Frieze New York 2026 opened its VIP day at The Shed on May 13, following the Venice Biennale's opening week. Now in its 15th edition, the fair anchors New York Art Week, a series of concurrent fairs, gallery openings, auctions, and parties that take over the city each May. The article highlights the five best booths at the fair, curated by Artsy Editorial.
David Hockney, the celebrated British artist known for his vibrant Pop art and iconic swimming pool paintings, died on June 11 at age 88 at his home in London. The article lists his most expensive works sold at auction, including "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" which sold for $90.3 million at Christie's New York in 2018, "Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy" which sold for $44.4 million in November 2024, "Nichols Canyon" which sold for $41 million at Phillips New York in 2020, and "The Splash" which sold for £23.2 million at Sotheby's London in 2020.
Sotheby’s London will offer two Claude Monet paintings at its June 24 modern and contemporary art sale, with a combined estimate of up to $67 million. The works—Nymphéas (1907), depicting his water lily pond, and Camille assise sur la plage à Trouville (1870–71), a portrait of his wife—come from a single unnamed seller and have blue-chip provenance, having passed through the collections of Anne Bass and Peggy and David Rockefeller, respectively. Nymphéas previously sold for $56.5 million at Christie’s in 2022, while the Camille portrait last sold for $12.1 million at Christie’s 2018 Rockefeller sale.
Readers respond to a Guardian article about the overwhelming amount of art in galleries, offering personal strategies for enjoying museum visits. Dr. Penelope Jackson argues that galleries are caught between criticism for showing too much or too little, noting that the National Gallery in London displays about 40% of its collection while Tate Britain shows a tiny fraction. Sue Lewis shares how visiting with children and letting them choose favorite paintings created a joyful, engaging experience. Fiona Willan suggests reading a newspaper review beforehand to focus on key works and save energy for the cafe.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, the official America 250 (A250) commission has been taken over by a MAGA-aligned events company that previously produced Trump rallies, including the January 6 insurrection. The new contractors have received over $26 million in no-bid federal contracts and have rolled out commemorative programming that critics say whitewashes history, including a video projection on the Washington Monument that celebrates Christopher Columbus and skips over slavery, Indigenous peoples, and women. Meanwhile, the National Park Service plans to exhibit a statue of Caesar Rodney, a slaveholding signer of the Declaration of Independence, on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Alyce Mahon's new book, *Dorothea Tanning: A Surrealist World*, explores how the 1936 MoMA exhibition *Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism* profoundly transformed the young artist Dorothea Tanning, who described being "rocked on my run-over heels" by the experience. The article also recounts similar life-changing exhibition encounters for contemporary artists Lorna Simpson and Hurvin Anderson, as discussed on *The Week in Art* and *A brush with…* podcasts, highlighting how specific shows shaped their artistic trajectories.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler's iconic painting of his mother, Anna, known as 'Whistler’s Mother' or 'Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1', is returning to London for the first time in nearly two generations as part of a Tate Britain exhibition. The article recounts how the portrait was painted in 1871 in Whistler's Chelsea studio during a low point in his career, using cheap paint and a used canvas after a young sitter canceled. The author, who restored the painting for the Musée d'Orsay, details the work's accidental genesis, Whistler's radical minimalist aesthetic, and the initial critical confusion it caused.
In 1970, Pat Gilmour reviewed the first major retrospective of a 32-year-old David Hockney at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. The exhibition assembled over 40 paintings, as many drawings, and his entire print output, showcasing Hockney's autobiographical themes, playful use of graphic devices, and evolving techniques from faux-naïf scribbles to sophisticated explorations of pictorial depth, water, and the male nude. Gilmour highlighted works like 'Picture emphasising still-ness' and 'Play within a Play', noting Hockney's witty commentary on pictorial conventions and his frank treatment of homosexuality.
Hyperallergic presents a guide to 25 art exhibitions and projects across the United States that reframe and challenge the story of the nation on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. The article highlights shows such as Rosy Simas's Indigenous survivance-focused exhibition at the Walker Art Center, a survey of women artists from 1945-1979 at Eric Firestone Gallery, and an exhibition of rare manuscripts at Gilcrease Museum examining Native American nations' role in the country's founding, among others.
"Verrannt in einer Fantasie endlosen Wachstums"
Jerry Saltz criticizes Pace Gallery in New York Magazine for pursuing a fantasy of endless growth and hype, comparing it to a 'Fyre Festival of mega-galleries.' He argues that under Marc Glimcher's leadership, the gallery prioritized expansion—more artists, more locations, more projects—over identity, leading to overextension and recent cuts of about 50 artists and 50 staff. Separately, a child at the Israel Museum damaged René Magritte's painting 'The Castle of the Pyrenees' with a pine cone, puncturing the canvas within seconds. In other news, curator Helen Molesworth reflects on sloth as a creative and anti-capitalist strategy in Cultured, and Stefan Niggemeier critiques culture minister Wolfram Weimer's repeated use of the vague term 'Eigentlichkeit' in Übermedien.
Saidiya Hartman, a Columbia professor known for her "critical fabulation" method of writing history, has created her first artwork: a performance titled "Minor Music at the End of the World." Debuted in October, the three-part work imagines the end of white supremacy and features cinematic elements by Arthur Jafa, sculptures by Precious Okoyomon, sounds by Peter Born, and performances by André Holland and Okwui Okpokwasili. Cameron Rowland serves as "Attendant of the Archive." The piece recently had a run in Venice, echoing the Biennale's main show "In Minor Keys." Hartman's essay "The End of White Supremacy," which responds to W. E. B. Du Bois's "The Comet," inspired the performance.
Hyperallergic's New York newsletter covers a mix of local cultural events and art world news. Highlights include the Guggenheim's screenings of Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's film about Zinédine Zidane during the World Cup, the Tribeca Film Festival, and Pride Month interviews with queer and trans elders, starting with Jamie Nares. Other news includes Pace Gallery cutting 50 artists and laying off 50 staff, a fire in Long Island City damaging artists' studios, and The New School laying off faculty and staff due to budget deficits.
Pace Gallery has cut 50 artists from its roster and laid off 50 staff members, with CEO Marc Glimcher calling it a "model correction" for the gallery business. This comes shortly after the gallery opened a $100 million flagship in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. In other news, Marjane Satrapi has died at 56, over 100 participants threaten legal action against the Venice Biennale over award withdrawals, and Lucian Freud's painting "Sleeping by the Lion Carpet" could fetch up to $47 million at Sotheby's. The newsletter also highlights an opinion piece by Laura Raicovich arguing for reintegrating art with everyday life, and mentions exhibitions featuring Saif Azzuz, Ali Eyal, Edward Hopper, and Celia Paul.
Makeda Best has been appointed as the new chief curator of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), starting in September. She comes from the Oakland Museum of California, where she served as deputy director of curatorial affairs, and previously held the role of photography curator at the Harvard Art Museums. The Asian Cultural Council awarded over $1.6 million in grants to 70 grantees across four fellowship categories. Additionally, Pace Gallery cut 50 artists and laid off 50 workers in what CEO Marc Glimcher called a "model correction," and a painting attributed to a follower of Hieronymus Bosch sold for $537,600 at Sotheby's, more than ten times its high estimate.
Arthur Jafa, the acclaimed artist known for his video work and found-object art, is the subject of a new Art Angle podcast episode. The article details his rise from cinema to the art world, highlighted by his 2016 video 'Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death' and his 2019 Golden Lion win at the Venice Biennale. Currently, Jafa is featured in a two-person show with Richard Prince at the Prada Foundation in Venice, curated by Nancy Spector, and has curated 'Less Is Morbid' at the Museum of Modern Art. He is also a recipient of this year's Art Basel Award.
Hyperallergic's weekly "In Memoriam" column honors seven recently deceased figures from the art world, including German painter Paula Kamps (1990–2026), who died at 36. Kamps was known for her delicate watercolor-like paintings of fragmented figures, flowers, and daily life, and had solo exhibitions at Galerie Christine Mayer in Munich, M. LeBlanc in Chicago, and Sans titre in Paris. The column also pays tribute to Miami graffiti legend Eric Alan Hirt ("ESON"), master ceramicist Lucy Edwards, Greek museum founder Anna Kafetsi, abstract painter Tess Jaray, Sotheby's auctioneer John Marion, and counterculture artist Ben Morea.
