Berlin exhibition focuses in on women photographers of the Bauhaus

The Museum für Fotografie in Berlin is hosting a major exhibition titled "New Woman, New Vision," featuring approximately 300 photographs by 29 women associated with the Bauhaus. The show aims to dismantle the persistent myth that female students at the influential German school were restricted to the weaving workshop. By showcasing works from figures like Lucia Moholy, Ise Gropius, and Marianne Brandt, the exhibition highlights how women were integral to the school’s photographic documentation and its development as a standalone artistic medium.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Iconic California Installation Returns in a Museum Show

The Museum of Sonoma County is commemorating the 50th anniversary of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's iconic 1976 installation "Running Fence" with an exhibition featuring blueprints, original construction materials, and documentary photographs. The temporary work, which stretched nearly 25 miles across Sonoma and Marin counties in California, required four years of negotiations with ranchers, 18 public hearings, and the first-ever Environmental Impact Report for a public artwork, ultimately costing $2.25 million funded by the artists through preparatory drawing sales.

Jean-Michel Basquiat | FAE Musée d'Art Contemporain (Sans titre) (Untitled) (1993) | For Sale

An extremely rare original 1993 exhibition poster for a posthumous Jean-Michel Basquiat solo show at FAE Musée d'Art Contemporain in Pully-Lausanne, Switzerland is being offered for sale by Graves International Art. The offset-lithograph poster, featuring Basquiat's untitled 1982 painting, was designed by Pierre Neumann and comes from a private collection in Hamburg, Germany. The listing notes that no other example of this poster has appeared on the secondary market or at auction before, and it is issued unsigned and posthumous.

‘The doorbell went at 5am. Six masked men were outside’: Belarus Free Theatre bring totalitarian terror to the Venice Biennale

Belarus Free Theatre (BFT), an exiled troupe based in London, is presenting its first major visual art project, titled 'Official. Unofficial. Belarus.', at the Venice Biennale. The installation, masterminded by the founders' daughter Daniella Kaliada, features contributions from former political prisoners, painters, sculptors, composers, and world-renowned chef Rasmus Munk, who created a dish evoking detention under an authoritarian regime. The work includes a giant ball of banned books, surveillance cameras attached to an iron crucifix, and a custom scent of a freshly dug grave, all reflecting the terror of life under Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

Segregation stories: Gordon Parks in the US south – in pictures

Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta is hosting "Gordon Parks: The South in Colour," a major exhibition curated by photographer Dawoud Bey. The show features over 30 works from Parks’ seminal 1956 "Segregation Story" series, including several previously unshown images of the Thornton, Causey, and Tanner families in Alabama. The exhibition coincides with the 70th anniversary of the series' original publication in Life magazine and the 20th anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation.

parties new museum gala 2026 debbie harry

On Monday evening, the New Museum held its 2026 gala at Cipriani South Street, honoring outgoing Director Lisa Phillips, who led the institution for over three decades. The event featured a performance by Blondie's Debbie Harry, a live auction with works by Jack Pierson, Billy Sullivan, Rashid Johnson, and Cindy Sherman, and remarks from John Waters, Maya Lin, and Whitney Museum director Adam Weinberg. Notable attendees included artists Hank Willis Thomas, Derrick Adams, Marilyn Minter, and Anne Imhof, as well as arts leaders Thelma Golden, Yvonne Force Villareal, and Noah Horowitz.

parties young arts gala 2026 met museum

YoungArts hosted its 2026 gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur, honoring actor Marisa Tomei with the Arison Award and featuring ballerina Misty Copeland and artist Glenn Ligon as honorary co-chairs. The event drew a crowd of notable arts figures including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anne Pasternak, Max Hollein, Cecilia Alemani, and artists KAWS, Taryn Simon, and Camille Henrot, with performances by YoungArts alumni directed by Caleb Teicher.

