The Philadelphia Museum of Art has announced a major new exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists," which will showcase over 200 works of American art from its collection. The show spans from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century and features paintings, decorative arts, and folk art by artists including Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, and Stuart Davis.
Brian T. Allen reviews the newly opened Princeton University Art Museum, praising its architectural design while questioning the curatorial direction. He contrasts the new building's impressive appearance with his concerns about the museum's exhibition choices, recalling past successful shows like the Berlin Painter exhibition and a Clarence White photography show that he found more intellectually rigorous.
Agustín Arteaga has become the new CEO of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, taking over the role on July 1 after a global career leading museums in Mexico, Argentina, and Texas. In a major early achievement, he secured Frida Kahlo's 1947 painting "Self-Portrait with Loose Hair" for the museum's exhibition "Making Moves: A Collection of Feminisms"—the first time a Kahlo original has ever been displayed at the Crocker. The painting is on loan from a private collection through May 3, 2026, and has drawn record crowds to the museum.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has announced its opening date of September 22, 2026, more than a decade after the project was first conceived by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson. The museum, which moved from San Francisco to Chicago before settling in Los Angeles's Exposition Park, has grown from a $700 million budget to a reported $1 billion and will house over 40,000 works across 100,000 square feet of exhibition space. The collection spans ancient artifacts, canonical artists like Frida Kahlo and John Singer Sargent, comic book legends such as Jack Kirby and Alison Bechdel, photography by Gordon Parks and Dorothea Lange, and the Lucas Archives of film memorabilia.
Harvard Art Museums has opened a fall exhibition titled “Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black,” featuring around 120 works from the 19th to 21st centuries by artists including Pablo Picasso, John Singer Sargent, Edgar Degas, Piet Mondrian, and Georges Seurat. The show focuses on drawings in chalk, charcoal, graphite, and crayon, curated by conservator Penley Knipe and curator Miriam Stewart, who spent over a year selecting rarely seen pieces from the museum’s collection. Highlights include a fragile Degas charcoal drawing, “After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself,” which underwent conservation treatment, and a display of materials such as a box of vine charcoal owned by Sargent. The exhibition also features videos of the curators experimenting with historical techniques, like erasing with bread, and includes a hands-on drawing area styled after a 19th-century academic studio.
The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled “Shaping the Future: Transformative Gifts to the Blanton Collection,” opening in March 2027. The show will feature significant artworks donated by alumni, Austinites, and collectors from across the country, including pieces by Ellsworth Kelly and John Singer Sargent. The exhibition debuts at a fundraising gala on March 6, 2027, and opens to the public on March 14, 2027, honoring donors whose gifts have strengthened the museum’s collection and supported its growth.
The new Princeton University Art Museum opened its doors to the public on Oct. 31, 2025, with a 24-hour open house that drew 21,763 visitors. The event featured dancing, stargazing, artmaking, live performances, film screenings, and a trivia contest, with highlights including Claude Monet's "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" and Nick Cave's mosaic. Director James Steward welcomed the crowd, and the museum also hosted previews for students, faculty, staff, and tradespeople, attracting thousands more.
The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) in Rochester, NY, will present "Frontiers of Impressionism: Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum" from November 2, 2025, through March 1, 2026. The exhibition features fifty-two masterworks from the Worcester Art Museum's collection, including Claude Monet's 1908 painting "Nymphéas (Water Lilies)"—the first water lily painting ever purchased by an art museum. More than thirty European and American artists are represented, such as Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and John Singer Sargent.
Chase Quinn has been appointed as the inaugural creative director and curator of special projects at the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) in Jackson, starting in January 2025. In this newly created role, he oversees both curatorial and education departments, focusing on inclusive, cohesive content development and storytelling. Quinn, previously co-director of education and programs and curator of special projects at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, was inspired by Carrie Mae Weems’ series “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried” at Tate Modern in the mid-1990s, which shaped his approach to complicating narratives around race in museum exhibitions.
This article is a travel guide for planning an art-focused day trip to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, highlighting key cultural destinations for summer 2025. It details MASS MoCA in North Adams, a vast contemporary art museum housing works by Sol LeWitt, Anselm Kiefer, Louise Bourgeois, and James Turrell, with current exhibitions including a Vincent Valdez retrospective and Alison Pebworth's "Cultural Apothecary." The guide also covers the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, featuring its "Ground/work 2025" outdoor sculpture exhibition curated by Glenn Adamson, alongside shows by Mariel Capanna, mid-century modern graphic design, and Isamu Noguchi. Additional attractions include the LOUD Weekend and FreshGrass music festivals, plus dining options like the museum campus's cafe and the Tourists hotel restaurant.
