painting "Nighthawks" (1942), housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Simon explores the painting's imagined diner setting, its realist style, and the sense of loneliness it evokes, noting that Hopper claimed inspiration from a Greenwich Village restaurant but likely invented the scene. The text positions Hopper as a painter of American solitude, with figures trapped in their own selfhood.

Story of Francis Valentine Dudensing, the gallerist who brought European Avant-Garde to the United States in the early 1900s

Storia di Francis Valentine Dudensing, il gallerista che nel primo ‘900 portò l’Avanguardia Europea negli Stati Uniti

Francis Valentine Dudensing (1892-1967) was a New York gallerist who, between 1926 and 1947, played a pivotal role in introducing European modernism to the United States through his Valentine Gallery on 57th Street. He organized the first U.S. solo exhibitions of Giorgio de Chirico, Joan Miró, and Raoul Dufy, the first American retrospective of Henri Matisse in 1927, and the only solo show of Piet Mondrian during his lifetime in 1942. In May 1939, he presented Picasso's Guernica to the New York public for the first time. His gallery became a direct bridge between Paris and New York, supported by a network including Pierre Matisse, Paul Rosenberg, and Paul Guillaume.

Artist Julio Le Parc, Maestro of Light, Movement, and Defiance, Dies at 97

Julio Le Parc, the Franco-Argentine artist known for his kinetic and Op art works that transformed spectators into active participants, died in Paris on May 30 at age 97. His passing came just days before a major career retrospective at the Tate Modern in London, scheduled to open June 11, which will now serve as a posthumous tribute. Le Parc was the last surviving founding member of the artist collective Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) and was celebrated for his use of mirrors, motorized light boxes, and interactive devices that required viewer movement to complete the artwork.

Met Museum Announces Free Memberships for NY SNAP Recipients

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched a new free membership tier called "Explorer" for New York State residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Announced on June 2, the program offers perks including free general admission for the member and one guest plus children under 18, streamlined digital entry, access to select member previews, and event invitations. Enrollment is available at the Met Fifth Avenue and the Met Cloisters. The initiative is a collaboration with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Social Services, building on the museum's existing pay-what-you-wish admission for state residents and its 2024 Museums for All participation.

È morto Tommaso Setari. Una vita tra collezionismo e mecenatismo con sua moglie Giuliana Carusi

Tommaso Setari, a prominent Italian art collector and philanthropist, has died at the age of 76 after a long hospitalization in Brussels. Together with his wife Giuliana Carusi, he built one of the world's most significant contemporary art collections from the late 1970s onward, spanning artists from Sol LeWitt to Gerhard Richter. In 2001, the couple founded the Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art to support young artists and curators through residency programs in New York and Paris, later expanding into awards, symposia, and exhibitions. Setari's funeral was held on June 4 at the Church of Saint-Servais in Brussels.

Society’s Repair Begins With Art

Laura Raicovich, former director of the Queens Museum, describes how she turned to jewelry-making in 2024 as a personal refuge from political chaos and doomscrolling. She began by ice-dyeing pillows and later enrolled in Carolina Iwanow's jewelry classes in Williamsburg, eventually renting a studio bench where she now spends two to three days a week working with silver, gold, and ancient intaglios. Raicovich argues that this hands-on creative practice has been grounding and has given her the mental space to resist the overwhelming horrors of contemporary life.

“In Minor Keys” Is the Biennale’s Crown Jewel

Hyperallergic's Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara reviews the main exhibition of the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," calling it a triumph for the historically dispossessed and overlooked. The posthumous exhibition, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, features 111 international artists and is described as a hymn to those who carry both melancholy and joy. Separately, Aruna d'Souza interviews Lebanese-born, Sydney-based artist Khaled Sabsabi, who was initially chosen for the Australian Pavilion but temporarily removed due to pressure from pro-Israel groups before being reinstated and also invited by Kouoh to participate in the main exhibition. The article also includes brief news items about a Swann auction, a Louvre jewel heist film adaptation, and a study on art museums slowing aging.

Once the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation of Venice had international appeal. And now?

Un tempo la Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa di Venezia aveva attrattiva internazionale. E ora?

The article examines the historical and current state of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice, an institution founded in 1898 through the will of Felicita Bevilacqua to support young local artists excluded from the Venice Biennale. It traces the foundation's evolution from its origins at Ca' Pesaro to its later venues, including Palazzetto Tito and a space in Piazza San Marco, highlighting its role in hosting major exhibitions by artists such as Marlene Dumas, Thomas Ruff, Yoko Ono, and Edvard Munch. The author, who was involved with the foundation from 2002 to 2015, recalls its international appeal and successful partnerships with sponsors and museums.

A Kind of Paradise: Reclaiming Colonial-Era Photography Through Contemporary Art

Museum Rietberg in Zurich has opened "A Kind of Paradise," an exhibition featuring twenty international artists who rework and reclaim colonial-era photographs. The show is organized into four thematic sections—Shapeshifters, Confrontation, Care, and In the Photo Fantastic—each exploring different strategies for challenging the historical narratives embedded in colonial archives. Artists such as Wendy Red Star, Cédric Kouamé, Omar Victor Diop, and Sasha Huber use techniques like cutting, stitching, collage, and critical fabulation to transform photographs that once defined and distorted non-European cultures into new works about memory, identity, and resistance.