Art Institute of Chicago’s first Norman Rockwell acquisition is a home run

The Art Institute of Chicago has acquired its first work by the iconic American illustrator Norman Rockwell. The painting, titled "The Dugout" (1948), is a significant oil study for a Saturday Evening Post cover depicting dejected Chicago Cubs players. Donated by former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana, the work has been immediately placed on view alongside other masterpieces of American art like "American Gothic."

Why Filmmaker Ming Wong Is the Ultimate Shape-Shifter

Berlin-based Singaporean artist Ming Wong premiered a new film, *Dance of the Sun on the Water | Saltatio Solis in Aqua*, at London's National Gallery. The work, created during a residency, reimagines Saint Sebastian as a queer, shape-shifting figure, with Asian performers of multiple genders enacting the martyrdom amidst the museum's collection of historical paintings of the saint.

How Dalí’s Amber Varnish May Have Caused This Painting to Decay

A new scientific study has revealed the cause of deterioration in Salvador Dalí's 1946 painting 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony.' Researchers from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and an international team used advanced imaging techniques to determine that the degradation, which includes areas becoming transparent or textured, is linked to the chemical interaction between a zinc white paint layer and an amber varnish layer, both materials specifically advocated by Dalí in his own artistic manual.

Manitoba Anishinaabe Artist Designs Moon Patch; Uffizi Targeted by Cyberattack

manitoba anishinaabe artists design moon uffizi cyberattack

Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond has designed a mission patch for Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen to wear during the Artemis II lunar mission. The artwork features seven symbolic animals representing the Seven Sacred Laws of Anishinaabe custom, intended as a universal message for humanity that will literally travel beyond Earth's orbit.

manet morisot cleveland legion of honor impressionism

The Cleveland Museum of Art is hosting "Manet & Morisot," an exhibition that explores the deep artistic and personal relationship between Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. Moving beyond traditional narratives that cast Morisot as a secondary figure or mere muse, the show highlights her role as a peer who actively influenced Manet’s transition toward modernism. The exhibition features key works such as Morisot’s "View of Paris from the Trocadero" and Manet’s "The Railway," emphasizing their shared motifs and collaborative vision.

Stolen Van Gogh Back on View at Dutch Museum After Dramatic Restoration

A Vincent van Gogh painting, 'The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring,' stolen from the Singer Laren museum in 2020, has been restored and returned to public display at the Groninger Museum. The painting was recovered in 2023 by Dutch police and art sleuth Arthur Brand, and underwent a meticulous, months-long restoration by conservator Marjan de Visser to repair damage and remove historical overpainting.

A brush with… Karen Archey, head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums

Karen Archey, the head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums, shares personal insights in an interview format. She reveals her obsession with painter Alice Neel, discusses a formative 2007 summer touring major European art events, and lists the poetry and audio currently occupying her attention.

How Lillian Bassman Pushed Fashion Photography to the Edge of Abstraction

A new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Lillian Bassman: Harper's Bazaar and Beyond," highlights the pioneering work of fashion photographer Lillian Bassman. The show reveals how Bassman, through darkroom experimentation like selective exposure and blowing cigarette smoke under the enlarger, created moody, abstract images that often reduced clothing to mere suggestion, pushing the boundaries of commercial fashion photography in the 1940s and 1950s.

Rare Leonora Carrington Sketches of Her Inner Turmoil Resurface in London Show

Rare sketches by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, created during her 1940 confinement in a Spanish psychiatric hospital, have been reunited and are on display at London's Freud Museum. The exhibition, "Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal," features sketchbooks that reimagined the hospital as a mythological underworld and served as preparatory studies for her seminal painting Down Below.

From The Magic Faraway Tree to 5 Seconds of Summer: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

The Guardian has published a comprehensive weekly entertainment guide covering cinema, gigs, art exhibitions, stage performances, and home entertainment options. The guide highlights new film releases like the adaptation of Enid Blyton's 'The Magic Faraway Tree' and the documentary 'Orwell: 2+2 = 5', major concerts from 5 Seconds of Summer, and art exhibitions featuring Estonian modernist Konrad Mägi and Scottish painter Joan Eardley.

Matisse’s explosive finale and a new chapter for Hong Kong? Plus, Schiaparelli and Dalí—podcast

This week's episode of The Art Newspaper podcast covers three major art world events. A landmark Henri Matisse exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris focuses on his final, explosive 13 years of work, including his famous cut-outs. In Hong Kong, Art Basel opens amid economic uncertainty, with analysis on whether the market is turning a corner. Meanwhile, London's Victoria and Albert Museum unveils a show on Elsa Schiaparelli, featuring a Salvador Dalí painting that directly inspired her iconic fashion designs.

‘The violence of racist tyranny’: African Guernica goes on display alongside Picasso masterpiece

The Reina Sofía museum in Madrid has installed Dumile Feni's 1967 drawing 'African Guernica' directly opposite Pablo Picasso's iconic 'Guernica' painting. This pairing is the centerpiece of the museum's new annual exhibition series 'History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme,' which aims to place works from different cultural contexts in dialogue with Picasso's masterpiece.

Whitney Biennial Trends, a New Baroque Art Star, and Banksy Unmasked

The Art Angle podcast, hosted by Ben Davis and Kate Brown with guest Eileen Kinsella, recapped major art stories from March 2026. The discussion centered on three key developments: the opening of the 2026 Whitney Biennial, the rising art historical prominence of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, and a new investigation claiming to have definitively unmasked the identity of the anonymous street artist Banksy.

The Best Booths at Art Basel Hong Kong, From AI Magical Girls to Asia’s Unsung Masters

Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 showcased a vibrant array of talent, with standout presentations across its curated sectors like Discoveries and Insights. Highlights included Vin Gallery's ceramic skeleton shadow puppets by Ako Goto, Lucie Chang Fine Arts' case for the late painter Zhu Xinjian, and gdm's pairing of Kongkee's lightbox sculptures with abstract works by Thai modernist Tang Chang. The fair also featured a monumental, self-sabotaged neon sign by Kongkee reading "Price / Value."

orientalist painting philadelphia penn museum auction

The Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania is courting controversy by consigning a major 1891 painting by Ottoman artist Osman Hamdi Bey, titled "At the Mosque Door," to Bonhams London with an estimate of $2.7–$4 million. Although the museum purchased the work directly from the artist in 1895, it was never formally accessioned into the collection, allowing the institution to bypass strict industry regulations that typically prohibit using art sale proceeds for anything other than new acquisitions or collection care. The museum intends to use the funds to establish a permanent endowment for the long-term maintenance of its vast archaeological holdings.

Raphael Met Museum Retrospective Review

raphael met museum retrospective review

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first major retrospective of the Renaissance master ever staged in the United States. Curated by Carmen C. Bambach, the exhibition features 237 works, including rare loans of drawings and monumental tapestries that have not left Madrid since the 16th century. While some of his most famous paintings remain in Europe, the show provides an exhaustive look at the artist's development from a teenage prodigy to a papal favorite.

Newly Authenticated Modigliani Heads to Sale at Art Basel Hong Kong via Pace with a $13.3 M. Price Tag

A newly authenticated painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeune femme brune" (1917–18), is being offered for sale by Pace gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong with a price tag of €11.5 million ($13.3 million). The work, the highest-priced piece at the fair, was only recently included in art historian Marc Restellini's forthcoming Modigliani catalogue raisonné after decades of authentication disputes and legal battles.

Churchill Landscape Gets First U.K. Showing in Exhibition Tracing His Artistic Life

An exhibition titled "Churchill the Artist" has opened at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's former home in Kent, England. The show features personal artifacts like his paint-spattered Savile Row overalls and spectacles, alongside paintings, including the first U.K. display of his work "Quiet Waters," a gift to his friend Lord Beaverbrook.

From Project Hail Mary to Saturday Night Live UK: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

The article provides a comprehensive weekly entertainment guide, highlighting upcoming cultural events across cinema, music, art, and stage. Key art recommendations include a major Frank Bowling exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, a Hurvin Anderson survey at Tate Britain, and a drawing-focused exhibition from Bruegel to Rembrandt at Compton Verney.

In a Show at Stanford, Miljohn Ruperto Trolls the Death Drive of AI Guys

Artist Miljohn Ruperto's exhibition at Stanford's Cantor Arts Center features works that critically engage with AI and technology. His piece *Fathoms (Tartarapelagic)* uses AI to generate images of deep-sea creatures from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, while highlighting that mining the minerals essential for that same AI technology is destroying their real-world habitats.

