A recent conservation analysis of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" at the Rijksmuseum has revealed a surprising discovery beneath the painting's surface. Using macro X-ray fluorescence, researchers uncovered a handwritten list of alternative business ideas considered by the young Rembrandt, including face-painting at children's parties, an umbrella repair shop, and making luxury combs from fishbones.
A major exhibition, 'Frida: Making of an Icon,' at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, re-examines the legacy of Frida Kahlo. It moves beyond her iconic status by presenting her early works, influences, and, most significantly, over a hundred works by artists she inspired, demonstrating her impact across generations and cultures.
An exhibition titled "The New York Sari" is on view at the New York Historical Society, exploring the sari as a living art form, heirloom, document, and political statement for the South Asian diaspora in New York City. The show features contemporary artworks, historical materials, and personal garments, framing the sari not as a static cultural artifact but as a dynamic site of identity, labor, and community history.
A New Brooklyn Art Fair With a Global Outlook Debuts This Spring
A new art fair called Conductor: Art Fair of the Global Majority will hold its inaugural edition in Brooklyn from April 30 to May 3, 2026. Organized by Powerhouse Arts, it will feature 27 galleries and 17 special projects, bringing together artists and galleries from Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Oceania, and Indigenous nations.
Brian Eno and 200+ Artists Urge British Museum to “Stop Erasing Palestine”
Over 200 artists and cultural groups, led by musician Brian Eno, have published an open letter demanding the British Museum stop what they call the "erasure of Palestine." The letter accuses the museum of altering wall texts in its Middle East Galleries, such as replacing "Palestinian descent" with "Canaanite descent," following pressure from the pro-Israel group UK Lawyers for Israel. The signatories also criticize the institution's past ties to the Israeli embassy and sponsor BP, issuing demands for an expert review of labels and an apology for hosting an Israeli embassy gala.
A group of high-profile artists including Es Devlin, Brian Eno, Nan Goldin, and Grayson Perry are donating works for a London-based charity auction to support humanitarian aid in Palestine. Organized by Choose Love, Gideon Berger Studio, Hope 93 Gallery, and dealer Zayna Al-Saleh, the sale will benefit the Together For Palestine Fund. The auction features a diverse range of media, from Grayson Perry’s ceramics to Nan Goldin’s photography, and will be accompanied by a public exhibition at Hope 93 Gallery from March 26 to April 9.
Laura Footes, a British artist living with chronic illness, opened her solo exhibition “Anamnesis” at Shrine NYC in early December 2024. Her paintings feature translucent, ethereal bodies in hallucinogenic landscapes, exploring themes of entrapment, escape, and the porous, temporal nature of the body. Footes, who has Crohn’s disease, draws on her hospital experiences and was discovered by Tracey Emin in 2022 after Emin saw her work on social media. Emin later mentored Footes at TKE Studios in Margate and curated her solo show “A Healing Dream” at Carl Freedman Gallery in late 2024.
Purat 'Chang' Osathanugrah, a longtime art collector, has taken over the leadership of Dib Bangkok, Thailand's first international contemporary art museum, following the death of his father Petch Osathanugrah in 2023. The museum, housed in a repurposed 75,000-square-foot warehouse in Bangkok's Khlong Toei district, is set to open on December 21. In an interview with Artnet News, Osathanugrah discusses the transition from private collector to institutional steward, recent acquisitions including works by Peihang Benoit and Frederic Anderson, and the museum's mission to make art accessible to the public while honoring his father's legacy.
Art Toronto, Canada's oldest and largest international fair for modern and contemporary art, opens to the public on Friday with a strong focus on Indigenous artists. Over half of the fair's 100-plus booths feature works by Indigenous makers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. The fair includes a mix of Canadian, European, Latin American, and US galleries, with a dedicated 'Arte Sur' section highlighting Mexican and Central and South American art. Notable exhibitors include Ceremonial Art, Fazakas, Feheley Fine Arts, and N. Smith Gallery, showcasing works by artists such as Ningiukulu Teevee, Shuvinai Ashoona, Gerardo Ramírez, and Manuel Mathieu.
The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens has opened "Why Look at Animals: A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives," a major exhibition curated by Katerina Gregos that spans seven floors and features over 60 artists. The show confronts animal exploitation through works such as Ang Siew Ching's video "High-Rise Pigs" (2025), depicting a 26-story factory farm in China, and Art Orienté Objet's charcoal map of endangered species slowly erased by a robotic arm. Other artists include Sue Coe, Igor Grubić, and Janis Rafa, with the exhibition taking its title from a John Berger essay.
Artist Brian Donnelly, known as KAWS, won a $900,000 damages award from a U.S. District Court on May 2 against Dylan Joy An Leong Yi Zhi and two Singapore-based companies, the Penthouse Theory and the Penthouse Collective, for counterfeiting replicas of KAWS's signature "Companion" figure, toys, skateboards, and artworks. The court also ordered the defendants to stop producing the knockoffs, with KAWS's attorney Aaron Richard Golub calling it a significant international case that can now be enforced globally, including in Singapore.
Don LePan, a novelist, book publisher, and painter, argues that public art galleries across Canada are failing to display their permanent collections, using the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina as a prime example. During a visit in early March, LePan found that none of the gallery's extensive permanent collection—which includes works by Group of Seven artists, European masters like Picasso and Gauguin, and modernists such as Agnes Martin—was on view. Instead, the entire exhibition space was devoted to three special shows: a photographic and conceptual art exhibition by Plains Cree artist Joi T. Arcand, a selection of works by 2025 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts recipients, and an Indigenous art exhibition. LePan praises these exhibits but criticizes the gallery's decision to completely exclude its permanent collection.
Ist die Flaute im Kunstmarkt vorbei?
The New York spring auctions saw explosive top prices, with Jackson Pollock's drip painting "Number 7A" (1948) selling for $181.2 million at Christie's, making it the fourth most expensive artwork ever auctioned. Christie's evening sales alone generated $1.1 billion, including $630.8 million from 16 works from the S.I. Newhouse collection. Sotheby's opened the season with a Mark Rothko from the estate of dealer Robert Mnuchin, achieving $85.8 million, while Phillips sold all 40 lots for $115 million, double the previous year. Younger artists like Joseph Yaeger also saw prices far exceed estimates.
At Christie's spring auctions in New York, Jackson Pollock's painting "Number 7A" sold for approximately $181 million and Constantin Brancusi's sculpture "Danaïde" fetched around $108 million, both setting records. The works came from the estate of publisher S. I. Newhouse, who died in 2017. Christie's total sales for the evening exceeded $1 billion, while rival Sotheby's had sold several hundred million dollars' worth of art the previous week. Christie's enlisted actress Nicole Kidman to promote the Brancusi piece.
Gesichter der russischen Kunst
On the Venice Biennale, the Russian Pavilion presents itself as a space for dialogue, while simultaneously a major exhibition in St. Petersburg titled "Russischer Imperativ" (Russian Imperative) opened on May 8 at the Manezh exhibition hall, glorifying war as a historical imperative of Russian identity. Curated by Anton Belikov, a Moscow artist and former Russian soldier who fought in Ukraine, the show features works from state museums like the Tretyakov Gallery, blending historical battles with the current war in Ukraine, and includes a monumental, fascistoid design with a ten-meter-tall installation of a soldier's head. The exhibition has sparked outrage on social media and in Russian exile media for its militaristic propaganda.
The article examines a peculiar three-seat sofa called the "Indiscret" on display in the Louvre, designed in 19th-century France under Napoleon III to force conversation among sitters. This "Conversation Chair" reflects an era when furniture was deliberately crafted to create social intimacy and control guest behavior, in stark contrast to modern public seating that often discourages lingering through hostile architecture.
