Un grand dessin de Beckmann pour Stuttgart

The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart has acquired a monumental drawing by Max Beckmann titled *Resurrection*, measuring nearly five meters long and three and a half meters high. Executed between 1916 and 1918, it is the largest painting by the artist and a key work in his oeuvre, created after his traumatic experience as a volunteer medical orderly in World War I. Beckmann described the piece as expressing 'the terrifying cry of pain of deceived poor humanity,' marking a shift toward a new formal vocabulary influenced by the war.

Quatre Moreau le Jeune pour Versailles

The French state has preempted four drawings by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune at a Christie's Paris auction, securing them for the Palace of Versailles. The works, sold in two lots, depict the festivities in Paris following the birth of the Dauphin Louis Joseph in autumn 1781, including the arrival of the Queen at the Hôtel de Ville and a fireworks display. The drawings were commissioned by the City of Paris and were intended to be engraved, marking a high point of public commissions under the ancien régime. The preemption was made possible through the support of the Friends of the Louvre, echoing a similar acquisition of Hubert Robert works from the same Veil-Picard sale.

A Rosso for the Metropolitan

Un Rosso pour le Metropolitan

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has acquired a painting by Rosso Fiorentino, a master of Italian and French Mannerism, after restoration revealed an earlier overpaint that had obscured the composition. The work, a Virgin and Child, now shows Saint John the Evangelist in the foreground at right, confirming it as an original by the artist.

Two Hubert Robert paintings from Madame Geoffrin offered to the museum by the Friends of the Louvre

Deux Hubert Robert de Madame Geoffrin offerts au musée par les Amis du Louvre

Two paintings by Hubert Robert, once owned by Madame Geoffrin, were acquired by the Musée du Louvre through a preemptive purchase at Christie’s Paris on March 25. The works sold for €1,950,000 hammer (€2,439,000 with fees) and are being donated to the museum by the Société des Amis du Louvre. The paintings, described as 18th-century snapshots, were part of the historic Veil-Picard collection and will undergo restoration before being displayed.

The best looks from the 2026 Met Gala

The 2026 Met Gala, themed 'Costume Art,' took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honoring the Costume Institute's spring exhibition on the role of the dressed body in art history. Co-chaired by Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, Anna Wintour, and Beyoncé, the event featured A-list celebrities, pop stars, and tech titans on the museum's grand staircase, with a dress code of 'Fashion Is Art' encouraging guests to treat the body as a canvas. Notable attendees included Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Rosé, Gigi Hadid, Katy Perry, and Charli XCX, with many wearing custom designs from houses like Marc Jacobs, Saint Laurent, Thom Browne, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHER FIONA PARDINGTON REPRESENTS AOTEAROA AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

New Zealand photographer Fiona Pardington (born 1961, Auckland) is representing Aotearoa at the 61st Venice Biennale with her exhibition *Taharaki Skyside*, on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion. The show features large-scale portraits of taxidermied birds from museum collections across New Zealand and Australia, focusing on endemic species including the extinct huia and whēkau. Curated by Felicity Milburn and Chloe Cull, the exhibition is presented by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

I'm a Chicana Curator. This Is Why I Removed Cesar Chavez From My Show

Curator Karen Mary Davalos removed a 1969 portrait of Cesar Chavez by George Rodriguez from the exhibition "Chicano Camera Culture: A Photographic History, 1966 to 2026" at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture in Riverside, California. The decision came after news reports on March 17 revealed that Chavez had assaulted multiple women and girls associated with the United Farm Workers, including allegations of rape against co-founder Dolores Huerta. Davalos, who curated the show, acted swiftly after a call from interim director Valerie Found, removing the photograph to avoid honoring a figure now seen as an abuser.

Hong Kong Artists Bring Quiet Reflection to Venice

The 61st Venice Biennale, themed “In Minor Keys” by late curator Koyo Kouoh, emphasizes quiet reflection over spectacle. A collateral exhibition titled “Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice,” curated by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), runs through November 22, 2026, and features two Hong Kong-born artists: Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui. Ng’s installation *Laundry Nocturne* (2026) uses projections and sound to connect the shared laundry-drying traditions of Venice and Hong Kong, while Hui’s *I Would Like to Open a Window for You* (2026) incorporates wrought-iron window frames crafted with local metalsmiths. Both artists explore everyday experiences, memory, and quiet emotions, aligning with the Biennale’s call for a slower, more reflective engagement with art.

