A young Richter’s painting of an even younger Polke and a once-grimy Brazilian landscape by Frans Post: our pick of the May auctions

The article previews five major lots coming to auction in New York in May 2025, spanning Phillips, Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams. Highlights include Gerhard Richter's 'Mann mit zwei Kindern' (1966), a portrait of Sigmar Polke estimated at $4–6 million; Frans Post's 'View of Olinda with Ruins of the Jesuit Church' (1666), estimated at $6–8 million and expected to break the artist's record; Andy Warhol's 'Big Electric Chair' (1967–68), estimated around $30 million; and Fernando Botero's 'The Bed' (1982), estimated at $700,000–$1 million. Each work is making its auction debut or is a rare market appearance.

'I do believe in love at first sight': plastic surgeon Charles Boyd on why his heart rules his head in matters of art

Plastic surgeon Charles Boyd, based in Michigan and deeply involved in the Detroit art scene, discusses his art collection and passion for visual art in an interview with The Art Newspaper. Boyd chairs the board at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, serves on the board of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and is on the acquisitions committee of the Studio Museum in Harlem. His collection, which began in earnest in 2004 after inheriting art from his father, includes works by prominent Black American artists such as Ming Smith, Kerry James Marshall, Titus Kaphar, Deborah Roberts, and Sanford Biggers. He shares stories about his first purchase (a sculptural work from Côte d'Ivoire), his most recent acquisition (by the late Cuban artist Belkis Ayón), and a regret over not buying a Norman Lewis painting when he was a resident.

‘The First Homosexuals’ showcases 300 queer artworks amid ‘rise of homophobic politics’

A major new exhibition, “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869–1939,” has opened at Chicago’s Wrightwood 659, featuring over 300 queer artworks from 125 artists across 40 countries. Curated by Jonathan D. Katz and Johnny Willis, the show includes early photographs of drag, a painting of a late-1700s trans pioneer, and what is believed to be the first same-sex wedding depicted in art, alongside works by iconic figures like Gertrude Stein and James Baldwin. The exhibition, eight years in the making, draws loans from institutions such as the Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as private collections, and runs through July 26.

After a failed export block by the UK, Nicolas Poussin masterpiece goes on show at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) will make its vast, previously inaccessible art and artifact holdings public over the coming year, including publishing an online catalogue and offering research opportunities. To mark this shift, DCT is presenting Nicolas Poussin’s *Confirmation* at Louvre Abu Dhabi—a masterpiece that had been held in Britain for 240 years and was blocked from export by the UK government in 2022 when it failed to raise £19m to match the buyer’s offer, now presumed to be DCT. The painting goes on show alongside Poussin’s *Self-portrait* from the Musée du Louvre.

Yayoi Kusama survey at National Gallery of Victoria becomes best-selling art exhibition in Australian history

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne has announced that its Yayoi Kusama survey exhibition, titled "Yayoi Kusama," sold 570,537 tickets, making it the most-visited ticketed art exhibition in Australian history. The show, which ran from 15 December 2024 to 21 April 2025, surpassed the NGV's own record of 462,262 tickets for "Van Gogh and the Seasons" in 2017. Featuring 200 artworks spanning nearly nine decades of the artist's career, including ten infinity rooms, the exhibition was the largest the NGV has ever dedicated to a single living artist. The NGV also acquired two major works from the show: "Dancing Pumpkin" (2020) and "Narcissus Garden" (1966/2024).

Jeremy Frey: The Generational Impact of a New Artistic Path

Indigenous weaver Jeremy Frey, a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship recipient, will participate in an upcoming public conversation with Hyperallergic Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. The discussion will explore Frey’s unique practice of Passamaquoddy basketry, which involves harvesting natural materials like black ash and sweetgrass to create intricate vessels and innovative relief prints that bridge the gap between traditional craft and contemporary sculpture.

museums in crisis takeaways

Artnet News published its 'Museums in Crisis' series, a global investigation into pressures facing cultural institutions. Key takeaways include: Western museums face a funding and political crisis, with U.S. institutions losing hundreds of millions in federal support (including $428 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities) and European museums like those in Berlin facing cuts of €130 million. Corporate sponsorship is increasingly risky due to ethical scrutiny, with the U.K.'s Museums Association urging institutions to avoid ties to fossil fuels or human rights abuses. China's private museums are at risk of downsizing or disappearing due to economic slowdown and lack of public funding.

‘Just Dudes Hanging Out’: Dustin Yellin and Paul Rudd on Making the Artist’s First Film

Dustin Yellin, known for his glass sculptures and as founder of Pioneer Works, has made his first film, *Goodnight Lamby*, produced by Darren Aronofsky's A.I.-focused studio Primordial Soup. The short film, a hero's journey to rescue his daughter Zia's favorite stuffed animal, premiered at Cannes. Yellin discusses the project with his friend actor Paul Rudd, who voices the character "Papa," exploring how fatherhood and his existing artistic practice of "frozen cinema" inspired the animation.

art june leaf grey art museum

The Grey Art Museum at New York University is hosting "Shooting from the Heart," the most comprehensive retrospective to date of the late artist June Leaf, who died last summer at 94. The exhibition, on view through December 13, features her drawings, paintings, and sculptures spanning 75 years, including her theatrical puppet show "Street Dreams" (1968). Originated by the Addison Gallery of American Art, the show will travel to the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Ohio in January 2026. A catalogue co-published by Rizzoli Electa includes contributions from artists Kara Walker and Joan Jonas, and film screenings at Anthology Film Archives explore her New York studio and her life with photographer Robert Frank in Nova Scotia.

Required Reading

This week's Required Reading from Hyperallergic features a photo by Saber Nuraldin, a finalist for the World Press Photo of the Year, depicting Palestinians climbing an aid truck in Gaza during famine caused by Israel's blockade. The article also includes Elena Megalos's essay on the American Museum of Natural History as a site of motherhood, and reports on Meenu Batra, a legal interpreter arrested by ICE, and the New York Times blocking the Internet Archive from crawling its site.

lynart store lior brahami

Lynart Store, an online platform and art gallery based in Paris, is profiled through an interview with its founder Lior Brahami. Founded in 2019, Lynart specializes in prints, editions, and sculptures by both established and emerging artists from around the world. Brahami explains that the gallery was created to make art more accessible and less intimidating than traditional galleries, focusing on emotional connection and narrative in the artworks selected. The article highlights Lynart's commitment to supporting emerging artists through curatorial strategy, international exposure, and career guidance.

nyc apartment galleries

Across New York City, a growing number of artists and curators are turning their apartments into informal exhibition spaces, including Iowa in Crown Heights, Interrobang in Sunset Park, Drama in Bushwick, and Club Rhubarb near the Bowery. These home galleries, born from necessity and a rejection of the traditional art market, host shows in living rooms, kitchens, and stairwells, prioritizing intimacy and creative freedom over commercial viability. Antonia Oliver, founder of Iowa, describes her space as an "apartment gallery" that allows her to program without market pressures, exemplified by a recent performance piece by Anna Thérèse Witenberg.

Review of the Italian Pavilion by Chiara Camoni and its relationship with the Biennale

La recensione del Padiglione Italia di Chiara Camoni e la sua relazione con la Biennale

Chiara Camoni's Italian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Con te con tutto," is reviewed in relation to Koyo Kouoh's central exhibition "In Minor Keys." Camoni's installation features a crowd of female figures sculpted in clay and natural materials, described as "donne tronco" (trunk women), which evoke growth, transformation, and the intuitive, manual gestures that Kouoh champions. The review highlights how Camoni's work dialogues with Kouoh's curatorial emphasis on drawing, painting, and craft as intuitive practices, moving away from conceptual art. It also notes a performance by Magdalena Campos Pons at the Tese theatre, which includes a portrait of Toni Morrison and Kouoh, accompanied by music by Kamal Malak.

Pappi Corsicato's film on photographer Claudio Abate, which recounts the artistic ferment of Rome between the 1960s and 1990s, is now on RaiPlay

È su RaiPlay il film di Pappi Corsicato sul fotografo Claudio Abate che racconta il fermento artistico di Roma tra gli Anni ’60 e ‘90

RaiPlay has released a new documentary film by Pappi Corsicato titled "Claudio Abate. L’obiettivo nell’arte" (2026), which pays tribute to the late photographer Claudio Abate (1943–2017). The film weaves together interviews, archival materials, and footage from Istituto Luce to chronicle Abate's life and work, focusing on his role documenting the vibrant Roman art scene from the 1960s through the 1990s. It highlights his collaborations with key figures such as Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Fabio Sargentini, and the artists of the Pastificio Cerere school, capturing seminal performances, happenings, and installations that defined Arte Povera and other avant-garde movements.

In the Principality of Monaco, an exhibition where the great painter Poussin dialogues with contemporary art

Nel Principato di Monaco una mostra dove il grande pittore Poussin dialoga con l’arte contemporanea

The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco presents an exhibition titled "Le Sentiment de la Nature," which juxtaposes works by 17th-century French painter Nicolas Poussin and his followers with pieces by about thirty contemporary and 20th-century artists. The show is organized into six thematic sections—storms and nights, forests and gardens, seas and waterfalls, deserts and volcanoes, mountains, and flowers and butterflies—each exploring the ancient concept of "miracula naturae" (wonders of nature). Featured contemporary artists include Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Demand, Sarah Moon, Mimmo Jodice, Giulio Paolini, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, and Fausto Melotti, with works spanning photography, painting, video, and sculpture. The exhibition runs until May 25, 2026, and is accompanied by a catalog published by Italian publisher Humboldt Books in collaboration with the museum.

Rediscovering the Eternal City of the 1500s in the drawings of Maarten van Heemskerck. The exhibition in Rome

Riscoprire la Città Eterna del ‘500 nei disegni di Maarten van Heemskerck. La mostra a Roma

A major exhibition at Palazzo Poli in Rome, hosted by the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, showcases a selection of drawings by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) from his so-called 'little sketchbook,' now held at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. The show, titled 'Maarten van Heemskerck e il fascino di Roma' and running until June 7, presents the artist's meticulous studies of Roman antiquities made during his four-year stay in the city from 1532, offering a rare visual record of Renaissance Rome's ancient collections before and after the 1527 Sack of Rome.

Interview with Wallace Chan, the artist who created a bridge between Venice and Shanghai through water

Intervista a Wallace Chan, l’artista che attraverso l’acqua ha creato un ponte tra Venezia e Shanghai

Wallace Chan, the Hong Kong-born artist turning 70, has launched a dual-exhibition project titled "Vessels of Other Worlds" between Venice and Shanghai, curated by James Putnam. In Venice, the show runs concurrently with the Biennale at the Cappella di Santa Maria della Pietà (Vivaldi's church), featuring three titanium sculptures inspired by Catholic holy oils, surrounded by smaller works evoking water droplets. In Shanghai, the same sculptures appear at the Long Museum (West Bund) starting July 18, 2026, on a monumental scale—seven, eight, and ten meters tall—with a kaleidoscopic interior accessible through a door in the central piece. The exhibitions also include sound compositions by Brian Eno and reference Chan's earlier Venice shows (Titans, Totem, Transcendence).

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 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.

It's full of artworks behind the looks seen on the Met Gala 2026 red carpet

È pieno di opere d’arte dietro ai look visti sul red carpet del Met Gala 2026

The Met Gala 2026, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, adopted the dress code "Fashion Is Art," prompting designers and celebrities to transform their bodies into living canvases and sculptures. Notable looks included Emma Chamberlain in custom Mugler evoking Vincent van Gogh, Anne Hathaway wearing a Michael Kors Collection dress hand-painted by artist Peter McGough with ancient Greek iconography, and Madonna in a Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello ensemble inspired by Leonora Carrington's surrealist work. Other celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner referenced classical sculptures such as the Nike of Samothrace and Venus de Milo, while Anok Yai, in collaboration with Pierpaolo Piccioli for Balenciaga, created a metallic bronze effect honoring the Black Madonna.

There is a major Paulo Nazareth exhibition to see in Venice (but the artist himself hasn't seen it)

C’è una grande mostra di Paulo Nazareth da vedere a Venezia (ma l’artista stesso non l’ha vista)

A major exhibition of Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth, titled "Algebra," has opened at Punta della Dogana in Venice, but the artist himself is absent. Nazareth has kept a promise not to set foot in Europe until he has crossed African territories on foot, as they existed before the arbitrary divisions imposed by the 1884 Berlin Conference. He did not participate in the installation or opening, instead staging a simultaneous event in Veneza, a working-class district of Ribeirão das Neves, Brazil—a gesture he also made when invited to the 2013 Venice Biennale. The exhibition centers on structural violence and uses attention and care as strategies for healing, with the word "algebra" referring to the act of recomposing what was broken.

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.

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.

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.

According to Brian Eno, everything is political. And in Parma, his first exhibition in Italy opens, also speaking about Palestine

Secondo Brian Eno tutto è politica. E a Parma apre la sua prima mostra in Italia che parla anche della Palestina

Brian Eno, the internationally renowned British artist and musician, opens his first retrospective exhibition in Italy at the Complesso Monumentale di San Paolo in Parma, running from May 1 to August 2, 2026. The show features two complementary projects: SEED, a site-specific sound installation created with Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran in the garden, and My Light Years, a light-based work in the newly restored Ospedale Vecchio. Curated by Alessandro Albertini, the exhibition marks Eno's return to Italy after his Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2023 Venice Biennale, and follows earlier interventions at Castello del Buonconsiglio, Palazzo Te, and Ara Pacis.

What does Giovanni Muciaccia do after Art Attack? He continues to spread culture and tells us all about it in this interview

Cosa fa Giovanni Muciaccia dopo Art Attack? Continua a divulgare cultura e ci racconta tutto in questa intervista

Giovanni Muciaccia, the beloved host of the children's art show "Art Attack" that aired in Italy from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2011 to 2014, continues his mission of art education through books, theater performances, and a new online series. Now also an artist and collector himself, Muciaccia discusses his journey from television presenter to full-time art communicator, explaining how his early passion for art was sparked by a middle school teacher and deepened during his time filming in London, where he visited the newly opened Tate Modern and began studying contemporary art.

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 New Exhibitions of the Pinacoteca Agnelli and the New Public Works on the Lingotto Park-Track: The Photos

Le nuove mostre della Pinacoteca Agnelli e le nuove opere pubbliche sulla pista-parco del Lingotto: le foto

The Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin has launched a new exhibition program that includes the first major institutional retrospective in Italy dedicated to Swiss photographer Walter Pfeiffer, titled "In Good Company," running until September 13, 2026. Curated by Nicola Trezzi and Simon Castets, the show features over 100 photographs from the 1970s to today, blending iconic and unseen works that explore queer eroticism, everyday artifice, and collaborative image-making. Concurrently, the museum presents "Modigliani sottopelle. Quattro capolavori" as part of its "Beyond the Collection" series, placing four masterpieces by Amedeo Modigliani—including a loan from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and works from the Centre Pompidou—in dialogue with the permanent collection. Curated by Pietro Rigolo and Beatrice Zanelli, the exhibition takes an interdisciplinary approach combining art history, diagnostics, and scientific research, using an algorithm to analyze canvas weaves and propose a new dating for the iconic "Nu couché" acquired by Giovanni and Marella Agnelli in 1960.

Roma accoglie all’Ara Pacis 52 importanti opere dell’Impressionismo provenienti da Detroit

The Museo dell'Ara Pacis in Rome is hosting an exhibition titled 'Impressionismo e oltre' (Impressionism and Beyond), featuring 52 masterpieces on loan from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Curated by Ilaria Miarelli Mariani and Claudio Zambianchi, the show spans from the 1840s to the early 20th century, tracing the evolution of European painting through Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and the avant-garde. Works by Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and others are displayed across thematic sections that explore the shift from academic tradition to modern visual language.

"There are no minor or feminine arts." Domitilla Dardi explains this in her new book

“Non esistono arti minori o femminili”. Ce lo spiega Domitilla Dardi nel suo nuovo libro

Domitilla Dardi's new book "Cucire Universi" (published by Einaudi) presents a counter-history of design, focusing on techniques traditionally dismissed as "feminine" and "minor"—such as sewing, ceramics, cooking, and knitting. The book argues that these practices have been systematically undervalued by official art histories, yet have contributed significantly to technologically advanced research fields. Dardi uses real historical figures like Emily Dickinson to illustrate how women's creative and scientific talents were channeled into these marginalized domains, and she calls for overcoming the dualistic view that separates art from craft.