The Best Art Exhibitions to See in 2026

Metamorphoses

Rijksmuseum
6 Feb - 25 May 2026

Passion, desire, lust, jealousy, cunning, deceit—these human impulses come alive in Metamorphoses at the Rijksmuseum. Over 80 masterpieces from world-renowned artists—including Titian, Correggio, Cellini, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rodin, Brâncuși, and Bourgeois—explore the timeless power of transformation.

Danh Vo

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
14 Feb - 2 Aug 2026

The exhibition traces human intimacy and the forces that shape how we move, endure, and create meaning. Dahn’s installations weave objects, texts, and images charged with war, eros, ambition, and faith—revealing how history leaves its mark on bodies, materials, and personal stories.

Manosphere — Masculinity Today

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
18 April - 2 Aug 2026

An examination in images, ideas, and narratives around masculinity, revealing it as both a performance of power and a lived reality—simultaneously conflicting, banal, and tender. Works by Lucy McKenzie, Eduardo Paolozzi, Melle, Sands Murray-Wassink, Salman Toor, and Bruno Zhu offer a nuanced counterpoint to the brash, misogynistic masculinity of the online manosphere.

(In)visible Presence

DIB Bangkok
21 Dec 2025 - 3 Aug 2026

Bangkok’s new DIB museum, opened in December, features 81 works by 40 contemporary artists, many from Thailand. Across three floors, the exhibition explores material, memory, and perception—turning everyday objects, altered diaries, and salvaged items into hidden stories. Montien Boonma’s immersive installations offer reflection and healing, while James Turrell’s Straight Up features a camera obscura and a Skyspace, framing the sky and turning perception inward, making the simple act of seeing extraordinary.

Bangkok Art Biennale

Various locations
29 Oct - 28 Feb 2027

For four months, Bangkok becomes a living canvas as the Biennale fills temples, heritage sites, and public spaces. International and Thai artists present site-specific works linking the city’s Rattanakosin heritage with modern life. The theme, Angels and Mara, reflects Bangkok’s ceremonial name, contrasting protectors with temptation, desire, and death, while exploring human contradictions, resilience, and the forces that shape us.

The First Homosexuals — The Birth
of New Identities, 1869 – 1939

Kunstmuseum Basel  
7 March – 2 Aug 2026

Spotlighting early same-sex desire and gender diversity in the arts, the exhibition explores queer networks, intimate portraits, and coded desires, showing how European artists projected same-sex desire onto colonial territories—and how artists worldwide resisted and challenged this domination.

Pierre Huyghe

Fondation Beyeler
24 May – 13 Sep 2026

The Fondation Beyeler presents Pierre Huyghe, one of contemporary art’s most inventive voices. New works join recent key pieces, following his landmark Punta della Dogana project at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Pierre blends fiction and reality, merging cinematic, technological, biological, and digital elements into living, evolving situations where new subjectivities emerge.

Cao Fei — Testimonies to the Near Future

Kunstmuseum Basel
30 May – 11 Oct 2026

Shortly before Art Basel, Chinese artist Cao Fei transforms Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart into an immersive city, merging large-scale installations with two decades of video work. Across three floors, her art—mixing speculative, surreal, and near-documentary visions—explores technology, globalization, and society, surrounding visitors in a multidimensional universe of image, sound, and space.

Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes — Persistence of Vision

Gropius Bau
19 March – 28 June 2026

The exhibition sparks an intergenerational dialogue in photography. Peter’s intimate black-and-white portraits of New York’s downtown and queer communities meet Liz’s contemporary explorations of light, chemistry, and time, together expanding the medium and inviting a deeper, more attentive way of seeing.

Brancusi

Neue Nationalgalerie
20 March – 9 Aug 2026

Constantin Brâncuși transformed form into essence, pioneering sculptural abstraction through organic shapes, inventive materials, and explorations of light, movement, and photography. The Neue Nationalgalerie, with the Centre Pompidou, presents Germany’s first major exhibition of the sculptor in over 50 years.

Marina Abramović — Balkan Erotic Epic

Gropius Bau
15 April – 23 Aug 2026

Marina Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic unfolds first as an exhibition at Gropius Bau, where ritual, eroticism, and the body emerge as sources of spiritual and communal energy. In October 2026, the work returns as a multi-hour stage production at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, transforming Balkan myths into a visceral performance of dance, music, and embodied intensity.

Chanel Commission: Lina Lapelyte — We Make Years Out of Hours

Hamburger Bahnhof
1 May – 10 Jan 2027

Following Klára Hosnedlová’s acclaimed first Chanel Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof, Lina Lapelytė takes the stage. Known for blending trained and untrained performers in collective singing—from pop to opera and experimental sound—she is best known for the Golden Lion–winning Sun & Sea. Details are scarce, but the work promises quiet power.

