Frieze New York 2026 opened its VIP day at The Shed on May 13, following the Venice Biennale's opening week. Now in its 15th edition, the fair anchors New York Art Week, a series of concurrent fairs, gallery openings, auctions, and parties that take over the city each May. The article highlights the five best booths at the fair, curated by Artsy Editorial.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has acquired eight new sculptures by major contemporary artists for its renovated outdoor garden. The works by Mark Grotjahn, Raven Halfmoon, Lauren Halsey, Izumi Katō, Liz Larner, Woody De Othello, Chatchai Puipia, and Pedro Reyes will be installed ahead of the garden's reopening in October.
Five Gen Z art collectors are profiled, revealing their distinct approaches to acquiring art. They prioritize direct relationships with artists, often via social media, and favor emerging and digital art, with many focusing on artists from their own generation and diverse backgrounds.
The 2026 Whitney Biennial has opened, featuring 71 artists and collectives, with eight emerging as immediate standouts. Among them are Jacolby Satterwhite, celebrated for his immersive digital worlds; Lotus L. Kang, whose site-specific installation incorporates decaying materials; and Jes Fan, who explores biology and identity through sculptural forms. Other notable artists include Tiona Nekkia McClodden with her ritualistic film work, the collective Indigenous Futures, and figurative painter Cynthia Daignault. Their works collectively address themes of technology, the body, memory, and ecology.
British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen has been awarded the 2024 Erasmus Prize by the Dutch Praemium Erasmianum Foundation. The prize includes a cash award of 150,000 euros (approximately $172,000) and a specially designed booklet featuring the script of the 16th-century scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
The Basque regional government has formally requested a temporary loan of Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica' from Madrid's Museo Reina Sofía to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for a period from October 2026 to June 2027. This would mark the painting's first movement since 1992 and is timed to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica. The request faces strong opposition from the Reina Sofía, which has released a conservation report stating the monumental canvas is too fragile to travel.
Major galleries reported significant seven-figure sales on the opening day of Art Basel Hong Kong. Hauser & Wirth sold works by Louise Bourgeois and George Condo for millions, while David Zwirner sold paintings by Liu Ye and Marlene Dumas for $3.8 million each. Pace Gallery's CEO noted a renewed energy, and other blue-chip dealers like White Cube and Lehman Maupin also reported high-value transactions, particularly with Asian collectors and institutions.
A major exhibition at the Centre Pompidou and the Grand Palais focuses on the final, revolutionary period of Henri Matisse's career, from 1941 to 1954. The show charts his artistic reinvention following a life-threatening surgery, beginning with obsessive, reworked paintings from his Nice studio during the war and culminating in the radiant, large-scale cut-outs for which he is widely celebrated.
The New York Academy of Art has donated $66,000 in funds originally received from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), a nonprofit supporting sexually exploited girls. The move redirects all donations the school accepted from Epstein after his 2008 conviction. The academy's board chair, Eileen Guggenheim, who solicited the funds, will retire from her role a month early on April 1, following renewed scrutiny of the institution's Epstein ties.
Tate has announced its 2027 exhibition program across its four UK sites. Major shows include a Lynda Benglis exhibition and an Edvard Munch show at Tate Modern, a Sonia Boyce retrospective at Tate Britain, and two exhibitions celebrating David Hockney's 90th birthday. The program also features Tate Modern's first Monet exhibition, the UK's first solo show for Algerian artist Baya, a survey of Nalini Malani, and a major exhibition on Asian ink painting.
A New Series on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Is Heading to Netflix
Netflix has announced a new series focusing on the turbulent relationship and artistic partnership between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The project, adapted from Claire Berest's biography, will be co-directed by Mexican filmmakers Patricia Riggen and Gabriel Ripstein and aims to present the story through a specifically Mexican and feminine perspective, exploring their politics and infamous love affairs.
