Exhibitions set to open in Paris in May 2026: what's new to discover this month

A roundup of new art and cultural exhibitions opening in Paris and the Île-de-France region in May 2026 is announced. Highlights include the annual Rambolitrain toy train fair at Rambolitrain museum on May 1, free evening hours at the Bourse de Commerce on May 2, free entry to castles and museums in Yvelines and Seine-et-Marne on May 3, the Tour Auto classic car display under the Grand Palais glass roof on May 3-4, the Circle of Parisian Artists' 24th annual exhibition at Parc Floral from May 4-31, a new garden art exhibition "Jardin des Lumières" at the Grand Trianon in Versailles from May 5 to September 27, and a major Hilma af Klint exhibition at the Grand Palais.

'First-of-its kind' Houston park reveals 6 murals by local artists

Untitled Art, the contemporary art fair, is returning to Houston for its second edition this October. To kick off plans, the fair has commissioned two artist projects that will be unveiled at the city's 39th annual Art Car Parade.

Max Ernst | Untitled (ca. 1949) | Available for Sale

Max Ernst | Untitled (ca. 1949) | Available for Sale

A rare miniature gouache on paper by Surrealist pioneer Max Ernst, titled 'Untitled' (ca. 1949), has been made available for sale through PM Gallery in Paris. The unique work, measuring only 3.1 x 2.85 cm, is presented in a bespoke silver and 18K gold frame adorned with ruby beads, created by the artist and jeweler Marcial Berro. The piece boasts a distinguished provenance, having previously belonged to the influential Parisian gallery owner Édouard Loeb and featured in the 1970 retrospective at the Württemberg Art Association.

Museum Storytellers: Three Art Scholars Curate Exhibitions at the North Shore’s World-Class Museum

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem is highlighting the work of its curatorial team, specifically focusing on how Lydia Peabody, Lan Morgan, and Ruthie Dibble are revitalizing the institution's collections. A primary focus is the exhibition 'Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone,' where Peabody integrated contemporary photography and video by artist Gisella Torres to create a dialogue with Lewis’s 19th-century neoclassical marble sculptures. Other initiatives include Lan Morgan’s 'Beyond the Broom' project, which uses short films to showcase a community-focused perspective of Salem beyond its 'witch city' reputation.

Moomin and Tove Jansson exhibitions worldwide

A global series of exhibitions celebrating the legacy of Tove Jansson and the Moomins has been announced for 2026, with major programming centered in Finland. Key highlights include the expansion of the Tove Jansson Gallery at the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) with the 'Artist Family Jansson' exhibition, a design-focused showcase at the Architecture & Design Museum, and a contemporary dialogue at Chappe featuring artists Erika Adamsson and Katja Syrjä. The programming coincides with the 80th anniversary of the book 'Comet in Moominland'.

“Photography as a Way of Life” at PU Art Museum

The Princeton University Art Museum has unveiled "Photography as a Way of Life," a major exhibition running from April 19 through September 7. The show examines the interconnected careers of Minor White, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, three titans of mid-20th-century American photography. Drawing heavily from the museum’s Minor White Archive, the exhibition features unpublished color and black-and-white prints, archival documents, and a reconstruction of White’s slide projection piece, "Slow Dance."

March Book Bag: from a Modigliani catalogue raisonné to a career guide for artists

This month’s selection of art publications features a landmark six-volume catalogue raisonné of Amedeo Modigliani’s oil paintings, which utilizes advanced scientific imaging to authenticate 100 previously unlisted works while de-attributing 15 others. Other notable releases include a comprehensive study of arms and armor from the Wallace Collection, an exhibition catalogue exploring three generations of women artists from the Nicholson family, and a practical career guide for artists published by Delphian Gallery.

