Observer (original) (raw)

€3.5 Million Raised in 20 Minutes: Inside the American Friends of Versailles Gala

Among the elegant evening’s auction lots were luxury excursions, fine art and a diamond bracelet that became the lively paddle round’s most coveted piece.

Our Favorite Looks from the Frick Collection Spring Garden Party

The see-and-be-seen set leaned hard into stunning seasonal pastels and flouncy floral motifs.

The Future-Facing Museum Exhibitions Not to Miss in Basel

This year’s strongest Art Basel-adjacent shows are asking big questions about our future, with artists using digital worlds, living systems, petrochemicals, machines and ritual to consider what might come next.

Why Cutting Humans Too Fast Could Backfire in the A.I. Era

Drawing past corporate efficiency revolutions, from outsourcing to open-office culture, Patty Azzarello examines why so many companies are approaching A.I. as a labor-reduction strategy rather than a leadership challenge.

Sun Valley 2026 Guest List: A Mix of Familiar Moguls and Newer Names

This year’s Sun Valley gathering is expected to bring together tech CEOs, media moguls, A.I. founders, investors and journalists for another week of dealmaking and power-watching.

Crypto Won in Washington, But Mainstream Users Still Aren’t Buying

Paybis’ Innokenty Isers unpacks why crypto’s long-awaited mainstream breakthrough still hasn’t arrived. As regulators soften their stance and crypto-friendly legislation advances in Washington, Isers argues that the industry’s biggest challenge is consumer trust.

Meet the American Billionaires Reshaping Global Soccer

American fandom may still lag behind football and basketball, but U.S. capital has become impossible to ignore in global soccer. Stan Kroenke, Todd Boehly, John Henry and other U.S. billionaires are building soccer empires from England to Miami.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe Bets on R2 As an A.I.-First EV for the Masses

Rivian unveils its long-awaited R2 SUV. CEO RJ Scaringe is betting on A.I.-powered autonomy and lower pricing to attract mainstream EV buyers in a cooling U.S. market.

How Can Philanthropy Help the Arts? By Fully Supporting Innovators

As cultural organizations across the country face a deepening financial crisis, Remuseum founding director Stephen Reily and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation president and CEO Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill believe foundations and funders need to actively back not just new ideas but also the innovators brave enough to see them through.

MOCAD’s Co-Directors On What a Museum Owes a Changing City

“Meaningful cultural work doesn’t happen in isolation—it’s built through listening, collaboration, adaptability and trust,” artistic director Jova Lynn told Observer.

One Fine Show: “Zurbarán” at the National Gallery in London

This artist looked life square in the face, and painted it in all its beauty and viscerality.

Essential Queer Reading for Pride Month and Beyond

These eight titles prove that L.G.B.T.Q.+ stories are as varied, vital and necessary as ever.

What Do Next-Gen Collectors Want From the Art World?

Avant Arte’s “A Changing of the Guard” report and Georgina Adam’s new book make the case that younger audiences are not consuming culture only to own, display or accumulate; they are buying entry into a community built around a set of values and a shared sense of belonging.

The Best New L.A. Restaurants to Try in June

L.A.’s culinary scene is heating up this month, including Enrique Olvera’s latest opening and a second location of one of the city’s buzziest pizzerias.

The First-Time Visitor’s Guide to Shanghai: Shikumen Lanes, Listening Bars and Unforgettable Dumplings

From futuristic skyscrapers and historic houses to world-class museums and elite dumplings, here’s how to experience the dynamic city for the first time.

No Car, No Problem: The Best Summer Train Trips From L.A.

The Pacific Surfliner train makes a proper summer escape surprisingly easy, with coastal views, walkable stops and no need to negotiate traffic on the way home.

The Essentials With Carley Fortune: “Off Campus,” Tofino and All Things Barry’s Bay

The bestselling novelist shares the settings, shows, skincare and travel staples she returns to, from Barry’s Bay nostalgia to Tofino’s foggy coastline.

How Pamela Harriman Became the Most Powerful Socialite in American Politics

History dismissed Pamela Harriman as a courtesan with good timing. But the woman who debriefed Winston Churchill over cards, rebuilt the Democratic Party and out-diplomatted everyone since Ben Franklin understood something her critics never did.

Sébastien Léon’s Material Exploration

“I’m interested in imagining a different physical world, almost a parallel set of conditions where matter follows a slightly altered logic,” the artist told Observer.

Séamus Kealy On Returning to Ireland, Artist-Centered Institutions and What the RHA Could Become

The Royal Hibernian Academy’s new director studied under Jeff Wall, directed the Salzburger Kunstverein for nine years and never stopped painting.

The Sizzle and the Steak: Edoardo Baldi Builds on His Family Legacy in Los Angeles

The chef’s latest restaurant expands the Baldi universe with Tuscan steaks, tomato-forward pastas and a menu built for L.A.’s particular appetites.

Christie’s Rachel Koffsky On How the Handbag Became the Art Market’s Most Elegant Entry Point

Driven by Hermès devotees, archival Chanel aficionados and a renewed appetite for early-2000s fashion, the handbag market has become one of the auction world’s most reliable pipelines for new collectors.

At Giovanna Caruso Fendi’s FOROF, Rome’s Past Finds New Context in the Contemporary

In the remains of the Basilica Ulpia near Trajan’s Column, the city’s imperial past meets its cultural present.

Observer New Media Power List: Call for Submissions

Nominations are open for Observer’s 2026 New Media Power List

The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026

This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.

Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party

Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.

2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index

Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Observer’s 2025 Art Power Index: The Art Market’s Most Influential People

Their acquisitions, affinities and approbations move the needle on valuation and redefine how art is made, shown and sold.

Marteau & Co Is Bringing the Art World Model to Independent Watch Auctions

Can a platform built around maker rights and deliberate curation shift how collectors and the timepiece market think about what creators are owed?

Where Style Meets Substance: The Ultimate L.A. Brunch Guide

Several Los Angeles restaurants that put their own spin on this brunch, offering an elegant and innovative menu that avoids the boring and overdone dishes.

The Crisis of the Museum Is the Crisis of the White Cube

The white cube created an environment of concentration and contemplation that reinforced the idea of art as an autonomous sphere separated from everyday life, but what was once its greatest strength has become its greatest weakness.

The 2026 World Cup May Be the Last Great Sports TV Bargain

Fox’s discounted World Cup rights are a windfall now, but they also reveal how expensive the next era of live sports will be.

London Art Dealers Take the City’s Temperature

This year’s London Gallery Weekend reaffirmed the centrality of London’s art scene, even as it exposed a persistent lack of coordination between the city’s commercial and institutional sectors.

How the World’s Great Artist Foundations Stay Solvent

The Mapplethorpe Foundation earns a quarter of a million dollars annually from merchandising and licensing, and another 200,000−200,000-200,000−250,000 per year in exhibition fees, as museums borrowing prints from the foundation pay $1,000 per image.

The 2026 Lincoln Navigator Black Label Might Just Be America’s Most Indulgent SUV

The automaker has amped up the aesthetic, infotainment, safety and comfort catalog to set this top-line SUV up against the equally sprawling Cadillac Escalade or the GMC Yukon Denali.

Ahead of Basel, London Gallery Weekend Put a Defiant, Energized City Scene on Display

Recent closures and market contractions couldn’t dull a weekend that stretched from Cork Street to the East End

Mira Murati Unveils Her Startup’s A.I. Model in First Interview Since OpenAI

Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab has raised $2 billion, hired top A.I. talent and is preparing to release its first model. The former OpenAI executive is betting that frontier A.I.’s next leap will come from systems that interact continuously with people, not around them.