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Au Revoir, Art Basel Paris

French museums and galleries are shuttering before nationwide protests tomorrow. Plus: What does it mean for a woman artist to “reach her prime”?

Hyperallergic

October 23, 2026 — 4 min read

Leave it to Art Basel Paris to close early during a movement for education equality and working conditions … “in the interest of safeguarding our visitors.” The Louvre, Gagosian, and other museums and galleries also announced plans to shutter during tomorrow’s nationwide protests. One artist coalition calls the fair’s cancellation a victory for the fight to defend culture: “Let us keep the movement going.” Staff Writers Anna Lee and Rhea Nayyar have the story.

Across the pond, Ed Simon reflects on the imperative to protect arts and culture here in the United States on the centenary of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, founded as a beacon of education and expression that “seems virtually utopian today.” Then, we have the artists keeping that spirit alive: Read on for Leah Triplett Harrington’s review of a show that deconstructs sexist notions of recognition and market success for women artists over age 75, the painter who adorns Phoebe Bridgers’s guitars, and more.

—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor, books

Meet the Painter Adorning Phoebe Bridgers’s Guitars

On an average day in December 2022, the Pasadena-based surrealist classicist painter John Griswold got an Instagram DM from musician Phoebe Bridgers.

“I remember she said ‘big fan,’” Griswold told Hyperallergic, “and I thought that was pretty funny, given the fact that, to quote a common epithet of hers, she’s ‘Phoebe Fucking Bridgers.’”

The indie darling went on to ask Griswold if he had ever painted on a guitar, and from there a collaborative artistic relationship was born. | Sophia Lebowitz

The Cathedral of Learning Is Pittsburgh’s Secular Temple

This year marks the centennial of one of the most audacious projects in the history of American higher education. | Ed Simon

Apply Now for Fully Funded Interdisciplinary MFA Program

Upcoming deadline for MFA program applications at University at Buffalo

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The Latest From Paris

Amid ongoing nationwide demonstrations for better living conditions in France, Art Basel Paris says it will close early on October 23 ahead of planned protests on Saturday.
Following the announcement, Art Basel also plans to remove all outdoor sculptures installed on Winston Churchill Avenue.
Several Paris museums including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée de l’Orangerie, and the Musée National Picasso will be closed on Saturday.

Art Movements

Studio Museum Announces New Artists-in-Residence

Plus, this year’s Prix Duchamp recipients, a trove of Kiki Smith prints heads to NYPL, and more. | Valentina Di Liscia

When Does a Woman Artist Reach Her “Prime”?

“The Prime of Your Life” examines what recognition and market success mean for 18 women artists over 75. | Leah Triplett Harrington

Columbia University MFA in Visual Arts + Sound Art: Apps Due Jan 20

Applications due January 20, 2027 for Columbia University School of the Arts’ Visual Arts + Sound Art Program. Create what comes next with Columbia’s world-renowned faculty in NYC.

Start your application today and join us for an info session on November 15.

Learn more

Hyper Links

Is bland interior design a form of torture? [Instagram]
Pete Hegseth really, really wanted Dwight Eisenhower’s globe in his office in the Pentagon, but it broke in the move. Poetic justice? [Washington Post]
A deep dive into the ways Orthodox Jewish communities, including Haredi rabbis, are grappling with AI. [Nation]
With the new Sense and Sensibility’s lukewarm-at-best debut, readers want to know: Who gets hurt when a book adaptation sucks? [Walrus]

Member Comment

From Los Angeles and as a Professor at Cal State LA in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies, we have been comparing the Paris student protests with the 1968 student protests for educational reform and "Walkouts" of 1968 when 15,000 students from 16 LA high schools "blew out" of the East side, South, and Westside high schools. The LA 1968 walkouts is to this date the largest walkout of teenagers in the history of the United States. Less destruction of monuments and more policing, destroying, and infiltration of high school student organizer and Brown Beret spaces. Students recently in LA continue that legacy with "walking out" against ICE and the horrific, violent, and unconstitutional deportations of Latinx and Haitian immigrants. In 1968 the FBI "COINTELPRO" and LAPD were violent and used excessive force toward Black, Indigenous, and Latinx children i.e. teenagers, and adults too.

—Leda Gicel Ramos on "The French Student Protesters Subverting Monuments Like It’s May 68"

From the Archive

Claire Valdez Wants to Be Your Artist in Congress

The New York State assemblywoman, who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, spoke with Hyperallergic about her life as a painter, political origin story, and big plans for Washington. | Hakim Bishara

Apply Now for Fully Funded Interdisciplinary MFA Program

MassArt Graduate Assistantships Provide Hands-On Experience to Launch Your Career

Applications Open for the MFA in Studio Art at Maine College of Art & Design

Diasporican Abstraction: A Cross-Border Cartography of Puerto Rican Abstraction