Already 100,000 Visitors at Cologne's Kusama Exhibition

Schon 100.000 Besucher in Kölner Kusama-Ausstellung

The Museum Ludwig in Cologne has reached a significant milestone, welcoming 100,000 visitors to its Yayoi Kusama retrospective within just four weeks of opening. The exhibition, which features 300 works ranging from early childhood drawings to contemporary installations, has proven to be an unprecedented draw for the institution, surpassing the director's initial expectations for attendance speed.

I think I didn't understand many artists

"Ich glaube, ich habe viele Künstler nicht verstanden"

Adrian Searle, the long-standing chief art critic for The Guardian, is stepping down after three decades at the publication and nearly 50 years in art criticism. In a reflective interview, Searle discusses his transition from a practicing painter and educator to a critic, noting that his early interactions with students like Peter Doig and Isaac Julien helped him realize his true strength lay in writing rather than art-making. He recounts his experiences navigating the British art scene, from the decline of Greenbergian abstraction to his encounters with formidable figures like Richard Serra.

'It was my job to create the view': US artist Liza Lou on making colourful works in her windowless warehouse

American artist Liza Lou discusses her recent shift in practice, moving from her famous large-scale bead installations to a new body of work that fuses oil painting with glass beads. After years of collaborative work in South Africa and focusing on monochrome tones, Lou has returned to a solitary studio practice in a windowless warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. This new phase is defined by a "headlong love affair with colour," inspired by the hallucinatory palette of the Mojave Desert and a transition from logical drawing to a more intuitive, freestyle process.

Revisiting One of Fauvism’s Wildest Painters

The Parisian gallery Helene Bailly Marcilhac is hosting a comprehensive monographic exhibition dedicated to the Dutch-French painter Kees van Dongen. The show traces the artist's career from his early days as a leading figure of the Fauvist movement through his later developments in portraiture, still life, and genre painting. Spanning several decades, the exhibition highlights Van Dongen's evolution from the "terrifying" bold colors of his youth to the more nuanced, expressive works of his later years, such as his 1950s floral studies and racing scenes.

Miart Turns 30 With a Bigger, Bolder Edition in Milan

Miart, Milan's international modern and contemporary art fair, is launching its 30th-anniversary edition in a new, larger venue, the Allianz MiCo South Wing. The 2026 edition, themed "New Directions: Miart, but different," will host 160 galleries from 24 countries across three levels, featuring sections like Emergent for new voices, Established for historical dialogue, and a special film project called Movements.

The Big Ideas Driving Art Paris This Year

Art Paris 2026 will take place from April 9–12 at the Grand Palais, featuring two major curated themes: "Babel – Art and Language in France," guest-curated by Loïc Le Gall, and "Reparation," curated by Alexia Fabre. The fair will include roughly 165 galleries, with sectors like Promises for emerging artists, Solo Show for monographic presentations, and French Design Art Edition.

ACA Galleries Presents 100 Years of Black Art

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ACA Galleries in New York is hosting "Continuum: Over 100 Years of Black Art," an expansive group exhibition running through March 7, 2026. The show features a diverse array of media—including painting, sculpture, textiles, and collage—by more than a dozen pioneering Black artists. Spanning from the 19th century to the present day, the exhibition highlights key figures such as still-life painter Charles Ethan Porter, collagist Romare Bearden, and contemporary textile artist Helen McBride Richter.

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Artissima, Italy's only contemporary art fair, closed its 32nd edition on November 2, 2025, at the Oval Lingotto Fiere in Turin, drawing 34,500 visitors and 176 galleries from 36 countries. Directed by Luigi Fassi for the fourth year, the fair ran from October 30 to November 2, featuring 63 monographic presentations and 26 first-time exhibitors. The edition introduced a new 5% VAT rate on artworks in Italy, awarded 13 prizes including the new Vilnius Residency Prize, and saw the Fondazione Arte CRT Acquisition Fund acquire 26 works for GAM Torino and Castello di Rivoli, marking its 25th anniversary. Special projects included "From Japan: Anonymous Art Project" and a film screening by Basim Magdy at Parco Michelotti.

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Naples-based gallery Alfonso Artiaco has opened a dual exhibition pairing British artists Liam Gillick and Alan Charlton for the first time. Gillick, a former Young British Artist associated with relational aesthetics, presents three new aluminum and Plexiglas "elevation" sculptures plus a wall piece titled *Euphoric Production Cycle* (2025). Charlton, known for his lifelong dedication to grey monochrome painting, contributes three works—a circle, square, and triangle—that anchor the show. The exhibition runs through January 10, 2025.

A Preview of Museum Exhibitions Opening in North Texas this Fall

A roundup of fall 2025 museum exhibitions in North Texas highlights shows at the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Meadows Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Key exhibitions include "Groundbreakers: Post-War Japan and Korea" at the Crow Museum, featuring Mono-ha, Dansaekhwa, and Gutai movements alongside contemporary artists Do Ho Suh and Tatsuo Miyajima; a major Antony Gormley survey at the Nasher Sculpture Center, his first U.S. museum retrospective; "Roaming Mexico: Laura Wilson" and a companion show of Manuel Álvarez Bravo at the Meadows Museum; and two Dallas Museum of Art exhibitions—"Creatures and Captives: Painted Textiles of the Ancient Andes" and "Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry." The New York Academy of Art also presents its Chubb Fellows and Friends at Green Family Art Foundation.

Gardar Eide Einarsson Leaves You in the Dark

Gardar Eide Einarsson’s latest exhibition at Maureen Paley’s East London space presents a haunting exploration of dissociation and coded information. The show features two distinct series: 'Closed Caption,' a collection of monochrome black gouache paintings featuring isolated subtitles from films, and 'Incendiary Test Area,' a set of hyperrealistic woodblock prints created in collaboration with master Shoichi Kitamura. These prints depict the interiors of mock 'Japanese' houses built by the US Army for fire-bombing tests during World War II.

HOSOO to Present “Glorious Robe,” a Collaborative Exhibition with Theaster Gates

Kyoto-based textile house HOSOO has announced a collaborative exhibition with American artist Theaster Gates titled “Glorious Robe,” scheduled to run from April 11 to August 30, 2026. The showcase centers on the “Dashikimono,” a hybrid garment merging the West African dashiki with the Japanese kimono, alongside ceramic vessels and traditional obi sashes. These works incorporate motifs from the American Civil Rights Movement, including tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, woven directly into the fabric using HOSOO’s centuries-old Nishijin techniques.

‘My paintings are always really kitchen sink, everything’s thrown into them’: Christina Quarles on her new solo show in Los Angeles

Artist Christina Quarles has launched her first solo exhibition with Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, titled "The Ground Glows Black." The new body of work features her signature fluid, elastic depictions of bodies, but introduces a more "untethered" and monochromatic aesthetic influenced by recent personal trauma. The paintings and works on paper were created in the aftermath of the Eaton fire, which destroyed the artist's home and community in Altadena.

Van Gogh’s family used an erotic Gauguin ceramic as a flower vase

A researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, Joost van der Hoeven, has revealed that Paul Gauguin's erotic ceramic, the Cleopatra Pot (winter 1887-88), was used as a flower vase by Vincent van Gogh's family. Gauguin brought the pot to Arles when he stayed with Van Gogh in 1888, and after Van Gogh's ear incident, Gauguin gave the pot to Vincent's brother Theo as a gift. The pot later remained with Theo's widow, Jo Bonger, and a photograph from 1925-26 shows it on her piano holding flowers, surrounded by still-life paintings.

Christie's Paris Art Week - Christie's

Christie's will hold a series of modern and contemporary art auctions and events in Paris during late October 2025, coinciding with the fourth edition of Art Basel Paris. The sales feature major works including a monumental Yves Klein monochrome (estimate on request), Alberto Giacometti's 'Femme debout' (€5-7M), Paul Signac's 'La Passerelle Debilly' (€4-6M), and pieces by Pierre Soulages, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others. The week opens on October 23 with 'Moderne(s), une collection particulière européenne,' a private collection of 40 European avant-garde works, followed by the flagship 'Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian' sale.

Schloss Bellevue wird temporär Ausstellungshaus

Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, will be transformed into a temporary pop-up gallery for two weeks from June 13 to 28, before undergoing a major renovation expected to last around eight years. The exhibition, organized in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, will feature works by artists including Katharina Grosse, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Monica Bonvicini, taking advantage of the emptied rooms ahead of the president's move-out before the summer break. Free timed-entry tickets will be available from May 18 via the Akademie's website.

Where to go this weekend?

Wohin am Wochenende?

This week's art tips from Monopol magazine highlight exhibitions and events across Germany and Europe. In Berlin, the Helmut Newton Museum reopens with a new immersive film space and a fresh presentation of its collection, while the Neue Nationalgalerie showcases Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's iconic painting "Potsdamer Platz" in the exhibition "Ruin und Rausch. Berlin 1910-1930." In Bozen, Chinese artist Evelyn Taocheng Wang presents new works at Museion, blending painting, textiles, and installation. The Art Brussels fair returns with a reduced lineup of 138 galleries, focusing on Belgian and neighboring markets. In Duisburg, Anish Kapoor receives the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Prize, accompanied by a solo exhibition at the Lehmbruck Museum.

Sebastiaan Bremer: Super Modern Things

Edwynn Houk Gallery presents "Super Modern Things," an exhibition of new works by Sebastiaan Bremer. The artworks blend photography and painting, starting from historical source images such as 17th-century Dutch botanical catalogues and Golden Age still life paintings. Bremer photographs these reproductions and adds ink and acrylic marks—dots, lines, stains, and washes—creating rhythms that evoke language, music, emotion, and constellations. The exhibition continues his long-standing exploration of flowers and the layered histories of still life, addressing themes of beauty, mortality, value, ecology, and global exchange. An accompanying monograph of his flower series is scheduled for Fall 2026.

Korean Art Masters Ha Chonghyun and RM's Collection Highlight San Francisco Exhibitions

San Francisco's Asian Art Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will host major exhibitions of Korean art this fall. The Asian Art Museum will present the first North American museum retrospective of monochrome master Ha Chonghyun, featuring over 50 works spanning six decades. SFMOMA will debut a special exhibition showcasing the personal art collection of BTS leader RM, juxtaposing over 150 pieces from his holdings with works from the museum's own collection.

Master of Dansaekhwa Ha Chong-Hyun to Showcase Korean Art in the U.S.

Ha Chong-Hyun, a leading figure of the Korean Dansaekhwa (monochrome painting) movement, will receive his first North American museum retrospective at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The exhibition, titled 'Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective,' opens on September 25 and will feature approximately 50 paintings spanning over 60 years of his career, including new works and pieces showcasing his signature 'Back Pressure Technique.'

Monochrome Painting Master Ha Chong-Hyun to Hold Major Retrospective in the U.S.

Monochrome painting master Ha Chong-Hyun will have his first North American museum retrospective at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (AAM) from September 25, 2026, to January 25, 2027. The exhibition, titled "Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective," will feature about 50 works spanning over 60 years, including his early Art Informel experiments, his politically charged works, and his iconic "Conjunction" series created with his signature Back Pressure Technique.

Barkley L. Hendricks | Biography, Paintings, Photography & Legacy

Barkley L. Hendricks was a transformative American portrait artist known for depicting ordinary Black men and women with the scale and technical mastery typically reserved for European Old Masters. After a pivotal trip to Europe in the 1960s where he noted the absence of Black subjects in museum collections, Hendricks dedicated his career to elevating Black identity through bold, life-sized oil paintings and photography. His work often featured vibrant monochromatic backgrounds and subjects drawn from his personal life, popular music, and urban culture.

10 Art Shows to See in DC This Spring

Washington, D.C. is hosting a series of major art exhibitions this spring that critically examine American identity, race, and gender. Key shows include the National Gallery of Art’s "Dear America," the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ "Making Their Mark," and the National Portrait Gallery’s "Outwin 2025" triennial. These exhibitions feature a diverse range of artists, from historical figures like Mary Cassatt and Fritz Scholder to contemporary voices like Nick Cave, Diana Al-Hadid, and Aliza Nisenbaum.

