Art Basel has launched its inaugural edition in Doha, Qatar, debuting a specialized format that emphasizes solo artist presentations and a slower, more meditative pace compared to its flagship fairs. The event features a curated selection of international galleries including Pace, Lisson, and Almine Rech, with a layout designed to foster deeper engagement and introduce regional collectors to the fair circuit.
Sotheby's has increased its buyer's premiums globally, with the new fee structure taking effect on February 13. The changes mean buyers of lower-value lots will pay higher rates, with the premium for works sold in New York for up to $2 million rising from 27% to 28%. This move follows similar adjustments by rivals Christie's and Phillips, as auction houses seek to bolster revenue during a prolonged art market downturn. Sotheby's also recently raised $900 million through art-backed loans via securitization.
The article explores how Emily Brontë's novel *Wuthering Heights* has inspired visual artists across different eras. It details specific works by English artist Edna Clarke Hall, who created hundreds of sketches and watercolors reflecting her personal connection to the story's themes of isolation and turmoil, and by Polish-French modernist Balthus, who produced a series of ink illustrations focusing on the childhood trauma of the protagonists.
Artnet News has compiled a guide to holiday art shows in New York City for December 2025. The featured exhibitions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual "Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche" (November 25–January 6), the American Museum of Natural History's "Origami Holiday Tree" (November 24–January 20) inspired by its dinosaur extinction exhibition, the Morgan Library and Museum's display of Charles Dickens's original manuscript of "A Christmas Carol" (November 25–January 11), and the New York Public Library's "Best Friends Forever: Holiday Greeting Cards" (December 3–January 4). Each venue offers a unique artistic take on the holiday season, from 18th-century Neapolitan figurines and thousands of origami animals to literary history and vintage greeting cards.
An unsanctioned augmented reality exhibition titled “Encoded” has taken over the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring works by 17 North American Indigenous artists. The exhibition, organized by the nonprofit media lab Amplifier and co-curated by Tracy Rector, overlays digital artworks onto iconic paintings and sculptures, including a piece by Josué Riva that replaces Thomas Sully’s portrait of Queen Victoria with a moving image of Acosia Red Elk (Umatilla, Cayuse & Nez Perce) delivering the message “Be a Good Ancestor.” The intervention launched on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day, October 13, 2025, and runs through December 13, without the Met’s permission.
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has reinstalled its African American galleries, moving them from the back of the museum to a prominent location beside Diego Rivera's iconic "Detroit Industry Murals" (1932–33). The reinstallation is framed by a quote from Alain Locke's 1925 essay "The Legacy of the Ancestral Arts," envisioning the museum as an instrument of cultural education and repair. Complementing this is "Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation" (through April 5), the first comprehensive survey of art from the Indigenous inhabitants of the Great Lakes region. The DIA began collecting African American art in 1943 and in 2001 became the first US museum to name a curator devoted to that field, Valerie J. Mercer, who still serves as curator and head of African American art.
The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has acquired the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed property Fountainhead in Jackson, Mississippi, following approval from the Jackson Planning and Zoning Board and City Council. Originally designed in 1948 and completed in 1954 for oil speculator J. Willis Hughes, the 3,558-square-foot Usonian home was later restored by architect Robert Parker Adams and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. The museum plans to open the home for public tours, with bus transportation from its main campus, and to establish community partnerships.
Frida Kahlo's painting *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) sold at Sotheby's New York for $54.7 million on Thursday night, setting a new auction record for any artwork by a female artist. The sale, which lasted under five minutes, exceeded the previous record held by Georgia O'Keeffe's *Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1* ($44.4 million in 2014). The painting was backed by an irrevocable bid and came from the collection of Selma Ertegun, offered as part of a Surrealist group titled "Exquisite Corpus." Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's head of Latin American art, placed the winning bid on behalf of a client.
