New York Art Week 2026 brings a major convergence of art events across the city, including several prominent art fairs such as Frieze New York, Independent New York, TEFAF New York, and NADA New York. The week also features gallery openings spanning from Tribeca to the Upper East Side, as well as auction previews ahead of key sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips.
Ary Scheffer (1795–1858) was a Dutch-born Romantic painter who became a central figure in Parisian artistic and cultural life during the July Monarchy. He was the official portraitist of the Orléans family and created deeply melancholic, spiritual works inspired by Dante, Goethe, and the Gospels. His studio at 16 rue Chaptal, in the Nouvelle Athènes district, hosted legendary Friday gatherings attended by Chopin, Liszt, George Sand, and Dickens, and now houses the Musée de la Vie romantique. Key works include *Le Dévouement patriotique des six Bourgeois de Calais* (1819) and *Les Femmes souliotes* (1827), both acquired by the French state.
Mohammad Omer Khalil, the 90-year-old Sudanese-born printmaker based in New York, is the subject of a multi-city retrospective titled "Common Ground." The anchor exhibition runs through May 31 at the Blackburn Study Center in Manhattan, with satellite events at venues including Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia, the Arab American National Museum in Michigan, the New York Public Library, and Anthology Film Archives. Curated by Amina Ahmed and Jenna Hamed, the show spans Khalil's entire career, from his first etching made in Florence in 1964 to large-scale works inspired by Bob Dylan songs, poetry by Adonis, and films such as "The Chalk Garden."
Walid Nayif is holding a painting exhibition at Yassin gallery, which the article describes as not to be missed. The article also lists numerous other art events in Cairo, including photographic projects, immersive digital exhibitions, and ceramic showcases, featuring artists such as Judi Yassin, Tia Khalil, Mostafa El-Razzaz, Khaled Taher, Mahmoud Hamdi, and Pierre Jeanneret, as well as the 'Beyond Van Gogh' immersive experience directed by Mathieu Saint-Arnaud.
Artforum's editors preview twenty-five anticipated institutional exhibitions opening worldwide between May and August. Highlights include "Fade" at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the latest in its career-making "F show" series featuring seventeen emerging artists of African descent; "Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum in New York, showcasing over 180 women designers from Austria's famed atelier; "Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz" at the Hessel Museum of Art, exploring the intersection of Navajo weaving and microchip history; the 59th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art, with 61 artists spread across Pittsburgh venues; and "Mary Ellen Carroll: How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
Photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have documented abandoned early 20th-century movie theatres across the United States, capturing the haunting beauty of their decline. These once-grand cinemas, converted from 1920s music halls and theatres, have been left as hybrid ruins due to the rise of television, streaming platforms, and individualized media consumption. The work is exhibited at Kyotographie 2026 in Japan until 17 May.
La Francia riapre il suo storico padiglione alla Biennale Arte 2026 dopo i restauri con l’artista Yto Barrada
France will reopen its historic pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) after restoration, with Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971) presenting the immersive textile-based project "Comme Saturne," curated by Myriam Ben Salah. The exhibition uses the "dévoré" technique—acid selectively corrodes fabric—as a metaphor for destruction and creation, featuring a goat-skin kite, a Room of Folds with wool drapery that fades in natural light, a Laboratory inspired by Saturnalia, and a Study Room linked to Barrada's garden of dye plants in Tangier, culminating in the Room of the Devoured where chemically attacked material fragments into an aesthetic of wear and formlessness.
A retrospective exhibition for the late Korean artist Kim Sang-yu, titled 'A Person Who Does Not Easily Fade,' is being held at the Seoul Museum of Art to mark the centennial of his birth. The show, featuring over 150 works, has become a popular destination for meditation and healing, with visitors describing the serene paintings as comforting and harmless.
Simon Burstall, at age 17, began photographing Sydney's underground rave scene in the 1990s, using borrowed school cameras and sneaking out in the family car to capture the burgeoning subculture. His images from that era were later compiled into the photobook '93: Punching the Light, published by Damiani in 2019.
The Goethe-Institut Sudan, in collaboration with the Humboldt Forum Berlin, presents 'Scattered Memories,' a transcontinental exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Kairo from 1 to 3 May 2026. The show features Sudanese artists working across collage, film, music, performance, food, and storytelling to explore themes of loss, remembrance, and cultural memory. Public programs include discussions, guided tours, and a traditional coffee corner, transforming the exhibition into a space for communal gathering and exchange.
A heritage art exhibition in a local community is showcasing works that reinterpret and revitalize regional stories and traditions. The show features pieces by local artists who draw on historical narratives, folklore, and cultural artifacts to create contemporary visual art, aiming to connect residents with their shared past through a modern lens.