A book exploring the evolution of J.M.W. Turner’s positions on slavery

Art historian Sam Smiles has released a comprehensive new book examining J.M.W. Turner’s complex relationship with the slave trade, expanding on his 2007 discovery of the artist's personal investment in a Jamaican cattle farm that utilized enslaved labor. The research traces Turner’s financial ties from his early patronage by wealthy plantation owners to his own speculative ventures, challenging the long-held perception of the artist as a straightforward abolitionist.

Exclusive | The world's 100 most visited art museums in 2025: new venues a big hit with visitors

The Art Newspaper's 2025 survey of the world's 100 most visited art museums reveals a strong but uneven recovery from the pandemic, with total visits reaching over 200 million. New museums in the Middle East, East Asia, and major Western cities have been major hits with the public, driving significant attendance.

The Week in Art: Iran's Heritage, Art Market Recovery, Sydney Biennale

Art communities and heritage in Iran, moderate recovery in the art market, Sydney Biennale—podcast

The latest episode of The Week in Art podcast covers three main topics. First, it discusses the impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict on cultural communities and heritage sites in Iran and Lebanon, including damage to the Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan. Second, it analyzes the new Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, which indicates a market recovery but reveals a complex picture. Third, it features a new installation by Indigenous American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger at the Sydney Biennale, consisting of ceramic dingo skulls, which has gained relevance following a recent tragedy in Australia.

Dingo-related work at Sydney Biennale takes on new resonance following backpacker death

A new installation by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger at the 2026 Biennale of Sydney features seven ceramic dingo skulls with whistles that create a howling sound. The work, titled "Volume III White Bay Power Station," was created before the artist learned of the death of a Canadian backpacker, Piper James, on K'gari (Fraser Island), a ruling for which found she drowned after a dingo attack.

Glassblower and porcelain heir Paul Arnhold on the art he loves to collect

The article profiles Paul Arnhold, a New York-based glassblower and fourth-generation heir to a major Meissen porcelain collection. He discusses how his hands-on practice as a maker directly informs his eclectic approach to collecting, which spans from ancient Etruscan artifacts to contemporary paintings by artists like Salman Toor. He emphasizes collecting based on personal joy and tactile presence rather than provenance alone.

Two Renoir exhibitions at Musée d’Orsay explore the joy of human connection

Two Renoir exhibitions at Musée d’Orsay explore the joy of human connection

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is opening two concurrent exhibitions dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, titled 'Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity (1865-85)' and 'Renoir Drawings'. The shows focus on the first two decades of his career, featuring major works like 'Luncheon of the Boating Party' and rarely seen pieces from private collections, such as 'Confidence'. The exhibitions will later travel to the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

A Vienna Theater Opens Its Prized Klimt Ceiling Paintings to Tours During Restoration

The Burgtheater in Vienna has opened guided tours allowing the public to view Gustav Klimt's ceiling paintings up close for the first time, during a restoration of the works. The 10 paintings, created in the late 1880s by Klimt, his brother Ernst, and Franz Matsch, hang 60 feet above the staircases and were recently cleaned with cotton swabs and purified water after water damage. The tours, which require sturdy footwear, are currently sold out due to high demand.

America’s Finest Renaissance Tapestry Set for Major Restoration

The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has awarded its €25,000 Museum Restoration Fund to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) for the conservation of *The Meeting of Dante and Virgil*, a mid-16th century Italian Renaissance tapestry. This is the first time TEFAF has funded a tapestry restoration since the initiative began in 2012. The wool and silk tapestry, made between 1547 and 1549 by the Florentine workshop of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and designed by Francesco Salviati, depicts the opening scene of Dante’s *The Divine Comedy*. It is the only early Medici tapestry held by a public collection outside Italy, standing 17 feet tall and eight feet wide. Due to structural weaknesses and light sensitivity, it has been largely in storage for 70 years. Conservation work by the Midwest Art Conservation Center will include wet cleaning, stabilization, and partial reweaving, along with a new display system. The tapestry is scheduled to return to public view at MIA on July 11.

Colleen Barry Wants You to Believe in Pictures Again

Artist Colleen Barry presents her exhibition “Iconophilia” at Half Gallery in the East Village, featuring 14 recent paintings that explore motherhood, tenderness, and the complexity of image-making. The works include mythological references like the Capitoline Wolf and juxtapositions of ancient and modern imagery, such as a portrait of Grace Jones combined with the Roman god Janus. Barry, who grew up working class in New York and learned painting from her father, aims to counter contemporary distrust of images—especially among her children—by offering a reverent, iconophilic approach to visual culture.

Diane Keaton’s Iconic Wardrobe and Art Collection Head to Auction

Bonhams auction house, in collaboration with the Fine Art Group, is organizing a four-part, 550-lot sale of Diane Keaton's personal belongings. The sales, taking place online and in New York from late May to mid-June, will include her iconic wardrobe, Hollywood memorabilia, home furnishings, and a significant portion of her art collection, featuring works by artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Ed Ruscha, as well as her own mixed-media collages.

V&A East Launches With a Fresh Lens on a 2.8 Million-Object Collection

The Victoria & Albert Museum has opened V&A East, a new $180 million outpost in east London designed by architects O'Donnell + Tuomey. Its mission is to engage young and local audiences by presenting over 500 objects from its 2.8 million-strong collection in thematic, non-chronological displays that connect historical artifacts to contemporary issues like identity, social justice, and environmental responsibility.

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Sotheby’s is navigating a complex financial landscape marked by a major debt refinancing effort and the introduction of a controversial delayed-payment program. The auction house is seeking to raise $825 million through five-year bonds to address existing debt due in 2027, while simultaneously facing a $10.2 million lawsuit over real estate commissions. To manage liquidity, the firm has codified a scheme offering sellers a 7 percent interest rate if they agree to wait six months for their payout, a significant departure from the industry standard of 35 to 45 days.

Pioneering Modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid Returns to the Spotlight in London

The Turkish-Jordanian modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid is the subject of a new solo exhibition titled "Immersion" at Dirimart London, curated by art historian Adila Laïdi-Hanieh. This marks the artist's first gallery solo show in the United Kingdom this century, featuring several works from her estate that have never been publicly exhibited. The selection spans various periods of her career, highlighting her transition from monumental geometric abstractions to her late-career expressionist portraits.

Unseen George Condo Works Arrive at Auction From Anna Condo’s Collection

Anna Condo, the former wife of American painter George Condo, is bringing 27 previously unseen works from her private collection to auction at Christie’s. The collection, which includes paintings, drawings, and sculptures acquired during their 28-year marriage, will be featured in the Post-War and Contemporary Art day sale on May 21. These works have never been exhibited or sold publicly, offering a rare glimpse into the artist's private creative output between 1988 and 2017.

Which City Will Be the Next Asian Art Hub? That’s the Wrong Question

The traditional quest to identify a single dominant Asian art hub is being challenged by the organic growth of decentralized scenes in cities like Bangkok and Hanoi. While Hong Kong and Seoul remain established centers, private initiatives and artist-led projects in Thailand and Vietnam are building resilient, hybrid ecosystems that prioritize long-term structural depth over immediate auction results. From the opening of Dib Bangkok to experimental exhibitions in Hanoi, these cities are transitioning from peripheral status to significant cultural players through a mix of private museums, biennials, and non-profit platforms.

Radiohead Hits the Road With a Haunting Immersive Installation

Radiohead has announced a North American tour for "Motion Picture House," a massive 17,000-square-foot immersive audiovisual installation. The project features a 75-minute film titled Kid A Mnesia, directed by Sean Evans, which incorporates art created by frontman Thom Yorke and longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood. Launching at the Coachella festival before traveling to cities like Brooklyn and Mexico City, the experience combines surround-sound studio recordings with physical galleries displaying the original source art from the band's seminal turn-of-the-century albums.

How New York City Shaped Harry Winston’s Dazzling Legacy

The luxury jeweler Harry Winston continues to expand its 'New York' collection, a high-jewelry suite first launched in 2018 that pays homage to the founder's birthplace and the city's architectural landmarks. The collection translates iconic New York City motifs—including the hand-carved facades of Upper West Side brownstones, the neon glow of the Broadway theater district, and the neo-Gothic spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral—into intricate diamond and gemstone arrangements.