This Groundbreaking New Showcase of Nearly 60 Works Is the Biggest-Ever Exhibition of LGBTQ+ African Art

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.

Paris exhibition provides a new canon-busting vision of Minimalism

The Bourse de Commerce in Paris hosts "Minimal," a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation. The show centers on five large-scale natural-material works by 81-year-old US artist Meg Webster, while featuring over 100 works by more than 50 artists to challenge the traditional narrative that 1960s-70s Minimalism was exclusively a white, male, American movement. It includes thematic sections on light, balance, and monochrome, a gallery devoted to Japan's Mono-ha movement, and retrospectives of Agnes Martin and Lygia Pape, drawing largely from the Pinault Collection with international loans.

Local Art Books to Gift This Holiday Season

Several artists with ties to Baltimore have released new art books just in time for the holiday season. The featured publications include a debut monograph on Derrick Adams from Phaidon's Monacelli imprint, a book by rising painter Jerrell Gibbs titled 'No Solace in the Shade' published by Rizzoli, the exhibition catalogue for Amy Sherald's retrospective 'American Sublime' at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Jackie Milad's debut art book 'Shabtis Gather' produced in partnership with BmoreArt. The article also recommends gifting a subscription to BmoreArt magazine.

Artist Olafur Eliasson brings the outside world thrillingly to life inside the art gallery

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson's major survey exhibition 'Presence' has opened at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane, Australia. Curated by Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, the show synthesizes three decades of Eliasson's immersive installations, photography, and sculpture, including iconic works like 'Riverbed' (2014) and 'The cubic structural evolution project' (2004), both from QAGOMA's permanent collection. A spectacular new installation also titled 'Presence' features a pulsing artificial sun using mirrors and monofrequency light to create an illusion of infinite space.

Rosalind Fox Solomon and Larry Fink reunited with mentor Lisette Model at Paris Photo

At this year's Paris Photo, the MUUS Collection presented "Looking Out, Looking In: Larry Fink and Rosalind Fox Solomon with Lisette Model," an exhibition that placed the work of photographers Larry Fink (1941-2023) and Rosalind Fox Solomon (1930-2025) in dialogue with that of their teacher, Lisette Model (1901-83). The MUUS Collection, founded by Michael W. Sonnenfeldt, owns the archives of Fink and Solomon, acquired in 2024 and 2021 respectively, and partnered with the French gallery baudoin lebon to include Model's prints. The presentation was organized by Anne E. Havinga, curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and highlighted Model's pedagogical legacy as a teacher at the New School for Social Research who emphasized personal vision and creative independence.

December Book Bag: from a photographic record of a lost nightclub to the tale of an accidental art heist

This article presents a roundup of four new art-related book releases for December. It covers Liz Johnson Artur's photographic monograph 'PDA' documenting a queer Black club night in London from 2011 to 2021; a survey of William Nicholson's career edited by Simon Martin, accompanying an exhibition at Pallant House Gallery; a monograph on Sandy Skoglund's surreal installations tied to a show at the McNay Art Museum; and Whit Rummel and Noah Charney's true-crime memoir 'The Accidental Picasso Thief' about a stolen Picasso painting that ended up in a forklift operator's home.

12 art exhibits to explore this fall

Greater Boston's fall art exhibitions feature a range of shows that reflect on social issues and artistic traditions. Notable exhibits include Jean Shin's "Fabricated Imaginaries: Crafting Art" at the Rose Art Museum, which explores textile consumption and Asian stereotypes; "Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black" at Harvard Art Museums, showcasing monochromatic works; "Andrew Gn: Fashioning the World" at the Peabody Essex Museum, highlighting the designer's blend of Eastern and Western aesthetics; and "List Projects 33: Every Ocean Hughes" at MIT List Visual Arts Center, examining the process of dying through video installation.