The Metropolitan Museum of Art is preparing a major spring retrospective dedicated to Raphael, the Italian Renaissance master who died in 1520 before his 40th birthday. This will be his first such exhibition in the United States, aiming to reassess an artist traditionally viewed as a facile, efficient prodigy rather than a deep intellectual.
Galerie Francesca Pia, a fixture of the Swiss art scene for 35 years, has announced it will close its doors at the end of October. Founded in Bern in 1990 before moving to Zurich's prestigious Löwenbräukunst-Areal district, the gallery will conclude its operations following a final exhibition with American artist Wade Guyton. The closure marks the end of a significant tenure for a dealership that was a regular participant at Art Basel for over two decades.
Conservators at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum have successfully identified the original 17th-century upholstery for a set of 14 chairs in the Dutch Room, the site of the infamous 1990 art heist. Using a combination of AI colorization software called Palette and the discovery of a single faded thread, the team determined that the chairs were originally vibrant red with pink stripes, rather than the fabric used in a 1970s restoration. This discovery is part of a comprehensive three-year project to restore the room to the founder's original vision.
Martin Puryear's 1978 sculpture *Self* opens a survey of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, titled “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” which runs through Sunday before traveling to the Cleveland Museum of Art in April. Curated by Emily Liebert, Reto Thüring, and Ian Alteveer, the exhibition argues that Puryear's abstract, craft-intensive sculptures—like *A Column for Sally Hemings* (2021)—are not merely formalist exercises but carry political and historical meanings that are deliberately withheld, challenging viewers to read beyond elegant surfaces.
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Seven heirs of the late department store magnate and art collector Max Julius Braunthal have filed a lawsuit in a French court, seeking to nullify the 1941 sale of Camille Pissarro's painting 'Haystacks, Morning, Eragny' (1899). They argue the sale was made under duress during the Nazi occupation of France. The painting is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which maintains Braunthal received fair market value.
The Louvre Museum in Paris was forced to close on Monday, January 12, 2026, after staff launched a strike over pay, staffing levels, and working conditions. The closure is the latest in a series of disruptions since mid-December, including a three-day walkout before Christmas and multiple delayed openings in early January. Unions representing employees say the museum is understaffed, poorly maintained, and workers are overworked, calling for increased hiring, higher wages, and greater infrastructure investment. The labor unrest has been compounded by heightened scrutiny following an October daytime robbery of crown jewels valued at over $100 million, and tensions have also flared over a proposed standalone gallery for Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa*, which unions deem unrealistic given existing problems.
South Africa selected a work by artist Gabrielle Goliath for its Venice Biennale pavilion, then rescinded the decision on January 2, just eight days before the finalization deadline. The culture ministry, led by Minister Gayton McKenzie, objected to a section of Goliath's "Elegy" series that included words by Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023. The pavilion's selection committee publicly disagreed with the cancellation, calling it censorship and highlighting a history of mismanagement.
Newly uncovered documents from the Museum of Modern Art’s archives confirm that the Franco regime in Spain attempted to censor Robert Motherwell’s painting *Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 35* (1954–58) before its scheduled 1958 exhibition in Madrid. The painting was part of MoMA’s traveling show “The New American Painting,” which introduced Abstract Expressionism to Europe. Spanish authorities demanded Motherwell remove the phrase “Spanish Republic” from the title, but the artist refused, leading to the work’s exclusion from the exhibition. The documents, reviewed by *El País*, also reveal that Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies boycotted state-sanctioned shows, calling the regime’s cultural propaganda “scandalous.”
Staff at the Louvre in Paris staged another walkout, closing the museum on Monday morning before a partial reopening at noon. The strike, backed by three unions with 350 staff members voting unanimously, protests the Louvre–Nouvelle Renaissance redevelopment plan launched by President Emmanuel Macron. The plan includes a dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa, a new entrance, and a $778 million budget, which unions call unrealistic. The museum reopened with limited access to iconic works like the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Samothrace, while other galleries remained closed.
The Art Institute of Chicago announced its top acquisitions from over 1,000 works added to its collections in 2025. Highlights include Kay WalkingStick’s two-panel painting *The Silence of Glacier* (2013), which overlays Northern Cheyenne beadwork onto a Glacier National Park landscape; Christian Schad’s *Portrait of Composer Josef Matthias Hauer* (1927); Frans Francken II’s *Esther Before Ahasuerus* (1622); a rare 17th-century Indian textile titled *A Nayaka Nobleman with Courtiers and Courtesans*; an untitled photograph from Francesca Woodman’s “Caryatid” series (1980); and the *Ovejo Armchair* (1972) by Jaime Gutiérrez Lega.
Walton Ford's new series of paintings, on view at Gagosian in New York through April 19, centers on the Marchesa Luisa Casati and her two cheetahs. The works depict the Milanese heiress and Futurist muse in early 20th-century Venice, but the animals—not the glamorous woman—command the focal point. Ford, known for subverting natural history illustration, uses watercolor to balance trompe-l'oeil realism with painterly abandon, developing the characters across multiple canvases with Italian titles referencing literature by Casati's lover, poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.
Christie’s London will auction the third and final part of Sam Josefowitz’s Rembrandt print collection on December 3, featuring 101 etchings by the Dutch master. The sale, titled “The Sam Josefowitz Collection: Graphic Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn – Part III,” follows two previous installments that together brought £13.5 million. A highlight is the rare portrait *Arnout Tholinx, Inspector* (circa 1656), estimated at up to £2.5 million, described as the last impression in private hands. The collection was amassed by Josefowitz, a Lithuanian-born entrepreneur who built a mail-order business before his death in 2015.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has re-entered the long-running legal battle over a Camille Pissarro painting, *Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain* (1897), which was sold under duress by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to a Nazi appraiser in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks. The painting is now held by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Cassirer family has sought its return for decades. A new California law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September allows exceptions for property taken as a result of political persecution, and Bonta is now defending the state's authority to compel the return of stolen art to victims connected to California.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has opened a major retrospective of Afro-Cuban Surrealist painter Wifredo Lam, featuring over 200 works. The exhibition highlights Lam's masterpiece *Grande Composition* (1949), a 14-foot-wide painting recently acquired by MoMA after years of negotiation with a Paris collector. Curated by MoMA's new director Christophe Cherix and Beverly Adams, the show reexamines Lam's career, emphasizing his Afro-Cuban heritage and his use of hybrid figures like the femme-cheval, which reference Lucumí spiritual traditions.
Artist George Condo has left Hauser & Wirth and will now be jointly represented by Sprüth Magers and Skarstedt, marking a return to galleries with which he had long-standing relationships. Condo first showed with Monika Sprüth in 1984 and was represented by Skarstedt from 2004 to 2019 before joining Hauser & Wirth in late 2019. Separately, a new BBC documentary titled *Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks* explores whether J. M. W. Turner's creative genius was shaped by childhood trauma and neurodivergence, featuring commentary from artists, actors, and a psychotherapist. The article also reports that Dana Awartani will represent Saudi Arabia at the 2026 Venice Biennale, and that the Trump administration has tightened H-1B visa rules, making it harder for arts institutions to hire foreign specialists.
New York's Performa biennial postponed a new work by artist Lina Lapelytė, titled *The Speech (NYC)*, just one day before its scheduled debut because the planned venue, Federal Hall National Memorial, was closed due to the U.S. government shutdown. The piece involves 100 children making primal sounds and was to be performed on Wednesday at the historic site, which is operated by the National Park Service. Performa rescheduled the performance for November 17 and is seeking an alternative venue.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is facing a new lawsuit over Vincent van Gogh's *Olive Picking* (1889), which it sold to a Greek collector in 1972. The suit, filed by heirs of Hedwig and Frederick Stern, alleges the painting was looted from the Sterns when they fled Nazi Germany and should never have entered the Met's collection. The Met bought the work in 1956 for $125,000 and later sold it to the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens, where it is now displayed. A previous 2022 lawsuit in California was dismissed on venue grounds; the heirs are now pursuing the case in New York federal court, arguing the painting was repeatedly trafficked through the city.
The Kunstmuseum Basel has confirmed that a Paul Gauguin self-portrait, titled *Portrait de l’artiste par lui-même* (1903), is an authentic work by the French painter, despite decades of scrutiny. The painting, held by the museum since 1945, was subjected to scientific analysis—including pigment testing, radiography, and infrared reflectography—at the Bern Academy of the Arts after amateur art sleuth Fabrice Fourmanoir claimed it was actually painted by Gauguin’s friend Ky-Dong Nguyen Van Cam. The tests showed the pigments date to Gauguin’s era, but also revealed overpainting on the face, possibly done between 1918 and 1926, though the museum found no evidence of intentional forgery.
The Art Institute of Chicago has opened an exhibition titled 'Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination,' drawn entirely from its own collection. The show features works by Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Odilon Redon, and lesser-known artists like Gustaf Fjaestad, aiming to present Symbolism through its visual output rather than its often vague literary manifestos. The exhibition sidesteps strict definitions of the movement, instead offering a broad range of works from the late 1880s to early 1900s that evoke mystery, doubt, and inner realities.
Sotheby's has announced two major consignments for its November marquee auctions in New York: Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Crowns (Peso Neto)" (1981), estimated at $45 million, and an untitled Kerry James Marshall painting from 2008, estimated at $10–15 million. The Basquiat, painted on Christmas night 1981, debuted at Annina Nosei Gallery and Documenta 7, and was previously owned by collectors Thomas Worrell and José Mugrabi before being consigned by French actor Francis Lombrail. The Marshall, depicting a couple embracing at sunset, was purchased on the primary market and has remained in the same collection, recently appearing at the Church in Sag Harbor with lender Neda Young.
The Louvre in Paris is staging a major retrospective of Jacques-Louis David, featuring 100 works by the French Neoclassical painter, to mark the bicentenary of his death in 1825. The exhibition opens October 15 and runs through January, drawing on the Louvre's own collection and prestigious loans from institutions including the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Curator Sébastien Allard emphasizes that the show is not a conventional blockbuster but aims to explore under-examined aspects of David's practice, particularly his political engagement across the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Empire.
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, a top European art collector and founder of a Turin-based foundation, is partnering with New York's New Museum for a series of commissions. The first commission will be realized by Italian artist Diego Marcon, known for his uncanny videos, with his work titled 'Krapfen'—a musical dance film blending American animation and Italian opera. The New Museum, currently undergoing a renovation and expansion with a seven-story annex, is set to reopen this fall. 'Krapfen' was also co-commissioned by Chicago's Renaissance Society, Paris's Lafayette Anticipations, and the Vega Foundation, run by Canadian collector Elisa Nuyten, and will debut at the Renaissance Society before its New Museum run.
People Inc., the media company formerly known as Dotdash Meredith, sold the 23-foot-tall sculpture *Plantoir* (2001) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen on August 22. The bright-red garden trowel sculpture, recognized as the World’s Largest Garden Trowel Sculpture, had been a landmark on the former Meredith Corp. campus in Des Moines, Iowa, since 2002. The buyer, sale price, and new location were not disclosed, though the company stated the piece was offered to local organizations before being sold to an out-of-state buyer. The sculpture is expected to be moved by the end of September.
The New York Supreme Court ruled against former hedge fund manager Philip Falcone in a case brought against pawnbroker BLCE over loans secured by artworks and a diamond ring. Judge Lyle E. Frank sided with BLCE's counter-claims of fraud and breach of contract, finding that Falcone made misrepresentations when securing loans with the same artworks—including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Damien Hirst, and Richard Prince—from multiple lenders. Falcone had claimed the ring was "wrongfully foreclosed," but the court determined he failed to raise genuine issues of material fact.
Lorna Simpson's former home and studio in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood, designed by British architect David Adjaye in 2006, has been listed for sale at $6.5 million. The four-story, 22-foot-wide building at 208 Vanderbilt Avenue, dubbed "Pitch Black," features black polypropylene panels on the front and glass walls at the back opening onto over 800 square feet of garden space. Simpson, who created the space after failing to find a suitable existing property, used it as a combined residence and studio with her then-husband, photographer James Casebere, before relocating to a larger commercial space nearby. The property now serves as archival and storage space and is being marketed by the Corcoran Group.
Marcia Resnick, a photographer renowned for capturing Manhattan's downtown art and punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has died at age 74 from lung cancer. Her sister Janice Hahn confirmed the cause of death. Resnick began with conceptual photography before shifting to portraiture, documenting figures such as Mick Jagger, Klaus Nomi, Joseph Beuys, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Koch, and John Belushi. She was briefly married to MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and taught at New York University and Cooper Union. Her work was featured in the SoHo Weekly News, and a retrospective of her photography opened at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in 2022.
The Judd Foundation has settled a lawsuit with Kim Kardashian and Clements Design over a 2022 promotional video in which Kardashian promoted knockoff versions of Donald Judd's minimalist furniture. The video, which garnered over 3.6 million views before being deleted, featured tables resembling Judd's La Mansana Table 22 and Chair 84. Under the settlement, Kardashian will acquire authentic Judd furniture from Donald Judd Furniture LLC, and both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
Curator Klaus Biesenbach, now director of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, gave a lengthy interview to Der Spiegel in which he explained his decision to leave the American art scene, citing what he described as an oppressive climate of "political correctness." He claimed that DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives in U.S. museums had become "unbearable" quota requirements, and recounted a story about mandatory Zoom meetings after George Floyd's murder where he felt pressured to share personal experiences of discrimination. He also referenced the resignation of SFMOMA curator Gary Garrels over "reverse discrimination" comments and acknowledged his own controversial tenure at MOCA Los Angeles, which saw two high-profile resignations and a leadership restructuring.
On Monday, Whitney Museum director Scott Rothkopf announced via email that the museum would "pause" the 2025–26 academic year of its Independent Study Program (ISP), citing a lack of a director and strained operations. The announcement coincided with an open letter from high-profile ISP alumni—including artists Emily Jacir, Andrea Fraser, Mark Dion, and others—denouncing the museum's cancellation of a pro-Palestine performance titled "No Aesthetics Outside My Freedom: Mourning, Militancy, and Performance" by artists Fadl Fakhouri, Noel Maghathe, and Fargo Tbakhi. The performance was canceled two days before it was to be part of an ISP curatorial exhibition, after the museum accused the artists of "valorizing specific acts of violence" and singling out community members based on belief systems. The letter also referenced the earlier demotion of ISP director Gregg Bordowitz in February.
Sebastião Salgado, the acclaimed Brazilian photographer known for his powerful black-and-white images documenting worker exploitation, environmental destruction, and human rights abuses, has died at age 81. His death was announced by Instituto Terra, the organization he co-founded with his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado. Salgado had been in declining health since contracting malaria in the 1990s. His work spanned decades and continents, from the Sahel desert to the Amazon rainforest, and he was widely regarded as one of the most beloved photographers of his generation.