Frida Kahlo's 1940 self-portrait *El sueño (La cama)* sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's New York on November 20, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $40–60 million. The painting, consigned by the estate of Selma Ertegun, was won by a phone bidder handled by Sotheby's senior vice president Anna Di Stasi. The sale broke Kahlo's previous auction record of $34.9 million set in 2021 for *Diego y yo*, as well as the record for a Latin American artwork and the overall record for a work by a woman artist at auction, surpassing Georgia O'Keeffe's $44.4 million *Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1*.
The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) has acquired Fountainhead, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian home in Jackson, Mississippi, for $1 million. The residence, built in 1954 for oilman J. Willis Hughes, is one of only four Wright homes in the state and the only one listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was sold by the estate of late architect Robert Parker Adams, who had restored the property after purchasing it in 1980. The museum plans to preserve the home and open it to the public as a cultural destination.
At Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, a drag queen professional wrestling event called Choke Hole, part of artist Raúl de Nieves's exhibition, was disrupted when audience member and performer Chiquitita stormed the stage. She objected to a skit that made light of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations, shouting that 'ICE is not entertainment!' and hurling the microphone into a video screen. The performance, titled ARMAGEDDON, featured an alien queen plot involving nuclear codes and ICE, and Choke Hole later apologized, removing the segment from subsequent shows.
The National Portrait Gallery has postponed opening events for its upcoming exhibition “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today,” originally scheduled for October 16–17, due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The decision was communicated in a letter from acting director Elliot Gruber on October 7, citing the shutdown as the reason for the cancellation. The exhibition, which features 35 portraits by 36 artists selected from over 3,300 entries, is part of the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and is still set to open to the public on October 18, pending the resolution of lapsed funding.
Christie’s will sell over 70 works from the collection of Arnold and Joan Saltzman during its fall marquee sales in November, with a group estimate exceeding $70 million. The modern art collection includes pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Edvard Munch, František Kupka, Robert Delaunay, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore. The top lot is Léger’s 1914 painting *Composition (Nature Morte)*, estimated around $20 million, from his celebrated 'Contraste de formes' series. Other highlights include Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture *Reclining Woman: Elbow* (1981), estimated at $9–12 million, and Henri Matisse’s *Femme au chapeau fleuri* (1923), estimated around $10 million. The collection, built over 60 years, will be featured in Christie’s 20th century evening sale on November 17 and day sales on November 18.
Frieze London and Frieze Masters have announced highlights for their 2025 editions, running concurrently October 15–19 in Regent’s Park. Frieze London will feature ceramics and textiles, including a presentation titled “Three Generations of Female California Ceramics” at The Pit, stoneware sculptures by Sanya Kantarovsky at Modern Art, and textile works by Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín at Portas Vilaseca. Major galleries like Gagosian, Pace, Lehmann Maupin, White Cube, and Lisson will present new works by artists such as Lauren Halsey, William Monk, Do Ho Suh, and Marguerite Humeau. The fair’s curated section “Echoes in the Present” by Jareh Das includes artists like Diambe and Tadáskía, while the Focus section emphasizes installation-based works. Frieze Masters highlights include a booth of 19th- and 20th-century paintings curated by Nicolas Party at Hauser & Wirth, a solo of Peter Hujar’s drag portraits at Pace, and a new Reflections section organized by Abby Bangser focusing on decorative art.
Clearing, a New York-based gallery known for launching the careers of artists like Korakrit Arunanondchai, Harold Ancart, and Marguerite Humeau, has permanently closed its spaces in New York and Los Angeles after 14 years. Founder Olivier Babin cited an unsustainable path forward, stating the gallery could no longer operate at its standards. The closure follows a wave of New York gallery shutdowns, including Blum, Venus Over Manhattan, and Kasmin, which is transitioning into a new entity called Olney Gleason. Clearing’s final exhibitions were solo shows by Coco Young in New York and Henry Curchod in Los Angeles.
The Brooklyn Museum has opened "Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit," a major solo exhibition dedicated to the pioneering American photographer Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1978). The show features nearly 200 works drawn from the museum's extensive collection of 2,000 negatives and 340 prints, gifted by Kanaga's third husband, artist Wallace Putnam. Kanaga, one of the nation's first women photojournalists, is celebrated for her socially conscious images capturing labor activists, the poor, and African Americans under Jim Crow laws, as well as cityscapes, portraits, and still lifes. The exhibition is organized with Madrid's Fundación MAPFRE and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and curated by Drew Sawyer, formerly of the Brooklyn Museum and now at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Thomas Hoving recounts his decision to pursue art history graduate school after military service, rejecting his father's demand that he join the family business and attend business school instead. He describes a cross-country road trip with his wife Nancy and their dog Whiskey, including a failed gambling attempt in Las Vegas and mechanical troubles in Missouri.
New York galleries are rethinking the traditional summer group show, moving away from ambitious, canon-redefining exhibitions toward more pragmatic, relationship-driven presentations. Dealers and advisers note that these shows now serve primarily to maintain gallery visibility during the slow August season, test emerging artists, and foster networking. The article highlights examples like "Open Eyes" at A Hug from the Art World, curated by 14-year-old Luke Newsom, which balances playfulness with serious curation, featuring works by KAWS, Urs Fischer, and Raymond Pettibon.
The New York Academy of Art held its 25th annual 'Take Home a Nude' fundraiser at Sotheby’s New York on October 24, featuring a live auction and party. Attendees included actresses Brooke Shields and Naomi Watts, who bid on artworks, along with dealers, artists, and collectors. Sotheby’s auctioneer Courtney Christensen led the sale, and 'Baby' Jane Holzer was honored for her collecting and Warhol-era legacy. Watts purchased four works, including a portrait by Liz Markus for $14,000, while Shields helped raise bids online.
The Frick Collection in New York has opened its first-ever restaurant, Westmoreland, named after founder Henry Clay Frick's private train car. Located on the museum's newly renovated second floor, the 50-seat dining room features interiors by Bryan O'Sullivan Studio, a mural by artist Darren Waterston, and a menu of comforting, unadventurous fare like caesar salad, club sandwich, and avocado toast. The kitchen is led by Skyllar Hughes, a veteran of Danny Meyer's Ci Siamo, and operated by Union Square Events. Only museum ticket holders can dine, and reservations must be made in person.
Sotheby's underperformed with the highly anticipated Saunders Collection of Old Masters, which was estimated at $80–120 million but sold for only $65.4 million, falling $14.6 million short of its low estimate. The sell-through rate was a dismal 58%, with 16 of 43 lots failing to sell in the standalone auction. Christie's also saw disappointing results, with a smaller sale totaling $6.89 million, 17% below its low target. The collection, amassed by the late banker Thomas A. Saunders III and his wife Jordan, was billed as the most valuable Old Masters collection ever to come to auction.
The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio mounted the exhibition "Rasquachismo: 35 Years of a Chicano Sensibility" to mark the 35th anniversary of scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto's foundational 1989 essay theorizing rasquachismo. The show, curated by Mia Lopez and on view from December through March, featured works by major Chicanx artists including Yolanda M. López, Carmen Lomas Garza, Santa Barraza, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Carlos Almaraz, Frank Romero, Patssi Valdez, Luis Jiménez, and younger artists like Ruth Buentello, Juan de Dios Mora, and Jimmy James Canales. Ybarra-Frausto credited Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia in San Antonio's Historic Market Square as a key influence on his critical eye, describing the restaurant as a "hotbed of rasquachismo."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will open "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" on May 10, an exhibition tracing over 300 years of Black dandyism. The show features around a dozen paintings, fashions, works on paper, photography, sculpture, and decorative objects, including a 1758 portrait of Roch Aza, a ten-year-old enslaved boy from Martinique, depicted in elegant livery alongside his enslaver. The exhibition examines how well-dressed Black figures appeared in European art as symbols of their owners' wealth and status during the transatlantic slave trade, and how subsequent generations have reappropriated and subverted that imagery.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has received a landmark gift of 31 paintings, sculptures, and drawings from the Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection, which focuses on abstract works by artists of the African diaspora. The donated pieces, created by 20 American artists born before 1930—including Elizabeth Catlett, Beauford Delaney, Norman Lewis, and Richard Mayhew—are intended to fill historical gaps in the museum's collection. Joyner, who became an SFMOMA trustee in 2020, selected works that represent the earliest generation of artists in her collection, aiming to support a more inclusive art-historical narrative.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, which began in 1874 when 31 artists including Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Berthe Morisot staged a groundbreaking exhibition in Paris. To commemorate the sesquicentennial, international institutions are hosting exhibitions such as the Musée d'Orsay's "Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism," while Artnet and Morgan Stanley have collaborated to analyze auction data from 2014 to 2023, examining the market for works by approximately 120 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Despite perceptions that Impressionism has lost its luster, the number of lots offered at auction has remained steady, averaging 6,091 annually over the decade.
Ce que vous ne saviez (peut-être) pas sur Alexander Calder
The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched the exhibition "Calder. Rêver en équilibre," prompting a retrospective look at the life and technical mastery of Alexander Calder. The article explores the artist's journey from his arrival in Paris in 1926 to his interactions with avant-garde masters like Duchamp and Miró, highlighting how he defied traditional artistic labels through his innovative use of movement and simple materials.
A Torino la fotografia di moda è protagonista di The Phair 2026. Tutte le novità della settima edizione della fiera
The Phair, a photography fair in Turin, returns for its seventh edition from May 22 to 24, 2026, at the OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni. This year's edition focuses on fashion photography as an autonomous art form, featuring works by photographers such as Nanda Lanfranco, Giovanni Gastel, Françoise Huguier, Marco Glaviano, and Michelangelo Di Battista. Participating galleries include Photo & Contemporary, Ira Leonis, Deodato Arte, Jaeger Art, and many others. The fair also expands its curatorial committee with figures like Umberto Benappi, Emilio Bordoli, and Brandei Estes.
During Frieze London's VIP preview day, guerrilla dealers Jack Chase and James Sundquist parked their U-Haul Gallery truck outside Regent's Park, selling T-shirts and art by Vladimir Umanetz. The duo, known for launching the U-Haul Art Fair during Armory Week in New York, set up a mobile exhibition inside the truck featuring Umanetz's mixed-media work O-14 (LPSVCYDH) (2025–present) and a giant image of Tina Turner. Park attendants eventually forced them to move under threat of police action, but they later relocated outside Thaddaeus Ropac's London gallery during a party for Tom Sachs.
Luis Emilio Romero, a Jersey City native, moved from Bushwick to the Monira Foundation's residency at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, where he now paints intricate, textile-influenced patterns in a calm basement studio. Mana Contemporary, a 2 million-square-foot former tobacco warehouse converted in 2011 by Moishe Mana, Eugene Lemay, and Yigal Ozeri, hosted its Spring Open Studios on May 17, with over one-third of its 300 artists participating—the largest turnout in years. The event featured installations by TLaloC, sculptures by John Chamberlain, and an exhibition of artist books, "Open Book(s): Observations," presented by Pierogi Gallery, Mana, and the Monira Foundation. Pierogi co-owners Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson also brought their Flat Files containing nearly 4,000 works to Mana for six months to a year.
Hyperallergic's Lakshmi Rivera Amin presents a curated list of 12 art books for summer reading, including a novel lampooning the art world, Megan O'Grady's meditation on art and living, Kory Stamper's exploration of color lexicography, Nan Goldin's reissued photo essay, and Jennifer Higgie's prose poetry novel. The roundup also features Vincenzo Latronico's 'Perfection,' Nina Burleigh's satirical 'Turn Around, Don’t Drown,' and a graphic novel by Naoki Matayoshi and Shinsuke Yoshitake, among others.