Welcome to the Art Angle, a podcast from Artnet News that delves into the places where the art world meets the real world, bringing each week’s biggest story down to earth. Join host Andrew Goldstein every week for an in-depth look at what matters most in museums, the art market, and much more with input from our own writers and editors as well as artists, curators, and other top experts in the field.

As a barrage of retrospective pieces from countless publications (including Artnet News) made clear throughout December 2019, the opening moments of 2020 signal a new decade, not just a new year. Looking back, the 2010s seem to be defined by one intense development after another, including an ever-expanding digital revolution, an ever-widening chasm between rich and poor, the ever-heightening peril of climate change, and so much more. 

The art world felt the effects of these changes throughout the decade, but it also sought to grapple with, adjust to, and even counteract them. Artists were at the forefront of this charge, whether the subject at hand was sexism, racism, classism, or any number of other systemic injustices. And the key artworks of the 2010s enhanced our understanding of the era in ways that were unforgettable, even if they weren’t always pleasant.  

What were those key artworks, though? With the benefit of hindsight and a ratings system devised to reach past the simple idea of “best” pieces, Artnet News national art critic Ben Davis walks listeners through highlights of his multi-part, 100-work list. Some of his choices are almost guaranteed to surprise you. (They certainly surprised our editors!)

Listen below and subscribe to the Art Angle on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your podcasts. (Or catch up on past episodes here on Artnet News.)

Listen to Other Episodes:

The Art Angle Podcast: How an Artist’s $120,000 Banana Ate the World

The Art Angle Podcast: New Yorker Art Scribe Calvin Tomkins on What Makes Great Artists Tick

The Art Angle Podcast: Is the Art World Causing a Climate Catastrophe?

The Art Angle Podcast: Art Basel Rules the Art Market. Is That a Good Thing for Art?

The Art Angle Podcast: How Yayoi Kusama Became an Unlikely Pop-Culture Phenomenon

The Art Angle Podcast: Who Is Sotheby’s Mysterious New Owner, and What Does He Want?

The Art Angle Podcast: Hans Neuendorf on 30 Years of Artnet, and What Comes Next

The Art Angle Podcast: Anish Kapoor on ‘Radical’ Art, China, and the Magic Paint Wars

The Art Angle Podcast: Why Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre Matters

Introducing the Art Angle Podcast: How MoMA Remade Itself for the Trump Era