Tsedaye Makonnen’s ‘Sanctuary’ at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, United States

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art opened 'Tsedaye Makonnen — Sanctuary' on December 13, 2024, featuring towering light sculptures by Ethiopian American artist Tsedaye Makonnen. The central installation, 'Senait & Nahom: The Peacemaker & The Comforter', comprises 50 illuminated boxes named for individuals lost to violence, transforming grief into remembrance and hope. The exhibition also includes works from the museum's permanent collection by artists such as Alexander 'Skunder' Boghossian and Aïda Muluneh, and aligns with the museum's mission of cross-cultural understanding.

Hong Kong show offers 'most comprehensive survey' of 21st-century Chinese art

Tai Kwun in Hong Kong is presenting a two-part exhibition titled 'Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008,' aiming to be the most comprehensive survey of 21st-century Chinese art. The first part, 'Navigating the Cloud,' examined the early internet's influence, while the current second part, 'Supplying the Globe,' focuses on the physical world of labor and China's manufacturing supply chain. The show is structured thematically, exploring ecological footprints, reconfigured labor, networks of exchange, and global realignment.

Air de Paris, a Radical Stalwart of the French Gallery Scene, Is Closing

After 36 years and over 400 exhibitions, the radical Parisian gallery Air de Paris is closing due to bankruptcy. Co-founders Florence Bonnefous and Edouard Merino decided to shutter the gallery after its financial situation became fragile, compounded by Bonnefous's health issues (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and their refusal to adapt to the increasingly profit-driven, corporatist art market. The gallery's final show, titled “Oh What a Time,” in Romainville featured works by artists including Joseph Grigely, Amy Vogel, Allen Ruppersberg, Pierre Joseph, Mona Varichon, Pati Hill, Lily van der Stokker, and Trisha Donnelly.

Where are the Louvre Jewels?

Wo sind die Louvre-Juwelen?

Six months after a high-profile heist at the Louvre, investigators remain in pursuit of stolen jewelry valued at approximately €88 million. While four suspects are currently in custody, the bulk of the Second Empire-era treasures remains missing, leading to fears that the pieces may have been dismantled or melted down. The investigation has shifted focus toward how the thieves obtained a sensitive 2018 security audit that detailed vulnerabilities in the museum's defenses.

Aux Catacombes, une visite réinventée

After five months of closure, the Catacombs of Paris have reopened with a major modernization project. The site now features a new immersive audio guide narrated by the voice of its historical founder, Louis Étienne Héricart de Thury, along with improved lighting that highlights previously invisible details and a revamped climate-control system to better preserve the bones. The €5.5 million renovation, led by Paris Musées and funded by the City of Paris, also included structural repairs to the bone stacks using dry-stone techniques instead of cement.

Reopening of the Catacombs

Réouverture des Catacombes

The Catacombs of Paris have officially reopened to the public following a five-month renovation project. These extensive works were primarily focused on upgrading the site's infrastructure to enhance the overall visitor experience and improve the flow of traffic through the historic underground ossuary.

Six months after the Louvre heist, a 'Complément d'enquête' takes stock, with never-before-seen images broadcast tonight on France 2

Six mois après le casse du Louvre, un « Complément d’enquête » fait le point, avec des images inédites diffusées ce soir sur France 2

On October 19, 2025, eight historic and priceless jewels were stolen from the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre Museum in Paris in just over three minutes, using a hoist and an angle grinder. Six months later, the French investigative program "Complément d'enquête" airs a 50-minute documentary titled "Musée du Louvre : dans les coulisses du casse du siècle" on France 2, featuring exclusive surveillance footage, interviews with guards, police, experts, and ministers, and new details about the four suspects arrested within weeks.

