Group of Seven, Van Gogh and Renoir works will be showcased at new downtown gallery

A new commercial gallery, Cowley Abbott Fine Art, is opening in downtown Calgary with a three-day public preview starting April 23, 2026. The gallery will showcase rare masterworks by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Canadian icons like Emily Carr and Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven. Notably, an Emily Carr painting from the 1930s, last exhibited nearly a century ago, will be on view.

Within and beyond the gallery: Moody Center for the Arts brings artists into classroom and classroom into exhibition

The Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University organized the exhibition 'Imaging after Photography,' which explored how artificial intelligence is reshaping the medium. The show featured seven international artists, including Sofia Crespo and Gregory Chatonsky, and was curated by Alison Weaver and Noor Alé.

Making Rent: New York’s New Apartment Galleries and Artist-Run Spaces

A wave of new artist-run and apartment galleries is emerging in New York's outer boroughs, driven by artists and organizers seizing unconventional, often temporary, spaces. These include the Gallery in Crown Heights, a massive group show staged in a vacant office loft secured with a two-month free lease, and the more established Iowa Projects, which presents solo exhibitions in a domestic setting.

Toronto art gallery hosting free party ahead of new exhibit

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto is hosting a free opening party on April 24 for its new exhibition, 'Colourful Parachutes: Imagining Alternative Futures Through the Power of Play.' The exhibition features interactive installations by ten international artists, including Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Leisure, Robin Rhode, and Claire Greenshaw, designed to be touched, climbed on, and altered by visitors.

'Come Closer' at Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong on 15 May–5 Jul 2026

Tang Contemporary Art in Hong Kong is presenting the exhibition 'Come Closer,' featuring works by artists Arik Levy and Zoé Ouvrier from May 15 to July 5, 2026. The show explores themes of intimacy, vulnerability, and the relational space between viewer and artwork, inviting audiences to engage deeply with pieces that address memory, the body, and identity.

Evanston Art Center to host immersive ‘Walldrawings’ exhibit by two artists

The Evanston Art Center will present 'Walldrawings,' a collaborative exhibition by artists Maria Burundarena and Friedhard Kiekeben, from April 25 through May 17. The show features large-scale, immersive wall drawings and digital works designed to transform the gallery space and envelop the viewer.

Interview: Lukas Amacher Is Building a Chatbot for the Art World

Curator, collector, and entrepreneur Lukas Amacher, in partnership with developer David Simon, has launched CONTXT, an A.I.-powered chatbot platform designed for art exhibitions. The software allows visitors to ask questions about artworks via a chat interface, with answers sourced directly from an institution's curated materials like catalog essays and curator notes, rather than generic internet searches. The platform is currently being tested in a public preview with bitforms gallery.

Artist Lynn Rogers shares lifelong love of art as Munson docent

Artist Lynn Rogers has volunteered as a docent at the Munson museum in Utica, New York, for over 15 years. She credits her lifelong passion for art to childhood visits to the Yale Art Museum with her mother, an artist, and now uses similar interactive teaching methods to guide visitors through Munson's collections and special exhibitions.

'To Paint Is To Love Again' at Crèvecoeur, Paris–Cascades, France on 9 Apr–27 May 2026

The group exhibition 'To Paint Is To Love Again' at Crèvecoeur gallery in Paris explores the theme of artistic freedom, play, and a childlike approach to creation. The article examines this through the lens of Henry Miller's writings on painting, the influence of Jean Dubuffet's Art Brut, and the practices of contemporary artists Whitney Clafin, Sadie Benning, and Françoise Lapeyre, who incorporate found objects, toys, and a 'Sunday painter' ethos into their work.

From Gaza to Syria: Stories from Middle East dominate art exhibition in Portugal

The Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra in Portugal is presenting a significant number of works addressing conflict and displacement in the Middle East. The biennial, curated by John Zeppetelli and Hans Ibelings, features projects like Taysir Batniji's "Just in Case #2," a series of 250 photographs of keys belonging to displaced Palestinians, and Adam Broomberg and Rafael Gonzalez's "Anchor In The Landscape," documenting destroyed olive trees.

A flaming locomotive and the future stars: RSA200 celebrates a bicentenary for Scottish Art

The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) has launched RSA200, a nationwide initiative involving over 100 partners to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The program highlights Scotland's art history and contemporary practice, kicking off with the New Scottish Contemporaries exhibition featuring recent graduates like Daye Allan, Malachy McCrimmon, and Poppy Gannon.

Hannah Black at zaza'

Artist Hannah Black opened a solo exhibition titled "Harsh Muting" at the gallery zaza' in Naples. The show runs from March 20 to May 3, 2026, and is documented with 14 images on the Contemporary Art Daily platform.

Poly Auction Hong Kong concludes spring sales - Vietnam Investment Review

Poly Auction Hong Kong concluded its Spring 2026 auction series with total sales exceeding HKD 255 million, representing a 23% increase over the previous autumn season. The sales were led by Liu Wei’s 1995 masterpiece "You Like Pork?", which fetched HKD 27.6 million, and a Ming Dynasty Blue and White 'Grapes' Dish that realized HKD 24.6 million. The auction saw participation from collectors across 17 countries, with significant growth in the Modern and Contemporary Art segment, which rose over 63% compared to the prior season.

Longmont Museum expansion to bring bigger galleries and experiences for all ages

The Longmont Museum in Colorado has successfully raised $10.2 million for a 7,000-square-foot expansion, surpassing its original funding goal. The project, largely funded by a $6 million gift from the Stewart Family Foundation, will introduce a dedicated children's gallery, a permanent history gallery, and a larger 4,000-square-foot space for major art exhibitions. Construction is set to begin in July 2025, with the first major art show, a photographic portrait of Frida Kahlo, scheduled for October 2026.

Denver Botanic Gardens opens a world-class Jaume Plensa art exhibit

The Denver Botanic Gardens has launched "A New Humanism," the first U.S. retrospective of internationally acclaimed Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. Commemorating the institution's 75th anniversary, the exhibition features approximately 30 works, including Plensa’s signature large-scale public sculptures, indoor resin figures, and mixed-media works on paper. The show spans three indoor galleries and the garden's outdoor landscapes, highlighting the artist's career-long exploration of the human form, language, and the concept of "invisibility" in art.

Hong Kong Art Gallery Kwai Fung Hin Opens First Overseas Outpost In Singapore

Hong Kong’s Kwai Fung Hin gallery has expanded internationally for the first time, opening a new outpost at 30 Beach Road in Singapore. Founded by former banker Catherine Kwai in 1991, the gallery specializes in 20th-century modern and contemporary art with a focus on cultural heritage. The new space launched with an exhibition titled “Worlds beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II,” featuring a masterpiece by Claude Monet alongside works by Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun.

Museum of Contemporary Religious Art comes to a close after three decades

The Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) at Saint Louis University is closing to the public on May 31, 2025, after more than three decades of operation. Its final exhibition, 'Liminal,' features works from 47 artists, many drawn from the museum's permanent collection. The closure, announced last year, is a result of university budget cuts.

This Exhibition Explores How Faith Ringgold Changed the Art World

The Mandeville Art Gallery at the University of California San Diego is hosting "Faith Ringgold: Full Circle—The Teachings and Her Legacy," a comprehensive exhibition honoring the late artist and former faculty member. Curated by Mashonda Tifrere, the show features works spanning from 1976 to 2023, including Ringgold’s iconic story quilts, soft sculptures, masks, and political posters. The collection highlights her multidisciplinary approach and her commitment to centering Black American life and feminist narratives through her unique fusion of fine art and traditional craft.

Exhibition | Merlin James, 'See Through' at P420, Bologna, Italy

The gallery P420 in Bologna has opened "See Through," the second solo exhibition by Welsh artist Merlin James. The show features a non-linear curation that blends works from different decades, ranging from landscapes and interiors to erotic scenes and near-abstract compositions. James’s approach treats the exhibition as a "jam session," where visual and thematic repetitions provide a structure for diverse painterly explorations.

Photography, a rapidly growing market: global auctions up 19% and increasing space for contemporary art.

The global photography market experienced a significant surge in 2025, with auction turnover at major houses like Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips rising 19.1% to $40.4 million. A key trend identified in the Deloitte Private report is the shift away from specialized photography-only auctions toward the integration of high-value photographic works into broader modern and contemporary art sales. This transition has helped drive the average hammer price up by nearly 39%, as seen with million-dollar results for artists like Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, and William Eggleston.

Highlights from New Orleans Auction Galleries' Spring Fine Art and Design Sale

New Orleans Auction Galleries has announced its Spring Fine Art and Design sale, scheduled for April 23, 2026. The auction will feature 279 lots spanning over a century of artistic production, highlighted by significant works from Mexican modernist José Clemente Orozco, Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Southern Regionalist John McCrady. The collection explores diverse themes ranging from the metaphysical to social and political commentary through painting, sculpture, and mixed media.

Fort Worth's Gallery at Bowie House to Present New Art Exhibition Featuring Carly Allen Martin and Erik Skoldberg

The Gallery at Bowie House in Fort Worth is launching a new exhibition titled "Memory Lane," featuring abstract works by artists Carly Allen Martin and Erik Skoldberg. Since opening in December 2023 within the luxury Auberge Resorts Collection hotel, the gallery has integrated fine art into every guest room and public space, selling hundreds of works ranging from $30,000 to several hundred thousand dollars. The upcoming show marks a shift for the space, moving from its typical figurative Western aesthetic toward contemporary abstraction.

Exhibition | Bertrand Lavier, 'Brushstroke n.7' at MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Pièce Unique, Paris, France

French artist Bertrand Lavier is presenting a solo exhibition titled 'Brushstroke n.7' at MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique in Paris. The exhibition centers on a single, sinuous steel sculpture that translates the traditionally flat, expressive painterly gesture into a three-dimensional physical entity. This presentation marks Lavier's sixth solo show with the gallery and continues his decades-long exploration of the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and the readymade.

Ocean Line, 2026 by Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems has introduced a new photographic work titled 'Ocean Line' (2026). The piece is being presented in multiple dimensions, ranging from 11 x 14 inches to 20 x 24 inches, through a platform that partners with elite, vetted galleries to showcase contemporary artists to a global network of collectors and advisors.

Twelve Exhibitions, One Looming Question: Bard Student Curators Take on the Meaning of Now at Hessel Museum

The Hessel Museum at Bard College has launched its annual spring exhibition season, featuring twelve distinct curatorial projects titled "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today." Organized by graduating students from the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), the showcase serves as a professional debut for an emerging cohort of curators. The projects range from solo retrospectives of under-recognized artists like Brazilian painter Maria Auxiliadora Silva to explorations of feminist art history through the work of A.I.R. Gallery co-founder Anne Healy.

Ghost at La Lison Gallery: our photos from the exhibition Before the Ashes

Ghost at La Lison Gallery: our photos from the exhibition Before the Ashes

The La Lison Gallery in Paris is hosting "Avant les cendres" (Before the Ashes), a solo exhibition by the artist Fantôme running from April 9 to May 16, 2026. The showcase features a series of abstract works that utilize black ink, oils, fabric, and ash to explore texture and light, drawing comparisons to the monochromatic depth of Pierre Soulages. The exhibition serves as a prequel to the artist's upcoming show, "Cercles," in Nancy.

Artexpo New York Returns to Pier 36 for 49th Annual Showcase

Artexpo New York has returned to Pier 36 for its 49th annual edition, featuring over 70,000 square feet of exhibition space. Hosted by Redwood Art Group, the fair showcases a diverse range of media from more than 20 countries, divided into the main Artexpo Pavilion for established galleries and the [SOLO] Pavilion for independent artists. The 2026 program includes interactive Art Labs, the affordable Discoveries Collection, and the prestigious Spotlight Program, which honors six selected artists and galleries.

Scotland’s oldest art exhibition marks 200 years with landmark show

The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in Edinburgh is celebrating its bicentenary with its largest annual exhibition to date, running from May 9 to June 14, 2026. Curated by artist Annie Cattrell under the theme "In-Time," the landmark 200th edition features hundreds of works by artists and architects, including invited contributions from Martin Creed and Cathie Pilkington. The event also introduces several new major prizes, such as the Jack Vettriano Award, bringing the total prize fund to over £25,000.

Exhibition | Yue Minjun, 'Crab' at Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

Tang Contemporary Art in Hong Kong is hosting 'Crab', a comprehensive solo exhibition by the renowned Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun. The show traces three decades of his career, featuring his iconic 'Laughing Face' series alongside newer works like the 'Flower Series' and 'Stack Series' that utilize diverse mediums including oil, sculpture, and printmaking.

Kruso Art in the former Cinema De Amicis and advance lending on auction lots

Kruso Art has inaugurated its new Milan headquarters within the historic former Cinema De Amicis, following a six-million-euro redevelopment by Banca Sistema. The multifunctional space will host its first auction on April 15 during Milano Art Week, featuring 57 contemporary works from a private collection, including pieces by Rémy Zaugg, Giuseppe Stampone, and Darren Almond.