Gundlach-Sammlung bleibt bis 2046 in den Deichtorhallen
The Hamburg Senate has announced a 20-year extension of the loan agreement for the F.C. Gundlach Collection at the Deichtorhallen. The prominent photography collection, which has grown to 14,000 works, will remain in the institution's 'Haus der Photografie' until 2046 and will receive a dedicated exhibition area on the first floor.
The Box, Plymouth’s flagship museum and art gallery, has announced a record-breaking performance for 2025, surpassing its annual visitor target by 18%. Since opening in 2020, the institution reached a milestone of 1.1 million total visitors, driven largely by the massive success of the 'Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy' exhibition. The show attracted 52,000 visitors in just its first nine weeks, with nearly half of those attendees traveling from outside the local region.
Auswärtiges Amt rügt Goethe-Institut für Ausstellung
The German Foreign Office has formally reprimanded the Goethe-Institut for its involvement in an exhibition in Vilnius, Lithuania, featuring Palestinian-American artist Basma al-Sharif. The ministry stated that events organized by German cultural intermediaries must leave no doubt about the government's firm rejection of antisemitism and hatred of Israel, and demanded greater care in planning and conceptualizing such events with partners. The exhibition, "Bells and Cannons - Contemporary Art in Times of Militarization," was a collaboration between the Goethe-Institut Vilnius, the Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius, and the Berlin Academy of Arts.
"Fast alles in der Welt hängt von dieser Substanz ab"
Artist Monira Al Qadiri presents her exhibition "Hero" at the Berlinische Galerie, focusing on oil tankers as central figures. The show explores the hidden violence and scale of the petroleum industry through a large wall painting of the supertanker Hero, miniature tankers with satirical names, and a video work depicting their destruction. Al Qadiri connects this to her long-term artistic investigation of oil's imagery and materiality.
ArtTactic's Global Art Market Outlook 2026 report reveals renewed confidence in the art market, with 51% of participants expecting growth and 42% anticipating stability. Strong sales in London, Paris, and Miami Beach, along with multi-billion-dollar November auction results, have buoyed sentiment. The recovery is uneven but meaningful, driven by selective demand for established names: Impressionist art rose 80.4%, Modern art 19.4%, and Old Masters 68.7%. The K-shaped divide is sharpening, with robust performance at the top end (above $1 million) and accessible tiers (below $50,000), while the middle market remains sluggish. Top performers include Klimt, Picasso, Rothko, and Calder, while ultracontemporary artists like Nicolas Party and Matthew Wong have seen significant declines.
Robert Mnuchin, the prominent New York gallerist who transitioned from a 33-year career on Wall Street to become a major force in the art world, has died at age 92. After heading the trading desk at Goldman Sachs, he co-founded C&M Arts in 1992 with James Corcoran, later establishing L&M Arts with Dominique Lévy in 2005, which was renamed Mnuchin Gallery in 2013. Known for his aggressive bidding at auction, Mnuchin made headlines with high-profile purchases including Roy Lichtenstein's *Sinking Sun* (1964) for $15.6 million in 2006 and Jeff Koons's *Rabbit* (1986) for $91.1 million in 2019, the latter a record for a living artist at the time.
Collector Patricia Poon and artist Angel Hui are among the figures highlighted in a series examining how Hong Kong women artists are gaining market share and recognition. The article reports that major auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips have moved their Asia headquarters to Hong Kong and now employ young women in key auctioneering roles. It notes a sharp increase in women artists featured in Chinese auctions, from 79 in 2019 to 231 in 2024, with 201 of those in Hong Kong. Works by artists like Firenze Lai, Elaine Chiu, and Kristy M Chan have performed strongly at auction, and Phillips has made promoting Hong Kong women artists a key priority.
London gallerist David Juda of Annely Juda, one of the city's longest-operating dealers, shares his strategies for keeping a gallery open amid a wave of closures. He emphasizes staying small, avoiding expensive art fairs for newcomers, and planning succession—handing responsibilities to co-director Nina Fellmann as he approaches 80. The gallery is moving to a new space on Hanover Square, inaugurating with new paintings by David Hockney.
The article describes a visit to "Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum," an exhibition of around 70 sculptures by contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Sarah Lucas, and Maggi Hambling, held in the ancient Clearwell Caves in the Forest of Dean, England. The show was organized by Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig of Pangolin Editions, a sculpture foundry that fabricated many of the works, and required significant ingenuity to install large, heavy pieces in the deep, dark, damp cave system.
American painter Karyn Lyons explores the longing and desolation of adolescent girlhood in her solo exhibition “Day for Night” at Stems Gallery in Paris, which opened ahead of Art Basel Paris. The show features paintings of an adolescent girl in affluent yet lonely settings, which Lyons describes as metaphoric pages from her diary. After studying journalism and working in advertising and fashion, Lyons earned a post-baccalaureate degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2003, but kept her work private for nearly two decades until a creative breakthrough during the pandemic led her to explore her own adolescence more psychologically.
Mary Boone, the legendary New York art dealer, has returned to the gallery world with a new curatorial project titled 'Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties' at Lévy Gorvy Dayan on the Upper East Side. The exhibition, co-curated with Brett Gorvy, features over 60 works by iconic artists of the 1980s including Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring, Richard Prince, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It marks Boone's first major project in more than five years, following the closure of her namesake gallery and her 2019 tax-evasion conviction, for which she served 13 months in prison.
Lévy Gorvy Dayan has opened "Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties," a sweeping survey staged at its Beaux-Arts townhouse on East 64th Street. Organized in collaboration with legendary dealer Mary Boone, the exhibition brings together a stellar roster of artists whose careers defined the decade, including neo-expressionists like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Julian Schnabel, as well as appropriation and conceptual artists such as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons. The show explores the era's dual currents—raw painterly energy versus critical media interrogation—while acknowledging the AIDS epidemic, Reagan-era excess, and the rise of the art star. Immersive staging, a custom disco soundtrack, and works spanning multiple floors evoke the decade's theatricality and volatility.
The Chelsea gallery Kasmin will close this autumn after 35 years of operation, transitioning into a new venture called Olney Gleason. The new gallery will be led by Kasmin president Nick Olney and senior director Eric Gleason, both longtime employees who say the move aligns with the wishes of the late founder Paul Kasmin. Olney Gleason will continue working with an unspecified number of artists and estates from Kasmin's roster, including François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock's estate, and will open a flagship space in Chelsea with an inaugural show this autumn.
This article highlights three must-see art exhibitions in Hong Kong for July 2025. At Alisan Fine Arts, local artist Cherie Cheuk presents her first solo show, 'A Wrinkle In Time,' blending traditional Chinese ink painting with pop culture motifs like Super Mario and Pac-Man. At Villepin, 'Worlds Within' unites works by four migrant-influenced artists, including a debut Hong Kong showcase for Spanish-Filipino modernist Fernando Zóbel and a record-breaking painting by Lê Phổ. Ben Brown Fine Arts hosts 'Wish You Were Here,' a group show curated by Jie Xia featuring artists such as Gerhard Richter and Hilary Pecis, exploring themes of travel, paradise, and nostalgia.
Tim Blum, co-founder of the influential Los Angeles gallery Blum (formerly Blum & Poe), announced he will phase out the traditional gallery model, closing the gallery's permanent public spaces in Los Angeles and Tokyo. Blum cited burnout from the relentless demands of art fairs and gallery openings, emphasizing the decision is about the system, not the market. The gallery, which introduced American audiences to Japanese artists like Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami and gave early shows to Mark Grotjahn and Anna Weyant, will shift to a more flexible model involving collaborations and special projects. A previous New York space closed in 2023, and a Tribeca space's future remains undetermined.
New York City’s museum landscape is entering a major spring season characterized by high-profile retrospectives, institutional reopenings, and the 82nd Whitney Biennial. Key highlights include a massive Raphael survey at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring over 200 works, the reopening of the expanded New Museum with a tech-focused exhibition on the future of humanity, and a major survey of sculptor Carol Bove at the Guggenheim. The season also features thematic shows exploring American folk art, Dutch Golden Age masterpieces, and the relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
Poly Auction Hong Kong has announced its Spring 2026 auction series, scheduled to take place from April 6 to April 8 at the Shun Tak Centre. The sales feature a diverse array of categories including Modern and Contemporary Art, Chinese Ceramics, Chinese Paintings, and High Jewelry and Watches. Highlighting the contemporary selection is Liu Wei’s 1995 masterpiece "You Like Pork?", a rare work previously exhibited at the Venice Biennale, alongside a significant 1960s "White period" abstract canvas by Zao Wou-Ki.
An exhibition titled "American Inquisition" opened in mid-March at No Place Gallery, an artist-run space in Columbus, Ohio. Featuring paintings by Shiva Addanki and Nikholis Planck, the show draws its name from a statement by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine supporting detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, and its critical framework from Mike Davis's book "Buda's Wagon." Addanki's works depict scenes of US imperial violence, including downed drones and counterinsurgents at detention centers, while Planck's paintings map extractive infrastructure, subverting traditional landscape painting with industrial detritus and petroleum tankers.
Morad Montazami has been named the artistic director for the 16th edition of the Dakar Biennale, scheduled to run from November 19 to December 19, 2026. Titled "(Anti)Fragility: Arts of Repair and Counter-Shock Strategies," the exhibition will explore themes of community-led restoration and the transformation of vulnerability into collective strength. Montazami, a former Tate Modern curator and founder of the platform Zamân Books & Curating, brings an extensive background in postcolonial art histories and global modernisms to the prestigious African forum.
The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have reached a settlement with the Trump administration to restore the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The agreement follows a year-long legal battle sparked by an executive order that placed the agency's entire staff on administrative leave and attempted to dismantle the federal body. The settlement ensures the IMLS can resume awarding grants, conducting research, and operating programs while reversing previous staff terminations and grant cancellations.
Filmmaker Kei Ishikawa has adapted Kazuo Ishiguro's debut novel, 'A Pale View of Hills,' into a feature film, with Ishiguro serving as executive producer. The film expands the novel's dual-timeline narrative, set in post-war Nagasaki and 1980s England, and introduces a decisive narrative closure not found in the original text. It features performances from leading Japanese actors and meticulous period detail.
Nicéphore Niépce en 2 minutes
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a Burgundian engineer and inventor, is credited with creating the world's first permanent photograph, "Point de vue du Gras," in 1827. Using a process he termed heliography, Niépce utilized bitumen of Judea on pewter plates to fix images captured in a camera obscura. Despite his groundbreaking achievement, he died in relative obscurity in 1833, shortly after entering a partnership with Louis Daguerre, who would later receive the primary credit for the invention of photography.
4 détails pour comprendre « La Vierge au buisson de roses » de Martin Schongauer actuellement au Louvre
The Musée du Louvre is hosting a major exhibition dedicated to the Rhenish master Martin Schongauer, featuring his 1473 masterpiece, 'Madonna of the Rose Bower.' On loan from the Dominican Church in Colmar, the painting is a rare survivor of Schongauer’s small extant painted corpus and is making a significant journey to Paris despite its extreme fragility. The work is celebrated for its intricate detail and grace, qualities that earned the artist the nickname 'Handsome Martin' and influenced successors like Albrecht Dürer.
La véritable histoire du vol du Caravage par la mafia sicilienne derrière la série « Le Complot Caravaggio » sur Arte
The article details the infamous 1969 theft of Caravaggio's masterpiece, "Natività con i santi Lorenzo e Francesco d'Assisi" (The Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence), from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily. The painting, a large-scale work measuring three by two meters, was expertly cut from its frame and has never been recovered, remaining second on the FBI's Top Ten Art Crimes list. The theft is widely attributed to the Sicilian Mafia, with theories suggesting it was stolen to order or for use in secret mafia gatherings.
Jacques Gairard, a figure in the French art world, has died. The announcement appears in Le Journal des Arts, which also covers the opening of the Venice Biennale amid controversy, the final adoption of a law on the restitution of cultural property looted during colonization, the V&A East's focus on young audiences, the uneven economic impact of Monet's legacy in Giverny, and the structuring of the Nabis art market.
Renoir : un festival de prêts pour une double exposition
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has launched a major two-part exhibition dedicated to Auguste Renoir, titled "Renoir dessinateur" (Renoir as a Draughtsman) and "Renoir et l'amour" (Renoir and Love). The initiative began with a study for Renoir's controversial painting *Les Grandes Baigneuses* and has grown into an international loan effort, featuring over 150 rarely seen drawings, watercolors, pastels, and paintings from major museums and private collections worldwide, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the MET, and the Barnes Foundation.
A French parliamentary commission released a report on May 13 detailing severe security deficiencies in French museums, following a December 2025 heist at the Louvre where French Crown Jewels worth $100 million were stolen. The report, overseen by MPs Alexis Corbière and Alexandre Portier, draws on over 20 hearings and highlights that only 25% of surveyed museums have a finalized security plan, with the Louvre itself criticized for dilapidated conditions and ignored audit warnings from 2017 and 2019 that predicted the thieves' modus operandi. Former Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who resigned in February, faced criticism for delays in implementing a security master plan.
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) reportedly complied with censorship demands from its Chinese printing firm, C&C Offset Printing, to alter exhibition catalogues. Internal emails revealed that the museum removed a photograph of Lenin from a Fabergé exhibition book and altered historical maps to align with Chinese government standards after the printers flagged them as "sensitive." Staff noted that while they were aware of contemporary geopolitical sensitivities, the restrictions had expanded to include historical imagery, forcing last-minute editorial changes to avoid production delays.
Dartmouth College students have reignited a campaign to rename the Black Family Visual Arts Center, a campus facility funded by billionaire investor Leon Black. The movement, led by freshman Oscar Rempe-Hiam and supported by student government, criticizes the administration's lack of urgency in distancing the institution from Black, whose long-standing ties to Jeffrey Epstein and personal allegations of sexual misconduct have sparked years of controversy.
Patricia Marroquin Norby, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's inaugural full-time associate curator of Native American art, quietly left her position in December. Her departure followed independent investigations, including a 2024 report from the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, which challenged her claims of Native American ancestry. Both Norby and the museum cited health concerns as the reason for her exit.