Steven Durland, Champion of Performance Art, Dies at 75

Steven Durland, a longtime editor of *High Performance* magazine and a champion of performance art, died on March 11 at age 75 after a brief illness. His life partner, Linda Frye Burnham, confirmed his death in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Durland was born in Long Beach, California, raised in South Dakota, and trained as a ceramic artist with a BFA from the University of South Dakota and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He became deeply involved in performance and mail art, and from 1986 to 1994 served as editor of *High Performance*, a magazine founded by Burnham that featured thousands of artists including Nancy Buchanan, Carolee Schneemann, Paul McCarthy, Suzanne Lacy, and Ulysses Jenkins. Durland also maintained his own artistic practice, creating performances such as "Win Defeat/BID FOR POWER" (1978) and "Death and Taxis" (1982), and produced the micro-newspaper *Tacit*.

Highlights and Hidden Gems at Dumbo Open Studios

DUMBO Open Studios celebrated its 10th anniversary with over 175 artists across 21 buildings participating in the weekend event. The open studios, jointly managed by Team Dumbo and real estate developer Two Trees, featured a wide range of work, with a noted highlight being works on paper from artists like Bianca Fields, Amy Cutler, and Jason Karolak. Despite rainy weather, the event fostered impromptu conversations and community, with more than half of surveyed artists reporting sales and expectations of future exhibition opportunities.

Three things the Fuorisalone should do (and doesn't) to improve the quality of life in Milan

Tre cose che il Fuorisalone dovrebbe fare (e non fa) per migliorare la qualità della vita di Milano

The 2026 Milan Design Week, coinciding with the Salone del Mobile, has officially begun, bringing over 1,850 events to the city. The launch included a special breakfast-barter event in Piazza Duomo with artist Maurizio Cattelan and journalist Nicolas Ballario, kicking off a week expected to draw 300,000 visitors.

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

The Courtauld Gallery in London is hosting 'Seurat and the Sea,' the UK's first exhibition dedicated to Georges Seurat's seascapes. The show features over half of the artist's lifetime output of canvases, painted during summer trips to the Channel coast between 1885 and 1890, which he intended as visual cleansers from studio work. The exhibition highlights his pointillist technique, using contrasting dots of color to capture seaside light.

Los Angeles’s Getty Center will close for renovations ahead of the 2028 Olympics.

The Getty Center in Los Angeles has announced a temporary closure beginning March 15, 2027, to undergo its most extensive renovation since opening in 1997. The modernization project aims to enhance the visitor experience across the campus through a series of facility upgrades and reimagined spaces.

Joe Macken Spent 21 Years Hand-Assembling a Vast Model of New York City

Joe Macken, a Queens resident, spent 21 years hand-assembling a vast 50-by-27-foot scale model of New York City, completing it in 2025. The model, built from cardboard, glue, and balsa wood, comprises 340 individual sections and is now on long-term display at the Museum of the City of New York in an exhibition titled "He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model." Visitors can walk around the model and use binoculars to spot familiar buildings and neighborhoods.

Former Sotheby's chairman recounts the birth of the London art market as we know it

James Stourton, former chairman of Sotheby's UK, has written a book titled "Rogues and Scholars" that chronicles the rise of London's art market after World War II. The article highlights key moments such as Sotheby's 1958 sale of the Goldschmidt collection of Impressionist art, which transformed auctions into glamorous evening events, and the introduction of the buyer's premium in 1975, which Stourton calls "the Big Bang of the art world." It also profiles influential dealers and galleries like Marlborough Gallery, Robert Fraser, Christopher Gibbs, and Robin Symes who shaped global tastes from London.

Meet the Art Market’s Most Bankable Artists

The article, part of the Artnet Intelligence Report 'The Year Ahead 2025,' identifies the most bankable artists across five market categories based on auction results. It highlights Jean-Siméon Chardin's *Le Melon entamé* (1760) as the top-priced European Old Masters work, Pablo Picasso's *La Statuaire* (1925) as third-highest in Impressionist and Modern, David Hockney's *A Lawn Being Sprinkled* (1967) as third-highest in Postwar, Yoshitomo Nara's *I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight* (2017) as second-highest in Contemporary, and Jonas Wood's *Still Life with Cat and Fruit* (2020) as fifth-highest in Ultra-Contemporary.

