Latest
Once upon a time in New Mexico: 12th Site Santa Fe International focuses on the art of visual storytelling
This year’s biennial features almost 100 artists and “figures of interest” in a city-wide exploration of the tales we all tell and how they form us and our cultures
Bayeux Tapestry to return to UK for first time in almost 1,000 years
The tapestry will be displayed at the British Museum from September 2026, as part of a bilateral season of culture between the UK and France
The art market bites back as estimates fail to score
A landscape that includes economic volatility, generational movement and new technology is changing the rules of engagement
A blockbuster Gerhard Richter retrospective, co-organised by Nicholas Serota, is coming to Paris
The German blue-chip artist will show more than 250 works at Fondation Louis Vuitton from October
‘An act of solidarity’: exhibitions raising funds and awareness for Palestinians open in London
One show presents works by over 200 artists, while another focuses on protests across the UK
Art market
As North America’s oldest company faces bankruptcy, the sale of its collection raises fears among Indigenous communities
Little is known about the vast collection of art and artefacts the Hudson’s Bay Company amassed from its founding in 1670, but experts believe it includes many important pieces of Canada’s First Nations and colonial heritage
Turner painting bought last year for £500 sells for almost £2m at Sotheby's
The Old Master sale on Wednesday night totalled £14.5m, led by a record price of £2.7m for Florentine artist Lorenzo di Credi
Is the art world’s big summer break a thing of the past?
Gallerists are varied in how they are approaching the popular month for travel during a period of softer demand
New world record for Canaletto as view of Venice sells for £31.9m
The painting, once owned by Britain’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole, was sold during Christie's £55m Old Master sale in London tonight, alongside works by Constable, Willem Key and Gerrit Dou
Collector Ken Griffin spends $18.1m on historic US documents signed by Abraham Lincoln
Griffin reportedly plans to lend his copies of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation to a US institution
Museums & Heritage
Less than two years after opening, the Museum of Censored Art in Barcelona has closed its doors
A statement from the museum, which displayed works by Ai Weiwei and Goya, attributes the closure to disruption caused by strike action
UK Heritage Department feared ‘mass restitutions’ when Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland
Civil servants felt frustrated after Prime Minister John Major returned the 13th-century artefact 30 years ago, newly released papers reveal
Ford Foundation taps dean of Yale Law School as next president
The constitutional law scholar Heather K. Gerken will oversee the Ford Foundation, a $16bn philanthropic entity with an eye towards social justice
Tate chair floats selling Turbine Hall naming rights for ‘a minimum of £50m’
Roland Rudd made the comments in relation to the new endowment fund Tate announced last week
MFA Boston returns two works to Kingdom of Benin
The two artefacts are being restituted as part of the museum's closure of its Benin gallery, which had been donated by the billionaire collector Robert Lehman
Exhibitions
Once upon a time in New Mexico: 12th Site Santa Fe International focuses on the art of visual storytelling
This year’s biennial features almost 100 artists and “figures of interest” in a city-wide exploration of the tales we all tell and how they form us and our cultures
As an Emily Kam Kngwarray survey opens at Tate Modern this week, contemporary Indigenous artists are finally taking centre stage in the UK
Other landmark shows of First Nation artists this summer include Duane Linklater at Camden Art Centre and Santiago Yahuarcani at the Whitworth
Gustave Caillebotte blockbuster that sparked controversy in France opens in Chicago—with one key difference
The show launched in Paris to claims that it was a tainted exercise in queering the French artist
Somerset House to mark 25 years as a public space with weekend of free events
London centre for innovation and contemporary art will feature work by Tai Shani, Nick Ryan and Gaika during “Step Inside 25 Weekend”, alongside a pop-up basketball installation, drawing workshops and an immersive disco experience
From a football feast to deceitful dolphins: three art exhibitions not to miss at the Manchester International Festival
The art event takes place across the northern UK city this month
Opinion
Comment | Now is the time to fight for US arts funding
The Trump administration’s defunding of the arts has more than symbolic significance
Comment | Why it’s wrong to shame those protesting against fossil fuel funding
Protestors are taking high personal risks with the aim of affecting policy and corporate responsibility to make clear the scale of the looming climate catastrophe
Comment | Let’s not get rid of the UK’s culture department—let's fix it instead
Axing the Arts Council and the many other arm’s-length bodies overseen by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport makes more sense, argues Bendor Grosvenor
Comment | Most forms of environmental protest are no longer possible—that's where the power of images comes in
David Attenborough’s new documentary “Ocean” and the activist group Ocean Rebellion are harnessing imagery in the fight against marine destruction
Comment | In the Trump era, LGBTQ+ communities and culture need support
“With the return of an emboldened Trump administration, our communities are facing a sustained campaign of hostility and a chilling rollback of civil rights”
Obituaries
Remembering Peter Phillips, the pioneering British Pop artist, who has died, aged 86
The Birmingham-born artist, who drew on the city’s industrial iconography in his 1960s breakthrough work, was closest among his British contemporaries to the US Pop Art scene
Remembering John Sailer, the gallerist and champion of Austrian art, who has died, aged 87
As founder of the influential Galerie Ulysses in Vienna, he established a market for the work of Austrian and German artists in the US as well as championing architects and designers
Remembering Sebastião Salgado, world builder, photographer of collective humanity and prophet of possibility
The Brazilian artist captured whole societies in his teeming, panoramic images, and used multimedia storytelling as environmental activism
Nick Hedges, photographer who changed the way we see homelessness, has died aged 81
Hedges was known for his conviction that photography can be a powerful tool for social change, and for his campaigns with the homelessness charity Shelter
Tracey Emin and Ai Weiwei pay tribute to BBC broadcaster Alan Yentob
