In Venice, the Monumental Farewell of Georg Baselitz at the Cini Foundation

À Venise, l’adieu monumental de Georg Baselitz à la fondation Cini

The Fondazione Giorgio Cini on Venice's San Giorgio Maggiore island has opened "Georg Baselitz. Eroi d'Oro," an exhibition of the late German artist's final works, just one week after his death in 2026. The show, presented alongside the Venice Biennale, features monumental self-portraits and portraits of his wife Elke, painted over gold-leaf backgrounds. Created in the last two years of his life, these works represent Baselitz's ultimate creative gesture, synthesizing six decades of experimentation with his signature inverted figures and expressionist color, supported by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

mark leckey art school 2151468

Artist Mark Leckey piloted a free month-long art course called Music and Video Lab this summer in Redruth, Cornwall, aimed at attracting people aged 18 to 25 who lack access to formal art education. The course, costing £15,000 with support from Arts Council England, was initiated by curator Teresa Gleadowe of CAST and artist Liam Jolly of Auction House, with final works screened at CAST from August 5 through September 3.

Best Exhibitions Starting in May 2026

Tokyo Art Beat has curated a selection of the best art exhibitions opening across Japan in May 2026, with a heavy concentration in Tokyo. Highlights include a retrospective of nihonga painter Kawai Gyokudō at the Yamatane Museum of Art, a Gaudí exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight, the third edition of the Tokyo Architecture Festival, a solo show of illustrator Mizumaru Anzai at Play! Museum, painter Yoko Matsumoto's first large-scale museum solo at Fuchu Art Museum, a Hiroko Koshino retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, a Van Gogh exhibition at Ueno Royal Museum, and a qipao fashion history show at the Japan-China Friendship Center Art Museum.

'Park Seo-Bo' at White Cube, Paris, France on 15 Apr–30 May 2026

White Cube Paris is hosting a major retrospective of Park Seo-Bo’s 'Ecriture' paintings, covering five decades of the artist’s career. The exhibition notably features the debut of his 'Newspaper Ecritures' in Paris—a series he originally conceived in the city during the late 1970s—presented alongside the final works completed before his death in 2023.

The Many Sheddings of Valie Export

Die vielen Häutungen der Valie Export

Valie Export, the Austrian media and performance artist known for using her body as a site of social critique, has died at age 85 in Vienna. Her final works include a black-and-white photo series of her forearm resting on a stone snake sculpture at the University of Vienna, exploring themes of skin, transformation, and mimesis. From the 1970s onward, she created iconic "Body Configurations" in which she placed her body on streets and against buildings along Vienna's Ringstrasse, tracing architectural forms to expose institutional power and patriarchal authority.

The Art of a Lifetime: USU Galleries Present Marion Hyde Retrospective

The Marion Hyde Retrospective has opened at the Tippetts & Eccles Galleries in the Chase Fine Arts Center at Utah State University. The exhibition celebrates the late Utah artist and educator Marion R. Hyde, who taught painting, drawing, printmaking, and art education at USU for 35 years, serving as department head. Curated by his son Matt Hyde (a current art teacher at Bear River High School) alongside current Art + Design Department Head Kathy Puzey, the show spans Hyde’s artistic journey from his master's thesis to his final works, including his last painting completed shortly before his death. The chronological display highlights his evolution through figurative work in the 1970s, woodcut prints of Mexican landscapes in the 1980s, a series on Park City in the 1990s, and later Utah landscapes focused on Capitol Reef.