Boros Collection

Bunker Berlin
1 May 2026 – until 2030

Beloved by Berliners and beyond, the Boros Collection is housed in a bunker, with logistics limiting changes to every four years. In May, alongside Berlin Gallery Weekend, Boros opens its fifth collection to the public, showcasing a mix of cutting-edge young artists and established names. Known for impeccable taste, Christian and Karen Boros’ collection is only viewable on guided tours—and slots sell out months in advance.

Steve McQueen

Guggenheim Bilbao
9 Oct 2026 – 17 Jan 2027

Oscar-winning filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen follows his 2024 Bass installation at Schaulager Basel with a major solo show at Guggenheim Bilbao. Immersive works of light, sound, and reimagined pieces engage the body and senses, inviting visitors into a striking, experiential journey where space, perception, and narrative merge.

Dan Flavin

Guggenheim Bilbao
13 Nov 2026 – 4 April 2027

At Guggenheim Bilbao, Dan Flavin’s minimalist fluorescent installations overlap with Steve McQueen’s immersive light-and-sound environments, creating a rare dialogue between two visions of illumination. Visitors move between Flavin’s precise geometry and McQueen’s sensory worlds, experiencing how each artist bends space, perception, and emotion through light.

Koo Jeong A

Kunsthaus Bregenz
31 Jan – 25 May 2026

Bregenz is staking its claim on Europe’s contemporary art map. Kunsthaus Bregenz, a minimalist concrete cube, hosts groundbreaking exhibitions. Next up: Koo Jeong A, Korea’s 2024 Venice Biennale artist, who transforms the space into a multi-sensory world, with an entire floor devoted to scent.

Yayoi Kusama

Museum Ludwig
14 March – 2 Aug 2026

If you missed Yayoi Kusama’s widely acclaimed exhibition at Fondation Beyeler in Basel, it’s coming to Cologne, and then to the Stedelijk Museum from Sep 2026.

Basquiat — Headstrong

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
30 Jan – 17 May 2026

Headstrong reveals an almost unknown body of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s drawings on paper. Focused on the human head, these raw oilstick works reveal a more intimate, introspective side of the artist—direct, visceral, and deeply human.

Camille Henrot

Copenhagen Contemporary
4 June – 31 Dec 2026

Camille Henrot’s 2025 Hauser & Wirth New York show featured surrealist bronze sculptures echoing children’s educational toys. Her new solo at Copenhagen Contemporary continues her playful, sharp, and profound exploration of life in a hyperconnected, overstimulated world.

Lucian Freud — Drawing into Painting

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
10 June – 27 Sep 2026

Lucian Freud’s obsession with the human figure—from intense sketches to dynamic paintings—reveals how his drawings shaped his iconic, deeply observant portraits. The exhibition travels from London’s National Portrait Gallery (12 Feb – 4 May).

Maria Lassnig and Edvard Munch

Hamburger Kunsthalle
26 Feb – 31 Aug 2026

Malfluss = Lebensfluss (Painting Flow = Life Flow) is the first major double exhibition to bring the Austrian artist and Norwegian painter into dialogue, showing how both use color, brushwork, and emotion to explore the body, psyche, and inner life. The exhibition travels to Zürich Kunsthaus (2 Oct – 21 Feb 2027).

F. C. Gundlach — Cocktail Prolonge

Deichtorhallen Hamburg
5 June – 22 Sep 2026

Gundlach, legendary fashion photographer of the 1950s–80s, was also a collector of large-format queer photography. His remarkable collection will be showcased at Deichtorhallen alongside the 9th Triennial of Photography.

This Is The Modern World

Hamburger Kunsthalle
4 Sep 2026 – 30 May 2027

An expansive showcase tracing radical shifts in art from 1900 to 1960, as artists broke with tradition amid social and political upheaval. Spanning Expressionism, Surrealism, Bauhaus, and early abstraction, it brings together key works that shaped modern visual language.

Ryuichi Sakamoto — Seeing Sound, Hearing Time

M+ Hong Kong
14 Feb – 5 July 2026

At M+, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Taroop Takatani reunite in a mesmerizing installation blending the sounds of async with Takatani’s vivid visuals, turning Sakamoto’s studio objects into an immersive sensory experience. Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof presents the first major retrospective of their groundbreaking work (11 Sep 2026–23 May 2027).

Myths, Monsters, and Manga — The Art of Fantasy in Asia

M+ Hong Kong
17 Oct 2026 – 4 April 2027

Myths, Monsters, and Manga: The Art of Fantasy in Asia reveals how fantasy has shaped Asian visual culture and inspired artists to confront social and political change across two centuries.

Tracey Emin

Tate Modern
26 Feb – 31 Aug 2026

Spanning four decades, the solo show charts a raw journey of survival, desire, and reinvention—bringing together intimate early works and powerful recent pieces that confront the body, trauma, and resilience head-on.

Rose Wylie — The Picture Comes First

Royal Academy of Arts
28 Feb – 19 April 2026

A bold, riotous celebration of one of Britain’s most audacious painters: Wylie’s colossal canvases burst with color, scribbles, and unexpected figures—rogue queens, movie icons, everyday objects, and dreamlike scenes—painted with a raw spontaneity that channels Basquiat’s rebellious energy with a wry, distinctly feminine twist.

Anish Kapoor

Hayward Gallery
16 June – 18 Oct 2026

Anish Kapoor debuts major new installations at the Hayward Gallery, transforming it into a breathtaking sensory terrain. Monumental works—from a six‑meter PVC membrane to a looming red landscape and gravity-defying sculptures—explore scale, perception, and materiality, immersing visitors in a world where object and space blur.

Salman Toor — Someone Like You

Courtauld Gallery
2 Oct 2026 – 10 Jan 2027                  

The artist’s first European solo presents queer life with striking vulnerability. Lush, intimate paintings capture friendship, desire, and solitude, centering young, brown, queer figures navigating identity and belonging. Works from the Venice Biennale now unfold with cinematic warmth and depth.

The 90’s

Tate Britain
8 Oct 2026 – 14 Feb 2027        

Curated by Edward Enninful, former editor in chief of British Vogue, The 90s showcases the decade’s most iconic photography, art, and fashion—from Juergen Teller and Damien Hirst to Vivienne Westwood—offering an immersive snapshot of a decade that redefined British culture.

Wolfgang Tillmans — Keep Movin’

Regen Projects
15 Jan – 1 March 2026

After three European exhibitions last year, Wolfgang Tillmans brings his latest work to the U.S. Keep Movin’ features photographs, videos, and installations exploring perception, connection, and the fragility of contemporary life.

What a Wonderful World — An Audiovisual Poem

Variety Arts Theater
6 Feb – 20 March 2026

The Julia Stoschek Foundation, renowned for one of the world’s most ambitious video art collections, opens What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem in Los Angeles—its first major U.S. presentation. Curated by Udo Kittelmann, the show brings together video works and cinematic milestones from early film to today.

Delcy Morelos — The Womb Space

Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC)
18 Oct 2025 – 7 June 2026

In The Womb Space, Colombian artist Delcy Morelos transforms MUAC’s Gallery 9 into a sensorial, site-specific environment shaped by earth, scent, and space. Drawing on pre-Hispanic architecture, land art, and local sites like Cuicuilco, the installation invites visitors to inhabit the gallery as a maternal, living body.

The Gesture and the Invisible

Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo
6 Feb – 26 July 2026

Opening Museo Tamayo’s 2026 program, this group exhibition explores movement as a vital force in an age of technological immobility. Featuring Nauman, LeParc, Brown, and Forsythe, the show reflects on movement as a biological and collective impulse, and the traces it leaves when action disappears.

Whitney Biennial

Whitney Museum of American Art
8 March – 23 Aug 2026

The 82nd Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art features 56 artists, duos, and collectives. The longest-running survey of contemporary American art, it explores kinship, geopolitics, shared mythologies, and technological entanglements through mood and texture.

New Humans — Memories of the Future

New Museum, New York
Opening 21 March 2026

New York celebrates the opening of the New Museum’s expanded OMA-designed building. Klára Hosnedlová’s sandstone and glass sculpture, with flax textile and intricate embroideries, explores labor, gender, and memory, while Sarah Lucas’s VENUS VICTORIA takes the new outdoor plaza. The main exhibition, New Humans: Memories of the Future, examines what it means to be human amid rapid technological change.

Carol Bove 

Guggenheim New York
5 March – 2 Aug 2026

Carol Bove takes over the Guggenheim rotunda with her largest museum presentation to date. Spanning more than two decades, the exhibition brings together sculptures and site-specific interventions that play with material, form, and scale, subtly reactivating Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic architecture.

Marcel Duchamp

MoMA
12 April – 22 Aug 2026

MoMA presents the first major U.S. Marcel Duchamp retrospective in decades, tracing the artist’s radical career from Nude Descending a Staircase to Fountain and The Large Glass. Bringing together hundreds of works, the exhibition highlights how Marcel reshaped modern art by redefining creativity, authorship, and what an artwork can be.

