Lucas Arruda at Musée d’Orsay (Paris)
April 8, 2025 — July 20, 2025
From April 2025, the Musée d’Orsay will showcase the luminous landscapes of Lucas Arruda in a groundbreaking exhibition that bridges past and present. Known for their poetic minimalism, Arruda’s works transcend the physical qualities of nature, inviting viewers to engage in profound meditations on light and space through a reduced palette. In his seascapes and imagined horizons, the artist evokes a sense of timelessness and tranquility. Set within the Musée d’Orsay, the exhibition will draw parallels between Arruda’s meditative works and the Impressionist masterpieces housed in the museum, creating a dialogue between the serene contemplation of the past and that of the present. The resulting experience should be quite powerful.
Ruth Asawa at SFMOMA (San Francisco)
April 5, 2025 — September 2, 2025
From early April 2025, SFMOMA will be the first venue to present a sweeping retrospective of Ruth Asawa, celebrating her remarkable contributions to modern art and design. Best known for her intricate wire sculptures that seem to defy gravity, Asawa’s work combines technical precision with organic beauty. This exhibition brings together her iconic hanging forms, rarely displayed drawings, and archival materials that shed light on her creative process. Asawa’s pieces are both delicate and monumental, transforming space with their interplay of light and shadow. The retrospective also highlights her advocacy for arts education, solidifying her legacy as an innovator and cultural leader. In case you don’t make it to this exhibition, do not fear: the show will then travel to New York’s MoMA in October 2025 and then to Spain’s Guggenheim Bilbao in 2026.
Rashid Johnson at the Guggenheim Museum (New York)
April 18, 2025 — January 18, 2026
This spring, the Guggenheim Museum invites audiences to dive deep into the layered, thought-provoking world of Rashid Johnson with A Poem for Deep Thinkers. This major exhibition highlights Johnson’s signature use of materials like shea butter, wood, and ceramics to construct narratives that explore identity, race, and emotional complexity. Visitors will encounter monumental installations, intricate mosaics, and pieces that reflect on the anxieties and hopes of modern life. Johnson’s ability to merge the personal with the universal creates an exhibition that is both intimate and expansive, drawing visitors into a poetic and visually arresting journey.
"Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly" at Museum Brandhorst (Munich)
April 10, 2025 — August 17, 2025
With its exhibition Five Friends, Munich’s Museum Brandhorst promises to delve into the collaborative genius of five icons who reshaped 20th-century art and performance. John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly shared a unique creative camaraderie that fueled their groundbreaking work across disciplines. The exhibition explores their individual achievements and how their friendships fueled dialogue between their practices, presenting paintings, performances, and multimedia installations. The show will for instance include Rauschenberg’s stage designs for Cunningham’s choreography and the interplay between Jasper Johns’ visual language and John Cage’s experimental music. A tribute to their enduring friendship and artistic influence, Five Friends promises to be one of the year’s cultural highlights.
Jenny Saville at the National Portrait Gallery (London)
June 20, 2025 — September 7, 2025
This summer, the National Portrait Gallery in London will hold a landmark exhibition dedicated to Jenny Saville, a trailblazer in contemporary figurative painting. Celebrated for her raw, large-scale depictions of the human form, Saville challenges traditional ideals of beauty while exploring themes of gender, identity, and vulnerability. Entitled Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, the retrospective will span her career, featuring iconic works that highlight her bold use of color and texture, as well as her unflinching exploration of the human body in all its imperfections and power. With rarely seen drawings and paintings included, the exhibition thus promises to offer a comprehensive look at how Saville spent the last thirty years redefining portraiture.
"Paris Noir" at Centre Pompidou (Paris)
March 19, 2025 — June 30, 2025
From the 19th of March, the French capital’s Centre Pompidou will present Paris Noir, an evocative exploration of the contributions of Black artists, writers, and intellectuals to French cultural life. Spanning the 20th century, the exhibition will celebrate figures such as James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, and Romare Bearden, alongside contemporary voices inspired by their legacy. Through paintings, photographs, manuscripts, and performances, the exhibition will capture the dynamic intersection of art, politics, and identity in Paris, a city that served as a muse for many African and Caribbean creators. Paris Noir promises to offer a powerful narrative of resilience and creativity, reminding us of the enduring impact of Black culture on modern art.
Tracey Emin at Palazzo Strozzi (Florence)
March 16, 2025 — July 20, 2025
From March 16, the Florentine Palazzo will present Sex and Solitude, an intimate exploration of Tracey Emin’s deeply personal art. This exhibition will bring together paintings, sculptures, and installations that delve into themes of love, loss, and self-reflection. Emin’s raw and confessional style lays bare the complexities of human relationships and the pain of solitude. Exhibition highlights will include her neon works that juxtapose stark truths with ethereal beauty, and some of her most famous installations inspired by her experiences of heartbreak and healing. Set within the historic Palazzo Strozzi, the exhibition will offer an emotional journey through art that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
David Hockney at Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris)
April 9, 2025 — September 1, 2025
This Spring, the French magnate’s Fondation honors the extraordinary career of David Hockney with a vibrant retrospective spanning six decades. From his iconic California swimming pools to his contemporary iPad drawings, Hockney’s colorful work celebrates the beauty of everyday life with vibrant optimism. The show will offer an in-depth look at his artistic evolution, with sections dedicated specifically to his early portraits, expansive Yorkshire landscapes, and experiments with digital media. Known for his mastery of color and form, the 87-year-old painter continues to captivate contemporary audiences with the endless will to reinvent his art. The exhibition will thus provide us with another opportunity to appreciate one of Britain’s most beloved and influential artists.
Yoshitomo Nara at Hayward Gallery (London)
June 10, 2025 — August 31, 2025
This summer, London’s Hayward Gallery will invite audiences to step into the whimsical universe of Yoshitomo Nara. The acclaimed Japanese artist is renowned for his unique blend of innocence and rebellion. Often representing wide-eyed characters that oscillate between vulnerability and defiance, Nara’s art captures universal emotions of loneliness, nostalgia, and longing. The show, which will be the contemporary artist’s largest European retrospective to date, will include paintings, drawings and sculptures from his whole career, alongside installations reflecting his engagement with music and popular culture. The exhibition will notably delve into Nara’s creative process, revealing how his work is informed by both childhood memories and contemporary anxieties. Future visitors will most likely go through an experience both emotionally stirring and visually captivating.
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