John Middleton, managing partner of the Philadelphia Phillies, and his family are lending over 120 paintings and furniture pieces from their private collection to a two-museum exhibition in Philadelphia titled "A Nation of Artists." The show is a collaboration between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, featuring more than 1,000 works to celebrate the U.S. semiquincentennial. Works by Edward Hopper, Charles Willson Peale, John Singer Sargent, and Horace Pippin will be included. The exhibition runs from April 2026 to September 2027.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have announced a landmark collaboration with the Middleton Family Collection to present "A Nation of Artists," a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Opening from April 2026 to September 2027, the show will feature over 1,000 works across both venues, spanning three centuries of American art from Charles Willson Peale to Mickalene Thomas, with selections from the private Middleton Family Collection interwoven throughout.
The Brooklyn Museum will present "Monet and Venice" from October 11, 2025, to February 1, 2026, the first major exhibition in over a century dedicated to Claude Monet's Venetian cityscapes. The show reunites nineteen of Monet's Venetian paintings alongside more than one hundred artworks, books, and ephemera, placing them in context with works by Canaletto, John Singer Sargent, J. M. W. Turner, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is cocurated by Lisa Small of the Brooklyn Museum and Melissa Buron of the Victoria & Albert Museum, and sponsored by Bank of America.
English Heritage has opened an exhibition titled 'Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits' at Kenwood in London, featuring 18 portraits by John Singer Sargent of American heiresses known as the 'dollar princesses.' These women traveled to the UK in the late 19th century to marry into the British aristocracy, bringing wealth that helped restore estates like Blenheim Palace. The show marks 100 years since Sargent’s death and includes never-before-displayed works, such as a charcoal portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt. Curator Wendy Monkhouse emphasizes that the exhibition focuses on the sitters as individuals, addressing themes of misogyny, stereotyping, and xenophobia.
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An ambitious new exhibition titled “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939” has opened at Chicago’s Wrightwood 659 gallery, featuring over 300 works by more than 125 artists from 40 countries. Curated by Jonathan D. Katz, the show traces the historical roots of the term 'homosexual,' coined in 1868 by Hungarian writer Karl Maria Kertbeny, and explores the artistic and social transformations surrounding the emergence of homosexual identity up to 1939. The exhibition includes loans from major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée d’Orsay, with works by artists such as George Catlin, Jean Cocteau, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Eakins, organized into eight thematic sections.
The article highlights several major museum exhibitions opening during Tefaf New York 2025. At the Brooklyn Museum, "Solid Gold" (through July 6) traces the material's historical and cultural significance across fine art, fashion, jewelry, and design, featuring works from ancient Coclé gold plaques to pieces by Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, and Alexander Calder. The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents "Sargent and Paris" (through August 3) for the centenary of John Singer Sargent's death, reuniting his scandalous "Portrait of Madame X" with preparatory sketches and exploring his formative decade in Paris. The Jewish Museum offers "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt" (through August 10), examining the biblical story's influence on 17th-century Dutch art through works by Rembrandt and his contemporaries.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is presenting "Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family," an exhibition featuring recently rediscovered watercolors by Emily Sargent (1857–1936), alongside works by her brother John Singer Sargent and their mother Mary Newbold Sargent. The show draws entirely from The Met's collection and includes a debut of 26 Emily Sargent watercolors gifted by the artists' heirs, complementing the museum's concurrent exhibition "Sargent and Paris."
This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three major art stories. Host Ben Luke is joined by managing editor Louis Jebb to discuss Pope Francis's deep engagement with art and the Vatican collections following his death on Easter Monday. The podcast also marks the 250th anniversary of J.M.W. Turner's birth, featuring an interview with Tate Britain senior curator Amy Concannon about Turner's enduring appeal. The episode's 'Work of the Week' is John Singer Sargent's 'Madame X' (1883-84), discussed with co-curator Stephanie L. Herdrich ahead of a major Sargent exhibition opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and traveling to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
HommeGirls has opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York's Chinatown, a 250-square-foot space designed by Rafael de Cárdenas. The shop features an operational dry cleaner's rack rotating above a Portaluppi-style marble floor, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and a vintage Italian valet stand, reflecting the label's blend of discipline and disorder. The article also covers Miya Ando's solo show at Saint Laurent Rive Droite Los Angeles, Flamingo Estate's new candle inspired by a New York holiday, and the Met's upcoming "Sargent and Paris" exhibition.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a major new exhibition, "Sargent and Paris," organized with the Musée d'Orsay, focusing on John Singer Sargent's formative decade in the French capital. The show culminates with his iconic portrait *Madame X* (1883–84), which caused a scandal at the 1884 Paris Salon when its jeweled strap appeared to slip off the subject's shoulder. Curator Stephanie L. Herdrich spent six years developing the exhibition, which includes approximately 100 works and aims to provide a more nuanced retelling of the painting's creation and impact. The exhibition runs from April 27 to August 3 at the Met before traveling to the Musée d'Orsay, marking the first monographic show of Sargent's work in France and the first time *Madame X* has been exhibited there in over 40 years.
Southern Guild, a South African gallery founded by Trevyn and Julian McGowan in 2008, has opened a new outpost in Tribeca, New York, after closing its Los Angeles location. The gallery, which began in Cape Town and expanded to a 32,000-square-foot campus, now occupies a 19th-century heritage building with 17-foot ceilings and cast-iron columns. Its inaugural exhibitions feature South African artists Usha Seejarim and Mmangaliso Nzuza, showcasing large-scale works that take advantage of the dramatic vertical space.
The Felix Art Fair returned to the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel in Los Angeles, maintaining its reputation for a relaxed, community-focused atmosphere. Gallerists utilized the hotel's cabana suites and upper floors to showcase a diverse range of works, with a notable emphasis on artists blending craft, design, and fine art. The fair's unique hotel-based model continues to attract both returning participants and twenty first-time exhibitors who appreciate the lower overhead costs compared to larger fairs like Frieze.
John Gachot, a Manhattan-based designer, has transformed a shed on his Shelter Island property into a studio where he can finally pursue drawing and painting after decades of relegating his practice to notebooks and bar napkins. The space also houses sculptures by his late father, Richard Gachot, an artist who worked out of an ice house on the family's Long Island estate and created animated, politically charged works. The article, structured as an interview, explores how the shed became a creative sanctuary for John and a continuation of his father's artistic legacy.
Sotheby’s London kicked off its Spring 2026 marquee season with a series of high-energy auctions, totaling £154 million across its Modern & Contemporary sales. The week was highlighted by a "white-glove" evening auction that achieved a 100% sell-through rate, led by Francis Bacon’s 1972 Self-Portrait which sold for £16 million. Significant records were set for British masters, most notably Leon Kossoff, whose painting "Children’s Swimming Pool" shattered estimates to reach £5.2 million.
A booming stock market and increased disposable income among the ultra-wealthy have fueled a $2.2 billion fall auction season in New York, led by Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer," which sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby's. Other major sales include Frida Kahlo's "El sueño (la cama)" setting a record for a female artist at $55 million, and Mark Rothko's "No. 31 Yellow Stripe" fetching $62 million at Christie's. The surge is attributed to a convergence of high-quality estates coming to market—including those of Leonard Lauder, Robert and Patricia Ross Weis, and Jay and Cindy Pritzker—and renewed confidence among wealthy buyers after a stagnant period for art prices.
The Yale Art Gallery's fourth floor is hosting five concurrent exhibitions running through June, including solo shows by John Coplans, August Sander, Jes Fan, and Hans Hofmann, alongside a group exhibition of American Impressionism featuring artists like Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and Childe Hassam. The displays range from Coplans' intimate black-and-white self-portraits to Sander's sprawling photographic catalog of 20th-century German society, and from Fan's modern sculptures to Hofmann's bold abstract paintings.
The Stamford Museum & Nature Center is marking its 90th anniversary with the exhibition 'Likeness & Legacy: Portraits from the Permanent Collection.' The show features paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures, including a John Singer Sargent portrait once stolen by the Nazis and sculptural studies by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum. It runs through May 25th.
Christie's New York held back-to-back Day Sales on November 18, 2025, featuring Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper in the morning and Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale in the afternoon. The two sales achieved a combined total of $56.5 million, with top lots including Edgar Degas's *Danseuses sur la scène* ($1.14 million), Childe Hassam's *The Flower Seller* ($2.15 million), and Robert Delaunay's *Portrait de Jean Metzinger* ($2.03 million). The sales drew from notable collections such as those of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, Carol and Terry Wall, and Arnold and Joan Saltzman, with strong bidding across American, Latin American, and European artists.