Venice Biennale: South African pavilion scandal, Marian Goodman remembered, Paul Cezanne in Basel

The South African culture minister, the right-wing populist Gayton McKenzie, is attempting to cancel the project for South Africa’s pavilion at the forthcoming Venice Biennale, proposed by the artist Gabrielle Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo. Goliath and Masondo have appealed to the country’s president and submitted a case to its high court to overturn McKenzie’s decision. Ben Luke speaks to Charles Leonard, who has been reporting on this story for The Art Newspaper over the past few weeks. The art dealer Marian Goodman, who founded her gallery on New York’s 57th Street in 1977 and represented many of the world’s leading artists over recent decades, has died aged 97. Ben talks to one of The Art Newspaper’s New York writers, Linda Yablonsky, about this titan of the New York art world. And this episode’s Work of the Week is The Card Players, made between 1893 and 1896 by Paul Cezanne. The painting is in a major new exhibition of the French artist’s late works at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. We talk to the exhibition’s curator, Ulf Küster, about it. Cezanne, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, near Basel, Switzerland, until 25 May. To buy The Art Newspaper’s guidebook The Year Ahead 2026, an authoritative look at the year’s unmissable art exhibitions, museum openings and significant art events, visit theartnewspapershop.com . £14.99 or the equivalent in your currency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Venice Biennale: South African pavilion scandal, Marian Goodman remembered, Paul Cezanne in Basel is an episode from The Week in Art by The Art Newspaper.

This episode is 57:19 long.

This episode was published on Jan 30, 2026.

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