Mariana Custodio Art Gallery

What appears to stand in opposition can, in fact, belong together. Different materials. Different visual languages. Different ways of making. Yet in dialogue, these distinct practices reveal that contrast is not conflict—it is what gives transformation its shape.

For Contemporary Istanbul 2026, Mariana Custodio Art Gallery presents “Opposing, Not Opposite”, a three-artist exhibition featuring Zahra Shahcheraghi (Iran), Filipe Real Marinheiro (Portugal), and Jéssica Burrinha (Portugal).

Bringing together painting and sculpture, the exhibition explores transformation as a shared language across three seemingly opposite artistic approaches: Shahcheraghi’s colour-drenched figuration, Marinheiro’s raw-canvas erasures, and Burrinha’s living, earth-built sculptures. Rather than opposing one another, these practices reveal how difference can create dialogue, proving that contrasting artistic languages can coexist, challenge, and strengthen one another.

Join us at Contemporary Istanbul, at Tersane Istanbul, 23–27 September 2026.

Henri Matisse changed the way we see colour—and Chez Matisse proves why.

If you’re in Barcelona, this is one exhibition you shouldn’t miss. More than a retrospective, Chez Matisse at CaixaForum Barcelona explores how one artist transformed modern painting and inspired generations that followed.

From iconic masterpieces on loan from the Centre Pompidou to dialogues with artists including Natalia Goncharova, Robert Delaunay, Le Corbusier and Daniel Buren, the exhibition reveals how Matisse’s ideas continue to shape contemporary art.

What makes it even more memorable is the experience itself: eight thoughtfully curated sections, immersive exhibition design, and a hands-on studio where visitors can experiment with Matisse’s cut-out technique.

Whether you’re an artist, collector, curator, student, or simply passionate about art, this is one of the most rewarding museum exhibitions in Europe this season.

📍 Chez Matisse – CaixaForum Barcelona
🗓️ Until 16 August 2026

Have you visited yet? Which room would you spend the most time in?

July has a claim on art history that most months can’t touch — Kahlo, Gentileschi, Hockney, Degas, Hopper, Paik, Mucha, Holzer, de Chirico, all born under it.
Ten artists, ten completely different ways of seeing: self-portraiture as survival, Baroque drama, Pop-era pools, ballet caught mid-motion, American solitude, television turned into sculpture, language turned into art.
Which one shares your birthday? Tell us in the comments.

Abstract art doesn’t need decoding. It needs five minutes and an open body.
Stop hunting for “what it is” — that’s not the job. Start with color and emotion: what do you feel in the first five seconds? Use your body — step close, step back, let the scale do its work. Notice what the artist left out, because empty space is a decision too. And trust your reaction. “I don’t like it” is a valid, informed response.
Swipe through for the full walkthrough.

Diogo Barros Pires paints people who aren’t quite anyone — pieced together from memory, stereotype, and whoever was in the room.

A birkin held like a weapon. A double self-portrait where the mirror lies. A blonde braid built entirely out of assumption. And, in soft pastel, Diogo turns the same unsparing gaze on his own face.
“I was trying to do her and it ended up looking like me.”
Crayon, pastel, acrylic — thick color, unfinished faces, portraits that keep slipping into self-portraits.
→ Link in bio to see the full collection.

Zahra Shahcheraghi doesn’t paint bodies — she paints what bodies carry. 🎨

Heaven. Paradise. The swan. Shahnaz.

Each series is its own world, filled with tangled, dreamlike figures searching for their place — rendered in acrylic, oil pastel, and chalk pastel across canvas and cardboard.

Swipe through the collection ➡️

✨ These original works are available now through Mariana Custodio Art Gallery.

If one of them stayed with you… that’s the one. DM us to inquire. 📩

👇 Tell us: which series speaks to you most — Enchantress of Heaven, Nobles of Paradise, or Swan?

.shahhhh

Istanbul’s July is stacked. 🎨
We narrowed it down to 7 shows worth your Saturday — from Ara Güler’s Cannes archive (glamour before it was “content”) to Yoko Ono asking the same question at 90 that she asked in 1960: what happens when you pay attention?
Our pick of the month: “The Art of Travel” at Meşher — five centuries of merchants, exiles, and border-crossing, on until May 2027. No rush, but go.
Swipe through 👉 and tell us: which one’s already on your list? Drop it below ↓
Save this for your next free afternoon.

ArtDealer

$392.6 million. One collection. One evening. 🎨
The Lewis Collection just set a new European record at Sotheby’s London — led by Modigliani’s Nu assis au collier, which sold for $63.9M.
But it wasn’t all records: 10 lots went unsold. The market didn’t rise equally — it rose selectively. Trophy works: fierce bidding. Everything else: silence.
Which of these works would you want on your wall? Tell us in the comments 👇

In 1995, Ai Weiwei dropped a 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty urn — and called it art.
Nearly 20 years later, artist Maximo Caminero smashed one of Ai Weiwei’s own painted vases at a Miami museum, claiming he was following the same logic. Ai Weiwei called it vandalism.
Same act. Same argument. Two completely different reactions.
So where’s the line? Is destruction only art when the “right” person does it — or does authorship change everything?
Swipe through the story and tell us: art or vandalism? 👇

The art world has its own language — and once you speak it, everything changes. Swipe through the terms every serious collector needs to know, from provenance to the primary market. Save this for your next gallery visit. 🎨
Which one surprised you the most? Drop it in the comments 👇
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Helping art lovers navigate the contemporary art market, one term at a time. Follow for more insider knowledge from the gallery floor.