A New York si è svolta un’asta di oggetti di design con risultati clamorosi (specchi da 30 milioni e altro ancora)

On April 22, 2026, Sotheby's in New York auctioned the first part of the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection, comprising around 125 exceptional design and contemporary art pieces. The sale, held at the Breuer Building, achieved a complete sell-out and became the most valuable design auction ever in the United States, totaling $96 million. A highlight was a new auction record for Claude Lalanne: a set of fifteen mirrors originally commissioned by Yves Saint Laurent sold for over $30 million, surpassing the previous record set by her husband François-Xavier Lalanne's Hippopotame Bar.

Museums & Heritage

Melissa Chiu has been appointed as the new director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, departing her long-standing role at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. This major leadership transition comes alongside several other significant museum developments, including the Getty Center's planned $600m–$800m renovation closure and the National Gallery's staff reduction scheme to address a multi-million pound deficit.

A young but already highly competitive profession

Un métier jeune mais déjà très concurrentiel

The museum visitor services sector in France is undergoing rapid professionalization as specialized outsourcing firms compete for lucrative contracts. Companies like Marianne International, Pénélope, and City One—originally rooted in corporate reception and event management—are now managing front-of-house operations for major institutions including the Palais de Tokyo, MuCEM, and the Musée d'Orsay. This shift reflects a broader trend of museums treating visitors as customers and seeking the high-volume staffing expertise found in the corporate world.

Steven Durland, Champion of Performance Art, Dies at 75

Steven Durland, a longtime editor of *High Performance* magazine and a champion of performance art, died on March 11 at age 75 after a brief illness. His life partner, Linda Frye Burnham, confirmed his death in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Durland was born in Long Beach, California, raised in South Dakota, and trained as a ceramic artist with a BFA from the University of South Dakota and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He became deeply involved in performance and mail art, and from 1986 to 1994 served as editor of *High Performance*, a magazine founded by Burnham that featured thousands of artists including Nancy Buchanan, Carolee Schneemann, Paul McCarthy, Suzanne Lacy, and Ulysses Jenkins. Durland also maintained his own artistic practice, creating performances such as "Win Defeat/BID FOR POWER" (1978) and "Death and Taxis" (1982), and produced the micro-newspaper *Tacit*.

This Years Met Gala Felt More Like an Art Exhibition Than a Red Carpet

The 2026 Met Gala, held on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was widely described as feeling more like an art exhibition than a traditional red carpet. The theme, "Costume Art," with the dress code "Fashion Is Art," encouraged celebrities to treat their bodies as canvases. Beyoncé made a highly anticipated return after a decade, serving as a co-chair alongside Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour. Beyoncé wore a sculptural skeleton-inspired design by Olivier Rousteing, while Kiddon wore a shimmering red Chanel gown and Williams donned a Swarovski crystal gown inspired by her Smithsonian portrait. Other notable looks included Sabrina Carpenter in a Dior dress made from vintage film strips, Kendall Jenner referencing classical sculpture, Madonna channeling surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, and Heidi Klum arriving as a marble statue. Inside, live performances by Sabrina Carpenter and Stevie Nicks added to the spectacle.

What Is the 2026 Met Gala Exhibit “Costume Art” All About?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will unveil its 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” on May 4, 2026, coinciding with the Met Gala. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show explores the relationship between fashion and the human body, juxtaposing garments like Rei Kawakubo's bulbous Comme des Garçons ensemble with artworks such as Hans Bellmer's “La Poupée” and Albrecht Dürer's “Adam and Eve.” Mannequins cast from real bodies and mirrored heads by artist Samar Hejazi will enhance the immersive experience. The exhibition runs from May 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries.

Arles Drawing Festival: What Not to Miss at This Fourth Edition

Festival du dessin d’Arles : ce qu’il ne faut surtout pas rater pour cette quatrième édition

The fourth edition of the Arles Drawing Festival has opened, featuring over forty exhibitions across the city. The highlights include two major private drawing collections being publicly presented: Marin Karmitz's collection, displayed at the Sainte-Anne church under the title "Et la vie continue…", and the Collezione Ramo from Milan, showcased at the Museon Arlaten chapel as part of a focus on Italian art.

