From January to March, museums renew their exhibition programs. A look at seven cultural showcases not to be missed, from Paris to London and New York.
Martin Parr – Global Warning in Paris
The exhibition Global Warning at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, opening on January 30, 2026, offers a retrospective dive into the prolific work of Martin Parr, who passed away on December 6, 2025. A major figure in documentary photography, Parr spent more than fifty years portraying—both sharply and tenderly—our ways of life shaped by mass tourism, rampant consumerism, and the omnipresence of technology. Around 180 works, divided into five sections, will be presented.
A Day in the 18th Century: Chronicle of a Parisian Townhouse in Paris
© Les Arts Décoratifs / Jean Tholance
A Day in the 18th Century: Chronicle of a Parisian Townhouse, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, offers from February 18 to July 5, 2026 a fully immersive experience into the life of an aristocratic Parisian residence in the 1780s. More than 550 original objects—mostly from the museum’s collections and rarely shown—invite visitors to rediscover the art of living of the period. Furniture, wood paneling, wallpapers, ceramics, jewelry, clothing, toys, and fashion accessories recreate the intimate world of the owners, servants, and household animals. Through a cinematic, sound-based, and olfactory staging, visitors move from room to room like a privileged friend of the family.
Unicorns! in Paris
Unicorns! explores the fascinating history of this mythical creature from March 10 onward at the Musée de Cluny – the National Museum of the Middle Ages. Present since Antiquity and celebrated in the Middle Ages, the unicorn remains a powerful symbol of scarcity and a source of inspiration in literature and the contemporary imagination. Organized into eight sections and produced in collaboration with the Museum Barberini and the Grand Palais RMN, the exhibition examines the unicorn in all its dimensions: artistic icon, intellectual symbol, and legendary figure. Works, objects, and representations follow one another, revealing the richness of a myth that has endured through the centuries.
Hawai‘i: A Kingdom Crossing Oceans in London
Hawai‘i: A Kingdom Crossing Oceans opens at the British Museum in London from January 15. The exhibition celebrates Hawaiian art and history through remarkable objects: feather capes worn by chiefs, sculpted deities, shark-tooth weapons, and contemporary works by Kānaka ʻŌiwi artists (the Indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands). It revisits the historic 1824 journey of King Liholiho and Queen Kamāmalu, recounting more than 200 years of cultural exchanges between Hawai‘i and Great Britain. Designed with Hawaiian artists and scholars, the exhibition highlights Indigenous knowledge and rare artifacts, offering a fresh perspective on the archipelago’s history and culture.
Liberty: The Art of Modern Italy in Rome
The Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia, Rome, presents Liberty: The Art of Modern Italy from January 24 to June 14, 2026. The exhibition is devoted to the Liberty movement, which marked the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. Curated by Manuel Carrera, Davide Dotti, and Anna Villari, it brings together more than one hundred works, including paintings, sculptures, posters, ceramics, photographs, and film excerpts. The exhibition shows how international movements influenced painting, sculpture, graphic design, fashion, and the applied arts, offering a comprehensive panorama of Italian creativity during this period.
Gods of the Home: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860–1930 in New York
Gods of the Home: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860–1930 can be seen from January 24 to June 27, 2026 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In Hinduism, darshan, or the “vision of God,” lies at the heart of worship, traditionally in temples, though every household also has its own altar. In the 19th century, photography and chromolithography enabled the production of inexpensive prints, making colorful images of deities accessible to all. This first encyclopedic retrospective presents around 120 works from pioneering workshops in Calcutta, Pune, and Bombay, including prints, paintings, and portable triptychs. The exhibition shows how these images became a powerful means of religious and cultural expression at the dawn of modernity in India, allowing even modest households to celebrate the divine at home.
Basquiat – Headstrong in Humlebæk
The Louisiana Gallery in Humlebæk, Denmark, hosts Basquiat – Headstrong from January 30 to May 17, 2026, a major monographic exhibition devoted to works on paper by the legendary American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988). This is the first comprehensive retrospective exploring the artist’s representations of the human head, highlighting numerous works he had chosen to keep out of public view.
Read also > The best exhibitions to celebrate 100 years of Art Deco
Featured photo : Subramaniyan avec ses épouses Valli et Devasena (détail), Ravi Varma Press, vers 1900-1915, lithographie en couleurs, vernis. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acquisition, Amis de l’art asiatique, 2021
