Art lovers, prepare to be moved to a world of storytelling and creativity! These 10 must-see art exhibitions at top international galleries, which range from avant-garde solo exhibitions to rare vintage photography, are sure to impress and inspire. Whether you’re looking at Ernest Cole’s potent anti-Apartheid photographs, André Griffo’s architectural reflections, or other provocative exhibits, this carefully chosen list transports you to different continents and times. Your cultural calendar has never been more exciting—read on to find out the must-attend art events, currently influencing discussions in the art world!

Alliance Française de Dhaka: Diversity of Nature

6-14 Dec 2024

Gulshan Branch, Alliance Française de Dhaka

Alliance Française de Dhaka’s Gulshan branch hosts the “Diversity of Nature” painting exhibition, featuring works by students from the ‘Painting-Gulshan’ workshop, coordinated by Mohammad Habibullah. The exhibition, which opened on December 6, 2024, showcases the creativity of 33 young artists who have honed their skills at the workshop since its inception in 2010. The event features the boundless imagination and creativity of children, showing how they see the world through paintings of nature. The exhibition is open to all and runs until December 14, 2024, from 11 am to 7 pm, Monday to Saturday, at the Gulshan branch of Alliance Française de Dhaka.

For more information, visit here.

Edward Zutrau: Meditations in Hue

5 Dec 2024 – 18 Jan 2025

Lincoln Glenn,New York

Lincoln Glenn Gallery presents Edward Zutrau: Meditations in Hue, an exhibition showcasing the artist’s work inspired by his time in Japan (1958-67). Known for his expressive use of color and form, Zutrau captures the serene beauty of the world around us, often overlooked in daily life. A key figure in the 1970s New York art scene, his meditative compositions invite reflection. Zutrau, an educator and lifelong expressionist, spent years exploring the philosophy of art. This exhibition brings together works that blend abstraction with a subtle sensitivity to color, shape, and Eastern artistic traditions.

For more information, visit here.

Jim Dine: Tools and Dreams

29 Nov 2024 – 18 Jan 2025

Cristea Roberts Gallery,London

Cristea Roberts Gallery presents Jim Dine: Tools and Dreams, a solo exhibition showcasing over forty works on paper by the American artist, exploring his lifelong relationship with hand tools. Featuring pieces from the 1970s to the present, including monumental etchings and hand-colored works like Color and Ink (2023), the exhibition highlights tools as both functional objects and symbols of creation. Dine’s use of power tools in printmaking and his collaboration with master printer Aldo Crommelynck are central to his innovative process. The show also includes Asleep with his Tools (2018), a large-scale hand-painted woodcut, and a catalog with an introduction by David Cleaton-Roberts.

For more information, visit here.

Anne & Patrick Poirier: 56e Campagne de Fouilles, 1968/2024

15 Nov 2024 – 18 Jan 2025

Galerie Mitterrand Temple,Paris

Galerie Mitterrand Temple presents “56e Campagne de Fouilles, 1968/2024,” a new exhibition by Anne and Patrick Poirier. The exhibition explores their artistic journey since 1968, featuring over twenty works that reflect their insatiable curiosity and creativity. It includes pieces like La cité des Ombres (2022), a meditative work inspired by Anne’s dream and their childhood experiences. The Poiriers’ work blends art and archaeology, with pieces like De la fragilité du pouvoir (1986-2024) and Isola Sacra (1973) reflecting their ongoing exploration of memory, human violence, and nature’s fragility. Their work has been showcased in prestigious global institutions.

For more information, visit here.

When It Rains, I Pour

24 Nov 2024 – 4 Jan 2025

Rusha & Co.,Los Angeles

Rusha & Co., Los Angeles, presents When It Rains, I Pour, a group exhibition curated by Keziah Toscano. Inspired by the nursery rhyme “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring,” the exhibition explores emotional catharsis through themes of melancholy and indulgence. Featuring works that hover between clarity and ambiguity, it captures the stillness before storms, the chaos within them, and the calm that follows. Scenes of stoic party fragments and unsettling landscapes reflect a dynamic tension between beauty and discomfort. When It Rains, I Pour meditates on the coexistence of loss and renewal, tracing the cyclical and unpredictable nature of human emotions.

