During Fuorisalone 2026, Gucci presents "Gucci Memoria," an immersive exhibition curated by Demna at Milan's Chiostri di San Simpliciano. The project traces the House's 105-year history through a continuous narrative of installations across the cloisters, reflecting its evolving identity while staying rooted in its Florentine origins.
Andrea Romano presents a new body of work at Federica Schiavo Gallery in Rome, titled “All The Synecdoches And Metonymies In The World Make Up One Great Metaphor.” The exhibition explores the intersection of the artist’s private life and professional practice through a series of fragmented forms, residues, and reflections. By utilizing linguistic concepts as a framework, Romano investigates how individual parts of an experience attempt to coalesce into a unified whole, even when that totality remains elusive.
The Art Museum at the University of Toronto has opened a new exhibition titled "Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt.: Terrestrial and Aquatic Contemplations of the Caribbean." The show features works by contemporary artists from the Caribbean and its diaspora, exploring the region's complex geography, layered histories, and cultural intersections through themes of land, water, and the legacies of colonial industries like sugar production.
“Tohé Commaret: Mala Onda” at ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt
Chilean artist Tohé Commaret has opened her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, "Mala Onda," at the ZOLLAMT MMK, a project space of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. The exhibition features a new body of work, including large-scale paintings and a site-specific installation, that explores themes of memory, cultural displacement, and the lingering psychological effects of political violence.
Saodat Ismailova “When the Water Turns to Wind” at Portikus, Frankfurt
Uzbek artist Saodat Ismailova has opened a major solo exhibition, "When the Water Turns to Wind," at Portikus in Frankfurt. The presentation features a new, immersive film installation that weaves together ancestral myths, sonic landscapes, and the ecological history of Central Asia, focusing on the region's disappearing rivers and steppes. The work continues her long-term exploration of memory and cultural preservation.
"Eine kräftige Soldatin im Paillettenkleid"
Media reviews of the Venice Biennale's opening week offer contrasting takes on the German and US pavilions. Critics describe the German pavilion, curated by Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann, as a dense, ironic East-West narrative that layers Nazi architecture with DDR prefab construction, creating what Jörg Häntzschel calls a "shockingly seamless symbiosis." The US pavilion, featuring sculptures by Alma Allen, is panned by Maximilíano Durón in ArtNews as politically timid and empty, lacking the clear colonial critiques of previous editions by Simone Leigh and Jeffrey Gibson.
Queere Heilige, große Egos
Andrew Durbin's new biography examines the intertwined lives of artists Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, focusing on their art, desire, and self-staging. The review notes that while the book covers their creative circles—including figures like David Wojnarowicz, Divine, John Waters, and Susan Sontag—it loses sight of the urgent political and social context that animated their work, particularly the AIDS crisis and Reagan-era repression.
Spezialinteresse: Marmor
Karl Kolbitz has published a new book focusing on the depiction of marble in Early Renaissance paintings. He explores how artists used the fictional representation of marble to visualize the divine, drawing inspiration from art historian Georges Didi-Huberman and employing modern imaging techniques to reveal previously hidden details.
Berliner Kupferstichkabinett gewinnt Auszeichnung in New York
The Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin has acquired two new works from the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair in New York. The purchases were funded by the museum winning the Richard Hamilton Acquisition Prize, which provided a $10,000 grant specifically for acquisitions at the fair. The new additions are a 2005 paper work titled "Europa" by German-American artist Kiki Smith and a 2001 lithograph titled "Pregnant Caryatid" by Louise Bourgeois.
"Ich habe mich schon immer zum Verachteten hingezogen gefühlt"
Irish artist Alice Maher discusses her ongoing exploration of patriarchal structures, mythology, and the symbolic power of female hair in her practice. Her current work focuses on large-scale drawings of Sibyls—ancient female prophets—whose excessive hair serves as a metaphor for identity, power, and the 'monstrous feminine.' Maher reflects on her career-long engagement with Irish history, from collecting hair during the Troubles to her collaborative textile masterpiece, "The Map," which reclaims the legacy of Mary Magdalene from Catholic institutional narratives.
Die Minimalistin, die keine sein wollte
The Kunstsammlung NRW in Düsseldorf is hosting a major retrospective of American artist Anne Truitt, marking the first comprehensive survey of her work in Europe. The exhibition at K20 features approximately 120 works, including her signature hand-painted wooden columns, drawings, and the late "Pith" series, tracing her unique trajectory from the early 1960s until her death in 2004.
"Seide trägt Geschichten von 3000 Jahren"
Renowned artist Ai Weiwei has collaborated with the historic Italian textile house Rubelli to create a series of silk objects for Milan Design Week. The installation features intricate silk patterns incorporating the artist's signature political motifs, including handcuffs, surveillance cameras, and the Twitter bird. Despite his vocal criticism of the modern design industry as a profit-driven machine lacking ethics and philosophy, Ai was persuaded by Rubelli’s commitment to craftsmanship and their shared respect for the historical weight of the material.
The Museum of Art and History of Sainte-Anne Hospital (MAHHSA) in Paris is presenting an exhibition titled "Masterpieces at the Heart of the Sainte-Anne Collection" from April 16 to July 26, 2026. The show features 145 works by artist-patients from the 19th century to today, including pieces by Aloïse Corbaz, Unica Zürn, Guillaume Pujolle, Maurice Blin, and Caroline Macdonald. Curated by Anne-Marie Dubois, the exhibition is organized into six thematic sections—such as "History of asylum and refuge" and "Imaginary universes"—to allow the works to dialogue without being reduced to the artists' illnesses. The museum also highlights Yayoi Kusama, who has long described her art as therapy.
The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, balances art and local history, serving as a community hub. Director Bob Burns has integrated school programs reaching 7,000 local students annually, community art shows, contemporary works by artists like Yayoi Kusama and Simone Leigh, and a major exhibition "About Face: 250 Years of American Portraits" curated by Rebecca McNamara. The museum also features hyper-realistic paintings by Wende Caporale-Greene and a gallery of Waterbury's industrial past, with a focus on inclusivity after removing a physical barrier to Main Street in 2019.
Timor-Leste has announced the details of its national pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale. Titled "Across Words," the exhibition will be directed by curator Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani and feature works by artists Verónica Pereira Maia, Etson Caminha, and Juventino Madeira, focusing on the nation's ethnolinguistic diversity. The pavilion will be located in the Arsenale and run from May 9 to November 22.
Indonesia will return to the Venice Biennale in 2026 after a six-year absence. The national pavilion, titled "Printing the Unprinted," will be curated by Aminudin TH Siregar and will feature archival materials alongside works by 14 emerging artists, aiming to explore the country's cultural identity and art history.
Le fantasme de la femme fatale
A documentary titled "Le fantasme de la femme fatale" (The Fantasy of the Femme Fatale), directed by Susanne Brand, is available on Arte.tv. The film traces the visual history of the femme fatale, a seductive and dangerous figure prevalent in centuries of figurative painting by male artists like Gustave Moreau and Franz Von Stuck, often depicted as Salome or languid nymphs.
Dans l’ombre des génies
A podcast episode from France Culture's "Affinités Culturelles" series, titled "Ces femmes d'artistes à l'ombre de l'histoire de l'art," examines the lives and artistic contributions of women who were partners to 20th-century masters Edward Hopper and Pablo Picasso. It focuses on figures like Joséphine Hopper, Françoise Gilot, and Dora Maar, exploring how they were often relegated to the roles of muses and models, with some sacrificing their own creative careers for their relationships.
The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne has acquired a painting by the 17th-century Bolognese artist Elisabetta Sirani. The work, a private devotional piece, depicts the infant Jesus holding a swallow, a symbol of Resurrection in Christian iconography. The acquisition adds a significant example of Sirani's work to the museum's collection.
Valie Export (1940–2026), the Austrian avant-garde artist known for radical feminist body art and video, has died at age 85. Born Waltraud Lehner in Linz, she studied design in Vienna before adopting her iconic pseudonym from a Canadian cigarette brand in 1967. Export rose to prominence with her 1969 performance *Genitalpanik*, which critiqued the male gaze and women's societal roles. She became a key figure in body art alongside the Vienna Actionists, later expanding into film and photography. Her first feature *Unsichtbare Gegner* (1976) screened at the Berlinale, and she won the Golden Bear in 1985 for *Die Praxis der Liebe*. She taught in Cologne from 1995 and participated in Documenta 6.
Biennale de Venise 2026 : les pavillons à ne surtout pas manquer
The 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh as an invitation to slow down and reconnect with emotions, features a constellation of contemplative and powerful proposals across the city. Notable national pavilions include the Holy See transforming a monastic garden into an immersive sound experience by Soundwalk Collective, Canada exploring colonial heritage through giant water lilies by Abbas Akhavan, and Austria electrifying the Giardini with radical performances by Florentina Holzinger. Other highlights include Spain dissecting collective memory through postcards, Poland imagining new forms of language between human and underwater worlds, and India's pavilion exploring notions of home.
