Could 17th-century Italy provide a useful model for today’s challenging art market?

An exhibition at Nicholas Hall Gallery in New York, titled "Beyond the Fringe," explores the understudied early art market of 17th-century Italy, featuring 30 works on loan from public and private collections. The show highlights how barbers, tailors, innkeepers, and other tradespeople became part-time art dealers, while a decentralized network of collectors and middlemen emerged alongside foreign artists in Rome, such as the Bentvueghels, who produced new genres like landscape and genre scenes. The exhibition and its catalogue, with new research by art historians Patrizia Cavazzini and Caterina Volpi, trace the rise of art as an alternative asset class independent of traditional aristocratic and ecclesiastical patronage.

First look: inside the £85 million National Gallery revamp opening this weekend

The National Gallery in London has completed a £85 million refurbishment of its Sainsbury Wing, which opens to the public this weekend after two years of closure. Designed by architect Annabel Selldorf, the renovation transformed the previously dark, low-ceilinged foyer into a bright, open space with clear glass, removed columns, digital HD screens, and new amenities including Bar Giorgio and the Locatelli Italian restaurant. The reopening coincides with 'Wonder of Art', a major rehang of around 1,000 works from the gallery's European painting collection.

Man Ray: When Objects Dream

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present "Man Ray: When Objects Dream," an exhibition exploring the artist's pioneering rayographs—camera-less photographs created by placing objects on light-sensitive paper. Featuring approximately 60 rayographs and 100 additional works from the Met's collection and over 50 international lenders, the show is the first to situate this technique within Man Ray's broader practice of the 1910s and 1920s, including paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, films, and photographs.

‘I derive a lot of inspiration from paintings and fibre art’: clothing designer Ulla Johnson on the art she collects and why

Fashion designer Ulla Johnson, founder of her eponymous clothing line, discusses her art collection in an interview with The Art Newspaper. She shares details about her first major purchase—Kathleen Ryan's sculpture *Diana* (2017)—and her most recent acquisition, a Gilbert Poillerat mirror. Johnson reveals her long-term search for a work by Olga de Amaral and expresses regret over not buying a set of Afra and Tobia Scarpa chairs. She also names upcoming New York exhibitions she plans to see, including the textile show at MoMA and Caspar David Friedrich at the Met.

Whitney Museum of American Art invites visitors to take in the river view

The Whitney Museum of American Art is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its Meatpacking District building by inviting visitors to experience Mary Heilmann's installation "Long Line" on the fifth floor. The work features a large-scale mural of sea green and foamy white waves, accompanied by whimsically colored boxy chairs that visitors can rearrange. The installation, which runs until January 19, 2026, encourages rest and contemplation, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering views of the Hudson River. Curator Laura Phipps notes that Heilmann, who created the inaugural commission "Sunset" for the building in 2015, has long prioritized visitor comfort and seating in her work.

First look: the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ rehang at London's National Gallery

On May 10, London's National Gallery will unveil its first full rehang of the collection since the Sainsbury Wing opened in 1991. The wing has been closed for over two years to create a larger entrance foyer. Christine Riding, the director of collections and research, oversaw the rehang, which she calls a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. Nearly 40% of the collection—1,045 paintings—will be displayed, including 919 from the collection and 126 on loan. The rehang is sponsored by Hong Kong-based property developer C C Land and is called "C C Land: The Wonder of Art." Works by female artists have been given greater prominence, and some paintings were conserved or reframed. The chronological arrangement from west to east remains similar, but many pictures have been repositioned to highlight artistic influences across generations.

“Dutch Art in a Global Age” at the Kimbell Art Museum

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, is presenting "Dutch Art in a Global Age," an exhibition organized by the Center of Netherlandish Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The show features over a hundred seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, including seascapes and still lifes by artists such as Ludolf Bakhuizen, Willem van Aelst, and Adriaen Coorte, alongside a Japanese woodblock book from the late eighteenth century that highlights the global reach of Dutch maritime trade.

10 Must-See Gallery Shows to Catch in New York This May

This article highlights ten must-see gallery shows opening in New York this May, timed to coincide with major art fairs like Frieze and TEFAF. Featured exhibitions include Yu Nishimura's debut U.S. solo show at David Zwirner, Thalita Hamoui's first U.S. solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky, and presentations by Willem de Kooning, Anastasia Komar, Theodora Allen, Ilana Savdie, Rosana Paulino, Alicjia Kwade, Xingzi Gu, and Moffatt Takadiwa. The roundup spans venues across the Upper East Side, Chelsea, and Tribeca, reflecting the city's vibrant gallery scene during a packed season of auctions and fairs.