Betye Saar, the iconic assemblage artist, is donating her collection of Black dolls to the New York Historical on the occasion of her 100th birthday. The article also covers strong performance art at the Venice Biennale, including works by Florentina Holzinger and Miet Warlop at the Austrian and Belgian pavilions, amidst a fraught edition marked by the death of artistic director Koyo Kouoh, canceled pavilions, and protests. Additional features include a review of Ceija Stojka's exhibition at the Drawing Center and a profile of sculptor Edmonia Lewis.
Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is the subject of a solo exhibition titled “Burtynsky: Human/Nature” at Paul Kyle Gallery in Vancouver, running from May 30 to August 1, 2026. The show brings together works from the early 1990s to the present, capturing landscapes that highlight the tension between natural environments and industrial development. Images include a stepwell in India, a granite quarry in Vermont, railcars in British Columbia, and a glowing stream of magma in Ontario. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by the gallery’s assistant director, Diamond Zhou, who describes the title as naming a strained relationship rather than a reconciliation.
Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara reflects on skipping the New York art fairs and a record-breaking $181 million Jackson Pollock sale at Christie's, instead focusing on a profile of pioneering performance artist Linda Montano (now 84) who welcomed a contributor in a chicken costume, and Gabrielle Goliath's exhibition "Elegy" which was banned from South Africa's Venice pavilion by the culture minister but is now on view in a church. The newsletter also announces Hyperallergic's New York Press Club journalism award for Noah Fischer's comic "A Prospect Heights Ghost Story," supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and rounds up other art news including a $1 billion Christie's sale, a Billie Holiday monument commission, and public sculptures by Sarah Lucas, Roberto Lugo, and Kyle Goen.
This week's Art Movements roundup covers several major art world developments. Larry Gagosian is the subject of a new unauthorized documentary by Canadian director Barry Avrich, completing his trilogy on the art industry. Pace Gallery has taken on representation of the Constantin Brancusi Estate. The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation announced five winners of its 2026 Awards in Craft, each receiving $100,000. Selldorf Architects and Studios Architecture Paris have been selected to lead a $1 billion renovation of the Louvre Museum, including a new room for the Mona Lisa. Other news includes the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program's 2026–2027 cohort, A Blade of Grass's 2026 In Fellowship cohort, and several appointments.
The Guggenheim Museum in New York will screen Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's 2006 film "Zidane, a 21st century portrait" from June 11 to July 19, 2026, timed with the FIFA World Cup. The two-channel video piece follows French soccer legend Zinédine Zidane during a 90-minute match between Real Madrid and Villarreal, captured by 17 cameras to create an intimate, voyeuristic portrait of the player. This marks the film's first showing at the Guggenheim since the museum acquired one of 17 unique editions.
The Guardian reports on 'Holy Pop,' a new exhibition at London's Somerset House that celebrates extreme pop fandom through personal shrines and collections. The show features photographer Alice Hawkins's Dolly Parton shrine, including leaves from Parton's garden and hair extensions, alongside artifacts from fans of Prince, the Spice Girls, George Michael, Marc Bolan, and others. Curated by Tory Turk, the exhibition includes visual art by Graham Dolphin and Tox26, as well as films and photos of fans visiting stars' graves and impromptu memorials.
Bahar Behbahani's project "Damask Rose: A Gathering" transformed three fountains on Governors Island into a Persian garden using handwoven carpets and crocheted canopies. The event, part of Governors Island Arts's annual Interventions series, brought together over two dozen community practitioners and cultural groups for a four-hour gathering focused on storytelling, music, and art-making. The article also covers Mana Contemporary's Spring Open Studios in Jersey City, a new Gaza monument in Paterson, Sarah Lucas's public sculpture at the New Museum, and other New York-area art news.
