Latest
British Museum faces internal criticism over private Israel independence day event
Current and former employees have expressed shock that the museum hosted the event—which marks a day associated with the mass displacement of Palestinians—during one of the most violent weeks of the Israel-Hamas conflict
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”
Berlin museums’ first woman leader plans to tackle reforms and construction
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, now led by Marion Ackermann, is currently undergoing major structural changes
New videos of African cultural sites add contemporary context to Rockefeller Wing’s historical artefacts at the Met
The Ethiopian American film-maker Sosena Solomon spent two years making short documentaries about specific heritage sites for the newly reopened wing
The Wallace Collection appoints Selldorf Architects to lead masterplan to transform its historic London home
The New York firm led by Annabelle Selldorf will collaborate with the UK practices Purcell and Lawson Ward Studio to improve access, sustainability and visitor experience at Hertford House
Art market
Is Banksy getting personal? New lighthouse mural prompts speculation over its philosophical meaning
In his latest work, the street artist refers to himself in the first person for the first time in a public mural
Los Angeles dealer Ariel Pittman launching new gallery in MacArthur Park
A veteran of Vielmetter and Various Small Fires, Pittman is pursuing an adaptive business model for her own gallery, Official Welcome
Ten artists accuse Arusha Gallery of non-payment of nearly half a million pounds
The London space, which is planning to open a wellness centre in King Charles’s former Welsh home, says it has been "working exceptionally hard through a crisis" relating to a “performance drop off" and the death of the gallery's co-owner
Art Basel reveals exhibitor lineup for Paris fair's 2025 edition
The Swiss art fair giant's French expo continues to grow, with more than 200 exhibitors signed on for October
European-American investment company to buy Artnet and take it private
Beowolff Capital also has a majority stake in Artsy, and plans are in the works to combine the two companies, according to a former Artnet shareholder
Museums & Heritage
China’s terracotta army reportedly ‘damaged’ by museum visitor
A 30-year-old man reportedly “climbed over the guardrail” that protects the 2,000-year-old statues
One of New York City’s oldest houses to open as its neighbourhood’s first museum
The Hendrick I. Lott House in southeast Brooklyn—former home to a family of enslavers who later made it a stop on the Underground Railroad—will undergo a major preservation and renovation project next year
Trump claims he has fired director of US National Portrait Gallery
It is not clear the president has the authority to make staffing decisions for the gallery, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution
Ancient rock art site under threat as Australian government provisionally extends 'carbon bomb' gas project
The 50,000-year-old carvings on the Burrup Peninsula include the earliest-known depictions of a human face
Louvre to return 258 works to Fondation des Artistes
Items from Adèle de Rothschild's cabinet of curiosities will be returned to the foundation after they erroneously ended up in the collection of the Paris museum
Korean Artists Today 2025
Eight of Korea's most exciting contemporary artists have been selected for this year's Korean Artists Today, a long-term project which will see a cohort chosen each year for their potential to make it on the global stage
Korean artists are taking the world by storm—but why does their work resonate so widely?
From London to New York, the Middle East to Singapore, Korea’s contemporary artists have become a mainstay of global museum programmes
Byungjun Kwon: ‘I want to break away from the passive, one-sided way of experiencing performances’
Meet the artist who has been selected for this year's Korean Artists Today
Minae Kim on creating a ‘ludicrous sculptural sitcom’
Meet the artist who has been selected for this year's Korean Artists Today
Min ha Park: ‘I think about creating situations where things don’t immediately explain themselves’
Meet the artist who has been selected for this year's Korean Artists Today
ikkibawiKrrr: ‘We spend a lot of time visiting sites and being with people’
Meet the artists who have been selected for this year's Korean Artists Today
Jewyo Rhii: ‘If you don’t die today, you get another opportunity to live’
Choi Goen: ‘My work always begins with discovering a material’
Che Onejoon: ‘The AfroAsia collective is now more important to me than my personal art’
Sun Woo: ‘I’m interested in how the body navigates unfamiliar territory’
Exhibitions
An exhibition in a most extraordinary building explores Japan’s love for Van Gogh
The Pola Museum sheds fresh light on the veneration of Japanese artists for Vincent’s paintings
Melbourne exhibition celebrates the long overlooked contributions of Indigenous Australian artists
While Indigenous Australian art dates back for millennia before European settlement, it has long been barred from the fine art canon
Gagosian's spring show skips and rhymes through De Kooning's career
The ambitious New York exhibition picks out visual motifs that can be seen throughout the artist's practice
‘Art is an important way of depicting these atrocities’: London show shines a light on sexual violence in conflict
The Imperial War Museum exhibition, which has been six years in the making, is the first major UK museum show to explore the under-reported topic
Seeing God in nature: US National Gallery exhibition celebrates art from the dawn of European natural history
Works by the Flemish artists Joris Hoefnagel and Jan van Kessel, among others, charm audiences with their enchanting depictions of nature’s “little beasts”
Obituaries
Sebastião Salgado, photographer of the planet’s margins, dies at 81
The Brazilian documentarian was internationally known for his panoramic photographs of humanity surviving on the edge and for his work as a campaigning environmentalist
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
Remembering Koyo Kouoh, one of the most influential curators in the global art world, and one of its most original thought leaders
The executive director of Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town, had been due to announce her plans as curator of the international exhibition at the 2026 Venice Biennale
Remembering Pope Francis, for 12 years head of the Catholic church and proprietor in trust of the Vatican's library and art collections
The Argentinian pontiff was a powerful progressive voice in world politics, the first Jesuit priest to be spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas or the southern hemisphere to hold the office
Guy Ullens, collector and patron of Chinese contemporary art, has died, aged 90
The Belgian businessman co-founded Beijing’s Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in 2007 with his wife Myriam Ullens
Opinion
Comment | Are museums ‘guilt tripping’ their visitors? No, they aren’t doing enough
Engaging with the difficult histories behind objects has deepened, not dampened, my experiences at cultural institutions—and the fact it is different for everyone is a good thing
Comment | When it comes to tariffs, here's why the art market should be grateful to a long-retired US congressman
A 1988 amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, secured by Howard Berman, could stop art imports being hit by Trump's tariff hike
Comment | The greatest failure of PST Art: its successes are not travelling
As the Getty wraps up its third edition of this initiative, it is time to address a persistent problem
Comment | Why a country should invest in art—even when it’s under attack
While physically defending their country, Ukrainian artist’s work provides oxygen for urgent issues that demand attention and dialogue, writes Björn Geldhof, the artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv
Why dealers play the waiting game before exhibiting a newly signed artist
Michael Armitage, for example, had his first show at David Zwirner three years after being signed to the gallery
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
Museum openings: V&A East Storehouse and the Met’s Rockefeller Wing, plus Rachel Whiteread at Goodwood Art Foundation—podcast
We take a tour of the soon-to-open V&A East Storehouse in London and the Met's newly revamped Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, plus a discussion of Rachel Whiteread's show at Sussex's Goodwood Art Foundation
The Sainsbury Wing reopening
After a two-year project, led by the architect Annabelle Selldorf, to remodel the wing as the main entrance to London's National Gallery, the reopening of its early Renaissance galleries forms part of C C Land: the Wonder of Art, a complete rehang of the museum's collection
The Big Review | The reopening and rehang of the Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London ★★★★★
The two-year remodelling of the Sainsbury Wing as the National Gallery's main entrance has allowed for new restorations and fresh curation of the museum's unrivalled collection of early Renaissance pictures. The effect is revelatory
First look: the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ rehang at London's National Gallery
The reopening of the Sainsbury Wing on 10 May will allow the gallery to show nearly 40% of its collection. The Art Newspaper took an early tour
Comment | Muted grey, bloody red, or dark blue—here’s why the colour of museum walls matters more than you might think
As London’s National Gallery launches its “once-in-a-lifetime” rehang, Ben Luke asks: what is the right shade behind the art?
London's National Gallery buys mysterious altarpiece for $20m
The museum has acquired a 16th-century work by an unknown artist from a family collection
New perspectives: Annabelle Selldorf brings a fresh angle to the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing
A tour of the remodelled building, five months before its reopening, shows the New York architect has created a spectacular main entrance closely integrated with the rest of the London institution and with the public space of Trafalgar Square
Diary
Spate of wins for racehorses named after superstar painters
Colts christened Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro have recently taken home top honours
‘A homage to heritage’: first-of-its kind collaboration between museum and football team celebrated with documentary
‘Made in Walthamstow’ tells the story of a football shirt inspired by William Morris
‘Year One after Damien Dies’: Hirst announces plans for posthumous works
In a recent interview with The Times, the mischievous artist also revealed that he “sort of” said no to a knighthood
Just a number: drawing by 11-year-old Joseph Wright of Derby goes on view for the first time
The modest pencil drawing is part of the exhibition ‘Life on Paper’ at Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Out of this world: Artangel concept album celebrates space-bound 12-inch record with new audio-visual works
‘The Golden Record’, in orbit since 1977, included images and sounds
Book reviews
New book explores how Rome’s ruins have resonated in art and literature over centuries
A survey tracing the city’s greatest ornaments from antiquity to the present day originated as a series of lectures
Extended from one volume to three, the new ‘Taste and the Antique’ expands on four centuries of interactions with sculpture
The essential guide now includes colour photographs of 95 works
A new ‘anti-biography’ rips apart the myth of Leonardo as a solitary genius
The new study of the Da Vinci brand uses historical context to debunk the artist’s cult status and present him as a man of his time
East meets West in Venice: the unlikely love affair between a Hermitage curator and a Cambridge don
A new volumes details a chance meeting that liberated art scholars Francis Haskell and Larissa Salmina in very different ways
Japan is opening its eyes to women photographers—and to the female gaze
Denied recognition and even credit for their work until recent times, Japan’s women photographers are challenging and subverting traditional assumptions about the female body
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with… Salman Toor — podcast
Salman Toor 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.
‘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
How AI models are helping to reveal South America's archaeological sites
Analysis of aerial and satellite images has rapidly identified ancient sites, but human expertise is still essential in refining the outcomes
Book Club
Sex, beauty and the body: how Helen Chadwick shaped British contemporary art
The “provocative, punky, perverse” artist died far too young but her work’s influence endures, argues a new biography
The Voynich Manuscript revealed: five things you probably didn't know about the Medieval masterpiece
Scholars have speculated for centuries about the meaning behind the 15th-century codex and its peculiar illustrations
May Book Bag: from a comic compendium inspired by MoMA to a turning point in the history of photography
Our round-up of the latest art publications
An expert's guide to artists' books: four must-read publications on the genre
All you ever wanted to know about artists' books on the eve of a major exhibition at London’s Warburg Institute—selected by the show's co-curator Arnaud Desjardin
The trials and tribulations of putting together Lucian Freud’s catalogue raisonné
The forensically researched volume on the British artist's oil paintings offers a depth of scrutiny that he himself was famous for
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.
An exhibition in a most extraordinary building explores Japan’s love for Van Gogh
The Pola Museum sheds fresh light on the veneration of Japanese artists for Vincent’s paintings