Major new migration art museum opens
PLUS: Tate Britain's new garden
— In partnership with the Chrysler Museum of Art
Friday 16 May 2025 | news from museums, galleries, heritage and art, including:
Giacometti bombs in $70m auction fail
Tate Britain’s designs for new nature and sculpture garden
2026 Venice Biennale curator dies suddenly
Happy Friday.
I type this a day after returning to London after a trip to preview Europe’s newest museum. Rotterdam’s Fenix is a vast space telling the story of migration in art. It’s a vibe, and more details in the news section below. (And watch my Reel at @maxwellmuseums)
It reminded me that while each year promises a set of exciting new museums or galleries — or massively expanded or overhauled ones — that actually for every ribbon cut as planned there’s usually many other projects that get shifted into the fuzzy ‘coming soon’ column.
One of my personally most anticipated of 2025 was Fortress House, Gibraltar’s first major art museum. Due to open this autumn, I’m told delays mean this now won’t be the case and a new timeline will come soon. A shame, but as I say, common. Remember, the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing opened last week a full year over schedule.
So I thought I’d offer a half-year(ish) update on the big openings of 2025 and their diaries.
The next big museum opening in Britain is of course the V&A East Storehouse. Due to open in two weeks, I think we can safely say that barring a MAJOR unexpected issue, it’ll welcome its visitors as planned. It’s trump card — the seven-days-a-week order an object service — opened for bookings this week.
A Roman museum in Leicester that’s undergone a multi-million pound transformation has recently set its new opening date — it’s six months later than first hoped. The Jewry Wall Museum will now open on 26 July. It’s even more of a grey-area on when Norwich Castle's expansion will come to fruition. Already two years overdue, another delay was announced in March. A non-committal-sounding opening of ‘the summer’ is all we have thus far.
In the Netherlands, 2025 is museum boom time (if they all go as planned). The aforementioned Fenix was opened by Queen Maxima this week. But the experimental installations of art duo Drift are slated to be unveiled in a dedicated industrial-sized new museum in Amsterdam later this year too — but we’re still waiting for a specific date. It’s the same story for Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam. It’s hoped it’ll move into its massive new home sometime this autumn. TBC.
We do have a confirmed move-in date for Paris’ Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Hot-off-the-press, it’ll take up its grand new 19th-century home opposite the Louvre on 25 October 2025.
The New York Times recently ran an interview with two of the leaders steering high-profile new museum constructions in the city. It’s well worth a read on the challenges they face. But TLDR: both the New Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem are on track to open in the autumn.
And then we come to the (ironically) permanent resident of the fuzzy ‘coming soon’ category. While some reports suggest the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open ‘as planned’ this year — a cool 19 years after being first announced and 14 years after construction began — I really don’t think you should bet the house on it. Just recently, in the midst of another round of layoffs at the Guggenheim mothership in New York, it was reported the UAE outpost has “no opening date in sight.” A tenner I’m telling you the same thing this time next year.
Now let’s dive into things that have definitely happened!
— maxwell
— In partnership with the Chrysler Museum of Art
Inspire pride for fundraising success
What makes for a successful museum fundraising campaign?
Erik Neil knows. He’s the Macon and Joan Brock Director at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia.
The museum has just opened its revamped, world-class hub on the art of glassmaking — at a cost $30 million, much of which was donated.
“We enjoy broad support in our community and from the City of Norfolk" Erik tells me. “Virtually all our donors are local.”
He believes that to persuade people to donate, you need to inspire them.
The 300 donors who contributed to the project “see the Chrysler as something special in our community” he says. “People know that donations to the museum will be well-managed and spent on things that make a difference.”
And the museum’s Perry Glass Studio is already making an impact since reopening.
“The owner of a local bakery commented to me this weekend how marvelous it was that a city of our size should have such an exceptional museum and studio. There is considerable pride here.”
Discover more about the Perry Glass Studio.
Top stories 🚨
Vast Iron Age coin hoard acquired
Britain's largest recorded Iron Age gold coin hoard has been acquired by a museum and will go on public display for the first time next year.
The Great Baddow Hoard — which was found in 2020 by a man who was later convicted of the theft of some of the coins — has joined the collection of the Museum of Chelmsford which is just a handful of miles from where it was unearthed. Its purchase was made possible thanks to a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Curator Claire Willetts said the 933 coins "could have been intended as a tribute payment to Roman general Julius Caesar".
Jennie Lardge, Chelmsford City Council's cabinet deputy for cultural services, said: "I hope many of our residents… will feel as I do, an immense pride in this outstanding piece of Britain's history uncovered here in Chelmsford."
The Hoard will go on public display in a dedicated temporary exhibition from summer 2026 before a permanent display opens in spring 2027. (Read more)
Giacometti bombs but female record broken
The auction record for a living female artist has been broken after a painting by South African artist Marlene Dumas sold for $13.6 million at Christie’s in New York. The hammer came down on Dumas’s Miss January (1997) just ahead of the previous record price, held by Jenny Saville, who had a painting sell at Sotheby’s London in 2018 for $12.4 million.
The record occurred at an underwhelming 21st century art sale at Christie’s, that saw a thin 38-lots up for grabs. One commentator remarked it was a “quiet sale and the room was half empty.” (Read more)
But that was nowhere near as bad as Sotheby’s Modern evening auction on Tuesday. There were gasps in the room when the star lot of the whole Spring auction season — Giacometti’s 1955 bust, Grande tête mince, which was expected to go for $70 million — failed to sell.
This season’s NYC auctions have all been lacklustre, with big names falling short or being withdrawn due to lack of confidence in price tags. “The world has obviously changed since the frothy art market of 2022,” art lawyer Thomas Danziger said. (Read more)
Landmark Fenix art museum opens
Europe’s newest museum opened its doors in Rotterdam today.
Fenix is a new art museum about migration. Located in a 1920s building that was once the largest warehouse in the world, the museum displays a vast and newly amassed art collection that speaks to stories of people on the move. Highlights include a life-size bus made of fabric (which you can board) by American artist Red Grooms, and Yinka Shonibare CBE’s Refugee Astronaut IX figure.
The biggest artwork of all though is the Tornado — a double helix staircase that climbs from the ground-floor and flows up to the rooftop onto an outdoor platform offering panoramic views of Rotterdam’s historic harbour, a site that has seen millions of European emigrants board ships over the decades.
The museum opens at a time when migration is an increasingly polarized political issue across the world. “Fenix is not a museum about politics,” said Wim Pijbes, who chairs the foundation that runs the museum. “The story we tell is that migration has been an experience of mankind since the beginning.” (Read more)
UK news 🇬🇧
Tate’s young membership hits record levels 📈
Tate‘s free membership scheme for 16-25 year olds has reached 180,000 members thanks to the gallery’s 25th birthday celebrations last weekend. 2,000 new sign ups were received by Tate Collective over the four-day jamboree, pushing it to the record figure that now sees it claim the title of the world’s largest arts membership scheme for young people. Over the birthday weekend, 70% of visitors were under 35 years old. (Read more)
Botticelli blocked from overseas transfer ❌
The government has blocked an early Botticelli painting worth more than £10m from being exported outside Britain so that a domestic buyer can be found. The Virgin and Child Enthroned from the 1470s was sold by Sotheby’s London last December for £9.7m and its buyer has requested to move it permanently overseas. But the Department for Culture has temporarily blocked the request, and a UK museum has until August to match the price. (Read more)
Tate Britain cultivating new gardens 🌺
The first designs for Tate Britain’s new nature and sculpture garden have been unveiled. The Clore Garden will replace the two lawns currently at the front of the Grade II* listed gallery, and it’s being created with the Royal Horticultural Society. Art from Tate’s collection will be installed in the landscape, and a single-storey, light-weight garden classroom will be built too. (Read more)
Westminster Abbey’s “transforming” visitor upgrade ⛪️
HM Queen Camilla has unveiled the foundation stone for a new £13m building at Westminster Abbey which will have a “transforming” affect on future visitors. The King Charles III sacristy will offer state-of-the-art welcoming, ticketing and security facilities for the abbey, and will sit where the the original great sacristy of the 1200s was built. The Queen remarked “I just hope that in 2026 when it’s due to finish, God willing my husband and I will be back here again to open [it].” (Read more)
Blackpool’s troubled new museum honoured 🏆
Blackpool's Showtown museum has been named 2025’s best permanent exhibition by the prestigious Museum and Heritage Awards. The victory for the museum dedicated to the seaside town's entertainment history comes as a boost following job losses and a management overhaul after a disappointing first year of operation. Meanwhile, the award for marketing campaign of the year went to the Royal Armouries’ viral TikTok debut. (Read more)
Global news 🌎
Switzerland🇨🇭
Koyo Kouoh — who in December was announced would be the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale — has died suddenly aged 57. Her death in a hospital in Basel was announced in a statement by the Biennale who said she was just days away from revealing the title and theme of next year’s event. Her husband, Philippe Mall, said the cause was cancer. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
An original Magna Carta has been discovered in the archives of the Harvard Law School, after wrongly being mislabelled as a copy for the past 80 years. The Harvard document — now the 24th known surviving original — dates from 1300. It was found when scholar David Carpenter was scrolling the school’s digital library. When he saw it he froze. “I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that I would find an unknown Magna Carta. I was astonished.” Carpenter said. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
29 jobs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will be axed due to "financial challenges" on the museum’s operating model. In an open letter, Director Christopher Bedford said the cuts — including an 13 additional vacant posts which will be deleted too — were needed due to low attendance and a $5m structural deficit. This is the second time Bedford has presided over significant layoffs during his three-year tenure. (Read more)
News in brief
Touch the moon in new exhibition
Want to touch a piece of the Moon? OF COURSE YOU DO! Luckily the Natural History Museum has you covered as its new space exhibition lets you do just that. (More)
Pitzhanger taps new Director
London’s Pitzhanger Manor has nabbed Rebecca Lyons from the Royal Academy as its new director. Lyons has been the RA’s Director of Collections and Learning since 2019. (More)
Dan Snow’s prime appointment
Last week it was Penny Mordaunt. Now it’s historian Dan Snow joining the advisory board for the new Museum of the Prime Minister. Snow has the pedigree: he’s the great great grandson of PM David Lloyd George. (More)
Smithsonian signs with Saudi
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to help preserve the remains of the ancient city of Dadan, a significant hub of trade and agriculture on the Incense Route. (More)
Iconic image has photographer credit axed
One of the 20th century’s most famous photographs — the Vietnam War’s Napalm Girl — has had its attribution suspended by the World Press Photo group. After 50 years, they think it was attributed to the wrong person. (More)
Vital community support raises $30m
Inspiring local people was vital in helping the Chrysler Museum of Art raise $30m for its new Perry Glass Studio. Director Erik Neil told me the Studio’s success has already generated “considerable pride here.” (Find out more)*
*This is sponsored
👀 Last week’s most clicked news story
— First look at final five designs shortlisted for Queen Elizabeth II national memorial
📊 Last week’s poll results | Tate Modern at 25. Is the gallery riding high, or in a rut?
— Riding high at 25! 29%
— Hitting a rut at 25! 71%
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