Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Pope Leo Calls to Save Art From AI by Anna Lee for Hyperallergic. Pope Leo XIV calls for protecting art from AI, urging artists, cultural institutions, and policymakers to establish safeguards against its homogenizing effects.
Airmail
Mary Gabriel, Love, Paint, and Fury
Apollo Magazine
Valérie Lapierre, France’s doyen of decoration has created his very own Versailles
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum planning to launch voluntary exit scheme
Tobias Carroll, Book examines the connection between auteur Federico Fellini and the last castrato
Eddi Fiegel, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum gains new €45m Norman Foster-designed wing
From the Editors, Jean-ius portraiture: Nan Goldin collaborates with fashion house Acne Studios
Caroline Roux, Historic building in old Danish artist colony transformed into luxury hotel
Nina Siegal, From an indoor forest to a toilet made with seaweed: Design Museum Gent reopens after €20m eco-focused expansion
Sarvy Geranpayeh, A year into the Gaza ceasefire, art is a means of survival
Sarah Cascone, Museum of the City of New York opens new centre for social activism
Gabriella Angeleti, Phoenix Art Museum receives $5m gift for new Sri Lankan and South Asian art galleries
Artforum
Mika Lee, New York Art Fair Organizer Independent Acquired by Global Conglomerate Informa
From the Editors, Strike That Threatened Lichtenstein Blockbuster Averted as Whitney Workers Ratify Contract
From the Editors, Jeff Koons to Auction $100 Million of Personal Art Collection
From the Editors, Use the Force: Lucas Museum Fences Off Its Public Courtyard
From the Editors, Mayor Mamdani Doubles Grants for New York Artists
Alex Jovanovich, From the Archive: the Vatic and Vexing Guy De Cointet
Artnet
Nicholas Frank, ‘People Were Horrified’: How a Bruce Nauman Sculpture Shocked Dallas
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Guerrilla Art Project Responds to ‘Cornell 7’ Case
Richard Whiddington, British Museum Apologizes as Bayeux Tapestry Show Faces Criticism
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, What the World’s Top Collectors Bought in 2026, From a 15th-Century Pietà Painting to an Oar from Lubaina Himid’s British Pavilion
Maximilíano Durón, The Year of the Trophy: An Introduction to the 2026 Edition of the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors List
Maximilíano Durón, What’s One Museum Work the Top 200 Collectors Would Own If They Could?
Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews’s “Top 200 Collectors” Issue Features 37th Annual List, Conservation Tips for Caring for Your Collection, and More
Leigh Anne Miller, The British Museum Will Extend Its Hours Amid ‘Extraordinary’ Demand for Bayeux Tapestry
Brian Boucher, In Vatican Address, Pope Leo Denounces AI-Generated Art: ‘The Church Needs Artists’
Hikmat Mohammed, Sotheby’s Will Host “The Art of Divorce” Panel Discussion in Geneva
Maximilíano Durón, Bluhm Family Gives $5 M. to MCA Chicago for Gender Equity Fund, Named After Outgoing Director
Francesca Aton, Philip Tinari Appointed Director of Tai Kwun Arts in Hong Kong
Brian Boucher, Jeff Koons Appears to Be the ‘Distinguished Collector’ Offering $100 M. in Old and Modern Masters at Christie’s
Tessa Solomon, Whitney Museum Workers Reach Contract Deal Hours Before Strike Deadline
Francesca Aton, Attempted Robbery Foiled at the Nissim de Camondo Museum in Paris
Hikmat Mohammed, JW Anderson, Artist Cerith Wyn Evans Team Up for Frieze Week
ArtReview
From the Editors, Philip Tinari named director of Tai Kwun Arts
From the Editors, The 13 Exhibitions to See in October 2026
Mateus Nunes, Why Paulo Pedro Leal Belongs in Brazilian Art History
From the Editors, Artists announced for 2026 Lagos Biennial
From the Editors, Details announced for 2027 New Museum Triennial
BOMB
Phillip Edward Spradley, Alix Vernet by Phillip Edward Spradley
The Brooklyn Rail
Farah Faizal, A Nation at the End of Someone Else’s History
Ali Banisadr, Is Time an Arrow or a Wheel?
Andrew M. Rohling, The End of History, The Old Order, Transformed
Mohammad Khaddam, A brief reflection on the collapse of Syrian history and culture
Genti Korini, The End of History: A Place in the Sun
Financial Times
Maya Jaggi, Sensual, dangerous, joyous — painter Salman Toor brings New York queer life to the Courtauld
Jacoba Urist, Do you remember your first Magritte? Artists on the surrealist’s impossible world
Ariella Budick, Taryn Simon goes down the FBI rabbit hole at the Guggenheim
Ariella Budick, Alison Knowles — the artist who turned lunch into a heroic display
Frieze
From the Editors, Watch Now: Theo Triantafyllidis is Building a New World for His Spider
The Guardian
Jonathan Jones, The 90s: Art and Fashion review – this isn’t an exhibition, it’s a magazine spread
Charlotte Jansen, British Art Show 10 review – a bold and brilliant exploration of who the British really are
Sarah Johnson, ‘There’s always been a belittling of African women’: honouring history’s invisible heroines
Jason Okundaye, ‘I call them erotic landscapes’: fashion photographer Tim Walker on his powerful tapestry of queer Britain
Jonathan Jones, Aphrodite review – a trashy way to treat the goddess of love
Helena Horton, Artist calls in lawyers after Tories use his Burnham portrait without consent
Hyperallergic
From the Editors, Lee Krasner Gets the Last Word
Lucy Ives, The Met’s Krasner and Pollock Show Is a Breathtaking Upending
EDITOR’S PICK - Anna Lee, Pope Leo Calls to Save Art From AI: “Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas ‘authentic culture and art preserve this spark,’” hesaid in a recent speech.
Tao Leigh Goffe, Turning Turner’s Legacy
Hakim Bishara, Elaina Richardson Looks Back at 26 Years as President of Yaddo
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, A View From the Easel
Aruna D’Souza, Rana Begum Sees What You Don’t
Rhea Nayyar, Whitney Museum Union Ratifies Contract on Eve of Strike
The Los Angeles Times
Leigh-Ann Jackson, Forget teddy bears: This artist makes plush fried chicken, cigarettes and lottery tickets
Marissa Gluck, He had an L.A. home and studio built for $150,000 in 1985. It’s still a work of art
Jessica Gelt, Erewhon is now a permanent fixture at LACMA, complete with a museum-inspired smoothie
The New York Times
Deborah Solomon, Should Robert Rauschenberg’s Art Studio Be Saved?
Deborah Solomon, Artists’ Studios Where Creativity Is on Display
Karla Adam, British Museum Says It’s Extending Bayeux Tapestry Viewing Hours
Observer
Siddhant Adlakha, Screening at the New York Film Festival: Andrew Haigh’s ‘A Long Winter’
Jordan Riefe, At the Getty, the Beauty of Medieval Manuscripts Is in the Materials
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Pope Leo builds the Church’s case that an A.I. output is not art
Adam Schrader, Widow seeks Sandy Heller’s records on $29.6M drop in late husband’s art collection
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Tracey Amon’s bid for Sandy Heller’s Artmon valuation records
Adam Schrader, French photographer scans faces in the dark for X_RAY portraits
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