The Artful Life: 8 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week

1. Daredevil Surrealist Leonora Carrington Gets the Biopic Treatment

Leonora Carrington was a highlight of both TEFAF NYC and the New York Marquee Week sales this year. Her fantastical, dreamlike works have steadily garnered attention, and she now holds the auction record for the most expensive painting by a female British artist. Her story is a whirlwind globetrot of affairs, mental institutions, brushes with world history, and, of course, art. Carrington associated with a 20th-century artistic Who’s Who list that included Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso. She fled the Nazis with the onset of WWII and wound up in the Mexican surrealist scene, where she was ready and waiting when the feminist movement arrived in art in the early ’70s. And she’s finally getting that marker of fame, a biopic. Leonora in the Morning Light stars acclaimed stage actress Olivia Vinall as Carrington, and recently made the rounds at film festivals from Guadalajara Glasgow. It hones in on the key dramatic years in the artist’s life, and promises to be full of scenes of great artists interacting. Leonora in the Morning Light will be released in the U.K. and Ireland on May 29.—Rena Gross

2. Macallan Introduces Limited-Edition Collection with Record-Breaking Whiskey and Commissioned Artworks

Just as rare and poignant works of art have been sending auction prices through the stratosphere, so too have exceptional spirits, with new records set over the past few years. Leading the pack has been Macallan, which holds the benchmark for a 1926 bottle that went for £2,187,500 in a November, 2024, sale at Sotheby’s. Now, a new collection has been introduced to commemorate that whiskey’s centenary. The Romantica Collection features the 1986 vintage, aged in a single sherry seasoned European oak cask, and poured into bottles adorned with newly commissioned designs by artists Sir Peter Blake, Valerio Adami, and Michael Dillon—the three esteemed talents whose work contributed to the original Macallan 1926. Collectors will discover examples embellished with Blake’s collage The Music Room, which pays homage to The Macallan Octagon Room at Easter Elchies House; Adami’s portrait of Janet “Nettie” Harbinson, who oversaw Macallan when the 1926 was distilled, entitled Romantica; and The Macallan Estate, by Dillon, which celebrates the distiller’s home in the Scottish Highlands.

Limited to just 86 examples per artist, each of them hand-signed, the bottles are presented in European oak boxes decorated with the artist’s work and come with a numbered certificate by Master Whisky Maker Kirsteen Campbell as well as a limited-edition giclée print.—Jill Sieracki

3. La Prairie Returns to Gurney’s Montauk with Exclusive Treatments

Swiss skincare house La Prairie is making its highly anticipated return to Gurney’s Montauk this summer, where guests will have the opportunity to indulge in limited-edition treatments, including the Out East Glow Personalized Facial and the White Caviar Phenomenal Glass Skin Facial. In addition to a full menu of La Prairie’s signature facials and massage treatments, new for the 2026 season, which kicks off June 15, guests can also opt for an exceptional rejuvenating body massage. All treatments take place inside two of the property’s premier spa rooms, which have been transformed into exclusive La Prairie Treatment Suites. This year’s invigorating partnership runs through September 9.—Alexandria Sillo

4. A Sultry New Club in Mexico City Celebrates Sound, Art, and Mysticism

One of Mexico City’s most intriguing new social clubs has emerged from a fruitful collaboration between siblings Alejandro and Stephanie Barba Mendoza, who together transformed a storied Roma Norte building into El Desconocido, a richly atmospheric destination devoted to music, gastronomy, and art. Alejandro conceived the esoteric concept and curates the programming, while Stephanie drew from the neighborhood’s architectural contrasts to craft interiors steeped in mysticism and old-world glamour. Velvet drapery, honey-toned timber floors, antique mirrors, and lacquered crimson walls cast the club in a sultry glow, while considered acoustics wrap guests in vinyl sessions, live performances, and experimental compositions that draft through the rooms deep into the night. In the hi-fi bar, eucalyptus veneer joinery stands against jaguar-print wallpaper inspired by Aztec and Maya symbolism; upstairs, salons pair malachite wall coverings with fringed banquettes and lacquered tables balanced on playful feline paws. Artwork by Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, and Francisco Toledo further enrich the transportive atmosphere. —Ryan Waddoups

5. Eittem Launches Petites Collection

Since its founding in 2024, luxury artisan handbag company Eittem has established itself as a leading authority on bringing an artistic touches to fashion accessories. Now, their signature three styles Owl, Bird, and Moon have gotten a whole new look courtesy of the newly released Petites Collection. Available in multiple colorways alongside accents of either brass or sterling silver finished in 14-karat gold, this new collection suits the daring fashion-forward trendsetter who is constantly on the go. The bags are available directly on Eittem’s website. — Shelby Black

6. Lisa Yuskavage’s Luminous Tenth Solo at David Zwirner Debuts Her First-Ever Collages

As one of the 21st century’s most influential painters, Lisa Yuskavage has created a universe of lush, candy-toned women whose pinup bodies stretch into exhibitionist poses, their skin glowing through Old Master glazing like stained glass lit from within. Twenty years after her first, Yuskavage’s tenth solo with David Zwirner follows her Morgan Library drawing retrospective. At Zwirner’s Chelsea flagship, new paintings and works on paper hang alongside her first-ever collages. She starts each collage on color-aid paper, the same saturated stock she remembers from art school color theory classes. From there, she layers pastel, egg tempera, and gouache, plus fragments of her own past paintings, which she cuts down and pastes back in perspective. Though best known for figuration, Yuskavage’s intensive color training comes to the fore here, with Bauhaus lessons from Josef Albers and Johannes Itten haunting each colored ground.

Endless Studio (Portal) (2025), the show’s centerpiece triptych, stretches over 15 feet wide. Yuskavage folds her characters into studio interiors that exist only in her head, where color-field abstraction presses against figuration, and new trompe-l’oeil tricks expose the canvas’s flatness. The show moves between colossal and intimate canvases, ranging from mural-sized to no larger than a paperback. Across these imagined studios, the artist appears in shifting form: the young student, the older painter, the figure behind the easel, all in the same room. Accompanying the exhibition, Phaidon’s new monograph in its Contemporary Artists Series features texts by Barry Schwabsky, Ariel Levy, and Lena Dunham. Through June 26 at 533 West 19th Street, New York. —Gogo Taubman

7. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection Sets Sail with the Ginori Terrace

The Ritz-Carlton’s Evrima set sail this month with an exceptional new feature onboard through a partnership with Ginori 1735. With the first-ever Ginori Terrace Concept, guests have the chance to relax and unwind in three outdoor spaces punctuated with the colorful spirit of Ginori 1735, and the refined yachting expertise of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. With custom-designed textiles and décor complemented by signature cocktail offerings, each space adapts to natural light and surrounding landscapes. In addition to textiles, at Mistral, Ginori 1735’s Il Viaggio di Nettuno porcelain collection brings fantastical sea creatures onboard for a delightful dining touch. ““We are pleased to collaborate with The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection on a project that embodies our shared commitment to excellence in hospitality,” says Mehdi Benabadji, Chief Executive Officer at Ginori 1735. “At Ginori 1735, we view luxury hospitality as a natural extension of our craftsmanship, where design enhances the experience of travel and gathering. Il Viaggio di Nettuno expresses this vision, bringing a narrative inspired by the sea and discovery into a refined onboard setting.” —A.S.

8. In Dubai, a New Gallery Spotlights Nader Gammas’s Cinematic Luminaires 

Dubai’s bustling Alserkal Avenue has gained a compelling new design destination with the arrival of Gradient, a gallery founded by lighting designer Nader Gammas. The space gathers Gammas’s sculptural luminaires alongside collectible furnishings, antiques, and contemporary works from the 20th and 21st centuries to reflect the layered tastes that have long informed his practice. Established as a home for his luminaires to coexist with pieces he admires, the gallery conjures richly composed vignettes akin to a collector’s residence. “I believe if there’s a clear taste palette, everything falls into place,” Gammas says. “Objects, regardless of when or how they were created, carry a feeling that resonates with adjacent pieces.” The opening of Gradient also marks the debut of Sprout, a botanical-inspired floor lamp whose ceramic stem twists upward like a fantastical bloom into a flared, petal-like shade with hand-painted cobalt blue lines across its creamy glazed surface. The show-stopping luminaire joins refreshed editions of Gammas’s earlier works as well as an array of pieces by regional talents including Iwan Maktabi, Omar Al Gurg, Slo Ceramics, and Ammar Kalo. —R.W.