First Look at the Met’s ‘Costume Art’ Where Every Body Matters, Really

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled its spring exhibition "Costume Art" in the Condé M. Nast Galleries, featuring around 200 pairings of garments and artworks that trace connections across centuries. The show prioritizes fashion over art, displaying dresses, jeans, body stockings, and bustiers to explore the human form through sections like "Naked and Nude Body," "Corpulent Body," and "Disabled Boy." Chief curator Andrew Bolton emphasizes celebrating body diversity amid threats from AI and politics, with nine individuals—including fashion designer Michaela Stark—scanned to create more realistic mannequins.

Sacramento Fine Arts Center Celebrates 40th Anniversary

The Sacramento Fine Arts Center (Sac Arts) is celebrating its 40th anniversary in April 2026. Founded in April 1986 by five independent regional art clubs, including Northern California Arts and Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons, the center began in a former high school building in Carmichael, California. Volunteers cleaned and renovated the space, which is owned by the Carmichael Recreation and Park District. Over the years, the center has expanded with studio spaces, galleries, and a rental gallery, supported by community donations and volunteer efforts. The anniversary year features special events, classes, and a new banner project with 130 submissions for 21 PVC mesh banners.

Sorolla and Valencia: an itinerary in the light of the master who captured the soul of the Mediterranean

The city of Valencia is actively promoting a cultural itinerary dedicated to Joaquín Sorolla, tracing the master painter's life from his birthplace in the historic center to the Mediterranean shores that inspired his most famous works. The route encompasses key biographical sites including the Church of Santa Caterina, the School of Craftsmen, and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, where his early sketches and academic records are preserved.

at the MET's 'costume art', sculptural mannequins are scanned from real bodies

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's new exhibition 'Costume Art' features sculptural mannequins that are scanned from real bodies, including representations of corpulent and disabled bodies. The show uses 3D body scanning technology to create mannequins that accurately reflect diverse human forms, moving away from traditional idealized fashion mannequins.

Take a Look Inside This Year's 2026 Met Gala 'Costume Art' Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its spring 2026 Costume Institute exhibition titled "Costume Art," along with the accompanying Met Gala fundraiser scheduled for May 4, 2026, with a "Fashion is Art" dress code. The exhibition will debut in the newly designed 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, featuring nearly 400 objects that juxtapose historical garments with fine art across thematic bodily categories such as the "Classical Body" and "Pregnant Body." Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show includes standout pairings like a Glenn Martens suit with an ancient marble statue and a Comme des Garçons ensemble with a Max Weber painting, with mannequins featuring polished steel heads by artist Samar Hejazi.

Ahead of the 2026 Met Gala, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Introduced New Mannequins With Diverse Body Types Inspired by Real People

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled "Costume Art" ahead of the 2026 Met Gala, featuring mannequins with diverse body types—including larger, pregnant, trans, and disabled bodies—created through 3D printing and based on real-life models. The show pairs roughly 400 artworks with garments, aiming to shift the traditional perspective by viewing art through the lens of fashion rather than the reverse.

Black Artists Featured in Monet to Matisse Exhibition at Birmingham Museum of Art

The Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) has opened its presentation of the traveling exhibition "Monet to Matisse: French Moderns, 1850–1950," which features over 100 masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum. Uniquely, the BMA version includes more than 40 additional works from its own collection, among them paintings by two Black American artists—Henry Ossawa Tanner and Charles Ethan Porter—who lived and worked in France during the period. Curator Dr. Maggie Crosland emphasized the importance of including these artists to highlight the contributions of Black Americans to French modernism, especially given the political climate that drove many to Paris between 1850 and 1950.

Montclair Art Museum Announces Retirement of Longtime Chief Curator Dr. Gail Stavitsky

The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) has announced that Dr. Gail Stavitsky, its Chief Curator, will retire on July 1, 2026, after a tenure of more than 30 years. Stavitsky joined MAM in 1994 as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, was promoted to Chief Curator in 1998, and curated over 200 exhibitions, including landmark shows such as "Cézanne and American Modernism" (2009) and "Matisse and American Art" (2017). Her recent exhibitions include solo shows for vanessa german and Tom Nussbaum, and she co-curated "Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America." She also oversaw major acquisitions and the care of the museum's collections of George Inness and Morgan Russell.

designboom radar: exhibitions to see around the world this may

Designboom has published its monthly roundup of must-see art exhibitions around the world for May 2026. Featured shows include Nick Doyle's 'Collective Hallucinations' at Perrotin, Nicola Turner's 'Time’s Scythe' in collaboration with Annely Juda Fine Art at YSP, and Katharina Grosse's 'I Set Out, I Walked Fast' at White Cube. The article also includes a tribute to Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter who recently passed away at 88, and a guide to the 61st Venice Art Biennale 2026.

