The New York Times reports on a closely watched auction at Christie's in Palm Beach, where six high-value artworks from a billionaire's collection are expected to set market benchmarks. The sale, taking place in the exclusive playground of the ultra-wealthy, features works by artists such as Basquiat and Richter, and is seen as a barometer for the current state of the art market amid economic uncertainty.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. will present the exhibition “Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work,” opening November 25, 2025, and running through July 12, 2026. The show features 88 works drawn from the museum’s collection, private collections, and public institutions, primarily created between the late 1930s and the artist’s death in 1961. It repositions Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses as a multidimensional force in American art, exploring her evolution from farmwife to famous artist, her life in post-Reconstruction Virginia, and her fusion of creativity, labor, and memory. The exhibition is organized by Leslie Umberger and former Randall Griffey, with support from Maria R. Eipert, and will travel after its premiere.
Christie's held back-to-back Day Sales on November 18, 2025, in New York, featuring Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper in the morning and Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale in the afternoon. The sales included works from notable collections such as those of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis, Carol and Terry Wall, Arnold and Joan Saltzman, the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum, and Max and Cecile Draime. The two sales achieved a combined total of $56.5 million, with top lots including Edgar Degas's *Danseuses sur la scène* ($1,143,000), Childe Hassam's *The Flower Seller* ($2,149,000), and Robert Delaunay's *Portrait de Jean Metzinger* ($2,027,000). The sales saw strong bidding across American, Latin American, and European artists, with 84% and 88% sold by lot in the respective sessions.
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has laid off 79 employees and furloughed 181 workers, with 93 staff members taking early retirement, citing a $150 million deficit exacerbated by the pandemic. The museum's director Max Hollein and CEO Daniel H. Weiss announced the cuts in an email, noting that salaries comprise 65% of the annual budget. This is the second round of layoffs since April, when 81 employees lost their jobs, and the museum has also implemented pay reductions for top executives and frozen hiring. The workforce has shrunk by about 20%, from 2,000 to 1,600 staff, with 48% of those laid off being people of color. The Met aims to reopen on August 29 with reduced hours, pending government approval.
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has laid off 79 employees and furloughed 181 additional workers, citing a $150 million deficit exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional 93 staff members accepted early retirement offers. The cuts, which follow 81 layoffs in April, reduce the museum's workforce from about 2,000 to roughly 1,600—a 20 percent reduction. Director Max Hollein and CEO Daniel H. Weiss announced the measures in an email, noting that staff salaries account for 65 percent of the annual budget. The museum has also implemented hiring freezes, pay cuts for top executives, and drawn on its $3.6 billion endowment. The Met remains closed pending state approval, aiming for an August 29 reopening with reduced hours.
Archaeologists working on the controversial Maya Train project in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have discovered a 2,000-year-old limestone face carving. The 18-inch-tall sculpture, featuring deep-set eye sockets, a flat nose, and a cleft lip, was found in Sierra Papacal near Mérida during construction of the Mérida-Progreso Railway Bypass. The carving was attached to the foundation of an ovoid building with a west-facing entrance, suggesting it served as a ceremonial marker. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is overseeing the excavation of 15 other nearby structures, and the artifact will be transported to a laboratory for conservation.
New York's major art museums, including MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney, are experiencing attendance figures that have not surpassed their peaks from several years ago. MoMA projects reaching 3.24 million visitors for the 2012–13 fiscal year, just shy of its 2009–10 record of 3.22 million, driven by blockbuster exhibitions like "Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary" and a Sigmar Polke retrospective. Meanwhile, the Guggenheim's attendance peaked in 2009, the Met saw its busiest season in 2011–12 with 6.28 million visitors and is now on track for a second consecutive decline, and the Whitney's high was 372,000 in 2009–10. Factors cited include a harsh winter, ongoing construction at the Met, and a shift toward more scholarly exhibitions, though tourism growth in New York continues, especially among international visitors.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute announced its spring 2026 blockbuster exhibition, "Costume Art," which will explore the relationship between fashion and the dressed body across visual art history. Curator Andrew Bolton explained that the show aims to correct the long-held belief that fashion must be disembodied to be considered art. The exhibition will inaugurate the new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast galleries and will pair historical and contemporary garments with paintings, drawings, and objects spanning 5,000 years from the Met's other curatorial departments.
Crystal Bridges Museum will present an exhibition dedicated to singer-songwriter Jewel during the Venice Biennale, running from May 10 to November 22 at the Salone Verde, near Fondazione Prada. Titled “Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost,” the show is organized by Crystal Bridges curator-at-large Joe Thompson and features paintings from Jewel's “Ceremony” series, a tapestry, and three large-scale sculptures—including “Heart of the Ocean,” an eight-foot-tall piece that uses live oceanic data from NASA and Stanford University to control 60,000 programmable lights. The exhibition explores themes of feminine memory, matriarchy, and connection.
