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.

Comment | Time for a rethink: women artists were never meant to merely be canon fodder

Comment | Time for a rethink: women artists were never meant to merely be canon fodder

The art world is increasingly moving beyond simply adding women to the existing art historical canon, a practice long criticized by feminist historians like Griselda Pollock. Instead of merely 'expanding' the canon, new institutional approaches aim to 'difference' it by using the work of women to fundamentally re-evaluate and subvert established narratives. This shift suggests that the inclusion of previously marginalized artists should change how we perceive the masters they are often compared to.

Art Basel Qatar, Dürer portrait debate, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Edvard Munch—podcast

The Art Newspaper's podcast covers the inaugural Art Basel Qatar art fair in Doha, discussing its impact on Qatar and the Middle East art scene. It also examines a debate over a Dürer portrait in London's National Gallery, long considered a copy but now argued to be an autograph work by a new catalogue raisonné author. The episode features a double-header exhibition at the Albertinum in Dresden pairing Paula Modersohn-Becker and Edvard Munch, with co-curator Andreas Dehmer discussing key works.

David Beckham dutifully does the art rounds in Doha

David Beckham was a prominent attendee at Art Basel Qatar in Doha, visiting key art venues and installations. He was seen at Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija's interactive installation in MIA Park, viewing works by Chung Seoyoung at the Fire Station, and attending a performance by Haroon Mirza alongside major collector Sheikha al-Mayassa. Movie star Angelina Jolie was also spotted at a special project by the performance collective Sweat Variant.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, February 2026

Several San Francisco museums are experiencing a period of transition and challenge in February 2026. Key exhibitions are closing soon, including "Manet and Morisot" at the Legion of Honor and Suzanne Jackson's first career retrospective at SFMOMA, both ending March 1. New shows are opening, such as "Video Craft" at the Museum of Craft & Design and "Echoes in the Small Mountain: Park Dae-sung and the West Coast" at the Asian Art Museum. Meanwhile, the city's cultural landscape faces strain, with the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts suspending operations, representing a significant loss of community programming.

The Aldrich Names Artists for First-Ever Decennial

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Connecticut has announced the 40 participating artists for its first-ever Aldrich Decennial, a survey exhibition titled "I am what is around me." Opening June 7 and running through January 10, 2027, the show focuses on artists living and working in Connecticut who have never had a solo museum exhibition in the state. Notable participants include painter Dominic Chambers, multimedia artist Arghavan Khosravi, and novelist-poet Renee Gladman. The exhibition draws its title from a 1917 poem by Wallace Stevens, a longtime Connecticut resident.

New exhibition explores how Max Beckmann's hard-edged signature style first emerged in his drawing

An exhibition opening at Frankfurt's Städel Museum focuses on Max Beckmann's drawings, featuring 80 works that trace the emergence of his hard-edged signature style. Curated by Regina Freyberger, Stephan von Wiese, and Hedda Finke, the show spans from before World War I to the artist's final years in the US, including loans from major collections. It highlights how Beckmann's drawing evolved from preparatory studies to autonomous artworks, with key pieces like a 1928 portrait of his wife Quappi and the eerie watercolor 'The Murder' (1933).

An Exhibition in Dallas Challenges the Traditional Notions of Jewelry

The Dallas Museum of Art has opened "Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art," its largest-ever exhibition of contemporary jewelry, featuring over 350 pieces by 233 artists spanning eight decades. Curated by Sarah Schleuning, the show emphasizes conceptual ideas over material value, with works made from unconventional materials like found objects, zinc, steel, and fair-trade gold. Highlights include pieces by Iris van Herpen, Andrea Branzi, Harry Bertoia, Ute Decker, Art Smith, and merry renk, displayed in a design by artist and architect Jarrod Beck. A 456-page catalog accompanies the exhibition, which runs through May 3, 2026.

Frida Kahlo self-portrait sells for $54.7m at Sotheby's, breaking her auction record

Sotheby's held three back-to-back evening sales in New York on November 20, achieving a combined total of $252.9 million ($304.5 million with fees). The highlight was Frida Kahlo's self-portrait *El sueño (La cama)* (1940), which sold for $54.6 million with fees, setting a new auction record for the artist, for a Latin American artist, and for a female artist. The sales included 13 lots from the estate of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, a group of Surrealist works from an unnamed collection, and a multiple-owner Modern art sale featuring collections from the Bucksbaum family and Geri Brawerman.

Phillip Bahar steps into top job at MSU's Broad Art Museum

Phillip Bahar has been appointed as the fourth director of the Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, succeeding previous leadership since the museum opened in 2012. In an interview with WKAR's Inside The Arts, Bahar discussed his vision for the museum, emphasizing his role as an institutional curator rather than a hands-on curator of exhibitions, and his commitment to supporting artists at all career stages, from established figures like Zaha Hadid to emerging and mid-career artists such as Diana Al-Hadid.

Albuquerque exhibition depicts German art made during the tragic ascent of authoritarianism

The Albuquerque Museum has opened a landmark exhibition titled "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin," featuring German and European art from the early 20th century. The show traces the trajectory from the German Empire through World War I, the Weimar Republic, Nazi rule, and World War II, including works by Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Hannah Höch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, and others. Many pieces were originally condemned as "degenerate art" by the Nazis. The exhibition, which has three U.S. stops, is currently in Albuquerque after appearing at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and will travel to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Klimt painting becomes most expensive modern art ever sold at auction

Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby's, becoming the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction. The sale occurred after a 20-minute bidding war that drew gasps and applause from the room, and it also set a record as the most expensive artwork ever sold by the auction house globally.

The Met Presents First Exhibition of Works by Finnish Painter Helene Schjerfbeck in a Major U.S. Museum

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.

Tehching Hsieh: ‘I didn’t try to be a superman, my work is not about heroism’

Tehching Hsieh, the pioneering performance artist known for his extreme durational works, has opened his first retrospective, 'Lifeworks 1978-99', at Dia Beacon. The exhibition follows his gift of 11 major works to the institution last year and features six spaces designed to convey the relative time of his performances—including his five one-year pieces (Cage Piece, Time Clock Piece, Outdoor Piece, Rope Piece, No Art Piece) and the Thirteen Year Plan—using spatial measurements to represent 'art time' and 'life time'.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents "Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers," the artist's largest exhibition to date and his first major museum survey in over a decade. The show brings together nearly ninety works spanning Johnson's career, including painting, sculpture, film, installation, a site-specific piece, an outdoor sculpture, and live performances. Co-curated by Naomi Beckwith of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Andrea Karnes of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the exhibition takes its title from a poem by Amiri Baraka and explores themes of race, masculinity, empathy, self-care, family, and emotional life.

After reopening, Joslyn Art Museum breaks visitor records, earns national acclaim

The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, has broken visitor records and earned national acclaim in its first full year after reopening with a 42,000-square-foot addition. The new Rhonda & Howard Hawks Pavilion, designed by Snøhetta and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, opened in September 2024 and added 16,700 square feet of gallery space, 15,400 square feet of public gathering space, and new gardens. Through September 2025, the museum welcomed 159,420 visitors, on track to surpass 200,000—a milestone only reached a few times before, typically due to blockbuster traveling exhibitions like the Tutankhamun Treasures or Dead Sea Scrolls shows.

Sotheby’s secures $120m Pritzker and $400m Lauder collections, with works by Matisse, Munch and Van Gogh

Sotheby’s has secured two major private collections for its autumn New York sales: the Pritzker collection, estimated at $120 million, and the Lauder collection, valued at around $400 million. The Pritzker collection includes Vincent van Gogh’s *Romans Parisiens* (1887) with a $40 million estimate, while the Lauder collection features Gustav Klimt’s *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914-16) estimated at over $150 million, along with works by Matisse, Munch, and Martin. The sales will take place at Sotheby’s new headquarters in the Breuer Building this November.

Hunterdon Art Museum presents Annual Members Show

The Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, will host its Annual Members Show from September 21, 2025, to January 11, 2026, featuring 35 artists working in ceramics, sculpture, glass, wood, fiber, printmaking, painting, photography, and collage. The exhibition was juried by Donna Gustafson, a freelance curator and critic with a PhD in Art History, who selected works from 84 artists and nearly 400 slides, noting themes of nature, identity, community, and politics. An opening reception is scheduled for September 21.

Tour the Museum-Quality Art Exhibition Inside the Megayacht Carinthia VII

The luxury megayacht Carinthia VII, owned by the Austrian billionaire Heidi Goëss-Horten and designed by Tim Heywood, has been transformed into a floating museum this summer. Curated by Florencia Cherñajovsky, the yacht features approximately forty museum-quality works from her family's collection of around 500 artworks, including pieces by Tracey Emin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Lutz Bacher, Petrit Halilaj, Louise Nevelson, Carol Rama, Sarah Lucas, and Brazilian women artists like Ana Maria Maiolino. The exhibition spans photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture, arranged to create dialogues between artists and the yacht's interiors, which include reclaimed 17th-century parquet floors and custom rugs from Cherñajovsky's brand Lalana Rugs.