Celebrating the 2024–25 Academic Year Interns

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) celebrates its 2024–25 academic year intern cohort, highlighting the contributions of six student interns: Audrey Fillion, Pilar Saavedra-Weis, Karime Borrego, Neiman Mocombe, Julia Smart, and Chris Zhang. Interns worked on projects ranging from co-curating the exhibition "John McKee: As Maine Goes" to developing campus engagement surveys, leading gallery tours, and organizing community events. Emily Jacobs, Curatorial Assistant and Manager of Student Programs, authored the piece, noting the interns' diverse academic backgrounds—from art history and English to biochemistry—and their collaborative work with museum staff.

UD Scholars Explore Depths of Wyeth’s Art

In September 2024, nearly two dozen students and faculty from the University of Delaware's Department of Art History gathered at the Brandywine Museum of Art for a study day at the Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center. William L. Coleman, the center's new director and a Wyeth Foundation Curator, led the group through the facility, showing drawings, paintings, and Wyeth's personal library, and curated the exhibition “Every Leaf & Twig: Andrew Wyeth’s Botanical Imagination,” featuring previously unseen watercolors and drawings.

Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is presenting "Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family," an exhibition featuring recently rediscovered watercolors by Emily Sargent (1857–1936), alongside works by her brother John Singer Sargent and their mother Mary Newbold Sargent. The show draws entirely from The Met's collection and includes a debut of 26 Emily Sargent watercolors gifted by the artists' heirs, complementing the museum's concurrent exhibition "Sargent and Paris."

Fragility, resilience and humour: Wolfgang Tillmans and Boris Mikhailov to open photography show in war-torn Kharkiv

A major photography exhibition pairing Wolfgang Tillmans and Boris Mikhailov opens today at the Yermilov Centre in Kharkiv, Ukraine, despite ongoing Russian attacks on the city. Titled "Pairs Skating" (April 25–September 28), the show is organized by the non-profit RIBBON International and curated by Maria Isserlis and Tatiana Kochubinska. It features Mikhailov's never-before-shown Crimean seascapes from the 1990s alongside Tillmans's works including "The State We’re In" (2015), with all prints produced specially for the venue, which is a certified bunker allowing public access during the war.

Swiss Bührle Foundation reaches settlement with heirs of Jewish collector over Manet’s ‘La Sultane’

The foundation overseeing the Bührle collection has reached a settlement with the heirs of Jewish collector Max Silberberg, allowing Édouard Manet's painting 'La Sultane' (c. 1871) to remain on display at the Kunsthaus Zurich. The painting was purchased in 1953 by Emil Bührle, a Swiss arms dealer who sold to both Allies and Nazis during WWII and benefited from slave labor. Silberberg, forced to sell his villa to the SS in 1935 and later deported to Auschwitz, had consigned the work in 1932, but his heirs argue the 1937 sale to dealer Paul Rosenberg was a consequence of Nazi persecution. The settlement terms are confidential.

Edvard Munch, Reprinted: A Study in Process at Harvard Art Museums

The Harvard Art Museums have opened a new exhibition titled "Edvard Munch, Reprinted: A Study in Process," which delves into the Norwegian artist's experimental printmaking techniques. The show examines Munch's repeated reworking of his own compositions, revealing how he used printmaking as a dynamic, evolving process rather than a means of simple reproduction. It features multiple states of iconic prints such as "The Scream" and "Madonna," alongside preparatory drawings and rare proofs that trace his creative decisions over decades.

'Sean Scully: The Albee Barn, Montauk’ at The Parrish Art Museum, New York, USA

The Parrish Art Museum in New York will present 'Sean Scully: The Albee Barn, Montauk' from May 11 to September 21, 2025. The exhibition surveys Scully's work from 1981 to 2024, focusing on a pivotal month he spent in Montauk in 1982 with a fellowship at The Edward F. Albee Foundation. It features 15 of the original 1982 Montauk paintings, reunited for the first time since their creation on found wood scraps in the Albee Barn, marking a turning point where Scully broke from Minimalism and embraced nature, color, and visible brushstrokes.

