What to See and Do at the Denver Art Museum - Spring 2026 Guide

The Denver Art Museum has unveiled its spring 2026 programming, featuring a diverse slate of new and ongoing exhibitions. Highlights include the loan of two Rembrandt portraits from the National Gallery of Art, a major survey of contemporary Australian Indigenous art, and exhibitions on fashion, design, and regional printmaking. The season also sees the reinstallation of Francisco Clapera's complete casta painting series and new collection displays ranging from Japanese bamboo art to historic flatware.

Brooklyn Museum Plans $13 Million Overhaul for New African Art Galleries

The Brooklyn Museum has announced a $13 million renovation project to establish a permanent 6,400-square-foot home for its extensive African art collection. Scheduled to open in Fall 2027, the new Arts of Africa galleries will feature approximately 300 works ranging from ancient Meroitic ceramics to contemporary pieces. The architectural overhaul, led by Peterson Rich Office and Beyer Blinder Belle, will transform former storage spaces on the museum's third floor into four distinct gallery environments.

A look behind the scenes of the travelling exhibition on Berthe Weill

The traveling exhibition "Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde" explores the legacy of the pioneering gallerist who first championed artists like Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Diego Rivera. The show originated at New York University’s Grey Art Museum before traveling to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and finally to the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Curators highlight the logistical complexities of such a tour, including the necessity of international partnerships to secure high-profile loans and the role of registrars and conservators in transporting delicate works.

Sarasota Fine Art Festival and Naples Downtown Art Fair are March 21 and 22

Southwest Florida’s outdoor art season culminates this weekend with the Sarasota Fine Art Show and the 38th Annual Naples Downtown Art Fair. These regional staples will feature over 200 exhibitors across Sarasota Art Museum’s grounds and Naples’ Cambier Park, offering a mix of commercial vendor stalls and high-caliber fine art.

‘A Room for Animal Intelligence’: There’s never been a SAM exhibition like it

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has unveiled "A Room for Animal Intelligence," a landmark exhibition curated by Pam McClusky that draws almost exclusively from the institution's permanent collection. The show features a diverse array of works—some of which had never been previously unboxed or displayed—ranging from ancient artifacts to contemporary sculptures. A unique narrative device is employed throughout the gallery, where the animal subjects "speak" for themselves on wall labels to foster a direct connection with visitors.

Henry Moore and Dorothea Tanning set records at Christie's triple-header sale in London

Christie’s London achieved a robust £197.4 million total across three evening sales, representing a 52% year-on-year increase for the season. The marathon auction was defined by a high 96% sell-through rate and record-breaking prices for major artists, most notably Henry Moore, whose sculpture "King and Queen" sold for £26.3 million. The evening demonstrated a strong appetite for "fresh to market" works and Surrealist masterpieces, even as some lots hammered at the lower end of their estimates.

War in the Middle East, the Whitney Biennial, and a newly-discovered Rembrandt in Amsterdam—podcast

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has officially authenticated a previously dismissed painting, 'The Vision of Zacharias in the Temple' (1633), as a genuine work by Rembrandt van Rijn. Long considered a mere copy of a lost original, the piece has been upgraded following extensive research by the museum's scholarly team. Simultaneously, the 82nd Whitney Biennial has launched in New York, while the escalating conflict in the Middle East raises concerns regarding the stability of the burgeoning cultural tourism sector in the Persian Gulf.

Urban Grit Meets Wild Beauty: Inside Seattle Art Museum’s Beyond Mysticism

The Seattle Art Museum has launched "Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest," an extensive exhibition featuring over 150 works that reexamine the region's contribution to Modernism. The show moves past the traditional "mystic" label associated with the Northwest School to highlight how artists engaged with Social Realism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. By placing local icons like Mark Tobey and Morris Graves alongside international figures such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Salvador Dalí, the exhibition explores the tension between the Pacific Northwest's industrial growth and its dramatic natural landscapes.

Profile | Pierre Rosenberg, the former Louvre president, on his long-awaited four-volume Poussin catalogue—and forthcoming museum

Pierre Rosenberg, the 89-year-old honorary president-director of the Louvre, is set to release a definitive four-volume catalogue raisonné of the works of Nicolas Poussin. This monumental publication, weighing eight kilograms, represents over sixty years of scholarship and aims to provide a comprehensive update to the field, addressing previous research by figures such as Anthony Blunt and Louis Marin.

Spot the difference: Bridget Riley work enjoys new green cleaning treatment

Tate Britain has completed the first-ever cleaning of Bridget Riley’s landmark 1964 Op art painting, 'Hesitate,' using a pioneering 'green' conservation method. Developed through the international Greenart research program, the treatment utilizes specialized hydrogels that lift dirt from the surface without the mechanical pressure of traditional swab rolling. This breakthrough allows conservators to safely clean the sensitive, unvarnished polyvinyl acetate house paints Riley favored, which were previously deemed too fragile for standard restoration techniques.

