Your Summer Guide: 20 Art World Highlights Not to Miss

ARTnews has published a summer guide highlighting 20 art world events and exhibitions not to miss in the coming months. Featured highlights include the opera 'El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego' at the Metropolitan Opera, the 'Costume Art' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Björk show titled 'echolalia' at the National Gallery of Iceland, a book on the Venice Biennale by Massimiliano Gioni, Raven Halfmoon's 'Flags of Our Mothers' at Ballroom Marfa, a Pierre Huyghe exhibition at Fondation Beyeler Basel, a James McNeill Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain, and the inaugural Medina Triennial in New York.

Newcastle Art Gallery’s stunning new exhibitions open up a multiverse

Newcastle Art Gallery has opened three new exhibitions following its February reopening with the blockbuster show 'Iconic Loved Unexpected'. The new presentations include Tiyan Baker's solo show 'Mouth Mnemonica', 'The Mordant Family Gift' featuring 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon and Catriona Mordant, and Brian Robinson's 'Multiverse'. The exhibitions collectively showcase a diverse range of national and international artistry, with works by artists such as Gemma Smith, Tim Silver, Alasdair Macintyre, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Baker's solo exhibition focuses on preserving the Bidayǔh language through multimedia works including autostereograms and video installations.

Lee Miller at the Musée d'Art moderne de Paris: A Photographer Between War, Beauty and Chaos

Lee Miller au musée d’Art moderne de Paris : une photographe entre guerre, beauté et chaos

Lee Miller, the American photographer who transitioned from fashion modeling and surrealist experimentation to war photography, is the subject of a major retrospective at the Musée d'Art moderne de Paris. The exhibition covers her career from 1929 to 1955, highlighting her early work as a model for designers like Patou, Chanel, and Schiaparelli, her collaboration and romantic relationship with Man Ray, and her harrowing experiences documenting World War II. After the war, Miller abandoned photography and lived in obscurity until her death in 1977, when her archive was rediscovered and her significance to both history and art history was fully recognized.

Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific opens at the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London has opened 'Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific', a landmark exhibition drawn from the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Featuring over 70 works by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, the show is organized in three thematic sections—Re-Visioning History, Enduring Knowledge, and Evolving Faith—and includes sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, weaving, and body adornment. Many works are on view outside their home region for the first time. The exhibition runs until 10 January 2027.

'Fade' review: Studio Museum Harlem's 'F' series returns

The Studio Museum in Harlem has opened 'Fade,' the sixth installment of its influential 'F' series, featuring 17 emerging Black and Afro-Latinx artists. The exhibition includes works such as London Pierre Williams's large-scale oil painting 'The Stage: He that leaves me blue, a dream (2026)' and Antonio Darden's 'Untitled (Reclining Figure) (2025),' among others. Curated to feel like an unfolding conversation rather than a traditional group show, 'Fade' explores themes of ancestry, spirituality, grief, and transformation, with sculptures, paintings, and installations that hover between memory and dream.

South London Gallery marks its 135th anniversary with SLG Forever exhibition at Christie’s

The South London Gallery (SLG) is celebrating its 135th anniversary with 'SLG Forever,' a special fundraising exhibition in partnership with Christie’s. Open to the public in London from 5–25 June 2026, with an online component until 30 September, the show features donated works by over 25 major British and international artists, including Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Edmund de Waal, Yinka Shonibare, and Firelei Báez. The exhibition launches alongside the SLG Forever campaign, which aims to raise £2 million to support building upgrades, new commissions, and the expansion of the gallery’s Communities & Learning programmes.

Christie's presents SLG Forever a special selling exhibition in partnership with the South London Gallery raising vital funds in its 135th anniversary - Christie's

Christie's is partnering with the South London Gallery (SLG) for a special selling exhibition titled 'SLG Forever,' running at Christie's London from 5 to 25 June 2026 and online until 30 September. Over 25 renowned artists—including Firelei Báez, Tracey Emin, Frank Bowling, Antony Gormley, and Yinka Shonibare—have donated works to raise funds for the SLG's 135th anniversary campaign, which aims to collect £2 million. The exhibition coincides with London Gallery Weekend and features artists with strong ties to the SLG, many of whom have had solo shows or studios nearby.

KMSKA stages major Antony Gormley exhibition across museum and city

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) is opening 'Geestgrond', the largest solo exhibition by British sculptor Antony Gormley ever staged on the European mainland. Curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the show spans all of the museum's modern galleries and extends to the roof, Museumplein, and Antwerp quays, featuring over 100 works including sculptures, installations, early sketches, notebooks, and new pieces. Highlights include 'The Heart', an intimate Wunderkammer of Gormley's process, and 'Cave', a monumental walk-in steel installation.

Art4you Gallery’s tribute exhibition to women closes at Art Smiley Art Gallery

Art4you Gallery hosted 'Her Story – A Tribute to Women, Edition 2' at Art Smiley Art Gallery in Dubai from May 10–15. The international group exhibition featured 21 artists from 16 countries, presenting works in canvas, installation, and mixed media that explored themes of identity, strength, memory, and womanhood. Curated by Jesno Jackson, the show aimed to create a living archive of women's stories, with participating artists including Cristina Gabriela, Seungeun Cho, Vasilisa Eliseeva, Natasha Boshoff, and others from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Museo Madre Naples: Maria Lai and Living Collapse between history, matter and memory

From June 25 to September 21, 2026, the Fondazione Donnaregina per le arti contemporanee presents the exhibition "Maria Lai: Being is Weaving" at the Madre museum in Naples, curated by Monica Amor and Carlos Basualdo in collaboration with the Archivio and Fondazione Maria Lai. The show traces the artist's six-decade career, highlighting her experimentation with sewing, collage, textiles, and orality, and includes a catalogue with contributions from multiple scholars. Concurrently, the museum hosts "Living Collapse," the second exhibition of the Premio Meridiana, curated by Samuele Piazza, featuring artists Andrea Bolognino, Effe Minelli, and Raffaela Naldi Rossano, which reinterprets the nativity scene tradition through contemporary practices.

Sandro Miller’s Golden Tribute

Photographer Sandro Miller's exhibition "Steppenwolf 50: Through the Eye of Sandro Miller" is on view at the Art Center Highland Park through June 13. The show features a series of portraits and composites created in 2012 that celebrate 50 years of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Works include large-scale composites like "Orgasmic Theatre" with 25 actors, a tribute to the late John Mahoney, and a collaboration with the late artist Tony Fitzpatrick. The exhibition also presents a grid of 45 black-and-white photographs capturing raw emotional moments from rehearsals and performances, along with diptychs and individual framed portraits of Steppenwolf actors.

Urban art and music unite Amsterdam and Milan for three days

L’arte urbana e la musica uniscono Amsterdam e Milano per tre giorni

MUROMi, an independent Milan-based company, is launching a special Milan edition of Here&Now, a cultural event originally created in Amsterdam by Tony Ant and Chinny Bond. Taking place May 21–23, 2026, at Spazio Diaz in Milan, the event combines live painting, music, and contemporary urban art, aiming to bring together creatives, brands, and key figures from the Milanese scene. The project is born from a collaboration between MUROMi and the Here&Now community, which is rooted in international street culture and music.