Start the new year in style. From London to Sydney, Paris to Jakarta – and many cities in between – these are the global cultural events to visit during January 2023.
Whether you have a soft spot for fashion, Italian baroque, photography, or something else creative, Citizen Femme has got you covered this January, with a curated list of our favourite exhibitions around the globe.
1. GOLD by Yves Saint Laurent
French designer Yves Saint Laurent once described gold as a “magical colour” and this exhibition located in the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris shows us just how much golden magic he created during his career. With 40 haute couture and ready-to-wear dresses, as well as displays of jewellery and accessories, this is an occasion to discover the beauty of gold and to find out more about the significant role this shimmering colour has played in Yves Saint Laurent’s designs. From gold buttons on a coat to full-length lamé gowns, these pieces embody glamour and freedom.
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2. Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles
Discover Berlin-based artist Chiharu Shiota’s biggest solo exhibition yet – and her first in Indonesia – at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MACAN) in Jakarta. Shiota’s work focuses on the expression of feelings and emotions, the things we can’t easily explain; dreams, anxieties and memories. The artist is particularly well-known for her large webs of red and black thread taking up entire rooms, creating an enthralling new space. In this exhibition, 30 years of her work – from large installations to performances, sculptures and drawings – are on show, asking you to look inwards. As the exhibition title suggests, this is a space that will more than likely make your soul tremble.
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3. A Field Guide to Photography and Media
What is the role of photography in today’s world? The Art Institute of Chicago tries to answer this in its current exhibition: A Field Guide to Photography and Media. Throughout this enthralling presentation of the institute’s photographic collection – dating from the 19th century to present day – visitors can browse over 150 works from a variety of different artists who have used photography to explore themes of identity, beauty, politics and human connection. Ever since the invention of the camera, photography has been a way to create spectacular art and intimate memories that last for generations, and this display cements that idea. It’s a visual collection of history that will please both expert photographers and amateurs alike.
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4. Artemisia Gentileschi a Napoli
One of the only women artists of the Renaissance period, Artemisia Gentileschi, spent a prolonged period of her life (22 years, between 1630-1652, minus a small hiatus spent in London) in the city of Naples where she produced some of her masterpieces. The Gallerie D’Italia, in collaboration with the National Gallery of London, is dedicating an exhibition made up of public and private, Italian and internationally held pieces of her art, to celebrate her work and her time in the city. Walking through the Galleria, visitors will see more than 50 of her paintings, many inspired by strong women from biblical and mythological narratives, as well as her self-portraits. Some of the most anticipated include the Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Judith and her Maidservant, neither yet exhibited in Italy.
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5. Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going
Every three years, The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo stages a co-curated exhibition to celebrate the Japanese art scene, from up-and-coming to more established, household names. This year, the theme is Coming & Going, and through 22 Japanese artists and groups, the exhibit explores the movements and establishments of different Japanese subsections, analysing the country’s vast and diverse cultural heritage of today. Visit for a more in-depth understanding of the wide-reaching cultural spectrum seen in modern Japanese culture, and to see some truly wonderful pieces of art including figurative painter O Jun’s The Beautiful Nature, and Noe Aoki’s three-dimensional Anomaly.
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6. Dreamhome: Stories of Art and Shelter
If you’re heading to Sydney this month, you must start at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to see its ongoing exhibition: Stories of Art and Shelter. Here, 29 artists – from Australia and around the world – have created works based on the idea of ‘home’ incorporating not only physical spaces, but the ideas of home, too, such as people and memories. This is a journey through the different interpretations of home as a space and as an idea, from the intimacy of living rooms to the loss created by disasters, and the work of rebuilding and reconnection.
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7. Raquel Forner. Revelaciones espaciales. 1957-1987
Raquel Forner was an Argentinian expressionist painter and her Space Cycle collection will be displayed for the first time in its entirety at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. Visitors will discover splendid works, including large-format paintings, engravings and drawings, exploring themes including conflict, mythology, and the relation between us and outer space. Curated by Marcelo Pacheco, a scholar of her work, this is – in addition to being a chance to see 65 works from the collection – an occasion to learn more about Forner as a key figure of the Argentinian art scene, carving her space in a deeply patriarchal art society and revolutionising it by blending American ideas of modernity with indigenous symbols and mythology.
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8. Lucian Freud: New Perspectives
Discover the best works of one of the most important British painters of the 20th century at the National Gallery. This landmark exhibition, the first in almost 10 years, brings together 60 of Lucian Freud’s paintings created throughout his 70-year-long career. From intimate family pictures to solemn portraits, Freud explored distinct perspectives and the heritage of different artistic traditions, from the Renaissance to Surrealism. As a bonus, we recommend purchasing a copy of Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939-1954, a beautiful collection of letters by Lucian Freud published by Thames & Hudson and available at the National Gallery.
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