From a new introduction to the working methods of Gustav Klimt to a rare combination of early Italian masterpieces, there's something for every art lover in the new year.
In upcoming exhibitions, connoisseurs can see art through the lenses of American photographers in Amsterdam, explore Edo-period Japan created by
Hiroshige in contemporary London, discover poignant new perspectives on the history of the emergence of
surrealism, the pioneering women of
modernism, the remarkably diverse legacy of British landscape painting, and much more.
The top ten art exhibitions to be held in European museums in 2025 span different cultures and several centuries.
American photography
The exhibition will run from February 1 through June 9 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The first major retrospective of American photography in the Netherlands will feature more than 200 photographic works by influential artists including Nan Goldin, Andy Warhol, Diane Arbus and others. "American Photography" will also present images by lesser-known and anonymous photographers who have captured authentic and forgotten facets of American life.
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"The exhibition presents the country through the eyes of American photographers," say the organizers of the exhibition at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. "It shows how photography as a medium is deeply rooted in American society."
Kandinsky's Universe: Geometric Abstraction in the 20th Century
The exhibition will open from February 15 through May 18 at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany.
The works of
Vasily Kandinsky are notable for their innovative combination of colors, lines, and shapes. The Slavic-born artist is often credited with pioneering abstract art in Western culture.
This exhibition traces Kandinsky's indelible influence as contemporary artists turned to abstraction. Instead of depicting strictly visible phenomena, they used geometry to visualize elusive spiritual themes.
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The presentation of "Kandinsky's Universe" at the Museo Barberini brings together more than 100 abstract works and almost as many artists, including Joseph Albers, Sonya Delaunay, Sonya Delaunay, Bridget Riley, Frank Stella and, of course, Kandinsky himself.
Gustav Klimt: pigment and pixel.
The exhibition will run from February 20 through September 7 at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria. At the turn of the 20th century,
Gustav Klimt was commissioned to decorate the vast ceilings of the festival hall at the University of Vienna. The resulting "Faculty Paintings" - with their unidealized allegorical figures, unfamiliar symbolism, and shocking eroticism - drew crowds and sparked controversy. Unfortunately, the original paintings were lost, and only black-and-white photographs remain.
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In 2021, Vienna's Leopold Museum partnered with Google to try to identify the original colors of Klimt's "Faculty Paintings" using
artificial intelligence and visualization technologies. "Gustav Klimt: Pigment and Pixel" opens up exciting new possibilities for exploring the Austrian artist's work.
Gothic Art Nouveau: from darkness to light
February 28-June 15, the National Museum of Art Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway will host an exhibition of paintings.
Northern European artists have long been fascinated by all things Gothic. This exhibition explores how contemporary artists such as
Edward Munch,
Kathe Kolwitz, and
Ernst Kirchner, found inspiration in the works of their distant Gothic-era counterparts, such as
Albrecht Durer and
Hans Holbein. This is the first international exhibition to explore such a juxtaposition.
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"Gothic Modern" presents seven thematic sections: Journey to the Gothic, Pilgrims of Art, Encounter with Death, Brotherhood, Gothic Variations, From Love to Suffering, and Between Light and Darkness.
Siena: the heyday of painting, 1300-1500
March 8-June 22, the National Gallery of Art in London, England will host an original exhibition.
Florence is generally considered the birthplace of Italian Renaissance art. However, this exhibition confirms Siena's important influence on the course of art history. More than 100 works by artists of the Sienese School - including paintings, sculptures, metalwork, textiles and more - offer new insights into the development and dissemination of Italian painting during the Renaissance.
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"Siena: The Flowering of Painting" is heading to London after a successful run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Significantly, the exhibition brings together long-divided panels from Duccio 's altarpiece "Maesta" and Simone Martini's polyptych "Altarpiece Orsini".
Utagawa Hiroshige: artist of the open road
May 1-September 7, the British Museum in London, England will host an exciting exhibition of works. Here you can enjoy the masterful 19th century printmaking of Utagawa Hiroshige in a colorful journey through the lush landscapes and bustling city life of Edo period Japan.
This exhibition is the first dedicated to the ukiyo-e artist at the British Museum. It will explore Hiroshige's important influence on contemporary artists including
Vincent van Gogh and the French Impressionists.
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"Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road" showcases woodcuts, drawings, illustrated books and paintings from the British Museum's collection, as well as a significant number of prints donated by a major American collector of Hiroshige's work.
Rendezvous of Dreams: Surrealism and German Romanticism
From June 13 to October 12, the Hamburger Kunsthalle Art Gallery, Germany will host an interesting exhibition. In 1924, surrealism emerged from the ashes of the First World War in Paris. A century later, there is still much to learn about this revolutionary movement.
This exhibition makes fascinating connections between twentieth-century Surrealism and nineteenth-century German Romanticism. It brings together hundreds of works, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, works of literature, film, photographs and other objects.
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According to the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the exhibition "Rendezvous of Dreams" reveals fascinating parallels regarding fundamental questions, attitudes, motifs and even pictorial processes.
"The supernatural and irrational, dreams and coincidences, a sense of community and encounters with the changing natural world were crucial sources of inspiration for German Romanticism and shaped international Surrealism a century later," say organizers.
Radical! Women Artists and Modernism, 1910-1950
On June 18 - October 12, the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria will host an exhibition that represents a kind of conversation between contemporary women artists from more than 20 countries.
From Sonia Delaunay's technicolor Orphism to Tamara de Lempica's striking Art Deco portraits, these women broke barriers by capturing their rapidly changing surroundings in a wide range of artistic practices.
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"Radical!" challenges a male-centric art history that has marginalized or even excluded women artists from the canon, and "enriches this art history narrative with a kaleidoscope of new perspectives," the Belvedere Museum said.
Leonora Carrington
The exhibition will be held at Palazzo Reale in Milan, Italy from the beginning of October 2025 to the end of February 2026.
After a year of bidding wars and record high prices at auction, Surrealist superstar
Leonora Carrington will receive her first-ever retrospective in Italy. The exhibition will examine the complex influences of Carrington's international travels and immigration, from formative teenage visits to Florence to her interactions with European Surrealists in Mexico.
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The official title and exact dates for the opening of Leonora Carrington's exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan have not yet been announced.
Turner and Constable
From November 27, 2025 to April 12, 2026, the British Tate Gallery in London, England will host a double exhibition of Britain's best-loved landscape painters to mark the 250th anniversary of their birth. John Constable strove for authenticity in his masterfully meticulous depictions of classic British landscapes.
At the same time, his peer
J. M. W. Turner painted sublime sunsets and
shipwrecks, approaching abstraction with bold expressiveness. This exhibition explores the intertwining - and often competing - lives and legacies of the artists.
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Art critics have compared their paintings to a clash of "ice and fire," according to an official statement from the Tate Gallery. The Turner and Constable exhibition is a unique opportunity to meet the two artists "as they often were in their own time - side by side".