May 27, 2026
Your morning brew of art world media
Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Kalshi Rolls Out Prediction Markets Tied to Art Auctions by Richard Whiddington for Artnet. New prediction-based betting tied to auction results positions art sales as tradable financial events while raising questions about transparency and market manipulation.
The Art Newspaper
Sophia Kishkovsky, Barrage of Russian missiles damages museums, library and theatre in Kyiv
Catherine Hickley, Heir says Cezanne watercolour in Basel show was lost due to Nazi persecution
Gareth Harris, Arthurian manuscript could make magic at Christie’s London
Scarlet Cheng, Kelly Akashi and friends celebrate Altadena’s resilience after Los Angeles wildfires
Hadani Ditmars, Finalists for the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s top contemporary art prize, revealed
Anna Brady, Lisson Grove’s galleries collaborate to promote London’s unsung art district
Cyrus Naji, Book reveals how Chintz—India’s precious textile pattern—became a precolonial global export
Bendor Grosvenor, Comment | The flaws in the plan to charge entry to British museums
From the Editors, Hole in one: artist-designed mini golf course heads to London
Artforum
From the Editors, Sonia Boyce on René Magritte, Lygia Clark, and the Art of Improvisation
From the Editors, Ukrainian Museums and Cultural Sites Damaged by Russian Attack
From the Editors, Lucia Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos Named Convenors for Norway’s Bergen Assembly
From the Editors, Husband of Gallerist Brent Sikkema Found Guilty of Ordering His Killing
From the Editors, Wolfgang Tillmans Awarded 2026 Roswitha Haftmann Prize
Artnet
Gabi Vidal-Irizarry, Gala Season! Shaggy and Jewel Hit the Whitney, Henry Taylor and Pharrell Toast Gordon Parks, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip
EDITOR’S PICK - Richard Whiddington, Kalshi Rolls Out Prediction Markets Tied to Art Auctions: The firm has promised more products in time for the fall auctions.
Jo Lawson-Tancred, U.K. Museum Races to Acquire 18th-Century Portrait of Black Gardener
Richard Whiddington, Long-Lost 17th-Century Altarpiece Paintings Recovered After Nearly 100 Years
Vittoria Benzine, One of the Rarest King Arthur Manuscripts Could Fetch Millions at Auction
Richard Whiddington, How the Great Pyramid of Giza Has Withstood Millennia of Earthquakes
Margaret Carrigan, Trophy Buyers Drive Decorative Art Sales
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, Artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian to Launch New Residency Program in Menorca
Daniel Cassady, Nick Doyle’s AI Oracle at Perrotin is Part Influencer, Part Therapist, Part Snake Oil Salesman
Harrison Jacobs, See Inside the Belarus Free Theatre’s Venice Exhibition on Art Under Authoritarianism
Brian Boucher, Miami Politician Admits to Hiring ‘Jew Hater’ Billboard Trucks Targeting Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Art Basel Miami Beach
Alex Greenberger, Tess Jaray, Influential Painter of Understated Abstractions, Dies at 88
Andy Battaglia, Russian Strike on Kyiv Damages National Art Museum of Ukraine
Harrison Jacobs, Taiwanese Pop Star Is the Buyer of $20 M. Matisse Painting at Sotheby’s
Daniel Cassady, Long-Lost Lucas Valdés Paintings Resurface at Auction Amid Spain’s Restitution Battles
Brianna J. Heath, Detroit’s MOCAD Reopens with a New Vision and a New Kind of Leadership
Tessa Solomon, Venice Biennale’s Kazakh Pavilion Roiled by Controversy after Artwork Fails to Make It on View
ArtReview
Travis Diehl, What Would Orwell Think of the Mormon ‘Animal Farm’?
Qingyuan Deng, Lionel Wendt: The Politics of the Male Nude
From the Editors, Tess Jaray, painter and teacher inspired by architecture, 1937–2026
From the Editors, Ho Tzu Nyen wins Fukuoka Grand Prize
Financial Times
Rebecca Nicholson, Haroun Hayward is painting the English landscape – to a techno beat
Frieze
Alex Bacon, N. Dash’s Works Look to Their Surroundings
Olivia Noss, ‘QUEER ART IN THE GDR?’ Reads Queerness Between the Lines
Toby Üpson, Must-See: Alex Farrar Dismantles the Myth of Homeownership
The Guardian
Tiago Rogero, The mural project honouring the Black cultural heritage of Rio de Janeiro – photo essay
David Smith, How Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoons captured America: ‘One of our nation’s greatest journalists’
Nadia Khomami, ‘Writing is exactly like love – you need to do it in the dark’: novelist Leila Slimani on starting a new chapter in her life
Hyperallergic
John Yau, The In-Between Worlds of Larissa Borteh
Emma Cieslik, Trump Re-Erects Monument of Enslaver Removed in 2020
Isa Farfan, Miami Graffiti Legend Eric Alan Hirt “Eson” Killed in Train Strike
Rhea Nayyar, Ansel Adams Trust Decries Dealer’s Sale of Photo Colorized Using AI
Hannah Benson, The Private Worlds of Charlotte Brontë and Octavia E. Butler
Alex Paik, Haegue Yang’s Constellations for a Divided Korea
The Los Angeles Times
Solvej Schou, ‘The future of art’: A first look at the video installation that’ll light up LACMA’s Wilshire bridge
The New York Times
Elaine Sciolino, Bringing a Giant Canvas Back to Life, as Museum Visitors Watch
Observer
Siddhant Adlakha, Screening at Cannes: Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Fjord’
Dan Duray, One Fine Show: “Beyond Mysticism, The Modern Northwest” at the Seattle Art Museum
Jordan Riefe, Two Houses, One Legend: A New Museum Shows Another Side of Frida Kahlo
Elisa Carollo, Kiran Nadar’s Ambition to Put Indian Art On the World Stage
Puck
Glenn Adamson, Hot Hand: Patrick Bongoy
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Autopsy records detail brutal attack at center of Brent Sikkema case in Brazil
Adam Schrader, Brent Sikkema murder case in Brazil awaits key ruling after Daniel Sikkema conviction
Art Spell is a subscription-based daily roundup of art news and reviews to help you stay current with what’s being reported on in the visual arts community. The profits from Art Spell are donated to organizations supporting art journalists and writers.