This autumn the Kröller-Müller Museum presents a special first: all 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh from the collection will be on display at the same time. The museum’s founder, Helene Kröller-Müller, assembled the world’s largest private collection of works by this extraordinary artist. The exhibition Van Gogh, All Our Paintings takes visitors on a journey through the three themes that run like a common thread through Van Gogh’s work: faith, hope and love.

"Emil Schumacher - Indemini. Der Erde näher als den Sternen" showcases the significant new acquisition "Indemini," at the heart of an extensive presentation for the first time. The monumental piece from 1974 stands at three metres tall and nd is among Schumacher's largest canvases. It is also one of the most significant examples of his experimental approach to materials.

In parallel, the museum presents  "Songs from the Orbs" by Benedikt Hipp (*1977), a prominent figure in German contemporary art. Through painting, sculpture, and ceramic wood-fired works, Hipp consistently explores the potential of materials. Created specifically for the museum, this presentation incorporates the building’s architecture and its immediate surroundings into the spatial staging of the Schumacher exhibition.

The Rijksmuseum is celebrating Willem de Kooning with the largest exhibition in Europe since more than 40 years. The exhibition includes 120 of de Kooning's works and marks the 100th anniversary of his departure from the Netherlands to the USA. It offers a comprehensive overview of the artist’s drawings, accompanied by some of his most renowned paintings and sculptures. Two of de Kooning’s paintings are displayed in the Rijksmuseum’s Gallery of Honour, where they are exhibited alongside works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters.

Under the title “Present Perfect”, the Kunsthalle Tübingen, in close collaboration with the artist Lars Eidinger, is not only presenting his photographs and videos, but is also placing selected groups of works from his visual anthropology in dialogue with works by other artists. In this thematically structured exhibition, Lars Eidinger’s photographs are brought together for the first time with iconic exhibits from the Kunsthalle Tübingen’s collection.

Lars Eidinger’s photographs and videos are created intuitively, in harmony with their surroundings. They depict the world as it is, whilst at the same time revealing the overlooked, the unsightly and the rough edges of lived experience – in short: the invisible.

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The exhibition “Emilio Vedova – More than Movement for its Own Sake” is dedicated to the work of the Venetian Informalist artist Emilio Vedova (1919–2006) and focuses in particular on his works from the 1960s, which were created during his stay in postwar Germany.

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A forensic scientist turned photographer focuses on one of the most unassuming materials in our environment. The exhibition Seeing the World in a Grain of Sand brings together the photomicro graphic works of Matthias Burba (b. 1954), a synesthete, and an interactive video work by Max Seeger (b. 1994), revealing sand as a multifaceted visual field. Between microscopic precision, subjective perception, and media translation, the material is rendered visible both as a geological archive and as a carrier of ecological, cultural, and historical processes.

In 2026, the Universalmuseum Joanneum will celebrate its annual theme, BLOOM. Ten exhibitions across eight venues will explore the botanical and metaphorical power of the flower. Just in time for summer, three high-profile exhibitions at the Kunsthaus Graz and the Neue Galerie Graz invite visitors to rediscover the relationship between nature and culture. With the expansive exhibitions “Hybrid Pleasures – Helen Chadwick in Dialogue with Liesl Raff” and “30% Dandelion” at the Kunsthaus, as well as a media-critical solo presentation by Markus Huemer at the Neue Galerie, science, social criticism, and sensual aesthetics are ambitiously intertwined.

There has not been a solo exhibition of Franz Erhard Walther’s drawings in Europe since 1999. Drawing on the unique collection of the Franz Erhard Walther Foundation, the VILLA will present the complex body of drawings in the exhibition DEM MOND GEWIDMET (Dedicated to the Moon), opening on 27 September 2026.

With hundreds of drawings, including works from the artist’s studio that have never before been exhibited, visitors will have the opportunity to discover this extraordinary body of work.

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The Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is celebrating a double milestone this year. As well as marking the 100th anniversary of the estate’s founding, the settlement was officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2026 as the seventh component of the ‘Berlin Modernist Housing Estates’. To mark this double anniversary, the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, together with Vonovia and other partners, is once again organising the ‘Berlin Modernist Housing Estates’ festival from 27–30 August 2026. This cross-disciplinary festival brings together architecture, art, music and history.

30 years ago, UNESCO declared those Bauhaus sites in Weimar to be World Heritage Sites, whose ideas had previously been suppressed and politically marginalised for decades. Since 1996, the Haus Am Horn and the main and workshop buildings of the Bauhaus University Weimar have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This recognition honoured not only significant architecture, but also an intellectual legacy that has shaped modernism worldwide.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage designation, Weimar is turning its attention to the eventful history of the Bauhaus in the city. Between new beginnings and rejection, between oblivion and rediscovery, it becomes clear just how closely the history of the Bauhaus is linked to the political and social upheavals of the 20th century.

To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of the renowned book illustrator and graphic artist Daniel Chodowiecki, the Neuhardenberg Castle Foundation is presenting a comprehensive special exhibition. The exhibition traces the remarkable life story of the artist, who rose from being an immigrant from Danzig to become director of the Prussian Academy of Arts. Drawing on numerous loans, the exhibition sheds light on his multifaceted body of work and situates it within the context of the Enlightenment and the emerging modern media society.

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The Culture Summer 2026 at Schloss & Gut Liebenberg opens its doors once again in May with a varied programme for children, teenagers and adults. It invites visitors to experience culture, nature and history in a unique setting. From the Brandenburger Landpartie with guided tours, workshops and live music, to silent film screenings and the Fête de la Musique, right through to the creative summer holiday programme and open-air cinema in the castle grounds.

From the end of August, the DKB STIFTUNG für gesellschaftliches Engagement invites guests to enjoy a varied programme of readings, history, art and theatre at the historic complex of Schloss & Gut Liebenberg.

The programme starts with readings by Petra Werner and Kat Menschik, on 13 September Open Monument Day invites visitors to take part in historical guided tours of the castle complex; the exhibition ‘Der Maler Hans Lietzmann in Liebenberg’ opens in the Feldsteinkirche; and in the evening, the Traumschüff Theatre from Oranienburg stages a play. This will be followed in the autumn by readings by Richard Brandes, Stephan Hähnel and Malibu Gordes, Hans Meyer zu Düttingdorf and Juan Carlos Risso, as well as Peter Jungblut.

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From autumn 2026, the DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam will present a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the artistic work of Annemirl Bauer (born 1939 in Jena, died 1989 in East Berlin). Annemirl Bauer represents a critical and independent voice from the GDR and an artist who was long denied recognition in art history and whose work received little public attention during her lifetime.

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Günter Grass, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is regarded as one of the most influential authors and intellectuals of the 20th century. His works have inspired generations of writers and artists. Next year would have marked his 100th birthday. A curated programme, organised under the auspices of the Günter Grass House in Lübeck in collaboration with an international network of renowned institutions, demonstrates just how relevant his commitment to the protection of democracy, the environment and social cohesion remains to this day. His birthplace, Gdańsk, and Lübeck, where Grass was active for many years, form the focal points of a multifaceted year of celebrations.

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The Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung presents for the first time the historical industrial photographs of Alfred Ehrhardt (1901–84) in an entirely new, contemporary light. From 1954 to 1963, Ehrhardt produced numerous films and photographic works on commission for the tobacco company Reemtsma & Co. The documents, which have rarely been exhibited, form the foundation for Leipzig -based artist Ramona Schacht’s (b. 1989) latest work: equality between property and photography , Images on Commission for Reemtsma. Schacht engages intensively with the working environments depicted in the images, examining which political, economic, and physical orders they reveal — and which remain concealed.

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What happens when art meets political expectations? What images emerge at the intersection of government commissions, personal experience, and artistic autonomy?  For the first time, the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr will take a closer look at the complex art collection of the National People’s Army of the GDR. The exhibition brings together over 200 paintings, prints, and sculptures by approximately 100 artists and examines the tension between art, the state, and the military in the GDR.

With works by Norbert Bisky (on private loan), Manfred Butzmann, Hubertus Giebe, Bernhard Heisig, Gerda Lepke, Otto Nagel, Evelyn Richter, Arno Rink, Horst Sakulowski, Willi Sitte, Hans Ticha, Werner Tübke, and Walter Womacka, among others.

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To mark the 125th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family, the Buddenbrookhaus in Lübeck builds a bridge to the present day and explores the enduring relevance of this landmark novel: what holds families together, and what causes them to break apart?

The major special exhibition “Family Affairs. 125 Years of Buddenbrooks” at the St. Annen Museum interprets Thomas Mann’s novel as a surprisingly topical narrative about heritage, the pressure of expectations, social roles and the desire for individual freedom.