La notte dei record di Christie’s a New York. Ecco com’è andata la mega asta d’arte da più di un miliardo di dollari
On May 18, 2026, Christie’s in New York held a landmark evening auction that surpassed $1.1 billion in total sales, driven by two sessions: Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse and a sale of 20th-century art. The Newhouse collection alone brought in $631 million, making it the second most valuable collection ever sold at auction, behind Paul Allen’s $1.7 billion sale in 2022. Record prices were set for Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948, which sold for $181.2 million, and Constantin Brancusi’s Danaïde (1913), which fetched $107.6 million, a record for a sculpture at auction. Other artists achieving strong results included Mark Rothko, Joan Miró, and Alice Neel.
Seoul's new Centre Pompidou Hanwha museum will open to the public on June 4, 2025, marking the Pompidou's second Asian branch after its collaboration with Shanghai's West Bund Museum. The four-year partnership between the Hanwha Foundation of Culture and the Centre Pompidou will feature two exhibitions per year from the Pompidou collection, starting with "The Cubists: Inventing Modern Vision." The museum occupies 11,000 square meters over four floors of Hanwha Group's 63 Building, with one gallery dedicated to early 20th-century European art and another to global contemporary art with a Korean focus, curated in-house. The inaugural Korea Focus section includes local artists such as Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk.
Diane Keaton is auctioning a vast archive of personal effects through Bonhams, including a massive collage she created over decades, clothing, scripts, and art. The sales, titled "Diane Keaton: The Architecture of an Icon," span multiple categories—from her menswear-inspired wardrobe to her photographic works and home design objects. Highlights include her original Annie Hall script, a sequined Gucci suit, and works by artists like David Wojnarowicz. The auction will be held live in New York City on 8 June, with previews in West Hollywood.
Art Dubai's 20th anniversary edition opened at Madinat Jumeirah after being postponed from April to May due to the US-Israel war in Iran and regional missile threats. Around 75 exhibitors dropped out, leaving roughly 50 participants, mostly from the region. The fair was reorganized in just eight weeks under executive director Benedetta Ghione and new director Dunja Gottweis, who created a new floor plan in a day and a half. The scaled-back format includes an embedded digital section, and initial sales have been strong, with works by Samira Badran, Mostafa Al Hallaj, Safeya Sharif, Alyazia Al Nahyan, Roudhah Al Mazrouei, and Nabil Anani selling at prices ranging from $3,500 to $360,000.
At Frieze New York, curator Lucien Zayan searches for artworks exploring the relationship between food and art, finding a piece by Aki Goto at Europa gallery that reflects on sugar, colonization, and cavities. The fair features works like David Lamelas's "To Pour Milk into a Glass" (1972) from Dia Art Foundation and Mungo Thomson's "Snowman" (2023) at Karma, while a performance by Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta) at the Counterpublic triennial booth offers a reprieve from the monotonous fair experience.
Le mostre da vedere a New York durante l’Art Week 2026
The article highlights a selection of must-see exhibitions in New York during the 2026 Art Week, spanning major museums and galleries. At MoMA, three shows explore memory, identity, and artistic experimentation: Elizabeth Murray's retrospective on fragmented painting, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa's works addressing Guatemala's civil war, and Arthur Jafa's curated connections across the museum's collection. The Whitney Museum presents the 82nd Whitney Biennial, featuring 56 artists questioning what it means to be 'American,' alongside an Andy Warhol exhibition of rarely seen polaroids from 1972-73. Hauser & Wirth debuts its first Carol Rama show, highlighting six decades of her experimental, anticonformist art.
Sylvie Retailleau, former French Minister of Higher Education and current president of Universcience since January 2026, details the tense negotiations between the Grand Palais and the Palais de la découverte. She reveals that the Palais de la découverte nearly disappeared during the Grand Palais renovation, but will reopen in March 2027. Universcience ceded a 1,200 m² gallery to the Grand Palais as a financial contribution (worth about €30 million over ten years) and is lending another 350 m² gallery until June 2030 for Centre Pompidou exhibitions during its renovation. In exchange, Universcience gains full control over the programming of the Palais des enfants.