A Milano una grande mostra a Palazzo Reale racconta i Macchiaioli (e l’Italia del loro tempo)

A major exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan explores the Macchiaioli, the 19th-century Italian painting movement often seen as a precursor to Impressionism. The show brings together works by key figures such as Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe Abbati, and Odoardo Borrani, alongside tangential artists like Giovanni Boldini, Federico Faruffini, and Gerolamo Induno. It traces the movement's origins at Florence's Caffè Michelangiolo, its epicenter at Castiglioncello under patron Diego Martelli, and its evolution from the 1850s through the 1870s, when the group's democratic ideals and en plein air techniques challenged academic conventions.

Quando la mitica Peggy Guggenheim era una gallerista a Londra. Mostra da non perdere a Venezia

The article details the early career of Peggy Guggenheim before she established her famous Venetian museum, focusing on her London gallery Guggenheim Jeune (1938–1939). It describes how the gallery mounted pioneering exhibitions of avant-garde art, including the first UK solo show of Wassily Kandinsky, a group exhibition of contemporary sculpture featuring Jean Arp and Henry Moore, and shows of artists like Marie Vassilief and Gisèle Freund. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice now presents a retrospective of this formative period, titled "Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista."

Russian art today is blood. A tough interview with Pussy Riot

“L’arte russa oggi è il sangue”. Una dura intervista alle Pussy Riot

During the preview of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Russian Pavilion became the site of a protest by Pussy Riot and FEMEN, who staged an action called "STORM OF VENICE." Wearing pink balaclavas and carrying radical slogans, they denounced Russia's presence at the Biennale, accusing the Kremlin and the European cultural system of complicity. The protest centered on the phrase "Blood is Russia's art." In an interview, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova argues that artists who represent the official Russian Pavilion become instruments of the aggressive imperial state, and that the Biennale confuses cultural dialogue with political normalization.

The documentary dedicated to Sicilian patron Antonio Presti airs on Rai Tre. Here is the video preview.

Va in onda su Rai Tre il documentario dedicato al mecenate siciliano Antonio Presti. Qui la video anteprima

On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 3:30 PM, RAI 3 will broadcast the documentary "Asteroide 20049 Antonio Presti," produced by Rai Documentari and dedicated to Sicilian patron Antonio Presti (born 1957). Written by Fedora Sasso and Francesco Castellani, curated by Giulietta Venneri, and directed by Fedora Sasso, the film explores Presti's four-decade career using art to intervene in marginalized areas of Sicily. The documentary's title references an asteroid named after Presti, symbolizing his vision linking cosmic and urban space. It opens at the Astrophysical Observatory of Isnello and focuses on the Catania neighborhood of Librino, where Presti created MAGMA, an open-air museum developed through collaboration with students, artists, and residents.

A New York il Metropolitan museum ingloba la Neue Galerie: ovvero la più importante collezione d’arte austriaca e tedesca fuori dall’Europa

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie in New York have announced a merger set for 2028. The Neue Galerie, founded by collector Ronald S. Lauder, will become The Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie, absorbing the most significant collection of early 20th-century Austrian and German art outside Europe, including Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I." Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer will donate thirteen major works from their private collection, and a fundraising campaign has been launched to support the integration.

A Political Anthology of the United States: The Great Exhibition of Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince in Venice

Un’antologia politica degli Stati Uniti. La grande mostra di Arthur Jafa e Richard Prince a Venezia

Fondazione Prada presents "Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince" at Cà Corner della Regina in Venice, the 15th exhibition produced by the foundation in the city. Curated by Nancy Spector of the Brooklyn Museum, the two-person show brings together over fifty works—photographs, videos, installations, sculptures, and paintings—that explore the fractured identity of the United States through the lens of race, masculinity, popular culture, and appropriation. Both artists, though separated by more than a decade in age, share a practice of scavenging and recontextualizing images from film, comics, advertising, and social media to critique American society.

A new wing to solve the problems of the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Beautiful challenge, tedious controversy

Una nuova ala per risolvere i problemi della Galleria Borghese a Roma. Bella sfida, stucchevoli polemiche

The Galleria Borghese in Rome, one of Italy's most extraordinary museums, faces significant accessibility and capacity issues due to its historic 17th-century structure. The museum is difficult for visitors with disabilities, overcrowded, and forces visitors to book far in advance—often waiting over a month for a time slot—while many masterpieces remain in storage. In 2025, the engineering firm Proger offered to sponsor a feasibility study for a new wing, contributing nearly 900,000 euros to fund an international architecture competition and a technical-economic feasibility plan. The study, currently underway, aims to explore whether a new annex can be built within the protected Villa Borghese park to create new entrances, exhibition spaces, and services.

