Latest

Does Trump’s return spell boom or bust for the NFT art market?

Experts are sceptical that the NFT market will ever rebound to its 2021 levels, but the crypto asset sector may still manage to take over the art world one way or the other

Deadly wildfires destroy Los Angeles art spaces as museums and galleries close

Even art spaces far from the raging wildfires have closed and cancelled events amid a citywide state of emergency, dangerous smoke and high winds

Hawaiian tsunami museum fights to stay open amid economic woes

The Hawai'i shoreline fixture is struggling to keep its doors open amid post-pandemic costs

Where to see Van Gogh's work in 2025: Boston, London and beyond

This year also marks the 150th anniversary of Vincent’s time as a young art dealer in England

Police seize Sally Mann photographs at Texas museum amid accusations of child pornography

A 1990s culture-war déjà vu at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth—with the same photographs causing a stir decades later

The Week in Art

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

The Year Ahead 2025: market predictions, the big shows and openings—podcast

From the reimagined Frick Collection to Emily Kam Kngwarray at Tate Modern

The Year Ahead 2025

The exhibitions, art fairs and museum openings to look out for in the coming year

The most exciting art museum openings and expansions of 2025

The construction of Saadiyat Cultural District is due to be completed, while the Studio Museum in Harlem will unveil its new 82,000 sq. ft building

Art market

UK tax changes spell trouble for artist estates

Labour government’s first budget extends inheritance tax, while non-doms are moving to Italy and the UAE

The art world according to Marc Spiegler: former Art Basel boss launches online course

In collaboration with the events platform Art Market Minds, the ten-hour programme will dissect the rapidly shifting contemporary art ecosystem

Lingering market slump prompts the question: is art no longer a 'must have' for the wealthy?

At last November's evening auctions in New York, eyes were on a $6.2m banana, but overall sales were down 41% on the previous year

Japan's art market has grown 11% since the pandemic, new report finds

The study, authored by economist Clare McAndrew, also reveals that Japanese collectors buy far less at art fairs or online than the global average

Our pick of the January sales: a saintly Warhol and an early Indonesian Modern masterpiece

Also starring this month are an Escher paradox print and a Venice watercolour by John Singer Sargent

Museums & Heritage

New York takes first step towards landmarking Breuer building's interior

Sotheby’s, which bought the former home of the Whitney Museum last year, promises to respect the building’s “architectural significance” in its upcoming renovations

Trump claims he will replace the head of the US National Archives

The agency’s previous leader raised concerns in 2022 about Trump’s handling of documents after his first term in office

Hamburg art centre condemns ‘politically motivated vandalism’ of art installation referencing Palestine

The Kunstverein in Hamburg said the incident is currently being investigated by authorities as a hate crime

New York’s Climate Museum secures permanent location

The new, 24,000 sq. ft museum will be part of a recently announced $1.35bn mixed-use development near Hudson Yards

Secretive underground exploration group assists with missing museum artefacts in Melbourne

Members of clandestine group retrieve objects from drains after burst pipe at Australian museum’s storage facility

Exhibitions

‘We deserved a better time on this earth’: New York’s Palo Gallery showcases Palestinian photography

Three artists living in exile collaborated on the exhibition "Longing: In Between Homelands"

Paris show reveals Francis Picabia's late-in-life change of direction

An exhibition at Hauser & Wirth explores how the master of genre hopping embraced an entirely different style during his final decade

National Gallery in London’s Van Gogh blockbuster to open all night as final day approaches

The exhibition, which will host a 24-hour opening during its closing weekend, has been one of the most visited in the museum’s history

The Big Review: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 at the Royal Academy ★★★★

The small but provocative survey offers a stimulating view on which of the Old Masters launched the High Renaissance

Book Club

‘The painter in me did not die’: novelist Orhan Pamuk turns his hand to art

Notebooks filled with the Turkish author's drawings reflect events spanning the past decade

An expert’s guide to Brazilian Modernism: five must-read books on the subject

All you ever wanted to know about the topic, from its impact on global Modernist art to a novel capturing the “atmosphere of heady excitement”—selected by the curator Rebecca Bray

‘An impossible stillness that artists have chased’: Alvaro Barrington on Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ

In this exclusive extract from a new book, the London-based artist explains why Piero’s painting is his favourite in the National Gallery collection

Magnum’s opus of America: a new photography compendium reveals the many sides of the US

The publication’s co-editor Peter van Agtmael chooses seven key images from legendary agency’s new book

