Editor's picks: Art exhibitions to see around the world
With many exciting new art exhibitions coming up, it is a challenge to pick which to visit. To make this selection easier for art enthusiasts seeking inspiration, we've carefully curated a list of must-see exhibitions.
1. Marina Abramović at Royal Academy of Arts, London
Marina Abramović, Nude with Skeleton, 2005. Performance for Video; 15 minutes 46 seconds. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina AbramovićMarina Abramović is a Serbian artist who has earned worldwide acclaim for her conceptual and performance art. Her work consistently tests the limits of her own physical and mental endurance and explores the relationship between the performer and the audience.
This major exhibition presents various key moments from Abramović’s career. Works such as ‘The Artist is Present’ (2012) will be re-shown through archive footage while others will be recreated by the next generation of performance artists, who have studied the Marina Abramović method. Different works will be performed during the run of the exhibition, so every visit is guaranteed to be unique.
Ulay / Marina Abramović, Imponderabilia, 1977. Performance; 90 minutes. Galleria Communale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Ulay / Marina AbramovićExperience this celebration of her work yourself at the Royal Academy of Arts through performances of ‘Imponderabilia’ (1977), ‘Nude with Skeleton’ (2002, 2005, 2010), ‘Luminosity’ (1997), and ‘The House with the Ocean View’ (2002).
September 23, 2023 - January 1, 2024
Royal Academy of Arts, London
2. Claudette Johnson: Presence at The Courtauld Gallery, London
Claudette Johnson's 'Presence' at The Courtauld Gallery. Installation View. Photo: Fergus Carmichael
Claudette Johnson is considered to be one of the most significant figurative artists of her generation. For over 30 years, she has created intimate and powerful drawings of the black community. Johnson’s pieces involve a range of media; from monochrome works in dark pastel to brightly coloured pieces in vibrant gouache and watercolour. All of her work is discernible in its use of dramatic pose and scale.
Early drawings such as ‘I Came to Dance’ (1982) and ‘I Have My Own Business in This Skin’ (1982), alongside recent and new works have been selected to feature in this exhibition to offer a captivating overview of Johnson’s development in her artistic journey.
This exhibition is the first monographic show of Claudette Johnson’s work at a major public gallery in London. It is an important contribution to the ongoing research, teaching, and activities in the field of Black and Diasporic British Art by Dorothy Price, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History at The Courtauld.
September 29, 2023 - January 14, 2024
The Courtauld Gallery, London
3. ‘Picasso: The Sacred and the Profane’, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Installation view. Picasso: The Sacred and the Profane, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
‘Picasso: The Sacred and the Profane’ is an exhibition curated by Paloma Alarcó to bring a close to the series of projects created to honour the Spanish artist in the Picasso Celebration 1973/2023 which marks 50 years since his death. The main theme of this show is to explore how Picasso explored topics such as religion and tradition in his bold and original style.
The exhibition brings together a total of 38 works, 22 by Picasso, others by Goya, Rubens, Delacroix, and a few more renowned names of the art world. The exhibition initiates a dialogue about the contradictions of Picasso’s distinctive art, the interpretation of European artistic tradition, and the genres often presented. The pieces are focused on history, religion, myths, portraiture, and still lifes addressing universal themes of life, death, sex, violence, and pain.
October 4, 2023 - January 14, 2024
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
4. ‘Anish Kapoor - Untrue Unreal’ at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
Installation view. Anish Kapoor - Untrue Unreal at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy © photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio
A major sculptural exhibition devised and produced with the revolutionary contemporary artist, Anish Kapoor, a British-Indian sculptor who specialises in installation and conceptual art. Well known for his use of abstract forms, polished surfaces, and bright colours, Kapoor continues his legacy in this curation of monumental installations which will encourage a conversation between the artist and the audience.
Anish Kapoor provides us with a challenge to decide between true or false and explore what may appear as impossible but is in fact a reality, inviting us
to explore the territory of the untrue and the unreal.
The exhibition is named ‘Untrue Unreal’ to describe Kapoor’s negation of the common perceptions of reality in society. He invites us to explore a world in which the boundaries between the real and the unreal are blurred in his use of reflection and geometrical and biomorphic forms.
October 7, 2023 to February 4, 2024
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy