podcastZurbarán in London, the Carnegie International, Walter Sickert’s Ennui—podcastIn this week's episode, Ben Luke takes a tour of the Zurbarán survey at the National Gallery in London, speaks to the director of the Carnegie Museum of Art ahead of this year's Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, and learns about a Walter Sickert painting on view at Charleston in Sussex. Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Alexander Morrison1 May 2026ShareFrancisco de Zurbarán, Saint Francis of Assisi, 1636© Lyon MBA - Photo Martial Couderette
From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world’s big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke.
The largest career survey of the great 17th-century Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán since the 1980s opens this weekend at the National Gallery in London. It presents a more rounded perspective on an artist best known for his austere paintings of saints and other religious subjects. Ben Luke takes a tour of the show with its co-curator, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper.
The latest edition of the Carnegie International, held at the Carnegie Museum of Art and several other venues in Pittsburgh, also opens this weekend. This 59th iteration of the exhibition, which happens every four years, is called If the word we, and Ben speaks to the director of the museum, Eric Crosby.
Installation view of Georges Adéagbo, Le Socialisme Africain, 2001–2004, version 2026, in If the word we, the 59th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (May 2, 2026–January 3, 2027)
Photo: Zachary Riggleman / © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
And this episode’s Work of the Week is one of the five painted versions of Ennui, made around 1914 by Walter Sickert. The painting features in the exhibition Walter Sickert: Working Notes at Charleston in Lewes in Sussex, UK, part of the organisation based in the former home of the Bloomsbury linchpins Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Ben talks to Robert Travers, the founder of the gallery Piano Nobile, who curated the exhibition in partnership with Charleston.