5 small Denver art exhibits offer big thrills in the coming weeks

Denver’s art scene is currently highlighting several intimate yet impactful exhibitions during the transitional spring season. Key highlights include a multi-venue celebration of Colorado artist Ana María Hernando with solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, alongside a group showing at Robischon Gallery. Additionally, the Denver Art Museum is showcasing its textile and photography archives through two distinct exhibitions: "Conversation Pieces," featuring high-fashion acquisitions from Chanel to McQueen, and "What We’ve Been Up To: People," a survey of portrait photography spanning from the 19th century to the present.

London show highlights how drawing was at the heart of Lucian Freud’s practice

The National Portrait Gallery in London has opened a major exhibition dedicated to Lucian Freud's works on paper, featuring 170 drawings, etchings, and paintings. The show, drawing heavily from the Lucian Freud Archive acquired by the gallery after the artist's death, includes 48 sketchbooks, unfinished works, and childhood drawings, alongside 12 new acquisitions from the estate.

First-ever oil painting depicting an artist at work to star in female Old Master exhibition

The first-ever exhibition dedicated to Catharina van Hemessen, Europe's most important early female painter, will open at the Snijders&Rockox House in Antwerp (15 October 2026 – 31 January 2027) before traveling to the National Gallery in London (4 March – 30 May 2027). The show will reunite most of her surviving works for the first time in nearly 500 years, including her groundbreaking 1548 self-portrait at the Kunstmuseum Basel, which is the earliest known self-portrait by a female artist and the earliest surviving oil painting depicting an artist at work. Archival research on her family is underway, and the exhibition will also feature works by her father, Jan Sanders van Hemessen.

17 museums and galleries to explore in Berkeley

Berkeleyside has published a guide to 17 museums and galleries in Berkeley, California, highlighting free and affordable arts and culture destinations. The list includes major institutions like the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), the Kala Art Institute, the Berkeley Art Center, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art, and the Lawrence Hall of Science, as well as smaller venues such as the Arts and Crafts Cooperative (ACCI), Shoh Gallery, 120710, and the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles. Each entry includes hours, admission details, and notable features, with an emphasis on free access and local artists.

It Requires Getting Lost: Castlefield Gallery hosts opening night

Castlefield Gallery in Manchester hosted the opening night of "It Requires Getting Lost" on October 30, 2025, an exhibition running from November 1, 2025 to February 22, 2026. The show features projections, sound-works, and sculptural installations by three northern UK-based artists—Gregory Herbert, Malik Jama, and Jocelyn McGregor—alongside major works from the Roberts Institute of Art (RIA)/Indrė Roberts Collection, including pieces by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Noemie Goudal, Pierre Huyghe, Leon Kossoff, and Wolfgang Tillmans. The opening included a live activation in McGregor's sculptural installation, where performers used foot-pumps to push water through transparent tubes, while Jama's projections transformed the gallery's corridors into immersive zones.

adjaye-designed studio museum in harlem opens as new home for black art and culture

The Studio Museum in Harlem officially opens its purpose-built new home on West 125th Street on November 15, 2025, marking the first time the institution has had a building designed specifically for its program. Designed by Adjaye Associates with architect Pascale Sablan, the 82,000-square-foot museum features a double-height street-level window, a 'reverse stoop' entrance, expanded exhibition and public spaces, artist-in-residence studios, and a roof terrace. The facade uses dark-grey precast concrete and bronze-toned glass to reference Harlem's masonry architecture while signaling a refined contemporary presence.

Plains Art Museum exhibit celebrates women artists

Plains Art Museum in Fargo has opened "Women Artists: Four Centuries of Creativity," a major exhibition running through March 1, 2026, in the Jane L. Stern Gallery. The show features 40 works from the museum's permanent collection alongside 37 works on loan from the Reading Public Museum, spanning etchings, engravings, lithographs, drawings, watercolors, woodblock prints, and photographs by canonical women artists. Highlights include a 1650 piece by Elisabetta Sirani, one of the earliest renowned female Renaissance artists. Students from Minnesota State University Moorhead's Women and Art course contributed original research and curatorial support.

Where to see art in Houston now: 9 fun new exhibits opening in July

Nine new art exhibitions are opening in Houston in July, spanning traditional paintings, sculptures, high-tech immersive shows, and textile works. Highlights include Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin's "Town Meeting 1978-2028" at Art League Houston, which uses wind-drawing techniques to explore pre-Stonewall queer histories; Jeffly Gabriela Molina's "Fragmentos de un sueño que yo también soñé," focusing on immigrant experiences of home and memory; and Lin Qiqing's "Every Fiber of Their Bodies," weaving narratives of gender, immigration, and human relationships. The Menil Collection also re-installs René Magritte paintings after their return from a major retrospective in Sydney.

Take a Peek Inside Peter Zumthor’s New Building for LACMA -

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opened its new David Geffen Galleries, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in collaboration with SOM, for a summer preview before the building's official opening in April 2026. The 110,000-square-foot exhibition space, elevated on seven pavilions and made of concrete and glass, was opened to the public for three days with performances by 120 musicians. The preview also includes outdoor sculptures, commissioned artworks by Mariana Castillo Deball and Sarah Rosalena, and new dining and retail spaces.

Queer Arts Festival opens Portals for emerging artists and contrasting journeys

The Queer Arts Festival (QAF) in Vancouver opens its 16th annual edition from June 6 to 28, featuring a signature visual exhibition titled "Portals" at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art from June 21 to August 23. Curated by Mark Takeshi McGregor and Diane Hau Yu Wong, the exhibition showcases six emerging and local artists—Arkah, Evan Matchett-Wong, Sena Cleave, Miles Saraswat, Christian Yves Jones, and Naomi Maya Leung—whose works explore themes of queerness, migration, diaspora, and belonging through photography, sculpture, embroidery, film, and mixed media. The festival also includes concerts, media screenings, and community events, serving as a sanctuary for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities amid rising anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric.

Venice Unveils Stunning New Art Spaces

During the Architecture Biennale preview in Venice, two major new art spaces opened: the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation's new home in a historic palazzo on the San Barnaba canal, and SMAC (San Marco Art Centre), a contemporary art center on Saint Mark's Square designed by David Chipperfield. Additionally, Belgian artist Luc Tuymans accepted a last-minute commission from the Abbot of San Giorgio Maggiore to replace two Tintoretto paintings with his own large-scale works. The Fiorucci Foundation's palazzo, acquired in December 2024, opened May 10 with an exhibition by Georgian artist Tolia Astakhishvili, featuring works made from found materials and drawings on walls, alongside pieces by Thea Djordjadze and Maka Sanadze. SMAC, restored by Chipperfield, currently hosts two exhibitions: one on Australian modernist architect Harry Seidler and another on Korean landscape architect Jung Youngsun.

Lacma acquires self-portrait by long-overlooked female Old Master

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) has acquired 112 objects through six new acquisitions made during its 39th Collectors Committee Weekend, which raised over $2.5 million from 62 members. Highlights include a rediscovered self-portrait by Virginia Vezzi (1600-38), a long-overlooked female Old Master; works by Japanese American artists Chiura Obata, Tokio Ueyama, and Mine Okubo created during the Exclusion Era; colonial-era paintings from Mexico by Manuel de Arellano; a photographic triptych by Hiroshi Sugimoto; and the Mary Hunt Kahlenberg Collection of 101 Indonesian textiles dating to the early 15th century.

Weekly News Roundup: May 22, 2026

This weekly roundup from ArtAsiaPacific covers four major developments in the art and architecture world. Chinese architects Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have announced the theme for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled “Do Architecture – For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality,” emphasizing hands-on, context-driven design. The 2026 Sovereign Asian Art Prize winners were revealed, with Balinese artist Citra Sasmita winning the Grand Prize for her work "Poetry of the Fountain" (2025). Dubai announced plans for the Museum of Digital Art (MODA), a new institution dedicated to new media and immersive technologies, as part of a major district expansion. Finally, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) named 70 grantees for its 2026 cycle, awarding over USD 1.6 million to support cultural exchange between the US and Asia.

The Cosmos in a Drop: Interview with Wallace Chan

Wallace Chan, the Chinese artist known for his work across microscopic gemstone carving and monumental titanium sculpture, is presenting two concurrent exhibitions in Venice during the 61st Venice Biennale: “Vessels of Other Worlds” at the Pietà Chapel and “Mythos” at Scala Contarini del Bovolo. In an interview with ArtAsiaPacific, Chan discusses his artistic journey from traditional Chinese Buddhist carving to Western iconography, the spiritual resonance of the Pietà Chapel (where Vivaldi composed), and how his works explore themes of transformation, birth, growth, and rebirth through the lens of Buddhist philosophy and Catholic ritual.

Whispering Gallery: The Cratable Hedge and the Colonial Hangover

The article questions the appointment of James Taylor-Foster as the incoming director of Para Site in Hong Kong, noting his background as a curator of architecture and design rather than contemporary art, and his lack of prior engagement with Asia's curatorial scene. It also reports that Philip Tinari, former director of UCCA in Beijing, has been appointed to lead Tai Kwun, replacing Pi Li, who has become founding director of the Tencent-funded Róng Museum of Art in Shenzhen.

Jill Westwood’s Archive of Feminine Power

Jill Westwood's 1980s photographic and sculptural work exploring feminine power, kink, and queer identity is being exhibited at NEVEN gallery in London. The exhibition presents archival material that was largely unseen for decades, focusing on themes of dominance, submission, and the female gaze within subcultural scenes.

Cy Twombly, From Intimate Angles

A recently discovered cache of negatives taken by Tatiana Franchetti, the wife of artist Cy Twombly, reveals intimate and personal photographs of the 20th-century master. The negatives were found by Twombly's granddaughter, offering a new, private perspective on the artist's life and daily surroundings.

In This Nazi-Era Restitution Dispute, the Focus Turns to a Missing Cow

A family is seeking restitution of a painting they believe is a lost Rubens work, looted by Nazis during World War II. However, an expert has cast doubt on the claim, arguing the painting is a copy because it lacks a distinctive detail found in the original: a urinating cow. The dispute has shifted focus to this missing element, complicating the family's efforts to recover the artwork.

Maya Lin Connects Nature to a New Manhattan Skyscraper and Beyond

Maya Lin, the renowned artist and designer known for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, has created new works for a Manhattan skyscraper and a Chicago project, drawing on her deep connection to nature. The article highlights her latest installations that integrate environmental themes into urban architecture, reflecting her ongoing exploration of landscape and ecology.

With ‘Sister Dreamer’ Park, Lauren Halsey Brings Her Heroes Home

Artist Lauren Halsey has unveiled a new installation titled 'Sister Dreamer' Park in South Central Los Angeles. The work features stone monuments that elevate familiar faces from the neighborhood, celebrating local heroes and community members. The installation is part of Halsey's ongoing practice of centering Black and brown communities in her art, using architecture and sculpture to create spaces of empowerment and memory.

Honoring Frederic Church: Beyond the Hudson River School

Art historians and curators are re-evaluating the legacy of Frederic Church, arguing that his contributions extend far beyond his traditional classification as a Hudson River School landscape painter. New research highlights his sophisticated engagement with 19th-century science, his architectural achievements at his estate, Olana, and his role as a global traveler who captured the spirit of the Andes and the Arctic.

Linda Dresner, Old-School Guru of Avant-Garde Fashion, Dies at 88

Linda Dresner, the influential fashion retailer known for her minimalist, gallery-like boutiques, has died at the age of 88. Operating high-end spaces on New York’s Park Avenue and in Birmingham, Michigan, Dresner was a pioneer in treating avant-garde fashion as fine art, curating collections from designers like Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, and Maison Margiela long before they became household names.

Art Gallery Shows to See in March