Vancouver Art Gallery's "Future Geographies" Exhibit Explores How Art Responds to Climate Change

The Vancouver Art Gallery has opened "Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change," an exhibition curated by Eva Respini, the gallery's interim co-CEO and curator at large. Featuring over 30 artists and 35 works—including sculptures, paintings, video installations, and photographs—the show explores climate change through themes of living knowledge, consumed earth, speculative worlds, and material memory. Highlights include Brian Jungen's whale-skeleton sculpture made from plastic chairs and Clarissa Tossin's multimedia weaving of Amazon boxes. The exhibition also incorporates sustainability in its organization, using recycled cardboard for labels, overland shipping for loans, and commissioning local artists.

Wiscasset Bay Gallery exhibition will take viewers on grand tour

Wiscasset Bay Gallery in Maine is presenting "The Grand Tour in Thirty Days," an exhibition running from May 23 through June 24 that showcases the evolution of painting from realism to impressionism to modernism. The show features works by European and American artists depicting popular and remote locales across Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including pieces by Jean de Botton, Luigi Moretti, Robert Weir Allan, Polly Parker Nordell, and Mary Cassatt.

New Exhibition Explores Modern British Printmaking

The University of Liverpool's Victoria Gallery & Museum will present "Making a Mark: Artworks from the Studio Prints Collection" from June 13, 2026 to January 30, 2027. The free exhibition features 45 prints by seven British artists—including Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, and Celia Paul—created at Studio Prints, a pioneering printmaking workshop founded by Dorothea Wight in 1968. The works were gifted to the university in 2019 through the Arts Council England Cultural Gifts Scheme and will be displayed for the first time.

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artmix is a party built for repeat collectors and first-time buyers

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) is hosting its annual Artmix fundraiser on May 8, 2026, a fast-paced evening featuring a silent auction of works by 100 regional artists. The event includes a VIP preview with early access, champagne, and a guided tour, followed by a general admission party where bidding runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets range from $150 for members to $300 for VIP access, with proceeds supporting BMoCA's exhibitions and education programs.

Kumu to unveil Kristi Kongi's largest solo exhibition 'Chromatic Drift'

Estonian painter Kristi Kongi's largest solo exhibition, 'Chromatic Drift,' will open at the Kumu Art Museum on May 22. The exhibition fills the museum's great hall, courtyard, and windows with new works featuring earthy tones like purple, brown, and burgundy, described by curator Ann Mirjam Vaikla as reflecting the aesthetics of the Anthropocene. The show is accompanied by a book with essays by Sara Garzón, Sirje Helme, and Vaikla, and includes works created during Kongi's residency at Cerámica Suro in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Dallas Museum of Art Announces 2026 Awards to Artists Grantees

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) has named 21 recipients for its 2026 Awards to Artists, selected from a record 160 applicants. The grants total nearly $42,000 and are divided into three categories: the Clare Hart DeGolyer Memorial Fund (up to $1,500 for artists aged 15–25 in a five-state region), the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund (up to $3,500 for Texas artists under 30), and the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant (up to $6,000 for professional Texas artists over 30). All awardees are current Texas residents, with 16 based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A public celebration will be held at the DMA on May 19, 2026.

Campbell River Art Gallery presents Sacred in All Forms

The Campbell River Art Gallery (CRAG) is presenting a new group exhibition titled "Sacred in All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine Across Bodies, Lands, and Worlds," curated by Jenelle Pasiechnik. The show features four contemporary artists—Sandeep Johal, Xiaojing Yan, Kourtney Jackson, and Aaron McIntosh—whose works in textiles, video, sculpture, installation, and mixed media explore the sacred in everyday life, the body, relationships, and nature. The exhibition runs from May 7 to August 8, 2026, with an opening reception on May 9. Public programs including artist talks, workshops, and community conversations will accompany the show.

Panel Discussion: Regeneration — Long Island’s History of Ecological Care at Parrish Art Museum

The Parrish Art Museum is hosting a panel discussion on May 24, 2026, featuring artist Sara Siestreem and members of the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, moderated by Associate Curator Scout Hutchinson. The conversation celebrates their collaborative work in the exhibition "Regeneration: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care," which runs through June 14, 2026. The Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, an intergenerational collective of Indigenous women, restore ancestral seaweed harvesting traditions to address water pollution, while Siestreem’s artistic practice incorporates abstract mark making, basket weaving, and Xerox transfers to highlight Indigenous land rights and ecological restoration.

Before the Myth, There Was Yoko Ono

The Broad museum in Los Angeles has opened "Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind," the first solo museum exhibition in Southern California dedicated to the artist, musician, and activist. Spanning seven decades, the retrospective focuses on Ono's conceptual and participatory works—such as instruction pieces from her 1964 book "Grapefruit" and interactive installations like "Wish Tree" (1996)—rather than traditional art objects. Curators organized the show around themes of human responsibility, and deliberately delay the introduction of John Lennon until the exhibition's midpoint to emphasize Ono's independent career before her marriage.

'It keeps me in touch with life': The London artist still working at 103

London painter Anthony Eyton, who turned 103, is preparing to exhibit new works at the 258th Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the world's oldest open-submission exhibition. A figurative painter and Royal Academician since 1976, Eyton has shown at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, and the Imperial War Museum. He continues to paint daily, finding satisfaction in the act of creation, and has embraced social media with his daughter Sarah, posting regularly on Instagram to reach a global audience.

Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection | Broad Strokes Blog

The article features an interview between NMWA Assistant Curator Hannah Shambroom and collector Komal Shah about the exhibition 'Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection.' The show, drawn from Shah and her husband Gaurav Garg's collection, presents approximately 80 works by women artists exploring abstraction, including pieces by Howardena Pindell, Sarah Sze, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Jacqueline Humphries. Shah discusses her transition from a technology career to art collecting, her focus on women working in abstraction, and how the exhibition emerged after publishing a book on the collection in 2023, with curation by Cecilia Alemani.

Step into artist Francis Picabia’s experimental world in London

A new exhibition titled 'Francis Picabia. Expanding Horizons' has opened at Hauser & Wirth London, showcasing five decades of the artist's experimental work. The show includes dense, layered postwar paintings from his return to Paris with his wife Olga, as well as earlier pieces spanning Impressionism, Dada, and his Transparencies series. Organized with the Comité Picabia, the exhibition features works such as 'Composition abstraite' (1947) and 'Le Zèbre' (c. 1909-1933), highlighting Picabia's habit of revisiting and painting over canvases across decades.

Tang Museum announces summer tours

The Tang Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, has announced its summer 2026 public tour program, beginning May 24 with weekly Tang Guide Tours led by trained student ambassadors. The museum will also host three curator-led tours: Rachel Seligman will lead tours of 'All These Growing Things' (June 11) and 'Sheila Pepe: When & Where We Rest' (August 27), while Dayton Director Ian Berry will guide a tour of 'Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes' (July 16). Additional summer programming includes the Upbeat on the Roof concert series, Frances Day community open house, and Family Saturday art-making events.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts receives major gift of photography

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) announced a major gift of 1,986 photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), a nonprofit founded by financier Howard Stein. The donation includes works by over 450 artists, spanning the 19th century to the present, with highlights such as rare daguerreotypes by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, prints by Gustave Le Gray and Eugène Atget, and significant holdings in American documentary photography from figures like Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. The gift follows an earlier 2023 donation of portfolios and series, and positions VMFA to open five new photography galleries in 2027 as part of its expansion.

Stirling Art Collection awarded National Significance status

The University of Stirling's Art Collection has been designated a Collection of National Significance by Museums Galleries Scotland, joining four other collections receiving the honor on International Museums Day. The collection comprises over 800 prints, paintings, and sculptures, many displayed across the campus, particularly in the A-listed Pathfoot Building. Founded on a policy set by Principal Dr Tom Cottrell in 1967 to allocate 1% of building costs for art, the collection has grown through purchases and donations, including 14 works by Scottish Colourist J.D. Fergusson gifted by Margaret Morris. The collection team runs exhibitions, workshops, and an Artist in Residence programme to integrate art into university life.

Taipei Fine Arts Museum unveils 'Surrealism: The World in Dialogue'

Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), in collaboration with the Institute for Cultural Exchange in Tübingen, Germany, has launched its major spring exhibition "Surrealism: The World in Dialogue." Featuring over 120 works by nearly 60 international artists, the exhibition marks a century since André Breton's 1924 "Surrealist Manifesto." It juxtaposes historical avant-garde works with contemporary practices, organized into sections such as "Collective Dreams," "Body of Desire," and "Absurd Play." Highlights include Yves Tanguy's dreamscapes, Lauren Moffatt's augmented reality installation, Max Ernst's scraping-method works, Patricia Piccinini's hybrid sculptures, and works by Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, Sarah Lucas, Luis Buñuel, and Salvador Dalí.

Memorial Art Gallery admission will become free starting in 2027

The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) in Rochester, New York, announced on May 13 that admission will become free for all visitors starting in 2027, eliminating its current $20 entry fee permanently. The museum, part of the University of Rochester, raised over $9 million through its "Free for All, Forever" campaign, surpassing its original target faster than expected. Key donations included a $1 million gift from Dr. Alexander A. Levitan and his wife Lucy K. Levitan, a $3 million donation from UR trustee Doug Bennett, his wife Abby, and the Sands Family Foundation, and $2 million from Mary Ellen Burris. Additional support came from anonymous donors, Kitty and Nick Jospé, and Sandy Hawks Lloyd and Justin Hawks Lloyd.

Exhibition at the Sarasota Art Museum uses shadows to explore the way identity changes based on experiences

Sarasota Art Museum presents 'Penumbra,' a solo exhibition by textile artist Maria A. Guzman Capron. The show features 10 works, including traditional wall hangings and a suspended 15-foot textile sculpture titled 'Sombra,' all exploring how identity shifts based on context and experience. Curator Lacie Barbour explains that the title refers to the penumbra—a liminal space between light and dark—serving as a metaphor for the multiplicity of identities. Capron, who was born in Milan to Peruvian and Colombian parents and later moved to Texas, draws on her own cross-cultural experiences, using hand-dyed, painted, and screen-printed fabrics to create layered portraits of multi-faceted figures.

FAD News: Sarah Lucas unveils new public sculpture commission for New Museum plaza

The New Museum has unveiled a major public sculpture by Sarah Lucas titled "VENUS VICTORIA," installed on its new outdoor plaza as part of the OMA-designed expansion on the Bowery. The large-scale work, which opened on May 12, 2026, and will remain on view for two years, inaugurates a long-term commission series dedicated to public sculpture by women artists. Lucas was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith, and is the first of five artists to be commissioned over the next decade. The sculpture extends Lucas's Bunny series, placing a reclining figure atop a giant washing machine to subvert traditional monumental statues.

Cleveland Museum of Art hosting ‘France in the Time of Manet and Morisot’

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has opened a free companion exhibition titled "France in the Time of Manet and Morisot," running through August 23 in the Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries. The show features 50 photographs from the museum's holdings of mid-1800s France, including works by Charles Marville and Édouard Baldus, who were commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III and the Louvre to document historic monuments and new architectural projects. Curated by Barbara Tannenbaum, CMA chair of prints, drawings, and photographs, the exhibition complements the museum's ticketed show "Manet & Morisot," which explores the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. Highlights include André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri's 1861 portrait "Monsieur Merlen," which is noted as an early precursor to the selfie, and a photograph of the Arc de Triomphe under construction.

Cleveland Museum of Art presents 19th-century photo exhibit 'France in the Time of Manet and Morisot'

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has opened a new photography exhibition, "France in the Time of Manet and Morisot," running through August 23 in the Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries. The free show features 50 photographs from CMA's holdings of mid-1800s France, complementing the museum's ticketed Impressionist display "Manet & Morisot." Curator Barbara Tannenbaum selected works by photographers such as Charles Marville, Édouard Baldus, and André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, including Disdéri's 1861 portrait "Monsieur Merlen," which is noted as an early precursor to the modern selfie. The photographs document historic monuments, new architecture, and figures like Sarah Bernhardt, offering a visual context for the era of painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.

Kengo Kuma & Associates to expand campus of Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art

Kengo Kuma & Associates has been selected to design an expansion of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. The project will add new gallery spaces, educational facilities, and improved visitor amenities to the institution, which is known for its collection of American art and its conservation work along the Brandywine River.

How the Arts Club of Chicago Stays Contemporary in its Second Century

The Arts Club of Chicago, founded in 1916, continues to balance its historic legacy with contemporary relevance under executive director and chief curator Janine Mileaf. The club, which gave Pablo Picasso his first solo institutional exhibition in the U.S. in 1923 and hosted figures like Gertrude Stein and John Cage, now operates as both a public space and a private membership club. Mileaf’s programming emphasizes Dada and surrealist roots while showcasing experimental, site-specific works, including a recent installation by Korean artist Haegue Yang. The club maintains a close relationship with Chicago’s arts community, aiming to expose audiences to challenging and surprising art.

Cecilia Vicuña: Minga for the Sea

Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo presents 'Minga for the Sea,' a major new commission by Chilean artist, poet, and activist Cecilia Vicuña, running from May 29 to August 9, 2026. This is Vicuña's first major presentation in Scandinavia, featuring two large horizontal quipus made from locally sourced raw wool, one dedicated to the Southern Hemisphere/Chile and the other to the Northern Hemisphere/Sápmi. The quipus incorporate contributions from Indigenous and environmental defenders, including poems, drawings, and videos, forming a polyphonic archive of cultural resistance against destructive resource extraction and pollution of marine environments.

All the Looks That Made It From the Runway Into the Met’s “Costume Art” Exhibition

PHOTOS: Artistic liberties on display at the Met Gala

The 2026 Met Gala, held on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, featured celebrities including Beyoncé, Naomi Osaka, and Emma Chamberlain in elaborate, art-inspired ensembles under the dress code 'Fashion is art.' Beyoncé wore a custom Olivier Rousteing sculptural skeleton dress, Osaka stunned in a Robert Wun white sculptural dress with red feathers, and Chamberlain arrived in a hand-painted Mugler gown. Co-chairs Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams also attended, with Williams wearing a gown referencing a Robert Pruitt portrait of herself. The event raised funds for the Costume Institute's exhibition 'Costume Art.'

A History of the Human Body at “Costume Art,” the New Costume Institute Exhibit

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has announced its latest exhibition, "Costume Art," opening May 10. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show brings together garments and objects from across the museum's curatorial departments to explore the relationship between fashion and the human body. The exhibition is organized into thematic sections including the Naked & Nude Body, Classical Body, Abstract Body, Reclaimed Body, Pregnant Body, Corpulent Body, and Disabled Body, featuring works by designers such as Walter Van Beirendonck, LÛCHEN, Georgina Godley, Ann-Sofie Back, Di Petsa, Alessandro Michele for Gucci, and Vivienne Westwood, alongside historical art objects from Greek ceramics to Mesopotamian sculptures.

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.

Met Museum show at new Costume Institute puts fashion in same spotlight as Egyptian artefacts

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has opened its spring exhibition 'Costume Art' in a new 12,000-square-foot space called the Condé M Nast Galleries, located off the museum's Great Hall. The show pairs 200 garments and accessories with 200 artworks from the Met's collection, organized into 13 thematic body types such as Naked and Nude, Abstracted Body, Corpulent Body, Disabled Body, and Mortal Body. Lead curator Andrew Bolton aims to challenge traditional hierarchies by placing fashion on equal footing with fine art. The exhibition's launch is overshadowed by controversy over sponsorship by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos for the Met Gala.

27 Best Museums in the World for Art, History, and Cultural Wonders

This article from Travel + Leisure lists 27 of the best museums in the world, covering art, history, science, and culture. Featured institutions include the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Vatican Museums, the National Museum of China in Beijing, the National Gallery and Tate Modern in London, the Natural History Museum in London, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and Miraikan in Tokyo. The piece highlights iconic artworks such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Sistine Chapel ceiling, as well as notable architectural features like I.M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre.