Today's Art Pulse
Venice Biennale Jury Resigns, Prompting Massive Auction by Joe Lewis
The 2026 Venice Biennale’s international jury quit en masse, forcing organizers to postpone awards and shift to visitor‑selected prizes. Meanwhile, British billionaire Joe Lewis will auction a £150‑200 million private collection at Sotheby’s London, the UK’s most valuable single‑owner sale to date.
Gregorian Art Exhibition Opens in Lagos Honoring Bruce Onobrakpeya
The Gregorian Art Exhibition opened yesterday at Jubilee Hall, St. Gregory’s College in Lagos, showcasing works in honor of celebrated Nigerian artist Bruce Onobrakpeya. Organized by the college’s Old Boys Association, the three‑day event runs April 25‑27 and aims to cement a lasting tradition of artistic mentorship and heritage preservation.
Qwen AI Glasses Witness Grand Opening of China Intangible Cultural Heritage Crafts Exhibition at Milan Design Week
The China Intangible Cultural Heritage Crafts Exhibition opened at Milan Design Week featuring the world’s first documentary shot with Qwen AI Glasses, an AI‑powered wearable that records from a first‑person perspective. The glasses captured 12‑MP, 3K‑4K video of artisans, offered...
AJ Chronicles: Perils of Philanthropy — The Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera’s $200 million Saudi partnership collapsed after it was only a memorandum of understanding, leaving the company with a $30 million shortfall. The Met has already drawn down $120 million from its endowment, shrinking it from $340 million to $216 million, and is...
Niagara Falls: Mist and Majesty at the NGA Washington
“Niagara Falls: Mist and Majesty” opens at the National Gallery of Art in Washington from May 2 to September 20, 2026, marking the bicentennial of landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church’s birth. The show presents roughly 20 works—including 19th‑century prints, photographs, and contemporary video...
Who Were the Best-Selling Old Masters at Auction in 2025?
In 2025, Canaletto’s *Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day* sold at Christie’s for a staggering $43.8 million, eclipsing the previous year’s top Old Master price by threefold. The record-setting sale was driven by the painting’s pristine condition, celebrated...
Margaret Curtis at Post Times, New York
Post Times is mounting “’S”, Margaret Curtis’s first solo New York exhibition since her 2003 show at P·P·O·W. The paintings fuse sprawling American landscapes with oversized neon‑sign figures, scaffolding, and a Photoshop grid, interrogating gender politics and national myth. Curtis incorporates...
Institutional Stresses and a Fight over Venice
The Venice Biennale jury announced it will not consider nations whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges, effectively excluding Russia and Israel from top awards. The EU responded by cutting its Biennale funding over Russia's inclusion, while hundreds of musicians...
Ambientarti 2026 Names Seven Winners, Spotlighting Sustainable Art
Ambientarti 2026 has announced seven winning artists whose work tackles environmental urgency, concluding the competition’s final phase in Italy. The winners, hailing from Turkey, Italy, China, and Norway, will be on view until April 25, underscoring the prize’s role as...
Met’s $2 Billion Raphael Exhibition Reveals New Museum Funding Playbook
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its $2 billion‑scale ‘Raphael: Sublime Poetry’ exhibition, featuring 33 paintings and 142 works on paper loaned from 60 institutions worldwide. Curator Carmen Bambach and director Max Hollein orchestrated a multi‑year diplomatic and financial effort that underscores...
Episode 386- James Delbourgo on the 'Noble Madness' Of Collectors- From Charles Foster Kane to Norman Bates and Others, and...
In this episode, historian James Del Borgo discusses his book *A Noble Madness*, exploring the dark side of collecting from ancient times to the present. He examines how collector archetypes have shifted—from repressed, psychologically troubled figures in early 20th‑century literature...
Turner Prize 2026 Shortlist Announced as Middlesbrough Gears Up for Exhibition
The Turner Prize 2026 shortlist was unveiled, naming Simeon Barclay, Kira Freije, Marguerite Humeau and Tanoa Sasraku. The award ceremony and a six‑month exhibition will be hosted by Teesside University's MIMA in Middlesbrough, with a £25,000 (~$31,750) prize for the winner and £10,000...
