As the art world prepares for Art Basel Miami Beach, and looks ahead to the festive season, there's still much to see before the year is out. These are the exhibitions opening around the world in December that caught our eye.
A Cabinet of Wonders: a Celebration of Art in Nature, Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice
15 December-11 May 2025
A Cabinet of Wonders: a Celebration of Art in Nature is the most comprehensive presentation of the George Loudon collection to date. His ever-growing collection includes teaching models, anatomical specimens, taxidermy, books, prints and drawings. With around 500 works, this exhibition is fittingly housed in a palace built in the Tuscan-Roman style that belonged to Giovanni Grimani, one of the city’s foremost collectors. More
A group of 19th- and 20th century papier-mâché botanical models from George Loudon’s collection
Photo: Rosamond Purcell
Versailles: Science and Splendour, Science Museum, London
12 December-21 April 2025
Versailles: Science and Splendour aims to highlight the French royal palace’s position as the crucible for scientific and intellectual innovation in the 17th and 18th centuries, under the patronage of Louis XIV and XV. The exhibition—a reworked version of a 2010 show at Versailles and filled with beautifully designed objects—is designed to illuminate a momentous “scientific shift”. More
Louis XVI Giving his Instructions to La Pérouse, 26 June 1785 (1817) by Nicolas-André Monsiau
© Château de Versailles; Dist. RMN; © Christophe Fouin
Hamad Butt: Apprehensions, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
6 December-5 May 2025
The first significant exhibition of the British-Pakistani artist in more than two decades, Apprehensions will bring together hazardous installations with around 40 rarely seen paintings, drawings and etchings from his early career, plus archival material borrowed from the Tate and his posthumously published writings on fear, desire and his deteriorating health. More
Hamad Butt’s Cradle, part of his Familiars series (1992). The work’s glass baubles are filled with lethal chlorine gas
Photo: Jamal Butt
Robert Frank: Mary’s Book, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
21 December-22 June 2025
“This is for you. It is not much but I promised you a little story. Maybe this is not a story.” So begins Mary’s Book (1949), a love letter of sorts in the form of a handmade photobook that a 25-year-old Robert Frank made for his long-distance girlfriend and soon-to-be wife, Mary Lockspeiser. Recently gifted to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston by the photography dealer Howard Greenberg, the book will be displayed and reproduced in its entirety for the first time in this exhibition. More
A page from Mary’s Book, a compilation of images and notes created by Robert Frank for his soon-to-be wife
© The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fresh Window: the Art of Display and Display of Art, Museum Tinguely, Basel
4 December-11 May 2025
Jean Tinguely’s early career as a window dresser is the inspiration behind this exhibition, but Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Susan Weil, Sari Dienes and, of course, Andy Warhol, also all tried their hands at the job. Often all that remains of these creative endeavours are photographs, which will feature heavily in the exhibition, along with examples of objects used in the displays, including works by the Hungarian American artist Sari Dienes, and a recreation of a display by Andy Warhol. More
Prada Marfa (2012) by Elmgreen & Dragset
© 2024 ProLitteris; Zürich. Elmgreen & Dragset