Women’s rights in Wyoming, environmental activism in Brazil, modern consumption in Paris, fairylands in London: 2026 has a lot to say already. These are the exhibitions to see in 2026.
Refresh your mind with the ethereal scenes of Tim Walker, discover a canonical but lesser-known painter in Wales, learn about Belgium’s fashion history, and see the world through Martin Parr’s lens. Here are the exhibitions you’ll want to make space for in your 2026 travel itineraries, to set the new year up to be one of considered, introspective, retrospective, and above all, revolutionary art.
London & UK
Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, V&A South Kensington
In the words of Elsa Schiaparelli, “in difficult times fashion is always outrageous.” Does 2026 need a little bit of sartorial provocation? The V&A believes so. Opening in March, the first ever Schiaparelli exhibition to arrive in the UK journeys through the history of the brand from its surrealist 1920s origins (lobster tropes very much included) to the present day under creative director Daniel Roseberry. When clothes become as intricate, sculptural, and era-defining as this, it feels apt to ask where fashion becomes art. And that’s just what this exhibition sets out to do…
The 90s, Tate Britain
Oh the 90s, when fashion was flirty and creatives were rebellious… and who knows this better than image maker, founder of EE72, and ex-editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful? As the curator of Tate Britain’s next fashion exhibition, Enninful has gathered iconic images by Nick Knight, David Sims, Corinne Day, Juergen Teller and more, and clothes by the likes of Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood to capture the adventurous spirit of the decade.
Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends, National Portrait Gallery
“Photographer” doesn’t quite sum up the images Tim Walker crafts. Dreammaker, cinematographer, documenter, and visionary perhaps work better. It’s hard to name another image maker who captures quite the same otherworldly, dramatic gravity. For the five years leading up to this upcoming exhibition, Walker travelled the world to document activists, artists, performers and Queer communities to create the upcoming Tim Walker’s Fairyland. These portraits – among others – will be hung in the London gallery. In a world where it can feel like you can buy anything, having the freedom to be yourself still feels like a luxury. This exhibition is a space for that.
Gwen John: Strange Beauties, National Museum Cardiff, Wales
It’s a tale as old as art itself: a female artist who helped define the industry, overshadowed by male peers across her career, only to be celebrated after her death via exhibitions and being hung in collections that including Johnathan Anderson’s. In Wales, this artist is Gwen John. To celebrate the 150 anniversary of the painters’ birth, the National Museum Cardiff is presenting the most comprehensive exhibition of her work in over 40 years, showcasing over 200 oil paintings as well as rare drawings from the artists’ own studio. Senior curator Lucy Wood explains how “Gwen John described herself as ‘a seer of strange beauties, a teller of harmonies, a diligent worker’” – and across these works you can explore all of this and more.
Wes Anderson: The Archives, Design Museum, London
Wes Anderson’s characteristic visual symmetry, funky colour schemes, tongue-in-cheek exaggeration, but often serious plot lines, are known to all – avid fans or not, his films are inescapable. The Design Museum’s new exhibition is a behind-the-scenes snapshot into the incredible productions, as over 700 items from the archives are on display for the first time ever in the UK, marking the first ever retrospective of the filmmaker. The exhibition is arranged largely chronologically, sectioned out by film. In each, marvel over everything from the colourful costumes, clips from the movies, mini set replicas (the entire Darjeeling Express included), on-set BTS stills, soundtrack snippets, and all the props you could think of – from sketches, to books, type writers, perfume bottles, and even the iron tasseled keys from The Grand Budapest Hotel near a scaled model of the entire hotel. As co-curator and chief curatorial director of the Design Museum, Lucia Savi explains, Wes Anderson’s “extraordinary archive is testament to his unique cinematic approach,” and this exhibition is a wonderful prompt to revisit your favourites from his work.
Lee Miller, Tate Britain
Urgent, arresting, and startlingly elegant, once you discover Lee Miller’s photographs they don’t ever escape your mind. This eponymous exhibition at Tate Britain is the most extensive retrospective ever of photojournalist Lee Miller’s work, with over 250 vintage and modern prints – including those never displayed before. Kate Winslet’s captivating performance in award-winning 2024 movie Lee helped to reimagine the varied life of a figure who is now one of the most influential artists of the early 20th century. It’s hard to imagine how Miller’s World War II photography lay undiscovered in her attic until after her death, as the photographs inside these boxes would change the course of photojournalism for the remainder of the century. Miller lived a life of dichotomies: a Vogue-model-turned-photographer, she swapped posing as the subject of the lens to the author of the photographic gaze, and with her fine-tuned eye and bold demeanour, caught pivotable moments of war – and most importantly, the individuals affected.
Marie Antoinette Style, V&A, London
Versaille court shoes, Rococo ruffles, the coupe glass, cake. What do they have in common? Marie Antoinette, the eighteenth century Queen of France with an enduring modern legacy, of course. All the fashion in varying shades of pastel, shoes (many Manolo Blahniks included), cake, decorative arts, film, and more that Marie Antoinette’s timeless appeal has inspired are on display at London’s V&A. Minimalism be gone, this much-anticipated exhibition is set to be one for the ages. Let them eat cake!
Dirty Looks: Desire And Decay In Fashion, Barbican
What is conventional beauty in an industry that seems to change its mind every minute, every season? How have western beauty standards defined what is seen as beautiful? The Barbican’s fashion and beauty exhibition rebels against convention within both industries by uniting the work of over 60 designers (both established and emerging) who have each sought to challenge how we perceive art, ourselves, clothes, make-up, and more. Items designed by Alexander McQueen, Maison Margiela, and Vivienne Westwood accompany installations and commissions by Elena Velez, Paolo Carzana, Michaela Stark and others.
A Story of South Asian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London
The conversations between artists – of all disciplines – is so important to the lineage of art. And this is a thread that runs throughout The Royal Academy of Art’s latest exhibition. In 1949, sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee was born into post-Independence Bombay (Mumbai) to parents (Leela Mukherjee and Benode Behari Mukherjee) who were influential artists themselves. This would start a lifetime of creative friendships, collaborations, and conversations, each honouring India’s artistic traditions in unique ways by Mukherjee and her contemporaries. A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle is the first time Mukherjee’s work is on display amongst those who both informed it and were inspired by it; approximately one hundred works mark one hundred years of art, drawn out via sculpture, painting, drawing, textiles, ceramics, prints.
The Long Now, Saatchi Gallery, London
Where can we find a place for long-term culture in our fast-paced world of consumerism? Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition spotlights 40 years of contemporary art via a mix of landmark works by established artists and new commissions by the clever voices of ‘now’. Each piece is ambitious, and challenges how we think about life, culture, ourselves, long-term. There is a special array of artists exhibiting throughout, from Richard Wilson and Jenny Saville to Martine Poppe, Alex Katz, and Jo Dennis.
David Hockney: Some Very, Very, Very New Paintings Not Yet Shown in Paris, Annely Juda, London
Despite the painter’s landmark exhibition earlier this year in Paris, it’s impossible to feel Hockney-ed out, especially when, at age 88, he is still producing incredible work. Annely Juda gallery is new to Hanover Square, and opens with – just like the exhibition title describes – six never-seen-before paintings by David Hockney, each painted this very year.
Turner & Constable: Rivals And Originals, Tate Modern, London
J.M.W Turner and John Constable are two British artists who need very little introduction, especially at the Tate where a generous portfolio of their work is hung, available to enjoy year round. However, in this special landmark exhibition to celebrate the 250th anniversary of both artists’ births, an impressive selection of both their works will be hung in dialogue with one another, displaying their long-lasting impact on British landscape painting as well as each other’s legacies.