Christie’s postwar and contemporary art day sale in London on Thursday totaled £12.2 million ($16.4 million), with over 80% of lots sold and 90% of those achieving prices within or above their presale estimates. Standout results included a 2020 painting by Somaya Critchlow selling for £57,150 (est. £15,000–£20,000), a small Etel Adnan painting going for £107,950 (est. £30,000–£50,000), and a Michelangelo Pistoletto mirror piece fetching £234,950—seven times its estimate. However, a Toyin Ojih Odutola painting and a Gerhard Richter gray painting failed to sell, reflecting a selective market.
Six solo gallery exhibitions are opening in Hong Kong in March 2026, featuring a diverse range of established and influential artists. The shows include Jaffa Lam's multi-media works at Axel Vervoordt, a tribute to the late Dinh Q. Lê at 10 Chancery Lane, new metal tapestries by El Anatsui at White Cube, the first Hong Kong solo show for collective Slavs and Tatars at Rossi & Rossi, and the debut Hong Kong presentation of Chow and Lin's "The Poverty Line" project at SC Gallery.
The first-ever Art Basel Qatar opened in Doha with 84 single-artist presentations from 87 galleries, spread across two venues: the Doha Design District and M7. The fair, a partnership between Art Basel, Qatar Sports Investments, and QC+, features a tightly curated schedule of events, including a drone installation by Jenny Holzer at the Museum of Islamic Art and a floating dinner by artist Laila Gohar. Despite the usual fair rhythms, sales have been slow, and the event emphasizes engagement over transaction, as articulated by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The article reviews the joint exhibition "Hunks" at Bureau gallery in New York, featuring works by painter Julia Rommel and photographer Lucas Blalock. Rommel's post-minimalist abstract paintings, created through folding and stapling canvases, explore color and texture with a personal touch, while Blalock's digitally manipulated photographs blend studio effects and surreal editing. The show runs through February 21, 2026, at the gallery's 112 Duane Street location.
This week's Critic's Table column highlights three New York gallery and museum shows. Painter Sam McKinniss praises Helene Schjerfbeck's first major U.S. institutional survey, "Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, calling the Finnish modernist more fascinating than Edvard Munch. Critic Johanna Fateman argues that Joan Semmel's career-spanning exhibition "In the Flesh" at the Jewish Museum proves her recent icon status is well-deserved and long overdue. Artist Ajay Kurian reviews Marguerite Humeau's mythic ecosystems at White Cube.
Cultured's fall gallery show guide for New York highlights five exhibitions opening in September 2025. Christopher Kulendran Thomas presents 'Peace Core' at Gagosian, featuring an AI-auto-edited video of pre-9/11 TV footage alongside paintings of a Sri Lankan massacre. Catharine Czudej's 'God is Good' at Meredith Rosen Gallery combines corrupted QR codes and religious imagery with a line of merchandise. Florian Krewer's 'cold tears released' at Michael Werner explores animalistic human nature through thickly layered oils. Ohad Meromi's 'At Rest' at 56 Henry focuses on moments of inactivity and reflection. Nayland Blake's three-part exhibition at Matthew Marks Gallery includes a retrospective on the AIDS crisis and new sculptural works.
The article is a summer exhibition guide for the Hamptons, highlighting seven shows running from August through October 2025. Featured artists include Mary Heilmann at Guild Hall, Frank O’Hara and Larry Rivers at Pollock-Krasner House, Alix Pearlstein at Arts Center at Duck Creek, Sarah Sze at Landcraft Garden Foundation, Joseph Hart at Halsey McKay, and Francesco Clemente at Tripoli Gallery in collaboration with Vito Schnabel Gallery. Each entry provides dates, a brief description, and insider tips for visitors.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York will open a major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp in April 2026, marking the first U.S. retrospective for the artist in over 50 years. The exhibition will feature more than 200 works, including a 1968 replica of his infamous 'Fountain,' spanning his experiments in Cubism, Futurism, film, photography, and his pioneering readymades.
