In memoriam: remembering art world figures who died in 2025

This article from The Art Newspaper, published as 2026 begins, memorializes key figures from the art world who died in 2025. The list includes artist and activist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, filmmaker and artist David Lynch, conceptual artist Mel Bochner, collector and patron Guy Ullens (co-founder of Beijing's UCCA), curator Koyo Kouoh (the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale), photographer Sebastião Salgado, broadcaster Alan Yentob, and sculptor Joel Shapiro. Each entry summarizes their career highlights and contributions.

Discover 10 Highlights from Art Basel Paris 2025

Art Basel Paris 2025, now in its fourth edition, took place from October 22–26 at the restored 1900 Paris Exposition venue, a Beaux-Arts landmark with Art Nouveau iron and glasswork. The fair hosted 206 international galleries and introduced a new 'Avant-Première' V.V.I.P. day on October 21, where each gallery could allocate six guest passes. Blue-chip sales were swift, led by Hauser & Wirth selling Gerhard Richter's *Abstraktes Bild* (1987) for $23 million to a European collector. Other notable sales included Bruce Nauman's neon sculpture *Masturbating Man* for over $4.7 million and Amedeo Modigliani's *Jeune fille aux macarons* (1918) for $10 million at Pace Gallery. The fair also featured curatorial sectors Emergence (16 solo presentations by emerging artists) and Premise (ten historical projects with works predating 1900).

$23 million Gerhard Richter painting leads Art Basel Paris opening sales.

Art Basel Paris opened its 'Avant Première' day at the Grand Palais on October 21, 2025, with strong early sales led by Hauser & Wirth's sale of Gerhard Richter's *Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting)* (1987) for $23 million. Other notable sales included Julie Mehretu's *Charioteer* (2007) for $11.5 million at White Cube, Amedeo Modigliani's *Jeune fille aux macarons* (1918) for just under $10 million at Pace Gallery, and a Ruth Asawa sculpture for $7.5 million at David Zwirner. The fair, running through October 26, features 203 galleries and introduced the exclusive preview day as a new scheduling element.

Ascendant Art Basel Paris rewards top dealers, while smaller galleries compete for attention

Art Basel Paris has rewarded top dealers with significant sales during its new VVIP preview slot, Avant-Première, held on October 21. Hauser & Wirth led with over $30 million in sales, including Gerhard Richter's "Abstrakte Bild" (1987) for $23 million, while David Zwirner sold a Ruth Asawa sculpture for $7.5 million. Goodman Gallery sold two works by William Kentridge to museums, and White Cube placed Julie Mehretu's "Charioteer" (2007) for $11 million. However, some dealers like Philomene Magers found the opening too crowded, and adviser Aileen Agopian noted the market remains far from the frenzy of previous years, with no single sale surpassing the $40 million Mark Rothko painting brought by Pace two years ago.

When Gagosian Goes So Do His Galleries, How Hockney’s Swimmer Swam Away, and Green Shoots in the Gallery World

Kenny Schachter's article opens with a broad critique of the political climate under the Trump administration, linking it to a chilling effect on free speech and democracy, before pivoting to the art world. He notes the absence of a U.S. representative for the 61st Venice Biennale, mentions Marilyn Minter's protest piece, and references David Hockney's *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* at Christie's. The piece also touches on market negativity, the resilience of art, and skepticism about the Middle East as a market savior.

Best New York City art exhibitions during fall 2025

This fall 2025, New York City will see the reopening of the Studio Museum in Harlem after a seven-year closure, with a new 82,000-square-foot building designed by Adjaye Associates and Cooper Robertson. The museum will debut with a major exhibition on Tom Lloyd, archival displays, and commissions by Camille Norment and Christopher Myers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the first exhibition focused on Man Ray's rayographs, featuring 60 photograms and 100 other works. The Brooklyn Museum will host New York's largest Monet exhibition in over 25 years, reuniting 19 of his Venetian paintings. The New Museum will also unveil a 60,000-square-foot expansion by OMA / Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas, doubling its exhibition space.