Italian Renaissance masterpieces debut in Beijing exhibition

An exhibition titled 'Homage to the Virtuosos: From Leonardo da Vinci to Caravaggio - Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance' has opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, featuring 36 Renaissance masterpieces from Italy's Uffizi Galleries. The show includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Caravaggio, with many pieces traveling to China for the first time. The exhibition is jointly curated by the National Art Museum of China and the Uffizi Galleries, and is divided into three thematic sections tracing the evolution of Renaissance painting, from early Florentine masters through Mannerism to Venetian and Caravaggio's revolutionary works.

‘The pictures are evil!’ The great art-quake of 1910

The article reviews David Boyd Haycock's slim new book 'Art-Quake, 1910,' which examines the explosive 1910 exhibition 'Manet and the Post-Impressionists' at London's Grafton Galleries. The show introduced British audiences to revolutionary artists like Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Picasso, provoking outrage from critics and the public, who called the works 'evil,' 'hysterical,' and a threat to civilization. The book is part of a series from Old Street publishing that also includes titles on the Degenerate Art exhibition and the Cultural Revolution.

BTS leader RM to unveil personal art collection at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

RM, the leader of K-pop group BTS, will present his personal art collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in an exhibition titled "RM x SFMOMA," running from October 3 to February 7. The show features around 200 works from RM’s collection and SFMOMA’s holdings, many never before shown in the US, and is co-curated by RM, SFMOMA curatorial project manager America Castillo, and assistant curator Kim Hyo-eun. Key Korean artists in RM’s collection include Yun Hyong-keun, Park Rehyun, Kwon Ok-yon, Kim Yun-shin, To Sang-bong, and Chang Ucchin, while SFMOMA contributes works by Kim Whan-ki, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Paul Klee.

Confronting the Uncertain Future Of Image Making and AI — These Houston Photography Exhibitions Keep It Real

Two new photography exhibitions in Houston explore the past and future of image-making. At Moody Gallery, a retrospective titled "MANUAL — The Collaboration of Ed Hill & Suzanne Bloom, 1974-2024" honors the legacy of the groundbreaking photographic duo MANUAL, co-founded by Ed Hill and the late Suzanne Bloom, who passed away in 2025. The show, closing April 25, features works inspired by art history, literature, and nature, including pieces referencing Paul Cézanne and Walt Whitman. Meanwhile, at Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts, the group exhibition "Imaging After Photography" (through May 9) examines the intersection of photography and artificial intelligence, featuring artists like Trevor Paglen, Refik Anadol, and Joan Fontcuberta, and raising questions about bias in datasets and algorithms.

The Italian art market is gaining momentum

Italy's contemporary art market is experiencing a surge in activity, marked by the arrival of international galleries like Thaddaeus Ropac in Milan and Hauser & Wirth's planned opening in Sicily. This coincides with major art events such as Paris Internationale launching in Milan alongside the local Miart fair.

Midea Group scion’s Shunde art museum shifts focus to amplify local voices

The He Art Museum (HEM) in Shunde, China, a private institution founded by the family behind appliance giant Midea Group, is shifting its programming strategy. Under director Shao Shu, the museum is moving away from hosting major international exhibitions to focus on amplifying local and regional artists, particularly from the Greater Bay Area, and exploring themes of Lingnan culture.

Size 2 who? Starry Met costume show features pregnant people, plus size models and dwarves for first time

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's upcoming Costume Institute exhibition, 'Costume Art,' will feature mannequins representing a diverse range of body types, including pregnant, disabled, and plus-size figures, instead of the traditional sample size 2. The mannequins were created using photogrammetry scans of real people, such as artist Michaela Stark and disability activist Sinéad Burke, and have reflective steel faces intended to allow visitors to see themselves in the display.