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The Week in Art

The Art Newspaper

From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world's big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke.

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Today · 57 min
Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Lagos Biennial, Constantin Meunier
As Tate Britain opens Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury, a major show exploring these pivotal figures in British Modernism in a new light, Ben Luke visits the show and takes a tour with the exhibition’s co-curator, Thomas Kennedy. The Lagos Biennial opens this weekend in the Nigerian city and this fifth edition is called The Museum of Things Unseen. Its three curators are Furen Dai, Chinyere Obieze and Sam Hopkins, and Ben speaks to Chinyere and Sam about their concept for the biennial. And this episode’s Work of the Week is a group of plaster sculptures created by the Belgian artist Constantin Meunier for his magnum opus in Brussels, the Monument to Labour. Meunier’s work is at the heart of a new exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris called Brussels 1900. Ben talks to Davy Depelchin, head curator of the 19th-century paintings and sculptures department at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Belgium, who is one of the curatorial team organising this vast show. Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury, Tate Britain, until 11 April 2027 Lagos Biennial, 14 November-6 December Brussels 1900, Petit Palais, Paris, until 25 April 2027 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
November 6 · 1 hr
Sydney Powerhouse scandal, heritage destruction in Lebanon, Dan Flavin
This weekend, Powerhouse Parramatta, a vast new arts and technology museum, opens in Sydney, Australia. But its unveiling is shrouded in allegations of misconduct relating to the chief executive who had led the project, Lisa Havilah, who stepped down in August. Ben Luke speaks to The Art Newspaper’s Australian reporter, Elizabeth Fortescue, about the building and the scandal. In southern Lebanon, despite a supposed ceasefire in the war between Hezbollah and Israel, heritage continues to be damaged by Israeli military activity. Ben talks to Sarvy Geranpayeh, who has been talking to politicians, heritage professionals and artists about the destruction. And this episode’s Work of the Week is greens crossing greens (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green) (1966) by Dan Flavin. A landmark work for the US artist, first shown at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, it is one of the highlights of the exhibition Dan Flavin: Some Light at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which opens next week. Ben discusses the work with Lauren Hinkson, curator for collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, who is organising the Bilbao show. Powerhouse Parramatta opens on 7 November. Dan Flavin: Some Light, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain, 11 November-4 April 2027 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 30 · 1 hr 6 min
Edward Hopper biography, Kvareli Foundation in Georgia, Marisa Merz in Turin
As a biography of Edward Hopper is published, containing a wealth of new material, Ben Luke speaks to its author Louis Shadwick about his quest to find the truth behind the artist that he writes “has become more myth than man in the popular imagination”. In Georgia, the Kvareli Foundation for Contemporary Art, a new private museum, opens this weekend. The Art Newspaper’s digital editor, Alexander Morrison, speaks to Nino Sulkhanishvili, the creative director, about it. And this episode’s Work of the Week is E il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare (1980) by Marisa Merz. This installation is the centrepiece of an exhibition at the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, one of three presentations in the Italian city marking the 100th anniversary of Merz’s birth. Ben talks to the co-curator of the Castello di Rivoli show, Marianna Vecellio. Edward Hopper: A Life by Louis Shadwick, Yale University Press, out now in the US, $40 and published on 24 November in the UK, priced £30. Kvareli Foundation for Contemporary Art opens on 2 November. Marisa Merz – La danza delle ore, Castello di Rivoli, Fondazione Merz, GAM, Turin, Italy, until 4 April 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 22 · 1 hr 6 min
Art Basel Paris opens and closes amid protests, Latin American culture wars, a Chinese celestial map
