The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
At Swivel Gallery, Amy Bravo Confronts Intergenerational Trauma, Identity and the Power of the Collective
The artist’s works in her second solo exhibition with the gallery reflect the regenerative strength she finds in unity.
How inKind CEO Johann Moonesinghe Is Trying to Fix the Restaurant Business
inKind CEO Johann Moonesinghe explains how selling dining credits helps fund thousands of restaurants—and why investors are finally buying in.
Business
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Humain CEO Tareq Amin Injects $3B Into Elon Musk’s xAI to Power Saudi A.I. Ambitions
Humain CEO Tareq Amin led a $3 billion investment in Elon Musk’s xAI, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s role as a capital and infrastructure force shaping global A.I. development.
New York’s High Energy Costs Are a Hidden Affordability Crisis
Catalyst Power’s Gabe Phillips analyzes how Winter Storm Fern exposed a structural problem behind New York City’s soaring power costs. As Local Law 97 deadlines approach and federal solar incentives phase down, he argues that targeted reforms could deliver measurable cost relief while strengthening grid resilience and accelerating clean energy deployment.
DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis Warns AGI Remains Years Away Despite A.I. Breakthroughs
Demis Hassabis warns A.I.’s uneven reasoning limits progress toward AGI, despite breakthroughs like AlphaFold and Olympiad-level math performance.
From Jim Farley to RJ Scaringe, Auto CEOs Turn Off-Road Vehicles Into Profit Engines
Ford CEO Jim Farley says off-road SUVs like Bronco and Raptor deliver major profits, as automakers cash in on rugged styling and high-margin trims.
Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy Back a New A.I. Use Case: Simulating Human Behavior
Backed by Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy, Simile raises $100 million to use A.I. simulations that predict analyst questions and business outcomes.
Art
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Cassidy Gard’s 10 Best Books to Read at Life’s Crossroads
“These books didn’t just inspire me—they gave me permission to be complicated, to be a hurricane, to take up space. And when I finally gave myself that permission, my own story came pouring out.”
Artist Diana Thater and CMACC’s Cass Fino-Radin On Redbuilding an Archive After Disaster
“Out of over 200 artworks, I’ve identified 55 that need to be located. We’re now working to find those pieces in institutions and private collections and digitize them so that I at least have a digital copy of the work.”
Davide Balliano’s Geometric Abstraction Sits at the Threshold of Precision and Entropy
“My work comes out of an anxious need to control time and space on a limited human scale, which is the scale of a painting, a sheet of paper, whatever it is,” the artist tells Observer.
Sotheby’s “Origins II” Results Suggest Saudi Collectors Are Prioritizing Legacy
The auction house’s second sale in Saudi Arabia achieved $19.6 million, driven in part by strong demand for MENA artists.
Old Master Grandeur and Modern Patronage Converge at the 2026 Norton Museum of Art Gala
Inspired by the museum’s “Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection,” the evening’s design was an homage to the enduring legacy of 17th-century Dutch painting.
Lifestyle
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Fouquet’s Saint-Barth Takes the High Ground in Gustavia
Perched above the harbor in Gustavia, Fouquet’s Saint-Barth trades beachfront theatrics for altitude, discretion and a quietly confident grip on the island’s social whirl.
The 11 Best New Restaurants to Check Out This February in New York City
New York City’s February restaurant openings include over-the-top omakases, thoughtful cocktail spots and much more.
At the Riviera Maya Edition, Francisco Ruano Turns a Milestone Into a Culinary Power Play
Francisco “Paco” Ruano and Jonatán Gómez Luna showcased both earthy and oceanic ingredients from Mexico and the Caribbean.
Jet Set: Winter Travel Wardrobe Staples
From a classic cardigan and editor-favorite pair of boots to a sleek turtleneck and elevated flared jeans, here’s what we’re loving and coveting right now.
The 2026 Aston Martin DBX S: Exceptional Performance, Uninspired Aesthetics
The DBX S fits into the Aston Martin line loyally, but only time will tell if it, too, will rise to the top of the sales charts, as crossovers and SUVs have almost everywhere else.
