masterpieces reunited

The article reports on several instances where fragmented masterpieces have been reunited in recent years. Examples include two halves of a medieval manuscript page from the Hours of Louis XII, Édouard Manet's split painting Au café and Corner of a Café-Concert, Giorgio Vasari's ceiling Allegories of Virtues, and two landscapes by Paul Cézanne cut from the same sheet of paper. These reunions were made possible through the work of art historians and curators, with exhibitions at institutions like the Getty Museum, London's National Gallery, and the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

koyo kouoh remembered

Koyo Kouoh, the acclaimed Cameroonian-born curator and director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, has died at age 57 after a battle with cancer. Tributes pour in from artists Robin Rhode and Julie Mehretu, curator Azu Nwagbogu, and colleagues like Mandla Sibeko, who mourn the loss of a towering figure in African and global contemporary art. Kouoh was also set to serve as artistic director of the 2026 Venice Biennale, making her the first African woman to hold that role.

femen stage protest musee dorsay

The feminist activist group FEMEN staged a topless protest at Paris's Musée d'Orsay on Saturday, September 12, 2020, after the museum barred a woman named Jeanne from entering the galleries unless she covered up her low-cut dress. About 20 activists gathered in the sculpture gallery, removed their shirts, and painted slogans such as "obscenity is in your eyes" and "this is not obscene" on their torsos, standing alongside classical nude statues. They chanted in protest and later moved outside the museum. The museum issued an apology to Jeanne but did not address accusations of sexism or discrimination.

emergency stay art institute of chicago schiele restitution case

The Art Institute of Chicago has been granted an emergency stay by an appellate judge, pausing the restitution of Egon Schiele's drawing "Russian War Prisoner" (1916) to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer and art collector who died in a Nazi concentration camp. The museum is appealing a New York Supreme Court judge's April 23 order to surrender the artwork, which has been off view since September 2023 when it was seized by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. The museum disputes that the work was looted, citing evidence that Grünbaum's sister-in-law recovered the collection after the war and sold it to a dealer.

nazi looted egon schiele art return

A Manhattan judge has blocked London-based art dealer Richard Nagy from selling or transporting two watercolors by Egon Schiele, which were on display at his booth during the Salon of Art + Design fair at the Park Avenue Armory. The works—Woman in a Black Pinafore and Woman Hiding Her Face—are claimed by the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish Holocaust victim and cabaret performer who died at Dachau. The heirs, Timothy Reif and David Fraenkel, filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging the paintings were among 400 artworks surrendered to the Nazis by Grünbaum's wife. Nagy disputes the claim, arguing the works were sold legally by Grünbaum's sister-in-law in 1956 and that previous arbitration boards found no evidence of Nazi looting.

anna weyant gagosian tefaf new york

Gagosian Gallery will present a new body of work by artist Anna Weyant at TEFAF New York, featuring intimately scaled paintings of jewelry rendered with trompe l’oeil precision. The booth, designed with lavender walls and pine-hued carpet, showcases pieces like "Pearl Earrings" (2025) and "Pearl Bracelet (Sold)" (2025), some with cheeky price tags and red dot stickers. Weyant, represented by Gagosian since 2022, has seen her market soar, with her auction record set at $1.6 million for "Falling Woman" (2020) at Sotheby’s in 2022.

‘The original triple threat’: two exhibitions celebrate Marilyn Monroe as creative pioneer

The British Film Institute (BFI) and the National Portrait Gallery have announced two major exhibitions to celebrate the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. The BFI will host a two-month film season titled 'Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star,' featuring a comprehensive look at her filmography and a theatrical re-release of her final film, *The Misfits*. Simultaneously, the National Portrait Gallery will present 'Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait,' an exhibition exploring her influence on visual culture through works by artists like Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon, including rare photographs taken just before her death.

Venice Biennale 2026: How Do You Critique a Posthumous Exhibition?

