London sets the pace with a trio of high-impact shows. At the V&A, Marie Antoinette Style (until March 2026) reinterprets the French queen’s visual legacy through fashion, interiors and pop references, exploring how myth is built through aesthetics. At Tate Britain, the major Lee Miller retrospective (October 2025–February 2026) traces the evolution of a model, surrealist muse, fashion photographer and war correspondent who transformed the female gaze of the twentieth century.
The Design Museum opens 2026 with Wes Anderson: The Way Things Look, an immersive journey into the director’s chromatic and meticulously designed universe. Completing the London chapter, the National Portrait Gallery presents Cecil Beaton: Fashionable World, a portrait of global style and society.
In Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton continues its extensive Gerhard Richter retrospective (until March 2026), a deep dive into abstraction, photography and colour. At the Musée d’Orsay, John Singer Sargent. Dazzling Paris (until 11 January 2026) revisits the artist’s formative years in the French capital, showcasing nearly 90 works, including Madame X, back in Paris for the first time since 1884.
Rome offers a dialogue between antiquity and contemporary craft with Cartier and Myths at the Capitoline Museums (until 15 March 2026). Jewels from the Cartier Collection are presented alongside the marble deities of Palazzo Nuovo, enriched with audiovisual and olfactory installations that explore the Maison’s long-standing fascination with classical heritage.
(circa 1890)
In Tokyo, Andy Warhol – Serial Portraits (until 15 February 2026) at Espace Louis Vuitton delves into the artist’s exploration of identity and fame, featuring early drawings, Polaroids and iconic portraits from the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s collection.
Finally, Mumbai hosts Doug Aitken: UNDER THE SUN at NMACC (6 December 2025–22 February 2026), the artist’s first major exhibition in India. Spanning textiles, sculpture, sound and immersive film, the show reflects on the shifting relationship between humans, nature and technology.
Together, these exhibitions map a global landscape where creativity becomes narrative, experience and vision — a compelling start to 2026.
