The Week in Art

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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