The article, published by ArtReview, examines the upcoming 61st Venice Biennale (2026), titled *In Minor Keys*, which was conceived by artistic director Koyo Kouoh before her death from cancer in May 2025 at age 57. The exhibition, based on Kouoh's drafted concept and completed by a curatorial team including Rory Tsapayi, Siddhartha Mitter, Marie Hélène Pereira, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, and Rasha Salti, adopts a musical metaphor of "minor-ness" and aims to avoid the pitfalls of previous Biennales by focusing on soul frequencies and dissonant harmony rather than direct commentary on world crises. The author, Martin Herbert, questions how critics will respond to a posthumous exhibition of this unprecedented scale, noting that previous artistic directors like Robert Storr, Cecilia Alemani, Christine Macel, and Adriano Pedrosa have faced varied critical receptions.

Jon Batiste, Troye Sivan, and Amy Sherald lead a Met Gala 2026 rooted in art-historical homage.

The 2026 Met Gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, centered on the theme "Fashion Is Art," marking the opening of the Costume Institute's spring exhibition "Costume Art." Attendees including Jon Batiste, Troye Sivan, and artist Amy Sherald interpreted the dress code through art-historical references, with Sivan wearing Prada to channel Robert Mapplethorpe. The event brought together fashion, art, entertainment, and high society to make a deliberate case for fashion as a legitimate art form.

Beverly Buchanan’s Architecture of Care

Beverly Buchanan’s Architecture of Care

A major retrospective and a focused exhibition of artist Beverly Buchanan's work are now on view in Athens, Georgia, where she lived for many years. "Shacks, Stories, and Spirit: Beverly Buchanan’s Art of Home" at the Georgia Museum of Art features her canonical "Medicine Woman" sculpture, while "Beverly’s Athens" at the University of Georgia’s Athenaeum presents a rich archive of her ephemera, sketches, and community-focused works, marking the city's first institutional solo exhibitions of her art posthumously.

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Painter and Civil Rights Luminary, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, a painter, educator, and Civil Rights activist, died on May 10 at age 84 in Mérida, Mexico. Known for her monumental canvases and inventive “lampblack” works, she moved fluidly between abstraction and figuration, using layers of black pigment to assert Blackness and presence. Her career included studies at Howard University and Columbia University, activism with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and connections to the Black Arts Movement.

elda cerrato artist of the extraterrestrial has her long awaited new york debut

The Galerie Lelong in New York is presenting the first U.S. solo exhibition of Argentine-Italian artist Elda Cerrato, who died in 2023. The show features two distinct series: abstract "cosmovision" paintings from the 1960s exploring invisible energies, and more overtly political map-based works from the 1970s created in response to authoritarian regimes in Latin America.

ai david salle painting removed spruth magers

A painting by David Salle titled "Hatchet" (2025) was removed from his solo exhibition at Sprüth Magers in Los Angeles following allegations of plagiarism. Critics and social media users pointed out that the work's central figure—a woman in a black-and-white dress holding a sledgehammer—bore a striking resemblance to the 2021 painting "Impact" by artist Kelly Reemtsen. While Salle is a pioneer of the Pictures Generation known for appropriation, the gallery stated the work was withdrawn out of respect for both artists and to acknowledge the ongoing dialogue regarding authorship.

mernet larsen cover painting art in america

Mernet Larsen, whose painting *Getting Measured* (1999) appears on the cover of the Winter 2025 issue of *Art in America*, discusses the work's origin and evolution in an interview from her home in Tampa, Florida. She explains how the painting marked a turning point from abstraction to a representational style inspired by 12th-century Japanese narrative painting and the parallel perspective technique used by architects, while also incorporating elements from her own abstract works and a self-portrait titled *Indecisive Woman*.

rachel whiteread collaboration puiforcat silver

English artist Rachel Whiteread, the first woman to win the Turner Prize in 1993, has collaborated with French silversmith company Puiforcat on a new seven-piece silverware collection. Inspired by corrugated cardboard, the collection includes serving trays, a pitcher, tumblers, and napkin rings, with surfaces that mimic the grooves and overlapping corners of cardboard, as well as watermark-like concentric circles. The trays echo Whiteread's recent artworks, such as *Untitled (Silver Pallet)* (2023), a flattened cardboard cast in lacquered silver.

phillips leadership changes 2025

Phillips announced a major leadership shakeup on Monday, with global chairwoman Cheyenne Westphal resigning after eight years. Robert Manley was named chairman of modern and contemporary art, and Miety Heiden was appointed chairman of private sales. Additionally, Jean-Paul Engelen, president for the Americas and worldwide co-head of modern and contemporary art, is leaving after over a decade to join Acquavella Galleries as a director. The changes follow a challenging marquee auction season, where the May evening sale matched its pre-sale estimate of $52 million but fell 40% below the previous year's $86 million haul.

emily cole museum show

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, New York, is hosting the largest exhibition of Emily Cole's work since the 19th century. Emily Cole (1843–1913), the daughter of Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole, took up painting in his studio as an adult, creating delicate botanical studies on porcelain ceramics. The show features over 100 pieces from the museum's collection, including works on paper and painted china, alongside contemporary responses from eight women artists such as Ann Agee, Jacqueline Bishop, and Francesca DiMattio.

Soft armour, pert nipples: how London design team made Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala breastplate

Kim Kardashian wore an orange fibreglass breastplate to the 2024 Met Gala, created by the east London design duo Whitaker Malem (Patrick Whitaker and Keir Malem) in collaboration with British pop artist Allen Jones. The breastplate was cast from a mould derived from Jones's 1969 sculpture "Hatstand," finished by car bodyshop MPS Body and Paint in Kent, and paired with a hand-painted leather skirt. Kardashian directly contacted the duo in early April, flew to the UK for fittings, and chose the piece to interpret the gala's "fashion is art" dress code, which explored the dressed and undressed human body.

Ghosts, nudes and lesbian pageant queens: highlights from NYC’s Photography Show – in pictures

Aipad: The Photography Show is taking place at the Park Avenue Armory in New York from April 22-26, 2026, featuring works from over 70 galleries. The exhibition highlights include Bill Brandt's 1952 nude, Rania Matar's portrait of a young woman in Lebanon, and Zanele Muholi's 2009 portrait of a lesbian pageant queen, alongside works by Tania Franco Klein, Ruth Thorne-Thomsen, and others that explore themes of identity, anxiety, and alternative realities.

‘I wanted my work to be shameless’: 93-year-old artist Joan Semmel on her trailblazing nudes

Nonagenarian painter Joan Semmel is preparing for a major career moment with a retrospective at the Jewish Museum and a dual-city exhibition, 'Continuities', at Alexander Gray Associates in New York and Brussels. At 93, Semmel continues to produce large-scale, vibrant works from her SoHo studio that focus on the aging female nude, using her own body as a primary reference. The new works, including 'Here I Am' (2025), maintain her lifelong commitment to depicting the female form through a non-idealized, authentic lens that rejects the traditional male gaze.

How to Feel the Benefits of Art, According to Psychologists

Recent psychological research confirms that engaging with visual art provides significant physical and mental health benefits, including the alleviation of depression, anxiety, and stress. Studies indicate that viewing art can also enhance cognitive functioning and social skills, prompting new initiatives to explore the specific mechanisms behind these wellness improvements.

Nalini Malani’s Venice Biennale 2026 exhibition confronts violence, myth, and motherhood

Artist Nalini Malani will present a solo exhibition titled "Of Woman Born" at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. The show features a site-specific installation commissioned by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, comprising 67 animations with over 30,000 iPad drawings and a haunting soundscape. The work centers on the Greek myth of Orestes, who kills his mother Clytemnestra, and explores themes of violence against women, motherhood, and justice. Malani, now 80, has been a key figure in bringing Indian contemporary art to global prominence, with her work held by major institutions including Tate, MoMA, and Centre Pompidou.

Venice’s top museum brings in 80-year-old performance artist as St. Mark’s Square hosts Lee Ufan exhibition

Gallerie dell'Accademia, one of Venice’s most historic museums, is hosting "Energy in Transition," a major retrospective marking performance artist Marina Abramović’s 80th birthday. The exhibition features iconic works such as "The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk" (1988) and "Balkan Baroque" (1997), for which she became the first woman to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. Visitors can interact with installations involving crystals, meditation platforms, and energy brushes, transforming Abramović’s once-violent performances into a healing journey. Separately, St. Mark’s Square is hosting an exhibition by Korean artist Lee Ufan, featuring his sculpture "The Kiss."

