Summer 2026
Across North America this season, museums balance canonical figures with a growing effort to reconsider the histories through which art is understood. Major exhibitions revisit artists such as Duchamp, Rembrandt, Emily Carr, Agnes Martin and Frida Kahlo, reinforcing established narratives while placing greater emphasis on overlooked perspectives, regional histories and alternative genealogies. Alongside these historical reassessments, contemporary artists such as Pierre Huyghe and Mike Cloud challenge how we understand perception, materiality and institutional frameworks, while exhibitions examining modernism beyond established Western narratives point towards a broader rethinking of the canon.
New York remains the centre of gravity, from the Whitney Biennial to a dense concentration of museum and gallery programming, yet significant exhibitions across Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Canada prevent the season from collapsing into a single geographic narrative. Rather than converging around one dominant theme, the programme reveals a landscape shaped by competing histories and expanding definitions of artistic importance, where institutional authority and cultural reassessment increasingly operate side by side.
Featured Exhibitions
The Season’s Essentials. Six exhibitions that reveal how the canon is being built, challenged, and rewritten across North America.
Agnes Martin: Painting is not making paintings
Dia Beacon Gallery, New York, USA
4 April 2026 – 4 April 2027
On the Radar
The Watch List. More high-calibre shows for those looking to dive deeper into this season’s landscape.
Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa
MoMA, New York, USA
5 July 2026 – 2 January 2027
Painted Presence: Rembrandt and his Peers
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Until 4 October, 2026
This selection is updated on a rolling basis as exhibitions open and close across the region.