As protests engulf Paris, the Art Basel fair opened this week in the French capital and then it was announced that the fair would conclude on Friday, and not open as scheduled this weekend. The Art Newspaper’s global editor-in-chief, Ben Sutton, and our chief contributing editor, Gareth Harris, visited the fair before the announcement of the weekend closure and we hear what they made of it and the various satellite events and exhibitions around it. In Latin America, Brazil goes to the polls this weekend amid a so-called “blue wave” in which rightwing governments have come to power, often with the support of the US president, Donald Trump. Culture—and culture wars—have been central to their message and Ben Luke talks to our correspondent based in Buenos Aires, Mercedes Ezquiaga, about the weaponisation of the arts and heritage across the continent. And this episode’s Work of the Week is the “Blue China” Celestial Map by Yunyou Sanren, made in 1822. It is part of Night Maps, an exhibition at the Warburg Institute in London. Our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, spoke to John Tresch, one of the curators of the exhibition, about the work. Art Basel Paris, until 23 October. Night Maps, The Warburg Institute, London, until 17 April 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 15 · 1 hr 1 min
Frieze in London, Tarek Atoui at Tate Modern, Sienese sculptor Francesco di Giorgio
It’s Frieze week in London, and as usual we take the opportunity to take the temperature of the market in London, and more widely, at the fair. Joining Ben Luke in the tent in Regent’s Park is The Art Newspaper’s art market editor, Kabir Jhala. At Tate Modern, the annual commission for the Turbine Hall is Hold, a work by the Beirut-born artist Tarek Atoui, and Ben visits Tate Modern to talk to him. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Francesco di Giorgio’s Deposition of Christ from the Cross with a Group of Donors (Federico da Montefeltro and His Family), a bronze relief made in 1473–74. It is one of the highlights of an exhibition that opened this week at The Frick in New York, Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500. Ben talks to the curator of the exhibition, Giulio Dalvit. Frieze London and Frieze Masters, until Sunday, 18 October. Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui: Hold, Tate Modern, London, until 11 April 2027. You can see a list of the performances programmed for the space on the Tate’s website. Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500, The Frick, New York, until 18 January 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 8 · 1 hr 14 min
Palestinian artists after the ceasefire, Robert Ryman, Katherine Hubbard
Saturday, 10 October, marks the first anniversary of the ceasefire in Gaza. It has not put an end to the bloodshed, with figures released in August by the United Nations Human Rights Office stating that more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since last October. The Art Newspaper’s reporter Sarvy Geranpayeh has been reporting on the lives of Palestinian artists since soon after the first Israeli bombings in Gaza in October 2023, following the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October. She joins Ben Luke to discuss her latest conversations with four Gazan artists who have all experienced different levels of trauma, grief and displacement. A stunning new survey exhibition of the work of the US painter Robert Ryman opened this week at the Barbican Art Gallery in London, and Ben visits the gallery to talk to Wells Fray-Smith, the exhibition’s curator. And this episode’s Work of the Week is The Great Room (2020-ongoing) by the US artist Katherine Hubbard, the latest iteration of which was unveiled this week at Studio Voltaire in London. The Great Room responds through different forms of photographic work to the effects of LATE, a progressive brain disease, on Hubbard’s mother Antonette Berger, and the emotional experience of packing up a home in preparation for a move into residential care. Ben talks to Katherine about the work. Robert Ryman: The Real Thing, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 9 October-28 February 2027 Katherine Hubbard: The Great Room, Studio Voltaire, London, until 10 January 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 1 · 53 min
Renoir and Love in London, political storm around Kanal in Brussels, Ronald Moody
The French painter Auguste Renoir continues to divide critical opinion, something acknowledged by the curators of the new exhibition, Renoir and Love, at the National Gallery in London. But he remains enormously popular: the Gallery announced ahead of the show that it had broken records for advanced ticket sales. So what does the exhibition tell us about Renoir’s place in the radical developments in art in Paris between the 1860s and 1880s? Ben Luke visits the National Gallery to talk to Chiara di Stefano, its co-curator. In Belgium, the long-awaited Kanal Brussels, the museum of modern and contemporary art and architecture, established and funded by the Brussels-Capital Region and housed in a spectacular former Citroën garage, has become a political football, with debates over its future funding. Ben speaks to Senay Boztas, The Art Newspaper’s correspondent based in Amsterdam, about the latest developments. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Seated Sarong Figure (1938) by Ronald Moody. The work features in an exhibition at Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham, London, called Sculpting Life. Ben talks to the artist and curator Kedisha Coakley, who has made a new film about Moody for the exhibition. Renoir and Love, National Gallery, London, 3 October-31 January 2027; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 20 February-13 June 2027. Kanal Brussels opens 28 November. Ronald Moody: Sculpting Life, Orleans House Gallery, London, 2 October-28 February 2027. Kedisha Coakley’s film is premiered at the gallery on 30 October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 24 · 1 hr 3 min