Tough Stuff: Women in The American Glass Studio

The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) opened "Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio" on May 16, 2026, as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. This is the first survey exhibition dedicated to women artists who shaped the American Studio Glass Movement from the 1960s onward, featuring over 200 works by artists including Claire Falkenstein, Audrey Handler, Margie Jervis, Susie Krasnican, Kathleen Mulcahy, Ginny Ruffner, Ruth Tamura, and Toots Zynsky. The exhibition draws from CMoG’s permanent collection, the Rakow Research Library, and loans from the artists, and is complemented by an oral history initiative preserving first-person accounts.

Tilda Swinton to Perform at Guggenheim Bilbao in June

Actress and performance artist Tilda Swinton will stage a performance titled 'House of Gestures' at the Guggenheim Bilbao on June 5 and 6. The work, a collaboration with fashion historian and curator Olivier Saillard, is commissioned by Dom Pérignon as part of its 'Creation is an eternal journey' series. The piece explores gesture, presence, and transformation, set in the museum's atrium, and is free and open to the public with advance registration.

‘These are artifacts from history’: exhibition celebrates objects of sporting victory

A new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, titled "For the Win," showcases championship rings, trophies, medals, and jewelry spanning nearly 150 years of US sports history. Highlights include Jesse Owens's 1936 Olympic gold medal, Breanna Stewart's 2024 WNBA championship ring, the 1877 NYPD Medal of Valor, and items from Kevin Durant and the Seattle Seahawks. The exhibition, timed to the upcoming World Cup, is housed in the museum's gems and minerals space to emphasize craftsmanship.

Expansion plans for Rome's Galleria Borghese draw fierce response

Rome's Galleria Borghese, a 17th-century villa museum housing masterpieces by Caravaggio, Bernini, and Canova, is facing controversy over a privately funded feasibility study for a potential expansion. Sponsored by Italian engineering firm Proger, the €900,000 initiative would fund an international architecture competition to explore adding exhibition and visitor space to the Villa Borghese Pinciana grounds. Museum officials cite operational constraints: the historic interiors limit access to 360 visitors per two-hour slot (about 4,000 daily), reservations require weeks of waiting, many works remain in storage, and accessibility is poor. Visitor numbers hit a record 630,760 in 2025, up from 506,000 a decade earlier. Preservation groups including Italia Nostra Roma and Amici di Villa Borghese have objected to any new construction in the sensitive historic landscape. Director Francesca Cappelletti emphasized at a May 18 press conference that no project exists yet and the museum is only beginning a study process, with a winner possible by year's end.

After Whistleblower Complaint, Palm Springs Art Museum Declines to Release Report on Allegations of Fraud and Theft, Claims They Are ‘Not Substantiated’

The Palm Springs Art Museum in California has released a three-page statement claiming that an investigation into a whistleblower complaint alleging mismanagement, fraud, and theft found no wrongdoing. The complaint included allegations of improper reclassification of endowment funds, a $3 million discrepancy in investment accounts, and the forced departure of a former director. The museum hired law firm Barnes & Thornburg and forensic accounting firm RSM US to conduct a six-month review, but declined to release the resulting report to ARTnews or the public. The museum acknowledged that proceeds from deaccessioned artworks were used for operating expenses, calling it a long-standing board-approved practice with an internal loan being repaid by 2030.

British Museum Unveils Elaborate Display for Bayeux Tapestry

The British Museum has revealed its plans for displaying the nearly 1,000-year-old Bayeux Tapestry when it arrives on loan from France later this year. For the first time in recent history, the 230-foot-long embroidered narrative of the Norman Conquest will be laid flat in a bespoke case, allowing visitors to view all 58 scenes in a single unbroken display. The exhibition, supported by a £5 million pledge from WorldQuant CEO Igor Tulchinsky, will also feature loans including the Junius II manuscript from Oxford's Bodleian Libraries and silver coins from the Chew Valley Hoard. Tickets for the ten-month show, opening September 10, cost £25–£33.

The Best Booths at NADA New York, From Quietly Ominous Ceramics to Ecstatic Jazz Paintings

The New Art Dealers Alliance opened the 12th edition of NADA New York on May 14, 2026, at Chelsea’s Starrett-Lehigh building, coinciding with Frieze and 1-54 fairs nearby. The fair featured 110 exhibitors, including 51 first-time galleries from New York to Shanghai, with standout presentations by Andrae Green and Cyle Warner at Forgotten Lands, Ruth Owens at Voltz Clarke, and Keiko Narahashi at Tappeto Volante Gallery. This year’s edition emphasized ceramics and fiber art, marking a shift from recent years’ focus on figurative painting.

