On September 2nd, 2018, the National Museum of Brazil was engulfed by an electrical fire, resulting in the destruction of close to 90% of its collection. The museum, located in Rio de Janeiro, is the oldest scientific institution of Brazil and one of the largest natural history and anthropology museums in the Americas, making its destruction all the more devastating.
Art Galleries & Museums
Now on view at the Met, Sargent & Paris, as the title eludes, explores artist John Singer Sargent’s time living in Paris from 1874 through 1885, before he moved to London.
Surrealism became the focus of many art institutions in 2024 in response to the 100th anniversary of the 1924 publication of Andre Breton’s (1896-1966) Surrealist Manifesto. Now, in a moment when female visionary artists like Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) and Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) are being rediscovered, Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) stands out.
The exhibition Scottish Colourists: Radical Perspectives opened at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, Scotland, on February 7th.
This April, the Whitney Museum of American Art opens Amy Sherald: American Sublime, and consequently cements the artist as the new Miss Americana. This is Sherald’s debut solo exhibit in New York City, and in true American fashion, it will cross the country to San Francisco and Washington D.C.—fitting for a collection so decidedly nestled in excellence and American realism.
On March 30, 2025, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston threw a birthday bash. Cupcakes were served and local artist Nick Shea (best known for his pop-ups on the Boston Common) was available to draw your portrait on the spot.
It was 1939, just two years after Picasso painted his anti-war masterpiece, Guernica, in response to the fascist bombing of the titular city in northern Spain. France and Britain declared war on Germany in response to the latter’s invasion of Poland, and artists like Picasso were finding Paris a nerve-wracking place to live.
The visual directness of Christina Ramberg’s paintings can be misleading. Take Shady Lacy (1971), which shows the back of a shapely figure dressed in a lacy matching set. Ramberg renders the figure boldly, almost schematically, except for the daisies delicately patterned across the lace.
Japanese painter Keita Morimoto's first solo exhibition, To Nowhere and Back, opened at the Almine Rech Tribeca gallery March 14th. Running through April 26th, the exhibition highlights Morimoto's striking urban nightscapes. His almost cinematic vignettes masterfully depict solitude, disorientation, and alienation, while also invoking the strange beauty and instances of transcendent hope found within mundane moments of city life.
This September 2025, the Museum of Modern Art’s current director, Glenn D. Lowry, is retiring. Lowry acquired the honor of being the Museum’s longest-serving director, stepping into the position three decades ago in 1995. During his time at the MoMA, he has helped to initiate its tremendous growth–doubling the size of its galleries and expanding its endowments–and even created the education and research center.
