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.

Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center has art at its core

The Obama Presidential Center is set to open on Chicago’s South Side on June 19, 2026. The $850m institution, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, features more than 25 site-specific contemporary art commissions integrated into its architecture and 19.3-acre campus. Ahead of the opening, the museum has partnered with Expo Chicago to preview these works, which include monumental contributions from artists such as Julie Mehretu, Mark Bradford, and Nick Cave.

‘This scene is alive’: Abidjan art week showcases city as growing cultural hub

The third edition of Abidjan Art Week recently concluded in Côte d’Ivoire, featuring extended gallery hours, bus tours, and exhibitions across diverse neighborhoods from the administrative Plateau district to the working-class area of Abobo. The event saw a significant expansion this year, with the number of participating galleries more than doubling and featuring artists from across the continent, including Cameroon, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Infinite Poetry of Ruth Asawa’s Aerial Sculptures

Au Guggenheim Bilbao, l’infinie poésie des sculptures aériennes de Ruth Asawa

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is hosting the first major European retrospective of American artist Ruth Asawa, showcasing her signature hand-woven wire sculptures. These delicate, organic forms, which challenge gravity and play with transparency, are presented in dialogue with the museum's monumental architecture. The exhibition traces her journey from a childhood spent in Japanese-American internment camps during WWII to her formative years at the legendary Black Mountain College under the mentorship of Josef Albers.

Dartmouth Students Renew Calls to Remove Leon Black’s Name From Arts Center

Students at Dartmouth College have intensified their campaign to remove billionaire collector Leon Black’s name from the school’s visual arts center. The renewed push follows the release of Department of Justice files detailing Black’s extensive financial ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including $170 million in payments for tax and estate advice. While Black has denied all allegations of misconduct and his legal team maintains he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal activities, student leaders are citing the college's recent decision to strip César Chávez’s name from a fellowship as a precedent for moral accountability.

Expo Chicago’s local focus pays off as Midwestern collectors, institutions buoy sales

The latest edition of Expo Chicago has reinforced its reputation as a curator-centric fair, with more than half of its booths dedicated to curated or thematic sections. Under the leadership of new director Kate Sierzputowski, the fair integrated institutional voices directly into the floor plan through sections like 'Embodiment,' curated by Louise Bernard of the Obama Presidential Center. This strategic focus on curation and local institutional ties resulted in strong early sales, including works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Torkwase Dyson, and Ambreen Butt, with several pieces acquired by American institutions.

From You, Me & Tuscany to Euphoria: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

The Camden Art Centre in London is hosting a significant survey of the late Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke, marking the final stop of a UK touring exhibition. Locke is celebrated for blending the formal language of minimalism and modernism with the potent symbols of Guyanese and Black American culture, effectively challenging the traditional art world's Eurocentric perspectives through his work in ceramics, painting, and sculpture.

Nature by the uncool YBA, armoured ceramics and dizzying Aussie abstraction – the week in art

The article is a weekly art roundup highlighting several major exhibitions opening in London and Cambridge. It spotlights a new show of nature-themed paintings by Cecily Brown at the Serpentine Gallery, ceramics by Phoebe Collings-James at Pitzhanger Manor, a career survey of Turner Prize-winner Veronica Ryan at the Whitechapel Gallery, a Frank Bowling retrospective at The Fitzwilliam Museum, and a presentation of Aboriginal Australian art at Edel Assanti. The piece also features a powerful war photograph from Iraq and includes brief news items on topics ranging from a Matisse retrospective to potential museum entry fees.

A Muddy History of Plant-Hunting

The exhibition "Seeds of Exchange" at London's Garden Museum highlights a 1773 botanical collaboration between British amateur plant hunter John Bradby Blake and Cantonese painter Mak Sau. Centered on Blake’s unpublished "Flora Sinensis," the project attempted to systematically catalogue Chinese flora, including the Camellia japonica, through detailed watercolors that blended Western objective illustration with Chinese artistic expertise. These works served as the primary medium for introducing Chinese plant species to the West long before live specimens could survive the journey.

Dartmouth Students Renew Efforts to Rename Leon Black–Funded Arts Center

Dartmouth College students have reignited a campaign to rename the Black Family Visual Arts Center, a campus facility funded by billionaire investor Leon Black. The movement, led by freshman Oscar Rempe-Hiam and supported by student government, criticizes the administration's lack of urgency in distancing the institution from Black, whose long-standing ties to Jeffrey Epstein and personal allegations of sexual misconduct have sparked years of controversy.

Jordan Wolfson’s Newest Provocation Is a Creepy Prada Ad Campaign

Artist Jordan Wolfson has directed a new advertising campaign for Prada's Spring/Summer 2026 collection. The campaign, titled "I, I, I, I AM… PRADA," features unsettling, computer-generated birds and a bird-man hybrid alongside models including actors Carey Mulligan, Nicholas Hoult, Damson Idris, and Hunter Schafer, continuing Wolfson's signature style of disturbing digital avatars.

10 Art Books for Your Spring Reading List

Hyperallergic has published a curated list of ten art books recommended for spring reading. The selection emphasizes historical retellings through an artistic lens, featuring works such as a memoir by activist-artist Susan Simensky Bietila, a chronicle of the Jewish Bund by Molly Crabapple, and the first major catalog on artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha in 25 years. The list also includes exhibition catalogs like "Chicano Camera Culture" and a monograph on painter Ewa Juszkiewicz.

Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu Departs to Lead Guggenheim Museum

Melissa Chiu is stepping down as director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden after a decade-long tenure to lead the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Appointed by Guggenheim Foundation CEO Mariët Westermann, Chiu will officially assume her new role on September 1, while deputy director Aaron Seeto takes the interim helm at the Hirshhorn.

British Museum did not remove Palestine from labels due to pressure campaign, museum sources say—as backlash continues

Over 200 cultural figures, including musician Brian Eno and writer Laleh Khalili, have signed an open letter condemning the British Museum for allegedly removing the word "Palestine" from labels in its Ancient Levant gallery. The letter, published in March, accuses the museum of historical revisionism and links the action to pressure from the advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel, while also criticizing the museum's broader ties to Israel.

Two Renoir exhibitions at Musée d’Orsay explore the joy of human connection

Two Renoir exhibitions at Musée d’Orsay explore the joy of human connection

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is opening two concurrent exhibitions dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, titled 'Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity (1865-85)' and 'Renoir Drawings'. The shows focus on the first two decades of his career, featuring major works like 'Luncheon of the Boating Party' and rarely seen pieces from private collections, such as 'Confidence'. The exhibitions will later travel to the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

How to Take Great Photographs of Art, According to Artists

Contemporary gallery-going has become synonymous with digital documentation, as visitors increasingly use smartphones to capture paintings, sculptures, and installations. This shift from passive observation to active photography serves as a method of personal archiving, allowing viewers to preserve the fleeting experience of a physical exhibition and share it within their social circles.

Billionaire Collector Ken Griffin’s Basquiat Buying Spree Continues

Billionaire collector Ken Griffin has significantly expanded his holdings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, notably acquiring the 1983 masterpiece 'In Italian' from the collection of Peter Brant. The acquisition came to light through press materials for an upcoming exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) titled "Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols," which will showcase nearly a dozen works from Griffin’s private collection. The show, curated by PAMM director Franklin Sirmans and Griffin’s curator Megan Kincaid, includes other high-profile acquisitions such as the 1982 'Untitled (Skull)' previously purchased from Yusaku Maezawa.

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, Founder of Museo Picasso Málaga and Artist’s Daughter-in-Law, Dies at 97

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, the daughter-in-law of Pablo Picasso and a pivotal figure in preserving his artistic legacy, has passed away at the age of 97 in Provence, France. Married to Picasso’s eldest son, Paul, she became a primary advocate for the artist's work following her husband's death in 1975. Her most significant achievement was the 2003 founding of the Museo Picasso Málaga, realized through her donation of over 200 artworks and her persistent collaboration with the Andalusian government.

Blink and You’ll Miss It! 3 New York Shows With Painfully Short Runs

Blink and You’ll Miss It! 3 New York Shows With Painfully Short Runs

Three notable New York gallery exhibitions are operating on exceptionally short timelines, defying the current standard of month-long runs. These include "Ryan Foerster: Going Green" at Kerry Schuss Gallery, a presentation of Robert Mnuchin's collection at Mnuchin Gallery, and a show by the Japanese artist collective ME at Reena Spaulings Fine Art, each on view for only a matter of days.

Rare Wifredo Lam Portrait Lands in New York

The Hispanic Society Museum and Library has acquired Wifredo Lam’s 1927 painting "Portrait of a Boy," marking the first time a work by a Cuban artist has entered the institution's permanent collection. Purchased at a Sotheby’s auction after decades in a private collection, the portrait dates from Lam’s formative years in Cuenca, Spain. The work represents a rare, representational style from the artist's early career, predating the Afro-Cuban Surrealism for which he became globally renowned.

The Best April Fools’ Jokes in the Art World This Year

Hyperallergic compiled a list of notable April Fools' Day pranks executed by major arts and cultural institutions in 2025. The jokes included the Morgan Library and Museum pretending to give its ornate interior a cheap "Landlord Special" makeover, the New York Public Library announcing it would replace its iconic lion statues with beaver sculptures, and the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Botanic Garden proposing a whimsical, amusement park-style tunnel connecting their campuses.

The Nearly Sixty-Year Career of Legendary Gallerist Enzo Cannaviello: A Wide-Ranging Interview

I quasi sessant’anni di carriera del leggendario gallerista Enzo Cannaviello. Intervista a tutto campo

Legendary Italian gallerist Enzo Cannaviello reflects on a career spanning nearly sixty years, marked by the opening of his ninth gallery space in Milan. The interview traces his journey from founding his first space in Caserta in 1968 to his influential years in Rome and his ultimate establishment in Milan, which he considers the only true art market in Italy. Cannaviello discusses his unwavering commitment to painting, his pivotal role in promoting the German Neo-Expressionists (Neue Wilde), and the current exhibition dedicated to Mimmo Rotella.

They Painted the American West. History Painted Them Out

The exhibition "Women Artists of the American West: Colorado and Utah: 1885–1935" at History Jackson Hole spotlights seven forgotten female artists, including the adventurous mountaineer and painter Helen Henderson Chain. Curated by the founders of the Paris-based nonprofit AWARE, the show uncovers the lives of women who documented the Rocky Mountains and local communities while navigating the restrictive social norms of the late 19th century. Through paintings and photographs, the exhibition challenges the traditional, male-dominated "heroic" narrative of Western expansion.

How a Hopi Potter Named Nampeyo Became a 19th-Century Art Star

The Hopi-Tewa artist Nampeyo (1859–1942) is being celebrated as a foundational figure in modern ceramics for her role in the Sikyátki Revival. By studying ancestral pottery shards from archaeological excavations, Nampeyo revitalized centuries-old techniques and motifs, transforming Pueblo pottery into a globally recognized art form. Her career spanned from selling works at regional trading posts to becoming a celebrated figure who demonstrated her craft at the Grand Canyon and exhibited at major fairs in Chicago.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

A set of robotic dog sculptures by digital artist Beeple, which became a viral sensation online, have been acquired by Berlin’s König Galerie for its permanent collection and will go on public display. The four lifelike, animatronic canines, titled "S.2122," are modeled on Boston Dynamics' "Spot" robots but are weathered and decaying, with exposed wires and organic growths. This marks Beeple's first major physical sculpture series to enter a prominent institutional collection, following his landmark $69 million NFT sale in 2021.

Modern heroes and a ravaged Earth: reboot of 1950s space comic Dan Dare has liftoff

The legendary British sci-fi hero Dan Dare is returning in a new graphic novel titled 'Dan Dare: First Contact,' published by B7 Comics. Written by Alex de Campi and illustrated by Marc Laming, the project marks a 21st-century reboot of the character originally created by Frank Hampson for the Eagle magazine in 1950. The new iteration modernizes the cast, transforming Professor Peabody into a character of Indian descent and reimagining the sidekick Digby as a young working-class engineer, while maintaining the core conflict against the villainous Mekon.

Modern heroes and a ravaged Earth: reboot of 1950s space comic Dan Dare has liftoff

The legendary British space hero Dan Dare is set for a 21st-century revival with the upcoming graphic novel "Dan Dare: First Contact." Created by writer Alex de Campi and artist Marc Laming under B7 Comics, the project reimagines the 1950s icon for a modern audience while retaining core characters like Digby and Professor Peabody. The reboot follows a successful Kickstarter campaign and aims to provide a fresh alternative to dominant sci-fi franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek.

Nat Faulkner: The Stuff of Photography

Artist Nat Faulkner has opened a new exhibition at Camden Art Centre featuring works that explore the physical and chemical foundations of photography. The show includes large-scale photographic pieces like 'Aqua Fortis' and sculptural works such as 'Aperture (Iodine)', which uses iodine solution in skylight panels to bathe the space in amber light, alongside silver-plated 'Analogue' reliefs created through electroplating.

Spring 2026 to Feature New Documentaries, Screenings, Artist Talks, and a New Episode of Art in the Twenty-First Century

Art21 has announced its spring 2026 programming lineup, which includes new documentary premieres, film screenings, artist talks, and the second episode of the 12th season of its flagship series 'Art in the Twenty-First Century.' The season features artists such as Tomás Saraceno, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Camille Henrot, and Ragnar Kjartansson, and coincides with the series' 25th anniversary.

Sinners, Maurizio Cattelan Is Taking Confession

Maurizio Cattelan has launched a participatory artwork and sales campaign titled 'The Confessional,' where people can call a hotline to submit their sins for his consideration. Selected participants will be invited to a livestreamed event on April 23 where Cattelan, acting as a priest, will absolve them. The project is tied to the re-release of his controversial 1999 sculpture 'La Nona Ora,' a miniature wax figure of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite.