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.

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 2027This 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.

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.itThe 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.

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.

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 2027Frieze Abu Dhabi, 19–22 November 2026.I, Gustave Courbet. Painter and Rebel, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany until 8 NovemberFranz Marc: The Quest for a Better World, K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 12 September-24 January 2027Taryn Simon: Father Country I Do Love You, Guggenheim, New York, 18 September-14 March 2027Teresa Margolles: En el lugar de los hechos (At the Scene), MoMA PS1, New York, 24 September-February 2027The Week in Art is brought to you with sponsorship from Getty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 2027Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, Morgan Library and Museum, New York, 26 June-4 October Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

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.

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 DecemberFelix Gonzalez-Torres: Sweet Revenge, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, until 12 October Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.comJasper Johns: Night Driver, Guggenheim Bilbao, 29 May-12 October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.