The Week in Art

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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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 2027

Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, Morgan Library and Museum, New York, 26 June-4 October
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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.
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