New Exhibitions in October

We've got rather more modern and contemporary art than usual in our preview this month, starting with the first ever museum show in the UK of Wayne Thiebaud, the US artist who died in 2021 at the age of 101. Thiebaud made his name in the 1960s painting quintessentially American subjects -- pinball machines, hot dogs, deli counters and cakes -- in vibrant colours. Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life is on at London's Courtauld Gallery from October 10 to January 18. 

Those sweet treats should provide enough sustenance for the short walk across Waterloo Bridge to the Hayward Gallery for Gilbert & George: 21st-Century Pictures. This show highlights work the besuited pair have created since the start of the millennium, tackling themes such as sex, corruption, religion and death. On from October 7 to January 11, and it's perhaps one to miss if you're likely to be easily offended. 

A rather different experience awaits at the British Library, in the form of Secret Maps. This exhibition aims to illustrate how, down the centuries, some maps have revealed hidden landscapes, while others have been used by those in power to conceal what's actually there or to deceive. A chance to discover maps you weren't intended to see, from October 24 to January 18. 

Ancient Egypt is a constant fascination -- mummies and all those intricate and often beautiful burial objects preserved for thousands of years. But how were they made, and who made them? The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge seeks to provide the answers from October 3 to April 12, in an exhibition entitled Made in Ancient Egypt, which promises some spectacular objects never before seen in the UK.  

Marking 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner, the Towner in Eastbourne is presenting Impressions in Watercolour: JMW Turner and his Contemporaries from October 23 to April 12. Showcasing Turner works from a private collection, this exhibition, previously on at Bath's Holburne Museum, also features other early 19th-century artists such as Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman. 

You might associate Germany with Expressionism more than Impressionism, but it certainly had an Impressionist movement, led by the Berliner Max Liebermann (1847-1935). An exhibition at the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden from October 3 to February 8 will bring together around 100 works. Lovis Corinth, Max Slevogt and Dora Hitz are among those featured in Impressionism in Germany: Max Liebermann and his Times, which will move on to the Museum Barberini in Potsdam at the end of February.

But before the Impressionists get to Potsdam, the hunt is on at the Barberini for the Unicorn: The Mythical Beast in Art. This show assembles nearly 150 works spanning 4,000 years of history, examining how the legendary creature has captured the imagination across many cultures. On from October 25 to February 1 before it transfers in March to the Musée de Cluny in Paris. 

And in Berlin, October 24 sees the opening at the Alte Nationalgalerie of the very first large-scale show of one of Germany's most significant private art collections, The Scharf Collection. Running until February 15, it features around 150 exhibits from the likes of Goya, Monet, Degas, Renoir and Bonnard. Can't make it to Berlin? It'll be at the Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf from March. 

It's the centenary of the death of Félix Vallotton, the Swiss painter who moved to France at just 16 and later joined the Nabis (and who's a bit of a favourite of ours). The largest collection of Vallottons is held at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, which is where they're staging Vallotton Forever: The Retrospective from October 24 to February 15. They'll be showing more than 200 (!) of his works. 

A contemporary artist who's achieved cult status is getting a big show elsewhere in Switzerland, at the Fondation Beyeler outside Basel. Yayoi Kusama, now in her late 90s and famed for her repetitive patterns and mirror rooms, can be seen there from October 12 to January 25. The exhibition is scheduled to move on to the Museum Ludwig in Cologne in March before heading to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in September 2026.  

But we have things for you to see in Amsterdam this October: Starting at the Van Gogh Museum, with Van Gogh and the Roulins: Together Again at Last. In Arles in 1888, Vincent became friendly with the postman Joseph Roulin, and he made numerous paintings of him and his family. Many of those pictures are reunited for this show from October 3 to January 11 following its transfer from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 

Thanks to the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Nicolaes Maes and others, we have a pretty good idea of how life looked in the Dutch Golden Age. But what did daily life really entail 400 years ago? The Rijksmuseum is assembling household items, dolls' houses and clothing so you can experience what it was like to be At Home in the 17th Century for all the different sorts of people -- rich and poor -- who lived in the Netherlands at the time. On from October 17 to January 11. 

Meanwhile, in Leiden, it's time to meet a mystery Golden Age artist -- one known only as Master IS, after his signature. He mostly painted extremely realistic faces, many of which haven't been exhibited before. This show at the Lakenhal displays his work alongside paintings by Leiden artists such as Rembrandt and Jan Lievens, with whom he shows some affinities. Masterful Mystery -- On Rembrandt's Enigmatic Contemporary can be seen from October 11 to March 8. 

And now for something very, very French: It's Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre in Paris. David died 200 years ago this year, having created dramatic history paintings, remarkable portraits, and images that recorded the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon. They're bringing 100 works on loan to the Louvre for this show, which is on from October 15 to January 26. 

At the Fondation Louis Vuitton, they've only just finished with their massive David Hockney show and now have another of the most celebrated (and highly priced) of contemporary artists taking over the gallery: Gerhard Richter. A total of 270 (!!) works made between 1962 and 2024 will be on display, and the exhibition runs from October 17 to March 2.  

Bridget Riley doesn't quite fetch Hockney or Richter prices at auction, but you can't deny her standing as one of the greats of Op Art. A new show at the Musée d'Orsay looks back to her encounter in the late 1950s with the art of Georges Seurat, which transformed her work. Bridget Riley: Starting Point can be viewed from October 21 to January 25. 

And for our last new exhibition this month, we'll call at one of this year's European capitals of culture -- Gorizia on the Italian-Slovenian border -- and a not very accessible venue in the middle of nowhere that we've never previously heard of. Confini da Gauguin a Hopper at the Villa Manin in Passariano sounds, however, really interesting: 120 works exploring the concept of borders, featuring names that also include Friedrich, Turner, Constable, van Gogh, Monet and Munch. On from October 11 to April 12. 

Last chance to see....

October 5 is the final day to see in the flesh at the Château de Chantilly Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, the breathtakingly beautiful illustrated Book of Hours that has shaped our view of the late Middle Ages. It's one of this year's best exhibitions; you may not get the chance to see this treasure again in your lifetime but there aren't many tickets left....

One of 2024's top shows for us was the retrospective at the Musée d'Orsay of Gustave Caillebotte, Impressionist painter and Impressionist patron. If you're in or near Chicago, you have until October 5 to make it to the Art Institute for their version of the exhibition, Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World. 

Closing on October 12 at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg is Rendezvous of Dreams, a show that brings together the work of the Surrealists and the German Romantics. The Surrealism part of this exhibition, marking the centenary of the movement, has been on an international tour -- we caught it at the Pompidou Centre in Paris a year ago -- and moves on to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in November. 

And just looking a little ahead, Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester finishes its run on November 2. 

Images

Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021), Cakes, 1963, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. © Wayne Thiebaud/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Image: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), The Reader, 1911, Private collection. Photo: Ketterer Kunst GmbH & Co. KG
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Armand Roulin, 1888, Museum Folkwang, Essen. Photograph: Museum Folkwang Essen -- ARTOTHEK
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), The Death of Marat, 1793. © Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels. Photo: J. Geleyns

January from the Calendar of the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, 1411-85; Feast in the Household of the Duke of Berry, painted by the Limbourg brothers between 1411 and 1416. © RMN-Grand Palais -- Domaine de Chantilly -- Michel Urtado