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- A hidden gallery at London’s Natural History Museum will reopen to the public for the first time since 1943.
- Trump’s administration is escalating its campaign to reshape how the Smithsonian presents American history.
- A long-overlooked painting has been identified as a genuine Bernini and is set to go on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The Headlines
NO-LONGER-HIDDEN GEM. A hidden gallery at London’s Natural History Museum will reopen to the public in September for the first time since 1943, The Independent reported. The 18-month exhibition, “Nature and Us,” will explore humanity’s changing relationship with the natural world through 50 objects, including a miniature Crystal Palace dinosaur, a Victorian monk seal skeleton, a 400,000-year-old hand ax, and a 14,300-year-old dog jaw replica. The gallery retains its original Victorian herbarium cabinets, recalling its former role as a scientific collections space. The experimental exhibition forms part of the museum’s NHM150 initiative, aimed at transforming the museum’s South Kensington building by opening a new gallery space each year until 2031. “Nature and Us” will help shape one of these galleries, due to open in 2029.
WHITE HOUSE TAKES AIM. As the FT wrote, Donald Trump’s administration is escalating its campaign to reshape how the Smithsonian presents American history, accusing the National Museum of American History of ideological bias and overemphasizing slavery, racism, and Native American dispossession. A White House report has criticized exhibits addressing these subjects, as well as those involving gender and sexuality, arguing museums should offer a more patriotic account of America’s achievements. Historians and museum professionals warn that the campaign risks producing a politically sanctioned version of history and suppressing uncomfortable truths. The Smithsonian, which is federally funded but independently governed, has largely resisted the pressure, while some lawmakers have challenged the administration’s proposed interventions.
The Digest
Fair Play Art Fair is bringing 65 artists to London for its debut at One Marylebone during Frieze Week, with a radical no-upfront-booth-fee model designed to put artists first. [FAD]
“Irruption of Antiquity” at Athens’s Benaki Museum places contemporary Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska’s surreal paintings among ancient and Byzantine artifacts. [Artnet News]
British artist Eric Ravilious disappeared over Iceland in 1942, but his distinctive vision of pre-war Britain, poised between the everyday and the uncanny, endures. [The Telegraph]
A long-overlooked painting once relegated to storage has been identified as a genuine Bernini and is set to go on display at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
EARLY BATH. Irish artist Seánie Harte has turned Roy Keane’s football career into a series of vibrant paintings, transforming moments of Manchester United history into theatrical, expressive scenes. The Guardian wrote that the works focus particularly on Keane’s notorious red cards and confrontational reputation, using bold color and exaggerated imagery to capture his intensity both on and off the pitch. Harte’s interest goes beyond football fandom: the paintings explore celebrity, masculinity, conflict, and the mythology surrounding sporting heroes.