Robert Wilson, experimental playwright, director and artist, has died, aged 83

Robert Wilson, the visionary experimental playwright, director, and visual artist known for his highly stylized theatrical productions, has died at age 83. He passed away at his home in Water Mill, New York, on July 31 following a brief acute illness, according to a statement from the Watermill Center, the arts organization he founded. Wilson's most famous works include the silent opera *Deafman Glance* (1970) and the epic collaboration with composer Philip Glass, *Einstein on the Beach* (1976). He was also a prolific visual artist, creating drawings, sculptures, and video portraits, including a series featuring Lady Gaga, Pope.L, and Isabella Rossellini, and his work was exhibited at institutions such as SFMoMA, the Centre Pompidou, and the Louvre.

8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in July

Galerie magazine has curated a list of eight must-see solo gallery shows across the United States for July, highlighting exhibitions from New York to California. Featured artists include Nancy Dwyer, whose word-based paintings and sculptures are on view at Ortuzar in New York; Marcel Dzama, showing storytelling drawings and a surreal film at David Zwirner in Los Angeles; Francis Picabia, with a focus on his Art Informal period at Hauser & Wirth in New York; and Igshaan Adams, presenting tapestries and textile works at Casey Kaplan in New York, among others.

Albuquerque Museum Presents German Modernism Amid Empire, Democracy, and Dictatorship

The Albuquerque Museum will present "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin" from August 23, 2025, to January 4, 2026. The exhibition features over 70 paintings and sculptures tracing German modern art from the early 20th-century avant-garde through the Weimar Republic to the Nazi dictatorship, including works by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Hannah Höch, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Salvador Dalí, many rarely shown in the U.S.

Souto’s work featured in Joslyn’s ‘Made in the Plains’ exhibition

Francisco Souto, a professor of art and director of the School of Art, Art History and Design at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is one of 20 artists featured in the exhibition "Made in the Plains" at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, running from June 7 to September 21, 2025. The show highlights new and recent work by artists living in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota, showcasing diverse materials and approaches. Souto is debuting a new polyptych, "8 Million Broken Dreams," consisting of eight circular panels with stone arrangements that reference the over eight million people who have left Venezuela, incorporating visual elements inspired by Carlos Cruz-Diez's mosaic floors at Simón Bolívar International Airport.

Artist Alison Saar wins High Museum’s 20th annual Driskell Prize

Alison Saar, a Los Angeles-based artist known for sculptures exploring Black American experience through historic and symbolic imagery, has won the 20th edition of the David C. Driskell Prize from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The annual prize, which alternates between honoring an artist and a curator, comes with $50,000 and was announced during a reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York on 9 May. Saar succeeds 2024 winner Naomi Beckwith, and past honorees include Ebony G. Patterson, Amy Sherald, Mark Bradford, and Rashid Johnson.

The Look Book Goes to Rashid Johnson’s Opening Night

Nearly a thousand people attended the opening night of Rashid Johnson's solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The event, covered by the Look Book, featured a diverse crowd including artists, curators, writers, and collectors, with attendees sharing their impressions of the show and personal connections to the work. Notable figures present included artist Rashid Johnson, deputy director Naomi Beckwith, and writer Kevin Young, among many others.

Humanitas Bong Joon Ho in conversation, new student art, and beach photos

Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho will visit Yale University on May 5-6 for a public conversation with photographer Gregory Crewdson about filmmaking, followed by a Schwarzman Session for students and the community. The visit coincides with a film retrospective of Bong's work organized by Marc Francis, including screenings of "Parasite," "The Host," and "Mickey 17." Separately, the Schwarzman Center has launched a virtual Storyboard exhibition titled "over time," featuring artworks by 10 Yale students responding to a prompt about the future, curated by Airi Gavan. The article also notes an upcoming summer exhibition of photographs by Yale School of Art professor emeritus Tod Papageorge.

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.

LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS AT THE BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2026

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled 'In Minor Keys' and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, will run from May to November 2026. The exhibition will feature 15 artists from Latin America, including Alvaro Barrington, Carolina Caycedo, Alfredo Jaar, and Guadalupe Maravilla, among others, who will present works across the Giardini, Arsenale, and other Venetian venues.

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.

Tobias Pils “Shh” mumok / Vienna by Frank Wasser

Tobias Pils has opened a major exhibition titled "Shh" at mumok in Vienna, presenting a decade-spanning survey of his work. The show, which follows his 2013 presentation at Secession, occupies three spaces and charts his evolution from abstraction to figuration and a more expansive color palette, while focusing on recurring motifs and the structure of pictorial language.