"Die einen schreien Zensur, die anderen Antisemitismus"
A constitutional law scholar, Christoph Möllers, warns in an interview with Die Zeit about the dangerous escalation of cultural policy conflicts, sparked by Documenta 15, where accusations of censorship and antisemitism collide. In Poland, Adam Budak was removed as director of MOCAK in Krakow after just a few months, facing 79 allegations including mobbing and problematic leadership. Meanwhile, the New York spring auctions have launched, and Jason Farago's review of the Venice Biennale in the New York Times criticizes the shift from aesthetic innovation toward identity-driven art. Robin Pogrebin also reports on the merger of the Met and the Neue Galerie, described as a rare convergence of two museum models.
Munich's art festival "Various Others" kicks off this week with major city museums participating. The Pinakothek der Moderne presents "Reflexion," a group show of 100 works across fine art, architecture, graphic design, and design by artists including Isa Genzken, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Piet Zwart, and Ettore Sottsass. The Alexander-Tutsek-Stiftung celebrates its 25th anniversary with a glass-focused exhibition featuring Monica Bonvicini, Tony Cragg, and Laure Prouvost. The Villa Stuck reopens after renovation with four shows: Philipp Messner's sculptures, Ilit Azoulay's macro-film installation, a returning Franz von Stuck painting, and Delschad Numan Khorschid and Jan-Hendrik Pelz's migration-themed "Zehn Leben." The Lenbachhaus presents "Ein Ferngespräch. Szenen aus der Weimarer Republik" with works by Jeanne Mammen, Gabriele Münter, and Christian Schad. Museum Brandhorst's "Carrying" addresses the history of the Maxvorstadt art district, once site of a military barracks built by Ottoman prisoners. The Eres Stiftung continues "Seeing the Unseen" on quantum physics. The Flux meeting space, designed by Morag Myerscough, moves indoors at the Pinakothek der Moderne.
The ninth edition of the "Various Others" festival in Munich brings together institutions, off-spaces, and galleries for a city-wide series of exhibitions in May. Highlights include Walter Storms Galerie presenting Anselm Reyle's first Munich solo show with Istanbul's Dirimart; Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler collaborating with Rome's T293 to show Simon Denny's tech-critical works; Max Goelitz pairing Lukas Heerich and Rindon Johnson with Eva Hesse in dialogue with Hauser & Wirth; Lohaus Sominsky and Paris's Mennour featuring Ilit Azoulay and Alicja Kwade; and Rüdiger Schöttle hosting Milena Muzquiz and Elif Saydam. A new parcours exhibition, "Vectors," inspired by Jan Hoet's "Chambres d'Amis," places contemporary art in tech company offices across Munich.
The 61st Venice Biennale opened on Saturday without ceremony or an opening celebration, amid political turmoil over the participation of Russia and Israel. Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli criticized Biennale director Pietrangelo Buttafuoco for not informing the government about Russia's participation request, suggesting it could have been used as leverage for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The entire jury resigned after attempting to exclude both Russia and Israel from prize awards, leading to the cancellation of the traditional jury decision in favor of a public vote, which over 70 participating artists have protested by withdrawing from this year's prizes. Separately, a rare photograph from the early 1940s has surfaced showing Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting "Venus with Cupid as Honey Thief" in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment, raising unresolved questions about whether the work was looted from Jewish owners before 1935.
The article highlights 34 of the best London art exhibitions to see in May 2026, focusing on three major shows: the V&A's 'Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art', the first UK exhibition dedicated to designer Elsa Schiaparelli; Tate Modern's 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life', the largest retrospective of the YBA artist's 40-year career; and the Design Museum's 'NIGO: From Japan with Love', a retrospective of Japanese creative NIGO spanning over 700 objects. These exhibitions showcase fashion, contemporary art, and street culture, with the V&A show running until November, Tate Modern until August, and the Design Museum until October.
Berlin's cultural senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson resigned on Friday after the Berlin Court of Auditors ruled that millions in funding for antisemitism prevention projects were illegal. The resignation has sparked a political debate, with CDU general secretary Ottilie Klein defending governing mayor Kai Wegner against opposition criticism, while Franziska Stoff of the Berlin Culture Conference demands stability and a reversal of budget cuts. Thomas Fehrle, director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, expressed personal regret over Wedl-Wilson's departure, praising her competence and engagement.
