Francis Picabia: Against Bad Breath and Cathedrals of Shit

ArtReview examines the enduring relevance of Francis Picabia through the exhibition "Francis Picabia: Expanding Horizons" at Hauser & Wirth in London. The show presents a five-decade, 32-work mini-retrospective of Picabia's painting and drawing, spanning from an untitled impressionist landscape (1902) to his late Dada-themed works. The article highlights Picabia's deliberately wayward, ever-changing practice, his provocative aphorisms (e.g., "Cubism is a cathedral of shit"), and his role as a precursor to appropriation art, Pop, Conceptualism, and 'bad' painting, with key series including the Espagnoles, Transparencies, and mechanomorphic images.

Sotheby’s Quietly Tried to Sell Arne Glimcher’s Pollock for $50 M.—It Didn’t Go as Planned

Sotheby's secretly organized a private auction for Jackson Pollock's "Number 19, 1951," owned by Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher, with an asking price of $50 million. The sale was held at the Breuer Building in Manhattan with unusual secrecy, including flying in star auctioneer Oliver Barker from London and sending a recorded pitch to prospective buyers. However, Sotheby's could not secure enough bidders, and the auction was ultimately called off; the painting's current whereabouts remain unclear.

Comment | Farewell, Los Angeles’s ‘punk’ Box gallery

Mara McCarthy, founder of the Box gallery in Los Angeles, announced the closure of the boundary-pushing commercial space on April 24 after 19 years. The gallery, which opened in 2007 in LA's Chinatown and later moved to the Arts District in 2012, was known for spotlighting under-recognized post-war and contemporary artists, including performance pioneers Barbara T. Smith and Simone Forti, moving-image artist Stan Vanderbeek, and political artist Wally Hedrick. McCarthy described the gallery as a "punk version" of New York spaces, grounded in humanity and community. The closure was driven by declining sales of her father Paul McCarthy's work, collectors turning away from experimental art during the pandemic, and the devastating Eaton Fire in 2025 that destroyed Mara's home and her parents' home in Altadena.

Jamie Nares’s Enduring Romance With the Brushstroke

Hyperallergic interviews Jamie Nares, a New York-based painter and filmmaker, about her artistic journey and enduring focus on the brushstroke. Nares, who came out as transgender in 2019 and changed her artist name in 2024, discusses her move from London to New York in the mid-1970s, her involvement in the No Wave movement, and her recent decision to relocate permanently to Upstate New York. She explains how she reduced her practice to the single brushstroke, finding endless variation in that gesture, and describes her process as a search for the essences of things, stripping away what is superfluous.

Come together: how London galleries are making it work in the capital

London’s gallery sector is undergoing a reset as a slower market, rising operating costs, and changing collector behavior challenge dealers of all sizes. Despite high-profile closures, around two dozen new galleries have opened in the past few years, and many are experimenting with new business models. London Gallery Weekend (LGW) returns this month (5–7 June), highlighting a shift away from art fairs toward a renewed focus on exhibitions. New galleries like Pale Horse Gallery in Marylebone and Edel Assanti’s second space in St James’s prioritize in-gallery programming, while others like Elizabeth Xi Bauer are expanding into studios and residency programs to offer artists more infrastructure.

Philadelphia opens its Van Gogh Sunflowers display with a very rare loan from London’s National Gallery

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is opening a special display, "Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow" (June 6–October 11), that brings together two of Van Gogh's iconic Sunflowers paintings: the Philadelphia museum's own version (January 1889) and a rare loan of London's National Gallery's version with a yellow background (August 1888). This marks the first time the London painting has crossed the Atlantic, and only its fifth loan abroad since 1924. The reunion was reciprocated after Philadelphia lent its Sunflowers to London's 2024 exhibition "Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers."

Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait review – the radiant, uncontainable star she always wanted to be

The National Portrait Gallery in London has opened a new blockbuster exhibition, "Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait," marking what would have been the star's 100th birthday. The show presents Monroe through photographs, paintings, and film excerpts, tracing her transformation from Norma Jeane Baker into a global icon. It features works by renowned photographers such as Richard Avedon, Milton Greene, Cecil Beaton, Eve Arnold, Philippe Halsman, Weegee, and André de Dienes, as well as paintings by Pauline Boty and Andy Warhol. The exhibition emphasizes Monroe's agency and control over her own image, challenging the notion of uncovering a "real Marilyn" behind the glamour.

Nazi-looted Georg Kolbe fountain breaks German artist's auction record

A fountain by German sculptor Georg Kolbe, titled *Tänzerinnen-Brunnen* (Dancer’s Fountain), sold for a record €4 million (with fees) at Villa Grisebach’s summer auction in Berlin on June 4. The work had been in the collection of the Georg Kolbe Museum since the 1970s, but after a research project initiated in 2024, the museum deaccessioned and restituted it to the descendants of its original commissioner, Heinrich Stahl, a prominent Jewish community member murdered in the Theresienstadt ghetto. The fountain, commissioned in 1922, features a bronze dancer and limestone figures of Somali men, reflecting colonial representational conventions. The sale broke Kolbe’s previous auction record of €1.4 million, also set at Grisebach last year.

‘Scandalous’ $60 Million Modigliani Nude Headlines Sotheby’s Lewis Collection Sale

Sotheby's announced that Modigliani's 'Nu assis au collier' (1917), estimated at £45 million ($60.6 million), will headline the single-owner auction of portraits from British billionaire Joe Lewis's collection. The painting, one of only seven full nudes from Modigliani's scandalous 1917 solo show that was shut down by police for indecency, returns to auction for the first time in over 30 years. Sotheby's specialist Oliver Barker noted rising interest in Modigliani, citing Johnny Depp's 2024 biopic and a new catalogue raisonné by Marc Restellini. The work last sold in 1995 for $12.4 million and will be offered on June 24, with public viewing in London from June 10–23.

Photographs of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson’s shared studio go on show in London

The Courtauld Gallery in London is presenting an exhibition of 23 black-and-white photographs taken by Paul Laib in 1932-33, documenting the shared Hampstead studio of sculptor Barbara Hepworth and painter Ben Nicholson. The images, drawn from a larger archive of 22,000 glass-plate negatives gifted to the Courtauld in 1974, reveal the creative partnership between the two artists, who were a couple from 1931 to 1951. The show includes fourteen vintage prints and nine modern prints, curated by Chloe Nahum and Gerlind May, and runs from 6 June to 4 October.

A MoMA Retrospective Proves Duchamp Was More Sincere Than He Seems

A new retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York surveys the full career of Marcel Duchamp, featuring 300 works across media. The exhibition traces his evolution from early paintings—such as a placid chess scene of his brothers and the watercolor *Woman Hack Driver* (1907)—through his iconic readymades like *Pharmacy* (1914) and *Nude Descending a Staircase* (1911–12), to the monumental *The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even* (The Large Glass, 1915–23). It is the first comprehensive survey of Duchamp's oeuvre since 1973, and includes reproductions, facsimiles, and even contemporary caricatures from the American press.

Crystal Bridges To Open $150 Million, 100,000 Square Foot Expansion

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, will unveil a $150 million expansion to the public on June 6–7, adding 114,000 square feet of new space. Designed by Safdie Architects, the project increases exhibition space by 50 percent and includes new galleries, a restaurant, artist-in-residence studios, a ceramic-making space, and five acres of forest trails. The expansion also features a 14,000-square-foot Learning and Engagement Hub and 29,000 square feet of new gallery space.

She Beat Warhol to Pop Art’s Biggest Ideas. The Art World Wrote Her Out Anyway

The article features an interview with Alexandra Munroe, senior curator at large for global arts at the Guggenheim Museum, discussing Yayoi Kusama's inclusion in the new exhibition "Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now." Munroe explains that Kusama, now 97, anticipated many art movements including pop art but was historically excluded from the pop art canon despite showing with Andy Warhol as early as 1962 and garnering more press than him in 1968. The exhibition features Kusama's "INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019)" and one of her "Infinity Net" paintings.

From Masters of the Universe to Monteverdi: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

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 three exhibitions: Julio Le Parc at Tate Modern (London), featuring his pioneering immersive installations and light sculptures from the 1950s to the 2020s; Chico da Silva at Nottingham Contemporary, showcasing the Brazilian artist's psychedelic mythical creatures and his role in Brazil's Indigenous art explosion; and Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica at Barbican Art Gallery (London), examining how the Pan-Africa movement shaped 20th-century anti-colonial art and culture.

We prefer to be better-doers than know-it-alls

"Wir sind lieber Bessermacher als Besserwisser"

German cultural policy official Wolfram Weimer calls the rise of the far-right AfD a 'defining moment' for the republic, urging the democratic center to reclaim cultural symbols like the German flag. In Vienna, the Mumok museum introduces temporary free admission under new director Fatima Hellberg, sparking debate over transparency and anonymous private funding. A new museum called Dataland opens in Los Angeles, dedicated exclusively to AI artist Refik Anadol. Meanwhile, critic Christine Lemke-Matwey in Die Zeit condemns filmmaker Wim Wenders for failing to properly apologize for a nude scene involving a 13-year-old Nastassja Kinski in his 1975 film 'Falsche Bewegung'.

