An artist of manifold gifts and a deeply troubled soul, Unica Zürn was associated with the Parisian Surrealists, by whom she was largely eclipsed. A current show brings her work to light.

Twenty years after the Berlin Wall came down, an eye-opening exhibition brings together artwork shaped by the two Germanys' nonidentical twin cultures.

The past season in New York was a particularly rich time for devotees of the movement Zero, whose reputation in Europe has been secure for decades. A motor of avant-garde activity centered in Düsseldorf from 1957 to 1966, Zero made important innovations in performance, kinetic, environmental, reductivist and light-and-space art—pursuits that were then nascent globally. At the nucleus of this loose affiliation were the artists Otto Piene and Heinz Mack, who had met in May 1950 as students at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts.

Although Thailand has participated in the Venice Biennale only since 2003, its connection with Italian art and culture dates to 1897, when King Chulalongkorn of Siam (as the country was called until 1939) visited the second Biennale during a diplomatic tour of Europe. Chulalongkorn’s forays (he revisited Italy in 1907) led his immediate successors to commission Italian architects and artisans for a number of Bangkok’s municipal buildings and monuments, and, in 1923, to invite the Florentine artist Corrado Feroci (1892–1962) for a long-term stay.

On June 7 the Venice Biennale, mother of all recurring international exhibitions, will enjoy its traditional public opening, a festive Sunday ceremony aimed at welcoming the local community. Even in the face of severe economic contraction and biennial fatigue, the 114-year-old doyenne retains her luster: like the British monarchy, it’s difficult to imagine ever pulling the plug on the Venice Biennale.