Latest
Debate over author of ‘Napalm Girl’ image deepens as World Press Photo suspends attribution
The decision follows a report from Associated Press and a documentary calling into question the long-held belief that photographer Nick Ut took the shot
Best-selling memoir about being a guard at the Metropolitan Museum takes the stage
Patrick Bringley’s Off-Broadway one-man show distils ‘All the Beauty in the World’ into an 80-minute meditation on art, life and human connection
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art repatriates ancient silk manuscript to China
The museum’s fragments of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts were looted from a tomb in Hunan Province and smuggled into the US nearly 80 years ago
Tentatively, Photo London's tenth edition moves away from traditional content and crowds
New fair director Sophie Parker's plan to “reward galleries that take risks” was seen in action
Manhattan District Attorney's Office returns eight artefacts to Peru, including golden Moche mask
Many of the antiquities being returned were looted from northern Peru in the 1960s and 70s
Art market
Art Basel Awards name inaugural medalists including artists, curators and patrons
The 36 medalists will be honoured at a reception during Art Basel’s Swiss fair
Marlene Dumas’s $13.6m semi-nude breaks auction record for a living female artist
Women rescued Christie’s otherwise quiet 21st century evening sale in New York, which also set a new auction high-water mark for Simone Leigh
‘Halo effect’ of two powerful female art dealers’ collections boosts Sotheby’s New York sale
Works from the estate of Barbara Gladstone and the home of Daniella Luxembourg—plus a litter of Lichtensteins—energised last night's marquee auction of post-war and contemporary art
Despite record-breaking results for four women artists, Phillips’s evening auction in New York sparks few fireworks
The auction brought in a hammer total of $44.2m, just below Phillips’s low estimate for the night and exactly in line with last November’s equivalent sale
‘A new lease of life’: London’s Annely Juda Fine Art looks to the future with Mayfair move
The gallery plans to take on more young and emerging artists as David Juda hands the baton to the next generation
Museums & Heritage
Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art and Saudi Arabia strike deal to collaborate on exhibitions, conservation and more
The deal centres on the ancient Incense Route trading hub of Dadan in northwestern Saudi Arabia
Gauguin's last self-portrait could be a fake
Kunstmuseum Basel is analysing the work, which has been in its collection since 1945 and may have been painted by the artist's friend, Ky-Dong Nguyen Van Cam
Ten essential works of art to see on the French Riviera
From Paul Signac’s Saint-Tropez scene to Jean Cocteau’s fishermen’s chapel, here is our pick of the art to see all year round on the coveted stretch of the Mediterranean coast
Magna Carta ‘copy’ once sold at Sotheby's is an original, say UK professors
The document was consigned to the auction house in 1946 then, later the same year, purchased by Harvard Law School for just $27.50
Metropolitan Museum receives 6,500 works from photography collector Artur Walther
The promised gift from Walther and the Walther Family Foundation includes photographs, albums and time-based works by artists including Malick Sibidé, Ai Weiwei, Thomas Struth, Stephen Shore and others
Exhibitions
Adam Lindemann opens exhibition of 19th-century African sculpture and contemporary Black abstraction
The dealer brings together five Urhobo sculptures for the first time in the US in an exhibition at his private residence on Manhattan's Upper East Side
Folk is having a revival—in the art world too
The Neo Ancients festival in the small Gloucestershire town of Stroud featured artists whose works have a more "pastoral" approach towards art production
Bauhaus thread weaves through expansive textile show at MoMA
Around 150 woven works by artists around the globe tell the story of abstraction through a new, craftier lens
May's must-see exhibitions: ancient Indian religions, Rebecca Horn's legacy and the artists who paint their peers
The Art Newspaper's pick of the top shows to see around the world this month
Left at the altar: Luc Tuymans's paintings to replace Tintoretto works at Venetian church
The Belgian artist’s works will hang in place of “The Last Supper” and “The People of Israel in the Desert” while the masterpieces undergo restoration
The Week in Art
A podcast bringing you the latest news from the art world, every week
Koyo Kouoh remembered, Queen Elizabeth II memorial, Jasper Johns by Robert Storr—podcast
Remembering Koyo Kouoh, the Venice Biennale curator who died earlier this month, plus a look at the five designs competing for the late-Queen's memorial commission, and a discussion with curator Robert Storr about the work of Jasper Johns
Opinion
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
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?
Comment | Losing federal funding for emergency heritage conservation in the US is a disaster
The Foundation for Advancement in Conservation’s National Heritage Responders programme has channelled federal funding and support from local organisations to help communities struck by natural disasters to preserve their culture
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
Pope Leo XIV
Robert Francis Prevost, the US-born former head of the Augustinian order of friars, was elected Pope Leo XIV on 8 May. He becomes the proprietor in trust of the art and architecture riches of the Vatican and inherits his predecessor Pope Francis's concern for peace and for addressing climate change
The art of being Pope Leo: from a Raphael portrait to the first pontiff to be captured on film
Cardinal Prevost’s choice of the name Leo links him to Leo XIII, a 19th-century champion of social justice, and also recalls Leos I, III and IV, whose diplomatic and military achievements are depicted in Raphael’s “stanze” frescoes, completed for Pope Leo X
Robert Francis Prevost has been elected Pope Leo XIV—why does this matter to the worlds of art and heritage?
The Chicago-born pontiff—the new spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics and the proprietor in trust of the great art and architecture treasures of the Vatican—has publicly supported his predecessor Pope Francis's lead on climate change
The original ‘Conclave’? How commercial engravings grew global interest in papal succession
Downloads of the 2024 film have surged since the death of Pope Francis—but in the 16th and 17th century, it was etchings that drove public fascination with the historic process
Pope Francis (1936-2025)
Pope Francis, for 12 years the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, and proprietor in trust of the Vatican's great art treasures and its liturgical and built heritage, died on 21 April 2025, aged 88
The original ‘Conclave’? How commercial engravings grew global interest in papal succession
Downloads of the 2024 film have surged since the death of Pope Francis—but in the 16th and 17th century, it was etchings that drove public fascination with the historic process
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
Holy ground: why Persian carpets played an important symbolic role in the funeral of Pope Francis
For over 600 years carpets from Turkey and Iran have been used in Catholic ceremony and religious paintings by artists, including Andrea del Verrochio, to indicate a carefully defined, sacred space
From the archive | Pope Francis, his crucifix and the Virgin Mary: miraculous or merely traditional?
Art history removes the numinous from art. At the Vatican’s Covid-19 blessing we saw it invoked again
One of Pope’s favourite paintings is looking refreshed after restoration
Icon’s first major intervention since 1931 brings back original colours
Diary
Is Trump painting an ‘awesome portrait’ or by ‘Tariff Lautrec’?
A new portrait of the US leader, looking defiant following the attempted assassination last year, has drawn, er… mixed responses
The world according to Cattelan? Maverick Maurizio updates ‘autobiography’
Maurizio Cattelan sheds light on his famous golden toilet and that duct-taped banana
Wes Anderson’s priceless ‘Renaissance portrait’ to go on show in London
A new exhibition includes the fictional masterpiece ‘Boy With Apple’, which appeared in the Anderson classic, ‘the Grand Budapest Hotel’
Let him entertain you: Robbie Williams gets honest in latest Moco exhibition
Last night the star—and subject of a recent, monkey-themed biopic—unveiled works that seem to strip away any last remaining filters
The story of the Met’s ‘missing’ Banksy
The New York museum’s former security head admits to taking the street artist's work after it was illicitly hung on the wall in 2005
Book reviews
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
Review | ‘An utterly positive and dangerously irrelevant’ book written by the chief executive of Arts Council England
This journey through the UK’s publicly funded arts carefully averts its eyes from the many signs of crisis
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.
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
Jeu de Paume puts on wide-ranging survey of work created by artists working with artificial intelligence
With “Le Monde Selon L’IA”, the Paris media art centre takes a broad look at work made using both analytical AI and generative AI
Museums are losing social media followers amid users' mass X-odus
Some institutions have ditched their accounts in protest, while others have chosen to “quiet quit” and stopped posting on the Elon Musk-owned platform
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
Obituaries
‘An immense void in the world of contemporary art’: Koyo Kouoh, curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, has died, aged 57
The acclaimed curator was due to present her plans for the exhibition next week
Zurab Tsereteli, Georgian-born artist and Russian patriot, has died aged 91
Artist, who also ran museums and institutions in Russia, was best known for his monumental sculptures, including a 30m-high memorial to victims of 9/11 in the US
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
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
Remembering Rosalind Savill, the porcelain expert who transformed the Wallace Collection
During her 19-year tenure as its director, she turned a sedate institution into a vibrant tribute to the culture of 18th-century France
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.
Huge Paris exhibition reveals David Hockney’s love of Van Gogh
Hockney, now 87, says he is always happy when he paints—“just like Van Gogh”