Hyperallergic Fall 2025 New York Art Guide

Hyperallergic has published its comprehensive Fall 2025 New York Art Guide, recommending over 80 exhibitions across all five boroughs. Major highlights include the reopening of the Studio Museum in Harlem after a seven-year renovation, the debut of the new New Museum on the Bowery, and multiple exhibitions marking the 100th anniversary of Robert Rauschenberg's birth at the Guggenheim and the Museum of the City of New York. The guide also features shows by Monet at the Brooklyn Museum, Renoir at the Morgan, and Ruth Asawa and Wifredo Lam at MoMA, along with public art installations by Mika Rottenberg and Lady Pink on the High Line and MoMA PS1 facade.

Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu to curate 2027 Istanbul Biennial

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ISKV) has announced that Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu will curate the 2027 Istanbul Biennial. Liu Ding is a Beijing-based artist and curator who has participated in numerous international biennials and taught at NABA Milan, while Carol Yinghua Lu is an art historian and director of the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing, with a background at OCAT Shenzhen, Museion Bolzano, and Asia Art Archive. The pair, who have collaborated since 2007, most recently served as artistic directors of the 2024 Yokohama Triennale. The 19th edition of the Istanbul Biennial is scheduled for 18 September to 14 November 2027.

Finalists for the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s top contemporary art prize, revealed

Six artists from across Canada have been shortlisted for the 2026 Sobey Art Award, the nation's top contemporary art prize. The finalists are Melaw Nakehk'o (Circumpolar), Samuel Roy-Bois (Pacific), Audie Murray (Prairies), Lotus L. Kang (Ontario), Caroline Monnet (Québec), and Shane Perley-Dutcher (Atlantic). Each finalist receives C$25,000 ($18,000), with a grand prize of C$100,000 ($72,000) to be announced at a ceremony in Ottawa on 14 November. An exhibition of their works will be held at the National Gallery of Canada later this year, and the 24 longlisted artists not among the finalists will each receive C$10,000 ($7,200).

Glen Baxter obituary

Cartoonist and surrealist Glen Baxter has died at the age of 82. He was celebrated for his distinctive style, which blended deadpan captions with pop art-inspired scenes featuring characters like cowboys and spacemen in bizarre situations. His work appeared in major publications like the New Yorker and the Observer, and he was also a staple of humorous greeting cards.

7 museum openings of 2025

The global art landscape is set for a significant transformation in 2025 with the opening of several high-profile museum projects. These range from the long-awaited reopening of New York’s Frick Collection and the Studio Museum in Harlem to ambitious international debuts like the PoMo museum in Norway and the Fenix Museum of Migration Stories in Rotterdam. These projects feature designs by world-renowned architects including Annabelle Selldorf, India Mahdavi, and MAD Architects, often repurposing historic structures with bold contemporary additions.

us museum shows exhibitions 2026

Artnet News has published a preview of major museum exhibitions scheduled across the United States in 2026, highlighting five standout shows. These include "Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses" at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which examines the intersection of fashion and art from the Renaissance to today; "The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott" at the Tacoma Art Museum, celebrating the centenary of the artist known for his provocative figurative paintings; "Containing Multitudes" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a photography exhibition marking America's 250th year; and "Frida: The Making of an Icon" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, focusing on Frida Kahlo's enduring legacy.

hazel knapp

Hazel Knapp, a self-taught artist with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, painted Vermont landscapes from her wheelchair between the 1930s and 1940s, often with her mother Elsie by her side describing the terrain. Knapp exhibited at the 1939 Museum of Modern Art show alongside Grandma Moses and Morris Hirshfield, was profiled in Sidney Janis's book *They Taught Themselves*, and sold ten paintings to Gertrude Stein, who planned an unrealized Paris exhibition. Despite this promising start, Knapp fell into obscurity after her mother's death.

10 most expensive women artists

A Frida Kahlo painting, *El Sueño (La Cama)* (1954), sold at Sotheby’s New York for $54.7 million, setting a new auction record for the most expensive artwork by a female artist. The article, using data from the Artnet Price Database, lists the ten most expensive women artists at auction, including Lee Krasner ($11.6 million for *The Eye is the First Circle*), Jenny Saville ($12.4 million for *Propped*), Marlene Dumas ($13.6 million for *Miss January*), and Agnes Martin ($18.7 million for *Grey Stone II*).

popular artists march 2025

Artnet News published its quarterly analysis of the most exhibited living artists at over 250 U.S. museums in March 2025, identifying more than 3,700 artists. The top artist is photographer Cara Romero, who appears in multiple museum shows including a major retrospective at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College. Three of the six most featured artists have Native American backgrounds, reflecting a surge in exhibitions celebrating Indigenous art. The list excludes the late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a Native painter and curator who died in January 2025 at age 85 and would have ranked highly.

Artists Gala Porras-Kim, Jeremy Frey and Tuan Andrew Nguyen among winners of 2025 MacArthur ‘genius grants'

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced its 2025 cohort of MacArthur Fellows, awarding 27 recipients—including visual artists Gala Porras-Kim, Jeremy Frey, Matt Black, Garrett Bradley, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen—with $800,000 each over five years. The artists span conceptual institutional critique, Indigenous basketry, documentary photography, film, and social practice, with several currently holding major solo exhibitions or biennial features.

Art of Luxury

The article introduces *Art of Luxury*, a biannual magazine published by *The Art Newspaper* that examines the intersection of high-end fashion, jewelry, travel, and lifestyle with the visual arts. It covers how luxury brands engage with artists, the art market, and museums and heritage institutions.

Behind every great artist... there is a great gallery. A look at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Dietro ogni grande artista… c’è una grande galleria. Un punto sulla Biennale Arte 2026

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" (May 9 – November 22, 2026), features over 90% living artists, a significant shift from recent editions focused on historical rediscoveries. Curated by the late Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the first African woman to lead the Biennale, the exhibition includes 111 artists, with a majority of women (64 vs. 48 men) and the highest percentage of African-born artists ever (20%). Notable participants include Nick Cave, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, and Kader Attia, with a focus on mid-career and established figures rather than emerging or deceased artists.

Remembering Pearl Fryar, Siri Aurdal, and Frank Stack

The art world mourns the loss of several influential figures, including self-taught topiary artist Pearl Fryar, who transformed a South Carolina cornfield into a botanical landmark, and painter Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, known for her politically charged works featured in the Whitney Biennial. The week's memorials also include Norwegian sculptor Siri Aurdal, a pioneer of industrial materials in the 1960s Scandinavian scene, and Frank Stack, the educator and cartoonist credited with creating the first underground comic.

The Incredible Story of Edmonia Lewis, America’s First Black and Indigenous International Art Star

The Peabody Essex Museum has launched "Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone," the first-ever retrospective dedicated to the 19th-century sculptor who was the first Black and Indigenous American artist to achieve international fame. Curated by Shawnya L. Harris and Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, the exhibition is the culmination of seven years of research and detective work to locate surviving marble sculptures and archival fragments. The show tracks her journey from her early life as "Wildfire" to her education at Oberlin College and her eventual professional success in Boston and Rome.

15 Artists Explore the Potentiality of Fabric and Fiber in ‘Textile Art Redefined’

The Saatchi Gallery in London is hosting 'Textile Art Redefined,' a group exhibition featuring 15 artists who push the boundaries of fiber and fabric. Curated by Helen Adams, the show includes diverse works ranging from Ian Berry’s immersive installations made of recycled denim to Kenny Nguyen’s undulating silk wall pieces and Anne von Freyburg’s textile reinterpretations of Rococo paintings. The exhibition coincides with the release of Adams' new book, 'Textile Fine Art,' which explores the medium's evolution from functional craft to a celebrated pillar of contemporary art.

parties printed matter 50th anniversary

Printed Matter, the nonprofit artists' bookstore and publisher, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala at the High Line Hotel in New York. The event featured speeches honoring co-founder Pat Steir and artist Ed Ruscha, performances from the opera *Einstein on the Beach*, and a crowd of notable artists, museum directors, and gallerists including Joan Jonas, Glenn Ligon, MoMA Director Christophe Cherix, and Larry Gagosian. Founded in 1976 by Sol LeWitt, Pat Steir, and Lucy Lippard, Printed Matter has become a vital platform for artist books, operating a bookstore, exhibition space, and one of the world's largest book fairs.

art new york gallery guide spring

Cultured's spring gallery guide for New York highlights a curated selection of exhibitions across the city, with standout shows including Carol Bove's sculptural installation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Joan Semmel's retrospective at the Jewish Museum, Jessi Reaves's furniture-based works at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the group show "Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt" at the Metropolitan Museum. The guide also notes exhibitions by Paul Chan, Nicola Tyson, Doron Langberg, and Yuval Pudik that are closing soon, and extends coverage to shows in Philadelphia and Warsaw.

