Latest
Epstein files reveal Leon Black as a key collector of Van Gogh works
The New York collector Black is revealed to have bought five of the artist’s pieces
Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá dismisses longtime artistic director
The Italian curator and critic Eugenio Viola, who has led the museum since 2019, says he was let go after raising concerns about working conditions at the institution
‘He is a hero to me’: artist speaks out after Ukrainian athlete barred from Winter Olympics for commemorative helmet
Iryna Prots, who created the imagery on Vladyslav Heraskevych’s helmet—which honours Ukraine’s war dead—says she feels the decision to disqualify him violates the Olympic spirit
Club for working-class art professionals expands from London to northern England
Working Arts Club founder Meg Molloy says its growth is necessary since "class issues in the art world are systemic, not geographic”
London’s National Gallery to cut staff as it faces £8.2m deficit
The institution is offering a “voluntary exit scheme” for all employees and will be reducing its activities
Art market
Sotheby’s to sell around £2m of art to support the Royal Academy in London
The auction will provide crucial financial support for the institution, which last year was looking at axing 60 members of staff as part of a cost-cutting drive
Austrian pavilion artist Florentina Holzinger joins Thaddaeus Ropac
The choreographer and performance artist is best known for her radical theatre performances
67 galleries will once again take over the Shed for Frieze New York
Around one-fifth of participating galleries are either first-time participants or returning to the fair after a hiatus
Artemisia Gentileschi, Michelangelo and Rembrandt bring new energy and records to New York’s Old Masters sales
The week's sales also saw a near-record for a Canaletto painting and a seven-figure result for a 15th-century Hebrew illuminated manuscript
Stephen Friedman Gallery goes into administration after 30 years
Both London and New York spaces are now shut
Museums & Heritage
Museum dedicated to the Romantic movement reopens in Paris on Valentine’s Day
Former home of painter Ary Scheffer celebrates the Romantic period through art, music and soundscapes
Plan for Centre Pompidou in New Jersey is ‘dead’, local official says
The new mayor of Jersey City, James Solomon, said a long-planned outpost of the French museum is no longer happening
Syria’s Hasakah Museum—occupied by military for more than a decade—to finally open
The archaeological museum in northeast Syria—which was out of sight of many local residents until late 2024—is opening 24 years after construction on it began
Ornate 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb discovered in Mexico
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has called it ”the most important archaeological finding of the last decade”
Chicago’s Intuit Art Museum gifted 61 works by self-taught artists
The gifted works come from the estate of longtime supporter Jan Petry and the collection of Los Angeles-based scholar Gordon W. Bailey
Exhibitions
Tracey Emin: ‘I’ve done more in my last five years than in the whole rest of my life’
Tate Modern is hosting the largest retrospective to date of one of the UK’s biggest artists, who has never shrunk away from laying bare the most intimate and even traumatic details of her personal life
‘Good people are being compelled to censor themselves’: exhibition of Black artists reinterpreting the US flag opens without key Dread Scott work
The artist was approached about including his seminal work in an exhibition at the University of Maryland’s Driskell Center, but ultimately it was not featured; he and the curators disagree on the reasons why
This year's Carnegie International will feature 61 artists, including Jasleen Kaur and Li Yi-Fan
The latest iteration of the recurring exhibition boasts more specially commissioned works than ever before
London show highlights how drawing was at the heart of Lucian Freud’s practice
The National Portrait Gallery is exploring a less familiar aspect of the artist’s work through his archive and recently acquired etchings
Dangling sculpture—‘evacuated’ from Russian frontline—will be focus of Ukraine's pavilion at Venice Biennale
Suspended from a crane, the work is meant as a metaphor for the country's ongoing precarious situation during the war
A brush with... podcast
A podcast that asks artists the questions you've always wanted to
A brush with… Louis Fratino—podcast
Louis Fratino 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
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
The US struggles with history, Stephen Friedman Gallery closes, Tudor Heart pendant acquired by the British Museum—podcast
Ben Luke speaks to our editor-in-chief, Americas, Ben Sutton about the disputes that have arisen as the US marks its 250 years since the Declaration of Independence—and hears about the demise of Stephen Friedman’s Gallery. Plus, the story of a heart-shaped pendant tied to Katherine of Aragon and Henry VIII
Books
How Martin Parr’s defining photobook made a splash 40 years ago
‘The Last Resort’, which will be republished later this year, is the subject of a new show at the late photographer’s foundation
‘The good, the bad and the ugly’: a short history of how artists depict the female body
The author Amy Dempsey talks about her new book exploring the tension between overexposure and invisibility
February Book Bag: from Tracey Emin’s conversations about painting to a catalogue of Lucian Freud’s drawings
Our round-up of the latest art publications
In loco parentis: new study tells the story of Florence’s ‘thrown-away’ children
Europe’s first foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, is examined afresh in a new book
‘I had all kinds of altercations’: the photographer who captures humanity at close quarters
A book celebrating the intimate street photography of Mark Cohen
The Year Ahead
Our pick of the shows to see in the world's great art cities in 2026
The exhibitions to visit in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid
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
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.
Van Gogh and café culture: 'The absinthes and brandies would follow each other in quick succession'
A touring exhibition on Parisian cafés is opening in Denmark and then goes to America
Diary
See you, Searle: Guardian chief art critic bows out after 30 years
Adrian Searle has described writing for the paper as “an exhilarating ride”
David Beckham dutifully does the art rounds in Doha
Meanwhile film star Angelina Jolie also put in an appearance at Art Basel Qatar
Get your skates on: artist puts ice rink in Venice palazzo
Olaf Nicolai's "Eisfeld II" has taken up residence in an 18th-century banqueting hall
Want to win a €1m Picasso? Buy a €100 raffle ticket in painting prize draw
The draw is due to take place at Christie's Paris next April
Sweet Jesus—Trump auctions off a Christ painting made in ten minutes
Work was created live by Vanessa Horabuena at Mar-a-Lago New Year’s eve bash
Opinion
When it comes to restitution, how can museums solve a problem like inalienability?
Having a legal structure and policy that allows institutions to make moral decisions on returning objects is crucial
Museum wall texts are an art in their own right—but will they survive the digital age?
With shortened attention spans and constant technological distractions, some museums are getting rid of labels altogether
Comment | Tate Britain’s Turner and Constable show got me thinking about Marxist art history
On a recent trip to London, Bendor Grosvenor enjoyed the buzz of the Old Masters auctions but bemoaned Tate’s exhibition labels
In the age of AI, can art expertise be digitised?
Artificial intelligence attempts to offer objectivity in the inherently subjective field of authentication
Let’s celebrate the new arrivals in the public domain, for auld lang syne
Copyright changes bring New Year cheer for fans of Léger, de Staël and Hepworth
Obituaries
Renowned gallerist Marian Goodman has died, aged 97
The dealer was known for her support of conceptually challenging artistic practices, and credited with bringing key European figures like Gerhard Richter and Marcel Broodthaers to the US
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














































