Google commissioned Judy Chicago to create a major public artwork for the renovation of Chicago's historic Thompson Center, involving a terrazzo floor and a 17-story glass elevator shaft. The artist and her husband, Donald Woodman, began design work in anticipation of a 2027 completion date.
David A. Ross, a prominent museum director and chair of the MFA Art Practice program at New York's School of Visual Arts, resigned after ARTnews revealed his numerous appearances in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein files. The documents, released by the Justice Department, show correspondence between Ross and Epstein dating back to 1995, including emails where Ross offered support to Epstein after his 2008 arrest and discussed a controversial exhibition concept proposed by Epstein.
A major painting by the 18th-century Venetian master Canaletto, titled 'Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day' (c. 1754), sold for $30.5 million at Christie's New York during its Old Master week. The work, which had been backed by a guarantee, hammered at $26 million, meeting its pre-sale estimate and marking its fourth appearance at auction.
A wave of paintings by women depicting women dominated New York galleries this fall, sparking a critical examination of contemporary feminist figuration. Artists like Emily Coan and Anna Weyant create images of idealized, often sexualized femininity, framing their work as a reclamation of beauty and personal expression.
A previously unknown red-chalk drawing by Michelangelo, a study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, sold for $27.2 million at Christie’s New York on Thursday, far exceeding its $1.5–$2 million estimate. The work was submitted to Christie’s online estimate portal last March by an anonymous owner who inherited it from their grandmother; it had hung on a wall for years, assumed to be a copy. After months of authentication using infrared reflectography and cross-referencing with drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Uffizi Gallery, Christie’s specialists confirmed it as an authentic Michelangelo. The sale set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the previous $24.3 million record set at Christie’s Paris in 2022.
A new exhibition at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art, titled “The Shakers: A World in the Making,” brings historic Shaker objects into dialogue with contemporary art, including newly commissioned works. The show, a collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Shaker Museum, coincides with the release of the film *The Testament of Ann Lee* and focuses on Shaker values such as craft, patience, and care rather than their more controversial principles like celibacy and gender segregation. Featured artists include Amie Cunat, who created a contemplative cardboard meetinghouse, and Christien Meindertsma, who uses Shaker basket-making techniques for willow burial vessels.
Rembrandt van Rijn's drawing *Young Lion Resting* (ca. 1638–42) sold for a record $17.9 million at Sotheby's New York on Wednesday, the highest price ever paid for a drawing by the Dutch master. The work, which toured Paris, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and New York before the sale, was offered from the Leiden Collection, the renowned private trove of 17th-century Dutch Golden Age art assembled by Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne. All proceeds from the sale will benefit Panthera, the wild cat conservation charity co-founded by Kaplan and Jon Ayers.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced that its new building, the David Geffen Galleries, will open to members on April 19 and to the public on May 4. Designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and offers 110,000 square feet of exhibition space, displaying 2,500 to 3,000 objects from the permanent collection on a single level. The museum also revealed that Willow Bay has been elected co-chair of its board of trustees, succeeding the late Elaine Wynn.
A trio of Bob Ross paintings sold for over $1 million at Bonhams' “Americana” auction on January 27, 2026, with proceeds benefiting American Public Television (APT). The top lot, *Change of Seasons* (1990), fetched $787,900—more than 13 times its high estimate—followed by *Babbling Brook* (1993) at $279,900 and *Valley View* (1990) at $203,700. The sale follows APT's record-breaking November auction and is part of a series of 24 Ross paintings to be offered throughout the year.
Emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January 2026 reveal that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein boasted to associates about securing a private after-hours visit to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris with filmmaker Woody Allen on March 18, 2012. In the correspondence, Epstein wrote to a recipient identified only as 'junkermann' that the French government would open the museum for him and Allen, and later messaged others including former girlfriend Eva Dubin, who responded with a 'King of the castle' quip. Epstein also made crude sexual references in connection with the visit, mentioning Edgar Degas's depictions of nude women.