The Underrated Architect of the Avant-Garde

Der unterschätzte Architekt der Avantgarde

The Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare in Bolzano is hosting a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Ilja Sdanewitsch, known as Iliazd, a Georgian-Russian-French avant-garde polymath. The exhibition, titled "Toutité Iliazd. Die Erforschung der Form," showcases his diverse output as a writer, designer, and publisher who viewed the book as a primary art object. The display includes architectural reliefs, textile designs for Coco Chanel, and his significant collaborations with icons like Picasso and Duchamp.

Monet painting auctioned in France for more than 10 million euros

Monet-Gemälde in Frankreich für mehr als 10 Millionen Euro versteigert

A recently rediscovered landscape painting by Claude Monet, titled "Vétheuil, effet du matin" (1901), sold for €10.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction in France. The sale exceeded its initial estimate of €6 million to €8 million and set a new record for a Monet work sold at auction within France. A second work, "Les îles de Port-Villez" (1883), also outperformed expectations, fetching €6.45 million during the same event.

The Minimalist Who Didn't Want to Be One

Die Minimalistin, die keine sein wollte

The Kunstsammlung NRW in Düsseldorf is hosting a major retrospective of American artist Anne Truitt, marking the first comprehensive survey of her work in Europe. The exhibition at K20 features approximately 120 works, including her signature hand-painted wooden columns, drawings, and the late "Pith" series, tracing her unique trajectory from the early 1960s until her death in 2004.

À Bordeaux, la métamorphose du MADD

The Musée des arts décoratifs et du design (MADD) in Bordeaux has reopened its design-focused wing after three years of renovation, featuring a new entrance pavilion designed by Antoine Dufour Architectes that connects the historic Hôtel de Lalande and the former municipal prison. The overhaul includes a monumental shelving display of eighty vases by designers such as Andrea Branzi and Gaetano Pesce, a new "gallery of know-how" dedicated to rotating thematic presentations (starting with ceramics), a graphic arts cabinet showcasing the Jacques Sargos collection of over 130 drawings, and improved climate control for conservation.

Monet, the Great Traveler

Monet, grand voyageur

The publishing house Cinabre has launched a new book series called 'Partance' that explores the influence of travel on artists' work. The inaugural volume, 'Partance. Claude Monet,' published in 2026, marks the centenary of Claude Monet's death by comprehensively tracing all of his foreign travels for the first time and analyzing their impact on his art.

A Monet Sold at Auction in France

Un Monet adjugé en France

Claude Monet’s painting 'Vétheuil, effet du matin' sold for nearly €10.2 million at an auction in Paris this Thursday. The sale highlights the continued demand for high-quality Impressionist works within the French capital's growing secondary market.

Two 17th-Century Dutch Still Lifes Acquired by the Getty

Deux natures mortes hollandaises du XVIIe siècle acquises par le Getty

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired two 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings by Pieter Claesz and Jan Davidsz. de Heem, masters of the genre. The works, including de Heem's "Vase en verre avec fleurs et fruits," were purchased on the New York art market and fill a gap in the museum's Dutch still-life collection, which previously lacked examples by these two artists.

Au musée de l’Image d’Épinal, les talents multiples de Frans Masereel, entre autres inventeur du roman graphique

The Musée de l'Image d'Épinal is presenting a comprehensive exhibition on Belgian artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972), widely credited as the inventor of the graphic novel in 1918 with his wordless narratives composed of black-and-white woodcuts. The show, curated by Samuel Dégardin, brings together loans from major institutions and a private collection to reveal the full breadth of Masereel's practice, which spanned drawing, animation, painting, theater, ceramics, tapestry, and satirical press illustration. It highlights his pacifist activism during World War I, his collaborations with writers such as Stefan Zweig and Romain Rolland, and his humanist vision of a unified Europe.