The Museums of Verona have a new director. "This city can become a cultural laboratory," says Lorenzo Balbi

I Musei di Verona hanno un nuovo direttore. “Questa città può diventare un laboratorio culturale”, dice Lorenzo Balbi

Lorenzo Balbi, currently director of MAMbo in Bologna, has been appointed as the new director of the Musei di Verona, a civic museum network that includes the Arena di Verona, Casa di Giulietta, Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano, Museo Civico di Storia naturale, Museo degli Affreschi di G. B. Cavalcaselle, Museo di Castelvecchio, Museo Lapidario Maffeiano, and Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti. He will take office in September 2026, selected for his strategic vision to revitalize the system as a hub for cultural production, civic participation, and international dialogue.

A Roma è tutto pronto per il weekend delle gallerie d’arte: mostre, progetti speciali, inaugurazioni. Il programma

The fourth edition of Roma Gallery Weekend will take place from May 15 to 17, 2026, featuring 31 galleries across Rome. The event kicks off with a new Gallery Night on May 14, where simultaneous openings and special projects serve as a concentrated prologue. Participating galleries include established names like Gagosian, Galleria Continua, and Lorcan O'Neill, as well as emerging spaces such as Amanita and Cantadora. Highlights include exhibitions of Francesca Woodman, Tracey Emin, Friedrich Kunath, and Carlos Garaicoa, alongside site-specific interventions and group shows.

The End-of-Term Grand Interview with Stefano Boeri After 8 Years as President of Triennale di Milano

La grande intervista di fine mandato a Stefano Boeri dopo 8 anni da presidente della Triennale di Milano

Stefano Boeri reflects on his eight-year tenure as president of Triennale Milano in a wide-ranging exit interview. He discusses the institution's transformation into a more international and accessible cultural hub, highlighting key achievements such as the three major International Exhibitions—"Broken Nature" (2019), "Unknown Unknowns" (2022), and "Inequalities" (2025)—and the physical reclamation of spaces like the "Cuore" hall and the garden-level floor, which were opened free to the public. Boeri also touches on financial management, governance challenges, and his hopes for the future leadership.

In Genoa, an exhibition dedicated to Giovanni Korompay, the Futurist who loved Pink Floyd

A Genova una mostra dedicata a Giovanni Korompay, il futurista che amava i Pink Floyd

A major retrospective exhibition dedicated to Giovanni Korompay, a Venetian painter, sculptor, and illustrator associated with the second wave of Futurism, has opened at the Wolfsoniana in Genoa Nervi. Titled "Korompay, un’antologica," the show runs until November 1st and features around sixty works, including paintings, sculptures, graphic works, photographs, and documents. It explores Korompay's evolution from traditional training under Ettore Tito to his embrace of Futurist aeropainting, exemplified by works such as "Alta velocità" (High Speed), which celebrates a 1934 world speed record set by a Macchi-Castoldi MC 72 seaplane. The exhibition is curated by Alex Casagrande, Matteo Fochessati, Franco Tagliapietra, and Anna Vyazemtseva, with loans from public museums (Mart, Mambo), private collections, and the Fondazione Korompay.

Is there really an energy transformation in Marina Abramović's exhibition in Venice?

Nella mostra di Marina Abramović a Venezia c’è davvero una trasformazione di energia?

At the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Marina Abramović's exhibition "Transforming Energy" opens to the public from May 9 to September 30, 2026, as part of the 2026 Venice Biennale. The show is designed as an experiential device that moves beyond traditional exhibition formats, inviting viewers to determine their own presence through a sequence of rooms built around relationships between body, materials, and time. Crystals and locks of hair function not as decoration but as presences to be inhabited, demanding radical attention rather than spectacular participation. During the press conference, Abramović and curator Shai Baitel insisted that the materials, especially the crystals, possess real energy capable of directly affecting the viewer's body and perception, not merely as metaphor but as an active condition.

Working in the Arts: Opportunities from Cascina Lagoscuro, Ministry of Tourism, PhEST, Fundació Joan Miró, C2C Festival

Lavorare nell’arte: opportunità da Cascina Lagoscuro, Ministero del Turismo, PhEST, Fundació Joan Miró, C2C Festival

This article from Artribune compiles five current job and opportunity listings in Italy and Europe for creative professionals. The openings include a creative residency at Cascina Lagoscuro (a regenerative farm in northern Italy) for dancers, artists, writers, chefs, designers, educators, artisans, and activists; a national exam for tourist guide certification by Italy's Ministry of Tourism; a pop-up open call for artists and photographers from the PhEST international photography and art festival; a director search at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona; and a curator training program for music curators by C2C Festival.