Martin Puryear's 1978 sculpture *Self* opens a survey of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, titled “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” which runs through Sunday before traveling to the Cleveland Museum of Art in April. Curated by Emily Liebert, Reto Thüring, and Ian Alteveer, the exhibition argues that Puryear's abstract, craft-intensive sculptures—like *A Column for Sally Hemings* (2021)—are not merely formalist exercises but carry political and historical meanings that are deliberately withheld, challenging viewers to read beyond elegant surfaces.
London's National Gallery has acquired a recently rediscovered self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria' (c. 1615–17), for £3.6 million ($4.7 million). The painting was purchased from a London dealer who had secured it at a Paris auction in December, where it set a new auction record for the artist. The acquisition marks a significant addition to the museum's holdings, as it is only the 21st work by a female artist in its collection of over 2,300 pieces.
The Metropolitan Opera is considering selling its two iconic Marc Chagall murals, 'The Sources of Music' and 'The Triumph of Music,' which have been appraised at $55 million. The institution's general manager, Peter Gelb, has proposed a sale with the condition that the buyer agrees to leave the works in place at Lincoln Center, with a donation plaque.
The estate of movie poster artist John Alvin is seeking a single buyer for his entire archive of over 1,000 pieces, including original posters, sketches, and illustrations from the 1970s through the 1990s. The collection, stewarded by his widow Andrea Alvin since his death in 2008, features iconic work for films like E.T., The Lion King, and Blade Runner.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has launched a major partnership with the Art Bridges Foundation called '50 for 50'. This initiative will send long-term loans of significant American artworks from the Hirshhorn's collection to smaller museums in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, with loans lasting three to five years.
The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation has donated 14 artworks to two Parisian museums, the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The donation includes preparatory collages, silkscreens, lithographs, and a scale model related to both realized and unrealized projects by the artist duo, such as the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and Pont-Neuf, as well as early sculptures.
Mexico City is renowned for its immense concentration of museums, with estimates ranging from 150 to 200 institutions. The city's art scene has been further amplified by the rise of Zona Maco, which has established a major international Art Week each February, drawing collectors and galleries. The article highlights five must-see museums, beginning with the Museo Anahuacalli, a unique museum built by Diego Rivera and architect Juan O'Gorman to house Rivera's vast collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has secured a major loan of the ancient marble sculpture *Sleeping Hermaphroditus* from the Louvre in Paris. The work will be a centerpiece of the museum's upcoming exhibition "Metamorphoses," which opens on February 6, 2026, and explores themes of transformation drawn from Ovid's epic poem.
On International Lego Day, the article ranks Lego Art sets inspired by famous artworks, including Vincent van Gogh's *Sunflowers* and *Starry Night*, Hokusai's *The Great Wave*, and others. The ranking is done by the author and their brother, an Adult Fan of Lego, who rate each set from both an art critic and a Lego builder perspective.
Lego has reversed its policy on bulk orders after facing international backlash for refusing to sell toy bricks to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei. The artist had sought the bricks to create politically sensitive portraits of dissidents for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Lego initially cited a policy against selling bricks for political statements, but after Ai Weiwei's social media campaign—including Instagram posts and a global donation drive—the company announced it will no longer ask bulk customers about their intended use.
The Studio Museum in Harlem has closed through February 7 after a sprinkler emergency forced visitors to evacuate on Friday. Water poured from a ceiling near the gift shop, creating a large pool on the floor, but no artworks or galleries were affected. The museum initially planned a weekend closure, but repairs proved more extensive after a sprinkler was damaged during preparations for a record-breaking snowstorm that dropped 11 inches on Manhattan.
A 450-year-old watermill in Wrexham, Wales, that was the subject of a J.M.W. Turner watercolor has been listed for sale at £1.5 million ($2.05 million). The Rossett Mill, built in 1588, has been converted into a four-bedroom home with modern amenities while retaining its historic features, including a restored corn mill. The property is listed with Currans Unique and was previously owned by Celia and Branden Wilson, who restored it after it was rescued from demolition in 1973.
The Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris has opened a new exhibition titled "The Empire of Sleep," curated by neurologist Laura Bossi and museum director Sylvie Carlier. The show gathers 130 artworks from the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring how artists have depicted sleep, dreams, nightmares, and the bed as a site of birth, love, illness, and death. Featured artists include John Everett Millais, Eugène Delacroix, Jean Cocteau, Giovanni Bellini, Gabriel von Max, Evelyn De Morgan, Odilon Redon, Gustave Courbet, Francisco de Goya, and Claude Monet, whose painting *Camille on Her Deathbed* is a centerpiece.
Brendan and Celia Wilson are selling Rossett Mill, a Grade II-listed 16th-century water mill in Wrexham, Wales, for £1.5 million ($2 million). The couple purchased the derelict property 17 years ago for £660,000 and spent two years and roughly £250,000 restoring it into a four-bedroom home, sourcing reclaimed oak beams from France and preserving its historic character. The mill, which dates to 1588, once inspired an early painting by J.M.W. Turner titled *Marford Mill* (1795), created during one of his tours of Wales. The Wilsons are selling to move closer to their children.
Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof museum, facing budget cuts of up to 12% and shifting government spending priorities in Germany, is planning its first-ever gala to mark its 30th anniversary. Co-directors Sam Bardouil and Till Fellrath are spearheading the event, set for March, which will feature cultural figures including Cate Blanchett, Matt Dillon, Elmgreen & Dragset, and the Berlin Philharmonic. The museum has also launched the Chanel Commission and the International Companions philanthropy circle to diversify funding sources.
The Louvre closed on Monday due to a strike by employees demanding improved working conditions and pay equity, marking the fourth closure since mid-December. Roughly 300 workers voted to extend the strike, which began December 15, after fruitless negotiations with the Ministry of Culture and Louvre management. The dispute has been intensified by an October 19 burglary that exposed systemic security failures, and workers have also protested the museum's long-term redevelopment plans, including a proposed standalone gallery for the Mona Lisa, calling them unrealistic given staffing shortages and maintenance issues.
The Studio Museum in Harlem was forced to evacuate visitors and close for the weekend after a sprinkler emergency caused water to leak from a ceiling near the gift shop. The incident occurred on Friday, January 24, 2025, during preparations for a winter storm that brought heavy snow and freezing temperatures to Manhattan. A museum spokesperson confirmed that no artworks or galleries were affected, and the museum planned to reopen on Wednesday, January 28. The museum had recently reopened in November 2024 in a new building designed by David Adjaye's firm.
Francis Irv, an unconventional art space in New York known for its unpredictable programming, is closing after over three years. Founded by Sam Marion Wilken and Shane Rossi, the gallery operated first in a Chinatown mall beneath the Manhattan Bridge and later in a nondescript third-floor room nearby. It showcased a multigenerational mix of artists from the US and Europe, including Megan Marrin, Win McCarthy, and Reinhard Mucha, and participated in alternative art fairs like Basel Social Club and Paris Internationale rather than the mainstream circuit.
A growing number of art fairs and galleries are publicly announcing a 'strategic pause'—a hiatus from their regular exhibition schedules to reassess their models. This week, Vienna's Spark Art Fair invoked the phrase to take a year off, following Berlin dealer Mehdi Chouakri's decision to suspend his gallery's exhibition program after 30 years. Last July, ADAA's Art Show coined the term when it announced a year-long break to reimagine the New York fair, and Taipei Dangdai in Taiwan followed suit days later. In December, an unprecedented number of galleries skipped Art Basel Miami Beach. The trend reflects a broader shift in the art world's willingness to openly acknowledge the need for rest and reinvention.
New York's Metropolitan Opera announced it may sell its two iconic Marc Chagall murals, *The Sources of Music* and *The Triumphs of Music*, which have adorned the building's Grand Tier since 1966. The proposal includes a caveat that the paintings must remain in place at the opera, with the owner recognized on a plaque. Sotheby's valued the artworks at a total of $55 million within the past year. The financially beleaguered institution has drawn $120 million from its endowment and reduced its performance schedule since the pandemic, and previously used the Chagalls as collateral for a $35 million loan from J.P. Morgan in 2009.