Under pressure, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale will exclude Russian and Israeli pavilions from the awards

Sous pression, le jury de la 61e Biennale de Venise exclura les pavillons russe et israélien du palmarès

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and running from May 9 to November 22, 2026, has been embroiled in political controversy after organizers decided to reinstate the Russian pavilion, which had been excluded since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under pressure from the European Commission, which threatened to suspend a €2 million grant, the jury announced it will exclude artists from the Russian and Israeli pavilions from winning prizes, citing that leaders Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The Russian pavilion will remain closed to the public but open for VIP press previews, while the Israeli pavilion stays open to the public. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has refused to attend the opening ceremony in protest.

In Rodez, the haunting shadows of Sugimoto and Soulages meet in a cosmic exhibition

À Rodez, les ombres envoûtantes de Sugimoto et de Soulages se rencontrent dans une exposition cosmique

The Musée Soulages in Rodez is hosting a major exhibition titled "Hiroshi Sugimoto. Reprendre la mélodie," which creates a visual dialogue between the Japanese photographer and the late French master of black, Pierre Soulages. Curated and scenographed by Sugimoto himself, the show pairs iconic series such as "Theaters," "Seascapes," and the colorful "Opticks" with Soulages’ "Outrenoir" paintings. The exhibition highlights their shared fascination with the horizon, the origins of humanity, and the architectural presence of art within a space.

Series, documentaries, films… All the art to see on streaming platforms right now

Séries, documentaires, films… Tout l’art à voir sur les plateformes en ce moment

Beaux Arts Magazine has curated a comprehensive selection of art-focused films, documentaries, and series currently available on major streaming platforms like Netflix, Arte.tv, and France.tv. The selection highlights diverse narratives, including the investigative documentary regarding a rediscovered Gustav Klimt portrait of a Ghanaian prince, an AI-assisted exploration of Andy Warhol’s diaries, and the cinematic dramatization of Varian Fry’s efforts to rescue artists like Chagall and Duchamp from Nazi-occupied France.

Lee Miller at the Musée d’Art Moderne: The Future Great Photographer Who Went from Rebel Child to Vogue Model

Lee Miller au musée d’Art moderne : la futur grande photographe passée de l’enfant rebelle au mannequin Vogue

The Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris is hosting a major retrospective dedicated to Lee Miller, tracing her evolution from a rebellious child in upstate New York to a celebrated Vogue model and pioneering surrealist photographer. The exhibition highlights her early life under the influence of her father, Theodore Miller, an amateur photographer who introduced her to the technical aspects of the darkroom, and her subsequent move to Paris in 1930 where she transitioned from being a muse for photographers like George Hoyningen-Huene to a formidable artist in her own right.

Thomas Bayrle at dépendance

German artist Thomas Bayrle presents a solo exhibition at the Brussels-based gallery dépendance, running from March 14 through April 11, 2026. The presentation showcases a comprehensive selection of Bayrle’s work, documented through an extensive collection of 42 installation views and individual piece images that highlight his signature aesthetic of repetitive patterns and industrial motifs.

Longevity and Obsoletion Impress Upon Alexander Endrullat’s Intaglio Prints

Longevity and Obsoletion Impress Upon Alexander Endrullat’s Intaglio Prints

Artist Alexander Endrullat has created a new series of intaglio prints by running discarded laptops through a century-old printing press. The process, discovered impulsively, physically deforms the devices with each pass, revealing worn keys and internal damage while transferring their textures and residues onto paper.

Walter Pfeiffer “In Good Company” at Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin

Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin will present "Walter Pfeiffer: In Good Company," the first institutional survey in Italy dedicated to the Swiss artist's photographic work, running from April 30 to September 13, 2026. The exhibition features over one hundred photographs spanning from the 1970s to the present, exploring themes of artifice, desire, and the everyday.