Grand Tour 2026: Why Europe remains the benchmark this year
- Feb 17
- 4 min read
From Basel to Barcelona – as the art market reorganizes, Europe consolidates its cultural supremacy. Our guide to the most important blockbuster exhibitions you need to see right now.
The art summer of 2025 was a triumphant procession – from Bilbao to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. But anyone who thought the institutions would slow down in 2026 is sorely mistaken. While in some places there is debate about "cultural hegemony," the continent is simply providing the evidence right on the museum walls.
We have curated the highlights that you absolutely must see between London, Paris and Florence.
1. The afterlife in Basel: "Ghosts. Visualizing the Supernatural"
Kunstmuseum Basel | until March 8, 2026. Basel isn't just the epicenter of the art world during the fair. The Kunstmuseum is currently venturing into the ethereal: A mammoth exhibition with over 160 works spanning 250 years of art history explores how artists make the invisible visible. From Eugène Delacroix to Marcel Duchamp , the exhibition delves deep into the late 19th century, when spiritualism held a firm grip on popular culture. Creepy? Perhaps. Curatorially brilliant? Definitely.
Tickets for adults cost 30 CHF.
2. The Judges' Marathon in Paris (Our Favorite)
Fondation Louis Vuitton | until March 2, 2026. In Frank Gehry's sailing ship in Paris, everything currently revolves around a giant: Gerhard Richter . With 270 works from 1962 to 2024, this is the ultimate retrospective. From the photorealistic "48 Portraits" to the politically charged "October 18, 1977" cycle (Baader-Meinhof), the exhibition covers all facets of his work. It is a demonstration of power by the artist, who, like few others, oscillates between abstraction and figuration. A must-see for anyone who wants to understand why Richter remains untouchable on the secondary market.
Tickets cost between 5 and 32 euros and sell out quickly!
3. Miró: Beyond the Myth in Barcelona
Fundació Joan Miró | until March 29, 2026. Forget the Picasso Museum for a moment. Anyone wanting to understand the roots of radical painting (without which there would be no Cy Twombly) must visit the Fundació Joan Miró. The double exhibition not only celebrates 50 years of the foundation's history but also deconstructs the artist himself: Miró, the "anti-Bohemian" who wanted to "murder" painting. A profound insight into his Catalan identity and his path to becoming a radical innovator of form.
Tickets are available directly from the Fundació Joan Miro for 18 euros.
4th giant duel in London: Turner vs. Constable
Tate Britain | until April 12, 2026. It's the eternal duel of British landscape painting. J.M.W. Turner and John Constable could barely stand each other during their lifetimes, and Tate Britain now masterfully stages this rivalry. Dramatic atmosphere meets idealized rural tranquility. The exhibition, however, reveals surprising parallels in their obsession with light and weather – a rare opportunity to experience both masters in direct dialogue.
Tickets are available for young art lovers (16-25) starting from just 5 GBP.
5. The late Cézanne in Basel
Fondation Beyeler | until May 25, 2026. Woody Allen once called Cézanne's still lifes one of the reasons why life is worth living. The Fondation Beyeler is now showing over 80 paintings by the master from Aix-en-Provence. The focus is on his later years – that hyper-creative phase that heralded the transition from Impressionism to Cubism. It is a contemplative exhibition that reveals how Cézanne single-handedly reinvented the visual language of modernism.
Tickets are available for 25 CHF.
6. Wes Anderson: The Archive as an Art Form
Design Museum London | until July 26, 2026. Is it design? Is it film? It's a total work of art. The Design Museum presents the first major retrospective of Wes Anderson . With over 600 objects – from handwritten notebooks to the pink model of the "Grand Budapest Hotel" – the exhibition celebrates the obsessively curated world of a director whose aesthetic has shaped a whole generation of Instagram accounts and interior designers.
Tickets cost 20 GBP for adults.
What's next? Mark your calendar:
Tracey Emin: “A Second Life” (Tate Modern, London | from February 27): A monumental retrospective of the YBA icon, inspired by her victory over cancer. Expect unflinching intimacy and perhaps even the legendary “Bed.”
Tracey Emin, Mein Bett (1998; Matratze, Laken, Kissen, Seile, Objekte, 79 x 211 x 234 cm) Rothko in Florence (Palazzo Strozzi | from March 14): Mark Rothko's transcendent color fields in the halls of a 15th-century Renaissance palace. A contrasting program designed to guarantee tears.
“Untitled (Gelb und Blau)” Matisse 1941–1954 (Grand Palais, Paris | from March 24): Over 230 works celebrating Matisse's late "paper-cut" phase. An explosion of color in the newly renovated Grand Palais.
Henri Matisse: Bild »Blauer Akt II« (1952)
Want to see more? Discover amazing works of art in our showroom .
Our tip: Plan your trips early. Time slots are particularly sought after for judges in Paris and Emin in London. Europe in 2026 is not a place for last-minute decisions, but for true connoisseurs.
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