BBC executive, who has died aged 78, profiled artists in his Arena and Imagine series
Art on Location 2025
A special focus on the latest outdoor art experiences, including public art, sculpture parks, urban and country house sculpture shows, artist's trails, and the use of location-specific technology
Towering ambition: the Swiss artist Not Vital's Alpine playground
The multidisciplinary artist mixes nature, architecture and art to grand effect at his foundation’s three locations: a castle, a sculpture park and a 17th-century house
The magic of Troy Hill—a series of unique whole house art installations in Pittsburgh
Inspired by a visit to Naoshima art island in Japan, a US collector has commissioned a compelling group of site-specific installations
The power of transformation: an immersive, thrillingly layered, journey into William Kentridge’s sculpture
The polymathic, multifarious, South African artist plays creative games with scale, indoor and out, in "The Pull of Gravity", a multi-decade survey at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Commercial goes pastoral: the draw of showing art in the open air
In the UK, Hauser & Wirth, Messums, Willoughby Gerrish and other galleries have embraced the potential of unique rural sites
Rachel Whiteread in a West Sussex woodland: UK’s Goodwood Art Foundation opens
The Duke of Richmond launches a non-profit 70-acre home to contemporary art on his estate to offer all ages the educational and health benefits of art, in a seasonally shifting plot of South Downs woodland
G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize
In partnership with G&A Mamidakis Foundation
Book Club
Illustrator Clive Hicks-Jenkins on dealing with violent imagery and finding ways of ‘showing the impossible’
Ahead of the publication of a new edition of Homer’s epics—which he has illustrated—the artist also explains why he switches mediums for different books
An expert’s guide to Edvard Munch: five must-read books on the Norwegian Expressionist
The best publications to learn all about the artist, from a renowned novelist's essay to a comprehensive catalogue raisonné—selected by the Munch museum curator Trine Otte Bak Nielsen
July Book Bag: from a monograph of Vincent Namatjira’s headline-grabbing portraits to a book of Chinese art heists
Our round-up of the latest art publications
Arshile Gorky’s experience as an immigrant to the US and the painting that defined it
An exclusive extract by Adam Gopnik on the Armenian American painter, taken from a collection of essays about the artist’s time in New York City
Book reviews
An expansive monograph of Celia Paul paints a portrait of a single-minded, singular artist
The book explores how the British artist's mother was her most trusted sitter and Paul's thoughts on Lucian Freud’s depictions of her during their relationship
Why sociologists believe that culture might be bad for you
A revised edition of a 2020 book looks at the problems associated with a "white, male and middle class" cultural arena in the UK
New book delves into submerged stories of an elusive Spanish galleon
The publication on a 17th-century shipwreck reveals transatlantic connections and the complexities of underwater archaeology
A biography of Turner and Constable that goes beyond the stereotypes
New analysis considers the artists’ common cause as champions of landscape alongside their renowned differences
Dan Hicks's new book is a personal take on the cultural politics of collecting
The often violent history of public statues and museum collections—including that of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum—is told in this biographical book that energises and exasperates in equal measure.
Diary
Penis envy? 35-foot appendage at UK heritage site was almost covered up
UK government official said that trees should be planted on Cerne Abbas Giant's sizeable member
Chardin’s strawberries masterpiece forms fruity backdrop to Dior catwalk
The Louvre and the National in Edinburgh loaned works by the 18th-century artist
Party time: Cate Blanchett, Beth Ditto, Lily Allen and more light up glitzy Serpentine summer bash
The annual fundraising bash drew a throng of famous guests, with the artist Grayson Perry and the actor Isla Fisher also among them
A Siri-ous app-ointment: iPhone designer joins British Museum board of trustees
Apple supremo Jony Ive joins Claudia Winkleman and Martha Kearney on the museum's board
Knockin’ on Halcyon’s door: Bob Dylan's latest artworks on show in London gallery
"Point Blank" exhibition features 97 paintings created between 2021 and 2022
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.
The Royal Academy’s Kiefer-Van Gogh show offers a soaring spectacle
Nearby, the White Cube gallery is also displaying homage works by the German artist, more than 60 years after he hitchhiked in Vincent’s footsteps
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
Arthur Jafa and Mark Leckey, Cecilia Alemani on SITE Santa Fe, Trisha Brown and Robert Rauschenberg—podcast
We speak to Jafa and Leckey about their forthcoming London exhibition, ask Alemani about the US-based biennial—whose title this year was inspired by a film by Godfrey Reggio—and zone in on a landmark dance collaboration
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with… Rudolf Stingel — podcast
Rudolf Stingel 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
Technology
News, background and analysis on the latest tech developments—artificial intelligence tools; Web3, the blockchain, NFTs; virtual and augmented reality; social media platforms—and how they affect the art market, museums, artists and curators.
How Gretchen Andrew’s AI art is revealing the societal scars of ‘facetuning’
The American artist, whose work is currently on show in New York, makes the invisible impacts of technology visible
‘It is not good or bad’: in a frantic age, Beeple seeks a more nuanced take on technology
The media artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) increasingly sees his interactive video sculptures—one of which goes on show this month at the SXSW London festival and another at The Shed in New York—and social media posts as public art
Football great Lionel Messi chooses favourite goal for Refik Anadol to transform into an AI portrait for charity
Anadol will reimagine the Argentine megastar’s famous 2009 header as a data sculpture which will be sold at Christie’s
Can graphic imagination wake audiences up to the climate emergency? This multimedia artist believes so
Berlin-based Michael Najjar has been working with scientists in Greenland to tell stories with images designed to replace familiar memes of environmental journalism
An inside track on the Huntington’s rapid social media growth
The California institution is one of the top five museums for social media growth in the world in the past year. We spoke to the museum's director of digital and social content strategy