14 unmissable art exhibitions to visit in Europe this autumn

World-class galleries across Europe are pulling out all the stops this autumn with an abundance of not-to-be-missed art exhibitions, installations and retrospectives.

From a “once-in-a-century” Van Gogh showcase at London’s National Gallery to a long-overdue tribute to Gabriele Münter at Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, art lovers are truly spoilt for choice.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed or unsure where to start? No worries – here’s our guide to 14 of the best exhibitions you’ll want to book a flight for.

‘Surrealism’ at Centre Pompidou (Paris, France)

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Surrealism – celebrating the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto in October 1924. So, there’s no better time to check out the ‘Surrealism; exhibition at Paris’ Pompidou Centre, which brings together works by iconic artists like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst and Joan Miró. Designed “like a maze”, the show also celebrates female Surrealists such as Leonora Carrington and Dora Maar. The star attraction of the exhibition? A central “drum” housing the original Surrealist Manifesto, on special loan from the National Library of France, accompanied by a multimedia screening to bring the manifesto’s creation to life.

‘Surrealism’ at Centre Pompidou runs until 13 January 2025.

‘Mark Bradford: Keep Walking’ at Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, Germany)

Mark Bradford: Keep Walking, marks the reopening of the historic Rieckhallen building complex at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Spanning two decades, the show features 20 of the 62-year-old artist’s works, including paintings, sculptures, and installations, which explore race, gender, and economic inequality. Bradford’s art, rooted in his Los Angeles upbringing, uses found objects like posters and newspaper clippings to address socio-political issues, particularly the Black American experience. Highlights include the monumental sculpture Spoiled Foot and the interactive floor painting Float.

‘Mark Bradford: Keep Walking’ at Hamburger Bahnhof runs until 18 May 2025.

‘Noah Davis’ at DAS Minsk (Potsdam, Germany)

DAS MINSK in Potsdam is presenting the largest institutional survey of the late Noah Davis (1983-2015), on view from 7 September. Featuring over 50 works, this retrospective spans Davis’ entire career and will later travel to London’s Barbican and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Curated chronologically, the exhibition highlights Davis’ creative journey from his first 2007 show until his untimely death at 32 in 2015, and features unseen paintings, works on paper, and sculptures. It promises to be an emotional, unforgettable tribute to an artist whose legacy continues to resonate.

‘Noah Davis’ at DAS Minsk is until 5 January 2025.

‘Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers’ at National Gallery (London, UK)

In what has been described as a “once-in-a-century” spectacle, the National Gallery is presenting over 60 stunning works by the legendary Vincent Van Gogh works, including “Starry Night Over the Rhône”, “The Yellow House” and “Sunflowers”. As well as these globally renowned masterpieces, the exhibition also features a selection of Van Gogh’s rarely seen paintings and drawings, offering an in-depth exploration of the artist’s creative evolution during his transformative years in Arles and Saint-Rémy. Not much more needs to be said – this is one show you simply can’t afford to miss!

‘Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers‘ at National Gallery is on now until 19 January 2025.

‘German Expressionism’ at Moderna Museet (Stockholm, Sweden)

This show brings together the vibrant, boundary-pushing work of the Die Brücke (The Bridge) group, who shook up the early 20th-century art scene with their vivid colours and simplified forms. Founded in 1905 by a rebellious bunch of architecture students, Brücke’s art marks the start of Germany’s major contribution to modernism and the creation of expressionism. For the first time in the Nordic region, Sweden’s Moderna Museet is allowing visitors to explore a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures by the Brücke founders – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff – as well as later members like Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein.

‘German Expressionism’ at Moderna Museet runs from 21 September 2024 through to 9 March 2025.

‘Céline Laguarde (1873-1961): Photographer’ at Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)

The Musée d’Orsay is highlighting the work of Céline Laguarde, a pioneering figure in early 20th-century pictorialism, in a major retrospective. It’s the first exhibition solely dedicated to a female photographer active in France before World War I. The show, featuring around 140 of Laguarde’s original prints, reveals her huge contributions to photography and her influence in the artistic world of her time. It’s a chance to discover not only “a woman photographer now acknowledged to have been the most important to have emerged in France during the first seventy-five years of the medium’s existence, but also, and above all, of an artist already recognised in her lifetime as one of the major photographers of her day.”

‘Céline Laguarde (1873-1961): Photographer’ at Musée d’Orsay runs from 24 September 2024 through to 12 January 2025.

‘Monet and London: Views of the Thames’ at Courtauld Gallery (London, UK)

For the first time in 120 years, the exquisite Courtauld Gallery in London is bringing together Claude Monet‘s Impressionist paintings of London. Created during the French artist’s stays in the capital between 1899 and 1901, the series includes works of Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament. The major exhibition finally fulfills Monet’s long-held wish to display these paintings in London, just 300 metres from where many were painted. Take my Monet!

‘Monet and London: Views of the Thames’ at Courtauld Gallery runs from 27 September 2024 to 19 January 2025.

