10 Exhibitions You Must See This Summer

1. Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)

Museo del Prado, Madrid, May 27–September 21, 2025

Veronese is one of the big beasts of the Venetian Renaissance–grand, dazzling, sensuous–and Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) is an exhibition on a scale to do him justice. There are over a hundred works themed in six comprehensive sections which look at his rise, theatricality, invention, use of mythology and allegory, late works and legacy. Veronese is sometimes overlooked—less painterly than Titian and more restrained than Tintoretto—but no one integrates figures with architecture so creatively. This is a visual feast.

The Prado has been working their way through the Venetian masters: this is the last in a series of exhibitions which started way back in 2001. Thanks to Spanish royal patronage, they have plenty of their own examples of Veronese’s work, supplemented with loans from the UK, US, and elsewhere. A blockbuster by any definition.

2. A Room of Her Own: Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1875–1945

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, USA, June 14–September 14, 2025

With a phrase taken from Virginia Woolf, A Room of Her Own is an exhibition which takes a deliberately broad definition of art, including textiles and stained glass as well as painting, drawing, and sculpture. It also covers a period of dramatic social change when women fought for equal rights and were directly impacted by two world wars. As the title suggests, these were artists who were also active campaigners, from getting permission to draw nudes to organizing their own exhibitions. Equally, they were working in a period of dramatic artistic development.

25 artists, including Woolf’s own sister, Vanessa Bell, Laura Knight, and Evelyn De Morgan are represented, giving some sense of the range of works from Pre-Raphaelite elegance, through Bloomsbury‘s modernist experimentation and Impressionist naturalism. Sadly, the exhibition does not seem to be touring, but if you can’t get to the Clark, there is also an excellent catalogue.

3. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA, ongoing

Not strictly speaking an exhibition, but the reopening of The Met‘s galleries devoted to African, ancient American, and Oceanian art after a decade-long refurbishment is a major event. The new display differentiates the three collections with subtle architectural referencing whilst opening up the space to more natural light. Recently acquired works and objects not previously on show sit alongside new commissions. Film, digital displays, and improved wall texts all aim to add greater context.

This reopening at The Met coincides with the recent unveiling of the new-look Frick Collection. Across the other side of the Atlantic, London’s National Gallery is celebrating the reopening of its Sainsbury Wing with a complete collection rehang. They all promise a chance to see familiar works in new ways, put more works on show, and improve visitor experience.

4. A Dream of Poland. 100 Masterpieces from the National Museum in Warsaw

Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 27–September 11, 2025

With 100 masterpieces from the National Museum in Warsaw, A Dream of Poland is one of those discovery exhibitions full of names which may well be unfamiliar to anyone who is not Polish. Jan Matejko, Olga Boznańska, and Stanisław Wyspiański are amongst the 40 or so artists included. The works cover the period 1850–1914, when Poland was trying to cling onto a sense of national identity in the face of foreign occupation and territorial division.

On one hand, this is a survey of 19th-century art, covering Romanticism up to early Modernism, as many of these artists trained and traveled outside Poland. However, it is also about identity, belonging, and a fight for cultural independence. A dream of an exhibition!

5. The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

Château de Chantilly, Chantilly, Oise, France, June 7–October 5, 2025

Très Riches Heures de Duc du Berry is probably one of the most famous Medieval manuscripts in the world. Even if the title is unfamiliar, the images will not be. Painted by the Limbourg brothers, the book charts a year of prayer through 121 vivid representations of court and peasant life. The images are being shown here unbound because of ongoing restoration, so this is a rare chance to appreciate them as individual art objects, rather than a collection of illustrations.

The exhibition contextualizes Les Heures through the Duc de Berry himself, brother to the French king and patron of the arts, and 14th-century Burgundian court culture. Paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, and copies of every known book of hours the duke owned are on show. Exquisite, jewel-like color, precise detail, and an endlessly fascinating insight into Medieval life.

6. The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism

Camille Pissarro never quite gets the same attention as Monet and Degas, yet was a profoundly interesting and influential figure within Impressionism. Born in the Caribbean, of Jewish descent, and slightly older than many of the group, he was both an outsider and something of a father figure to younger artists like Cézanne and Gauguin.

From Parisian boulevards to empathetic depictions of the rural poor, The Honest Eye surveys his entire career with over a hundred works, including an impressive number of loans. Interest in light and movement sit alongside embryonic pointillism and flattened formalism. In the flesh, Pissarro’s work sings with texture and color. The show is also travelling to the Denver Art Museum in the autumn.

7. Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road

British Museum, London, UK, May 1–September 7, 2025

Utagawa Hiroshige was one of Japan’s most prolific, popular, and influential printmakers, producing over 5000 designs across a 40-year career. The British Museum is celebrating a major gift of the artist’s work with their first exhibition dedicated to him, showing over 80 examples, some of which have never been shown before. Beautifully rendered images of nature and everyday life are created with mesmerizing detail as Hiroshige combined precise observation with an eye for oddness.

The Impressionists loved his work, of course, and Hiroshige: Artist of the Open Road ends with a section looking at Hiroshige’s legacy. However, the real joy lies in the rich color, impeccable design, and the world he evokes. Crowds, pleasure, travel, theatre, and costume: this is life at its most vibrant.

8. Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London, UK, June 20–September 7, 2025

One of the leading contemporary figurative artists, Jenny Saville, has been closely involved in curating this major retrospective of her work. She has always been concerned with the human body, working on a large scale, in both charcoal and paint, to create vivid, visceral representations. Thick paint layers emphasise the physical, bodily reality of her sitters and reinforce Saville as an artist interested in the material process of painting. However, there is also a humanity and a determination to counter traditional representations of beauty and womanhood.

Saville might be in your face, but she also has the ability to get under your skin. This is an exhibition that will linger with you.

9. A Certain View. Masterpieces from the Sidarta Collection

Bonnard Museum, Le Cannet, France, June 28–November 2, 2025

60 works from a never-before-exhibited private collection, including some of the biggest names in painting and sculpture from 1850–1950: Claudel, Degas, Morisot, Picasso, and many more. A Certain View takes a broadly chronological approach, starting with Corot as a forerunner of modernism. There are thematic sections looking at portraiture, the nude, landscape, and interiors.

This type of exhibition can be a bit disparate, but the quality of the works on show is usually ample compensation. There are other similar compilations on this summer. From Rembrandt to Van Gogh: Armand Hammer Collection, Los Angeles has crossed the Atlantic for a holiday at Fondation Pierre Gianadda in Martigny, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Birmingham’s Barber collection has travelled considerably less far to the Courtauld in London. All worth checking out.

10. David Hockney 25

Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, April 9–August 31, 2025

The sheer scale of David Hockney 25—the artist’s retrospective, which contains over 400 works, is mind-blowing. So is the range of work on offer from painting and drawing to photography, collage, film, installations, and most recently iPad-created work. Hockney, now 87, shows no signs of slowing down either in the quantity of work he produces or the exuberant love of life he displays.

This exhibition covers Hockney’s career from 1955 to the present day, curated by the artist himself. There are plenty of famous works, including A Bigger Splash, but the focus is very much on recent creations: nature-focused and based on observations around the artist’s home in Normandy. You will be hard pushed to find a more optimistic, euphoric show this year.

These are just a tiny fraction of the great exhibitions making a splash this summer. Check out your local galleries and museums and see what’s on offer. Go on, dive in!