The Most Anticipated Art Exhibitions of 2022

We’re dedicating our November features to arts and culture. With cultural institutions around the world in full swing, we’ve never been more excited to explore the world’s beautiful libraries, newest museums, and exciting exhibitions. Read on for inspiring stories on the artist collaborations that are redefining travel gear, the complicated relationship between cities and spontaneous art, how the world’s most historic sites maintain their beauty, and an interview with mixed media artist Guy Stanley Philoche.

For many travelers, the last 18 months have been lacking the communal experience of seeing art. Long-dark museums sat empty, nursing a backlog of explosive creative works yearning for the chance to be beheld by a captive audience. Now, some of the world's most anticipated exhibitions, many of which have had to postpone their opening dates several times, are ready for their turn in the spotlight. From new work by rising art stars, immersive experiences by media virtuosos, and rarely seen pieces by significant players of the 20th century, these ten upcoming art shows around the world are sure to be standouts.

Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror at the Whitney Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

American artist Jasper Johns broke boundaries when he first came on to the art scene in the 1950s. Still actively creating art in his nineties, his visually delightful paintings and sculptures continue to find new audiences today. "Mind/Mirror" is his most extensive and most comprehensive solo show, so big that it will appear in two simultaneous "dual exhibitions" at both New York's Whitney Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Fitting, as the artists' work so often features elements of mirroring and doubles. Now on view through Feb 13, 2022.

Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist has amassed a worldwide following for her mystical, otherworldly, and often interactive video art; Beyoncé's 2016 music video for "Hold Up" was inspired by Rist's 1997 video artwork "Ever Is Over All." With immersive and multi-sensory exhibitions becoming more popular than ever, Los Angeles' MoCA couldn't have chosen a better time to introduce new eyes to Rist's work, which enchants all who gaze upon it. Now on view through June 6, 2022.

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast at the Royal Academy

One of the best-known painters of the twentieth century, Francis Bacon's unique takes on the shapes and structures of the human figure are staples of his work. "Man and Beast" explores the artist's love of animals and how this fascination inspired his later art. The highly anticipated exhibition will finally open at London's Royal Academy after months of delays over the past 18 months. Jan. 29, 2022 through April 17, 2022.

Kehinde Wiley: The Prelude at the National Gallery

Art world darling Kehinde Wiley rose to prominence for his portraiture of subjects of color rendered in the style of the old masters. In 2017, he gained worldwide attention after being chosen to paint the portrait of former American President Barack Obama, which hangs in Washington, D.C.'s National Portrait Gallery today. "The Prelude" at London's National Gallery will be a departure for the artist, exploring Wiley's landscape paintings inspired by the natural world and European Romanticism. Dec. 10, 2021, through April 18, 2022.

Barbara Kruger: Thinking Of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. at Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Mass media artist Barbara Kruger's work is heavily rooted in pop culture, and her early background as a magazine graphic artist influenced her signature style of photos and black-and-white images overlaid with powerful text. LACMA's "Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You." will span four decades of the artist's work, one of the largest Kruger exhibitions in over 20 years. March 20, 2022, through April 17, 2022.

Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 at the Academy Museum

Los Angeles' long-awaited Academy Museum opened to acclaim this fall, and the institution hit the ground running with a hot ticket: an exhibition dedicated to the works of Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. Next up? 2022's "Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971," which aims to explore the underrecognized history of Black filmmakers' contributions to American cinema. 2022 opening date TBA.

Andy Warhol: Revelation at the Brooklyn Museum

One of the world's most recognizable figures in art, Andy Warhol is the subject of this new exhibition, which takes a closer look at how his conservative Catholic upbringing impacted his life and work. More than one hundred Warhol pieces will be on view, including several experimental films and drawings by his mother, Julia Warhola. Nov. 19, 2021, through June 19, 2022.

Queer at the National Gallery of Victoria

Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria puts the microscope up to its own collection and explores over 300 artworks through the lens of queerness. The exhibition is dedicated to exploring how queerness as "an expression of sexuality and gender, a political movement, a sensibility, and as an attitude that defies fixed definition" impacts the narratives of queer-created and queer-themed art. The pieces featured will span centuries, from ancient Greek sculpture to fashion by nightclub icon Leigh Bowery, making "Queer" the most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to queer art ever presented by an Australian art institution. March 18, 2022, through TBA.

Cezanne at the Art Institute of Chicago

Paul Cezanne, whose Impressionist masterpieces inspired such names as Monet, Matisse, and Picasso, will be featured in this massive retrospective, the first stateside exhibition of the French artist in over 25 years. Along with over 90 of the artist's oil paintings and 40 watercolors and drawings, the exhibition will feature rarely seen works recently acquired from private collections. May 15, 2022—Sept. 5, 2022.

Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharoah at the Grand Egyptian Museum

Arguably the most anticipated museum opening of the year, Giza, Egypt's Grand Egyptian Museum's opening date has been pushed back multiple times—upon its new scheduled opening in the fall of 2022, it will become the most significant archaeological museum in the world. Most notably, the museum is anticipated to be the final resting place of the treasures of King Tutankhamun, including his death mask, one of the world's most recognizable ancient artifacts. November 2022.