Latest

UK government earmarks £1.5bn arts funding until 2030

Many cultural leaders welcome the move, while the UK National Audit Office reports that the culture department is consistently underspending

Gareth Harrisabout 5 hours ago

Ethiopia’s Africa Hall wins Modernist conservation award

The 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize honours the famous Addis Ababa building’s decade-long, $57m renovation

Elena Goukassianabout 2 hours ago

Naomi Campbell reflects on Picasso’s muses for exhibition in Swiss Alps

The supermodel has penned an essay for Nahmad Contemporary's upcoming show in Gstaad

Carlie Porterfieldabout 3 hours ago

Sex, love and gladiators: Pompeii graffiti found in corridor highlights residents’ passionate side

Scribblings analysed using state-of the art technology have brought new insight into the daily life and emotions of people who lived in the ancient city

James Imamabout 5 hours ago

Drawn to home: how landscape and locals inspired Alberto Giacometti

There was another side to the artist who was a key figure of the international avant-garde: affectionate portraits and landscapes that were an ode to his rural Swiss roots

Anna Bradyabout 7 hours ago

Art market

London show of Lee Miller photographs is fundraising to save thousands of her negatives

Gallerist Lyndsey Ingram is working with the Lee Miller Archives to support the conservation of the photographer’s works and Sussex home

Iranian galleries close amid protests and communications blackout

Uncertainty has gripped life and art in Iran as unrest continues—Trump's threats of military intervention, meanwhile, have ramped up tensions

Winslow Homer’s mountaineer and Bob Ross's valley view: our pick of the January auctions

Plus, a tapestry by Otobong Nkanga and Claes Oldenburg’s electric plug are on sale this month

French court cancels €2.8m sale of Chinese vase after eight-year wrangle over date

The Paris court of appeal has ordered Galerie Kraemer to repay Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani what he paid after experts “raised doubts” the work was from the 18th century

Lehmann Maupin takes permanent space in Mayfair’s No. 9 Cork Street

It is the first year-round tenant in the Frieze-run central London gallery hub

Museums & Heritage

World’s oldest known rock art discovered in Indonesia

A hand stencil found in a cave in Sulawesi has been assessed as being at least 67,800 years old

Garry Shaw1 day ago

Practice what you preach: artists reflect on ocean crisis at England's Baltic as centre wins sustainability award

Shezad Dawood, Joan Jonas and Otobong Nkanga are among the artists included in the group exhibition 'For All At Last Return'

Louisa Buckabout 1 hour ago

Joe Hill appointed director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park

For eight years Hill has led the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, which jointly won Art Fund Museum of the Year and hosted the Turner Prize under his tenure

Gareth Harris1 day ago

Serpentine announces 25th pavilion artists—and anniversary project honouring Zaha Hadid

Mexico's Lanza atelier to design 2026 Serpentine Pavilion inspired by curved English garden walls

Gareth Harris1 day ago

Art SG

As Art SG kicks off in Singapore, we take a look at the fair and the city state’s other cultural offerings

Singapore cements its role as a hub for art—and artists—in Southeast Asia

The city-state punches above its weight, with its government institutions, nonprofits and galleries championing not just homegrown artists, but of those from its neighbours across the region

Singapore Art Week puts women artists from the region to the fore

A new book and a major exhibition are highlighting contemporary female artists from Singapore, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries

From shopping malls to housing estates, Singapore Biennale integrates art into the city’s urban fabric

Works that address resistance, ecology and colonialism are part of the year’s vibrant exhibition titled "Pure Intention"

Exhibitions

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath to approach high court over cancelled Venice Biennale pavilion

The move by the artist and her team comes as South Africa’s culture ministry has allegedly begun approaching new artists about making work for the 2026 pavilion

A gifted colourist and civic-minded storyteller: touring show celebrates US artist Noah Davis

Final leg of the international survey on the artist, who died aged 32 in 2015, opens at Philadelphia Art Museum

Dale Berning Sawaabout 6 hours ago

‘Freedom plane’ to take US founding documents on tour for country's 250th anniversary

US National Archives documents from the 18th and 19th centuries will tour museums from Kansas City to Seattle

Self-portraits, Surrealism and sanitary pads: what to expect from Tate Modern's Frida Kahlo show

The exhibition will explore the late Mexican artist’s impact on women artists across Mexico, the Americas and Europe

Amoako Boafo solo exhibition to open in Venice during 2026 Biennale

Gagosian will bring the Ghanaian artist to Venice's Palazzo Grimani in May

The Week in Art

A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week

The Year Ahead

Fair behemoths bet on Gulf plus new, bigger venues for Independent—a quick look at art fairs in 2026

Art Basel and Frieze are expanding in the Middle East while Art Cologne is reinstating its Mallorca edition

Venice, Sydney, Gwangju: the most interesting biennials to visit in 2026

Plus, full listings of the biennials, triennials and festivals taking place throughout the year

Art market 2026 predictions: underwhelming rebound and another Frieze fair

Our columnist gazes into her crystal ball to spot the major trends—from London regaining its lustre to AI fatigue—that are set to dominate the trade over the coming 12 months

Books

How an artist and a writer forged a frank friendship—and a book

The author Olivia Laing and the painter Chantal Joffe tell us about collaborating on a new book detailing their creative exchanges

New book tells the tale of David's ‘Death of Marat’ through the eyes of a lifelong admirer

Art historian’s dissection of famous work is as much about the painting as his decades-long obsession with it

An expert’s guide to the Gothic: five must-read books on the topic

The best recent publications about the subject, from a book following the rebuilding of Notre-Dame cathedral to a Batman comic set in Barcelona—selected by the museum director and curator Annabelle Ténèze

Opinion

Obituaries

Remembering Gathie Falk, Canadian artist whose singular practice sparked comparisons to Surrealism and Pop art

Shaped by the austerity of her Mennonite upbringing and the bustling Vancouver art scene of the 1960s and 70s, she developed a playful, poignant and exacting visual language

Beatriz González, indefatigable force in Colombian art, has died, aged 93

One of the most important Latin American artists of the 20th century, she influenced the direction of post-war painting and helped shape Colombia’s museums as a curator, educator and mentor

Kathleen Goncharov, influential curator who helped many artists ‘realise their dreams’, has died aged 73

Alongside her work at organisations such as New York’s Just Above Midtown gallery and the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida, Goncharov was also an artist

Remembering Erik Bulatov, the Soviet artist who reframed propaganda

The pioneering painter was known for his luminous skies and loaded slogans on power, space and freedom

Arnulf Rainer, a revolutionary figure in postwar Austrian art, has died aged 96

The Baden-born artist, known for addressing the trauma of the Holocaust, was a founding member of the influential Galerie nächst St Stephan

A brush with... podcast

A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to

A brush with… Luc Tuymans—podcast

Luc Tuymans talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Philippa Kelly, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Adventures with Van Gogh

Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries.