Today's Art Pulse
British Portraitists Showcase 52 Works at Free Brixton Exhibition
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) held its 2026 Annual Exhibition at Downstairs at the Department Store in Brixton. The free show, running until 14 June, features 52 artists drawn from the collective’s 75 members, including award‑winning portraitists recognized by the National Portrait Gallery and Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Stolen John Keats Love Letters Found After 40 Years: Read by Luke Thompson | #sothebys
Eight love letters by English Romantic poet John Keats to his muse Fanny Brawne—thought lost for nearly 40 years—have been rediscovered and publicly read in a Sotheby’s presentation. The intimate handwritten notes, full of ardent language and personal details, offer a rare, immediate glimpse of Keats as a young man in love rather than the distant literary figure. The rediscovery highlights the survival of fragile cultural artifacts and renews scholarly and public interest in Keats’s personal life and creative context. Sotheby’s framing emphasizes the letters’ emotional immediacy and their ability to connect contemporary audiences to 19th-century experience.
Debbie Millman and Cy Gavin—Ecologies of Painting
The Metropolitan Museum’s new installation “Ecologies of Painting” re‑examines its European paintings collection, pairing celebrated masterpieces with lesser‑known works dating from roughly 1525 to 1775. Curators David Pullins and Anna‑Claire Stinebring frame the show as an experimental “incubator” space, using...
Meet the Artists | Nairy Baghramian
Nairy Baghramian, a multidisciplinary artist, discusses how art must act as a resilient force during turbulent cultural moments, emphasizing that it often faces rejection yet must persist. She frames her practice as a dialogue between playfulness and seriousness, allowing work...
Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’
Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," created around 1830 as part of his 36 Views of Mount Fuji, captures a towering, claw‑like wave poised over three boats with Mount Fuji in the distance. Rendered in vivid Prussian...
Artist Y.Z. Kami: The Human Face Is Beautiful
In a candid interview, Iranian‑born painter Y.Z. Kami explains why the human face dominates his artistic life, describing how he spends hours watching strangers on New York subways to absorb their subtle expressions. Kami traces his devotion to painting...
On the Trail of Otto Greiner: The Fate of a Lost Drawing
The Getty Research Institute identified a 1892 Otto Greiner drawing in its holdings as a work long listed as missing from Dresden’s Kupferstich-Kabinett after World War II. The sheet surfaced on the market in 2001 and passed through private collectors...
Eileen Agar's Surrealist Glove Hat That Pushed Fashion Boundaries
The video examines Eileen Agar’s unique late-1930s “glove hat,” a straw conical hat onto which a pair of painted-fingernail gloves are pinned—an assemblage that blends found objects (including an ammonite brooch) and wit to turn everyday accessories into surrealist art....
The 3 Best Gaudí Spots in Barcelona
Barcelona’s most iconic architect, Antoni Gaudí, is the focus of a concise video tour highlighting three must‑see sites: the still‑unfinished Sagrada Família, the whimsical Park Güell, and the undulating Casa Milà. The narrator emphasizes Gaudí’s seamless fusion of nature and structure—bright,...
She's Spent 20 Years Obsessed With People Who Simply Vanished
The video spotlights Lara Favaretto’s latest project at Venice’s Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, where she has turned a historic reading room into a "library inside a library" exhibition. The work assembles more than 12,000 books, with 2,700 on view, and invites...
"It's Like Looking over the Shoulder of the Artist" | 20 Years of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art
Stephen Ongpin Fine Art marked its 20th anniversary by highlighting the gallery’s niche focus on works on paper and its slow, research-driven approach to exhibiting drawings and watercolors. To celebrate, the gallery consigned about 100 drawings to Christie’s, including two...
Ugo Rondinone Unveils 'MORE LIGHT' – 54 Flags Illuminate London’s Mayfair
Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has launched 'MORE LIGHT', a three‑part, city‑wide celebration of light across London’s Royal Academy, Bond Street and a gallery space. The project includes a suspended rainbow poem, 54 sunrise‑sunset flags and six new watercolour paintings, turning...
Review: Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) held its 2026 Annual Exhibition at Downstairs at the Department Store in Brixton, featuring 52 artists from its 75‑member collective. The free show runs until 14 June, showcasing award‑winning and emerging portraitists recognized by the...
Venice Biennale 2026: Egyptian & Saudi Pavilions, Drone Protest, Workers Strike
The 61st Venice Biennale opened with Egypt’s silent, tactile pavilion and Saudi Arabia’s 29,000‑brick installation, while artists staged a “Solidarity Drone Chorus” and cultural workers launched the Biennale’s first 24‑hour strike over Israel’s presence. The convergence of artistic expression and...
London Gallery Weekend 2026 Unveils Fragmented City Program Across Capital
London Gallery Weekend kicked off its sixth edition with a city‑wide slate of exhibitions, headlined by Roni Horn’s “Seizure of Hope” at Hauser & Wirth, Hayv Kahraman’s “What cannot be said will be wept” at Pilar Corrias, and Steven Shearer’s...
Art Basel 2026 Dazzles with Record Auction Sales and BMW‑A.A.Murakami’s SYMBIOSIS
Art Basel 2026 attracted 290 galleries and delivered blockbuster auction results – Jackson Pollock’s “Number 7A” sold for $181.2 million and Constantin Brâncuși’s “Danaïde” for $107.6 million. The fair also premiered BMW‑A.A.Murakami’s high‑tech immersive work SYMBIOSIS, underscoring a market pivot toward large‑scale spectacle and tech‑driven...
FAD NEWS: Hypha Studios to Open Major New South Bank Cultural Hub with Galleries, Studios and Artist-Led Programme
Hypha Studios is opening its largest cultural destination, Hypha Gallery South Bank, on 25 June 2026 in Bankside. The venue offers 9,000 sq ft of exhibition space and over 4,000 sq ft of artist studios, supporting roughly 600 artists through shows, studio provision and a sales...
FAD NEWS: Ugo Rondinone Creates City-Wide Celebration of Light
Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone is launching MORE LIGHT, a three‑part summer project in London that weaves public and gallery installations around the theme of light. A three‑metre‑high rainbow poem crowns the Royal Academy courtyard, while 54 sunrise‑sunset flags line Bond Street, creating...
Artists Amy Douglas & Lou Winwood Unite for First Joint Exhibition, COLLISIO
The COLLISIO exhibition pairs British ceramicist Amy Douglas with mixed‑media artist Lou Winwood for their first joint show, running 11‑14 June 2026 at Studio Two Point in London. The show blends painting, collage, drawing and ceramics, featuring works like Douglas’s...
Indian Contemporary Art Debuts at St. Petersburg’s Hermitage in “Sediments of Becoming”
The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg has opened “Sediments of Becoming”, an exhibition that brings eleven Indian contemporary artists into its historic halls for the first time in over a decade. Curated by Marina Schultz, the show runs through...
Anselm Kiefer Debuts 13‑Metre Canvas "Danaë" At Valencia’s Centro De Arte Hortensia Herrero
Anselm Kiefer unveiled his monumental 13‑metre canvas "Danaë" at the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero in Valencia, marking his first major Spanish exhibition. Curated by Javier Molins, the show blends Kiefer’s mythic materiality with the historic Palacio de Valeriola, underscoring...
Guimi You’s Ethereal Paintings Capture the Art of Starting Over
South Korean artist Guimi You opens her first major solo exhibition in New York, "When the Sun Shines Again," at Lehmann Maupin from June 11 to August 14, 2026. The show presents a new series of luminous oil paintings that fuse traditional Korean...
Will People Embrace The First AI Art Museum?
Dataland, the world’s first AI‑driven arts museum, will open this month inside Frank Gehry’s Grand LA towers, offering a 25,000‑square‑foot immersive rainforest experience. The venue runs on the Large Nature Model, a generative AI trained on more than 500 million nature images...
Jarvis Cocker’s ‘Hodge Podge’: Pulp Frontman to Curate Art Exhibition
Jarvis Cocker, the former Pulp frontman, will co‑curate “The Hodge Podge” exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield with his wife, creative consultant Kim Sion. The show runs from May 21 to October 31, 2027, and pairs works by Jeremy Deller, Peter Doig, Barbara...
Venice Biennale 2026 Unveils Oceanic Immersions, Barry X Ball Sculptures, and Quiet UAE Pavilion
The 61st Venice Biennale opens with a quartet of landmark projects: the One Ocean Foundation’s “As Above, So Below” immersive exhibition, Barry X Ball’s “The Shape of Time” sculptures at San Giorgio Maggiore, the United Arab Emirates’ sound‑focused Washwasha pavilion, and Exibart’s comprehensive guide...
MoMA Exhibition Will Examine Mondrian’s Time in New York and Love of Boogie Woogie Music
The Museum of Modern Art will present "Mondrian Boogie Woogie" from March 21 to July 31, 2027, a survey of Piet Mondrian’s last New York years. The show reunites his two final canvases—Broadway Boogie Woogie and Victory Boogie Woogie—for the first time in over three decades,...