For more information, visit here.

André Griffo: Exploded View

17 Oct 2024 – 21 Dec 2024

Nara Roesler,New York

Nara Roesler New York presents Exploded View, André Griffo’s debut U.S. solo exhibition. Featuring around 12 works developed over the past year, the show explores religion’s historical role in control and domination. Griffo merges architecture and painting to examine Brazil’s colonial past, neo-Pentecostal influences, and societal power dynamics. Highlights include detailed depictions of sacred spaces entwined with elements of slavery and resistance, abstract reimaginings of Constantine’s conversion, and critiques of contemporary violence in Rio. Personal works, such as the 80’s, reflect on the LGBTQ+ community’s struggles during the AIDS epidemic. Griffo’s layered compositions interrogate history, faith, and power with poignant depth.

For more information, visit here.

Cosmic Currents: Lita Albuquerque & Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.)

4 Dec 2024 – 4 Jan 2025

GAVLAK,West Palm Beach

GAVLAK West Palm Beach presents Cosmic Currents, a two-person exhibition featuring Lita Albuquerque and José Alvarez (D.O.P.A.). Albuquerque’s ethereal paintings and large-scale installations explore humanity’s connection to the cosmos through light and pigment, while Alvarez’s vibrant, mixed-media works fuse shamanic traditions with contemporary art. Notable pieces include Albuquerque’s tribute to Ana Mendieta and Alvarez’s kaleidoscopic “Solar Flare” tondos, which merge crystals, mica, and psychedelic motifs. Together, their works offer a dialogue on spirituality, cosmology, and existence, inviting viewers to contemplate the intersections of light, materiality, and the metaphysical. This exhibition marks their first collaboration.

For more information, visit here.

As the Sharp Narrative Fades, A Revealing Map Emerges

5 Dec 2024 – 25 Jan 2025

Gallery Chosun,Seoul

Gallery Chosun presents As the Sharp Narrative Fades, A Revealing Map Emerges, the second exhibition in a Korea-France exchange program with Le Wonder. Featuring ten artists, the exhibition explores “virtuality,” examining maps as both symbols of power and gateways to uncharted possibilities. Through diverse media, the artists reimagine boundaries, uncovering latent influences and shared spaces beyond geopolitical divisions. The collaboration reflects Gallery Chosun’s experimental ethos and Le Wonder’s dynamic collective model, bridging individual and collective practices. Together, they envision a sustainable artistic landscape, fostering cross-cultural dialogue and political imagination in a new, shared realm of creativity and expression.

For more information, visit here.

Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos

31 Oct 2024 – 22 Mar 2025

Autograph,London

Autograph, London, presents Spirit of Lagos, the first exhibition celebrating the captivating portraits of Abi Morocco Photos, a pioneering Lagos photographic studio from the 1970s. Operated by John and Funmilayo Abe, this husband-and-wife duo captured the vibrant style and spirit of Lagosians during a transformative era in Nigeria’s history. Featuring formal studio portraits and candid moments, the exhibition showcases its innovative visual elements, such as hand-painted backdrops and chequerboard floors, set against the backdrop of a bustling metropolis. Spirit of Lagos also underscores the importance of preserving Nigeria’s rich studio photography legacy through the Lagos Studio Archives project.

For more information, visit here.

House of Bondage: Vintage works from the Ernest Cole Family Trust – Part One

Thu 14 Nov 2024 to Sat 18 Jan 2025

Goodman Gallery, London

Goodman Gallery London presents House of Bondage: Vintage Works from the Ernest Cole Family Trust – Part One, showcasing rare vintage prints by Ernest Cole, a pioneer in anti-Apartheid photography. This first installment of a three-part series spans London, Paris, and Cape Town, revealing Cole’s striking documentation of apartheid’s violence, from the dehumanization in mines to banishment’s isolation. Newly uncovered works, like Black Ingenuity, highlight Black creativity under oppression. Cole’s powerful storytelling continues to inspire, offering a profound legacy of resistance and artistry, now presented with fresh insights into his enduring impact on photography and activism.

For more information, visit here.

Don’t forget to subscribe to WhatsOn for all the latest updates on art exhibitions worldwide.