Guggenheim Pop

Guggenheim New York
5 June 2026 – 10 Jan 2027

Guggenheim Pop revisits the museum’s Pop art legacy, pairing postwar icons like Warhol and Lichtenstein with contemporary artists. From advertising and comics to consumer spectacle, the exhibition traces how Pop’s visual language continues to shape art and culture today.

Calder — Dreaming in Balance

Fondation Louis Vuitton
15 April – 16 Aug 2026

Another massive presentation from Fondation Louis Vuitton, this landmark retrospective celebrates Alexander Calder with nearly 300 works spanning his career—from his iconic kinetic mobiles and monumental stabiles to wire sculptures, drawings, jewelry, and the legendary Cirque Calder.

Brassaï — The Secret Signs of Paris

28 March – 4 Oct 2026

Brassaï, one of photography’s most influential figures, captured Paris by night in the 1930s, revealing its streets, people, and graffiti. His work later inspired John Galliano’s Maison Martin Margiela collection, staged under a Parisian bridge. This is the first major exhibition of Brassaï in Sweden, celebrating his groundbreaking vision of the city after dark.

Ron Mueck

Mori Art Museum
29 April – 23 Sep 2026

Ron Mueck, renowned for his hyper-realistic sculptures, presents figures ranging from life-size to monumental and miniature. His work captures deeply human expressions and fragility with astonishing detail, blurring the line between the familiar and uncanny.

Mariko Mori

Mori Art Museum
31 Oct 2026 – 28 March 2027

A major retrospective of Mariko Mori highlights her visionary fusion of art, science, and metaphysics. Spanning three decades and around 80 works—from interactive installations and sculpture to video, photography, and performance—the exhibition explores themes of “Oneness,” connectedness, and humanity’s place in the universe through immersive, otherworldly experiences.

Jenny Saville

Ca’ Pesaro
28 March – 22 Nov 2026

Her first major solo exhibition presents around 30 paintings from the 1990s to today. Known for visceral depictions of the human body, Jenny Saville’s monumental canvases engage with Venice’s artistic heritage, including a new series inspired by the lagoon city. The show runs alongside the 61st Venice Biennale.

Michael Armitage

Palazzo Grassi
29 March 2026 – 10 Jan 2027

His paintings echo Peter Doig but redirect that language toward politics, East African history, and contemporary violence. Figurative scenes unfold in lush, dreamlike landscapes, layered with translucent color, creating pressurized, unstable, and politically charged worlds.

Fondazione Dries Van Noten 

Palazzo Pisani Moretta
April 2026

There’s limited information so far, but given the brilliance of Dries Van Noten, expectations are high for an exceptional presentation. Known for his poetic blend of artistry, craftsmanship, and cultural vision, Dries’s projects consistently push creative boundaries—promising a standout addition to the season ahead.

Marina Abramović — Transforming Energy

Gallerie dell’ Accademia
6 May – 19 Oct 2026

Marking her 80th birthday, Marina Abramović’s Venice exhibition places her performance art in dialogue with Renaissance masterpieces. Highlights include Pietà (with Ulay) alongside Titian’s unfinished Pietà, reimagining pain, transcendence, and the human body through a contemporary lens.

Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince — Helter Skelter

Fondazione Prada
9 May – 23 Nov 2026

Pairing works by the two artists, united by a lawless approach to images from pop culture, the exhibition shows Arthur exploring Black identity and cinema, and Richard probing white masculinity and America’s underbelly. It highlights shared obsessions and a long creative dialogue never before examined.

Venice Biennale

Various locations
9 May – 22 Nov 2026

The 2026 Venice Biennale, themed In Minor Keys, was curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, whose vision was completed posthumously by her team. Austria will be represented by Florentina Holzinger, among other national pavilions, continuing the Biennale’s exploration of contemporary art in a range of nuanced, introspective registers.

Hemlut Lang — Séance de Travail 1986-2005

MAK Museum of Applied Arts
10 Dec 2025 – 2 May 2026

The first comprehensive survey of the groundbreaking designer, offering an in‑depth look at his radical vision of design, identity, and visual communication. Drawing from the largest public archive of his work, the mixed‑media presentation, featuring large-scale, site-specific installations, goes beyond fashion to reveal Helmut’s influence on art, architecture, branding, and media.

Richard Prince

Albertina Museum
7 April – 16 Aug 2026

The Albertina presents Richard Prince’s major retrospective, featuring iconic series like Cowboys, Fashion, and Gangs, alongside rare works that challenge ideas of originality, appropriation, and consumer culture.

Picasso - Bacon — What It Means to Be Human

Albertina Museum
18 Sep 2026 – 31 Jan 2027

Bringing together works by two of the 20th century’s most powerful figurative painters, the exhibition explores the human body, desire, vulnerability, and the drama of existence, highlighting the artistic dialogue between Picasso and Francis Bacon.