Spring 2026
Across North America this season, museums balance canonical figures with a growing effort to broaden 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 anchors, contemporary artists continue to challenge cultural and institutional frameworks through painting, film and installation, bringing questions of identity, memory and representation into sharper focus.
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 canons, 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.
Woody De Othello: coming forth by day
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, USA
13 November 2025 – 28 June 2026
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.