Tehching Hsieh: ‘I didn’t try to be a superman, my work is not about heroism’

Tehching Hsieh, the pioneering performance artist known for his extreme durational works, has opened his first retrospective, 'Lifeworks 1978-99', at Dia Beacon. The exhibition follows his gift of 11 major works to the institution last year and features six spaces designed to convey the relative time of his performances—including his five one-year pieces (Cage Piece, Time Clock Piece, Outdoor Piece, Rope Piece, No Art Piece) and the Thirteen Year Plan—using spatial measurements to represent 'art time' and 'life time'.

4 notable art exhibitions opening around the world

Four major retrospective exhibitions are opening around the world in late 2025 and early 2026, celebrating the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Wes Anderson, Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawakubo, and Wifredo Lam. At M+ in Hong Kong, "Robert Rauschenberg and Asia" explores the artist's collaborations with artisans in India, China, and Japan. The Design Museum in London presents "Wes Anderson: The Archives," featuring over 600 items from his film sets. The Museum of Modern Art in New York hosts "Wilfredo Lam: When I Don't Sleep, I Dream," the most extensive US retrospective of the Cuban-born artist. A creative conversation between designers Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo is also highlighted.

Arts Playlist: Delaware Art Museum's 'Imprinted: Illustrating Race'

The Delaware Art Museum has opened 'Imprinted: Illustrating Race,' an exhibition co-curated by University of Delaware professor Robyn Phillips-Pendleton that examines how race and identity have been depicted in popular illustration over more than a century. The show, which previously ran at the Norman Rockwell Museum, features works from books, magazines, advertising, trade cards, posters, and even a cookie jar, tracing the evolution of racial representation in American visual culture. It includes a notable shift by Norman Rockwell, who after decades of depicting predominantly white family scenes for the Saturday Evening Post, turned to socially relevant topics like civil rights in the 1950s.

MFA Boston returns work by enslaved artist David Drake to his heirs, Wifredo Lam, Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi—podcast

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston has agreed to return two 1857 works by the enslaved potter David Drake to his descendants. One vessel will remain on loan to the museum for at least two years, while the other, known as the "Poem Jar," has been purchased back by the museum for an undisclosed sum, now carrying a certificate of ethical ownership. The episode also covers the opening of the exhibition "Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, featuring the modernist painter of African and Chinese descent, and discusses Domenico Ghirlandaio's "Adoration of the Magi" (1488) in the context of a new book on Renaissance foundlings.

Amoako Boafo serves up a community tennis court in Ghana

Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo has opened Backyard Community Club, a tennis training facility in Osu, Accra, featuring the country's first regulation clay court. Designed by Accra-based architecture firm DeRoche Projects, the court is enclosed by precast rammed-earth panels—also a first in Ghana—and includes shaded seating, changing rooms, and edible plants. The project offers free tennis lessons to local children, drawing on Boafo's own background as a ball boy and tennis player before his rise as a global art star.

Blanton Museum of Art To Showcase Transformative Gifts of Art in 2027 Exhibition

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled “Shaping the Future: Transformative Gifts to the Blanton Collection,” opening in March 2027. The show will feature significant artworks donated by alumni, Austinites, and collectors from across the country, including pieces by Ellsworth Kelly and John Singer Sargent. The exhibition debuts at a fundraising gala on March 6, 2027, and opens to the public on March 14, 2027, honoring donors whose gifts have strengthened the museum’s collection and supported its growth.

‘Truly inspiring’: New Princeton University Art Museum opens its doors to all

The new Princeton University Art Museum opened its doors to the public on Oct. 31, 2025, with a 24-hour open house that drew 21,763 visitors. The event featured dancing, stargazing, artmaking, live performances, film screenings, and a trivia contest, with highlights including Claude Monet's "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" and Nick Cave's mosaic. Director James Steward welcomed the crowd, and the museum also hosted previews for students, faculty, staff, and tradespeople, attracting thousands more.

National Gallery Singapore celebrates 10 years

National Gallery Singapore (NGS) celebrates its 10th anniversary with a weekend event on November 15-16, 2025, featuring extended hours, free exhibitions, a rave, a pop-up market, and food trucks. The gallery, housed in the restored Supreme Court and City Hall buildings, opened on November 24, 2015, after a delayed launch, and has since welcomed over 14 million visitors. Highlights include the blockbuster show "Into The Modern: Impressionism From The Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston," with works by Monet, Cézanne, and Degas never before shown in Singapore, plus exclusive merchandise from local brands.

Inside the Jewish Museum’s $14.5m renovation in New York City

The Jewish Museum in New York City reopened its third and fourth floors on October 24 after a $14.5 million renovation led by United Network Studio and New Affiliates Architecture. The redesigned 20,000-square-foot space features thematic galleries displaying centuries-old artifacts alongside works by Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and contemporary artists, as well as a new Robert and Tracey Pruzan Center for Learning with art studios and a children's archaeological dig. A highlight is the display of 139 Hanukkah lamps from the museum's collection, arranged geographically in a 50-foot vitrine.

Opening date for London’s V&A East Museum announced

The V&A East Museum in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will open on 18 April 2026, completing the institution's east London cultural campus. Designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey, the five-story museum will feature two free permanent "Why We Make" galleries co-curated with local youth groups, showcasing over 500 objects from the V&A collection alongside contemporary works by artists including Yinka Ilori, Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems, and Thomas J. Price. The opening exhibition, "The Music Is Black: A British Story," will chart the influence of Black British music from 1900 to the present.

Soulios Gallery to open new space in Nashville.

Soulios Gallery, founded by Steven and Ana Soulios, will open a new space in Nashville's historic Cummins Station on November 12th. The inaugural exhibition, "City of the Mind," features a survey of New York-based artist Arthur Robins, covering over 50 years of his work, including expressionist cityscapes, abstract Tunnel Paintings, and never-before-shown biblical pieces. The gallery focuses on postwar movements such as American Expressionism, overlooked artists, and video, media, and performance art, with future exhibitions planned for artists like Mattias Duwel, Ewald Platte, and Ma Kelu.

The story of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s brief but dazzling life, as told by an art-world insider

Doug Woodham, former president of Christie's Americas and current managing partner of Art Fiduciary Advisors, has authored a new biography titled "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon." The book is divided into two halves: the first offers a straightforward biography of Basquiat's life from his gifted childhood in Brooklyn to his rise as a star artist, his friendship with Andy Warhol, and his tragic death from a heroin overdose at age 27. The second half analyzes how Basquiat achieved such early success, examining the influence of his father Gerard, the legal battle with dealer Vrej Baghoomian over the artist's estate, and the roles of collectors like Peter Brant and José Mugrabi. Notably, the Basquiat estate refused permission to include images of his artwork because the book openly addresses sensitive issues about his character and life.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings of the Week (11/03—11/09)

Women in the Arts museum brings golden age artists into focus

The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., has opened a new exhibition titled "Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750," which showcases works by largely forgotten female masters of the Dutch Golden Age, including Judith Leyster, Maria van Oosterwijck, Clara Peeters, and Rachel Ruysch. The show features over a dozen artists and highlights paintings rich in symbolism, such as van Oosterwijck's "Vanitas Still Life" and Leyster's "The Concert," while also addressing how many of these women were celebrated in their own time but later misattributed or omitted from art history.

Robert Rauschenberg’s New York

The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) has opened "Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World," an exhibition celebrating the centennial of artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008). Organized in partnership with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the show focuses on Rauschenberg’s photography and its integration with found objects, painting, and sculpture. It is divided into three sections—Early Photographs, In + Out City Limits, and Photography in Painting—and features a centerpiece photographic survey conducted across the United States from 1979 to 1981, alongside works from 1963 to 1994 that combine New York imagery with global photographs.

Seattle Art Museum exhibit explores France's food identity

The Seattle Art Museum has opened a new exhibition titled "Farm to Table: Food and Identity in the Age of Impressionism," featuring over 50 works by Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin. The show explores how late 19th-century France, emerging from the Franco-Prussian War and social upheaval, turned to food imagery in art as a symbol of national pride and resilience. Curator Theresa Papanikolas highlights scenes of farmers, food workers, and markets like Les Halles, which also depict class interactions. The exhibition includes a dining table installation with prompt cards to encourage conversation, and Seattle is the final stop on its national tour, running through Jan. 18, 2026.

Sasha Gordon Finds Beauty and Empathy in the Shadows of the Human Mind

Sasha Gordon, a rising young artist from New York's art scene, debuted her solo exhibition "Haze" at David Zwirner's 19th Street gallery in Chelsea. The show, which drew long lines and significant attention, features hyperrealistic paintings that explore identity, memory, and the subconscious through an Asian diasporic lens. Gordon, who rose to fame during the pandemic and is co-represented by David Zwirner and Matthew Brown (Zwirner's son-in-law), discusses her evolving technique and her shift away from explicitly autobiographical work toward more open-ended, timeless figures.

Plains Art Exhibition Highlights Women Artists, Addresses Imbalance

Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, is launching a major exhibition titled “Women Artists: Four Centuries of Creativity,” running from November 1, 2025, to March 1, 2026. The show features 77 works, including 40 from the museum's own collection—20 of which are being displayed for the first time—and 37 loans from the Reading Public Museum in Pennsylvania. The exhibition was prompted by an internal assessment revealing that only 10.5% of the museum's 6,000-object permanent collection is by women artists. It will also host the first North Dakota appearance by the Guerrilla Girls, who will give a presentation and lead workshops. Student-authored texts from Minnesota State University Moorhead complement the show.

George Rouy Bends Flesh and Bone in 'Shadowing'

British artist George Rouy has opened a solo exhibition titled 'SHADOWING' at Almine Rech's venue in Château de Boisgeloup, Gisors, France, running through November 23. The show is staged inside Pablo Picasso's former sculpture studio and features new paintings that explore the tension and flux of the human body, with figures emerging and dissolving in bruise-colored palettes and expressive brushwork. The exhibition is supported by Hannah Barry Gallery and Hauser & Wirth.

Seattle Art Museum’s Latest Exhibition Explores French Farm-To-Table

The Seattle Art Museum has opened "Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism," a traveling exhibition exploring the connections between food, art, and national identity in late 19th-century France. Featuring over 50 works by Impressionist masters including Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Eva Gonzalès, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the show examines both the privileged dining experiences of the upper class and the labor of those who grew and harvested food. The exhibition, organized by the American Federation of Arts in collaboration with the Chrysler Museum of Art, runs until January 18, 2026, and includes interactive elements such as a seated discussion table with conversation prompts and a series of panel talks on food-related topics.

Camille Pissarro Member Preview Saturday

The Denver Art Museum and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam have co-organized a new exhibition titled 'The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro's Impressionism,' which opens with a member preview on Saturday. The show is supported by a wide range of donors, including Jana and Fred Bartlit, Barbara Bridges, Bridget and John Grier, the Kristin and Charles Lohmiller Exhibitions Fund, Craig Ponzio, and many others, as well as by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities and promotional support from CBS Colorado.

The opening of the Princeton University Art Museum, explained

The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is set to reopen with a new building featuring nine main pavilions, including a European Art Pavilion and an Ancient Mediterranean Art Pavilion, along with study spaces, lecture halls, and a restaurant called Mosaic Restaurant. In an advance tour, Director for Collections and Exhibitions Chris Newth and spokesperson Stephen Kim answered community questions about dining options, study areas, and the museum's rotating exhibitions, which will display only about four percent of the collection at a time. Notable returning works include Antioch mosaics, a Guanyin sculpture, Andy Warhol's "Blue Marilyn," and Charles Willson Peale's "Washington at Princeton." The museum will host a 24-hour opening event for students.

After reopening, Joslyn Art Museum breaks visitor records, earns national acclaim

The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, has broken visitor records and earned national acclaim in its first full year after reopening with a 42,000-square-foot addition. The new Rhonda & Howard Hawks Pavilion, designed by Snøhetta and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, opened in September 2024 and added 16,700 square feet of gallery space, 15,400 square feet of public gathering space, and new gardens. Through September 2025, the museum welcomed 159,420 visitors, on track to surpass 200,000—a milestone only reached a few times before, typically due to blockbuster traveling exhibitions like the Tutankhamun Treasures or Dead Sea Scrolls shows.

James Turrell’s New Skyspace Is Opening in Denmark—and It’s Monumental

James Turrell's largest Skyspace to date, titled "As Seen Below – The Dome," will open at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark on June 19, 2026, timed for the summer solstice. The dome-shaped underground chamber, over 50 feet high and 130 feet in diameter, frames the sky and is housed within a grassy mound as part of the museum's subterranean expansion, The Next Level. The project, first announced in 2015, faced financial and technical delays, including a supplier bankruptcy, and required additional funding of 6.7 million kroner this year.

Show at the Barnes Foundation charts Henri Rousseau's rise from mockery to acclaim

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is opening "Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets" (October 19–February 22), reuniting for the first time in over a century the two largest collections of Rousseau's work—18 paintings from the Barnes Foundation and 11 from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The exhibition, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, uses new conservation research to challenge the long-held myth of Rousseau as a naive, unworldly amateur, revealing instead a strategic artist who revised compositions, reused canvases, and actively sought an audience through Paris's open salons.

The greatest Cypriot show in Florida: Ringling Museum opens its first permanent ancient-art gallery

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, is opening its first permanent ancient-art gallery nearly a century after John Ringling acquired around 3,300 pieces of ancient Mediterranean art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928. The collection, which includes Cypriot limestone statues, silver jewelry, and other artifacts dating back to the Early Bronze Age, had largely remained in storage due to the 1929 stock-market crash and Ringling's death in 1936. Guest curator Joanna S. Smith and chief curator Sarah Cartwright spent a decade on conservation and research, recontextualizing the objects and tracing their origins, including the controversial excavations by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the Met's first director.

'It's about world-making': Tavares Strachan on his expansive new Lacma exhibition

Tavares Strachan's new solo exhibition, *The Day Tomorrow Began*, has opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma), running until 29 March 2026. Co-organized with the Columbus Museum of Art, the show features 20 new works across neon, ceramics, bronze, painting, text, and performance, exploring invisible histories and challenging white-centric narratives. The exhibition includes a spotlight on his *Encyclopedia of Invisibility* (2018), bronze sculptures referencing the Haitian Revolution, and a neon piece contrasting James Baldwin and Mark Twain. Strachan, who trained as a cosmonaut and collaborates with MIT scientists, also unveils a permanent participatory speakeasy called *Bar Room* in Columbus.

Rare wooden Alexander Calder mobile heads to Christie’s

Christie’s has secured the consignment of Painted Wood (1943), a rare wooden mobile by Alexander Calder, which will lead its 20th Century Evening Sale next month. Specialists estimate the work will sell for between $15 million and $20 million, the highest auction estimate ever placed on a Calder piece. The mobile comes from the collection of prominent Latin American art collector Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and was featured in Calder’s landmark 1943 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he became the youngest artist to receive a solo exhibition at the museum.

Michelangelo Pistoletto: ‘AI will not destroy humanity, we are doing it ourselves’

Italian artist and Arte Povera pioneer Michelangelo Pistoletto, aged 92, has opened a new exhibition at Helly Nahmad Gallery in London, pairing his latest Mirror Paintings with Cubist works by Pablo Picasso, including Picasso's 1924 painting *Partition, Guitare, Compotier*. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Pistoletto discusses how his mirror works—first presented in 1963—break down the traditional perspective of art, reflecting society and reality in a 360-degree space-time continuum, and how Picasso's shattering of the image paved the way for his own innovations. He also touches on his Cittadellarte foundation in Biella, his Nobel Peace Prize nomination, and his "Third Paradise" philosophy.

‘We are in a very special situation as collectors’: Petr Pudil on opening the Kunsthalle Praha in Prague, and the art he collects

Petr Pudil, a Czech businessman and co-founder of BPD partners, discusses his journey as an art collector and the opening of Kunsthalle Praha in Prague with his wife Pavlína. The museum, housed in a former 1930s electricity substation, opened in 2022 and features temporary thematic exhibitions from their collection of over 2,000 works, including pieces by Max Ernst, Alicja Kwade, and William Kentridge. Pudil reflects on his acquisition strategy, regrets, and favorite London spots during Frieze week.