Cecily Brown: ‘I was too shy to talk to all these super cool kids like Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst’

Cecily Brown is preparing for her first major museum exhibition in her native London at the Serpentine Gallery, titled 'Picture Making'. The show features new and old paintings, monotypes, and drawings inspired by Kensington Gardens, marking a significant return for the artist who left for New York in the 1990s. Despite her commercial success with Gagosian and inclusion in major museums, she expresses nervousness about the critical reception.

100 Masterpieces to See at the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has released a curated guide to 100 essential masterpieces within its massive one-million-square-foot campus. The selection spans global art history, ranging from ancient Egyptian mummies and Greek statues to iconic American sculptures like Edward Kemeys’s bronze lions and Narcissa Niblack Thorne’s intricate miniature rooms. The list is designed to help visitors navigate the museum's vast collection by grouping works by their physical location within the galleries.

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Kerry James Marshall's paintings are being offered at Frieze London, with two major works on view at different galleries. Alexander Gray Associates presents Marshall's 1992 painting *A Woman with a Heart of Gold* for $2.9 million, a collage-like work that critiques racial fantasies in mass-market romance. David Zwirner shows the 1990 painting *A Little Romance* priced at $3.2 million, depicting a dreamy reclining figure. Meanwhile, the Royal Academy's exhibition “Kerry James Marshall: The Histories” has drawn enthusiastic repeat visits from dealers and auction-house figures, generating significant buzz during Frieze week.

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This week's art industry roundup covers major developments across auctions, galleries, and institutions. Christie's will auction René Magritte's 'Les grâces naturelles' (ca. 1961) as the star lot of its Art of the Surreal evening sale in London on March 5, with an estimate of £6.5–9.5 million. Zona Maco in Mexico City has announced 241 exhibitors for its 22nd edition, including a new section called Forma. The London Art Fair reported strong sales for British women abstract painters, while Vienna's Spark Art fair canceled its 2025 edition for a strategic pause until 2027. In gallery news, Amy Sherald signed with Creative Artists Agency, and several other artist-gallery representation changes were announced. The U.K. government pledged £1.5 billion to support cultural organizations from 2025 to 2030, and Tarek Atoui was named the next Turbine Hall commission artist at Tate Modern.

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Artnet News published a roundup of five rising artist profiles that defined 2025, highlighting interviews with Alexandra Metcalf and Chase Hall. Metcalf, a British-American artist, blends 1960s psychedelia, 2000s pop music, and Victorian literature in her multimedia works, and debuted at Art Basel with London's Ginny on Frederick. Chase Hall, a painter who uses hot coffee on cotton, explores race and fatherhood, with a solo exhibition "Momma's Baby, Daddy's Maybe" at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Vienna.

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Jenna Burlingham Gallery, founded in 2010, moved in 2021 to a historic compound called Rope Yard in Hampshire, England. Instead of a traditional white cube, the gallery's interiors are designed to feel like a beloved home, with furnished rooms displaying modern British and contemporary art alongside antiques. The gallery recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, attracting collectors from London and worldwide to its village location.

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This week's art industry roundup covers major auction activity, including Christie's $250 million sale of Barnes and Noble founder Len Riggio's collection, and Sotheby's postponement of an ancient Buddhist gemstone auction after criticism from academics and India's Ministry of Culture. Frieze New York, recently sold to Ari Emanuel, reported strong sales with a $3 million Jeff Koons sculpture at Gagosian, while Gagosian's TEFAF New York booth featuring Anna Weyant's jewelry-themed paintings sold out. Other news includes Céline Assimon's appointment as chief commercial officer at Bonhams, the Spring Break Art Show's return, and gallery representation changes.

Paint Drippings: Art Industry News November 21

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The Philadelphia Museum of Art has appointed Daniel H. Weiss, former head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as its new director and CEO to provide stability following the controversial dismissal of Sasha Suda. The transition occurs amid a legal battle, with the museum filing court documents alleging Suda misappropriated funds and falsified records. Meanwhile, the auction market saw a historic moment at Sotheby’s, where Gustav Klimt’s 'Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer' sold for $236.4 million, setting a new record for the artist and becoming the most expensive Modern work ever sold at auction.

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Los Angeles-based artist Catherine Opie is in London for the opening of her solo exhibition "Portraits and Landscapes" at Thomas Dane Gallery, following the installation of her major survey "Keeping an Eye on the World" at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Norway. The show features one large-scale abstracted portrait of the British coast and 13 Old Master-influenced portraits of renowned contemporary artists and figures, including David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Duro Olowu, Thelma Golden, Gillian Wearing, Isaac Julien, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. In an interview, Opie discusses her choice of sitters, her formal portrait techniques, and the meta-portrait quality of riffing on the subjects' own artistic practices.

Shreg the green ogre, a grey obsessive and Vermeer’s boiled egg – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian highlights a range of exhibitions across the UK, including Bruce Asbestos's 'Bootleg Shreg 2' at Exeter Phoenix Gallery, a playful show featuring a green ogre that parodies copyright rules. Other notable shows include Roy Oxlade's primitive paintings at Alison Jacques, May Morris's craft legacy at Lady Lever Art Gallery, a 30-year anniversary group show at Timothy Taylor, and Alan Charlton's monochrome grey works at Annely Juda Fine Art. The article also features an image of a naturally sculpted rock on Kangaroo Island, a review of the Turner Prize nominees, and a masterwork analysis of Vermeer's 'The Guitar Player' at Kenwood House, which was stolen in the 1970s and recovered with the help of a clairvoyant.

Filthy fossil fuels, a dizzying debut and the ominous side of the moon – the week in art

The Guardian’s weekly art roundup highlights the opening of 'Extraction' at Jupiter Artland, an exhibition featuring artists like Marguerite Humeau and John Gerrard that explores the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Other notable UK openings include Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s museum debut at The Whitworth, a survey of Paula Rego’s drawings at Victoria Miro, and a showcase of Thérèse Oulton’s textured landscapes at Vardaxoglou.

Cai Guo-Qiang joins White Cube

White Cube now represents Cai Guo-Qiang, making the British gallery the first to represent the Chinese-born, New York-based artist known for his gunpowder paintings. The announcement coincides with White Cube’s solo presentation of Cai’s ongoing gunpowder painting series featuring birds at Tefaf New York (14-19 May). Cai had a solo show at White Cube’s Bermondsey space last autumn, titled *Gunpowder and Abstraction 2015-2016*, his first London presentation since his large-scale project at Tate Modern in 2003.

“Primary Structures,” Turns 60

On April 28, 1966, The New York Times published a review by conservative critic Hilton Kramer of the Jewish Museum's exhibition “Primary Structures,” organized by curator Kynaston McShine. Kramer, disdainful of contemporary art, described the 42 American and British artists as rejecting personal expression and subjective inflection, yet he acknowledged the show as the first comprehensive glimpse of a style that would define the 1960s. The exhibition featured then-little-known artists including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, John McCracken, Larry Bell, Robert Smithson, Judy Chicago, Philip King, Michael Bolus, and David Annesley, and is now recognized as the ur-survey of Minimalism—a term McShine deliberately avoided.

Guardian Art Critic Adrian Searle Steps Down

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Chief art critic Adrian Searle is leaving his full-time role at the Guardian after nearly 30 years, with his final article scheduled for April 1. He will continue to contribute occasional pieces to the publication.

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The Chelsea Art Fair returned for its second edition at New York's Chelsea Hotel, with a VIP preview on Saturday and a one-day public run on Sunday. Organized by Platform (now owned by Basic Space), the intimate fair featured just five exhibitors—56 Henry, Lomex, Magenta Plains, Ramiken, and Castle—plus a special presentation by Off Paradise. Collector Beth Rudin DeWoody was the first to arrive, and other VIPs included Mark Ronson, Jamie Cohen Hort, and Whitney Museum curator Dan Nadel. Dealer Ellie Rines reported strong sales, swapping out a work after it sold within 30 minutes, and some 3,000 people registered for the event.

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The International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice will host a major solo exhibition of works by British painter Jenny Saville in 2026, coinciding with the Venice Biennale. The show, curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, will run from March 28 to November 22 and feature around 30 paintings spanning Saville's career from the 1990s to the present, including a new series inspired by Venice. Mega-gallery Gagosian, which represents Saville, is supporting the exhibition.

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A 12-foot-tall bronze statue of a Black woman by British sculptor Thomas J. Price, titled *Grounded in the Stars* (2023), has been installed in Times Square, sparking a polarized public reaction. Online, conservative commentators and social media users have labeled the work a sign of a "very sick society" and a "death of civilization," with racist AI-generated and Photoshopped images circulating. In person, the sculpture has drawn both affirming responses—such as a Black woman mimicking its defiant pose—and disrespectful acts, including a white man groping the statue's buttocks for a photo. The work, which stands near permanent monuments to white male figures, will be on view until June 17.

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The four nominees for the 2025 Turner Prize have been announced at Tate Britain, including Scottish sculptor Nnena Kalu, who is nonverbal autistic; Iraqi British painter Mohammed Sami; Rene Matić from Peterborough; and London-based Korean Canadian artist Zadie Xa. The shortlist was revealed by Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, who praised the artists for reflecting the breadth of contemporary British art. The prize, established in 1984, awards £25,000 to the winner and £10,000 to each shortlisted artist. The nominees' works will be exhibited at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in September as part of Bradford's UK City of Culture celebrations.

The Venice Biennale’s Polite Fiction of Being ‘Above the Market’ Is Wearing Thin

The 61st Venice Biennale is underway, with art world figures flocking to Venice for the opening. While the Biennale is officially a non-selling curatorial platform, commercial interests are increasingly visible: galleries are funding artists' projects to recoup investments, auction houses like Christie's are hosting private selling exhibitions (including a 'Ghost Pavilion' at the Ca' Dario Palazzo), and fashion houses such as Bottega Veneta and Chanel are sponsoring events. Sotheby's has pulled support for the U.S. Pavilion, which is now crowdfunding, while Frieze is bankrolling the British Pavilion for a second time.

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Artnet News has published its annual roundup of art world figures who died in 2025, honoring a diverse range of individuals including museum directors, painters, curators, philanthropists, and an archaeologist. Among those remembered are Julia Alexander, former director of the Yale Center for British Art; Sylvain Amic, recently appointed to lead the Musée d'Orsay; philanthropist Wallis Annenberg; abstract painters Timothy App and Jo Baer; curator Leonid Bazhanov; and Tony Bechara, painter and former director of El Museo del Barrio.

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Jenny Saville, the British painter known for her monumental depictions of flesh, is the subject of her first major U.S. museum exhibition, "Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting," now on view at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. The show, which previously opened at London's National Portrait Gallery in June, brings together 45 works from across her career, including charcoal drawings and large-scale oil paintings. In a rare interview, Saville discusses seeing older works like *Plan* again and how the Fort Worth museum's architecture suits her largest canvases. The exhibition runs through January 2026, ahead of a major 2026 showcase in Venice.

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British artist Jenny Saville has received her first major solo exhibition at a London museum, titled "Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting" at the National Portrait Gallery. The show spans three decades of her practice across some 50 paintings and drawings, tracing her evolution from a Young British Artist (YBA) known for vast, sensitive paintings of women's bodies to her recent digital-era heads. The exhibition will travel to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas in October. The article also highlights Saville's record-breaking 2018 sale of *Propped* for $12.4 million at Sotheby's London, which made her the highest-selling living female painter at the time, and notes recent auction results including *Juncture* selling for $7.3 million.

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Tracey Emin, the renowned British artist and former YBA, is the subject of a major new exhibition titled "Sex and Solitude" at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy—the first comprehensive show of her work in the country. Curated by the museum's director general Arturo Galansino, the exhibition features some 60 works spanning 30 years, including paintings, drawings, film, photography, embroidery, sculptures, and neon installations. Emin created a new neon piece for the facade, and many works are being shown in Italy for the first time. In a video interview, she emphasized the show is not a retrospective but a living, present-focused exploration of her themes of sexuality, love, trauma, and solitude.

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The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London is in a last-minute push to raise £50 million ($60 million) to acquire Joshua Reynolds's 1776 portrait of Omai, a Polynesian visitor to Britain, before a temporary export ban expires on March 10. Despite raising roughly £25 million through a grassroots campaign involving public donations, a £2.5 million grant from the Art Fund, and £10 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the NPG remains short of its goal and is reportedly in secret talks with the Getty Museum to jointly purchase the painting.

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This article explores the growing trend of artist-made furniture, which blurs the line between functional design and fine art. It highlights how artists like Salvador Dalí, Isamu Noguchi, Donald Judd, Tracey Emin, and the duo Les Lalanne have created pieces that invite physical interaction—such as sitting or touching—while retaining high art status. Gallerist Massimo de Carlo notes that collectors are drawn to this merging of art and life, and that such works offer both conceptual depth and investment value. The article also notes market disparities, with editions of furniture costing far less than unique works, though some pieces, like a François-Xavier Lalanne rhinoceros desk, have sold for nearly $20 million at auction.

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Artnet News and Morgan Stanley have released a report analyzing the global art auction market across four major cities—London, Paris, Hong Kong, and New York—over the period from 2013 to 2023. Total auction sales for the first half of 2024 fell to $5.05 billion, down from $7.17 billion in the same period of 2023. The report highlights a dramatic 49 percent decline in London's auction sales following the 2016 Brexit vote, while New York has maintained its dominant position, driven by blockbuster collections like those of Peggy and David Rockefeller and Paul G. Allen. Hong Kong saw growth until the Chinese property crisis in 2022, and Paris has gained ground post-Brexit, with sales up 30 percent over 2013.

Artists v fascists, Khmer Rouge horrors, fab flowers and an eye-popping nude – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian features a major exhibition at Towner Eastbourne titled 'Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism,' which examines how artists, poets, and intellectuals used their work to resist the rise of extremism in 1930s Europe, drawing on the history of the Artists International Association (AIA). Other highlights include 'Hidden: Photography and Displacement Under the Khmer Rouge' at The Wiener Holocaust Library in London, a show of early Netherlandish drawings at the British Museum, Katharina Grosse's colorful installations at White Cube, and a flower-themed survey at Kettle's Yard. The image of the week is Sylvia Sleigh's 1963 portrait 'The Bridge (Johanna Lawrenson),' part of a new exhibition of the Welsh artist's work. The article also covers news items such as Lydia Ourahmane's Venice Biennale installation, a Holbein portrait mystery, a restored stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, and Anish Kapoor's call to exclude the US from the Venice Biennale due to 'politics of hate.'

From Lee Cronin’s The Mummy to Zayn: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

From Lee Cronin’s The Mummy to Zayn: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

British artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan is launching her first UK institutional solo exhibition at The Whitworth in Manchester. The immersive installation blends painting, ceramics, sound, and poetry to explore complex themes of colonial history, religious institutions, and the journey toward personal and collective liberation.

Petal passion, super-surreal Polaroids and Billy Childish’s California – the week in art

This week’s art roundup highlights several major exhibitions across the UK, including a floral-themed survey at Kettle’s Yard featuring artists from Henri Rousseau to Lubaina Himid. Other notable openings include Billy Childish’s expressionistic California desert paintings at Carl Freedman Gallery, Katharina Grosse’s site-specific installations at White Cube, and Steve McQueen’s new photography book, 'Bounty', which explores the colonial history of Grenada through its flora.

‘It was life-changing’: the celebrated art historian who spent 46 years sitting for Frank Auerbach

Art historian and curator Catherine Lampert is the subject of a career-spanning profile following the opening of her latest exhibition, 'Euan Uglow: An Arc from the Eye,' at MK Gallery. The article details her deep personal and professional relationships with giants of British figurative painting, including Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, and Euan Uglow. Lampert, who served as the director of the Whitechapel Gallery for over a decade, continues to be a prolific force in the art world, recently co-authoring Freud’s catalogue raisonné and curating major retrospectives.