Exhibition explores how the US shaped Joan Miró—and he it

A major exhibition titled "Miró and the United States" opens at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, exploring the profound artistic dialogue between Catalan artist Joan Miró and the United States. The show features Miró's paintings, sculptures, and works on paper alongside pieces by American contemporaries like Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Alexander Calder, tracing how his visits and exposure to the New York art scene influenced his work and, in turn, inspired a generation of post-war American artists.

‘Absolutely transformative’: Willem de Kooning exhibition uncovers raw intensity of early work

The Princeton University Art Museum is presenting "Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years," an exhibition revisiting the pivotal period from 1945-1950 that led to the artist's first solo show and established his reputation. The show features 18 paintings, including key works like *Black Friday* and *Dark Pond*, highlighting his intense exploration between figuration and abstraction with a restricted palette.

kim gordon was always an artist first

Kim Gordon, the co-founder of Sonic Youth, is currently the subject of two major exhibitions at Amant in Brooklyn. The first, a solo survey titled "Count Your Chickens," showcases two decades of her multidisciplinary practice including painting, ceramics, and film, while the second, "Folded Group," is a group show she co-curated with Bill Nace featuring artists who bridge the gap between music and visual art.

‘Old masters too’: Ghent exhibition celebrates female artists of the baroque

The Ghent Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) has opened the exhibition 'Unforgettable: Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750,' featuring over 40 female artists from the Baroque period in the Low Countries. The show highlights painters like Judith Leyster and Maria van Oosterwijck, as well as practitioners of crafts like paper-cutting and lace-making, aiming to restore these women to a historical narrative dominated by male 'Old Masters' like Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The rise and fall of ‘buy-one, give-one’ art sales

A once-common sales tactic in the contemporary art market, known as "buy-one, give-one" or "bogo," has significantly declined. Under this arrangement, collectors gained preferential access to in-demand artists' paintings by agreeing to purchase two works and donating one to a museum. The practice peaked from 2021 to 2023, with institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, acquiring works this way.

King Charles Visited Tate Britain’s ‘Turner and Constable’ Show and Loved What He Saw

King Charles Visited Tate Britain’s ‘Turner and Constable’ Show and Loved What He Saw

King Charles visited the "Turner and Constable" exhibition at Tate Britain, expressing visible admiration for the works on display. He was particularly struck by J.M.W. Turner's early painting *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells*, which was recently rediscovered and sold at auction. The visit underscores the exhibition's popular success, having already attracted 185,000 visitors since opening last November.

Lost John Constable Painting Rediscovered in Texas Bound for Auction

Lost John Constable Painting Rediscovered in Texas Bound for Auction

A long-lost, large-scale oil study by John Constable for his famous painting *The Cornfield* has been rediscovered and authenticated after decades in a rural Texas museum. Scientific analysis, including pigment tests and infrared reflectography, confirmed the materials and techniques match Constable's own, leading experts to declare it the largest known study for the 1826 masterpiece. The work, which had been mistakenly cataloged as a copy, will now be auctioned by Heritage Auctions in Dallas this June.

critical reduction the 2014 whitney biennial 5409

The 2014 Whitney Biennial has debuted with a controversial three-curator structure, tasking Michelle Grabner, Stuart Comer, and Anthony Elms with organizing separate floors of the museum. This meta-review aggregates the initial critical reception from major publications, noting that the fragmented format has forced critics to evaluate the exhibition as three distinct shows rather than a unified vision.

Picasso Exhibition at Burgos Cathedral Explores Artist's Biblical Roots

picasso burgos cathedral show

The Catedral de Santa María in Burgos is hosting "Picasso: Biblical Roots," an exhibition exploring the enduring influence of Christian iconography on Pablo Picasso. Featuring 44 works loaned from major institutions like the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, the show traces the artist's journey from his early academic religious paintings in Spain to the subtle theological motifs found in his later Cubist and post-war works.

Art Oscar Picks, Whitney Biennial Star Pat Oleszko, Wet Paint

art oscar picks whitney biennial star pat oleszko wet paint

This installment of the Wet Paint gossip column reports on several high-profile developments within the New York and Los Angeles art scenes. Key highlights include internal museum deliberations at the Whitney Museum regarding Precious Okoyomon’s provocative installation for the upcoming Biennial, which features dolls hanging from nooses, and sightings of former Artforum editor David Velasco meeting with Whitney director Scott Rothkopf. Additionally, the column tracks celebrity sightings at Frieze Los Angeles and confirms Lotus L. Kang as the artist for Bvlgari’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale.