Fairfield University Art Museum Exhibition to Commemorate 250th Anniversary of the U.S., Opens Jan. 23

Fairfield University Art Museum will open a major loan exhibition titled "For Which It Stands…" on January 23, 2026, running through July 25, 2026, as part of the university's commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The exhibition features over 70 works by diverse artists from the early 20th century to the present day, all centered on depictions of the American flag, including pieces by Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, Julie Mehretu, Childe Hassam, and a new textile sculpture by Maria de Los Angeles commissioned for the show. Works are lent by private collectors, artists, galleries, and institutions such as the Delaware Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Gordon Parks Foundation.

Must-see New York City museum openings and exhibitions in 2026

The article previews major New York City museum exhibitions opening in 2026, including a Carol Bove survey at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (March 5–August 2), the first U.S. Marcel Duchamp retrospective since 1973 at the Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum's inaugural show in its OMA-designed expansion titled "New Humans: Memories of the Future," and a Goya exhibition at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States. Each show highlights significant artistic milestones, from Bove's scrap-metal sculptures to Duchamp's readymades and Goya's war commentaries.

22 art exhibitions in L.A. to look forward to in 2026

Los Angeles is set for a major year in visual arts in 2026, with 22 notable exhibitions and events planned across the city. Highlights include the opening of the world’s first AI arts museum (Dataland), the long-awaited Lucas Museum, Yoko Ono’s first solo show in L.A., and the LA Art Show featuring Sylvester Stallone’s abstract works and a new Latin American Pavilion. Other exhibitions include a Selena retrospective at the Grammy Museum and a video art survey at the historic Variety Arts Theater.

1+1. Relational Art: at MAXXI a major exhibition reflects on the legacy of Nicolas Bourriaud's critical revolution

The MAXXI museum in Rome has opened a major exhibition titled "1+1. Relational Art," which examines the legacy of Nicolas Bourriaud's influential 1998 book "Relational Aesthetics." The show brings together works by artists from the 1990s generation—including Maurizio Cattelan, Douglas Gordon, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno, Liam Gillick, and Dominique González-Foerster—who pioneered art based on human interactions and social contexts rather than traditional autonomous objects. The exhibition reflects on how Bourriaud's theory, developed from studio visits with these young artists, redefined art criticism by proposing that artworks be judged by the interhuman relations they produce or evoke.

Harlem’s Studio Museum reopening was a fitting reflection of its history and work

The Studio Museum in Harlem reopened in November 2025 after a seven-year reconstruction, unveiling a new building designed by Adjaye Associates and Cooper Robertson that incorporates architectural elements of Harlem, such as masonry-framed windows and a staircase evoking brownstone stoops. The reopening featured a major exhibition highlighting alumni from its renowned artist-in-residence program, which began in 1968 with Tom Lloyd as the first recipient. Founded by Charles E. Innis and a coalition of artists, activists, and philanthropists, the museum has long served as a nexus for artists of African descent, expanding the canon of Black art during the civil rights and Black Power movements.

Holiday Shopping at Sotheby's: All I Want for Christmas Is a Shot Marilyn

Sotheby's has opened its new global headquarters in the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, New York, with an exhibition titled "Icons: Back to Madison" featuring 27 contemporary art masterpieces valued at over $2 billion. Highlights include Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Untitled" (1982), which sold for $110.5 million in 2017, and Andy Warhol's "Shot Orange Marilyn" (1964), reportedly sold privately for $200 million. The show offers a rare public viewing of works typically held in private collections, including pieces owned by billionaire collector Kenneth C. Griffin.

In the bag: Sotheby’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week finds success with Birkins and bling

Sotheby’s inaugural Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi (2-5 December) achieved a total of $133.4m across five live auctions held on a beachfront stage. The sale featured luxury items including a Hermès Birkin Voyageur owned by Jane Birkin ($2.9m), a 31.68-carat pink diamond called The Desert Rose ($8.8m), and a Patek Philippe watch set that became the second most valuable watch sold in Sotheby’s history ($11.9m). No art was offered, but the auction house sold 50 items privately, including the world’s largest fancy deep green diamond. The sell-through rate was strong, with only one piece of real estate and a couple of cars unsold, outperforming Sotheby’s earlier Saudi Arabia sale.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings of the Week (12/08—12/14)

Steely gaze: a look back at Richard Hunt’s early work at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami has opened "Richard Hunt: Pressure," the largest survey to date of American sculptor Richard Hunt (1935-2023), focusing on his work from 1955 to 1989. The exhibition traces Hunt's evolution from self-taught welder at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to a master of welded steel, featuring early pieces like *Telescopic Construction* (1955) and *Hero's Head* (1956), the latter created after attending Emmett Till's open-casket funeral. Co-curated by Gean Moreno and Alex Gartenfeld, the show highlights Hunt's negotiation between formal innovation and social awareness, with works that balance beauty and brutality.

At the Aspen Art Museum, Glenn Ligon inspects the record

Glenn Ligon's exhibition "Break It Down" opened at the Aspen Art Museum on November 21, showcasing 47 works spanning three decades. The show examines how the artist constructs a portrait of self by drawing on external institutional documents, including school reports, museum conservators' notes, and James Baldwin's essay "Stranger in The Village." Key works include 50 screenprinted self-portraits with printing glitches that question stable identity, and a final gallery centered on a painting built from Baldwin's text, surrounded by dark carbon and graphite rubbings that reinterpret the essay through physical mark-making.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This December

This December, Los Angeles presents a diverse array of art exhibitions that engage with contemporary social issues, cultural protest, and new possibilities. Highlights include Alan Luna's subversive reinterpretations of Mexican history and American modernism at the new La Plaza Projects, a group show at The Box featuring nearly 200 artists challenging normative sexuality, and Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack's assemblages at Night Gallery that poetically repurpose discarded objects from LA streets. Other notable shows include Edith Dekyndt and Richard Long's dialogue on nature at Okey Dokey Konrad Fischer, and Sam Shoemaker's performance-based mushroom boat project at Fulcrum Arts.

Palazzo of Pop Art: new gallery in Italy will house major collection of 20th-century art

The Sonnabend Collection, a major trove of 20th-century art assembled by pioneering dealer Ileana Sonnabend, opens to the public on 29 November in Mantua, Italy. Housed in the renovated 13th-century Palazzo della Ragione, the new museum—Sonnabend Collection Mantova—will display nearly 100 works by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons across 11 contemporary galleries. The venue also includes a temporary exhibition space, a bookshop, and an educational department, with the inaugural show featuring Warhol films.

One Fine Show: “Anselm Kiefer, Becoming the Sea” at the Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum has opened “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea,” an exhibition featuring 40 works by the German artist from the 1970s to the present, including over 20 pieces made in the last five years and five monumental site-specific paintings. The show highlights Kiefer's 1991 journey up the Mississippi River during a visit to St. Louis, a formative trip that inspired new works such as the 30-by-27-foot painting *Missouri, Mississippi* (2024), which depicts the artist encountering the Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton, Illinois. The exhibition also includes pieces like *Die Milchstraße* (1985-87) and two works dedicated to beat poet Gregory Corso, whose lines about eternal life gave the show its title.

Pipilotti Rist: 4th Floor to Mildness

Pipilotti Rist's major installation *4th Floor to Mildness* has opened at the Portland Art Museum's Crumpacker Center in its West Coast premiere and only second U.S. exhibition. The immersive work features underwater film projected onto two biomorphic screens, a soundtrack by experimental musician Soap&Skin/Anja Plaschg, and raft-like beds for visitors to lie on while experiencing floating imagery and moving light circles. The exhibition was adapted from its original 2022 presentation at the New Museum in New York, with local production partners including Portland Garment Factory and Figure Plant contributing to the installation.

Art Collaboration Kyoto holds its most global edition yet

Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) opened its fifth edition at the Kyoto International Conference Center, running until 16 November. The fair, launched in 2021 to connect Japanese and international galleries, has grown to a record 72 exhibitors, half from overseas. Special exhibitions are staged at historic temples across Kyoto, including shows by Isabella Ducrot at Kousei-in, Carrie Yamaoka at Manshu-in, and Shio Kusaka with Jonas Wood at Ryosoku-in. Sales were strong on opening day, with galleries like KAYOKOYUKI, Kurimanzutto, Mendes Wood DM, and TARO NASU reporting brisk transactions.