Costume Couture: Sixty Years Of Cosprop, Fashion And Textile Museum
What would a film become if it didn’t have fashion? Hard to imagine, right? That’s because legendary London-based costume designers and specialists Cosprop has transformed how fashion (and as a result, history) interacts with the cinema we watch. Since 1965 when it was founded by Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer John Bright, Cosprop has specialised in period costume, spanning performances across film, television, and theatre including A Room With a View, Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey… the list goes on. As important to the film industry as its actors or its set design, costume is having a well-deserved moment at the Fashion and Textile Museum, where you can spot incredible costumes that have never been displayed in public before.
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Royal Academy of Arts
Expansive in scale, intricate in detail, and drenched with atmosphere, the paintings by contemporary American artist Kerry James Marshall are nothing short of phenomenal. Seventy of these works are on display at Royal Academy of Arts, each characterised by their foregrounding of Black figures and lives – past, present, and even future – writing these often forgotten subjects right into the heart of modern art.
Theatre Picasso, Tate Modern, London
One hundred years ago, Spanish painter Picasso – who would later become one of the most globally renowned painters in modern history to date – painted his seminal work Three Dancers. Theatre and the intricacies of performance isn’t often uncovered in the static art that is painting, however, across this exhibition, 50 works by Picasso divulge into the striking imagery, costume, and pose of theatre productions that inspired the artist throughout his career. These works, all with this common thread and staged by contemporary artist Wu Tsang and curator Enrique Fuenteblanca, will be on stage at the Tate’s Theatre Picasso.
Blitz: The Club That Shaped The 80s, Design Museum
It’s the 1980s: New York has the glamorous Studio54, London has the androgynous, underground Blitz club. Partied at by the ‘Blitz Kids’ who were at the heart of the city’s punk and soul scenes, amalgamating inspiration from pop artists, cabaret, avant-garde fashion, cinema, and more, the Blitz club made a lasting impact on London’s underground scene. There’s no doubt that it was a place of artistic creation and intrigue. Wonder what it truly felt like to step through the Covent Garden club doors? London’s Design Museum is revisiting the club’s famous atmosphere with music, flamboyant fashion, art, film, and graphics, each developed in collaboration with leading ‘Blitz Kids’ themselves, including personal items and artist artefacts that have never been displayed before.
New Opening: V&A East Storehouse, London
Art shouldn’t always be contained to gallery walls, and especially not inside archives that lay preserved but unseen. At least that’s what the V&A believes. In a world first (in terms of size and scale) the V&A opened the V&A East Storehouse in May, housing over half a million works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, print, fashion, decorative arts… the list goes on (and on) across four expansive levels. This is where you’ll now find much of the V&A’s archives, except they’re open to the public. You’ll see Sir Elton John’s stage costumes, stage set designs by Pablo Picasso, and recordings of live David Bowie performances (almost) at your fingertips. General admission is free and does not require booking, however you will need to book the “Order an Object” service which allows you to examine the archival pieces you wish to look at up close. The V&A East also opened up the David Bowie Centre in September 2025 housing everything from the megastar’s old clothing to music boxes to objects selected by Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party.
Europe
Color Power. Rafael Pavarotti, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
From the Brazilian rainforest to the heart of high fashion, Rafael Pavarotti’s photographs have powerfully launched a new era of fashion photography – one where colour is as saturated and as bright as it is possible to be. As a modern pioneer of light painting, many of Pavarotti’s photographs require little to no retouching – a standout in today’s AI age. From leading editorials (including the viral British Vogue cover in February 2022) to campaigns for the likes of Off White, Maison Margiela, Dior, Balmain, and more, there is very little Pavarotti hasn’t done. Yet, this is the photographer’s first major solo exhibition, starting off strong at the prestigious MAD, Paris.
Martin Parr: Global Warning, Jeu de Paume, Paris
What did Martin Parr show us about everyday life, about travel, about friends, about family, about the world? This is something everyone seemed to pause and think about when the photographer’s death was sadly announced in December last year. And it’s at the forefront of Paris’ new exhibition, which shows over fifty years of Parr’s photographs shot around the world. Languid summer days spent in dirty British seaside towns, gossiping mothers and screaming children, Brazilian beaches in the 70s: Martin Parr’s images feel (paradoxically) almost like caricatures in their realness. Within the saturated colours of Martin Parr’s photographs lies British satire, consumer excess, mass tourism, and an acute observation on our modern lifestyles we have become so accustomed to – celebration or warning?
