The Milwaukee Art Museum is opening the 2026 Scholastic Art Awards: Wisconsin Exhibition, showcasing over 350 award-winning works by students in grades 7–12 from across the state. The exhibition, which runs from January 31 to March 15, marks the 50th anniversary of the museum hosting this prestigious student competition.
The Kanal-Centre Pompidou, a major new modern and contemporary art museum in Brussels, will open on November 28. Housed in a converted 1930s Citroën garage, the €230m institution will launch with ten exhibitions, including a 350-work show drawn from the Centre Pompidou's collection in Paris and installations by artists like Otobong Nkanga.
The Brooklyn Museum will present the North American debut of "Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses" on May 16, 2026, timed with the annual Brooklyn Artists Ball where Van Herpen will be honored. The exhibition features over 140 haute couture creations alongside contemporary art, design pieces, and scientific artifacts, exploring the designer's fusion of craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology, sustainability, and natural phenomena. Previously shown at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, QAGOMA, ArtScience Museum Singapore, and Kunsthal Rotterdam, the show is curated by Cloé Pitiot and Louise Curtis, with the Brooklyn Museum presentation organized by Matthew Yokobosky and Imani Williford.
Albert Barnes, the pioneering US collector who built the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, twice declined the opportunity to acquire Vincent van Gogh's iconic 'Starry Night' paintings. Unpublished correspondence in the Barnes Foundation archives reveals that in 1923, agent Frank Washburn Freund offered Barnes *Starry Night over the Rhône* (1888), but Barnes did not pursue it; the painting later went to the Musée d'Orsay. In 1936, the Van Wisselingh gallery offered Barnes *Starry Night* (1889), but he again passed; it was eventually acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Despite these missed chances, Barnes was the first American to buy a Van Gogh, ultimately owning seven works by the artist, including *The Postman* and *Still Life*.
The Memphis Art Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with archimania and OLIN, is taking shape ahead of its December 2026 opening. The 11,475-square-meter building along the Mississippi River features a glass facade, a public plaza shared with the historic Cossitt Library, a shaded courtyard, flexible gallery spaces, and a rooftop sculpture garden. The museum is among the first major US museums to use laminated timber construction. Updated renderings and construction images by Houston Cofield have been released, along with details of a curatorial shift that will organize the collection into 18 exhibitions focused on lived experience rather than traditional art historical chronologies.
A blog post examines Van Gogh's lesser-known self-portrait, *Self-portrait with bandaged Ear and Pipe* (January 1889), held in a private collection and rarely exhibited—last lent outside Switzerland in 1990. The painting shows the artist clean-shaven, smoking a pipe, with a striking orange-red background, painted just weeks after he mutilated his ear following a row with Paul Gauguin. The post contrasts it with the more famous version in London's Courtauld Gallery, analyzing compositional details and the artist's psychological state.
The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICA SF) has abandoned plans for a permanent physical space, instead adopting a nomadic model focused on site-specific exhibitions. Its first project under this new approach launches during San Francisco Art Week at the Transamerica Pyramid Center, featuring installations by artists Lily Kwong and Tara Donovan. Kwong's EARTHSEED DOME is a 3D-printed soil structure embedded with native seeds that will bloom in the adjacent redwood grove, while Donovan's Stratagem series uses recycled CDs to create light-scattering columns inside the building's Annex Gallery.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has announced plans to build a €60 million Modern sculpture garden, called the Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden, on a nearby triangular plot of land. The project is funded by an exceptional donation and long-term art loans from the Don Quixote Foundation, established by billionaire businessman Rolly van Rappard. The garden will feature three pavilions designed by Foster + Partners, with landscaping by Piet Blanckaert, and will display sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, Jean Arp, and Henry Moore. The museum aims to open the space free of charge this autumn, but planning permission has not yet been granted, and the project includes the restoration of three listed buildings.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has announced that its newly renovated Flight and the Arts Center will open on July 1, 2026, with two inaugural exhibitions: “The Ascent of Rauschenberg: Reinventing the Art of Flight” and “The Art of Air and Space: Interpretations of Flight.” The Rauschenberg exhibition, timed to the artist’s centennial, will present 30 of his artworks related to flight, including the monumental lithograph “Sky Garden (Stoned Moon)” (1969), and will run for one year. The exhibition is curated by Carolyn Russo and features loans from the Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will open a new traveling exhibition titled “At the Vanguard: Making and Saving History at HBCUs” on January 16, 2026. The show features artifacts, artwork, historical documents, and multimedia from five historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs): Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University. Highlights include first editions of Margaret Walker’s works, Tuskegee Institute pottery, early scientific journals, archival photographs by Doris Derby and Chester Higgins, and a rare color video of George Washington Carver.
The article previews eight major art-venue openings expected in 2026, including the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island, Cardiff's first contemporary art museum (AMOCA), the V&A East Museum in London, the revived Palais de Danse studio of Barbara Hepworth in St Ives, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. It also notes the uncertain status of the Museum of West African Art in Benin City amid political disputes. These projects range from vast new museums and subterranean expansions to restored artist studios, many delayed by funding, planning, or construction challenges.
A trio of major museum openings is expected in Los Angeles in 2026: the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) with its new David Geffen Galleries designed by Peter Zumthor opening in April; the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by filmmaker George Lucas and designed by Ma Yansong, opening on 22 September; and the digital artist Refik Anadol's Dataland, the first museum devoted to AI-generated art, opening in spring. Additionally, the Victoria and Albert Museum opens V&A East in London on 18 April, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, opens an expansion on 6 June.
The Smithsonian Institution has announced 19 new exhibitions opening across its museums in 2026, including shows at the African American History and Culture Museum, African Art Museum, Air and Space Museum, American Art Museum, American History Museum, and Asian Art Museum. Highlights include Nick Cave's immersive installation "Mammoth" at the American Art Museum, a photography survey of the U.S. Bicentennial, and a major reopening of the Air and Space Museum's final seven galleries after eight years of renovations. Several exhibitions tie into the nation's 250th anniversary, while others explore LGBTQ+ African art, HBCU collections, salsa music history, and contemporary water-themed paintings by Hiroshi Senju and Bingyi.
Basia Monka profiles three contemporary Israeli artists—Ariel Hacohen, Jessica Moritz, and others—who, despite diverse backgrounds and mediums, share a common drive to explore order and chaos through repetition in their work. Hacohen, a 2024 Rappaport Prize laureate, uses photography, video, and sculpture to blend archaeology, history, and memory, with current exhibitions at the Haifa Museum of Art and Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The article presents each artist's answers to three questions about inspiration, the definition of art, and what makes their work unique.
The Bourse de Commerce in Paris hosts "Minimal," a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation. The show centers on five large-scale natural-material works by 81-year-old US artist Meg Webster, while featuring over 100 works by more than 50 artists to challenge the traditional narrative that 1960s-70s Minimalism was exclusively a white, male, American movement. It includes thematic sections on light, balance, and monochrome, a gallery devoted to Japan's Mono-ha movement, and retrospectives of Agnes Martin and Lygia Pape, drawing largely from the Pinault Collection with international loans.
Late December offers a rare slowdown in New York's commercial art world, with most galleries closing around December 20, but museums remaining open. This creates an opportunity for visitors to spend quality time with exhibitions that often get lost in the city's relentless cultural calendar. The article highlights ten must-see museum shows in New York City, including "Wifredo Lam: When I Don't Sleep, I Dream" at MoMA—the first major U.S. survey of the Cuban artist's surreal, decolonial paintings—and "Anish Kapoor: Early Works" at the Jewish Museum, showcasing his pigment sculptures and Vantablack works.
Wes Anderson has recreated Joseph Cornell's legendary studio inside Gagosian Paris for an exhibition titled 'The House on Utopia Parkway: Joseph Cornell’s Studio Re-Created by Wes Anderson.' The show, curated by Jasper Sharp and running from December 16, 2025, to March 14, 2026, reconstructs the artist's basement workspace in Queens, New York, complete with over three hundred objects from Cornell's own collection, alongside iconic box constructions such as 'Pharmacy' (1943) and 'A Dressing Room for Gille' (1939). Exhibition design is by Cécile Degos.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has announced its full 2026 exhibition schedule, featuring four major shows: 'Manet & Morisot,' the first major exhibition dedicated to the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot; 'Nexus,' showcasing works by American sculptor Martin Puryear; 'Spectacular Freedom,' exploring Andrew Wyeth's watercolors with over 100 works from his estate, most never before exhibited; and a Goryeo dynasty exhibition in partnership with the National Museum of Korea, centered on the reunification of ten 14th-century hanging scrolls depicting the 10 Kings of Hell. Additional exhibitions include 'still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper,' 'Epic of the Northwest Himalayas' featuring Pahari Ramayana paintings, and a photography show contextualizing Manet and Morisot's era.
Ben Luke hosts an episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covering three major stories. First, architect Frank Gehry, known for the Guggenheim Bilbao and Fondation Louis Vuitton, died at age 96; Luke discusses his legacy with architecture critic and Gehry biographer Paul Goldberger. Second, London's Serpentine and New York's FLAG Art Foundation announced a new £1 million prize for artists, awarding £200,000 each to five recipients over ten years—the largest contemporary art prize in the UK for a single artist. Third, the episode features Joan Semmel's painting 'Sunlight' (1978), which is part of a new exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, with curator Rebecca Shaykin.
A symposium titled "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space Art and Science Symposium" will take place at the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) headquarters in Burlington House, London, celebrating the major exhibition "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space" at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol (24 January–19 April 2026). Curated by visual artist Ione Parkin RWA, the exhibition features over 30 contemporary artists alongside loan items from public collections, all inspired by astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, and space exploration. The symposium includes talks by astronomers, archivists, and exhibiting artists, with a catalogue published by Sansom & Company featuring contributions from Professor Chris Lintott, Professor Amaury Triaud, Dr Sian Prosser, and Ione Parkin RWA.
The article lists the top 10 art events in the Twin Cities in 2025, highlighting major exhibitions such as "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Dyani White Hawk's "Love Language" at the Walker Art Center, and a retrospective of Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk at the American Swedish Institute. Other notable shows include "Mary Sully: Native Modern" at Mia, Jonathan Thunder's "The Artist as Storyteller" at the U's Quarter Gallery, and "Queering Indigeneity" at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, along with the annual crop art display at the Minnesota State Fair.
Oulu, a port city in northern Finland just over 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, has been selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2026. The year-long program will feature over 3,000 events, including art exhibitions, food festivals, and performances, kicking off with an opening festival in January. Highlights include a Sámi art exhibition at the Oulu Museum of Art, a new opera by the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš, and "Climate Clock," a trail of seven permanent public artworks by international artists such as Antti Laitinen, SUPERFLEX, Rana Begum, and Gabriel Kuri. Events will also take place across 39 adjoining municipalities.
Two winter exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will highlight the institution's Impressionist and Postimpressionist holdings. Opening December 21, 2025, "Collecting Impressionism at LACMA" traces the evolution of the museum's collection through early donations of California and American Impressionist works, strategic acquisitions, and recent gifts including Claude Monet's *The Artist’s Garden, Vétheuil* (1881) and Vincent van Gogh's *Tarascon Stagecoach* (1888). A second exhibition, "Village Square: Gifts of Modern Art from the Pearlman Collection to the Brooklyn Museum, LACMA, and MoMA," opens February 22, 2026, featuring nearly 50 works by artists such as Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Édouard Manet from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection. After LACMA, the Pearlman works will travel to the Brooklyn Museum and later to the Museum of Modern Art.
Martin Parr, the renowned British photographer known for his vivid, satirical documentation of British life and class, has died at age 73 at his home in Bristol, as announced by the Martin Parr Foundation on 7 November. Tributes have poured in from across the art and photography worlds, including from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and fellow artists such as Grayson Perry and Joel Meyerowitz. Parr's major projects include *The Last Resort* (1983-85) and *The Cost of Living* (1987-89), and an exhibition of his work, *Global Warning*, is scheduled to open at Jeu de Paume in Paris in January 2026.
The Denver Art Museum and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam have co-organized "The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro's Impressionism," an exhibition dedicated to the work of the pioneering Impressionist painter. The show is presented by a wide array of donors including Jana and Fred Bartlit, Barbara Bridges, Bridget and John Grier, the Kristin and Charles Lohmiller Exhibitions Fund, and Craig Ponzio, with additional support from foundations, corporate sponsors, and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).
The Denver Art Museum has opened a new exhibition titled “The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism,” organized in collaboration with the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. The show brings together over 100 paintings and objects from nearly 50 international museums and private collections, highlighting Pissarro’s role as a foundational Impressionist. The exhibition’s title comes from a letter in which Pissarro described his artistic approach as “honest,” emphasizing a realistic, detail-oriented style that contrasted with the more radical tendencies of his peers. Works on view include “Lordship Lane Station, East Dulwich” (1871) and “The Garden of Les Mathurins, property of the Deraismes Sisters, Pontoise” (1876), which showcase his nuanced use of color and texture, as well as his engagement with social and political themes.
The article previews several major biennials scheduled for 2026, including the 61st Venice Biennale, the 25th Sydney Biennale, and the 16th Gwangju Biennale. The Venice Biennale will proceed posthumously under the vision of curator Koyo Kouoh, who died in May 2025; she was the first African woman appointed to curate the event. The Sydney Biennale, themed "Rememory" and inspired by Toni Morrison, will be directed by Hoor Al Qasimi, while the Gwangju Biennale will be led by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen, focusing on collective artistic responses to global crises.
The Serpentine Gallery in London has launched a new contemporary art prize in partnership with the Flag Art Foundation in New York. The Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize will award £200,000 each to five artists over ten years, making it the largest contemporary art prize in the UK. The prize will be given every other year to an international artist who has been exhibiting professionally for less than ten years, with the first winner selected in 2026 and exhibitions at both venues in 2027 and 2028. The Flag Art Foundation was founded by collector Glenn Fuhrman, a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Miami Art Week 2025 offers a wealth of free public art and events, from monumental installations to city-wide competitions. Highlights include Es Devlin's rotating sculpture 'Library of Us' on Miami Beach, Philippe Katerine's inflatable 'Mr. Pink Takes Flight' on Lincoln Road, and the juried hotel-art competition No Vacancy. Other free attractions include the immersive HIVE village in Wynwood, Katie Stout's fantastical 'Gargantua’s Thumb' in the Miami Design District, and the group exhibition CHROMA 2025 at Lucid Design District. The article serves as a budget-friendly guide for visitors.