Jenny Saville Is Getting a Landmark Exhibition in Venice

Jenny Saville will be the subject of a major new exhibition at Venice’s International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro, opening March 28, 2026 and running through November 22, 2026, alongside the 61st Venice Biennale. The show will feature around 30 paintings spanning her career from the 1990s to the present, including seminal works like *Hyphen* (1999) and *Reverse* (2002–13), and will conclude with a new series created in homage to Venice. The exhibition is curated by Ca’ Pesaro director Elisabetta Barisoni and supported by Gagosian.

Art Gallery of Ontario gets gift of more than 450 works

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto has received a major gift of 474 artworks from the late collectors Carol and Morton Rapp, including prints, photographs, sculptures, and artist books by 203 artists. Highlights include 13 screenprints by Andy Warhol, eight works by Robert Rauschenberg, nine by Jasper Johns, and pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Lee Bontecou, and David Hockney, as well as contemporary works by Kara Walker, William Kentridge, Yinka Shonibare, and Rachel Whiteread. The Rapps, who began collecting in the 1960s, had a long relationship with the AGO dating back to 1966.

Film-maker Wes Anderson to recreate Joseph Cornell’s New York studio in Paris this Christmas

Filmmaker Wes Anderson is recreating Joseph Cornell's New York studio in a window display at Gagosian Gallery's Paris space on Rue de Castiglione, opening next month to coincide with Christmas and Cornell's birthday on December 24. The exhibition will feature around 12 of Cornell's iconic shadow boxes, including "Pharmacy" (1943) and works from his Medici series, alongside hundreds of found objects. Curated by Jasper Sharp, who has worked with Anderson for years, the display is designed as a non-interactive window installation that captures the spirit and atmosphere of Cornell's basement studio in Queens, rather than an exact replica. Anderson and Sharp have spent weeks studying photographs and first-hand accounts, sourcing objects from flea markets and employing Anderson's film crew to replicate Cornell's handwriting and aging techniques.

Wes Anderson to recreate Joseph Cornell’s studio at Gagosian Paris.

Filmmaker Wes Anderson, in collaboration with curator Jasper Sharp, will recreate the New York studio of American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell at Gagosian Paris. The exhibition, titled “The House on Utopia Parkway,” opens December 16th and marks Cornell’s first solo presentation in Paris in over 40 years. It will feature over 300 items from Cornell’s personal collection, including key works such as *Pharmacy* (1943), *Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy)* (ca. 1950), and *A Dessing Room for Gille* (1939), along with loans from the Joseph Cornell Study Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The installation, designed with exhibition designer Cécile Dégos and Anderson’s longtime collaborators, will reconstruct Cornell’s work table and include shadow boxes, assemblages, and ephemera that reflect his fascination with collecting and memory.

9 Standout Solo Gallery Shows to See in Paris

The article highlights nine standout solo gallery shows currently on view in Paris, coinciding with Art Basel and other art fairs taking place in the city. Featured exhibitions include Elmgreen & Dragset's lifelike office worker installation at MASSIMODECARLO's Piece Unique window, Jessie Makinson's new surreal figurative paintings at Brigitte Mulholland, a tribute to Robert Rauschenberg's 100th birthday at Thaddaeus Ropac, Jeffrey Gibson's first Paris solo show at Hauser & Wirth, and Mickalene Thomas's new portrait series at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, among others.

When is art sacred? A Jesuit artist on what makes the absurd, the abstract and the ordinary holy

The article is a first-person reflection by Jesuit artist Nick Leeper on the 2024 Biennale d'Art Contemporain Sacré in Menton, France. Leeper describes entering the Grand Hôtel des Ambassadeurs expecting a traditional sacred art show but finding instead a mix of abstract sculptures, Venetian glassworks, and works by Man Ray, alongside more conventional religious pieces. The biennale, founded in 2019 by Liana Marabini, features 180 artists from 29 countries exploring the theme of "forgiveness," including major names like Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, and Gerhard Richter, as well as artists from religious orders. Leeper recounts how visitors at the opening asked what makes such diverse works sacred.

A Bike Path Now Runs Through the Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is opening a new 24,000-square-foot glass structure called the Mark Rothko Pavilion on November 20, 2025. The $111 million expansion, funded almost entirely by private donations, connects the museum's two existing buildings—the original travertine building designed by Pietro Belluschi and a former Masonic temple—above ground for the first time. The pavilion is named after the artist Mark Rothko, who had his first museum exhibition at PAM in 1932 under his birth name Marcus Rothkowitz. The project was designed by Chicago firm Vinci Hamp Architects and Portland's Hennebery Eddy.

Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris opens epic Gerhard Richter retrospective

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is opening a massive retrospective of Gerhard Richter's work, featuring 275 pieces spanning his entire career from the 1960s to recent ink-cloud drawings. Curated by Dieter Schwarz and Nicholas Serota at Richter's own suggestion, the exhibition is strictly chronological and occupies over 3,000 square meters of Frank Gehry-designed gallery space. It includes iconic works like *Uncle Rudi* (1965) and *Table* (1962), alongside very recent small-scale drawings, and draws from both public and private collections.

In the frame: photography comes to the fore at Frieze London and beyond

Photography takes center stage at Frieze London and across the city, with major exhibitions of Lee Miller at Tate Britain, Wolfgang Tillmans at Maureen Paley, Arthur Jafa at Sadie Coles, and Marina Abramović stills at Saatchi Yates. At Frieze Masters, Pace Gallery dedicated its booth to Peter Hujar, selling six prints on opening day at prices from $25,000 to $45,000. Commercial galleries like Gagosian and David Zwirner are investing heavily in photography, with Zwirner bringing Diane Arbus to London for the first time in a UK commercial context.

A tale of two philanthropies: why private foundations differ in London and Paris

Two new private philanthropic art spaces have opened in London this month: YDP (Yan Du Projects) in Bedford Square, founded by Chinese patron Yan Du, and Ibraaz in Fitzrovia, funded by Tunisian-Swiss banker Kamel Lazaar and run by his daughter Lina Lazaar. YDP focuses on Asian and Asian diasporic art, while Ibraaz centers art of the "global majority," featuring works like Ibrahim Mahama's installation and a library by the Otolith Group. Both founders, in their early 40s, represent a younger generation of patrons prioritizing social impact over legacy.

What to expect from Fondation Cartier's new Parisian home

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will open its highly anticipated new Paris gallery at Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre, on 25 October 2025. The inaugural exhibition, Exposition Générale (running until 23 August 2026), features over 600 works by more than 100 artists, drawn from the foundation's collection of around 4,500 pieces. Designed by Italian studio Formafantasma, the show is organized into four thematic sections—Machines d’architecture, Être nature, Making Things, and un monde réel—and includes works by Sarah Sze, Rinko Kawauchi, Patti Smith, James Turrell, Vija Celmins, Joan Mitchell, Damien Hirst, and others. The building, part of the former Louvre des Antiquaires complex, was reconfigured by architect Jean Nouvel, adding 6,500 sq. m of exhibition space with a library, auditorium, and restaurant.

An exhibition on the potato in art? Only Van Gogh could pull it off

The Noordbrabants Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, opens a focused exhibition titled "Van Gogh and the Potato" on 11 October, running until 1 February 2026. The show features five Van Gogh paintings, two drawings, and a print centered on the potato motif, including "Still life with Potatoes" (autumn 1886), which has been newly identified as depicting "rat's back" potatoes. A key highlight is the study "Head of a Woman (Gordina de Groot)" (March-April 1885), acquired by the museum last year for €8.6 million. The exhibition also includes a lithograph of "The Potato Eaters" and explores Van Gogh's shift from peasant subjects to flower still lifes after moving to Paris.

Where to see art in Houston now: 10 exhibits and shows opening in October

Houston's October art scene is dominated by exhibitions exploring scientific and cosmic themes, including plasma installations, fractal worlds, and quantum landscapes. Notable shows include Anahita Bradberry's 'Spectral Field' at Diverseworks, Julius Horsthuis's 'Fractal Worlds' at Artechouse, and 'Growing Up Jewish' at Holocaust Museum Houston. The month also features CraftTexas 2025 at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 'Lines of Resolution' at Menil Drawing Institute, and a farewell show at Anya Tish Gallery.

Van Gogh’s ‘Postman’, and the very chair seen in the painting, go on show in a revelatory Amsterdam exhibition

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has opened "Van Gogh and the Roulins: Together Again at Last," the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's portraits of postman Joseph Roulin and his family. The show, which runs until January 11, 2026, features the artist's first portrait of Roulin on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, alongside the very wicker armchair on which Roulin posed in 1888. The chair, originally bought by Van Gogh for his Yellow House in Arles, was acquired by the museum in 1969 and is exhibited for the first time since then. The exhibition previously drew 280,000 visitors in Boston.

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.