The Order of Symbolism, Signs and Sensibility

The Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) is hosting a major retrospective titled 'Rubem Valentim: a ordem do sensível,' featuring approximately 180 works spanning four decades. Curated by Raquel Barreto and Phelipe Rezende, the exhibition showcases Valentim’s unique fusion of modernist abstraction with the spiritual symbols of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cosmologies. The presentation includes paintings, reliefs, and sculptures, culminating in monumental works like 'Templo de Oxalá.'

Dialogues with the Legacy of Burle Marx at MAC CCB

DIALOGUES WITH THE LEGACY OF BURLE MARX AT MAC CCB

The Museum of Contemporary Art and Architecture Center (MAC/CCB) in Lisbon is presenting a major exhibition titled 'Lugar de estar: o legado Burle Marx' (A Place to Be: The Legacy of Burle Marx). The show features an extensive selection of landscape projects for public spaces by the influential Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx and his collaborators, tracing nearly seventy years of work through studies, sketches, photographs, and press materials. It highlights his role in shaping modern Brazilian cities like Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.

Flávia Ventura joins Nara Roesler and Mariana Rocha signs with A Gentil Carioca

Two Brazilian artists have secured new gallery representation. Flávia Ventura, whose work explores the body, sexuality, and power through painting, has joined São Paulo's Nara Roesler gallery. Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro-based A Gentil Carioca gallery is now representing Mariana Rocha, an artist whose practice investigates the body, memory, and the feminine through drawing, painting, and photography.

Exhibit at Lord Baltimore Hotel by local artist Mark Anthony West Jr. evokes starry skies

Baltimore-born artist Mark Anthony West Jr. is debuting a new body of work titled "Seven Stars Between Two Skies" at the Lord Baltimore Hotel. Created during a residency in Rio de Janeiro, the exhibition features portraits of American and Brazilian creatives depicted as sovereign forces, utilizing signature elements like terra cotta noses, metallic leaf, and symbolic ribbons to explore Afro-diasporic themes and spiritual lineage.

Major Brazilian art heist still unsolved as statute of limitations expires

The statute of limitations has officially expired on the 2006 heist at the Museu da Chácara do Céu in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most significant art thefts in Brazilian history. During the chaos of Carnival, armed thieves overpowered guards and stole masterpieces by Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso. Despite the works being valued at over $10 million and listed on international databases like Interpol and the Art Loss Register, the perpetrators were never identified and the art remains missing.

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Kathleen Goncharov, a curator known for her work at Just Above Midtown gallery and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, died at her home in Boca Raton, Florida, on December 31 at age 73. Over her career, she served as senior curator at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from 2012 to 2025, curated exhibitions internationally from Rio de Janeiro to Rome, and was commissioner of the US Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2003, presenting Fred Wilson's exhibition "Speak of Me as I Am." She also held positions at Creative Time, the New School, MIT, the Nasher Museum of Art, and the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, and was a working artist for 40 years.

rothschilds mini louvre at center of family feud british museum on decolonization mission and more morning links for december 18 2025 1234767389

The British Museum is lending 80 significant Greek and Egyptian artifacts to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) as part of a new initiative promoting "decolonization through collaboration" rather than restitution. Director Nicholas Cullinan described the long-term loans as a form of "cultural diplomacy" that offers a constructive alternative to ownership disputes. Separately, the Rothschild family's secretive private art collection at Château de Pregny, dubbed a "mini-Louvre," is at the center of a legal battle between Nadine de Rothschild and her daughter-in-law Ariane de Rothschild over whether the artworks should remain in the château or be moved to a public museum in Geneva.

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Malba, the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, has acquired the Daros Latinamerica Collection, a private trove of 1,233 works by 117 artists spanning the 1950s to 2010s. The deal, orchestrated by founder Eduardo F. Costantini, nearly doubles the museum's holdings to roughly 3,000 works and is part of a broader expansion timed to Malba's 25th anniversary in 2026, including a building extension beneath Plaza Perú that will double its footprint to 90,000 square feet.

emerging artists art basel miami beach 2720465

Art Basel Miami Beach is set to open this week, and Artnet News highlights four emerging artists to watch. Among them are Nour Malas, a Syrian painter whose four-panel work for Dubai's Carbon 12 gallery reflects on her childhood and the fall of the regime, blending abstraction with political memory. Zé Tepedino, a Brazilian artist from Rio de Janeiro, creates eco-minded sculptures from beach detritus like flip-flops and umbrellas, riffing on Brazil's social history and consumer culture. Other featured artists include those working with ethereal staged worlds, memory-soaked abstraction, and sculptural experiments in Lycra, offering a vivid snapshot of new voices at the fair.

5 Artists on Our Radar in December 2025

Artsy's December 2025 edition of "Artists on Our Radar" highlights five emerging visual artists who have gained attention through new gallery representation, exhibitions, auctions, or art fairs. Featured artists include British painter Imogen Allen, known for gauzy, nature-inspired works with a Gerhard Richter-like blur effect; Brazilian painter Elian Almeida, who reimagines marginalized figures in Brazilian visual culture through vibrant, narrative paintings; and nomadic American artist ektor garcia, who works with unconventional materials like wire, clay, and leather. The article details their recent exhibitions, gallery affiliations, and career milestones.