Yto Barrada has been selected to represent France at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with her exhibition "Comme Saturne" (Like Saturn) in the French Pavilion. The installation features rebellious stage curtains hiding wasp nests and a copper daguerreotype plate of a planet, a large rock, a Wheel of Fortune, and a nostalgic vanitas arrangement around a missing mirror frame. Curated by Myriam Ben Salah, the show explores textile and natural dyeing, with three cabinets addressing the transmission of know-how, migration of plants and people, postcolonial history, and Enlightenment imperialism. A central room displays 70 pieces forming a symmetrical frieze of red natural dyes, while a black monochrome patchwork highlights the difficulty of achieving black in dyeing. Barrada is the fifth woman to represent France at the Biennale.
The Musée de l'Image d'Épinal is presenting a comprehensive exhibition on Belgian artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972), widely credited as the inventor of the graphic novel in 1918 with his wordless narratives composed of black-and-white woodcuts. The show, curated by Samuel Dégardin, brings together loans from major institutions and a private collection to reveal the full breadth of Masereel's practice, which spanned drawing, animation, painting, theater, ceramics, tapestry, and satirical press illustration. It highlights his pacifist activism during World War I, his collaborations with writers such as Stefan Zweig and Romain Rolland, and his humanist vision of a unified Europe.
Château-Chinon déballe les étonnants cadeaux du président François Mitterrand
The Cité des présents-François Mitterrand, formerly the Musée du Septennat, has reopened in Château-Chinon, France, after a renovation. The museum displays thousands of diplomatic gifts received by President François Mitterrand during his 14-year tenure (1981–1995), including a portrait of Prince Charles, a vermeil oasis from the king of Saudi Arabia, and taxidermy lions from the Central African Republic. The collection of 4,800 objects spans 80 countries, with one-third donated by French citizens. The site also houses a fashion museum featuring 5,000 pieces from the 17th century to contemporary designers like Alexis Mabille and Yves Saint Laurent.
Beaux Arts Magazine publishes a dossier on the pioneers of photography, marking the medium's 200th anniversary. The article profiles key figures such as Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre, Anna Atkins, Gustave Le Gray, Nadar, Eugène Atget, Girault de Prangey, Alfred Stieglitz, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Edward Steichen, highlighting their innovations in heliography, cyanotype, daguerreotype, and pictorialism. It also includes a focus on the oldest known photograph.
On April 29, a large statue attributed to Banksy appeared on a plinth at Waterloo Place in London's St James's district. The work depicts a man in a suit stepping forward with a flag covering his face, bearing the artist's signature. Banksy later claimed the piece on Instagram, sparking crowds and speculation.
Montréal, a UNESCO City of Design, is home to a wealth of cultural institutions. This article highlights eight must-visit museums, including the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (the city's largest art museum, with nearly 47,000 works from antiquity to today), the Musée McCord Stewart (a centennial museum focusing on Canadian history and Indigenous voices), the Écomusée du Fier Monde (dedicated to working-class history and eco-design), and Pointe-à-Callière (an archaeology and history museum built on the city's original foundations). Each museum offers a unique perspective on art, history, and society.
Théâtre à Paris : le Studio Hébertot fait revivre les compagnes de Pablo Picasso, de Fernande Olivier à Françoise Gilot
A theatrical production titled 'Les Amours de Pablo' is being staged at the Studio Hébertot in Paris until the end of May 2026. The play, created by the Compagnie Bille en Tête, focuses on the intimate and tumultuous relationships of Pablo Picasso, but primarily aims to give voice and substance to seven of his romantic partners, portraying them as complex individuals and artists in their own right.
La recette d’art d’Alain Passard : un îlot de goûts emballé façon Christo et Jeanne-Claude
Michelin-starred chef Alain Passard pays tribute to the monumental environmental installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude through a culinary creation. The article highlights the duo's 1983 project 'Surrounded Islands,' where they encircled eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 600,000 square meters of floating pink polypropylene fabric, a work that exemplified their commitment to self-funded, accessible, and ephemeral public art.
Matisse, Soulages, Chagall… Les plus belles églises et chapelles décorées par des artistes dans toute la France
Renowned modern and contemporary artists have transformed various religious sites across France into immersive 'total works of art.' From Pierre Soulages’ translucent stained-glass windows in the Abbey of Sainte-Foy in Conques to Pablo Picasso’s monumental 'War and Peace' murals in Vallauris, these projects demonstrate how secular artists have engaged with sacred architecture. The article highlights ten specific locations where artists like Matisse, Chagall, and Cocteau integrated painting, glasswork, and furniture into historic ecclesiastical settings.