100 years since the death of Antoni Gaudí and Lego presents the Sagrada Familia set: the largest ever

100 anni dalla morte di Antoni Gaudí e la Lego presenta il set della Sagrada Familia: il più grande di sempre

Lego has announced the release of its largest-ever set: a replica of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Comprising 12,060 pieces and priced at €750, the set will be available from November 1, 2026, as part of the Lego Architecture series. The design, led by Lego Architecture designer Rok Žgalin Kobe, aims to honor Gaudí's vision on the centenary of his death in 1926, featuring a detailed reproduction of the basilica's exterior and interior, including stained-glass windows.

È Vincenzo Trione il nuovo presidente della Triennale Milano: le prime dichiarazioni

Vincenzo Trione has been appointed as the new president of Triennale Milano, succeeding Stefano Boeri after eight years. The appointment, finalized after months of speculation, reflects a political balance between Italy's Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli and Milan's mayor Giuseppe Sala. Trione, a professor at IULM University and former curator of the Italy Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, will lead the foundation for a new term, with architect and designer Michele De Lucchi potentially taking on an artistic director role, though this remains unconfirmed.

La Biennale di Taipei nel 2027 avrà una curatrice italiana: nominata Cecilia Alemani

The Taipei Biennial has appointed Italian curator Cecilia Alemani to direct its 15th edition in 2027, as announced by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM). Alemani, currently director and chief curator of High Line Art in New York, will bring her expertise in intertwining historical research, social issues, and alternative imaginaries to her first curatorial project in Asia. She previously achieved international acclaim as artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, where her exhibition "The Milk of Dreams" featured 213 artists from 58 countries.

The Life of Women in the Renaissance on Display at VIVE in Rome. Starting from Piero di Cosimo's Magdalene

La vita delle donne nel Rinascimento in mostra al VIVE di Roma. Partendo dalla Maddalena di Piero di Cosimo

A new exhibition at the VIVE museum complex in Rome, housed in the restored kitchens of Palazzo Venezia, centers on Piero di Cosimo's painting of Mary Magdalene as a Renaissance maiden. Titled "La Maddalena di Piero di Cosimo: arte, storia e vite di donne nel Rinascimento fiorentino," the show uses the artwork as a springboard to explore the lives, roles, and material culture of Florentine women in the 15th and 16th centuries. Curated by Edith Gabrielli with historical consultants Fernanda Alfieri, Serena Galasso, and Isabella Lazzarini, the exhibition features the Magdalene panel on loan from the Gallerie Nazionali d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, alongside 15 Renaissance textiles from the Museo del Tessuto di Prato, as well as letters, poems, account books, illuminated manuscripts, wedding chests, terracotta altars, and jewelry. The display is organized into eleven sections across three narrative threads: Piero di Cosimo's career and his Magdalene; the life stages of Florentine women; and their societal roles.

How is Italian design told in the world? The word to Maria Cristina Didero

Come si racconta il design italiano nel mondo? La parola a Maria Cristina Didero

Maria Cristina Didero, a prominent Italian design curator, is currently involved in three exhibitions across Muscat, Tirana, and Tokyo. In Muscat, the National Museum hosts "1 to a Million Design Stories," produced by the ADI Design Museum of Milan, showcasing 35 Compasso d'Oro-winning objects—including Gio Ponti's Superleggera chair and the Olivetti Lettera 22—through fresh texts and illustrations by Steven Guarnaccia. The exhibition highlights how Italian design transcends functionality to become a vessel for narrative and imagination.

2026 Annual Artists in Residence Exhibition

The Galveston Artist Residency is hosting its 2026 Annual Artists in Residence Exhibition from June 13 to July 18, 2026, featuring works by three artists: Germán Benincore, Aliyah Cydonia, and Francesca Fuchs. Benincore, a Colombian-born visual artist, explores visual systems of representation through drawing and has received the Galbut Prize 2024. Cydonia, a painter and installation artist from Texas, has exhibited widely in Dallas and is currently a resident at Galveston Artist Residency. Fuchs, a London-born, Houston-based painter with a thirty-year career, recently had a solo presentation at the Menil Collection and was named Texas Artist of the Year in 2018.

Crystal Bridges Marks 15 Years With a Major Expansion

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, is celebrating its 15th anniversary by unveiling a major 114,000-square-foot expansion designed by architect Moshe Safdie. The new wing includes 29,000 square feet of gallery space, allowing the museum to host more traveling exhibitions, better showcase its permanent collection, and improve accessibility. The museum has also significantly expanded its holdings of Indigenous art, acquiring works by artists such as Jeffrey Gibson, Raven Halfmoon, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Addie Roanhouse, led by curator Jordan Poorman Cocker. The expansion opens with the exhibition "Keith Haring in 3D," focusing on the artist's sculptural work.

Jutta Koether at Empty Gallery

Jutta Koether's exhibition at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong presents a series of new paintings and works on paper that continue her exploration of abstraction, gesture, and materiality. The show features densely layered canvases and intimate works on paper, often incorporating text, collage, and painterly marks that oscillate between control and spontaneity. The gallery's raw, industrial space provides a stark backdrop for Koether's visceral, process-driven practice.

Yinka Ilori’s First London Exhibition

British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori presents his first solo gallery exhibition, "He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best," at Cristea Roberts Gallery in Mayfair, London. The show explores themes of grief and joy following the death of his mother in September 2023, featuring kaleidoscopic prints, hand-embroidered artworks, painted pianos, and embellished calabashes and drums. Motifs of lace, flowers (British daffodils and Nigerian yellow trumpet flowers), and drums recur throughout, with a lace tapestry bearing the exhibition's subtitle. Two soundscapes by Peter Adjaye and James William Blades accompany the works, and buyers receive a signed vinyl.

Art on a Yacht, Art in a Shed, and a New Museum Director for the Frye

Local artist Light Guerrilla projected the message "TAX THE RICH" onto Mark Zuckerberg's megayacht Launchpad in Seattle, briefly illuminating the vessel before security confiscated the equipment. The Frye Art Museum appointed Rangsook Yoon, PhD, as Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs, a new role overseeing the curatorial department as the museum approaches its 75th anniversary in 2027. The article also notes the passing of art-world commentator Hilde Lynn Helphenstein (Jerry Gogosian) and highlights upcoming events including Lars Bergquist's solo exhibition at Europa Gallery and Philippe Hyojung Kim's show at SOIL Gallery.

For Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster, Humility Might Be a Worse Sin Than Pride

Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster reflects on the sin of pride in a personal essay for Cultured magazine's "Indulgence" issue, part of a series where seven figures examine how one of the seven deadly sins threads through their life and work. Webster explores pride as a complex, gendered experience—distinguishing women's pride from male ambition and describing it as a refusal to yield rather than self-exaltation, while also distrusting humility as a covert demand for women to remain accommodating.

Artist Christine Sun Kim on How Her Deaf Rage Grew Into Deaf Wrath

Artist Christine Sun Kim reflects on the concept of wrath in the context of her identity as a deaf person, describing a lecture-performance in which she shows gruesome clips of deaf characters being killed in television and film. She recounts a personal moment when a hearing family member texted her about a new gene therapy for deafness, calling it “amazing,” which she interprets as part of a broader eugenicist narrative that seeks to eliminate deafness. Kim contrasts this with the progress she witnessed after the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed in 1990, including captions, interpreters, and access to education, which enabled her to become an artist. Now, she says, that progress is eroding, and her earlier “Degrees of Deaf Rage” has escalated into wrath.

Licornes !

The Musée de Cluny in Paris is hosting a new exhibition titled "Licornes !" from March 10 to July 12, 2026, eight years after its previous show "Magiques licornes." The exhibition centers on the famous "Dame à la licorne" tapestry series (circa 1500), tracing its creation and rediscovery around 1840 before its acquisition by the museum in 1882. It expands the scope to cover representations of unicorns from antiquity to the present day, including non-European civilizations—such as an Indus Valley ceramic seal from circa 2000 BCE—and a contemporary section upstairs. The show was originally conceived by the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, which hosted the first iteration from October to February, preceded by an international symposium in June 2024.

This Studio Visit Ritual Helped Artist Eliza Douglas Land a Show at Gagosian

Artist Eliza Douglas opened her first solo show in New York, titled “GHOSTS,” at Gagosian’s Park & 75 location on the same day her Paris gallery, Air de Paris, announced its closure. The exhibition features reworked paintings from the past decade, combining existing compositions with manipulated photographs taken by her aunt, journalist Leslie Kean, who reports on UFOs. Curated by Francesco Bonami, the show is the first in a series aimed at presenting innovative work by younger or less established artists not necessarily represented by the mega-gallery. Douglas, known for collaborations with designer Demna and performance artist Anne Imhof, also discussed her studio practices in an interview, including her ritual of writing detailed show proposals and working without pants.

Two Sales at Sotheby's Paris

Deux ventes chez Sotheby's Paris

Sotheby's Paris is holding two sales in June 2026: a live auction on June 9 and an online sale running through June 10. The live sale features two notable 17th-century French paintings with unusually low estimates: a portrait of Sister Angélique Arnauld by Philippe de Champaigne (estimated €60,000–80,000), a previously unseen autograph replica of a work in the Louvre, and a portrait of Nicolas de Brisacier by Nicolas Mignard. The Champaigne portrait is particularly significant due to the sitter's role as abbess of Port-Royal and the artist's connection to Jansenism.

Betye Saar, Chris Rock, and Tinashe Lit Up MoMA’s 2026 Party in the Garden

On Tuesday night, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held its annual Party in the Garden benefit, honoring artists Betye Saar and Martin Puryear alongside philanthropist Jo Carole Lauder. The event featured a dinner inside the museum followed by an after-party in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, with DJ sets by Tinashe and Rebecca Black. Attendees included museum leadership, artists such as KAWS, Julie Mehretu, and Carrie Mae Weems, patrons like Michael Bloomberg and Marie-Josée Kravis, and cultural figures Chris Rock and Tefi Pessoa.

What Holds Us Together?

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents 'Maren Hassinger: Living Moving Growing', the most comprehensive retrospective of the American artist's career, spanning over five decades. The exhibition features sculpture, performance, installation, and moving-image works that explore themes of transformation, care, and interconnectedness, using materials such as wire rope, tree branches, newspapers, and plastic bags. It includes key works from the 1970s to the present, with performances, workshops, and recreations of ephemeral installations, on view until 29 November 2026.

RARE ESSENCE: Colour and Cloth

New York-based artist Eric N. Mack has transformed the Speed Art Museum's Gheens Court into an immersive textile-based installation titled 'RARE ESSENCE'. The exhibition, presented as part of the museum's Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, features found fabrics, garments, and everyday materials that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, architecture, and fashion. Mack's work activates the museum space through color, texture, and drape, creating a dynamic environment that invites visitors to navigate shifting relationships between body, space, and material.

French Supreme Court Tears Up Lawsuit Aiming to Halt Bayeux Tapestry Loan to the British Museum

France's highest administrative court has rejected a legal challenge by heritage group Sites & Monuments that sought to block the loan of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum. The court ruled that President Emmanuel Macron's decision to lend the artifact is an act of government inseparable from international diplomacy, and therefore not subject to judicial review. The ruling came two days after a French Culture Ministry report expressed confidence that the fragile tapestry, designated in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, would not be physically threatened by the move.

Chairman of US Commission of Fine Arts Attends ‘Russian Davos,’ Joins Roundtable With Russian Envoy Responsible for Venice Biennale Participation

Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), known as the 'Russian Davos,' becoming the first US official to do so in nearly a decade. He participated in a roundtable titled 'Russia-USA: dialogue of cultures' moderated by Russian cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy, who also coordinated Russia's participation in the 2024 Venice Biennale. Other attendees included actor Steven Seagal, State Hermitage Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky, and Russian culture minister Olga Lyubimova, several of whom have been sanctioned by the EU for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Cook praised Putin and conveyed greetings from President Trump, while Ukrainian drones struck targets near St. Petersburg as the forum opened.

Is the Mega-Gallery Model Collapsing?

Pace Gallery, a leading mega-gallery, announced it will cut its workforce from approximately 250 to 200 employees and drop as many as 50 of its roughly 135 represented artists. This restructuring signals a potential crisis in the mega-gallery model. Separately, Sotheby's will auction a "scandalous" Modigliani nude, estimated at $60 million, from the collection of billionaire Joe Lewis, while the Artnet Price Database reports that Asia's fine art auction market is undergoing a sharp recalibration, with regional price disparities at their widest in a decade.

Divination, Mark Making, Boxing, & Drawing: "Tracey Rose" at Ruby City

Ruby City in San Antonio, Texas, will present a solo exhibition of South African artist Tracey Rose, opening June 6, 2026. The show features the video performance "TKO" (2000), in which Rose repeatedly punches a heavy bag fitted with cameras, alongside a suite of 62 drawings created during her 2000 residency at Artpace. These works, shown together for the first time, explore themes of endurance, identity, vulnerability, and transformation through boxing, gesture, and intuitive mark-making.

After Drawing Women Trapped in Labyrinths for Years, Kyung-Me Painted Herself Free

Kyung-Me, an artist who spent 12 years creating intricate black-and-white line drawings of women trapped in labyrinthine interiors inspired by The Tale of Genji, abruptly pivoted to painting after realizing the work was isolating her. She took a painting class, embraced Sungsook Setton's Asian painting philosophy, and now produces loose, vibrant watercolor-and-ink sunflowers, which will be on view at Bureau gallery in New York this summer.

The Basque Museum of Bilbao reopens its doors after 4 years of renovation

Le Musée Basque de Bilbao rouvre ses portes après 4 ans de travaux

The Basque Museum of Bilbao (Euskal Museoa) will reopen to the public on June 10 after four years of closure since October 2021. The museum underwent a major expansion and restructuring project costing over 20 million euros, funded by the Biscay Provincial Council and the Bilbao city council. The renovation added more than 6,000 square meters of exhibition space, acquired nearby buildings for conferences and educational workshops, and introduced an immersive architectural design by the Navarrese studio Vaíllo + Igaray, centered on the metaphor of a "living oak." New features include a gastronomic laboratory and a restoration workshop open to the public from September.

Death of Marjane Satrapi

Disparition de Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi, the Franco-Iranian artist best known for her graphic novel "Persepolis," has died at age 56, according to the Académie des beaux-arts, where she had been a member since 2024. Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969, Satrapi rose to prominence with "Persepolis" (2000-2003), a four-volume autobiographical account of her childhood during the Iranian Revolution and her exile. The work established her as a central figure in European comics, blending stark black-and-white drawings with a deeply personal narrative of political and social upheaval. She later adapted "Persepolis" into an acclaimed animated film (2007), winning the Prix du Jury at Cannes and two César awards, and expanded into painting and public activism, notably coordinating the 2023 collective book "Femme, vie, liberté" after the death of Mahsa Amini.

Everything you need to know about Gaudí, the architect of the Sagrada Família who died a hundred years ago

Tout savoir sur Gaudí, l’architecte de la Sagrada Família disparu il y a cent ans

Beaux Arts Magazine marks the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death in 2026 with a curated selection of articles about the Catalan modernist architect. The Sagrada Família, his most famous work and Spain's most visited monument, is finally nearing completion after 144 years of construction. The tower of Christ will be inaugurated on June 10, 2026, in the presence of Pope Leo XIV. The magazine also highlights Gaudí's other iconic creations, such as Casa Batlló, and his organic, dreamlike architectural style. A special evening on Arte will feature the documentary "Sagrada Família. Le rêve…" and the Musée d'Orsay is presenting an exhibition exploring the genesis of Gaudí's work within the context of early 1900s Catalonia.

In Saint-Nazaire, the closure of the Grand Café causes shock and incomprehension

À Saint-Nazaire, la fermeture du Grand Café provoque la stupeur et l’incompréhension

The Grand Café, a contemporary art center founded in 1997 in Saint-Nazaire and labeled a 'Centre d’art contemporain d’intérêt national' since 2018, will close after renovation work scheduled for 2027. The socialist municipal government led by David Samzun announced that the venue will abandon its contemporary art programming in favor of a photography-focused project run by an external operator selected through a call for proposals. The announcement, made in mid-May, has shocked the cultural sector, as the Grand Café had been a major regional player for nearly 30 years, supporting emerging and established artists through monographic exhibitions, residencies, and mediation work.

Museum revamp sparks debate over art displays

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery's recent refurbishment has sparked criticism from art historian Ruth Millington, who claims that world-famous artworks by artists such as David Cox and Canaletto have been removed from public view and replaced with "gimmicky" modern installations focused on local culture, including displays about the cob bread roll, baths in Moseley, and the BT Tower. Millington argues that the new curation in the Round Room, which now features color-coded wall arrangements, lacks vision and fails to showcase the city in a positive light. Museum bosses, including co-chief executive Sara Wajid, defend the changes, stating that visitor numbers have increased since the re-opening and that the museum is working to attract a broader audience beyond "highly educated art historians."

Emmanuel Kasarhérou, président du musée du quai Branly : « Nous tentons d’être des observateurs attentifs et respectueux des évolutions du monde »

Emmanuel Kasarhérou, president of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, reflects on the museum's 20th anniversary in June 2026. He discusses the institution's founding vision to move beyond traditional ethnographic museums, its iconic architecture by Jean Nouvel, and the evolution of its relationship with the Louvre's Pavillon des Sessions, which became the Galerie des Cinq Continents. Kasarhérou also addresses geopolitical changes, the destruction of cultural heritage, and the museum's efforts to build international partnerships, particularly with countries of origin for its collections, such as Mali.

9 Defining Portraits of Marilyn Monroe

Artsy Editorial highlights nine defining portraits of Marilyn Monroe, coinciding with the centennial of her birth. The article notes that while Monroe was a master of self-image in photography, fine artists were drawn to her during her lifetime, but her early death cemented her as a cultural icon. These portraits are currently on display at London's National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "Marilyn: A Portrait," running through September 6th.