The Clark Art Institute has appointed Esther Bell as its new director, effective July 1. Bell, who was the museum's deputy director and chief curator, becomes the first woman to lead the institution in its 70-year history. She succeeds Olivier Meslay, who will step down in 2026.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth announced on August 29, 2025, that it will display Caravaggio’s monumental painting *Judith Beheading Holofernes* (1599–1600) as a Guest of Honor loan from the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome, where it normally hangs in the Palazzo Barberini. The canvas, approximately six feet wide and five feet tall, will be on view in the Louis I. Kahn Building from September 14, 2025, through January 11, 2026. The painting depicts the biblical moment of Judith decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes, showcasing Caravaggio’s signature bold realism and dramatic chiaroscuro. The loan follows the museum’s 2022 Focus Exhibition “SLAY,” which featured Artemisia Gentileschi’s and Kehinde Wiley’s interpretations of the same subject.