Interviews
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Sargent’s Daughters’ Allegra LaViola Is Playing the Long Game
“I work for the artists,” she tells Observer. “If the artist is happy and the work is strong, everything else follows.”
Meet the Collector: Marques Redd On Stewardship, Memory and Collecting Beyond Value
The Redd Family Collection is, he tells Observer, “a river of memory carrying Black artistic vision forward into the present.”
In Qatar’s Zekreet Desert, Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani Welcomes All
Rahaal is a transitory desert museum grounded in Qatari traditions of spontaneous hospitality, nomadic movement, shared spaces and collective experiences.
Francesco Bonami’s Case Against Trend-Chasing in the Museum Business
Under Bonami’s direction, By Art Matters in Hangzhou, China, has embraced a curatorial model that favors instinct, experimentation and intellectual risk.
Mia Westerlund Roosen’s Ongoing Material Inquiry
Challenging boundaries between form, expression and emotion, her tactile, organic and sometimes disturbingly sensual sculptures invite deep engagement.
Power Lists
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The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.
2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index
Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
Observer’s 2025 Art Power Index: The Art Market’s Most Influential People
Their acquisitions, affinities and approbations move the needle on valuation and redefine how art is made, shown and sold.
100 Leaders Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence
They write the script that the rest of us follow.
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Why a Signature Can Make or Break an Artwork’s Price
The convention of signing an entire edition at once dates back to the 1930s, when Paris dealer Leo Spitzer persuaded several major artists, including Matisse and Picasso, to produce refined reproductions that they would sign and he would sell.
Don’t Miss: “Darwin in Paradise Camp” at the Whitworth in Manchester
Blending humor, camp aesthetics and rigorous research, artist Yuki Kihara challenges the authority of Western knowledge systems and their role in defining gender and culture.
Why London’s Top Restaurants Are Setting Their Sights on New York
A number of successful London-based eateries are soon opening in New York, from famous Indian restaurants to a renowned cheese conveyor belt spot.
From Soil to Still: The Master of Botanicals Rethinking Sustainability in Premium Spirits
Alessandro Garneri has spent nearly two decades shaping the botanical foundations of some of the world’s most recognized spirits. In this Expert Insights Q&A, Garneri explores why soil health, traceability and climate resilience are not separate from craftsmanship, but essential to preserving the character and continuity of iconic spirits for generations to come.
Masterpieces from Agnes Gund’s Collection Will Headline Christie’s May Marquee Auctions
The sale of works by Rothko, Twombly and Joseph Cornell posthumously continues her legacy of charitable giving.
The A.I. Boom Is Stress-Testing America’s Power Grid
MaC Venture Capital’s Marlon Nichols explores how the rapid growth of A.I. data centers is straining America’s power grid. As A.I. accelerates energy demand, the next wave of innovation will center on building a more adaptive, distributed and intelligent energy system.
Why Bill Ackman Is Making a $2B Bet on Mark Zuckerberg’s A.I. Vision
Ackman is betting that Meta’s heavy A.I. spending will ultimately outweigh Wall Street’s short-term fears.
Osaka’s Long-Overdue Luxury Hotel Moment Has Arrived
After years of playing second fiddle to Tokyo and Kyoto, Osaka is welcoming a wave of luxury hotels.
One Fine Show: “Michael Rakowitz, Proxies for Poets and Palaces” at the Stavanger Art Museum
At the center of the exhibition are eight reliefs conceived for the show as part of his ongoing series ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’—his attempt to recreate the over 7,000 objects looted from Baghdad’s Iraq Museum in 2003.
London School Icons from the Lewis Collection Will Headline Sotheby’s March Sales
Two pivotal Lucian Freud works, a landmark painting by Leon Kossoff and a 1972 self-portrait by Francis Bacon, painted in the emotional aftermath of George Dyer’s death, will go on the block.
A First Safari in the Serengeti, Where Every Drive Is a Game Drive
From lions mating in the road to baboons knocking at my door, a first safari in Tanzania delivers.
Elon Musk Loses Half of xAI’s Founding Team—Where They’ve Gone Next
Multiple founders and executives have left Elon Musk’s xAI, raising questions about leadership and stability ahead of its next phase.