Archaeologists excavating for Mexico's Maya Train project in the Yucatan peninsula have uncovered a 2,000-year-old limestone sculpture of an elderly man, dating to the Preclassic period (2500 B.C.E.–200 C.E.). The 18-inch tall carving, found at the site of Sierra Papacal near Mérida, once marked the entrance of a west-facing ceremonial structure. The sculpture's flat nose, defined lips, and deep eye sockets symbolize wisdom and respect in Maya culture. It will be transferred to a laboratory for conservation and further study.
New York's November 2025 auction season is set to feature at least $1.67 billion in art across Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips, a 54% increase in estimates from the same period last year. The season is dominated by major estates, including Leonard Lauder's $400 million trove at Sotheby's with Klimt paintings and Matisse bronzes, Cindy Pritzker's collection featuring a Van Gogh, and anonymous Surrealist works. Christie's offers $736 million in low estimates from collections like Robert and Patricia Weis, Elaine Wynn, and Stefan Edlis. Phillips remains risk-averse, focusing on established names. The market shows a flight to quality, with emerging art reduced and delegated to day sales, while ultra-contemporary segments contract.
A Russian drone strike on November 14 damaged the studios of Nahirna22, a collective of young artists based at the Kyiv Institute of Automation, for the second time in three months. The attack, which killed six people in Kyiv, shattered wooden windows and left studios covered in glass and rubble, though plastic windows installed after a previous strike in August survived. Co-founder Marta Nyrkova expressed uncertainty about whether the building can be repaired, while the collective plans a fundraising event and a sale of works in Berlin.
The Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery officially opened at The Light Waterfront in Penang, Malaysia, with Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow hailing it as a milestone for the state's creative development. The launch ceremony, attended by Penang's Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Datuk Seri Utama Ramli Ngah Talib, former chief ministers, and other dignitaries, featured remarks from founder Prof Lin Xiang Xiong, who framed the gallery as a commitment to dialogue and peace through art.
The Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery officially opened in Penang, Malaysia, at The Light Waterfront in Gelugor, with a ceremony attended by the Governor of Penang, Tun Dato’ Seri DiRaja Ramli Ngah Talib, and Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow. Founded by acclaimed artist Professor Lin Xiang Xiong, the gallery debuted with a private preview of "The Vicissitudes of Life," an exhibition of 99 artworks addressing war, pollution, and poverty. The event gathered artists, government officials, business leaders, and academics, highlighting Penang's ambition to become an international cultural destination.
A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a new settlement for Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company behind OxyContin, resolving thousands of lawsuits related to its role in the opioid crisis. The deal, which replaces a 2021 settlement rejected by the Supreme Court, requires the Sackler family to contribute up to $7 billion and relinquish ownership of Purdue, while allowing individuals to sue family members directly.
At Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, a drag queen professional wrestling event called Choke Hole, part of artist Raúl de Nieves's exhibition, was disrupted when audience member and performer Chiquitita stormed the stage. She objected to a skit that made light of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations, shouting that 'ICE is not entertainment!' and hurling the microphone into a video screen. The performance, titled ARMAGEDDON, featured an alien queen plot involving nuclear codes and ICE, and Choke Hole later apologized, removing the segment from subsequent shows.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned an 18th-century Korean painting, *The Tenth King of Hell* (1798), to Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho, South Korea. The work, part of a ten-panel series called *Siwangdo* depicting kings of the afterlife, was illicitly taken from the temple in 1954 during the U.S. military presence after the Korean War. The Met purchased the painting in 2007 from a collector via an LLC linked to Bonhams’s Chinese art head. The repatriation was coordinated with the Sokcho Committee for the Return of Cultural Heritage and the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Six other panels were previously returned by LACMA in 2020; three remain abroad.
Sotheby's CEO Charles Stewart told CNBC that the art market has entered a new phase this fall, with supply finally catching up with demand after months of strong bidder activity. New York's marquee auction houses are preparing for sales expected to total more than $1.4 billion, a roughly 50% jump from last year, driven by major consignments including the estate of Leonard Lauder (55 works valued at over $400 million, led by Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer) and collections from Jay and Cindy Pritzker. Christie's highlights include a Monet Nymphéas, a David Hockney portrait, and a Mark Rothko, each estimated at $40–60 million.
A cousin of one of the suspected robbers in the Louvre heist has spoken out in an interview with ABC News. The man, identified as Mehdy, told ABC News' James Longman on "Impact x Nightline" that his cousin was a low-income worker who sold fruit and had children. Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the heist, which occurred on October 19 when robbers used a cherry picker and angle grinder to steal nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre's Apollo Gallery. One suspect remains at large, and a crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was later recovered outside the museum.
The Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery at The Light Waterfront in Gelugor, Penang, is set to officially open in December. The eight-storey, 8,076-square-metre gallery, valued at RM100 million, will feature a collection titled "The Vicissitudes of Life" comprising 99 artworks by founder Professor Lin Xiang Xiong, addressing global issues such as war, pollution, and poverty. The launch ceremony was officiated by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Tun Ramli Ngah Talib.
The Galleries' Nights 2025 returns to Chiang Mai and Bangkok, transforming both cities into open-air galleries. The event, presented by the Embassy of France, will showcase over 200 artists across more than 80 galleries—Chiang Mai on November 1-2 and Bangkok on November 21-22. This 12th edition marks the 340th anniversary of Franco-Thai diplomatic relations and is adapted in tribute to HM Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother for her contributions to traditional arts and craftsmanship. The program highlights gender equality in the arts with support from the French organization Aware, and features free transport options including traditional red trucks in Chiang Mai and electric tuk-tuks in Bangkok. The closing ceremony will be held at Jim Thompson Art Center on November 23, with a performance by choreographer Jitti Chompee.
Artist George McCalman is preparing to launch his interactive exhibition “A March Through Time” on November 22 at Pier 29 in San Francisco. The exhibition is housed within a curtained-off section of the 122,000-square-foot pier, which McCalman describes as a timeworn space that reflects his belief that the past and present are intertwined. He has worked for nine years from a studio in an Outer Sunset home, a stripped-down, weathered building owned by architect Douglas Jacuzzi and ceramicist Georgia Hodges, which embodies a philosophy of material purity and reverence for process. The studio itself is filled with projects in various stages, including the 155 portraits of Black pioneers that make up his book “Illustrated Black History.”
Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, will open a new art exhibition titled “Jacques Callot and Those Who Came After” on November 19, 2025, in the first-floor gallery of the John Stewart Memorial Library. The show features 18 etchings from Callot’s 1633 series “Les Grandes Misères de la Guerre,” widely regarded as the first anti-war statement in Western art, alongside works by artists he inspired, including Francisco Goya, Otto Dix, and Ernst Barlach. Curated by assistant professor Adam DelMarcelle, the exhibition was a collaborative effort involving students from multiple courses—Western Art History 1000–1800, Graphic Design II, Typography and the Letterform, and digital photography—who conducted research, designed the visual language, built the catalog, and contributed photographic elements.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA) will open "Whitney Oldenburg: left behind" on November 20, 2025, the first institutional survey of the artist's paintings and drawings. The exhibition features 23 sculptures and 19 drawings exploring the complex relationship between humans and objects in contemporary culture, and will remain on view through April 19, 2026. Oldenburg, a Jacksonville-born artist now based in New York, incorporates repurposed consumer items, personal belongings, and craft materials into her work, which challenges viewers to question their attachments to material possessions.
Federal museums in Washington, DC, including the National Gallery of Art and multiple Smithsonian Institution branches, began reopening after the longest US government shutdown in history ended on Wednesday night (12 November). The National Gallery of Art reopened its West Building and sculpture garden on 14 November, with the rest of the campus following on 15 November. Its postponed exhibition *The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art* opened on 15 November instead of 18 October. Three Smithsonian museums reopened on 14 November, five more on 15 November, and all remaining venues—including the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York—by 17 November. The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition *Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work* was postponed from its original 24 October opening.
UC Davis has announced the Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio MFA Program, a two-year graduate program supported by a $14 million endowment from Maria Manetti Shrem. The program offers generous funding, spacious private studios, and culminates in a thesis exhibition at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. It features renowned faculty, visiting artists such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Wangechi Mutu, and partnerships with institutions like the Headlands Center for the Arts and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Applications are open until January 5, 2026, with a virtual MFA Open House on December 8, 2025.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present "Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck," the first major U.S. museum exhibition dedicated to the Finnish painter (1862–1946). Featuring nearly 60 works on canvas, including loans from the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum and private collections, the exhibition runs from December 5, 2025, to April 5, 2026. It traces Schjerfbeck's artistic evolution from early naturalist works to her spare, experimental style, highlighting her resilience amid civil war, world wars, and Finland's independence.
Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein, published by House Republicans, show the disgraced financier discussing Leonardo da Vinci's *Salvator Mundi* with journalist Michael Wolff. In a May 2019 exchange, Epstein referenced the $450.3 million painting—the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction—and suggested its sale was linked to a real estate deal involving a Russian billionaire and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Epstein also mentioned that his "art guy" thought the painting wasn't very good.
Crews have begun demolishing Ned Smyth's 40-year-old sculpture *Upper Room* in Battery Park City, New York, to make way for the North/West Battery Park City Resiliency (NWBPCR) project. The 20-column concrete colonnade, commissioned in 1986 as the neighborhood's first public art piece, features an elongated table with inlaid chessboards and was appraised at $1.5 million. The demolition is part of a larger plan to install a coastal flood barrier system along the Hudson River waterfront, intended to protect against storms like Hurricane Sandy.
Three original paintings by beloved American television icon Bob Ross were auctioned at Bonhams on Tuesday, selling for a combined total of $600,000. The works—Cliffside (1990), Home in the Valley (1993), and Winter's Peace (1993)—were among the top lots in a California and Western art sale. Proceeds from this and future sales of 30 Ross canvases will benefit American Public Television, a nonprofit syndicator affected by federal budget cuts. The idea originated with Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., after earlier Ross paintings sold well above estimates at Bonhams.