The Hayward Gallery in London, in partnership with the RC Foundation in Taiwan, has announced a new exhibition series for its HENI Project Space running from October 2025 to March 2027. The series features five solo exhibitions by artists Val Lee, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Kulpreet Singh, Musquiqui Chihying, and Andrius Arutiunian, each exploring themes ranging from political violence and surveillance to climate change, ritual, and alternative cosmologies. The exhibitions are curated by a team including Yung Ma, Rachel Thomas, and others.
Salon des Refusés 2.0
A group exhibition titled "we refuse_d" has opened at the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (M HKA) in Antwerp, bringing together 15 artists, many of whom faced cancellations or disinvitations from exhibitions following the October 7, 2023 attacks. The show, referencing the historic 1863 Salon des Refusés, aims to reclaim reputation and amplify marginalized voices, specifically focusing on Palestinian history and artists affected by the cultural fallout.
"Nachahmungen eines mittelmäßigen Teenagers auf Tranquilizern"
The Victoria & Albert Museum has reportedly censored exhibition catalogs following pressure from Chinese printing firms, removing images and maps related to sensitive topics like Tibet and Tiananmen Square. This editorial roundup also highlights artist Molly Crabapple’s sharp critique of generative AI as a massive intellectual property theft and a profile of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s communal home in Thailand, which functions as a social sculpture.
APC ART has announced the exclusive sale of a rare 1984 Andy Warhol screenprint titled "Kiku Flowers." The work originates from a limited edition of 1,500 produced for a landmark exhibition at the Gendai Hanga Center in Tokyo and is being offered as a comprehensive historical package. The sale includes the original cloth-bound exhibition catalog and primary source documents, such as the original "edition club" order forms used for the Kiku suite.
Was taugt die Mallorca-Ausgabe der Art Cologne?
The Art Cologne has launched a new satellite edition in Palma de Mallorca, returning to the island 19 years after a previous attempt failed. Held at the modern Palau de Congressos, the fair adopts a 'boutique' format designed to tap into the local market of wealthy European expatriates and second-home owners. Unlike the high-stakes environment of major fairs like Art Basel, this iteration features an innovative pricing model that allows smaller, younger galleries to showcase curated, riskier presentations at more affordable entry points.
"Die zeitgenössische US-Kunst ist von Problemen krank"
Artist Josh Kline has sparked a heated debate with a scathing critique of the American art scene, particularly targeting New York City as an unsustainable hub driven by market logic and inequality. Kline argues that contemporary art is "sick with problems" and urges young artists to abandon the city, calling for a shift from institutional critique to a broader industry-wide analysis of class and power. Meanwhile, the German art world sees significant movement with the upcoming auction of Georg Kolbe’s "Tänzerinnen-Brunnen" following a Nazi-looted art settlement, and the Berlin State Museums announcing a phased reopening of the Pergamon Altar starting in 2027.
Der schmale Korridor der Normalität
Artist Beate Gütschow reflects on Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 16th-century engraving "Spes" (Hope), which she encountered during a visit to the Kunstmuseum Basel. The artwork depicts a personified figure of Hope standing amidst a chaotic scene of shipwrecks and flooding, symbolizing the necessity of maintaining focus and action even in the face of overwhelming disaster.
"Hinter allen schönen Dingen liegt ein Leiden"
The art market is undergoing a profound structural transformation as a new generation of collectors shifts focus away from traditional blue-chip masters like Cy Twombly and Mark Rothko. These 'NextGen' buyers, socialized through the internet and Instagram, prioritize identity-building over status, favoring streetwear, digital art by figures like Refik Anadol, and music memorabilia over classical painting. Meanwhile, institutional shifts are occurring globally: Greece has introduced specific legislation to criminalize the production of art forgeries, and LACMA director Michael Govan is defending the $724 million Peter Zumthor-designed expansion as a necessary 'magnet' for attracting major donations.