Cezanne in Paris, Taryn Simon in New York, Magritte in London
At the Grand Palais in Paris a new exhibition explores Paul Cezanne’s influence on artists from his own time to now. In Paris, Ben Luke speaks to Xavier Rey, the director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou, who is one of four curators of the exhibition, Cezanne and Us. In New York, the Guggenheim has just opened Taryn Simon’s latest project, called Father Country I Do Love You. It is the first solo exhibition by an artist whose principal medium is photography to be staged in the museum’s celebrated rotunda and, remarkably, the largest display of new work ever staged at the Guggenheim. The Art Newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Ben Sutton, speaks to Taryn Simon about the show. And this episode’s Work of the Week is René Magritte’s Le Plaisir (Pleasure) (1946), a gouache on paper which is part of an exhibition at Gagosian in London called This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte. The exhibition’s co-curator is Jasper Sharp and our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, went to the gallery to talk to him. Cezanne and Us, Grand Palais, Paris, until 17 January 2027. Taryn Simon: Father Country I Do Love You, Guggenheim, New York, until 14 March 2027 This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte, Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, until 12 December. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 17 · 1 hr 11 min
Giotto restored in Florence, Biennale de Lyon, Remedios Varo
After a four-year restoration, the Bardi Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, in which Giotto depicted scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi in the early 14th century, has reopened. Ben Luke talks to Emanuela Daffra, superintendent of the Opficio delle Pietre Dure, which conserves Italian heritage, and Donata Grossoni, art historian at the Opera di Santa Croce, about the work and the project to restore it. The 18th edition of the Biennale de Lyon called To pass from one dream to another, opens on Saturday, across France’s third largest city. This edition has been devised by the Australian-born, Berlin-based curator Catherine Nichols, and Ben speaks to her about the show. And this episode’s Work of the Week is The Juggler (The Magician) by Remedios Varo, made in Mexico City in 1956. The painting is one of more than 70 works by the Spanish-born Surrealist in the first major survey of her work in Europe, which begins this week at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk in Denmark, and travels to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm next year. Ben speaks to Tere Arcq, the co-curator of the exhibition, about the painting. The Bardi Chapel, Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, now open, santacroceopera.it The 18th Biennale de Lyon, To pass from one dream to another, opens on Saturday, 19 September and continues until 13 December. Remedios Varo, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark, Friday, 18 September until 10 January 2027. It travels to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 10 · 46 min
The Bayeux Tapestry, damaged heritage in Iran, Tschabalala Self’s Trafalgar Square sculpture
It is one of the museum events of the century so far: the Bayeux Tapestry has been lent from its dedicated museum in Bayeux in Normandy, France, to an exhibition at the British Museum in London, which is now open to visitors. The Art Newspaper’s digital editor, Alexander Morrison, visits the British Museum to speak to Lloyd de Beer, one of the show’s four curators, to discuss this momentous exhibition. In Iran, it has emerged that more than 140 heritage sites have been damaged in the war with the US and Israel. Our reporter Sarvy Geranpayeh tells Ben Luke more about the extent of the damage and the local and international response. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Lady in Blue, Tschabalala Self’s new sculpture for the Fourth Plinth, the site for contemporary art commissions in London’s Trafalgar Square. Ben spoke to Tschabalala about the work. The Bayeux Tapestry, British Museum, until 11 July 2027. Next ticket release, 21 October; members priority booking reopens 6 October. Tschabalala Self’s The Blue Lady, Fourth Plinth, London, until 2028. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 3 · 1 hr 9 min
What did you miss? Summer art world news and what’s coming up
In this first episode of the autumn season, we are focusing on the news you might have missed in a busy couple of months in the art world in July and August. The Art Newspaper’s global editor-in-chief Ben Sutton joins host Ben Luke to talk about the latest news from the Americas, including US museums, and pays tribute to some of the major artists who died in the past couple of months. Our art market editor, Kabir Jhala, updates us on news from the market over recent weeks. And Catherine Hickley tells Ben Luke about news outside the US in her field, museums and heritage. Plus, we ask them all to name two exhibitions and events in the coming months that they’re looking forward to seeing. Their tips for forthcoming events: The 90s: Art and Fashion, Tate Britain, London, 8 October 2026 – 14 February 2027 Frieze Abu Dhabi, 19–22 November 2026. I, Gustave Courbet. Painter and Rebel, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany until 8 November Franz Marc: The Quest for a Better World, K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 12 September-24 January 2027 Taryn Simon: Father Country I Do Love You, Guggenheim, New York, 18 September-14 March 2027 Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos (At the Scene), MoMA PS1, New York, 24 September-February 2027 The Week in Art is brought to you with sponsorship from Getty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 25 · 1 hr 2 min
Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern, the Brexit effect, a Renaissance tarot deck
This last episode of the current season begins with Frida Kahlo. Tate Modern in London this week opened Frida: The Making of an Icon, an exhibition that began at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston earlier this year and which explores the Mexican artist’s paintings but also her influence on other artists and wider cultural forms. Ben Luke speaks to Tobias Ostrander, the co-curator of the exhibition. This week also marked 10 years since Brexit, the UK vote to leave the European Union. Ben speaks to Alexander Herman, the director of the Institute of Art and Law in London, about the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on art and cultural heritage laws. And this episode’s Work of the Week is the Visconti-Sforza Tarot, a deck of cards made by Bonifacio Bembo in 1456-58. Forty-five cards from the deck, which are held in the collections of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, are reunited in the Morgan Library and Museum’s new exhibition, called Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions. Ben talks to one of the show’s curators, Joshua O’Driscoll, about it. Frida: The Making of an Icon, Tate Modern, London, until 3 January 2027 Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, Morgan Library and Museum, New York, 26 June-4 October Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 18 · 1 hr 8 min
Art Basel in Basel, Pierre Huyghe interview, James Turrell
Kabir Jhala, The Art Newspaper’s art market editor, joins Ben Luke to discuss this year’s Art Basel, the big sales and the wider mood music. Pierre Huyghe has an exhibition at the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen, just outside Basel, and Ben speaks to him about it. And this episode’s Work of the Week is As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by the US artist James Turrell, which opens this week at ARoS, the museum in the Danish city of Aarhus. Ben speaks to the museum’s director, Rebecca Matthews, about the work, and to Stine Louring, an anthropologist and specialist in lighting design, who is leading a research collaboration between ARoS and Aalborg University exploring the neurophysiological and experiential effects of visiting As Seen Below. Art Basel in Basel continues until Sunday, 21 June. Pierre Huyghe, Beyeler Foundation, Riehen, Basel, until 13 September. As Seen Below – The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell, ARoS, 19 June. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 11 · 57 min
Pan-Africanism in London, the health benefits of art, Barbara Hepworth
The exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica began its life at the Art Institute of Chicago before travelling to Museu d’art contemporani de Barcelona (Macba) in Barcelona and now to the Barbican in London, in each case changing in relation to the particular circumstances of its location. One of the show’s curators is Elvira Dyangani Ose, the director of the Barcelona museum, and Ben Luke speaks to her about the show. Among the books shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction in the UK, which was awarded this week, is Daisy Fancourt’s Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. Ben discusses her research and how it can be implemented. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943), by Barbara Hepworth. It features in Hepworth in Colour, a new exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and The Art Newspaper’s digital editor, Alexander Morrison, speaks to the show’s curator, Alexandra Gerstein, about the work. Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Barbican Art Gallery, until 6 September. To find out more about the wider events across the Barbican visit the centre’s website. Daisy Fancourt: Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, US: Celadon Books, $28.99; UK: Cornerstone Press, £22. Hepworth in Colour, Courtauld Gallery, London, 12 June-6 September Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 4 · 45 min
Yemen heritage, US flags at the National Gallery in Washington, Felix Gonzalez-Torres
After years of civil war and continuity violence, Yemen’s heritage has suffered hugely, with buildings damaged across the country and antiquities looted. Yet across the country, there is a determination to protect and restore its historical landmarks and cultures. Ben Luke speaks to Melissa Gronlund, one of The Art Newspaper’s reporters on the Middle East, about these efforts. At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the exhibition American Icon: The US Flag in Art opens this weekend. Ben speaks to the gallery’s chief curatorial and conservation officer, E. Carmen Ramos, about the exhibition. And this episode’s Work of the Week is “Untitled” (Revenge) (1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, one of the late Cuban-American artist’s sculptures using hundreds of wrapped candies. The work was first exhibited in Madrid in 1991 and is being shown there for the first time since that initial presentation in a survey show of Gonzalez-Torres’s work at the Museo Reina Sofía, which opened last week. The exhibition’s curators are Alejandro Cesarco and Nancy Spector and Ben spoke to them about the work. American Icon: The US Flag in Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June-6 December Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Sweet Revenge, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, until 12 October Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 28 · 52 min
Smithsonian Women’s Museum chaos, Oliver Beer and Rufus Wainwright, Jasper Johns in Bilbao
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. has faced unprecedented scrutiny and government interference since President Trump came to power. Now, its long cherished plans for a Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall in D.C. have been dealt a blow because the US House of Representatives has struck down a bill to build the museum. Ben Luke talks to Elena Goukassian, The Art Newspaper’s senior editor of museums and heritage in New York, about the partisan rift that led to failure of the bill, as well as other developments relating to the Smithsonian. As part of London Gallery Weekend, which begins on 5 June, the British artist Oliver Beer will show new paintings and related sound and video works in an exhibition, The Sky in the Cave, at Thaddaeus Ropac. The show relates to Beer’s opus Resonance Project: The Cave, in which he brought eight singers into a prehistoric painted cave in the Dordogne in France to respond to its particular acoustic frequencies. Among them was the singer songwriter Rufus Wainwright, and Ben speaks to Oliver and Rufus about their collaboration. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Painting with Two Balls by Jasper Johns. It is part of a new retrospective of the American artist’s work at the Guggenheim Bilbao, Night Driver. Ben talks to the exhibition’s curator, Enrique Juncosa. Oliver Beer: The Sky in the Cave, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, 5 June—31 July. Oliver and Rufus will be in conversation at the gallery on Friday 5 June, 12.00; Visit rufuswainwright.com Jasper Johns: Night Driver, Guggenheim Bilbao, 29 May-12 October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 21 · 1 hr 14 min
New York auctions, James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain, Edvard Munch
This season’s much anticipated auctions in New York have brought some records and eye-popping prices, including for works by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi and Mark Rothko, and some more middling results. Ben Luke talks to Judd Tully, who has been reporting on some of the sales for The Art Newspaper. The largest show of the art of James McNeill Whistler in Europe for more than 30 years has just opened at Tate Britain in London, and travels later in the year to the Netherlands, where it forms two shows, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and The Mesdag Collection in The Hague. Ben takes a tour of the Tate show with its lead curator Carol Jacobi. And this episode’s Work of the Week is the frieze made by Edvard Munch in 1922 for the women’s canteen of the Freia Chocolate Factory in Oslo. The frieze remains in the collection of the Freia chocolate company today, but is on temporary loan to MUNCH, the museum in the Norwegian capital for the exhibition Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory. Our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, went to Oslo to speak to the curator of the exhibition, Ana María Bresciani, about the frieze. James McNeill Whistler, Tate Britain, London, until 27 September 2026; before splitting into two parallel presentations in the Netherlands, Whistler: Dandy and Disruptor, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Whistler: Loving The Netherlands, The Mesdag Collection, The Hague, both 16 October-10 January 2027. Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory, MUNCH, Oslo, until 11 October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 14 · 51 min
Frieze New York, the Cranach in Hitler’s Munich apartment, Ajamu X