Arte contemporanea, fiabe e favole nel racconto di Artbox su Sky Arte

The article previews an upcoming episode of the Italian television program "Artbox" airing on Sky Arte on Tuesday, May 12. The episode visits Castello di Miradolo in Piedmont, where the exhibition "C'è oggi una fiaba" (There Is a Fairy Tale Today) runs until June 21, blending art, literature, and music around childhood themes. Curator Roberto Galimberti and Fondazione Cosso director Paola Eynard discuss the show. The episode also features art historian Maria Vittoria Baravelli's segment "Invito al viaggio," reinterpreting fairy tales as dynamic spaces for growth, referencing artists Luigi Serafini and Luigi Ontani. Additionally, curator Gražina Subelytė discusses the exhibition "Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista" in Venice, and curators Stefania Bossi, Michele Tavola, and Valentina Cane present the show "Regina. Sperimentatrice geniale" about a prolific sculptor. The program includes a book segment on Orsina Simona Pierini's "I colori delle case. Milan Interiors 1923-1978."

The best and worst we saw at the Venice Art Biennale 2026. Artribune's hits and flops

Il meglio e il peggio che abbiamo visto alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026. Top e flop di Artribune

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and directed by Koyo Kouoh, opened amid significant turmoil: the death of a newly appointed curator, diplomatic tensions over the presence of Russia and Israel, political protests, and the unprecedented collective resignation of the jury, which led to the Golden Lions being awarded by public vote for the first time. Despite this chaotic backdrop, the exhibition—featuring a record 100 national pavilions—has been widely praised for avoiding moralistic pedagogy and instead embracing visual seduction, formal quality, and sensory joy while addressing themes of identity, memory, colonialism, ecological crisis, and violence. The article highlights top and flop moments from the opening week, including strong showings by Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and a standout exhibition at Fondazione Prada.

With an exhibition in Venice, the great artist Joseph Kosuth demonstrates his trust in language

Con una mostra di Venezia il grande artista Joseph Kosuth dimostra la sua fiducia nel linguaggio

Joseph Kosuth, a pioneer of conceptual art, presents a new exhibition titled "The Exchange Value of Language Has Fallen to Zero" at Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice. The show features both historical works from the 1960s, such as "One and Three Mirrors" (1965), and a new neon piece "A Chain of Resemblance" created for the occasion, which pays homage to Michel Foucault. The exhibition explores themes of language, authorship, and community, including works like "The Fifth Investigation" (1969) and a poster from the 1976 Venice Biennale. Kosuth, who lived in Venice from 2021 to 2025, has a deep connection to the city, having participated in eight editions of the Venice Biennale and maintaining two permanent installations there.

È morto Paolo Masi. La lunga ricerca dell’artista fiorentino sulla trasformazione dei materiali poveri

Paolo Masi, the Florentine artist known for his lifelong exploration of poor materials and their transformation, died in Florence on Wednesday, May 6, just days before his 93rd birthday. His career spanned from informal experiments in the 1950s through a rigorous investigation of materials in the 1960s, including his first solo show at the Strozzina in 1960. He joined the aesthetic research group Centro F/Uno alongside Baldi, Lecci, and Nannucci, and later co-founded the collective spaces Zona (1974) and Base (1998) with Mario Mariotti and Maurizio Nannucci. Masi participated in the Venice Biennale (1978) and the Rome Quadriennale (1986), and his works are held by major museums and foundations internationally. His later years saw significant retrospectives at the Museo MAGA in Gallarate (2018) and at Le Murate in Florence (2018), as well as a 2023 solo show at Florence's Galleria Frittelli, which remembered him as an extraordinary artist and dear friend.

Here is the first and for now only interview with the curators of the 2026 Venice Art Biennale

Ecco la prima e per ora unica intervista ai curatori della Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026

The team of the late curator Koyo Kouoh has completed the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," which opens to the public on May 9, 2026. In an exclusive interview, curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Helene Pereira, Rasha Salti, Siddhartha Mitter, and Rory Tsapayia discuss the challenges of realizing Kouoh's vision after her death, including fundraising, installation design by Wolff Architects of Cape Town, and the use of cardboard as a non-invasive material to create thresholds between spaces.

