Photographer William Eggleston and sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud both turned down the chance to represent the United States at this year's Venice Biennale, according to the New York Times.

Mexico-based sculptor Alma Allen was eventually chosen and he is working with curator Jeffrey Uslip and pavilion commissioner Jenni Parido who was appointed by the Trump administration despite her having no art world experience.

The newspaper reported Eggleston and Chase-Riboud "declined because they worried about being associated with the Trump administration or a curator who was a stranger".

Allen, who is currently installing his work in Venice, denied his appointment was political, telling the Times he was more worried about practicalities including the fact "some of the pieces barely fit in the doorway".

Among the works is a giant bronze eye that will be on the building's exterior wall watching the crowds come in.

Allen said: "It is an eye on the building. I think that people will have to make a judgment for themselves."

A court case has begun in the Netherlands that could see the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague lose some of the greatest works in its collection.

At stake are 25 paintings, including Rembrandt's Two African Men, that were left to the gallery by its former director Abraham Bredius on his death in 1946.

Bredius never had children and the complainants are the descendants of his protege Joseph Kroning who argue the works were left to the museum on the condition they were always on show, but many are kept in storage.

The gallery has not commented on the case, but the lawyer for Kroning's descendants told journalists they were not interested in financial gain.

Gert-Jan van den Bergh told the Trouw newspaper: "The aim is that the works are put on show. It is about respect for Bredius’ will. If the Mauritshuis won’t comply, the family will look for a place where the legacy and the conditions are respected."

The reported budget deficit made by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025. It comes after losses as high as $100 million during the pandemic when the Financial Times reported it even considered selling some of its collection.

One of the UK's oldest museums will take on a newcomer for a prestigious $162,000 prize.

London's National Gallery, founded in 1824, has been shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize alongside the V&A East Storehouse which only opened its doors in the capital last May.

The shortlist also includes the Box museum in Plymouth, southwest England, and Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery in the east of England.

The winner is decided by a jury including artist Yinka Ilori and announced on June 25 at a ceremony in London. Previous winners include Glasgow's Burrell Collection, Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery and the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, east London.

1 - Andrea Pichl has won this year's Ernst Franz Vogelmann Prize for sculpture. The jury praised the artist, who was born and brought up in what was then East Germany, for her work which they said showed how ideas of public and private space changed after reunification. Her solo show at the Kunsthalle Vogelmann in Heilbronn opens on Saturday.

2 - A life-size stainless steel sculpture of a bear is among works by the late architect Frank Gehry going on show at the Gagosian gallery in Beverley Hills next month. The work, on loan from Gehry's family, is joined by several of his fish sculptures in the Los Angeles show which opens on May 14.

3 - The Finnish government has announced its ministers will not attend this year's Venice Biennale in protest at the inclusion of the Russian Pavilion. It comes after the European Commission threatened to pull $2.4 million in funding for the event over the issue.

4 - Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska will be in conversation at London's Lisson Gallery on Friday June 5. The event is being held the day after their joint show opens at the gallery featuring their installation Zanzibar which includes nine paintings by Himid and a 38-minute-long libretto composed by Stawarska.

5 - The staff of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney have their say this month when the winner of the $2,146 Packing Room Prize is announced on April 30. The winner is chosen by the staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries for the exhibition of the prestigious Archibald portrait prize.