Undersung Surrealist Maria Martins’s Market Is Finally Catching Up

On May 14, Rago Wright auction house sold Maria Martins's bronze sculpture *Impossible* (1946) for $3.17 million with fees, far surpassing its presale estimate of $150,000–$200,000 and shattering the Brazilian Surrealist's previous auction record. Martins, who died in 1973, had only 22 works appear at auction since 2003, with most sales occurring in 2025. The sculpture, considered her most important work, exists in three iterations, with one at MoMA in New York and another at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. The sale attracted a dozen phone bidders, nine absentee bidders, and three online bidders.

Rediscovered Constable Goes on View for First Time in Decades

A long-lost painting by John Constable, titled *View of Salisbury from Harnham Ridge*, has been rediscovered after more than six decades in a private collection. The work, dated to the 1820s, will go on public view for the first time in decades at Salisbury Museum on June 11, where it will remain on long-term loan until 2030. The rediscovery was spearheaded by Constable specialist Timothy Wilcox, and the painting depicts a rural scene with the River Avon and Salisbury Cathedral's spire, showcasing Constable's characteristic naturalistic cloud studies.

Yemen heritage, US flags at the National Gallery in Washington, Felix Gonzalez-Torres—podcast

This podcast episode from The Art Newspaper covers three distinct topics. First, Ben Luke speaks with reporter Melissa Gronlund about the devastating impact of Yemen's civil war on its heritage, including damaged buildings and looted antiquities, alongside ongoing efforts to protect and restore historical landmarks. Second, the episode previews the exhibition "American Icon: The US Flag in Art" opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., featuring a conversation with chief curatorial and conservation officer E. Carmen Ramos. Third, the Work of the Week segment focuses on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled (Revenge)" (1991), a candy sculpture currently on view in the survey show "Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Sweet Revenge" at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, where curators Alejandro Cesarco and Nancy Spector discuss the work.

A Kennedy-connected Stiehl box and a pair of Van Huysum still-lifes: our pick of the June auctions

The article highlights four notable lots coming up for auction in June 2025. These include a rare gold and hardstone 'Steinkabinett' box by Christian Gottlieb Stiehl from the collection of Maurice Tempelsman (Sotheby's, New York), two Jan van Huysum still-life paintings estimated at around £3 million each (Christie's, London), a Maynard Dixon painting from actress Diane Keaton's collection (Bonhams, New York), and a William Morris glass hanging from the estate of Tina Hills (Phillips, New York). Each piece has a distinctive provenance, from historical royal ownership to celebrity collecting.

JR's Caverne: No Reopening Date

Caverne de JR : pas de date de réouverture

The article reports that the reopening date for JR's "Caverne" installation remains undetermined. The piece is part of a broader issue of Le Journal des Arts (n°796, June 1, 2026) that also covers tensions at Venice pavilions, avant-garde scenes in Barcelona, the restored Musée des Augustins, and features on Hilma af Klint, Leonardo Cremonini, and Monet in Le Havre.

Tavares Strachan’s First Monograph Surveys an Encyclopedic Practice

Tavares Strachan, a Bahamian conceptual artist known for his encyclopedic work that challenges historical narratives, has released his first monograph through Phaidon. The book surveys decades of his expansive practice, which includes a 2,400-page encyclopedia from 2018 correcting omissions from the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as works addressing colonialism, climate change, and space exploration. The monograph coincides with his exhibition 'The Day Tomorrow Began' at The Pizzuti, part of the Columbus Museum of Art, running through January 3.

Terry Winters review – flashes of magic in patterns science has yet to explain

Terry Winters presents eight new paintings at Modern Art in London, titled after geometric and mathematical terms like Area, Array, Field, and Locus. The works explore patterns inspired by botany, engineering, computer modeling, and cybernetics, using optical illusions and layered compositions to evoke natural and scientific systems. The review highlights how Winters' paintings create a push-pull effect through color and form, blending sensory pleasure with intellectual inquiry.

Monet in dialogue, Kiki Smith... 5 must-see exhibitions in Paris galleries in June

Monet en dialogue, Kiki Smith… 5 expos coups de cœur à voir en galeries à Paris en juin

Five standout gallery exhibitions opening in Paris this June are highlighted, including a dialogue with Claude Monet at Galerie Larock-Granoff featuring eleven contemporary artists, the first Parisian solo show of Swedish painter Martin Jacobson at Andréhn-Schiptjenko, a cosmic-themed group show at Galerie Mitterrand with Yves Klein, Lita Albuquerque, and Jack Goldstein, a salon-style homage to Sonia Delaunay at Galerie Zlotowski, and a new exhibition of Kiki Smith's symbolic works at Galerie Lelong.

It’s First Friday, here’s your Boulder County guide to art exhibits

This article provides a comprehensive guide to art exhibits and galleries in the Boulder County area for First Friday, listing over 20 venues including 15th Street Gallery, Ana’s Art Gallery, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Dairy Arts Center, and many more. It details current and upcoming shows, such as "We Choose Earth" by Jorge Vinent, "Tres Voces, Un Corazón" featuring the Montero-Ortega family, and "Black Futures in Art" at Collective Community Arts Center, along with opening receptions, dates, and locations.

The secret to enjoying an art gallery? Less is more | Letters

A series of reader letters respond to Isabel Brooks's essay about feeling overwhelmed by too much art in galleries. Correspondents share personal strategies for enjoying museums without fatigue: focusing on a single painting, using a "five paintings" method, asking staff for recommendations, or simply accepting that it's okay to skip most works. Examples include a grandfather who showed his granddaughter just Rembrandt's *Girl at a Window* at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and a visitor who abandoned the catalog at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

‘They are disturbing the dead’: reconstructing the site of the forgotten first genocide of the 20th century

The article reports on a new exhibition in Berlin, 'Fractured Lifeworlds', presented by Forensic Architecture and Forensis, which reconstructs the forgotten genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples in German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia) from 1905 to 1907. The exhibition, originally shown at Namibia’s National Art Gallery, uses films, geological research, and oral testimony to document the concentration camp on Shark Island, where at least 3,000 prisoners died, and to identify unmarked mass graves. It also highlights the ongoing Hyphen green hydrogen project, which threatens to disturb burial grounds as the Lüderitz port expands.

World Cup watch parties at the Getty, LACMA and more: L.A. arts and culture this weekend

Multiple Los Angeles museums and cultural institutions are hosting free public watch parties for the World Cup, which returns to the Southland for the first time since 1994. Participating venues include the Getty Center, LACMA, the Autry Museum of the American West, and the Music Center, each offering big-screen screenings, themed food and drinks, and family-friendly activities tied to specific matches.

Lubaina Himid Unveils Reading the Label Across Cork Street for 2026 Banners Commission

Lubaina Himid has unveiled 'Reading the Label', the 2026 edition of the Cork Street Galleries Banners Commission, transforming London's historic Cork Street into a public installation of painted male figures on banners. The works, drawn from Himid's paintings over the past twelve years, explore how clothing communicates identity, memory, and cultural meaning. The installation coincides with London Gallery Weekend 2026 and is commissioned by Cork Street Galleries, an initiative of The Pollen Estate.

Clear your calendar for London Gallery Weekend, a three-day art party in the capital

London Gallery Weekend returns as a three-day event across the capital, featuring over 120 galleries with free entry and a program of talks, performances, and drinks receptions. The article highlights standout exhibitions, including Alvaro Barrington's '92–01 ‘In Livin Color’' at Emalin, which examines the cultural impact of the crack cocaine epidemic on Black communities; Naotaka Hiro's exploration of perception and the body at Herald St; Jemila Isa's debut solo show 'Dreams Lost Upon Waking' at Maureen Paley's Studio M; a survey of British Surrealist Eileen Agar at Alison Jacques; and Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia's collage installation 'Grown: The Altering of Innocence and Experience' at William Hine.

Museo Igor Mitoraj opens in Pietrasanta: interview with director Frank Boehm between contemporary art and craftsmanship

A Pietrasanta apre il Museo Igor Mitoraj: intervista al direttore Frank Boehm tra arte contemporanea e artigianato

The Museo Igor Mitoraj opens in Pietrasanta on June 6, 2026, housed in the former municipal market designed by Tito Salvatori and renovated by OBR studio. The inaugural exhibition, "Mitoraj. Present," showcases a significant selection of 69 works donated to the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj, highlighting the Polish sculptor's legacy beyond his monumental works. Director Frank Boehm, formerly of Miart and the Museum Insel Hombroich, outlines plans for the museum to become an international platform for contemporary sculpture research, featuring exhibitions, residencies for young artists and curators, and educational activities.