Performance, gioco, rischio. Il grande Paul McCarthy è in mostra a Madrid: l’intervista

Paul McCarthy's latest exhibition, titled "A&E," is on view at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid, part of the SOLO CONTEMPORARY initiative founded by a Spanish collector couple. The show features large-scale works on paper and videos created in collaboration with German actress Lilith Stangenberg, exploring role-play, performance, and the blurred lines between art and entertainment. The acronym "A&E" alludes to historical pairs like Adam and Eve or Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as well as "Arts & Entertainment." The works stem from private encounters between McCarthy and Stangenberg, with drawings serving as storyboards for videos that capture their improvisational, trance-like interactions.

A new foundation for contemporary art has been born in Spain. Collector Gabriel Calparsoro told us about it

In Spagna è nata una nuova fondazione per l’arte contemporanea. Il collezionista Gabriel Calparsoro ce l’ha raccontata

The Calparsoro Foundation, a new contemporary art foundation, has been launched in Spain by collector Gabriel Calparsoro. Its inaugural event was the presentation of Isaac Julien's video installation "Once Again … (Statues never die)" at the Museo Lazaro Galdiano in Madrid. The foundation aims to share Calparsoro's private collection of around 180 works, which focuses on North American and international artists addressing political and social issues related to ethnic and gender minorities.

The New Installation of the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice Is a Game of Combinatory Art. Interview with Director Cristiana Collu

Il nuovo allestimento della Fondazione Querini Stampalia a Venezia è un gioco di arte combinatoria. Intervista alla direttrice Cristiana Collu

The Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice has unveiled a new permanent installation titled "The Dreamer," curated by director Cristiana Collu and opening May 5, 2026. The exhibition repositions over 170 works from the foundation's collection—including Giovanni Bellini's *Presentation of Jesus at the Temple*, Luca Giordano's *San Sebastiano*, and Palma il Vecchio's *Madonna with Child*—in dialogue with works by six contemporary artists: Giusy Calia, Silvia Giambrone, Daniela De Lorenzo, Davide Rivalta, Emanuele Becheri, and Chiara Bettazzi. Inspired by the dreams and passions of founder Giovanni Querini Stampalia (born May 5, 1799) and his sister Caterina, the installation is conceived as a non-chronological, emotionally driven journey likened to a "reverse cinema" where visitors move through space like directors constructing their own narrative.

The 90 Years of Legendary Italian Artist Giorgio Griffa. All the Exhibitions Celebrating the Master's Birthday

I 90 anni del mitico artista italiano Giorgio Griffa. Tutte le mostre per celebrare il compleanno del maestro

Giorgio Griffa, the Italian painter known for his radical and minimalist approach, turned 90 on March 29, 2026. A comprehensive program of celebrations includes the exhibition "Summer 69" at the Fondazione Giorgio Griffa in Turin (through July 2, 2026), which revisits his breakthrough summer of 1969 with photographs by Paolo Mussat Sartor alongside his early and recent works. The Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea has opened a monographic room with works from its permanent collection, and the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino will dedicate a similar space in May. The MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo has acquired six monumental works spanning over thirty years of Griffa's career, from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

In Warsaw, the Poster Museum reopens and it is the oldest in the world

A Varsavia riapre il Museo del Manifesto ed è il più antico del mondo

The Poster Museum in Wilanów, a suburb of Warsaw, has reopened after a major conservation restoration co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Founded in 1968 as an autonomous institution from the National Museum in Warsaw, it is the oldest museum of its kind in the world. Its collection now holds approximately 63,000 posters from Poland and abroad, dating from the late 19th century to the present, including works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Stasys Eidrigevičius. The reopening exhibition, "Polish Posters: The Collection," features 240 works spanning 130 years of Polish urban life, covering themes from politics and propaganda to cinema, theater, music, and fashion. The museum also hosts the International Poster Biennale, founded in 1966, with the next edition scheduled for 2027.

A Vienna una grande mostra dedicata a Daumier, l’artista della satira

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is hosting a major retrospective titled "Honoré Daumier – Mirror of Society," dedicated to the French artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1879). The exhibition features lithographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures, with significant loans from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. Daumier, known for his sharp satire and acute social observation, critiqued political abuses and social injustices of 19th-century European society. The show also recalls a previous Daumier exhibition held at the Albertina in 1936, which served as a political statement against Nazi oppression.

In Perugia, Giotto and the Giotteschi to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis

A Perugia Giotto e i Giotteschi per celebrare gli 800 anni dalla morte di San Francesco

The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia has opened the exhibition "Giotto e san Francesco. Una rivoluzione nell'Umbria del Trecento" to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. Curated by Veruska Picchiarelli and Emanuele Zappasodi, the show brings together major international loans to reunite works by Giotto and his Umbrian and Sienese followers, exploring the artistic revolution sparked by Francis's life and Giotto's break from Byzantine tradition toward naturalism.

In Piedmont, Langhe, Roero and Monferrato increasingly focus on contemporary art and cultural tourism

In Piemonte le Langhe, il Roero e il Monferrato puntano sempre di più sull’arte contemporanea e il turismo culturale

The Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato regions of Piedmont, Italy, have consolidated their cultural alliance under the name Orma, a unified system launched in 2025 that brings together four existing festivals—Creativamente Roero, Resté, Germinale Monferrato Art Fest, and La collina sale sempre—to offer a widespread contemporary art program across the UNESCO World Heritage territory. In 2026, Orma expands its activities from May to November, involving over 60 municipalities, with new entries like Canelli hosting a site-specific work by Brazilian artist Maria Theresa Alves in partnership with Castello di Rivoli, and projects such as Prospettive / Perspectives with Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Villa Arson. The program includes artist residencies, permanent interventions, and exhibitions, with Resté already underway in the Langhe towns of Diano d'Alba, Montelupo Albese, Rodello, and Cerretto Langhe.

The Last Interview with the Great Artist Georg Baselitz on the Occasion of His Exhibition in Florence

L’ultima intervista al grande artista Georg Baselitz in occasione della sua mostra a Firenze

Georg Baselitz, the German artist born in 1938, is the subject of a major retrospective titled "Avanti!" at the Museo Novecento in Florence, featuring 170 works including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, with a strong focus on his graphic output. The exhibition, curated by Sergio Risaliti and Daniel Blau (Baselitz's son and an artist himself), spans three floors and traces the evolution of Baselitz's practice, culminating in a dialogue with the work of Italian artist Ottone Rosai. The show is accompanied by a prequel exhibition honoring the 120th anniversary of Villa Romana, where Baselitz once held a fellowship, and will be followed by another exhibition at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice in May, which together with the Florence show form the artist's testament. Artribune published Baselitz's last interview in its new bimonthly issue.

È morto a 88 anni il grande artista tedesco Georg Baselitz

German painter Georg Baselitz, known for his expressionist works that confronted the horrors of Nazi Germany, died on April 30, 2026 at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938, he grew up amid World War II rubble and became a pioneering, anti-conformist figure of the post-war era, famously inverting his images to force viewers to reconstruct meaning. A major exhibition, 'GEORG BASELITZ – AVANTI!', had just opened on March 25 at the Museo Novecento in Florence, focusing on his graphic works and his ties to the city. Another show, 'Georg Baselitz. Eroi d’Oro', was set to open May 6 at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice during the 61st Venice Biennale, featuring large recent paintings and portraits of his wife Elke.

Fotografia Europea returns to Reggio Emilia. Program, appointments, hundreds of widespread exhibitions

A Reggio Emilia torna la grande rassegna Fotografia Europea. Programma, appuntamenti, centinaia di mostre diffuse

Fotografia Europea, the major photography festival in Reggio Emilia, returns for its 21st edition from April 30 to June 14, 2026, under the theme "Fantasmi del quotidiano" (Ghosts of the Everyday). The official circuit features twenty exhibitions across historic venues such as Chiostri di San Pietro, Palazzo da Mosto, and Palazzo dei Musei, as well as modern spaces like Spazio Gerra and Collezione Maramotti. Highlights include works by Felipe Romero Beltrán (winner of the KBr Photo Award 2025), Mohamed Hassan, Salvatore Vitale, Marine Lanier, Ola Rindal, Tania Franco Klein, Giulia Vanelli, Frédéric D. Oberland, and Simona Ghizzoni, with curatorial contributions from Tim Clark and Luce Lebart. Over three hundred off-circuit exhibitions will also be held throughout the city.

The best and worst of Milan Design Week 2026: the hits and flops of this edition

Il meglio e il peggio della Milano Design Week 2026: i top e i flop di questa edizione

Artribune's design team presents its annual roundup of the best and worst of Milan Design Week 2026, highlighting standout experiences and recurring flaws. The top picks include open apartments like Interno Italiano by Interni Venosta in a home designed by Osvaldo Borsani, L’Appartamento by Artemest at Palazzo Donizetti, and Casaornella by Maria Vittoria Paggini. Also praised are Casa NM3 by Delfino Sisto Legnani, Nicolò Ornaghi, and Francesco Zorzi, two projects by Studiopepe, and the five-floor Convey. Museum programming at Triennale Milano and ADI Design Museum is celebrated, with exhibitions such as The Eames Houses, Continuous Present on Andrea Branzi, Alphabet on Barber Osgerby, and Haruka Misawa's bit by bit.