art must see 2026 museum shows

Cultured magazine has published a preview of must-see museum shows for 2026, highlighting exhibitions across the United States. Featured shows include a survey of the late Los Angeles artist Noah Davis at the Philadelphia Art Museum, the first solo New York institutional exhibition in over 35 years for Pat Oleszko at SculptureCenter, a Carol Bove survey at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Biennial 2026, a comprehensive Raphael exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Lucas Samaras photography show at the Art Institute of Chicago, a Ming Smith exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, and a Bruce Conner film showcase at the Marciano Art Foundation.

parties project eats gala lauren halsey dana irwin

Project EATS held its 2025 benefit gala at New York's IAC Building, honoring food writer and former Food & Wine editor-in-chief Dana Cowin and artist Lauren Halsey, a 2025 CULT100 recipient. The event brought together a crowd of artists, patrons, and cultural leaders including Cindy Sherman, Glenn Ligon, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, and Glenn Lowry, with a culinary experience led by chefs Aretah Ettarh and Camari Mick. The evening featured speeches celebrating Cowin and Halsey, and highlighted Project EATS's mission of transforming vacant lots into urban farms and community spaces that provide access to food and culture.

collector questionnaire interiors most shocking works of art

Cultured magazine asked 12 collectors to name the single work in their home that most stops guests in their tracks. Responses include Wolfgang Tillmans’s camera-less photograph *Freischwimmer 153* (2010), a medieval illuminated *Book of Hours* (ca. 1480/90), Jordan Wolfson’s robotic installation *(Female figure)* (2014), Julie Curtiss’s hair-covered sculpture *Spider* (2018), and Haegue Yang’s kinetic bell sculpture *Sonic Rotating Geometry Type E – Brass Plated #23* (2014). Each collector explains why the piece provokes awe, laughter, discomfort, or deep conversation.

the critics table aspen artweek diary matthew barney

The article is a first-person diary of an art critic's trip to Aspen for ArtWeek, centered around Matthew Barney's performance "TACTICAL parallax" (2025) at the Aspen Art Museum. The author navigates travel delays, attends the dress rehearsal, and participates in a whirlwind of events including the Aspen Art Museum's AIR festival, a public conversation with artist Issy Wood, and dinners with art-world figures like MoMA board president Sarah Arison and artists Paul Chan and Aria Dean. The narrative weaves personal observations with the broader art scene in Aspen, touching on themes of the American West and contemporary art.

art basel best of art guide

Cultured's "Art Basel Best of Art Guide" highlights key exhibitions and events in and around Basel, Switzerland, during the summer art season. Featured shows include Jordan Wolfson's VR installation "Little Room" at Fondation Beyeler, a Medardo Rosso retrospective at Kunstmuseum Basel, a Meret Oppenheim showcase at Hauser & Wirth, the second annual "Air Service Basel 2025" group show at Lo Brutto Stahl, Suzanne Lacy's video installation "By Your Own Hand" at Museum Tinguely, and works by Ser Serpas. The guide provides practical details such as dates, locations, and insider tips for each exhibition.

london gallery weekend guide museums restaurants

London Gallery Weekend returns for its fifth edition from June 6–8, 2025, featuring 126 participating galleries—11 of them newly established—across three regions: Central, South, and East. The program includes extended hours, curated tours, openings, talks, and evening social events. Highlights include Bruce McLean's conceptual sculpture show at Luxembourg + Co, Gregor Hildebrandt's mini-retrospective at Almine Rech, Jennifer Bartlett's first UK presentation since the 1980s at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, and Norbert Schwontkowski's London debut at Champ Lacombe. Major museum shows include Do Ho Suh's fabric sculpture exhibition at Tate Modern.

shows worth traveling for summer

This article from Cultured magazine highlights several art exhibitions and museum openings around the world that are worth traveling for in summer 2025. Featured shows include Andra Ursuța's "Apocalypse Now And Then" at the Deste Foundation in Hydra, Greece; Wangechi Mutu's "Black Soil Poems" at Galleria Borghese in Rome; Ha Chong-Hyun's "Light Into Color" at Château La Coste in France; Cindy Sherman's "The Women" at Hauser & Wirth in Menorca; the 12th Site Santa Fe International in New Mexico; and the opening of the Naoshima New Museum of Art in Japan, designed by Tadao Ando. Each entry includes a brief description of the artist's work and practical tips for visitors.