Native artist Mary Sully gets her due at Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) has opened "Mary Sully: Native Modern," a solo exhibition featuring the intricate "personality prints" of Yankton Dakota artist Mary Sully (born Susan Mabel Deloria). The show includes 18 triptychs, drawings, memorabilia, and a film clip, highlighting her abstract vertical designs that blend Dakota heritage with 1920s–1940s celebrity culture. Sully, who died in obscurity over 60 years ago, was rediscovered by her great-nephew, Harvard professor Philip Deloria, after he found her work in a basement. Her art was previously included in the groundbreaking exhibition "Hearts of Our People" at Mia, and she also had a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2024.

art positions galleries art basel miami beach

CULTURED magazine profiles emerging galleries participating in the Positions sector of Art Basel Miami Beach 2025, highlighting their experiences and aspirations. The article features interviews with Allann Seabra and Ian Duarte of Verve gallery in São Paulo, who discuss their gallery's growth, representation of Afro-Brazilian artists at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, and their mission to broaden global understanding of Brazilian contemporary art. Also featured is Mauricio Aguirre of N.A.S.A.L., a gallery based in Mexico City and Guayaquil, Ecuador, who describes his year as challenging, hectic, and promising.

Maine art galleries showcase dozens of artists in summer shows

A roundup of summer art exhibitions across Maine highlights dozens of artists showing at galleries and pop-up spaces from Rockport to Portland. Notable shows include Alexandre Gallery's pop-up featuring charcoal works by the late Cooper Union-trained artist Emily Nelligan, who spent decades depicting Cranberry Island; Karma's annual summer pop-up at artist Ann Craven's deconsecrated church in Thomaston; and solo exhibitions at Caldbeck Gallery, Courthouse Gallery, and Cove Street Arts. Other venues such as Carver Hill Gallery, Corey Daniels Gallery, Dowling Walsh, and Moss Galleries present group and solo shows spanning landscape painting, mythical imagery, and works addressing social resistance.

At the Galleries for April 9, 2026

The Hamptons art scene is entering the spring season with a diverse array of gallery openings across Montauk, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Bridgehampton. Key highlights include Timothy Tibus’s abstract retrospective at The Lucore Art, a Matisse-centered group show at The Drawing Room featuring rare etchings, and Kristy Gordon’s myth-inspired "Primavera" at Grenning Gallery. Other notable exhibitions include a showcase of artists from the Cold Castle collective at Keyes Art and a curated group show titled "Connections" at Dan Welden Studio/Gallery.

CRUZ DIEZ AT ISLAA COLOR AS AN EXPERIENCE IN CONSTANT TRANSFORMATION

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) in New York is presenting "Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color at Stake," an exhibition of twenty-three works by the late Venezuelan artist. Spanning from 1955 to 1988, the show highlights his pioneering investigations into color as a dynamic, participatory experience, featuring key series like Physichromie and Chromointerférence alongside archival materials.

LEONORA CARRINGTON THE VITRUVIAN WOMAN IN LUXEMBOURG

The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris has opened the first major exhibition in France dedicated solely to the work of surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Titled 'The Vitruvian Woman,' the show presents 126 works and frames Carrington as a model of innovation and harmony, a deliberate counterpoint to Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man.' It explores her artistic journey from her Celtic origins and discovery of Italian Renaissance art to her pivotal involvement with Surrealism in France and her final years in Mexico.

La sede ad Albisola della Galleria Raffaella Cortese è più “un pensatoio che spazio espositivo”: la storia e le collaborazioni con gallerie d’arte emergente

Raffaella Cortese opened a small 12-square-meter space in Albisola Superiore, Italy, in June 2022, described as "more a think tank than an exhibition space." The venue, located near the Ligurian sea, honors the town's legacy as a center for contemporary ceramics from the 1950s to the 1970s, hosting artists like Lucio Fontana and Asger Jorn. The space alternates works from Cortese's Milan gallery with collaborations from emerging galleries, such as Fanta-MLN of Milan (presenting Noah Barker's installation "lux principum" in 2023) and Gian Marco Casini Gallery of Livorno (featuring Clarissa Baldassarri's "Exposure value" in 2024). A future collaboration with Triangolo gallery of Cremona is scheduled for May–September 2026, showcasing Nicole Colombo's sculpture "Rosario (to the moon and back)."

The Most Unique and Research-Focused Exhibitions to See in Brussels in Spring 2026

Le mostre più particolari e ricercate da vedere a Bruxelles nella primavera 2026

Brussels is hosting a series of niche and research-focused contemporary art exhibitions in spring 2026, coinciding with the 42nd edition of Art Brussels. Highlights include Jean-Michel Othoniel's "Diary of Happiness" at the Boghossian Foundation, Caroline Achaintre's "Extrazimmer" at La Verrière, a six-decade survey of the Art & Language collective at Fondation CAB, and a dialogue between Nassos Daphnis and Rita McBride titled "Abstract Constructions."

The international gallery bridging contemporary artists and art history masters reopens in Milan: The Interview

Riapre a Milano la galleria internazionale che mette in dialogo artisti contemporanei e maestri della storia dell’arte. L’intervista

The artist-run space Octagon is set to establish a permanent home in Milan at Via Maroncelli 12, officially opening on April 15, 2026, during the city's Art Week. Founded by artist Jacopo Mazzetti in 2018, the gallery is transitioning from a nomadic model that saw recent collaborations in Paris and Athens to a fixed physical presence. The inaugural exhibition will feature works by the French Symbolist master Odilon Redon, maintaining the space's signature curatorial approach of bridging historical art with contemporary perspectives.

At the BnF, wonderful maps to imagine new worlds

À la BnF, des merveilles de cartes pour imaginer des mondes nouveaux

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) is presenting an exhibition of extraordinary maps that blend imagination with cartography, tracing the evolution of maps from ancient tools of navigation to fantastical creations that fueled exploration and myth. The show features rare works including Renaissance sea monsters, cosmological paintings, and literary maps from Tolkien's Middle-earth and George R.R. Martin's Westeros, alongside contemporary artists like Alighiero Boetti, Sergio Aquindo, and Michael Druks who use maps to express personal and political visions.

Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Withdraw From Awards En Masse

Almost half of the artists in the 61st Venice Biennale's international exhibition, along with 16 national pavilion teams, have withdrawn from awards consideration in solidarity with the jury's resignation. The jury resigned on April 30 after stating it would not consider countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC, effectively disqualifying Israel and Russia. The Biennale Foundation then replaced the traditional Golden Lions with new "Visitor Lions" decided by public vote, reinstating all pavilions including Israel and Russia. The withdrawal follows protests at the Russian and Israeli pavilions and a historic labor strike that shuttered multiple pavilions.

Robert Rauschenberg and Asia @ M＋

M+ museum in Hong Kong has announced a major exhibition titled "Robert Rauschenberg and Asia," scheduled to run from November 2022, 2025, through April 26, 2026. Curated by Russell Storer, the show explores the American master's deep engagement with the region, featuring his own works alongside pieces by Asian contemporary artists like Huang Yong Ping and Sui Jianguo.

Urgent Request from Participating Artists and Curators of the 61st Venice Biennale

第61回ヴェネツィア・ビエンナーレ参加アーティストおよびキュレーターによる緊急要請

A group of 73 artists and curators participating in the 61st Venice Biennale, including Yoshiko Shimada and Bubu de la Madeleine, have issued an urgent demand to the Biennale's board to revoke Israel's participation. The collective specifically objects to the decision to relocate the Israeli pavilion to the Arsenale, arguing that its presence contradicts the curatorial vision of Artistic Director Koyo Kouoh, which emphasizes the dignity of all life. They contend that the military and police presence required for the pavilion introduces an atmosphere of violence and fear that undermines the exhibition's integrity.

Corals as Living Geology. In Conversation with Julian Charrière by Timothée Chaillou

Julian Charrière has created two new bodies of work, *Chorals* (2025) and *Veils* (2025), in collaboration with Maison Ruinart. The projects are inspired by the Lutetian Sea, which submerged the Champagne region 45 million years ago, and explore themes of deep time, climate change, and the interconnectedness of organic and mineral life. *Chorals* is a permanent sound installation in Ruinart's cellars in Reims, featuring amplified recordings of ocean reefs, while *Veils* comprises wall works and sculptures centered on corals and fading coral imagery. The works travel to art fairs as preludes to the permanent installation.

Total Warfare. A Conversation with Luigi Alberto Cippini  by ANY

Architect Luigi Alberto Cippini, founder of Armature Globale, engages in a provocative dialogue with Michael Abel and Nile Greenberg regarding the stagnation of contemporary architecture. Cippini calls for a radical departure from traditional disciplinary boundaries, advocating for a "punk" approach that embraces low-resolution aesthetics, hyper-specialized research, and a rejection of the pedantic communication standards that currently dominate the field.