Let’s face it: with writing, as with everything else, popularity doesn’t always align with one’s proudest work—particularly when algorithms get involved. Usually, it’s the most salacious, scandalous, or sexy that takess off online. But 2025 was a welcome exception. This year, our most-read stories suggest a strong interest in art history, in serious criticism—and to my surprise, in animal welfare—among our readers. I like to think that implies that art can offer refuge and nourishment in times like these. And I wholeheartedly recommend revisiting all ten of the articles below.
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Is Art Criticism Getting More Conservative, or Just More Burnt Out?
Image Credit: Illustration Daniel Garcia By Louis Bury
What the writing of Dean Kissick, Jason Farago, and Sean Tatol says about our culture. [READ HERE]
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Athens Exhibition Says the Revolution Could Begin on Your Plate
Image Credit: Photo Paris Tavitian By Emily Watlington
Titled “Why Look at Animals,” the show is a trove of treasures that will rip your heart out, if you have one [READ HERE]
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How Walton Ford’s Loudest Paintings Redirect Your Gaze
Image Credit: ©Walton Ford. Photo Tom Powel. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian By Kelly Presutti
Ford’s new paintings star the Marchesa Luisa Casati, a Futurist Venetian artist and heiress who galavanted with cheetahs. [READ HERE]
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The Pleasures and Perils of Hot Girl Feminism
By Emily Watlington
This year, New York galleries offered a kind of Feminist Figuration Fall. [READ HERE]
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A Once-in-a-Generation Henri Rousseau Exhibition Highlights the Strangeness and Luminosity of His Paintings
Image Credit: ©Barnes Foundation By Kelly Presutti
The self-taught artist was anything but naïve. [READ HERE]
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Talia Chetrit Is the Artist on Every Fashion Brand’s Mood Board
Image Credit: Photo Simon Vogel/Courtesy kaufmann repetto, Milan and New York, and Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf By Lillian Fishman
The photographer walks the tightropes between fashion and art, intimacy and control. [READ HERE]
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How Spirituality Went from Taboo to Trendy in the Art World
Image Credit: Courtesy Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm By Eleanor Heartney
In times of tumult, artists have long turned to other realms. [READ HERE]
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The Enduring Pleasures of Art Nouveau
Image Credit: ©Mucha Trust. By Emily Watlington
Art Nouveau is having a renaissance, thanks to the newly opened Mucha Museum and much more. [READ HERE]
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Art and Ecstatic Ambience in Las Vegas’s Neon Vortex
Image Credit: Courtesy Chen & Lampert By Chen & Lampert
Two ace art-world consultants visit Sin City. [READ HERE]
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A Caravaggio Retrospective Including Work Not Shown Since 1599 Proves His Style Gets Fresher with Age
Image Credit: © Detroit Institute of Arts By Max Norman
Two thirds of Caravaggio’s known works were on view in Rome for ‟Caravaggio 2025.” [READ HERE]