SFMOMA’s ‘Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal’ revisits an old controversy

SFMOMA has opened 'Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal,' an exhibition that revisits the 1905 debut of Henri Matisse's iconic painting at the Salon d’Automne in Paris, which sparked the Fauvist movement. The show reconstructs Gallery VII of that salon, reuniting works by all ten original artists—including Matisse, André Derain, and Maurice de Vlaminck—and places the painting in dialogue with contemporary artists to trace its lasting influence. The painting, which was purchased by collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein at the 1905 salon, entered SFMOMA’s collection in 1991 as a bequest from Elise S. Haas and never travels, making this the exclusive venue for the exhibition.

The Art Diary May 2026 – Revd Jonathan Evens

The article titled "The Art Diary May 2026 – Revd Jonathan Evens" appears to be a diary or column by Revd Jonathan Evens, published on Artlyst, covering art-related events, reflections, or commentary for May 2026. The specific content is not provided in the snippet, but the format suggests a curated overview of exhibitions, cultural happenings, or personal observations from the author's perspective.

Venice off the beaten track

The article highlights collateral exhibitions at the 2024 Venice Biennale that take place beyond the main venues of the Giardini and Arsenale, offering visitors unexpected discoveries in historic Venetian palazzos and warehouses. Featured shows include Hernan Bas's 'The Visitors' at Ca' Pesaro, exploring tourism's contradictions; 'Turandot: To the Daughters of the East' at Palazzo Franchetti, a group exhibition of women artists from Central Asia; and Amoako Boafo's first solo show in Italy at Palazzo Grimani, presented by Gagosian.

A Spring Journey Through the Season’s Standout Exhibitions

This article highlights a curated spring journey through major exhibitions across Europe and the US, focusing on artists represented in the UBS Art Collection. Featured shows include Catherine Opie at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Yin Xiuzhen at the Hayward Gallery, Tracey Emin at Tate Modern, Lorna Simpson at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, and Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Each exhibition offers fresh perspectives on the artists' practices, from photography and installation to painting and works on paper.

Rose Wylie: ‘It’s very, very fragile where a painting ends. All the time it sits on a precarious edge’

British artist Rose Wylie is currently the subject of a major career survey at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, titled "The Picture Comes First." At 91 years old, Wylie is the first woman painter to occupy the institution's main galleries, showcasing over 90 works that span her idiosyncratic career. The exhibition highlights her signature style of large-scale, exuberant figurative paintings that draw from a vast range of influences, including cinema, celebrity culture, and art history.

Van Gogh shows in 2026: America, Japan and the Netherlands

A wave of Van Gogh exhibitions is scheduled for 2026 across the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. Highlights include "Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (June–October 2026), featuring a rare loan of London's National Gallery version alongside Philadelphia's own. Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum will present "Yellow: Beyond Van Gogh’s Colour" (February–May 2026), while the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo will display all 88 Van Gogh paintings for the first time since 1984 in "Van Gogh, All Our Paintings" (September 2026–January 2027). In Japan, the Kröller-Müller's "The Grand Van Gogh Exhibition" tours Kobe, Fukushima, and Tokyo, and the Van Gogh Museum's "Van Gogh’s Home" is at Nagoya's Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Smaller shows take place at the Van Gogh House in Zundert, the Maison du Dr Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise, and the Foundation Vincent van Gogh Arles.

Van Gogh in 2025: Record prices, memorable shows and the first Korean acquisition

The article reviews the Van Gogh year in 2025, highlighting several key developments. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam faces potential closure unless the Dutch government increases its annual building subsidy from €8.5m to €11m, leading the museum to file a legal complaint. At auction, two Van Gogh paintings sold, with "Parisian Novels" (1887) fetching $62.7m at Sotheby's, a record for his Paris period, and eight drawings were sold, including "Sower in a Wheatfield with setting Sun" (1888) for $11.2m. Acquisitions included "Tarascon Stagecoach" (1888) given to LACMA via the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, and "Head of a Peasant" (1885) bought by Korean-born gallery owner Hong Gyu Shin, marking the first known Van Gogh acquisition by a Korean.