Sale of Robert Rauschenberg’s Captiva Compound to Developers Ignites Backlash

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation has sold the artist’s 22-acre Captiva Island estate to South Seas, a neighboring resort developer, for $45 million. The sale includes Rauschenberg’s former home, studio, and several cottages where he lived and worked for decades. The Foundation defended the move by citing the prohibitive costs of protecting the site against rising sea levels and hurricane damage, confirming that the prestigious Rauschenberg Residency program will now come to an end.

They Painted the American West. History Painted Them Out

The exhibition "Women Artists of the American West: Colorado and Utah: 1885–1935" at History Jackson Hole spotlights seven forgotten female artists, including the adventurous mountaineer and painter Helen Henderson Chain. Curated by the founders of the Paris-based nonprofit AWARE, the show uncovers the lives of women who documented the Rocky Mountains and local communities while navigating the restrictive social norms of the late 19th century. Through paintings and photographs, the exhibition challenges the traditional, male-dominated "heroic" narrative of Western expansion.

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.

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.

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.

This Sam Doyle Painting May Mark a New Price Peak for the Self-Taught Artist

A solo presentation of self-taught artist Sam Doyle's work at the Outsider Art Fair in New York is generating significant attention, particularly a painting titled "Dr Bus Ha.Lo." being offered for sale for the first time at $85,000. The immersive booth, organized by London's Gallery of Everything, recreates the artist's front yard and showcases his vivid portraits of local Gullah community figures and Black cultural icons.

Awards, Prussian Porcelain, Techno, Cabaret! Inside Berlin’s First-Ever Art Gala

Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof museum held its first-ever gala to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The event featured a curated program of performances, including a participatory installation by artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset titled "Performing Yourself" and a mirrored neon work by Monica Bonvicini. High-profile guests like Cate Blanchett, Matt Dillon, Wim Wenders, and Nina Hoss attended the evening, which blended traditional gala elements with Berlin-specific cultural touchstones like techno, cabaret, and performances by artists such as Ellen Allien and Alice Sara Ott.

Never-Before-Seen Paintings Reveal Anthony Van Dyck’s Formative Italian Period

A major new exhibition at Genoa's Palazzo Ducale, "Van Dyck: The European. The Journey of a Genius from Antwerp to Genoa and London," presents a comprehensive survey of Anthony van Dyck's formative years in Italy. Featuring around 60 works, including loans from the Louvre, Prado, and National Gallery, the show reveals how his six-year Italian sojourn was a period of intense experimentation and emancipation from his master Rubens, leading to his signature theatrical portrait style.

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Massimiliano Gioni and Beatrice Trussardi have launched the Beatrice Trussardi Foundation, a nomadic art initiative that debuted with an installation by Polish artist Paweł Althamer in a remote 17th-century hut in Switzerland's Engadin Valley. The project, featuring a sculpture of St. Francis and a series of happenings, marks a new chapter for the duo who previously spent two decades staging ephemeral public art projects in Milan. The foundation aims to operate without a permanent home, bringing site-specific contemporary art to unexpected global locations.

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The global art landscape is set for a significant transformation in 2025 with the opening of several high-profile museum projects. These range from the long-awaited reopening of New York’s Frick Collection and the Studio Museum in Harlem to ambitious international debuts like the PoMo museum in Norway and the Fenix Museum of Migration Stories in Rotterdam. These projects feature designs by world-renowned architects including Annabelle Selldorf, India Mahdavi, and MAD Architects, often repurposing historic structures with bold contemporary additions.

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore: Surrealist Lovers Who Defied the German Occupation

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore: Surrealist Lovers Who Defied the German Occupation

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, two Surrealist artists and life partners, are the focus of a new exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis. The show, titled "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth," presents their collaborative work, including intimate portraits and photomontages, and highlights their daring resistance activities, such as creating anti-Nazi propaganda during the German occupation of Jersey.

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Artnet Auctions has launched its "20th Century Art" sale, featuring works by blue-chip masters including Joan Miró, Yves Klein, and Andy Warhol. The auction, curated by specialists Sylvie François Sturtevant and Jason Rulnick, highlights the distinction between "rarity"—objects that are unusual due to limited production or historical loss—and "scarcity"—where high market demand outstrips the available supply of editioned works.

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

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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.