The New York art scene was bustling with events this week. The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Orchid Dinner at the Plaza Hotel, featuring elaborate floral designs and guests like Martha Stewart and Sigourney Weaver. Meanwhile, Sotheby's hosted the Art for Water benefit auction for the Waterkeeper Alliance, with works by Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha, and the New Museum celebrated the opening of a major Raymond Pettibon exhibition.
Artnet News editors and writers compiled a list of the worst art of 2025, calling out works they found lazy, cynical, overhyped, or ethically dubious. Highlights include Flora Yukhnovich's site-specific painting installation at the Frick Collection, which critics deemed middling and out of place among the museum's historic masterpieces; Jeff Koons's eight-foot-tall Hulk (Tubas) sculpture, sold for $3 million at Frieze New York and described as an obnoxious trophy piece; and actor Adrien Brody's interactive gum wall installation, which invited visitors to stick chewed gum onto a canvas.
Dom Pérignon has partnered with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to design limited-edition labels and packaging for its Vintage 2015 and Rosé Vintage 2010 champagnes. The designs feature Murakami's signature smiling floral motifs on black backgrounds, described by the brand as an encounter between historical mastery and innovation. Murakami worked with Dom Pérignon's Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon on the project, which is part of a larger series titled 'Creation is an eternal journey' that also includes collaborations with actors, musicians, and chefs.
Dom Pérignon has partnered with artist Takashi Murakami to design limited-edition labels and packaging for its Vintage 2015 and Rosé Vintage 2010 releases. Murakami’s signature smiling floral motifs appear on black backgrounds, and the collaboration is framed as an exploration of time, transformation, and the intersection of historical craftsmanship with contemporary art. Murakami worked with Dom Pérignon’s Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon, and the project is part of a broader series titled “Creation is an eternal journey,” which also involves actors, musicians, and chefs.
Artnet News highlights eight winter gallery shows in New York City, including Ragnar Kjartansson's video installation "Sunday Without Love" at Luhring Augustine, featuring the artist and collaborators in folk costumes chanting a comedic line about living without love, and Louise Bourgeois's exhibition "Gathering Wool" at Hauser & Wirth, which explores themes of motherhood and abstraction through video, sculpture, and performance. Other notable shows include Jordan Casteel's floral canvases at Casey Kaplan and Geoffrey Holder's pulsing paintings at James Fuentes.
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.
The Frick Collection reopens to the public on April 17 after a five-year closure and a $220 million expansion and renovation by Selldorf Architects. The project adds 18,000 square feet, including 10 new galleries in the family's original second-floor living quarters, a marble staircase, cafe, gift shop, and a new auditorium. The percentage of the collection on view has increased from 25% to 47%, and Ukrainian artist Vladimir Kanevsky has created porcelain floral arrangements for the reopening. New director Axel Rüger, who joined from London's Royal Academy of Arts, welcomed journalists at a press preview.
This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three distinct exhibitions. Host Ben Luke discusses the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with organizer Olha Kovalevska, whose exhibition at Nikolaikirche in Potsdam runs until 27 April. He also explores a new show at Munch in Oslo, 'Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns', with curator Kari J. Brandtzæg, focusing on Rego's engagement with Edvard Munch. Finally, the episode features 'Convolvulus' (1940) by Gluck as the Work of the Week, part of the group exhibition 'Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today' at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, discussed with co-curator Naomi Polonsky.
This article is a weekly entertainment guide from The Guardian, covering cinema, gigs, art, stage, streaming, games, albums, and brain food. In the art section, it highlights two exhibitions: "Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today" at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, featuring artists like Henri Rousseau and Lubaina Himid; and a show of South African photographer George Hallett's work at the John Lennon School of Art and Design in Liverpool, documenting black resistance in 1970s Britain. It also mentions an open house for Lonnie Holley's new works at Edel Assanti gallery in London.
Vanity Fair published a two-part feature with unprecedented imagery of the Trump administration, shot by photographer Christopher Anderson. Diet Prada annotated the photos, highlighting that a floral still life by French impressionist Berthe Morisot, titled *Peonies* (1869), appears behind press secretary Karoline Leavitt and is currently available as a print through Walmart. The painting belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which lists it as not on view and declined to comment on whether it is on loan to the White House. The Trump administration has not responded to inquiries about the artwork's provenance or whether it was newly installed or left over from a previous administration.
Phillips has announced the lineup for its October London sales during Frieze Week, headlined by Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 work on paper, *Untitled (Pestus)*, estimated at £3 million ($4 million). The 26-lot evening auction on October 16 also includes Andy Warhol's diamond dust portrait of Giorgio Armani (estimate £800,000), Banksy's *Kate Moss* (estimate £1 million), and works by Jadé Fadojutimi, Flora Yukhnovich, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Sasha Gordon, and Emma McIntyre. A day sale on October 18 features pieces by Keith Haring, Warhol, Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, and Yoshitomo Nara.
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.
Phillips’s Frieze Week evening sale in London totaled £10.33 million ($13.88 million) across 22 lots, a 32% decline from last year’s £15.1 million on 31 lots. The sale was 82% sold by lot and 84% by value. Highlights included a new world auction record for Emma McIntyre, whose painting *Seven Types of Ambiguity* (2021) sold for £167,700, and strong results for Martha Jungwirth and Flora Yukhnovich. However, major lots by Banksy, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat underperformed or failed to sell, and four lots went unsold, including works by Andreas Gursky and Sigmar Polke.
Phillips has announced the lineup for its October London sales during Frieze Week, headlined by Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 work on paper *Untitled (Pestus)*, estimated at £3 million ($4 million). The 26-lot evening auction on October 16 also features Andy Warhol's diamond dust portrait of Giorgio Armani, Banksy's *Kate Moss* (2005), and works by Jadé Fadojutimi, Flora Yukhnovich, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Sasha Gordon, and Emma McIntyre. A day sale on October 18 will include pieces by Keith Haring, Warhol, Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, and Yoshitomo Nara.
The Guardian reviews "Handpicked," an exhibition at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge that brings together over 40 artists from the 20th century to the present, all sharing a floral passion. The show features works by Rory McEwen, Vanessa Bell, Cedric Morris, Christopher Wood, Tirzah Garwood, Celia Paul, Gluck, and Caroline Walker, among others, displayed on white and leaf-green walls inspired by the fresh flowers and floral paintings in the neighboring house. The review highlights specific pieces, such as McEwen's exquisite tulip watercolor and Garwood's poignant painting from the last year of her life, noting the technical variety and emotional depth across the exhibition.
The Parisian gallery Helene Bailly Marcilhac is hosting a comprehensive monographic exhibition dedicated to the Dutch-French painter Kees van Dongen. The show traces the artist's career from his early days as a leading figure of the Fauvist movement through his later developments in portraiture, still life, and genre painting. Spanning several decades, the exhibition highlights Van Dongen's evolution from the "terrifying" bold colors of his youth to the more nuanced, expressive works of his later years, such as his 1950s floral studies and racing scenes.
Sam Falls has created two paintings, "Rewilding" (2024) and "King's Crossing" (2024), for Ruinart's "Conversations with Nature" program, following a residency at the Champagne house's Taissy vineyard near Reims. The works, which incorporate natural materials and ecological processes, will debut at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2024 before traveling to Ruinart's headquarters. Falls's practice involves arranging plants on canvas and using pigment that reacts to humidity and sunlight, reflecting a collaboration with the environment.
APC ART has announced the exclusive sale of a rare 1984 Andy Warhol screenprint titled "Kiku Flowers." The work originates from a limited edition of 1,500 produced for a landmark exhibition at the Gendai Hanga Center in Tokyo and is being offered as a comprehensive historical package. The sale includes the original cloth-bound exhibition catalog and primary source documents, such as the original "edition club" order forms used for the Kiku suite.
Galerie magazine has curated a list of eight must-see solo gallery shows across the United States for November, highlighting exhibitions from New York to Los Angeles. Featured artists include Robert Storr, whose return to painting is showcased at Vito Schnabel Gallery in New York with a series of geometric canvases titled "Fits and Starts"; Katherine Bradford, whose figurative works are on view at CANADA in New York; and the late Robert Kobayashi, whose bricolage pieces are displayed at Susan Inglett Gallery in New York, curated by his daughter. Other notable shows include Flora Yukhnovich at Hauser & Wirth in Downtown Los Angeles.
Bonhams has announced an online auction titled “A Lasting Impression,” featuring 21 previously unseen or little-known paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These works originate from the personal collection of Gabrielle Renard, the artist’s longtime muse and his children's nanny, who sat for the Impressionist master nearly 200 times. The sale, scheduled for May 10–20, includes intimate portraits of Renard, landscapes, and a floral still life, with estimates ranging from $220,000 to $700,000.
The Royal Academy of Arts in London has launched a monographic exhibition dedicated to Michaelina Wautier, a 17th-century Brussels-based painter whose work was misattributed to male contemporaries for centuries. Despite her mastery across diverse genres—including portraiture, floral still lifes, and large-scale history paintings typically reserved for men—her identity was obscured by patriarchal societal norms and a lack of biographical documentation. The show highlights her technical brilliance, notably in works like "The Triumph of Bacchus," which was long credited to male artists due to the era's restrictions on women studying nude models.
The Whitney Museum of American Art has announced that Leo Castañeda’s video game, Camoflux Recall Grotto, will be featured in the 2026 Whitney Biennial. Ahead of the exhibition's opening, the work is already accessible to the public online, allowing users to engage with a hand-painted digital environment inspired by the Amazon and the Everglades. The game emphasizes "mutualism" and environmental care, tasking players with cultivating "cyberflora" through a meditative, non-violent gameplay loop.
London artist Georg Wilson opens "Against Nature," her second solo exhibition with Pilar Corrias, exploring the hidden world of poisonous plants in the English countryside. The show features paintings of henbane, thorn apple, and nightshade, depicting them as rebellious agents that thrive in abandoned, uncultivated land. Wilson's work coincides with her institutional debut at Jupiter Artland in Edinburgh, titled "The Earth Exhales." Her research began by collecting second-hand botanical books, which led her to notice toxic flora growing unnoticed around London, including a towering thorn apple near her studio.
Jonathan Anderson presented his debut haute couture collection for Dior, the Spring 2026 line, at Paris Fashion Week. The runway was transformed into a garden with suspended flowers, blending floral motifs with an edgy, exploratory aesthetic. Anderson drew inspiration from ceramicist Magdalene Odundo, whose sinuous forms influenced the collection's sculptural tension, and referenced 18th-century miniatures by Rosalba Carriera and John Smart for couture jewelry. The collection is now on view at the Musée Rodin in a week-long presentation titled "Grammar of Forms," alongside works by Christian Dior and Odundo.
A rare 1929 Patek Philippe wristwatch, originally owned by Paul Starrett—the chairman of the corporation behind the Empire State Building—is headed to auction at Phillips in New York. The Tiffany & Co. signed timepiece was purchased by Starrett during the construction of the iconic skyscraper and features unique floral engravings alongside his initials. It is expected to fetch between $15,000 and $30,000 during the June sale.
Judith Schaechter's large-scale stained glass sculpture "Super/Natural" has opened in a solo exhibition at Claire Oliver Gallery in Harlem. The immersive, eight-foot-tall installation, resembling a secular chapel, is filled with intricate depictions of flora and fauna and is designed for a single viewer to contemplate nature.
Sharon Stone has created a new series of figurative paintings titled "Rogues Gallery," which she describes as channeling the spirits of historical figures from different eras and locations, including an enslaved individual who drowned in the East China Sea and Iranian freedom fighter Mahsa Amini. The works, made in 2025, mark a shift from her earlier abstracted landscapes and floral motifs, and were produced in her Los Angeles home studio. Stone, who began painting seriously around 2020 and has previously exhibited at C. Parker Gallery, Allouche Gallery, and Galerie Deschler Berlin, approaches the portraits as a medium for healing and confronting difficult histories, including her own family's potential involvement in enslavement.
Houston is experiencing a significant surge in artistic activity this month, anchored by the 40th anniversary of FotoFest and major new installations at the city's leading institutions. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is hosting "Buddha/Nature," a dialogue between ancient sculptures and contemporary works, alongside the return of Ernesto Neto’s massive immersive crochet installation, "SunForceOceanLife." Meanwhile, the Menil Collection is showcasing recent gifts, and Artechouse has launched a technology-driven spring celebration featuring AI-assisted sculpting and digital floral environments.
Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York presents 'Head Stretch,' a group exhibition featuring Felipe Barsuglia, Allan Gandhi, Luciana Maas, Flora Rebollo, Gokula Stoffel, and Erika Verzutti. The show is rooted in a shared studio building in São Paulo called 'Predinho,' where friendships and creative exchanges among the artists led to the exhibition. The title reflects diverse interpretations: from craning to see another's work to the stretched proportions of figures in paintings, and the expansion of perspective through community. Works by the six artists, including paintings, sculptures, and drawings, are installed in ways that create new associations, with Verzutti inserting her own pieces to open them to fresh readings.
Jessica Fuentes and Brandon Zech, returning to the 2026 Dallas Art Fair, found the event familiar rather than surprising. Fuentes noted that after attending major fairs like Frieze, NADA, and the Armory Show, many works by Texas galleries felt recognizable. Zech observed an overarching theme of flora and fauna, with flower paintings dominating both the art and attendees' fashion. Fuentes, however, was drawn to figurative pieces, influenced by her recent visit to Mexico City Art Week. Standout works included Jessica Vollrath's painting "A thousand hills" at Erin Cluley Gallery, which marked a stylistic shift in color and composition.