12 Exhibitions, Biennials and Art Events to See Before the Year Ends

As 2026 draws to a close, the art calendar remains busy, with major exhibitions and events opening across the world. From museum retrospectives and gallery presentations to leading biennials and the launch of Frieze Abu Dhabi, and the long-awaited opening of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the season brings together a wide range of artistic practices and curatorial approaches. 

David Lynch LA

Through December 22
Pace Gallery, Los Angeles

What did Los Angeles look like through David Lynch’s eyes? At Pace Gallery, five photographic series made between 1979 and 2008 are brought together for the first time. This is also the first exhibition of his work in his home city since his death in 2025. Lynch lived in Los Angeles for more than fifty years, and the city became central to his creative universe. Urban architecture appears alongside women’s faces surrounded by smoke and black-and-white nudes that turn the body into a landscape. In Kits, a fish, chicken, and duck are taken apart and photographed with wry instructions for putting them back together. The photographs reveal Lynch’s eye for detail and his ability to find something strange and unsettling in everyday life. For those familiar with his films, the exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter the same distinctive atmosphere in still images, stripped of dialogue and music.

David Lynch, Untitled (Nudes and Smoke), c. 1994

Frieze Abu Dhabi

November 19–22 
Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

Frieze makes its debut in Abu Dhabi this November, bringing a new international art fair to the Saadiyat Cultural District. Building on the 17-year legacy of Abu Dhabi Art, the inaugural edition brings together 89 exhibitors from 37 countries and regions at Manarat Al Saadiyat (November 19–22). Its program spans contemporary art and historical works, with sections exploring artistic connections across West Asia, North Africa, South Asia, and the Indian Ocean. Highlights include Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi, dedicated to centuries of cultural exchange, and Global Futures, featuring solo presentations by artists whose practices engage with the histories of the UAE and the wider region. The launch also introduces Frieze Sculpture Abu Dhabi, a public art program featuring five large-scale works along Mamsha Beach.

Frieze Abu Dhabi 2026

Frida: The Making of an Icon 

Through January 3, 2027 
Tate Modern, London

Frida Kahlo’s influence reaches far beyond painting. At Tate Modern, The Making of an Icon explores how her art, personal story and distinctive image have made her one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary culture. The exhibition brings together more than 30 works by Kahlo, alongside photographs, clothing, jewellery and personal objects. Her paintings appear in dialogue with artists including Ana Mendieta, Judy Chicago and Kiki Smith, exploring shared questions about identity, the female body and how personal experience becomes art. Another part of the exhibition looks at “Fridamania”: her face appearing on everything from T-shirts to tequila bottles and Barbie dolls. This raises a question: when an artist becomes a global brand, what happens to the work itself? The exhibition offers a chance to look beyond the familiar flower crown and explore the artist behind the image.

Installation view of Frida: The Making of an Icon at Tate Modern, 2026

Calder: François Premier

Through December 19
Hauser & Wirth, Paris

Alexander Calder’s return to France in 1953 opened a productive chapter in his art. At Hauser & Wirth Paris, François Premier explores this period through sculptures, ink paintings and gouaches, focusing on works created in 1953 and 1954. At the centre is Les Granettes, a large standing mobile on public view for the first time in 72 years. Its red, white and black elements share the space with The Putney Mobile, whose delicate wires and white forms are making their public European debut. Together, they reveal Calder’s ability to give metal a sense of lightness through balance and movement. Upstairs, paintings show how similar ideas developed on paper, from colorful abstract compositions to landscapes and figures. The title comes from Calder’s stone house in Saché and, by coincidence, also refers to the street where the gallery stands. 

The Putney Mobile, 1954. Sheet metal, wire, and paint, 51 1/2” x 142” x 140”.Alexander Calder The Putney Mobile 1954 Sheet metal, wire, and paint 51 1/2” x 142” x 140” © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / ADAGP, Paris Courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York

Lee Krasner: Works from the 1960s

Through December 18
Gagosian, Paris

Lee Krasner’s first solo exhibition in France focuses on a decade of experimentation, bringing together paintings and works on paper from the 1960s. Highlights include Seeded (1960), an almost 2.8-metre-wide canvas in earth tones, created during a period when insomnia often led her to paint at night. Later works introduce stronger colors, from the fiery Icarus (1964) to the sweeping gestures of Portrait in Green (1969). Comet (1966–70) brings magenta and emerald forms together with cream and white. The show coincides with Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view until 31 January 2027. While the Met brings together more than 120 works tracing both artists’ full careers and their creative dialogue, Gagosian focuses on Krasner alone, examining her experiments with color, scale and gesture during this pivotal decade.

Lee Krasner, Icarus, 1964, oil on canvas, 46 × 69 inches (116.8 × 175.3 cm)

Lucio Fontana: Spatialism. Pioneering the Contemporary

Through December 19
Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong

Lucio Fontana turned a simple cut into a new way of thinking about art. At Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong, works dating from 1949 onward trace his attempts to open the surface of a painting to the space beyond it. Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero in collaboration with the Fondazione Lucio Fontana, the exhibition moves from early Buchi (Holes) to the celebrated Tagli (Cuts). Pierced paper, terracotta constructions and slashed monochrome canvases reveal how he developed the ideas behind Spatialism, bringing real depth, light and shadow into the work. Alongside them are shaped canvases from Quanta and bronze sculptures from Nature, whose punctured, rounded forms suggest unfamiliar planets. Seen together, these works offer insight into Fontana’s signature gesture: each opening becomes a way to explore infinity and extend art beyond the flat canvas.

Lucio Fontana, Milano, 1964 © Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano, by SIAE 2026. Photo: Ugo Mulas © Ugo Mulas Heirs. All rights reserved. Lucio Fontana Concetto spaziale, Attese (Spatial Concept, Expectations), 1964. Water-based paint on canvas, slashes 81 x 100 cm / 31 7/8 x 39 3/8 in

Yoshitomo Nara

Through December 12
David Zwirner, New York

Yoshitomo Nara’s first major solo exhibition in New York in nearly a decade brings almost one hundred works to David Zwirner’s two Chelsea locations. New paintings and drawings appear alongside recent sculptures and earlier works chosen by the artist. At the 20th Street gallery, figures emerge from layers of soft, earthy color. Paintings on reused wood, cardboard and other studio materials add texture to the compositions, while large monochrome drawings made with paint sticks reveal a bolder, more immediate approach. Earlier works, including drawings from 1988, offer clues to how his familiar characters developed. At 19th Street, thirteen monumental bronze heads painted white evoke the snowy forests near Nara’s hometown in northern Japan. Together, the works connect his childhood memories, love of music and attachment to nature, offering a fuller picture of the emotional world behind his distinctive figures.

Yoshitomo Nara, Matryoshka, 2026

18th Lyon Biennale - Contemporary Art

Through December 13
Lyon

Lyon’s hidden passageways, known as traboules, provide the starting point for its 18th Contemporary Art Biennale. Curated by Catherine Nichols, the biennale uses the idea of moving between courtyards and buildings as a starting point for a wider exploration of how we might imagine different ways of living together. The program explores the economy through what sustains everyday life, including care, attention, relationships and imagination. Works by artists including Laure Prouvost, Susan Philipsz and Pol Taburet unfold across museums, industrial spaces and unexpected urban settings. At Les Grandes Locos, a former railway maintenance site, the focus is on industry; the Musée des Tissus explores relationships, while macLYON considers questions of existence. Moving between these venues becomes part of the experience, connecting the city’s history with artists’ proposals for other possible futures.

18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fabrics and Decorative Arts. Pascal Bernier, Hunting Accident, 1997

Miami Art Week 2026: Art Basel Miami Beach and Satellite Fairs

4–6 December 
Miami, Florida  

Miami Art Week brings together major international galleries, emerging artists and collectible design across the city. Its central event, Art Basel Miami Beach (4–6 December), fills the Miami Beach Convention Center with modern and contemporary art. The week’s satellite fairs offer different routes through the city’s art scene. Design Miami (1–6 December) focuses on collectible furniture, lighting and objects, while NADA Miami (1–5 December), held at Ice Palace Studios, is a place to discover new voices and experimental practices. On the beach, Untitled Art (2–6 December) celebrates its 15th edition with more than 170 galleries and nonprofit organizations, combining solo presentations, photography and special projects. Pinta Miami (3–6 December) marks its 20th anniversary with modern and contemporary Latin American art, while SCOPE Miami Beach (1–6 December) adds another platform for emerging artists and galleries.

Art Basel Miami Beach 2025

Toronto Biennial of Art

Through December 20
Toronto, Canada

Across Toronto, museums, galleries and public spaces host the fourth Toronto Biennial of Art. Curated by Allison Glenn, “Things Fall Apart” brings together artists exploring how moments of disruption reshape our understanding of history, identity and belonging. Taking the Great Lakes as its starting point, the exhibition connects more than twenty waterways, trade routes and voyages across five continents. Migration, borders, colonial histories and climate justice emerge alongside questions about how knowledge and memory travel between places and generations. The title echoes Chinua Achebe’s novel, W. B. Yeats’s poetry and an album by The Roots, linking different responses to unsettled times. With the Art Museum at the University of Toronto as its main hub, the biennial unfolds through exhibitions, performances and artist-led programmes, inviting visitors to encounter these ideas in different parts of the city.

Opening of the Toronto Biennial of Art

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Opening

December 11
Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

Twenty years after the project was announced, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opens its doors on Saadiyat Island. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum brings together thirty galleries, outdoor exhibition areas and ten sculptural cones that shape its skyline while providing shade and natural ventilation. The collection focuses on art from 1960 onward, connecting artists from the region with voices from across the world. Painting, sculpture, photography, installation and moving image appear within themes including abstraction, popular culture, land, language and storytelling. Visitors are invited to follow connections between places and generations. An inaugural exhibition dedicated to Gehry explores the building’s development through original sketches, early models and archival materials, revealing how its design responded to Abu Dhabi’s landscape and cultural setting.