New Bedford Art Museum has Mary Cassatt, Mexican exhibitions coming

The New Bedford Art Museum has unveiled its 2026 exhibition schedule, featuring a diverse range of programming that spans from historical masterpieces to contemporary social issues. The season began with "The Homecoming," a rare display of works by Mary Cassatt and Käthe Kollwitz from private SouthCoast collections, and will continue with a major survey of contemporary Mexican art titled "Resistance." Other highlights include an exploration of ecological anxieties in "Vanishing Ecologies" and a partnership with the American Visionary Art Museum to showcase self-taught artists.

New Orleans Takes the Stage at the 2026 Venice Biennale

New Orleans artists Dawn DeDeaux and Demond Melancon have been selected to participate in the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. Curated by Koyo Kouoh under the title "In Minor Keys," the exhibition marks a historic moment as two artists from the city receive simultaneous invitations to the prestigious international forum. DeDeaux, a veteran multimedia artist known for her "MotherShip Series" and environmental themes, will bring her focus on post-anthropocene landscapes to the global stage.

Venice Biennale Names 111 Artists for International Exhibition

The Venice Biennale has officially announced the 111 artists, duos, and collectives selected for the 61st International Art Exhibition, titled "In Minor Keys." The exhibition follows the vision of the late Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May 2024 after conceptualizing the show and selecting the majority of its participants. The roster features a diverse global lineup including Wangechi Mutu, Kader Attia, Khaled Sabsabi, and Laurie Anderson, with a curatorial focus on quiet resistance, poetic improvisation, and the "lower frequencies" of social and psychic life.

Biennale Arte 2026: In Minor Keys

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled 'In Minor Keys,' will proceed as a posthumous tribute to its late Artistic Director, Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May 2025. Before her death, Kouoh had already finalized the curatorial framework, artist selection, and exhibition architecture during a pivotal meeting at her RAW Material Company in Dakar. The exhibition is scheduled to run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, across the Giardini, Arsenale, and various Venetian venues.

Is it finally time for the Guerrilla Girls to remove their masks?

The Getty Research Institute is hosting "How to Be a Guerrilla Girl," its first major exhibition drawn from the extensive archives of the anonymous feminist activist collective. The show features early drafts, posters, and archival materials that trace the group's 40-year history of using humor and data to combat misogyny and racism in the art world. Despite the institutional spotlight, the Getty has chosen to maintain the group's secrecy, even redacting names from public documents and keeping boxes of unmasked photographs sealed until the members' deaths.

Biennale Arte 2026: the invited artists

The Venice Biennale has officially announced the list of invited artists for its 61st edition in 2026. The selection features a diverse global cohort including established figures like Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, and Carsten Höller, alongside influential collectives such as fierce pussy and blaxTARLINES KUMASI. The list also includes significant posthumous inclusions like Marcel Duchamp and Beverly Buchanan, signaling a curatorial approach that bridges contemporary practice with historical legacies.

Frieze Los Angeles reflects the city’s resilience

Frieze Los Angeles has returned to the Santa Monica Airport for its seventh edition, marking the first iteration since the fair was acquired by Ari Emanuel’s live events venture, Mari. The event features nearly 100 galleries from 22 countries, balancing global powerhouses like Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth with a strong contingent of local Los Angeles mainstays. Fair director Christine Messineo emphasized the fair's role as a central gathering point for the international collecting community within the city's sprawling landscape.

Spencer Museum’s spring exhibitions explore richness of Japanese and Asian American art

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas is opening two major exhibitions on February 19: 'Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani' and 'Brush, Block, and Blood: Three Generations of Yoshida Women Printmakers.' The Mirikitani exhibition is the largest assembly of the Japanese American artist's work, featuring 145 pieces that document his life of displacement, incarceration, and homelessness, created using traditional Japanese techniques with found materials. The Yoshida exhibition presents prints by three generations of women from a renowned Japanese artistic family, marking the first U.S. display of their work together.

Museum dedicated to the Romantic movement reopens in Paris on Valentine’s Day

The Musée de la Vie romantique in Paris has reopened on February 14th following a €3.8 million renovation. The project, funded by the City of Paris and private donors, restored the 19th-century building—once the home and studio of painter Ary Scheffer—focusing on its timber framework, roof, and façades using traditional techniques. The museum's exhibition has been completely renewed, featuring 300 works from its collection, including 70 recently restored pieces, and incorporates new multimedia elements to immerse visitors in the Romantic period.

Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá dismisses longtime artistic director

Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá dismisses longtime artistic director

The Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (Mambo) has dismissed its artistic director, Eugenio Viola, after more than seven years. The museum's board announced the termination as part of a "comprehensive review," stating Viola will remain until May 2026 while a search for a successor begins. Viola contends his dismissal followed his raising of concerns about deteriorating working conditions, which the board dismissed.

