The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) announced on June 2, 2025, that its newly reimagined African American art galleries will open to the public in October 2025. The galleries are being relocated to a central position within the museum, adjacent to the Diego Rivera murals at Rivera Court, to highlight the contributions of Black artists to Detroit's and history's artistic landscape.
US President Donald Trump claimed on his Truth Social platform that he has fired Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), alleging she is a "highly partisan person" and a supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Sajet, who became the first woman to lead the NPG in 2013, has not commented, and the Smithsonian declined to comment. It remains unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to fire Smithsonian employees, as the institution is governed by a board of regents and receives partial federal funding.
The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) will present “Permanent Drafts,” a major exhibition of over 40 recent works by Canadian artist Erin Shirreff, opening May 30. The show spans collage, photography, sculpture, and video, including site-specific installations and a new museum acquisition, “Paper sculpture” (2024). Shirreff, who began as a sculptor, uses photography to explore the gap between 2D representation and 3D objects, creating works that challenge how viewers perceive images and forms. Key pieces include the cyanotype collage “Inside times” (2020) and the sheet-metal installation “Drop” (2025).
The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) will present the 2025 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art exhibition, its biggest show of the year, celebrating the state's most innovative artists. The eleventh annual exhibition features ten selected artists: Nathalie Alfonso, Eddie Arroyo, Leo Castañeda, Kelly Joy Ladd, Amanda Linares, Kandy G. Lopez, Jiha Moon, Troy Simmons, Cornelius Tulloch, and Lisu Vega. An opening preview party on May 30 will include the announcement of one artist receiving a $20,000 prize, while a $5,000 "People's Choice" award will be decided by public vote throughout the summer, with the winner revealed at the closing ceremony on August 21.
Stanford University has acquired the archives of Filipina American artist Pacita Abad, a gift from the Pacita Abad Art Estate that also includes funding to catalog 120 linear feet of archival materials—photographs, correspondence, exhibition records, and personal artifacts. The archive will be stewarded by Stanford University Libraries' Bowes Art and Architecture Library in collaboration with the Cantor Arts Center, and is expected to be available to students and scholars within a year. The acquisition follows Abad's posthumous traveling retrospective that opened at the Walker Art Center in 2023, which brought her prolific 32-year practice to the attention of U.S. institutions.
The Denver Art Museum has opened a new photography exhibition titled *What We’ve Been Up to: Landscape*, featuring works by over a dozen artists including Meghann Riepenhoff, Masao Yamamoto, Linda Conner, Terri Weifenbach, Tanya Marcuse, Christina Fernandez, Patrick Nagatani, Zora J. Murff, Marion Post Wolcott, William Henry Jackson, Mary Peck, Abelardo Morell, Steve Fitch, John Ganis, Frank Gohlke, and Henry Wessel, Jr. The photographs are loosely grouped by theme—ranging from intimate nature studies and scenic beauty to technology’s imprint and difficult histories of slavery, Indigenous conflict, and natural disasters. A related lecture by Terri Weifenbach is scheduled for September 30, 2025.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London will open its V&A East Storehouse on 31 May, a vast open-access working store at the 2012 Olympics site in Stratford. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 16,000 sq. m space holds over 250,000 objects and 1,000 archives, allowing visitors to browse collections without glass cases via a self-guided route and an 'Order an Object' booking service. Deputy director Tim Reeve compares the experience to shopping at Ikea, emphasizing flexibility and public access.
A block of 15th Street NW in Washington, DC, where renowned abstract painter Alma Thomas (1891-1978) lived for most of her life, has been renamed “Alma Thomas Way.” The street signs now stand at the corners of 15th and Church streets and 15th and Q streets, bookending the house at 1530 15th Street NW that her parents purchased in 1907. The renaming follows a bill introduced by District Councilmembers Christina Henderson and Brooke Pinto, who led a ceremony to honor the artist. Henderson stated the goal is to “elevate and introduce local heroes to folks for the next generation.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen its Arts of Africa galleries on May 31, 2025, after a multiyear renovation that began in summer 2021. The redesigned Michael C. Rockefeller Wing features some 500 works spanning from the medieval period to the present, including a 12th-century fired clay figure from Mali and Abdoulaye Konaté's 'Bleu no. 1' (2014). A quarter of the works are recent acquisitions or gifts, displayed for the first time. The project was led by Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture with Beyer, Blinder, Belle Architects LLP and the Met's Design Department, and involved a network of international scholars and digital partnerships with the World Monuments Fund and filmmaker Sosena Solomon.
The Acropolis Museum in Athens has opened "Allspice: Michael Rakowitz and Ancient Cultures," the first exhibition in a trilogy organized with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the nonprofit Neon. It is also the first time the museum has presented work by a living artist. The show pairs ancient objects from the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture and the Thanos N. Zintilis Collection of Cypriot Antiquities with 14 works by Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz, including pieces from his ongoing series "The invisible enemy should not exist," which recreates artifacts looted or destroyed from the National Museum of Iraq. Rakowitz’s lamassu reliefs, reimagined from the Palace of Nimrud, and a new commission featuring his mother’s recipes explore themes of lost heritage, memory, and diaspora.
Heffel Fine Art Auction House held its spring sales in Toronto on May 22, featuring an all-Canadian lineup of 85 lots with an estimated value of C$18m to C$22m. Despite rain and economic concerns, the two-session sale achieved C$22m total, led by Lawren Harris's *Northern Lake* (1926) at C$3.1m. Other highlights included record-breaking prices for Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, and A.Y. Jackson, plus strong results for Emily Carr and Tom Thomson works.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has acquired Jean Siméon Chardin's still life *The Cut Melon* (1760) from the Rothschild family after a record-breaking auction sale at Christie's Paris in June 2024 fell through. The winning bidder, Italian real estate promoter Nanni Bassani Antivari, never paid, leading Christie's to sue him for compensation. The Rothschilds then sold the painting directly to the Kimbell, which had been the underbidder at auction. The work, which retains its original frame from its 1761 Salon debut, went on view at the museum on 22 May in the French still life gallery.
This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three major stories. First, a host of exhibitions and events celebrating the 100th anniversary of Swiss kinetic artist Jean Tinguely, including shows at the Tinguely Museum in Basel, Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, and the Grand Palais in Paris. Second, the newly opened Fenix museum in Rotterdam, a museum dedicated to migration, featuring a dramatic stainless steel tornado staircase. Third, the episode's Work of the Week focuses on Ben Shahn's 1941 study 'Harvesting Wheat' for his mural 'The Meaning of Social Security,' discussed in conjunction with a major exhibition of Shahn's work at the Jewish Museum in New York.
Korean artist Lee Ufan, a key figure in the Mono-ha movement, has donated eight paintings from the 1970s to the 1990s to the Dia Art Foundation in New York. The works, from his From Point, From Line, and With Winds series, will be featured in a spring 2026 exhibition at Dia Beacon alongside sculptural installations already in the foundation's collection. Lee is also collaborating with Avant Arte on a limited-edition print release to support Dia's programming.
The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Carlo Ratti, opens with immersive installations that confront climate change, including a film on civilizations rising and collapsing, a reflective pool installation by Michelangelo Pistoletto symbolizing humanity-nature reconciliation, and a non-functional air conditioner display by Transsolar Klima Engineering. Ratti issued the Biennale's first open call, selecting over 300 multidisciplinary teams—engineers, scientists, artists, and architects—to explore new building methods that reject Modernist materials like steel and concrete in favor of natural and Indigenous approaches.
Phillips’ Mill Community Association in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has announced a new exhibition titled “The Selma Burke Invitational African American Art Show,” running from May 31 through June 29. The show pays homage to Selma Burke, a prominent 20th-century sculptor and art educator who lived in New Hope for the last 40 years of her life. It features over 60 works by African American artists Burke mentored, taught, or inspired, including James E. Duprée and Kimberly Camp, alongside historical pieces by artists such as Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden, and Thornton Dial. The exhibition also includes works loaned from collectors like Lawrence Hilton.
English Heritage has opened an exhibition titled 'Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits' at Kenwood in London, featuring 18 portraits by John Singer Sargent of American heiresses known as the 'dollar princesses.' These women traveled to the UK in the late 19th century to marry into the British aristocracy, bringing wealth that helped restore estates like Blenheim Palace. The show marks 100 years since Sargent’s death and includes never-before-displayed works, such as a charcoal portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt. Curator Wendy Monkhouse emphasizes that the exhibition focuses on the sitters as individuals, addressing themes of misogyny, stereotyping, and xenophobia.
Two years after the death of pioneering Aboriginal art dealer Tim Klingender in a boating accident, his widow Skye McCardle-Klingender is organizing a multi-owner auction at Sotheby’s New York on 20 May. The sale includes 65 lots from Klingender's personal collection and other owners, featuring works by leading Aboriginal artists such as Emily Kam Kngwarray, Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, Rover Thomas, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, and Richard Bell. McCardle-Klingender is working with former National Gallery of Australia curator Wally Caruana to assemble the auction, which aims to continue Klingender's legacy of elevating Indigenous Australian art on the global stage.
Artist couple Philip and Charlotte Colbert have opened a new not-for-profit art space called Camden Arts Projects (CAP) in north London, taking over the former Zabludowicz Collection gallery at 176 Prince of Wales Road. The venue, a former Methodist church, was bought by the Colberts last year and now operates under an umbrella company called Contemporary Culture Collective. The opening exhibition features works by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed, including an immersive balloon installation and a neon piece, and is free to the public. Curator Hala Matar, formerly of The Little House in Los Angeles, is running the exhibition programme.
A new exhibition titled "Cardboard Genius: The Architectural Marvels of Kambel Smith" has opened at Historic Germantown in Philadelphia, running through June 29. The show features large-scale, intricate replicas of architecturally significant buildings—such as Philadelphia's Police Administration Building and the Georgia State House—all constructed from salvaged cardboard by self-taught artist Kambel Smith, who is autistic. Smith's father, Lonnie, coined the term "Autisarians" to describe his sons' super-human abilities and has been a key supporter of Kambel's creative journey, which has included solo shows in New York, London, and Atlanta since 2019.
During New York's spring auction week starting May 12, 2025, major houses Sotheby's, Christie's, Phillips, and Bonhams collectively brought in $1.27 billion, slightly above the estimated $1.25 billion but down 17% from the previous year. The top lot was Piet Mondrian's *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* (1922) at $47.56 million, but the mood was tense as trophy works like Andy Warhol's *Big Electric Chair* (1967–68) were withdrawn and several top lots, including Alberto Giacometti's *Grande tête mince* (1955), failed to sell. Amid this volatility, 11 new artist auction records were set, five of which were for women artists, notably Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* (1999) selling for $13.65 million—the most expensive work by a living woman artist at auction.
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An ambitious new exhibition titled “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939” has opened at Chicago’s Wrightwood 659 gallery, featuring over 300 works by more than 125 artists from 40 countries. Curated by Jonathan D. Katz, the show traces the historical roots of the term 'homosexual,' coined in 1868 by Hungarian writer Karl Maria Kertbeny, and explores the artistic and social transformations surrounding the emergence of homosexual identity up to 1939. The exhibition includes loans from major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée d’Orsay, with works by artists such as George Catlin, Jean Cocteau, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Eakins, organized into eight thematic sections.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) has signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia's Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) to collaborate on exhibitions, conservation, research, and staff exchanges. The deal, signed on May 14 by NMAA director Chase Robinson and RCU CEO Abeer AlAkel, focuses on the ancient site of Dadan, a capital of the Lihyanite and Dadanite civilizations. The partnership covers joint conservation and research projects, exhibition loans, and professional development over four years.
Sotheby's Modern evening sale in New York on May 13 brought in $152 million ($186.4 million with fees), falling short of its presale estimate of $170 million to $248 million. Four lots were withdrawn before bidding began, including works by Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Candido Portinari, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The sale's star lot, Alberto Giacometti's bronze bust 'Grande tête mince' (1954/55), estimated at over $70 million, failed to sell when bidding stalled around $64 million. Other notable results included strong sales for Jean Arp, František Kupka, and Robert Delaunay, but several high-profile works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Pierre Soulages, and David Smith also failed to find buyers.
The article reports that 'The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939,' a major international exhibition of queer art, is currently on view at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Curated by art historian Jonathan D. Katz, the show features around 350 works from over 100 lenders, including private collectors and major museums, and runs through July 26. Katz notes that no other institution in the world has agreed to host the exhibition, citing widespread refusals from venues in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia.
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University held its first benefit gala in over twenty years in New York City on May 12, 2025. The event honored Lizbeth Krupp, longtime Chair of the museum's Board of Advisors, and acclaimed artist Hugh Hayden, whose major survey "Hugh Hayden: Home Work" is currently on view at the museum. Co-chaired by Sara Friedlander and Abigail Ross Goodman, the gala raised over $900,000 toward a new $2 million Exhibition Endowment Fund, seeded by a lead gift from Krupp, to support future contemporary art exhibitions.
Alison Saar, a Los Angeles-based artist known for sculptures exploring Black American experience through historic and symbolic imagery, has won the 20th edition of the David C. Driskell Prize from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The annual prize, which alternates between honoring an artist and a curator, comes with $50,000 and was announced during a reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York on 9 May. Saar succeeds 2024 winner Naomi Beckwith, and past honorees include Ebony G. Patterson, Amy Sherald, Mark Bradford, and Rashid Johnson.
The article critiques PST Art (formerly Pacific Standard Time), a $20 million Getty-funded initiative in Southern California, as its current edition wraps up. It highlights the closure of key exhibitions like "For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability" at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego before major art events like Frieze Los Angeles, and notes that only 7 of the 72 exhibitions are traveling to other institutions. The piece questions the initiative's purpose and effectiveness in reaching broader audiences.
A new configuration of Trevor Yeung's solo exhibition "Courtyard of Detachments," originally representing Hong Kong at the 60th Venice Biennale, will open at M+ museum in Hong Kong on June 14, 2025. The presentation reimagines the artist's acclaimed Biennale project for the museum context.
The National Gallery in London has completed a £85 million refurbishment of its Sainsbury Wing, which opens to the public this weekend after two years of closure. Designed by architect Annabel Selldorf, the renovation transformed the previously dark, low-ceilinged foyer into a bright, open space with clear glass, removed columns, digital HD screens, and new amenities including Bar Giorgio and the Locatelli Italian restaurant. The reopening coincides with 'Wonder of Art', a major rehang of around 1,000 works from the gallery's European painting collection.