$1.28 million Adrian Ghenie painting leads opening sales at Frieze Seoul 2026. https://ift.tt/kRyuzw8

Frieze Seoul 2026 kicked off its VIP day on Wednesday, September 2nd, at COEX. Now in its fifth edition, the fair is known for drawing a mix of collectors, curators, institutional leaders, and stylish VIPs, largely from across the Asia Pacific region. This year was no exception, with K-pop stars The8 from the band Seventeen and Annie and Bailey from AllDay Project, singer Woodz, models Hye-jin Han and Yano Shiho, and actors Ji-won Uhm, Dasom, So-Hee Han, and Si-young Lee.

Adding to the initial excitement were several six-and seven-figure transactions, led by Thaddaeus Ropac’s sale of Adrian Ghenie’s Figure with Funerary Stele (2026), for €1.1 million ($1.28 million).

“It’s fantastic to see how Seoul Art Week has matured across the city, with the impressive institutional developments and the calibre of museum exhibitions,” said gallery founder Thaddaeus Ropac. “It’s been a strong start to the fair with swift sales, largely to collectors based in Korea, but also spanning Asia—Malaysia, China, Hong Kong—and a few to European and American collectors.”

Dealers also reported active institutional buying, particularly from Asia. Gagosian placed significant works from its solo presentation of Damien Hirst with notable collections for undisclosed prices, including an important museum in Asia, while Sprüth Magers sold Cyprien Gaillard’s Life in the cracks (Part 2) (2025) for $200,000 to an institutional collection in Asia. David Zwirner also placed a new painting by Lucas Arruda with a museum in the region for an undisclosed price.

Check back for our full sales report after the fair concludes. In the meantime, these are the leading sales reported on the opening day of Frieze Seoul 2026.

• In addition to the leading transaction of Figure with Funerary Stele (2026) by Ghenie, Thaddaeus Ropac sold the artist’s Study for “The Roman Road” 2 (2026) for €110,000 ($127,000). It also sold Antony Gormley’s HOLD (2024) for £750,000 ($1 million), David Salle’s Blue Trunks (2025) for $220,000, Martha Jungwirth’s Untitled (Berggasse 19) (2025) for €170,000 ($197,000), and Alex Katz’s Study for Emma (2015) for $150,000.
• Gallery Hyundai sold multiple works from its dual presentation of Kim Tschang-yeul and Seung-taek Lee. Works by Kim were priced between $180,000 and $1.1 million apiece, while works by Lee were priced between $170,000 and $700,000 apiece.
• Kukje Gallery sold Ha Chong-Hyun’s Post-Conjunction 21-512 (2021) for $253,000–$303,600 and Park Seo-Bo’s Ecriture No. 220611 (2022) for $250,000–$300,000. The gallery also sold Kibong Rhee’s The Mystery Tour (2026) for $120,000–$144,000, and Suki Seokyeong Kang’s Mat #24-10 (2023–24) for $100,000–$120,000.
• White Cube sold Gerhard Richter’s Fuji for €625,000 ($724,000), as well as Park Seo-Bo’s Ecriture No.221121 for $300,000 and Ecriture No. 070909 for $190,000. Additional sales included Antony Gormley’s SMALL CLAIM for £250,000 ($337,000), Klára Hosnedlová’s The Observer for $175,000, Tesfaye Urgessa’s Fiber of grace (Schutz) 2 for £120,000 ($162,000), Alia Ahmad’s Finood 5 (branches of a tree) for $120,000, and Ibrahim Mahama’s Coffin for head of state for €85,000 ($98,000).
• Hauser & Wirth placed works by Louise Bourgeois, Lorna Simpson, Jenny Holzer, Jeffrey Gibson, and Angel Otero for between $185,000 and $600,000 apiece.
• Pace Gallery reported multiple sales from across its program, including Lee Ufan’s With Winds (1987) and David Hockney’s Life (2012) for undisclosed prices. Priced sales included Anicka Yi’s HLKR£Kþ§†MLJ (2026) for $225,000, Marina Perez Simão’s Untitled (2021) for $220,000, Robert Longo’s Study of White Horse Head (2026) for $90,000, and Lauren Quin’s Morning Fold (2026) for $90,000.

• In addition to the Gaillard sale, Sprüth Magers sold Rosemarie Trockel’s Climate Box (2023) for $270,000, and Salvo’s Apamea (2001) for $215,000. Additional sales included Arthur Jafa’s Mike and Big (2024) for $85,000 and Gala Porras-Kim’s A terminal escape from the place that binds us (2025) for $80,000.
• Lehmann Maupin sold Calida Rawles’s Feel Our Blues That Go Back And Black (2026) for $200,000–$300,000 to a prominent Asian foundation. The gallery also reported sales of three works by Kim Yun Shin for $30,000–$80,000 each and two works by Guimi You for a combined $30,000–$80,000. The gallery said it placed a significant number of works from its solo presentation of Do Ho Suh for undisclosed prices, with the majority acquired by Asian clients.
• Gana Art sold Edmund de Waal’s clouds over the river become rain (2026) for $175,000 and Choi Jongtae’s Face (1987) for ₩100 million ($73,000).
• In addition to the Arruda sale, David Zwirner reported transactions including a 1942 painting by Giorgio Morandi, a 1983 painting by Alice Neel, a 2010 painting by Luc Tuymans, a 1976 wall-mounted bronze-wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa, a 2026 painting by Dana Schutz, a 2017 painting by Michaël Borremans, and a new work by Walter Price. Prices were not disclosed.
• David Kordansky Gallery sold nine paintings from its solo presentation of Chase Hall, representing the majority of its booth. Prices were not disclosed.

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Galerie Nordenhake opens new Berlin space in Charlottenburg. https://ift.tt/yPOlAim

Galerie Nordenhake is opening a new, larger location in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, the gallery announced this week. The space, at Goethestraße 2–3, opens to the public on September 10th with a reception timed to coincide with Berlin Art Week. A group exhibition titled “Symptoms” will be the space’s inaugural show.

The move caps a year of 50th-anniversary programming for the gallery, which celebrated five decades of exhibitions across its Berlin, Stockholm, and Mexico City locations in 2026. The new address—a 19th-century building constructed in 1881 as a post office complex and designed by the architect Wilhelm Tuckermann—previously belonged to Galerie Max Hetzler.

“Symptoms” brings together 16 artists who work in collage, photography, sculpture, and paint, including Mirosław Bałka, John Coplans, Ann Edholm, and Not Vital. The exhibition title links their pieces to traces of underlying conditions: The featured artists explore the unease of these subtle cues through fragmented bodies, unstable pictorial space, and hybrid materials.

At the center of the exhibition is Benjamin Orlow’s Ritual City (2026), a large-scale plaster, ceramic, and wood sculpture in which two figures merge with scaffolding, which the gallery describes as “suspended between formation and dissolution.” Other works include Edvard Munch’s 1895 lithograph Vampyr II, a grief-laden early drawing by George Grosz, and Michael Schmidt’s nine-part photographic group Untitled (from Waffenruhe) (1985–87). The show also features paintings by Mamma Andersson and Sophie Reinhold, and collage works by Frida Orupabo drawn from archival photographs of Black bodies.

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Your Guide to the Art World in Fall 2026 https://ift.tt/t5BzO7P

Fall 2026 is stacked for the art world. Five continents’ worth of art fairs, a run of blockbuster museum openings, two major auction weeks, and more than a dozen gallery weekends are all packed into 16 weeks.

The season opens in South Korea, with Frieze Seoul and Kiaf SEOUL’s milestone 25th edition in early September and closes with Art Basel Miami Beach and its satellite fairs in early December. In between there are plenty of other highlights including the Whitney Museum of American Art’s long-awaited Roy Lichtenstein survey, the opening of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Frieze’s launch into the Middle East with Frieze Abu Dhabi.

Below is a month-by-month breakdown of the fairs, museum shows, and other happenings worth planning around.

September 2026

Art fairs in September 2026

Frieze Seoul and Kiaf SEOUL (Sep. 2–6), COEX, Seoul: Frieze Seoul enters its fifth edition alongside its partner fair Kiaf SEOUL, which marks its 25th anniversary this year under the theme “Coexistence.” Together the two fairs bring more than 300 galleries to Seoul, with Kiaf alone hosting 175 exhibitors from 18 countries and territories. A slate of citywide “Neighborhood Nights” of gallery openings and festivities runs throughout the week.

Sydney Contemporary (Sep. 2–6), Carriageworks, Sydney: Australia’s largest contemporary art fair celebrates its 10th edition this year, bringing roughly 100 galleries and more than 500 artists to Sydney.

Tokyo Gendai (Sep. 10–13), Pacifico Yokohama: Now in its fourth edition, this international contemporary fair splits its program across established-gallery, emerging-artist, and works-on-paper sections. It’s quickly become a key stop on Asia’s expanding fair circuit.

The Armory Show (Sep. 24–27), Javits Center, New York: The 32nd edition of New York’s flagship fair brings together around 230 galleries and introduces new Caribbean Focus, Performance, and After Hours programming this year.

Independent 20th Century (Sep. 24–27), Sotheby’s at The Breuer, New York: This edition marks the fair’s first at Sotheby’s new home on Madison Avenue. It’s the biggest edition of the fair yet, with 56 exhibitors and more than 130 artists spanning modern and post-war work.

Three museum shows opening in September 2026 to watch

The Bayeux Tapestry, British Museum, London: Opening September 10th and running through July 2027, this is the first time the nearly 1,000-year-old, 70-meter tapestry has left France. It depicts the events leading up to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, and tickets through the end of the year had already sold out following record demand.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles: The museum founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson opens to the public September 22nd (member previews begin September 5th) in Exposition Park. Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, it houses more than 40,000 works centered on illustration and narrative storytelling. The building is more than a decade in the making.

Maurizio Cattelan, “NIGHT,” Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin: Running September 10th through March 2027, this is Cattelan’s first major solo exhibition in Germany, staged as he receives the 2026 Preis der Nationalgalerie. Curated by Lisa Botti with director Klaus Biesenbach, it will feature signature works like Him (2001) and La Nona Ora (1999)—a sculpture of the pope stricken by a meteorite—along with new commissions.

Other art world happenings to know in September 2026

• Berlin Art Week (Sep. 9–13): the 15th edition activates more than 100 museums, galleries, and project spaces across the German capital.
• Madrid Apertura Gallery Weekend (Sep. 10–13): the Spanish capital’s 17th annual season-opening weekend will feature roughly 60 member galleries.
• Warsaw Gallery Weekend (Sep. 18–20): the 16th edition of Warsaw’s citywide gallery weekend featuring around 60 exhibitors and over 130 artists.
• Barcelona Gallery Weekend (Sep. 17–20): the 12th edition, organized by Art Barcelona, will span 25 galleries across the city’s neighborhoods.
• RendeVous - Brussels Art Week (Sep. 10–13): Four days of exhibitions and events at over 95 venues.
• curated by Vienna (opening weekend Sep. 11–13, running through Oct. 17): the 17th edition of the Austrian capital’s gallery festival in which curators are invited to mount shows at galleries across the city. This year’s theme is “LOVE.”
• Prague Art Week (Sep. 24–27): the fifth edition, spanning roughly 100 events across 40 institutions, most with free admission.

October 2026

Art fairs in October 2026

Atlanta Art Fair (Oct. 1–4), Pullman Yards: The fair’s third edition, and first at the Pullman Yards venue, brings more than 70 galleries from as far afield as South Korea, Spain, and Uganda.

Art Jakarta (Oct. 2–4), JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta: Featuring more than 70 galleries with a spotlight on Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art, Art Jakarta is also complemented by a curated program of events this year.

Untitled Art, Houston (Oct. 1–4), George R. Brown Convention Center: The second edition of Untitled Art’s foray into Texas features 95 galleries.

London Art Week

The British capital comes alive in the fall, anchored by a clutch of art fairs:

• Frieze London and Frieze Masters (Oct. 14–18), The Regent’s Park: The flagship pair, running side by side as they do every year, with leading contemporary art at Frieze London and historical/20th-century at Frieze Masters. The free outdoor Frieze Sculpture program runs concurrently in the park from mid-September through early November.
• 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Oct. 15–18), Somerset House: The leading fair dedicated to contemporary African and diasporic art.
• PAD London (Oct. 13–18), Berkeley Square: The suave design-and-20th-century-fine-art fair returns to Mayfair.
• London Invitational (Oct. 15–18), the Chancery Rosewood: Based on a floor of one of London’s glitziest hotels, a tight roster of galleries have been corralled by the founders of the Dallas Invitational.
• Fair Play (Oct. 15–18), One Marylebone: New fair where selected artists receive free exhibition stands in exchange for commissions on sales.

Paris Art Week

Just after London Art Week, the French capital plays host to a bevy of art world activity. The slate of key fairs is as follows:

• Art Basel Paris (Oct. 21–25), Grand Palais: The fifth edition is the first staged under new director Karim Crippa, with 211 exhibitors from 41 countries taking part. Expect the typical Art Basel fare of blue-chip works and heavyweight artists.
• Paris Internationale (Oct. 21–25), location TBD: The trendy emerging art-focused fair is running for an extended period this year.
• Asia Now (Oct. 20–24), Monnaie de Paris: Its 12th edition, dedicated to contemporary Asian art.
• AKAA (Also Known As Africa) (Oct. 23–25), Carreau du Temple: Focused on African and diasporic contemporary art and design.
• Post-Fair (Oct. 19–24), Rue du Temple: The Paris edition of the February Los Angeles fair of the same name, this fair presents 34 solo and duo artist presentations.

Artissima (Oct. 2–Nov. 1), OVAL Lingotto Fiere, Turin: Now in its 33rd edition, this fair, known for spotlighting experimental and cutting-edge practices, brings roughly 180 galleries from 35 countries.

London and Paris October auctions: what to know

Both tentpole auction weeks land alongside their respective fairs. London’s evening sales group around Frieze week (Oct. 14–18), while Paris’s take place around Art Basel Paris (Oct. 21–25). The 2025 London sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips were up roughly 131% year over year, so expectations will be on livelier auctions compared to seasons past.

Full October 2026 lots and estates aren’t yet public at the time of writing, but Christie’s has announced that a leading lot of their London 20/21 evening sale will be Piet Mondrian’s Composition III (1920), which carries an estimate of £20 million–£30 million ($27.3 million–$40.9 million).

Last year’s comparable weeks set a strong precedent, with Christie’s October 2025 London evening sale hitting £106.9 million ($145.7 million), its best Frieze Week result in seven-plus years. In Paris, Sotheby’s and Christie’s combined sales totaled €182 million ($212.3 million), including all-time French auction records for Surrealist art.

Five museum shows opening in October 2026 to watch

Roy Lichtenstein, “Like New,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: Opening October 11th (member previews Oct. 8 to 10), this survey of the post-war icon features more than 130 works spanning the 1940s through the 1990s. It’s co-curated by Meg Onli and guest curator artist Alex Da Corte. All eight works from Lichtenstein’s 1962 debut at Leo Castelli’s gallery will be reunited for the first time.

Mariko Mori, “All That Shines,” Mori Art Museum, Tokyo: Opening October 31st and running through March 2027, this retrospective gathers 80 works across three decades of Mori’s practice, tracing her fusion of art, science, and metaphysics through installation, sculpture, video, and performance.

“Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Running October 4th through January 2027, this is the first major New York presentation devoted to either artist in more than 20 years and the first at the Met for either. It features 120-plus works drawn from more than 80 lenders across 12 thematic chapters.

“The ’90s: Art and Fashion,” Tate Britain, London::Running October 8th through February 2027 and curated by former British Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful, this show brings together more than 100 works—including photography, painting, film, sculpture, and fashion—from nearly 70 artists.

Salman Toor, “Someone Like You,” The Courtauld, London: Running October 2nd through January 2027, this is Toor’s first solo exhibition in Europe. It will feature 19 paintings made since 2019 alongside a selection of drawings.

Other art world happenings to know in October 2026

Rome Art Week (Oct. 19–25): The nonprofit, artist- and gallery-organized citywide festival now draws over 700 participating artists, who open their studios directly to visitors, alongside galleries, foundations, museums, and academies hosting exhibitions, talks, and performances. Everything is free.

November 2026

Art fairs in November 2026

Art Cologne (Nov. 5–8), Koelnmesse, Cologne: Founded in 1967 and widely regarded as the world’s oldest modern art fair, this 59th edition remains a bellwether for the German and Central European market, blending blue-chip 20th- and 21st-century galleries with emerging positions.

Art X Lagos (Nov. 5–8), the Federal Palace: West Africa’s first international art fair (launched in 2016) remains a leading spot for contemporary African and diaspora art, drawing galleries and collectors from across the continent and beyond.

Art Collaboration Kyoto (Nov. 7–9), Kyoto International Conference Center: Now in its sixth edition, ACK’s distinctive format pairs each Japanese gallery with an overseas counterpart in shared booths, prioritizing cultural exchange.

West Bund Art & Design and ART021 (Nov. 10–15), Shanghai: The two flagship fairs of Shanghai Art Week, these fairs are key barometers of the Chinese contemporary art market.

Paris Photo (Nov. 12–15), Grand Palais: The 29th edition coincides with the “Bicentennial of Photography” and brings together roughly 242 exhibitors—195 galleries and 47 publishers—from 38 countries, making it the world’s leading fair dedicated to the photographic medium.

Art Mumbai (Nov. 12–15), Mahalaxmi Racecourse: Now in its fourth edition, this fair has quickly become a key fixture in South Asia for modern and contemporary art, spanning historic Indian modernism through current practices.

ADAA Fair, New York (Nov. 13–16), Park Avenue Armory: The Art Dealers Association of America rebranded its long-running “The Art Show” as the “ADAA Fair” for this edition after a one-year hiatus, naming 63 exhibitors, timed to New York's marquee November auction week.

Frieze Abu Dhabi (Nov. 19–22), Manarat Al Saadiyat: This inaugural edition marks Frieze's first venture into the Middle East, with Deutsche Bank as global lead partner—one of the season’s biggest launches.

Two museum openings in November 2026 for your radar

Self-Portrait, 1952-c.
Vanessa Bell
Piano Nobile

Sophie Calle, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin: Opening November 13th (through May 2027) as part of the museum’s 30th-anniversary celebrations, this is the French artist’s first Berlin solo show in more than 20 years, spanning six bodies of work across three decades. It includes a new work commissioned for the anniversary that will enter the museum’s permanent collection as a donation.

“Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury,” Tate Britain, London: Opening November 12th (through April 2027) in partnership with Charleston, the Bloomsbury Group couple’s former Sussex home and studio, this is the first major exhibition to chart their intertwined artistic and personal relationship. It features more than 300 works and a full-size re-creation of Grant’s studio, relocated from Charleston for the show.

New York November 2026 auctions: what to know

New York’s November week remains the fall’s marquee auction moment for Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, running the 20th- and 21st-century evening sales that anchor the global auction calendar. Specific 2026 headline lots and consignments haven’t been announced as of late August 2026, but Artnet News revealed last month that Sotheby’s has secured the $450 million Blaquier collection, with works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Edgar Degas. Auction house catalogues typically go public in September and October. For scale, the equivalent sales last year were up 77% year over year for the three houses. Expect a competitive week.

Other art world happenings to know in November 2026

• Art Week Tokyo (Nov. 4–8): The fifth edition of this citywide initiative activates more than 50 museums and galleries.
• Lisbon Art Weekend (Nov. 5–8): A citywide gallery and institution weekend reflecting Lisbon’s growing profile as a Southern European art hub.

December 2026

Art fairs in December 2026: Miami Art Week

Arguably the busiest week of fairs in the U.S. art world calendar, Miami Art Week takes place hot on the heels of Thanksgiving.

Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 2–6), Miami Beach Convention Center: This year is expected to draw the usual mix of blue-chip galleries and major collectors that has made it the most influential fair in the Americas since its 2002 launch. Other fairs to note:

• Design Miami (Dec. 1–6), Pride Park: Now in its 22nd edition, this is a leading fair for collectible design, bringing historical and contemporary furniture, lighting, and objects from galleries worldwide.
• NADA Miami (Dec. 1–5), Ice Palace Studios: The New Art Dealers Alliance’s 24th edition brings together 135 galleries and has long served as the go-to slot for emerging and mid-career dealers.
• Untitled Art, Miami Beach (VIP preview Dec. 1, public Dec. 2–6), beachfront pavilion on Ocean Drive: In its 15th edition with 160-plus galleries, it’s known for its purpose-built beachfront tent and a curatorial approach that mixes emerging and established galleries side by side.
• Pinta Miami (Dec. 3–6), The Hangar: Marking its 20th anniversary this year, it remains the leading fair dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art.
• SCOPE Miami Beach (Dec. 1–6), Miami Beach: With more than 80 international galleries, it’s built around discovering emerging artists and has run alongside Art Basel Miami Beach since 2002.

A museum opening in December 2026 for your radar

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi: Two decades after the project was first announced in 2006, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Foundation have set an opening date of December 11, 2026, for the monumental Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

Designed by the late Frank Gehry, the 800,000-plus-square-foot building—with the architect’s signature motif of cone-shaped galleries—will be the largest Guggenheim institution in the world. It will contain roughly 125,000 square feet of exhibition space across 30 galleries.

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Princess Diana exhibition to premiere at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. https://ift.tt/C6W7dEn

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum will open “Princess Diana: Love Life Legacy—A Life of Giving” on November 7th—the exhibition’s global premiere. The show runs through May 31, 2027, at the Simi Valley, California, institution and brings together more than 700 artifacts from Diana’s life. They range from childhood keepsakes to the fashions that made her a global icon.

Centerpieces include the “Travolta” dress, which Diana wore while dancing with John Travolta at a 1985 White House state dinner and is on loan from Historic Royal Palaces, and the “Final Goodbye” dress—Diana’s last collaboration with designer Jacques Azagury, who created some of her best-known pieces. Other highlights include her iconic “Black Sheep” sweater, the “Caring” dress she wore visiting hospitalized children, her wedding slippers, the official program from her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles (now King Charles III), and a run of Lady Dior handbags, jewelry, letters, and personal documents.

“This exhibition offers an intimate look at one of the most memorable chapters in modern diplomatic history,” said Melissa Giller, chief marketing and cultural programming officer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, in a statement. “The Reagan Foundation is honored to be the first location to host the exhibit, showcasing the deep bond between Princess Diana and the Reagans, as well as the timeless influence that Princess Diana shared with the world.” Future venues are yet to be announced.

Diana and the Reagans forged a public friendship during the Reagan presidency, capped by her 1985 Washington D.C. visit and her widely photographed dance with Travolta. She died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, a year after divorcing Prince Charles.

In recent years, prices for Diana’s wardrobe have climbed steadily at auction—a 1985 Jacques Azagury gown made $1.1 million in 2023, a Victor Edelstein gown made $910,000 in 2024. And last year Julien’s Auctions’ “Princess Diana’s Style & A Royal Collection” sale in Beverly Hills brought in more than $5 million. Several lots that day landed far past their estimates: a Catherine Walker coat dress sold for $455,000 against a $50,000 high estimate, and a Lady Dior handbag brought $325,000 against an estimate of $30,000.

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11 Must-See Museum Shows to See In Fall 2026 https://ift.tt/ASKuhIc

As summer draws to a close, museums around the world are unveiling lineups of not-to-be-missed exhibitions. Some are righting long-standing gaps in the canon: The Denver Art Museum spotlights the resilience of Indigenous artists across Latin America, Helsinki’s Ateneum traces the overlooked role of esotericism in women artists’ work, and Tate St Ives mounts the first definitive retrospective of renowned British modernist painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

Others speak to the present. As the U.S. celebrates 250 years of independence, Taryn Simon unveils a sprawling Guggenheim installation tracing a father’s decades in government service; at the New Museum, Arthur Jafa’s survey mines internet culture, social media, and popular music to reveal the many layers of contemporary Black life; and Hong Kong’s M+ museum explores how fantasy shapes our understanding of the world today.

This season brings both sweeping retrospectives of household names and showcases for rising artists, which take center stage from New York to Accra.

Below are 11 must-see museum shows this fall.

Taryn Simon

“Father Country I Do Love You”

The Guggenheim, New York

Sep. 18, 2026–Mar. 14, 2027

American artist Taryn Simon is known for highly researched projects that draw attention to overlooked stories from across the globe. Her photographic series “The Innocents” (2000) traced the lives of wrongfully incarcerated individuals, while her sonic and sculptural installation An Occupation of Loss (2016) highlighted professional mourners performing grief rituals.