‘Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules’ at Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy)

Through her innovative soak-stain technique, which involved pouring thinned oil paints onto unprimed canvas, and unique approach to abstraction, Helen Frankenthaler transformed the field of painting and paved the way for future generations of artists. Now, this autumn, the historic Palazzo Strozzi is hosting an expansive exhibition showcasing the 20th century American artist’s work. It will explore her artistic evolution from 1953 to 2002, in which she was able to stand out in the largely male field of Abstract Expressionists.

‘Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules’ at Palazzo Strozzi runs from 27 September 2024 through to 26 January 2025.

‘Chagall’ at ALBERTINA Museum (Vienna, Austria)

Running from 28 September 2024 to 9 February 2025, the ALBERTINA museum is showcasing around 90 enchanting works by Marc Chagall, perhaps the most famous Jewish artist of the 20th century. Visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Chagall’s vibrant portrayals of love and life, populated by whimsical recurring figures such as donkeys and roosters, many of which set against the poignant backdrop of World War II and the Holocaust.

‘Chagall’ at ALBERTINA Museum runs from 28 September 2024 through to 9 February 2025.

‘Paula Rego: Power Games’ at Kunstmuseum Basel (Basel, Switzerland)

Paula Rego, one of the most compelling figurative painters of recent decades, is finally being showcased in Switzerland at the Kunstmuseum Basel. The 87-year-old Portuguese-British artist’s work is a whirlwind of images and cryptic humour, transforming archetypal figures from fairy tales and folklore into real, complex women navigating the harsh realities of life. Featuring paintings, graphic works, and mannequin-like objects from her career, the landmark Vienna show offers Swiss audiences their first chance to experience Rego’s powerful and often haunting artistic vision in the country.

‘Paula Rego: Power Games’ at Kunstmuseum Basel runs from 28 September 2024 through to 2 February 2025.

‘Rembrandt-Hoogstraten’ at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (Vienna, Austria)

Also in Vienna, and for the first time, the Kunsthistorisches Museum is showcasing the Baroque master Rembrandt in an unprecedented exhibition. The presentation brings together an exceptional array of international loans to highlight the fascinating relationship between the influential Dutch Golden Age artist and his talented pupil, Samuel van Hoogstraten. In preparation for the exhibition, the museum is undertaking a major restoration project, working in collaboration with international research institutes like the Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam, to uncover the secrets behind Rembrandt’s painting techniques and materials. Key pieces, including the renowned “Small Self-Portrait,” are being meticulously examined and restored using state-of-the-art technology.

‘Rembrandt-Hoogstraten’ at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien runs from 8 October 2024 through to 12 January 2025.

‘Jean Tinguely’ at Pirelli HangarBicocca (Milan, Italy)

Running through the 1950s to the 1980s, this exhibition at the Pirelli HangarBicocca features over 30 of Swiss artist Jean Tinguely’s most seminal kinetic sculptures (known officially as Métamatics). Tinguely, a trailblazer of 20th-century art, is renowned for his art transforms everyday objects into whimsical, noisy, mechanical marvels, that dance and clatter with unpredictable energy. The unmissable show has been promised to be a “sonic and visual scenery of monumental kinetic works, where colourful musical installations will be juxtaposed with, cacophonous machines.”

‘Jean Tinguely’ at Pirelli HangarBicocca runs from 10 October 2024 through to 2 February 2025.

‘Human, Prix Pictet’ at Cercle Cité’s Ratskeller (Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

If you’re a fan of photography than you must check out the ‘Human, Prix Pictet’ exhibition, opening at the historic Cercle Cité’s Ratskeller in Luxembourg. The work of 12 world-class shortlisted photographers is being showcased, united under the theme of ‘Human’. Among the highlights is the winner of this year’s Prix Pictet prize, Gauri Gill, whose evocative images document over two decades of life in rural Rajasthan, India. Equally powerful is Ragnar Axelsson’s striking documentation of indigenous peoples living on the edge of habitable lands.

‘Human, Prix Pictet’ at the Cercle Cité’s Ratskeller runs from 18 October 2024 through to 19 January 2025.

‘Gabriele Münter: The Great Expressionist Woman Painter‘ at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional (Madrid, Spain)

Gabriele Münter, a founding member of the revolutionary Blue Rider group, is being celebrated in a sweeping new exhibition at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, marking the first major retrospective of her work in Spain. Featuring over 100 vibrant paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs, the exhibition hopes to immerse viewers in Münter’s deeply personal world – where everyday objects, landscapes, and intimate relationships are distilled into their purest forms through bold lines and striking colours. The exhibition opens with a rare look at Münter’s early ventures into photography, a medium that played a pivotal role in shaping her artistic evolution, before exploring her travels across Europe and North Africa with her partner, Wassily Kandinsky. Highlights include masterpieces from her Blue Rider period, followed by her lesser-known works produced during her exile in Scandinavia.

‘Gabriele Münter: The Great Expressionist Woman Painter’ at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional runs from 12 November 2024 through to 9 February 2025.