Crystal Bridges' Free-Access Model Reshapes National Art Engagement
How did Bentonville, Arkansas become a national destination for art and culture? It all started with the vision of Alice Walton, who founded the @crystalbridges Museum of American Art in 2012. And now it continues with Olivia Walton...
LA’s The Box Gallery to Close After 19 Years
Los Angeles’ The Box gallery announced it will close after 19 years, marking the end of one of the city’s most daring experimental spaces. Its final exhibition was a two‑venue show with Parker Gallery honoring late California artist Wally Hedrick,...
Kari Cholnoky: Stalking Dullness
Kari Cholnoky’s third solo show, “Leech,” opens at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, pairing the alabaster sculpture Conservation of Mass with a life‑size bust‑like Leech and the towering installation Center of Gravity. The works fuse sculpture, collage, medical imagery and industrial materials to dramatize...
How Art Firms Are—Or Should Be—Using A.I. Right Now
The art market is beginning to adopt artificial intelligence after a cautious post‑NFT period, with major houses like Bonhams teaming up with AI specialist ARTDAI to enhance valuation and market‑pattern analysis. Smaller galleries are also gaining access to AI‑driven data...
Go See Something 💫
The Exhibits in New York newsletter curates a weekend guide to over 30 current art shows across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, linking to each exhibition’s details. It promotes a free iOS app that lets readers map locations, while paid subscribers can...
Art Basel Awards 2026 Names 33 Medalists Across Global Art Ecosystem
Art Basel announced 33 Medalists in its second‑edition Art Basel Awards, covering nine categories that honor artists, curators, patrons, media figures and institutions. The cohort, selected by a jury of nine international experts, reflects a cross‑generational, cross‑disciplinary push to recognize...
Carol Bove's Guggenheim Show: Grand Scale
I am a big longtime fan of Carol Bove’s work. Her show at the @Guggenheim is maybe too large but formally stunning. But here are a few similarities by @artbutmakeitsports -
Tool Choice Irrelevant; Intent Drives Creative Value
The whole debate of artisanal vs AI is bogus. Creativity was never in the tool. The brush was always just a brush, no matter of it was sable hair, synthetic, a Photoshop preset or a ZBrush cursor. What matters is the...
In Conversation With Dana Robinson
Brooklyn‑based artist Dana Robinson explores Black identity, home, and femininity by deconstructing 1970s Ebony magazine advertisements and re‑creating them on acrylic‑washed wood panels. Her process—painting on plastic overlays, then transferring the image—produces fragmented, veiled portraits that blur the line between...
Wura‑Natasha Ogunji Debuts “The Dash” At Venice Biennale 2026
Nigerian‑American artist Wura‑Natasha Ogunji will unveil her new performance “The Dash” during the Venice Biennale’s preview week, May 5‑9, 2026. The work, part of the “1922 Revisited” program curated by Dr. Janine A. Sytsma, explores time, gesture and collective experience...
19th‑Century Spanish Portrait Captures Woman at Piano
Manuela González Velázquez playing the Piano. From an Early 19th Century Spanish Oil Painting by Zacarías González Velázquez, c. 1820. Collection: The Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid, Spain. #art #portrait #music #piano #spain
Treasures From the Worlds of Fashion and Art Collide at an Extraordinary New Exhibition in Lisbon
Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Museum opened “Art & Fashion,” juxtaposing historic artworks with haute‑couture pieces ranging from a 1740 peplumed coat to a 2025 Givenchy wedding dress. Curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera Celada, the show pairs items such as a Rembrandt...
Celebrating Colorado Arts at 35th Governor’s Show
Honored to join the 35th annual Colorado Governor's Art Show & Sale at the Loveland Museum and celebrate the incredible talent of Colorado artists. Proud to present the 250 | 150 | 35 Governor’s Legacy Award, marking our state’s 150th, nation’s...
Korea's National Museum Partners with San Francisco Asian Art Museum
The National Museum of Korea and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco signed a memorandum of understanding on April 24, 2026, pledging joint exhibitions, research projects and staff exchanges. The deal, celebrated alongside San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, marks the...
Hand‑drawn 80s Sesame Street Books Feel Warmer than Digital Editions
Why do 1980's Sesame Street books look so much better than modern versions? Look at the first 3 images vs the last. The first has warm colors, tiny details in background, imperfect shapes, background is packed with cool things to find. In the...
Spring's Top 5 Exhibitions Blend Photography, Color, Fabric
Photography, memories, colour, space and fabric all feature in my top 5 exhibitions to see this Spring via @Londonist https://t.co/fFokw4hM8K
Pittsburgh’s New $31m Arts Landing Combines Public Art with Civic Engagement
Pittsburgh’s $31 million Arts Landing opened on April 17, completing construction on schedule and coinciding with the NFL Draft and the Carnegie International. Managed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the 2‑acre plaza showcases works by ten artists, including neon sculpture “Hold” and...
Buy Art at Auction, but Get Watches From Dealers
The best way to buy art is at auction, once you know what you're doing. But old watches you should buy from dealers. You can get enough information about paintings to judge their condition, but you have no idea what's...
Stockholm's Market Art Fair Wants to Prove the 'Periphery Is Now Essential'
The 20th Market Art Fair opened in Stockholm’s new waterfront venue at Frihamnen, featuring 54 galleries—mostly Nordic but now including U.S. and U.K. participants after the fair broadened its application criteria. Prices ranged from roughly $2,500 for Finnish textile paintings...
Bank of America Grants Funding for 18 Art Conservation Projects Across Ten Countries
Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project™ announced 2026 grants for 18 initiatives in ten countries, targeting iconic works such as Rembrandt’s The Night Watch and Picasso’s The Old Guitarist. The program, unveiled at MoMA, underscores the bank’s expanding role in...
Sotheby’s $96M De Gunzburg Blockbuster
Sotheby’s auction of the de Gunzburg collection closed at a staggering $96 million, highlighted by a record‑setting $28.5 million hammer price for a Claude Lalanne mirror. Bidders vied for the mirror’s counterparts, with offers climbing to $20 million before the final sale. The event unfolded...
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, a New Sort of Street Artist, Rises From Art History’s Margins
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikatani, a Japanese‑American collagist who spent decades on the margins of art history, is now the focus of a solo exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas City through June. Curators Maki Kaneko and Kris Imants...
Jan Staller Photographs the Nuts and Bolts of Manhattan's Urban Symphony
Veteran photographer Jan Staller releases *Manhattan Project*, a new monograph that isolates construction components—pipes, rebar, cranes—against stark white skies. The book marks a technical pivot from his signature night‑time, color‑saturated cityscapes to high‑contrast, single‑object studies. Accompanied by a foreword from...
Long-Hidden Keith Haring Artworks Come to Auction
Sotheby’s is showcasing a private trove of Keith Haring works gifted to longtime friend Kermit Oswald, including wood carvings, a painted crib, a dresser and a rare self‑portrait. The centerpiece, a 1985 self‑portrait on canvas, is expected to fetch $3 million‑$5 million,...
$450 Million Worth of Newhouse Trophies Come to Christie’s
Christie’s will host an evening auction on May 18 featuring 16 works from the late S.I. Newhouse Jr.’s museum‑quality collection, including a Jackson Pollock drip painting and a Constantin Brâncuși bronze head. The sale is projected to generate more than $450 million in...
YouTube Theater Celebrates Fifth Anniversary With Mural Titled ‘From Hollywood Park, With Love’
YouTube Theater marked its fifth anniversary by unveiling the mural “From Hollywood Park, With Love,” painted by husband‑and‑wife duo Carlo and Ethel Zafranco alongside mentees from their Astral Project nonprofit. The artwork, commissioned with Ticketmaster, celebrates Inglewood’s cultural heritage and...
Language as Demolition Tool: Selma Selman’s Letters to Omer
On April 15, Selma Selman performed *Letters to Omer* at Brooklyn’s Amant, using spoken‑word to turn language into a demolition tool. The piece featured over forty letters addressed to a silent, affluent figure named Omer, oscillating between intimate confession and...
Venice Biennale’s Prize Ban on Israel and Russia Falls Short for Critics
The international jury of the 61st Venice Biennale announced that Israel and Russia are ineligible for the Golden and Silver Lion awards, citing their leaders’ International Criminal Court war‑crimes charges. The European Union responded by withdrawing €2 million ($2.3 million) of funding,...
An Interactive Archive Celebrates the Wide Ranging Projects Inviting ‘Unruly Play’
Amsterdam‑based studio Imagination of Things unveiled Unruly Play, an interactive digital archive that gathers 169 artworks, designs, games and public‑space interventions. The collection features high‑profile pieces such as Rael San Fratello’s Teeter‑Totter Wall, the therapeutic Wind Phone, and a 12‑foot...
Rita Keegan’s Time, Place, Memory (2021)
Rita Keegan’s 2021 installation *Time, Place, Memory* blends collage, textiles, and digital media to foreground the artist’s hand as a site of authorship. Drawing on her family archive and migration experience, the work treats memory as an active, labor‑intensive process...
Dries Van Noten’s Fondazione in Venice Opens with a Show on Craftsmanship
Belgian designer Dries Van Noten inaugurated the Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice’s 15th‑century Palazzo Pisani Moretta, transforming the former warehouse into a cultural hub. The opening featured a runway show that foregrounded handcrafted garments, underscoring a shift from traditional craft to a dialogue...
Ai Weiwei to Stage 24‑Hour Detention Reenactment in Manchester
Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei will spend 24 hours in a replica of his 81‑day detention cell at Factory International’s Aviva Studios, beginning 5 p.m. on July 3. The performance, titled “Sewing a Button,” blends endurance art with political commentary, drawing...
Puig-Backed Joan Miró Show Moves to Washington’s Phillips Collection
Spanish luxury group Puig is sponsoring the U.S. leg of the "Miró and the United States" exhibition, now on view at Washington’s Phillips Collection through July 5, 2026. The show, curated by the Fundació Joan Miró and Phillips staff, assembles roughly 75 paintings,...
The Tabloids Are Fouling Mayor Mamdani Over His Knicks Art. Here’s the Story
Mayor Zohran Mamdani invited artist Tom Sanford to display his hand‑painted Knicks Cutout paintings at New York City Hall, celebrating the Knicks' playoff run and local culture. Sanford, a gallery‑showing painter, created the wooden cutouts originally for a Brooklyn Bowl...
Venice Biennale Gets Its Own Radio Station – RADIO GAMeC – PEDAGOGY OF HOPE
Radio GAMeC is launching “Pedagogy of Hope”, a collateral event of the Venice Biennale Arte 2026, broadcasting live from the historic Radio Vanessa in Venice from May 5‑10 and continuing online through November 22. Curated by Lorenzo Giusti and Lara Facco, the program...
Matt Dillon’s New Paintings Trace a Journey Across West Africa
Actor Matt Dillon is debuting his first solo exhibition, “Porto Novo to Abomey,” at New York’s Journal Gallery from April 24 to May 23. The show features a series of gestural acrylic paintings inspired by his recent trip to Senegal and Benin...
The Red Disk – Joan Miró
Joan Miró’s 1960 painting The Red Disk, an oil on canvas measuring 45.7 × 54.9 cm, features a dark, almost black background punctuated by a chaotic white splotch, a bold red oval, and a yellow circle. The work’s impulsive brushwork and scattered symbols...
Chernobyl 40 Years on, Paula Rego at Munch in Oslo, Gluck’s Flower Painting—Podcast
The Week in Art podcast spotlights three timely exhibitions. An installation at Nikolaikirche in Potsdam commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, running from 24‑27 April. Oslo’s Munch museum opens "Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns," exploring the British artist’s fascination with...
The Ignorant Art Historian: An Introduction
Renowned art critic Hal Foster introduces “The Ignorant Art Historian,” a four‑part series that will appear in The Paris Review over the next month. The series stems from a ritual he and a longtime friend perform in museum galleries, focusing...