Simon’s interactive installation for the Guggenheim, titled “Father Country I Do Love You,” features an entirely new body of 42 artworks that includes photography, text, video, and sculpture. Altogether, they chart the life of an unnamed federal agent. He bears some resemblance to her own mysterious father, who traveled the globe on assignment for the U.S. government, then settled into a second life selling arcade games. Simon developed the project over roughly a decade, and it marks the first time she’s woven personal narrative into her practice. Simon’s father received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis before he could divulge his full story to his daughter, who turns to art and invention to fill in the blanks.

Through the lens of her speculative protagonist, the artist offers a sprawling web of stories shaped by one man's life in service of a nation. This is the first solo presentation by a photography-focused artist to occupy the Guggenheim’s rotunda, and the largest debut of new work in the museum’s history.

Arthur Jafa

“I Am Tony”

New Museum, New York

Sep. 24, 2026–Jan. 3, 2027

For over three decades, Arthur Jafa has made cinematic art about the reality of being Black in America. The Mississippi-born artist has engaged with internet culture, social media, cinema, and music as he’s built a remarkable archive of images exploring themes of race and identity. Jafa often employs collage and montage to create “affective proximities” (a concept coined by his longtime collaborator, Ghanaian British artist John Akomfrah) that reveal the intersections of history, violence, culture, and entertainment.

“I Am Tony” at the New Museum is the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date, featuring early and new pieces in photography, installation, painting, and sculpture alongside a selection of Jafa’s most acclaimed videos, including Love is the Message, The Message is Death (2016) and The White Album (2019), winner of the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Named after the famous jazz drummer Tony Williams, the show traces the evolution of Jafa’s cinematic creations, which echo the texture, styles, and themes of Black popular music.

“I Follow Rivers: Indigenous Worlds in Latin America”

Denver Art Museum, Denver

Nov. 8, 2026–July 27, 2027

For centuries, colonial violence has threatened the dignity and survival of Indigenous groups across modern-day Latin America. “I Follow Rivers: Indigenous Worlds in Latin America” spotlights the resilience of these communities, many of whom turn to art as a form of resistance. The largest exhibition in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Indigenous Latin American artists, the show will present more than 100 works by over 50 artists. They include internationally acclaimed names such as Sheroanawë Hakihiiwe, Abel Rodríguez, MAHKU (Huni Kuin Art Movement), and Denilson Baniwa.

The works on view will illustrate the cultural richness and enduring strength of Indigenous peoples throughout Latin America as they touch on themes such as land, community, history, and change. Highlights include textiles by Claudia Alarcón; a major installation by Claudia Martínez Garay; and delicate works on paper by Hakihiiwe.

John Baldessari

“The End of the Line”

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami

Through May 9, 2027

Pioneering Conceptual artist John Baldessari favored ideas and linguistic play throughout his work. Drawing on text, found photography, film stills, advertising, and appropriated imagery, he undermined notions of authorship, originality, and the way images communicate meaning. Baldessari was also a beloved CalArts instructor who cemented his place as a defining figure of the Los Angeles art scene. Among his best-known works are series in which he covered his subjects’ faces with colored dots to strip away identity and celebrity. “If you can’t see their face, you’re going to look at how they’re dressed, maybe their stance, their surroundings,” he said during an NPR interview in 2013.

“John Baldessari: The End of the Line” at the Pérez Art Museum Miami will showcase nearly 40 works of painting, photography, video, and installation by the Californian artist, spanning five decades. Drawn from the Craig Robins Collection, the pieces are organized across three sections, spotlighting the artist’s earliest works, his serial and experimental photographic methods, and his boundary-breaking dialogue with mass media and popular culture.

Gala Porras-Kim

“El movimiento de un registro fluvial (The Motion of an Alluvial Record)”

Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Medellín, Colombia

Sep. 9, 2026–Mar. 28, 2027

In her multidisciplinary practice, Gala Porras-Kim examines how museums categorize, preserve, and interpret their collections. Born in Bogotá, now based between Los Angeles and London, the artist critiques efforts to halt natural decay and the passage of time; this mindset clashes with how other cultures understand and discuss the meaning of objects.

“El movimiento de un registro fluvial (The Motion of an Alluvial Record)” at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM) marks the artist's first institutional show in Colombia. Featuring drawings, installations, and institutional dialogues, the exhibition questions Western approaches to conserving, representing, and safeguarding cultural property.

Standout works on view include 62 Offerings for the Rain at the Palacio Cantón (2023), a graphite and colored pencil drawing from Porras-Kim’s ongoing series depicting ritual artifacts excavated from the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá, and Out of an Instance of Expiration Comes a Perennial Showing (2022), a textile that features mold spores propagated from the British Museum and reflects on themes of growth and collection storage.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Tate St Ives, Cornwall, England

Oct. 24, 2026–May 3, 2027

A key figure of British modernism, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham moved to St Ives, in Cornwall, in 1940 and became a crucial presence in the seaside town’s trailblazing creative community (Barbara Hepworth was an early friend). She was a painter, printmaker, and draftsman who described her practice as a sustained dialogue between inner experience and outer reality.