Sophie Rivera's first survey focuses on experimentation

El Museo del Barrio in New York has opened "Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures," the first career survey of the Puerto Rican American photographer (1938-2021). The exhibition reassesses Rivera's practice, highlighting her experimental work beyond her well-known 1978 series "Nuyorican Portraits," which depicted Puerto Rican sitters in Manhattan's Morningside Heights. Curated by Susanna V. Temkin, the show features works across portraiture, photojournalism, and experimental image-making, including the color photograph "Alternators" (1975, printed 1986), which Rivera donated to the museum in the late 1980s.

French Parliament Accuses Louvre of Prioritizing ‘Prestige And Influence’ Over Security Prior to Jewel Heist

French MPs Alexis Corbière and Alexandre Portier have released a parliamentary report accusing the Louvre of prioritizing "prestige and influence" over security, leading to a brazen jewel heist on October 19, 2025. Thieves entered the museum in broad daylight and stole nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in under eight minutes. The report, based on over 20 hearings with 100 insiders, reveals that security had been "relegated to the background" despite audits in 2017 and 2019, and that a Security Equipment Master Plan from 2019 was not implemented in time by former director Jean-Luc Martinez. The report also casts doubt on President Emmanuel Macron's nearly $1 billion renovation plan for the Louvre, announced nine months before the heist.

Getty’s Black Visual Arts Archives receives additional $1.8m in funding

The Getty Foundation has awarded an additional $1.8 million to its Black Visual Arts Archives initiative, bringing total funding to $4.5 million across 20 awards. The program supports institutions in processing, digitizing, preserving, and activating archival collections related to Black artists and arts organizations in the US. Grantees include Afro Charities, the Auburn Avenue Research Library, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Charles H. Wright Museum, Morgan State University, the South Side Community Art Center, the University of Chicago’s South Side Home Movie Project, and the David C. Driskell Center. Notable discoveries include footage of the original Wall of Respect mural from the South Side Home Movie Project.

He’s behind you! The best of Photo London – in pictures

Photo London, the UK's leading photography fair, launches its 11th edition at a new venue, Olympia in Kensington, London, running from 13–17 May 2026. The fair features a diverse array of exhibitors, including debutants like Agony and Ecstasy gallery, which showcases nostalgic works of Ibiza by Oriol Maspons and Walter Rudolph, and Hackney-based Guest Editions, presenting Laura McCluskey and Thomas Duffield. A new 'Focus' section highlights galleries from Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe, such as Ungallery (Argentina) and Galeria Monopol (Poland). Notable presentations include vintage prints by Japanese master Daido Moriyama at Akio Nagasawa Gallery, and Ketaki Sheth's series 'Twinspotting' at Photoink, which pairs Patel twins in the UK with those in India.

Fashion figure Jordan Roth wows in collage at the Venice Biennale

Multi-disciplinary artist Jordan Roth staged a performance on May 7 at Palazzo dei Fiori in Venice during the Biennale preview week, where he tore apart vinyl prints of Renaissance painter Irene di Spilimbergo and reassembled them into collages within a gilt frame. The event, presented with Performance Space New York’s Visionaries Circle, was attended by Whitney Museum director Scott Rothkopf and dealer Kristin Hjellegjerde, following Roth's earlier appearance as a "living sculpture" at the Met Gala.

Taiwan Presents “Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan” at the Venice Biennale

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) presents the collateral event "Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan" at the 61st Venice Biennale, held at the Palazzo delle Prigioni from May 9 to November 22, 2026. The exhibition features a new video installation and mixed-media work by Taiwanese artist Li Yi-Fan, curated by Raphael Fonseca, curator of visual arts at Culturgest in Lisbon and Porto. The installation integrates large-scale sculptural fragments with video and sound, exploring how screens mediate perception and emotional experience, in dialogue with the Biennale's theme "In Minor Keys."

Lotus Kang channels desire into Bvlgari's Venice Biennale pavilion

Artist Lotus Kang has created a site-specific installation for the Bvlgari pavilion at the Venice Biennale, working across three studios including a temporary Brooklyn warehouse. Her work, which includes unfixed 35mm film on the façade of Spazio Esedra and new sculptures of plaster baby birds and rubber-wrapped tatami mats, explores themes of multiplicity, permeability, and the unfixing of meaning. Kang, known for her installations at the 2023 Whitney Biennial and Chisenhale Gallery, describes herself as a maker of objects and spaces who resists single interpretations.

Latino community organisation opens $33m arts centre in Boston

On 15 May, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), a Latino-founded nonprofit community development corporation, will open La Casa, a $33 million, 26,000-square-foot cultural center in Boston's South End. The largest Latino cultural center in New England, La Casa is designed by local firms Studio Enée and Annum Architects and features a terracotta-colored facade, energy-efficient design, and flexible spaces for civic engagement, education, and artistic expression. Initial programming includes artist residencies, workshops, and a mural by local artist Alvin “Acóma” Colon honoring Boston’s Puerto Rican residents. The building incorporates salvaged elements from the original turn-of-the-century Lutheran church that IBA repurposed in the 1960s.

UK’s Palestinian Ambassador Calls on Government to Have British Museum Reinstate the Word ‘Palestinian’

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has called on the British government to intervene in a dispute with the British Museum over the removal of the word “Palestinian” from wall texts in its Middle East galleries. Zomlot raised the complaint with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office after reports that the museum had stripped the term from maps and didactics, following lobbying by UK Lawyers for Israel. The museum denies removing the word entirely, stating it still appears elsewhere, but photographic evidence suggests otherwise. Zomlot declined a tour with director Nicholas Cullinan, calling the issue “existential.”

Rosy Simas on Creating a Space for Peace in Minneapolis

Minnesota-based interdisciplinary artist Rosy Simas opened a contemplative installation titled "A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:' (i hope it will stir your mind)" at the Walker Art Center on the same day that Trump-appointed border czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. The installation features salt bottles made from woven corn husks, each honoring one of Simas's relatives, and is inspired by the teachings of Handsome Lake (Ganyodaiyo’), her fifth great-grandfather’s half-brother, who promoted the Seneca concept of a "good mind." The exhibition, on view through July 5, is part of a two-part project that also includes performances in May. Simas, known primarily for choreography, has increasingly gained recognition as a visual artist, recently receiving a Creative Capital Award.

Hundreds of ‘Piss Bottles’ Left at the Met Gala in Protest of Jeff Bezos

Hundreds of bottles filled with what appeared to be urine were discovered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the Met Gala on May 5, 2026, according to the New York Post. The protest was claimed by the anti-billionaire group Everybody Hates Elon, which targeted the event over Jeff Bezos serving as the gala's chair. The group left the bottles with signs labeling them a "Met Gala VIP toilet" and criticizing Bezos for alleged labor practices at Amazon, where workers reportedly feel forced to urinate in bottles due to lack of bathroom breaks. The group later clarified on Instagram that the bottles did not contain real urine.

Mark Gerson obituary

Mark Gerson, a British photographer renowned for his intimate portraits of literary figures, has died at age 104. Over a career spanning half a century, Gerson captured iconic images of authors including Evelyn Waugh, Doris Lessing, William Golding, Tom Stoppard, and Martin Amis, often photographing them in their own homes to put them at ease. His most famous picture is of a grumpy Waugh on his 60th birthday, taken after Gerson was plied with wine. Gerson's work was championed by National Portrait Gallery director Roy Strong, and in 1996 the gallery held a major exhibition of his portraits titled "Literati."

US National Gallery of Art receives $116m gift to continue nationwide lending programme

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, has received a landmark $116 million donation from the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation to permanently endow its Across the Nation lending programme. Launched in spring 2025, the initiative has already reached around 900,000 visitors at ten partner institutions, including the Anchorage Museum and the Mint Museum, by loaning works from the NGA's collection at no cost—covering transport, installation, insurance, and marketing. The next cycle will run from autumn 2027 to 2029, with new partners to be announced.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Calls on King Charles to Return Treasured Diamond to India

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly called on King Charles III to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond to India during the British monarch's visit to New York City on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference before a 9/11 commemoration ceremony, Mamdani said he would encourage the King to return the diamond, which was given to Queen Victoria in 1850 after Britain's colonial governor-general arranged its exchange from a deposed Indian leader. The two leaders later met at the ceremony, but Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the discussion.

Venice Biennale Jury Resigns in the Wake of Controversial Prize Ban

The jury for the 2026 Venice Biennale has resigned just days before the public opening on May 9, after announcing on April 22 that it would not consider artists from countries accused of crimes against humanity for the Golden and Silver Lion prizes. The jury, consisting of Solange Oliveira Farks (president), Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, cited its earlier statement of intention in its resignation, which directly impacted the participation of Russia and Israel—both subject to International Criminal Court warrants. In response, the Biennale postponed the awards ceremony from May 9 to November 22 and replaced the traditional jury with a public vote for best participant and best national participation, framing the move as upholding openness and rejecting censorship.