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation has announced the recipients of its one-time Rauschenberg Centennial Award, a $100,000 unrestricted prize honoring the artist's 100th birthday. Winners include artist Senga Nengudi, performer David Thomson, photographers Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun, and poet Patricia Spears Jones, all of whom were selected from past participants of the foundation's Captiva Residency program.
The New Museum has opened a new building with a major exhibition titled "New Humans: Memories of the Future," which explores how artists are redefining humanity through technology. A key figure in the show is artist Christopher Kulendran Thomas, who is simultaneously exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art and recently showed at Gagosian Gallery, while also running project spaces in New York and Los Angeles.
At Frieze London, emerging galleries in the Focus section face high financial pressure, with booth costs reaching £6,750 ($9,000). While some dealers reported strong sales—such as London's Ginny on Frederick, which sold out both works by Alex Margo Arden, and Brunette Coleman, which also sold out—others were reluctant to disclose results. Several unnamed dealers admitted to selling nothing or only a single work, highlighting a stark divide between success and struggle among smaller exhibitors.
Frieze New York announced a partnership with major New York cultural institutions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and Dia Art Foundation, to present performances and exhibitions timed with its May fair. The Whitney will show Jonathan González's "Body Configurations," while Dia will display David Lamelas's video work. This initiative explicitly aims to extend the fair's presence beyond its commercial venue into established museums.
The French mega-gallery Perrotin has added sculptor Alma Allen to its roster. Allen previously caused controversy by accepting a nomination to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale under the Trump administration's State Department, a decision that led his former galleries to drop him. The article also notes other industry news, including Keisha Scarville winning the Brooklyn Museum's UOVO Prize and Marina Abramović creating an inflatable installation for New York's Balloon Museum.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, the official America 250 (A250) commission has been taken over by a MAGA-aligned events company that previously produced Trump rallies, including the January 6 insurrection. The new contractors have received over $26 million in no-bid federal contracts and have rolled out commemorative programming that critics say whitewashes history, including a video projection on the Washington Monument that celebrates Christopher Columbus and skips over slavery, Indigenous peoples, and women. Meanwhile, the National Park Service plans to exhibit a statue of Caesar Rodney, a slaveholding signer of the Declaration of Independence, on Pennsylvania Avenue.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler's iconic painting of his mother, Anna, known as 'Whistler’s Mother' or 'Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1', is returning to London for the first time in nearly two generations as part of a Tate Britain exhibition. The article recounts how the portrait was painted in 1871 in Whistler's Chelsea studio during a low point in his career, using cheap paint and a used canvas after a young sitter canceled. The author, who restored the painting for the Musée d'Orsay, details the work's accidental genesis, Whistler's radical minimalist aesthetic, and the initial critical confusion it caused.
On April 28, 1966, The New York Times published a review by conservative critic Hilton Kramer of the Jewish Museum's exhibition “Primary Structures,” organized by curator Kynaston McShine. Kramer, disdainful of contemporary art, described the 42 American and British artists as rejecting personal expression and subjective inflection, yet he acknowledged the show as the first comprehensive glimpse of a style that would define the 1960s. The exhibition featured then-little-known artists including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, John McCracken, Larry Bell, Robert Smithson, Judy Chicago, Philip King, Michael Bolus, and David Annesley, and is now recognized as the ur-survey of Minimalism—a term McShine deliberately avoided.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is debuting a radical curatorial overhaul within its new David Geffen Galleries, moving away from traditional 19th-century departmental silos. Led by Director Michael Govan and a team of 45 curators, the museum is implementing a cross-disciplinary approach that organizes the collection around "oceanic nodes"—the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. This strategy allows for the juxtaposition of disparate media and cultures, such as contemporary photography alongside ancient textiles, to highlight the historical circulation of ideas and people across bodies of water.
A major retrospective of Turner Prize-winning artist Veronica Ryan has opened, showcasing her career-long exploration of organic forms and repurposed materials. The exhibition features new works made from plastic bottles, bandages, and avocado trays, alongside earlier sculptures in bronze and lead that reference seed pods and fruit.
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.