Yet the Tate St Ives exhibition is the first to fully trace the breadth of the Scottish artist’s oeuvre. It features 170 paintings, drawings, and prints that Barns-Graham created over the course of her eight-decade career, alongside rare archival materials. The retrospective spans landscapes, interior paintings, and abstract works, showcasing an artist endlessly attuned to humanity’s profound relationship with the natural world and the boundless possibilities of abstraction evidenced through her insistent probing of line, form, and color.

The show brings together rare pieces from private and public collections in order to present the largest survey to date of Barns-Graham’s celebrated “Glacier” series: around 100 paintings the artist began in 1949, following a visit to Switzerland’s Grindelwald Glacier, that experiment with light and geometric forms to convey her encounter with the icy landscape.

Amar Kanwar

Serpentine Galleries,

London

Sep. 23, 2026–Jan. 27, 2027

For more than 25 years, Amar Kanwar has pushed the boundaries of documentary filmmaking to meditate on the history, politics, and cultural realities of the Indian subcontinent. He’s earned such recognitions as the MacArthur fellowship (2000) for deeply personal, lyrical films that illuminate contemporary violence, power, and justice.

Conceived as a site-specific installation, this major solo exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries brings together three works by the New Delhi–based artist. It includes the feature-length film Such a Morning (2017), in which a renowned mathematician retreats to live in a dark and abandoned train carriage; the multiscreen installation The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), which blends images and sounds to meditate on the fleeting nature of life; and the debut of a newly commissioned film installation, The Charcoal Man (2026). Three years in the making, it considers how the legacy of the bloody 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan continues to reverberate today.

“Arcana Borealis – Northern Women and Esotericism”

Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

Oct. 23, 2026–Feb. 28, 2027

“Arcana Borealis – Northern Women and Esotericism” at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki spotlights the work of women artists from Northern Europe, working from the 19th century to today, who were influenced by unorthodox spiritual currents. The role of esotericism on male artists is better known, and the show seeks to expand the public understanding of how these lines of thought shaped their female counterparts. It brings together works by celebrated names such as Hilma af Klint, Ellen Thesleff, and Anna-Eva Bergman alongside lesser-known figures like Ilona Harima, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, and Maja Fjaestad.

Co-curated by Nina Kokkinen, a researcher of art and religion, and Marja Lahelma, chief curator at the Ateneum, the exhibition features artists working across a range of media, including textiles, ceramics, painting, and metal engraving. Highlights include Hilma af Klint’s The Dove No. 1, Series UW, Group 9 (1915), part of the Swedish artist’s widely celebrated project “Paintings for the Temple,” and Oasis (1935) by Danish artist Rita Kernn-Larsen, one of the few renowned female artists to take part in the Surrealist movement during the 1930s.

Alvaro Barrington

Limbo Museum, Accra

Oct. 29, 2026–Feb. 1, 2027

Multidisciplinary artist Alvaro Barrington works with materials like burlap and tarpaulin, which evoke his Caribbean upbringing and the migrant experience. Born in Venezuela and raised between Grenada, Brooklyn, and London, the artist draws on this layered upbringing to create paintings, installations, and embroideries that celebrate community, explore migration and belonging, and defy categorization.

Following a residency at Accra’s Limbo Museum, Barrington will present his first solo show on the African continent. The artist has responded to the museum’s raw, permanently incomplete state to realize his institutional commission, which comprises paintings, sculptures, and site-specific installations. He’s developed them with local materials, fabricators, artisans, structures, and modes of production. The exhibition allows the city itself to become an active participant in his process.

“Myths and Monsters: the Art of Fantasy in Asia”

M +, Hong Kong

Oct. 17, 2026–Apr. 4, 2027

“Myths and Monsters: the Art of Fantasy in Asia” reveals how Asian artists have constructed imaginary worlds amid difficult social and political realities. The show unites more than 400 works spanning contemporary art, architecture, fashion, video games, and film; Surrealist dreamscapes, Tibetan Buddhist scrolls, and anime trace the myriad forms fantasy has taken across the region’s visual traditions. Considering the increasingly prominent role of avatars and other digital imagery in Asian daily life, the show also asks why fantasy still matters to how we see the world today.

Highlights include Golden Fighter’s Despair (2004), from Cao Fei’s acclaimed “Cosplayers” series, which explores Chinese youth subcultures cosplaying as anime characters against the backdrop of an increasingly urban and isolating country; Landscape of Self Portrait (1962) by Korean artist Kim Younghwan, a rare exponent of Surrealism who favored dreamlike worlds in defiance of the traditional art trends that prevailed during Korea’s post-liberation era; and Night March of Hundred Monsters (2021–25), a multichannel video and animation installation by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen that connects Japanese folkloric monsters and the lived horrors of Japanese imperialism in World War II–era Southeast Asia.

Giuseppe Penone

“The Inner Flow of Life”

National Museum of Qatar, Qatar

Oct. 26, 2026–Feb. 13, 2027

Giuseppe Penone's belief that everything is connected undergirds his multidisciplinary practice. A key exponent of Arte Povera, the radical Italian movement that sought to reconsider the value of humble materials, Penone has worked for more than 50 years. His media have included paper, photography, and performance, with a particular focus on sculpture. Frequent themes include aging, growth, and respiration.

Co-produced by Qatar Museums and the Serpentine Galleries in London, “Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life” will transform the National Museum of Qatar’s Baraha and Old Palace through a series of pavilions, sculptures, and immersive installations. The artist will install two massive bronze tree sculptures from his “Idee di Pietra (Ideas of Stones)” series at Doha’s Old Port. The exhibition will include work spanning 1969 through today as it highlights Penone’s enduring interest in the synergy between organic and artistic processes. Pieces in wood, iron, water, bronze, clay, and marble will be on view.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art cancels its planned John Galliano Costume Institute exhibition. https://ift.tt/Ncx3daU

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will not stage its planned John Galliano retrospective, the museum and the designer announced jointly on Monday, August 31st. “John Galliano: Horizons,” scheduled to open in May 2027 as the Costume Institute’s spring show, has been called off after months of mounting criticism over Galliano’s history of antisemitic and racist remarks.

“Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,” said Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO, in a statement. The museum said it will announce a new spring exhibition and details of the 2027 Met Gala at a later date. This year’s show, “Costume Art,” opened in May and runs through January 10, 2027.

Galliano said he had made the decision “with great sadness.” “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it,” he said. “I understand that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture.” The 2027 gala, held as always on the first Monday in May, would have fallen on Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust remembrance day.

He added that he did not want the debate around him “to place The Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute,” and that he recognized an exhibition honoring his work “would be painful for some.”

Dior dismissed Galliano in 2011 after video surfaced of the designer making antisemitic remarks, including “I love Hitler,” at a Paris café. A French court later convicted him of public insults based on origin, religion, race, or ethnicity. He apologized, entered rehab, and returned as creative director of Maison Margiela from 2014 to 2024. He has spoken publicly about his recovery from alcoholism and addiction.

Opposition has built since the museum announced the show in July. The New York Times reported last week that several donors had warned they would pull promised gifts, among them Arne Glimcher, founder of Pace Gallery. In an email to Met curator David Breslin quoted by the Times, Glimcher wrote: “I don’t think you have considered the cost of this action and its reverberations to come.” Critics also included Julie Menin, speaker of New York’s City Council, who called the exhibition “a serious mistake” in a letter to the exhibition’s organizers.

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MoMA to present major survey of post-colonial African art in 2027. https://ift.tt/gB12z3F

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will present “Freedom and Futures: Emancipatory Art in Africa, 1956–1982,” an exhibition tracing the history of modern art during Africa’s independence era, on view May 2–August 14, 2027. The show brings together roughly 250 objects from collections around the world, including some 40 works from MoMA’s own holdings. The show is organized by curator Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi with former curatorial associate Erica DiBenedetto.

The exhibition proposes “emancipatory art” as a framework for understanding how artists across the continent gave aesthetic form to decolonization. The show describes these works as a form of “emancipatory modernism.” It is organized around two foundational Pan-African gatherings held in Europe— the First Congress of Black Writers and Artists (Paris, 1956) and the Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists (Rome, 1959). These seminal gatherings were followed by five subsequent festivals held in Zimbabwe, Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria, and Botswana between 1962 and 1982. Works from each of these festivals will appear sequentially across six thematic sections spanning painting, sculpture, photography, film, tapestry, and printmaking.

Highlights from the show include the Algerian artist Mohammed Khadda’s Africa Before One (1963), which draws on Tassili cave petroglyphs and Amazigh and Arabic scripts; Nigerian artist Uche Okeke’s Women Riot (1965), depicting the 1929 women’s tax revolt in eastern Nigeria; Mozambican artist Valente Malangatana’s surrealist Cry of Freedom (1973), made during the final years of Portuguese colonial rule; and Senegalese artist Iba N'Diaye’s Juan de Pareja Menaced by Dogs (1982), which reworks a 1650 Diego Velázquez’ portrait into a statement on neocolonialism.

Ahead of the exhibition, MoMA made several significant acquisitions, including works by Khadda, Malangatana, Okeke, Mahjoub Ben Bella, Gavin Jantjes, Gazbia Sirry, and Ibrahim El Salahi. Nzewi sees these acquisitions in the lineage of the museum’s founding director Alfred H. Barr Jr.'s 1960 acquisition of Tanzanian artist Sam Joseph Ntiro's painting Men Taking Banana Beer to Bride by Night (1956), one of the first acquisitions of a modern work by an African-born artist by a major Western institution, made the same year 17 African nations gained independence.

“Freedom and Futures” caps a three-part series on mid-century Africa at MoMA, growing out of the museum’s Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives (C-MAP) Africa research group, which Nzewi leads. It follows “Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political” (on view December 2025–July 2026), which examined Pan-African photographic portraiture drawn largely from collector Jean Pigozzi’s 2019 gift to the museum, and “Architects of Liberation.” Modernism in Western”(on view July 2026–January 2027), which surveyed independence-era architecture across seven West African nations.

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