The latest edition of Frieze New York is open now and we hear all about this year’s fair from The Art Newspaper’s editor-in-chief in the Americas, Ben Sutton, and our art market editor, Kabir Jhala. Cupid Complaining to Venus (1526-27), a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the National Gallery in London has long been known to have a complicated provenance and was once in the possession of Adolf Hitler. In The Art Newspaper’s May print edition, a photograph of the work in Hitler’s Munich apartment is reproduced for the first time in an English-language publication. Ben Luke talks to Martin Bailey, our special correspondent in London, who has been following this story since the 1990s, about the latest news. And this episode’s Work of the Week is the Glamour Posse series from the early 1990s by the British photographer Ajamu X. The work features in Gender Stories, a UK touring exhibition that this week opens at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and Ben speaks to the head of the gallery, Charlotte Keenan. Frieze New York continues until Sunday, 17 May, Esther continues until 16 May and Tefaf is on until 19 May. Gender Stories, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 16 May-31 August. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 7 · 1 hr 56 min
Venice Biennale Special 2026
It’s Venice Biennale opening week and so, as ever, this episode is our Venice special. The Biennale comprises many aspects: an international exhibition that this year features more than 100 artists in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini—Venice’s easternmost gardens—and the Arsenale, the historic Venetian shipyards, as well as national pavilions and, across the city, countless official collateral exhibitions alongside major museum shows, performances and other interventions. We bring you our immediate impressions of this year’s offering: Louisa Buck, Jane Morris and host Ben Luke review the main exhibition, In Minor Keys, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh and realised by five of her collaborators. Ben talks to two artists: Gabrielle Goliath whose work for the South African pavilion was cancelled and is being staged in a church in the heart of Venice, and Lubaina Himid, who is showing in the British pavilion in the Giardini. He also meets the writer and thinker Saidiya Hartman, two of whose essays have inspired a production called Minor Music at the End of the World, staged at Venice’s Goldoni Theatre and featuring contributions from, among others, the artists Arthur Jafa, Precious Okoyomon and Okwui Okpokwaseli. And The Art Newspaper’s digital editor, Alexander Morrison, talks to Daniella Kaliada, one of the team behind Official. Unofficial. Belarus., a collateral art project by Belarus Free Theatre. Finally, we always end our Venice specials with a historic masterpiece, and in this episode’s Work of the Week, we look at two: Jacopo Tintoretto’s The Last Supper and The Israelites in the Desert of 1591-92, the pair of paintings made for the presbytery of the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore. The paintings have just returned to the basilica after a major conservation project, funded by the charity Save Venice, and Ben spoke to Save Venice’s Senior Researcher, Gabriele Matino, about them. In Minor Keys, 9 May-22 November Gabrielle Goliath: Elegy, Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, 5 May-31 July Predicting History: Testing Translation, British Pavilion, 9 May-22 November Official. Unofficial. Belarus., Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia, 9 May-22 November Visit savevenice.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 30 · 1 hr 5 min
Zurbarán in London, the Carnegie International, Walter Sickert’s Ennui
The largest career survey of the great 17th-century Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán since the 1980s opens this weekend at the National Gallery in London. It presents a more rounded perspective on an artist best known for his austere paintings of saints and other religious subjects. Ben Luke takes a tour of the show with its co-curator, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper. The latest edition of the Carnegie International, held at the Carnegie Museum of Art and several other venues in Pittsburgh, also opens this weekend. This 59th iteration of the exhibition, which happens every four years, is called If the word we, and Ben speaks to the director of the museum, Eric Crosby. And this episode’s Work of the Week is one of the five painted versions of Ennui, made around 1914 by Walter Sickert. The painting features in the exhibition Walter Sickert: Working Notes at Charleston in Lewes in Sussex, UK, part of the organisation based in the former home of the Bloomsbury linchpins Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Ben talks to Robert Travers, the founder of the gallery Piano Nobile, who curated the exhibition in partnership with Charleston. Zurbarán, National Gallery, London, 2 May-23 August; Musée du Louvre, Paris, 7 October-25 January 2027; Art Institute of Chicago, 28 February-20 June 2027 If the word we, 59th Carnegie International, 2 May-3 January 2027 Walter Sickert: Working Notes, Charleston in Lewes, 2 May–11 October 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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