The anniversary exhibition is accompanied by a year long cultural programme.

From 11 November 2026 to 5 September 2027, the Bonnefanten will present the major exhibition Cooking from the Fridge to mark the forthcoming departure of director Stijn Huijts. The project celebrates his three decades of leadership across three collections in the Zuid Limburg Regional Culture Partnership. For this unique collaboration, 28 guest curators selected more than 200 artworks by approx. 130 artists from the combined repositories of Bonnefanten Maastricht, SCHUNCK Heerlen, and Het Domein Sittard. This layered presentation covers an entire floor of the museum and showcases the strengths of these collections as an essential part of the Dutch national collection.

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To celebrate its tenth anniversary in Düsseldorf Flingern, the Philara Collection is delighted to present an extensive survey of the collection, opening in June 2026. The exhibition, featuring well over 100 works by more than 80 artists, will extend from the spacious main hall across all the exhibition areas of the Philara Collection.

The exhibition presents a condensed but representative selection from Gil and Anat Bronner’s collection, which today comprises over 2,000 works. The presentation is complemented by works chosen from the collection of Bronner’s parents, who were a formative influence on their son’s passion for collecting. Pieces from the collections of his children, Philip and Lara, after whom the exhibition space is named, are also represented.

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The St Annen-Museum in Lübeck is currently offering a rare glimpse behind the scenes: until 23 August 2026, visitors can witness the restoration of the 1519 altarpiece first-hand. The public conservation work is paving the way for a cultural and historical milestone:

In the anniversary year of 2027, from 27 February onwards, all the surviving parts of the altarpiece featuring panel paintings by Erhard Altdorfer will be on display together in Lübeck for the first time in over 200 years. This has been made possible by the successful repurchase in 2025 of the long-lost panels (left-hand outer wing), as well as by loans from the Memorial Art Museum in Ohio (right-hand altar wing).

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Stiftung Kommunikationsaufbau is announcing the call for entries for the 2026 VOICE Albert O. Hirschman Prize. The prize is worth a total of 15,000 euros. The open call is for projects or contributions that have a public impact and are aimed at promoting and expanding democracy, dialogue and participation.

The awards ceremony will be held at the TAK Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg in Berlin in fall 2026.

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Jana Johanna Haeckel is to take on the role of artistic director of the 4th edition of Düsseldorf’s Photography Biennale, düsseldorf photo+, for 2027. She will thus also serve as curator of the Biennale’s main exhibition, which will be held for the first time at Kunstpalast am Ehrenhof, Düsseldorf. For over 14 years, Jana Johanna Haeckel, who holds a PhD in art history, has curated international art exhibitions, focusing on the medium of photography, for institutions in Prague, Turin, Brussels, Berlin, Munich and Valencia amongst other places. Her curatorial work incisively reflects with conceptual clarity and visual power on the social relevance of photography.

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Starting on June 27, 2026, the sculpture Apron by South African artist William Kentridge will be open to the public on the terraces of the Brauhausberg. As a symbol of the importance of interpersonal communication, collaboration, and artistic exchange, the work serves as a new link in the visual axis between the MINSK, the Brauhausberg, and the city center.

With LIGHT DIALOGUES, the Center for International Light Art is presenting an exhibition in 2026—its 25th anniversary year—that is entirely dedicated to the institution’s central medium: light itself. The focus is on the creative and technical means by which artists use light to create effect, atmosphere, and meaning. In cooperation with SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, the exhibition brings together works by John M. Armleder (CH), Martin Creed (UK), Tracey Emin (UK), Dan Flavin (US), Jeppe Hein (DK), Lori Hersberger (CH), Astrid Klein (DE), Brigitte Kowanz (AT), François Morellet (FR), Maurizio Nannucci (IT), and Keith Sonnier (US), bringing them into a multifaceted dialogue.

Astrup Fearnley Museet presents a retrospective of Beatriz González (1932–2026). Known as la maestra of Colombian art, González was one of the most important and influential Latin American artists of the 20th century. Bringing together over 150 artworks, this major exhibition, planned in close collaboration with the artist, explores González’s practice from the 1960s until her passing in January 2026.

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As central figures of the Danish avant-garde and the international CoBrA movement, the artist couple Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt shaped a visual language of extraordinary freedom and independence. More than 150 exhibits from four decades trace the development of their work in the exhibition at the Kunsthalle St. Annen. Scandinavian landscape and mythology, playful expression and collective creativity form central points of reference in a body of work that moves between figuration and abstraction, innovation and tradition.

The exhibition ‘Abstract’ focuses on three key approaches within abstract art. With significant new acquisitions by Carmen Herrera, Wassily Kandinsky and Mark Rothko, the Hilti Art Foundation illustrates the development and diversity of abstraction through its own high-calibre collection.

Featuring over 50 works spanning 120 years, the exhibition at the Hilti Art Foundation illustrates three paths of abstraction: geometric construction, the detachment from the object, and the dissolution of form into spaces of colour. At the heart of the exhibition are three significant, recently acquired paintings by Herrera, Kandinsky and Rothko.

The Casa di Goethe museum in Rome is hosting a solo exhibition by conceptual artist Mischa Kuball. Through two series of works, the artist explores two significant events in the history of science: a piece created specifically for the Casa di Goethe visually contrasts the opposing views of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Isaac Newton on colour theory and the refraction of light in an open, contemporary dialogue.

With the exhibition “Helme Heine: Es war einmal …”, the Günter Grass House pays tribute to one of the most significant picture book artists of our time. His books have sold over 25 million copies and been translated into more than 30 languages. His characters—such as the little dragon “Tabaluga” or the “Friends” Johnny Mauser, Franz von Hahn and Fat Waldemar—are known throughout the world. Last year, the great creator of small visual worlds passed away at his seaside home in New Zealand.

Alex Katz is one of the most influential artists in contemporary American art and, at almost 99 years of age, continues to develop new series of works. The focus of the Tübingen exhibition, which was developed in close collaboration with Katz, is on the artist's late work, which is being presented comprehensively in Germany for the first time in a long time. A total of 40 large-format works are on display. Fifteen works come directly from Alex Katz's studio, and some of the works have never been shown in Europe before. A look at his 70-year career shows that Alex Katz today is less detached and more directly devoted to the flow of painting, exploring the boundaries of abstraction with panoramic, gestural works.

The Intensity of Softness, cites a shared materiality, the choice by both artists, Jimmy Robert & Franz Erhard Walther, to work primarily with soft materials, such as fabric and paper. These are permeable, flexible and metamorphic materials that can hug the contours of the body yet allow movement, that seem solid but as textile materials are made up of a weave and are tied moreover to the textual.

The exhibition was curated by François Piron.

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Neuhardenberg is hosting an exhibition on landscape gardens in art, featuring works from different eras in dialogue with designed nature. The star and exemplary object of the exhibition is the Neuhardenberg Landscape Park, a masterpiece of garden design by Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871) and Peter Joseph Lenné (1789–1866). The exhibition shows the diversity of representations of landscape gardens in art from the 17th century to the present day. It displays art from different eras side by side on an equal footing, revealing surprising connections. On May 31, Nezaket Ekici (*1970), a master student of Marina Abramović, will also present her work Gehend-Sehend (Walking-Seeing), developed especially for Neuhardenberg, on the proximity of art and landscape gardens.

From February 8 to August 9 2026, the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen, in cooperation with the Geiger Archive in Munich, is honouring the painter Rupprecht Geiger with a major solo exhibition comprising around 70 works from all phases of the artist's career.

With this comprehensive exhibition of Rupprecht Geiger's work, the Emil Schumacher Museum is dedicating itself to one of the most important representatives of colour field painting in Europe and creating an indirect encounter between the two artists, Geiger and Schumacher, who were friends, that has never been seen before. Two painters, two paths of non-representational art after 1945, which appear almost like opposite poles: on the one hand, expressive gestures, on the other, the clarity of pure colour.

For a quarter of a century, the Centre for International Light Art Unna (ZFIL) has been presenting international positions in contemporary light art. In its anniversary year 2026, the museum invites visitors to experience both its programmatic profile and current developments in light art with special exhibitions, events and a central anniversary exhibition. This opens up new perspectives on light as an artistic medium for visitors. The anniversary programme will kick off on 14 February 2026 with the opening of the interactive room installation ‘RIPPLES’ by visual artist and composer Claudia Robles-Angel. The highlight of the anniversary year will be the exhibition ‘LIGHT DIALOGUES’, which is scheduled to open on 12 June 2026.

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