Five Essential Museum Exhibitions to Experience this Fall
- Barbara Cortina
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
Piero Manzoni: Total Space
Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, New York
8 September 2025 through 23 March 2026
In 2019, on the occasion of the exhibition Piero Manzoni: Lines, Materials of His Time at Hauser & Wirth New York, the Gallery and the Piero Manzoni Foundation in Milan have commissioned architect Stephanie Goto to design two environments, La Stanza Pelosa (a room coated with fur) and La Stanza Fosforescente (a room coated in fluorescent paint).
These concepts were originally devised by Manzoni in 1961 - as outlined in a letter to his friend Henk Peeters - but remained unfinished due to the artist's untimely death in 1963.
In the coming weeks, thanks to a donation from Hauser & Wirth and the Piero Manzoni Foundation to Magazzino Italian Art, the environments will be opened to the public, accompanied by a selection of Manzoni's works from American collections, including a rare Achrome from 1958.
A must-see because: the artist Heinz Mack asserts that Manzoni has influenced many of the things that have happened in art in the last fifty years, and he's right. This influence is particularly evident when considering the research on materials embraced by Arte Povera, a movement crucial to Magazzino's collecting focus.
Peter Doig: House of Music
Serpentine Galleries, London
10 October 2025 through 8 February 2026
Not everyone knows that Peter Doig, one of the most influential British landscape painters on the international scene, is also an avid collector of vinyl records and audiocassettes featuring rock and indie music. For the first time, music (but also film) selected by the artist will accompany his large-scale paintings throughout the exhibition halls of the prominent London institution, located in the heart of Hyde Park.
A must-see because: it marks Peter Doig's return to the Serpentine Galleries more than 30 years after his debut as an emerging artist in 1991.
Yayoi Kusama
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Basel
12 October 2025 through 25 January 2026
This exhibition is the first Swiss retrospective to celebrate the long career of the Japanese artist, who is now over 90 years old. It's being organized in collaboration with the Yayoi Kusama Studio, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
A must-see because: it will feature a new version of the artist's "Infinity Mirror Rooms," while also extending into the stunning outdoor garden, creating an engaging dialogue between art, architecture, and nature.
Renoir Drawings
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
17 October 2025 through 8 February 2026
Renoir Drawings focuses on the graphic art of one of the leading figures of French Impressionism, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It aims to showcase his lesser-known works in pastel, watercolour, and print formats, featuring loans from prestigious institutions such as the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and the Albertina in Vienna.
A must-see because: it has been more than a hundred years since the last exhibition dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir's works on paper - in 1921 - at the Paul Durand-Ruel Gallery in Paris.
Gastone Novelli (1925-1968)
Ca’ Pesaro – Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice
15 November 2025 through 1 March 2026
Similar to Manzoni, Novelli's artistic career was brief, but marked by a notable infusion of inventiveness, energy, and vitality. This fall, Ca' Pesaro is dedicating a retrospective to one of the major figures of Post-World War II Italian Art, marking one hundred years since his birth, with an important selection of works from the Gastone Novelli Archive and pieces from public and private collections.
A must-see because: to remind us of the distinctive quality of Novelli's oeuvre, a sophisticated synergy between words and images, challenging conventional boundaries in language.
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