Obituaries

Jimmy Carter, the US president and Renaissance man who believed in art and rock and roll, has died, aged 100

The Southern Baptist peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, was a dedicated amateur portraitist and made a deep cultural impact when in office

Joe Average, Canadian artist and Aids activist, has died, aged 67

Known for his bold, bright-hued paintings, prints and murals, Average was a pillar of Vancouver’s creative community

Zilia Sánchez, Cuban artist renowned for shaped, abstract canvases, has died, aged 98

Sánchez, who fled Cuba and ultimately settled in Puerto Rico, only achieved widespread critical acclaim late in her career

Lorraine O’Grady, conceptual artist who dissected language and dualities, has died, aged 90

O’Grady, who devoted herself to art in her early forties, spent the ensuing decades making incisive works that spanned photography, collage, performance and more

Remembering Joseph Rykwert, influential writer and teacher on the theory of architecture

Warsaw-born RIBA gold medal winner, who became the professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, changed architectural understanding

Opinion

Comment | What happens behind the scenes at the museum is what really matters

From delicate cleaning to forklifts, the unseen, but crucial, investment often goes unnoticed

Comment | Why the road to the sale of Frieze is a winding one

The potential sale raises questions around how to value the prestigious and unique art brand

Comment | Despite what some critics claim, art today isn’t really too obsessed with ‘social justice’

In viral essays and beyond, those who bemoan the dominance of identity politics in museums often reveal more of their own biases than of the art world's

The Year in Review: escalating art attacks and responses to war

This year has been marked by a rising number of politically-motivated attacks on art. But we should not forget the power of art to unite diverse groups of people

Influencers: is it time for museums to go all in?

As an advertising agency pays Instagram influencers to promote museums, is it really worth shelling out thousands of dollars for added publicity and to reach new audiences?

Books

Beetlejuice and beyond: the origins of Tim Burton’s world of gothic romance and its enduring influence

Catalogue accompanying exhibition at London’s Design Museum explores the US film-maker’s unique aesthetic

Two books explore Piet Mondrian's journey into abstraction—and his posthumous influence on 1960s fashion

How, two decades after his death, did Mondrian become a brand icon, and make a lasting contribution to the “youthquake”?

This newly translated volume compiles the photographic traces of a libidinous love affair

Author Annie Ernaux and journalist Marc Marie’s collaborative memoir documents a passionate yet haunted relationship

The arts should be recognised as a key part of what it means to be human, argues a new publication

An urgent treatise on the decommodification of culture by the professor of cultural economy Justin O’Connor

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.

Where to see Van Gogh's work in 2025: Boston, London and beyond

This year also marks the 150th anniversary of Vincent’s time as a young art dealer in England

A brush with... podcast

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

A brush with… Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset — podcast

In the first episode of A brush with featuring an artist duo, Elmgreen and Dragset discuss their influences, and the cultural experiences that have shaped their lives and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

En suite art? London exhibition opens in an Airbnb

East End show highlights the ‘commodification of the domestic’ say the organisers

Stellar work: Mercury crater named after artist Ruth Asawa

The Japanese-American sculptor is the 23rd woman to be given the honour—compared with 100 men

Elon Musk serves up disconcerting AI art

The controversial billionaire failed to spot a contemporary car in Caillebotte picture altered using artificial intelligence by Luma

Go big or go to the London gallery offering small beautiful art

Flowers Gallery has opened its annual exhibition of little pieces

Listen up, Elon: Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum makes dramatic exit from X

Bristol institution makes waves after quitting social media platform

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.

Palestine Museum US launches NFT collection in support of Gaza artists

The museum released a non-fungible token of a work by the Gazan artist Mohammed Alhaj to kick off the new initiative

AI artnews

‘It surprised me’: artist finds inspiration in what AI art gets wrong

Charlie Engman is creating a counter to the “internet nerd culture” imagery widely associated with generative art

AI to Z: an art & tech alphabet for 2024

The art, artists and awards that pushed boundaries this year

Paintboxed! Artists invited to work with 1980s digital art tool once championed by Keith Haring and Richard Hamilton

ArtMeta art fair and Tezos ecosystem are taking Quantel Paintbox—used by contemporary art giants four decades ago—on a global tour to introduce it to a new generation of creators

Vatican launches AI-generated version of St Peter’s Basilica

Co-developed by Microsoft, the project also identified conservation issues at the world-famous church