The Antwerp Six, MoMu, Antwerp
So, who are The Antwerp Six? Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee, Walter Van Beirendonck, and Dirk Bikkembergs are some of the most iconic fashion designers of our time. And they all started from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, placing the Belgium capital firmly on the fashion map. MoMu is celebrating their legacy with this ten-month long exhibition showcasing many of their most canonical designs which are still referenced in collections today.
Louise Bourgeois: Echo of the Morning, PoMo Trondheim, Norway
Norway’s new PoMo modern and contemporary art museum only opened in January 2025, but is already garnering a reputation for its strong focus on female artists. The 2026 programme is testament, starting strong with a focus on French-American artist Louise Bourgeois, who in the art world (and beyond) needs very little introduction. This exhibition focuses on the last four years of Bourgeois’ life, with textiles, sculpture, paintings, and installations covering pregnancy, childbirth, flowers, and more. The cycle of life.
BRASSAÏ, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
From couples making out in brasseries to the lonely streets of Montmarte, this photographer documented nocturnal life between the two wars. Nicknamed the “eye of Paris”, Hungarian-French photographer Brassaï’s high-contrast black and white photographs capture the everyday (but anything but ordinary) happenings around the city of light by night. The results carry the legacy of Paris as a passionate city within each snapshot, available to see in-person in Stockholm this year.
Annie Leibovitz: Wonderland, MOP Foundation, Spain
Rhianna, Penelope Cruz, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zendaya… the long A-list of Annie Leibovitz’s subjects is nothing short of extraordinary. Much like her photos. American portrait photographer and longtime Vogue contributor, Annie Leibovitz is a fashion industry stalwart, with over five decades of capturing the zeitgeist through her lens. You only need to glance at a few images to understand the “wonderland” scenarios she creates, which is at the heart of the exhibition. Both a film and publication accompany the exhibition, which includes interviews with Leibovitz’s close collaborators.
Sarah van Rij — Atlas of Echoes, MEP, Paris
How do you document city life beyond just the visual? The clever work of self-taught artist and Dutch photographer Sarah van Rij merges photographs with collage to capture a poetic and more emotional side to city life. Everyday life becomes theatre here, as shadows or fragments of clothing or the ground show more than a whole image ever could. Each of the collages are made from van Rij’s own photographs to show how art can be repurposed into different modes, while the exhibition coincides with the recent release of her first ever monograph, also titled Atlas of Echoes. While visiting the MEP, stop by the dual exhibition dedicated to photographers Edward Weston and Tyler Mitchell, whose work is separated by a century but united by their tenderness and subtle poetry.
Berthe Weill: Art Dealer Of The Parisian Avant-Garde, Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris
Art dealer Berthe Weill first opened a gallery in Montmartre in 1901. The gallery spotlighted her contemporaries, those breaking out in Paris’ turbulent art world, under the slogan “place aux jeunes” meaning “make way for the young” – a generous priority given the space’s little funding. These young artists are now some of the most celebrated today – Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse – as well as many female artists, Jacqueline Marval, Hermine David, Suzanne Valadon. However, Weill’s name largely slipped out of sight, until now. Berthe Weill’s enormous contribution to art history (Fauvism, Cubism, and beyond) is now celebrated and on display in Paris.
Tilda Swinton – Ongoing, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
From Narnia’s White Witch, to the murdered wealthy dowager of The Grand Budapest Hotel to the poignant The Room Next Door, Tilda Swinton embodies each role with a zest that leaves it difficult to imagine it ever being performed by someone else. The actor’s memorable influence on modern film around the world – and as a result, her profound mark on popular culture – is being celebrated this season at Amsterdam’s film museum. This exhibition marks the actress’s ability to transform not just on film, but in photography, fashion, and art, by spotlighting Swinton’s creative collaborations with several of her friends and fellow creatives, from Luca Guadagnino to Derek Jarman to Tim Walker and beyond.
GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between, MoMu, Antwerp
Girlhood is something to cherish, something to celebrate, for its innocence, for its tenderness, and for its fragility. MoMu’s latest exhibition focusses on this fleeting state of being that we refer to time and time again, one that has become immortalised across popular culture via film and photography. MoMu’s latest exhibition displays the art that finds girlhood – in its many states of being, from loneliness to friendship, innocence to rebellion to boredom – by Louise Bourgeois, Sofia Coppola, Fumiko Imano, Martin Margiela, and many more.
The Americas
“Women Artists of the American West: Colorado and Utah, 1885-1935, Jackson Hole History Museum, Wyoming
In 1848, the Women’s Right Convention in Seneca Falls demanded the right for women to vote in the American West. Almost a century ahead of the whole nation, this seemed like a feminist win. However, five artists in this exhibition show how women still fought for all kinds of liberation – social, financial, and personal. Their paintings, photographs, and portraits show cowgirls, sisters, and female-led ranches (away from the androcentric way we often look at America’s wild west) as women’s roles began to shift near and across the 20th century. The exhibition was curated in collaboration with the international nonprofit AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research, and Exhibitions, to help dive as deep as possible into the untold stories of this era.
Histories Of Ecology, Museu de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil
Environmental eyes turned to Brazil this past November for COP30, which left the world up in arms with the little action and accountability the summit seemed to enforce. Saying a lot of things that politics sometimes fail to do is the upcoming exhibition titled Histories of Ecology at Sao Paulo’s art museum, which shows through art and installations how nature and human life and inextricably interlinked throughout time – the present included. Over 200 words by artists and activists from 27 countries emphasise the different interrelationships between humans and nature around the world, from Indigenous communities and migration to the pressing issue of climate change.
Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, MoMA, New York City
The concept of a ‘photographic portrait’ and how it has been used to influence conversations around Pan-African identity, subjectivity and art is at the heart of MoMA New York’s upcoming exhibition. Comprised largely of gifted modern and contemporary African art from art collector Jean Pigozzi, the collection comprises of photographs by Samuel Fosso, Silvia Rosi, and more. This exhibition is an expansive, transatlantic foray into the politically and culturally charged role of photographic portraiture, and how these canonical works present Africa and Pan-Africanism as ‘a political idea’.
Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens, Brooklyn Museum, New York
The late Malian photographer Seydou Keita documented decades of West African political upheaval through the lens of his camera. Each photograph portrays a vivid image of life in West Africa during the mid-twentieth century: cinematic, poised, and photojournalist to a documentary-style degree in each photograph’s real subjects. The silver photographic prints are on display at the Brooklyn Museum, marking the most expansive North African exhibition of Keita’s work.
Fashioning Chinese Women: Empire to Modernity, LACMA, Los Angeles
A lot can be said about the way we dress. This upcoming Los Angeles exhibition looks at how Chinese and Chinese American women have expressed themselves and everything happening in the world via silhouette, trends, craftsmanship, materials and more. Over 70 garments from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and America are on display to show just how much we can get to know history through our clothing.
…And Beyond
Westwood | Kawakubo, National Gallery Of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Fashion against the status quo. That’s really what united these two incredible fashion designers who, despite growing up in different countries and cultures, used fashion to challenge how we think and talk about taste, style, gender, beauty. Over 140 of Vivienne Westwood (1941 to 2022) and Rei Kawakubo (b.1942) ground-breaking designs have been flown across the world especially for this exhibition. Both Comme des Garçons and Vivienne Westwood encapsulated everything from the 1970s punk revolution to the shifting infatuation with the body, and the role of gender in design via clothes – which this exhibition captures, theme by theme, alongside a variety of the designers’ historical reference materials, photography, film, and more.
Lead image: Martin Parr, Grotte bleue, Capri, Italie, 2014 © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos, courtesy GalerieClémentine de la Féronnière
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