★★ History
The British Museum
Worth a detour
Here are five worth planning around, two of which open or close within days.
The Bayeux Tapestry Comes Home
Location: British Museum, London
Dates: September 10, 2026 to July 11, 2027
Description: The 70-meter embroidered epic returns to England for the first time in nearly a thousand years, and for the first time ever it is laid flat in a custom-built glass case instead of hung vertically. The biggest and most expensive exhibition in the British Museum's history. The first ticket release sold out within hours and crashed the museum website, so book ahead.
Ron Mueck's Giants, Last Chance
Location: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Dates: April 29 to September 23, 2026 (closes September 23, three days left)
Description: Japan's first major Ron Mueck exhibition in 18 years. Eleven hyperreal sculptures, including Mass with its hundred giant skulls, plus early works never before shown in Japan. Advance timed tickets are strongly recommended. Same-day tickets sell out.
Leonardo in Tokyo, Renaissance Masterpieces from the Louvre
Location: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Dates: September 9 to December 13, 2026
Description: More than 50 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from the Louvre, headlined by Leonardo da Vinci's La Belle Ferronniere, on view in Japan for the first time in 52 years.
Cezanne et Nous, Cezanne and 78 Artists
Location: Grand Palais, Paris
Dates: September 23, 2026 to January 17, 2027 (opens September 23)
Description: 174 works, 69 of them by Cezanne himself, in dialogue with artists from Gauguin and Matisse to Bridget Riley and Peter Doig. Co-produced by the Grand Palais, the Centre Pompidou, and the Musee d'Orsay. The season's biggest Paris opening.
Primeval Waters, Lessons from Mesopotamia
Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris
Dates: May 20, 2026 to March 15, 2027
Description: The Louvre's major archaeology exhibition on water in ancient Mesopotamia, the land where irrigation was invented. A timely show connecting an 8,000-year-old civilization to today's environmental questions.
Also on this September
Auguste Bartholdi: Liberty Enlightening the World, Musee d'Orsay, Paris, September 15, 2026 to January 31, 2027
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, September 18, 2026 to January 24, 2027
Timeless Tintoretto, Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Paris, September 11, 2026 to January 24, 2027
Andy Warhol: La ligne et l'image, Musee du Luxembourg, Paris, September 16, 2026 to January 10, 2027
Eva Gonzales, Petit Palais, Paris, through January 24, 2027
Frida: The Making of an Icon, Tate Modern, London, through January 3, 2027
Whistler, Tate Britain, London, through September 27, 2026 (closing soon)
Ana Mendieta, Tate Modern, London, through January 17, 2027
Taryn Simon: Father Country I Do Love You, Guggenheim, New York, September 18, 2026 to March 14, 2027
Chasing Clouds, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 14, 2026 to February 28, 2027
A King's Carpet: Louis XIV and the Savonnerie, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 8, 2026 to March 5, 2027
Musical Bodies, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, through September 27, 2026 (closing soon)
The Genesis Facade Commission: Liu Wei, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 17, 2026 to June 8, 2027
Taking Back Our Space: Photographic Perspectives, MoMA, New York, September 20, 2026 to May 2, 2027
Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism, Art Institute of Chicago, September 6, 2026 to January 3, 2027
Lee Miller: Fearless, Art Institute of Chicago, August 29 to December 7, 2026
Odilon Redon: Otherworldly Visions, Getty Center, Los Angeles, through October 18, 2026
Danse Macabre: Death in Print from Durer to Dix, LACMA, Los Angeles, through December 6, 2026
Eileen Cowin: Between Panic and Paradise, LACMA, Los Angeles, through January 3, 2027
Paul R. Williams, Getty Center + LACMA + USC Fisher Museum, Los Angeles, through July 2027
Valeriano D. Becquer: The Paintings of Customs, Museo del Prado, Madrid, through October 4, 2026
Jasper Johns: Night Driver, Guggenheim Bilbao, through October 12, 2026
Photography and the Black Arts Movement 1955-1985, National Gallery of Art, Washington, opens September 21, 2026
Rembrandt the Etcher, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, through September 23, 2026 (closing soon)
Do Ho Suh, MMCA, Seoul, August 27, 2026 to February 9, 2027