Hawai‘i Ceramic Artist Toshiko Takaezu Retrospective Exhibit Opens This February

A major retrospective of Hawai‘i-born ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu opens at the Honolulu Museum of Art on February 14, 2026. Titled 'Worlds Within,' the exhibition features over 100 works, including her signature closed ceramic forms, textiles, paintings, and a bronze bell, and marks the final stop of a two-year national tour that began at The Noguchi Museum in New York in 2024.

LACMA announces April 19 opening for new galleries

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will open its new David Geffen Galleries building on April 19. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and will house the museum's permanent collection, featuring a non-hierarchical, single-level display of approximately 2,500-3,000 objects. The opening will be marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and two weeks of priority access for members.

The World of Pablo Picasso, Revolutionary Genius of Modern Art

Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist who died over 50 years ago, remains one of the most influential and commercially successful figures in modern art. His works, spanning painting, sculpture, and ceramics, continue to break auction records, with his 1955 painting 'Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')' selling for $179.4 million in 2015.

Frist Art Museum opens “In Her Place” a group exhibition featuring 28 women artists; Vanderbilt Art faculty among the exhibitors

The Frist Art Museum in Nashville opened a major group exhibition titled "In Her Place" to mark its 25th anniversary. The show features nearly one hundred works by 28 women artists with strong ties to the Nashville community, including painting, sculpture, textile, and installation. The artists, such as María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Alicia Henry, and Marilyn Murphy, represent an intergenerational group whose practices have significantly impacted the local art scene.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings (02/09-02/15)

A comprehensive list of gallery exhibitions opening and closing in New York City for the week of February 9-15, 2026, has been published. The schedule includes openings at major galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Matthew Marks, featuring artists such as Michael Heizer, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Anish Kapoor, alongside shows at smaller spaces. The list also notes the final weekend to see exhibitions at venues including Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and Alexander Gray Associates.

February e-bulletin

Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) announces the reopening of its upper-level galleries (Assyrian, Shaw-Ruddock, Walker, and Markell) on February 3, 2026, following floor refinishing and reinstallation projects, with additional galleries (Bowdoin, Boyd, Rotunda) set to reopen in March. Three new exhibitions are now on view in the lower-level galleries: "Josefina Auslender: Drawing Myself Free," "Hung Liu: Happy and Gay," and "From Guild to Genius: Inventing 'The Artist' in Western Culture." The museum also highlights the acquisition of Anna Boberg's painting "The Blue Roof [Det blå taket]," a loan of an Edmonia Lewis sculpture to the Peabody Essex Museum for the exhibition "Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone" opening February 14, 2026, and an upcoming artist talk with Samira Abbassy.

Gwen John: The 'reclusive spinster' artist who shunned conformity

A major retrospective of Gwen John, one of Britain's greatest 20th-century artists, is opening at National Museum Cardiff on the 150th anniversary of her birth. The exhibition, titled 'Gwen John: Strange Beauties,' brings together works from across the UK and the USA for the first time, including a significant collection acquired from her nephew Edwin in 1976 that has never been extensively researched or exhibited. John, born in 1876 in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was long overshadowed by her younger brother, the artist Augustus John, and was often dismissed as a 'reclusive spinster.' However, curators and biographers now challenge that myth, revealing her as a socially engaged, determined artist who pursued her own path despite Victorian-era constraints on women.

Mexico City's Zona Maco fair finds a ‘balance between continuity and renewal’

Zona Maco, Latin America's largest art and design fair, has launched its 22nd edition in Mexico City as the anchor of the city's 2026 Art Week. The fair features over 220 galleries from 26 countries, blending contemporary and modern art, design, and photography under the artistic direction of Direlia Lazo.

University of Richmond Museums kicks off a new season with immersive exhibitions and films

The University of Richmond Museums has launched a new season with three exhibitions at the Harnett Museum of Art. The centerpiece is 'Politics of Place,' a rotating film program curated by professor Jeremy Drummond, featuring works by nine contemporary filmmakers and two collectives exploring identity and power through geography. Other shows include a newly commissioned installation by sculptor Abigail DeVille examining Black mental health care, and 'Black Work: Absence/Absorption,' a group exhibition investigating the material and conceptual nature of the color black.

Tarek Atoui—known for his innovative musical performances—will take over Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall this autumn

Beirut-born artist and composer Tarek Atoui has been selected to create the next Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, running from 13 October 2026 to 11 April 2027. Known for his innovative musical performances with intricately engineered instruments, Atoui will transform the vast space into a multisensory environment exploring sound and vibration. His previous works include performances at Tate Modern's South Tank in 2016 and a presentation at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The announcement comes amid reports that Tate chair Roland Rudd floated offering naming rights to the Turbine Hall for £50m, though a Tate spokesperson called that hypothetical.