Autumn is the perfect time to visit an exhibition. We have selected some highlights from the art world for you.
Crime Scene Ephesus
Cleopatra and Rome
20 October 2026 – 29 March 2027, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Neue Hofburg
Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoë was murdered and buried in Ephesus. But on whose orders was she killed? Almost 100 years ago, Austrian archaeologists discovered a tomb and a skeleton preserved inside it. To this day, it remains unclear who was buried in this so-called “Octagon”. This spectacular discovery forms the starting point for an exhibition that combines archaeology, history and the latest scientific research. The exhibition tells the story of the “global players” of the era: Cleopatra, Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as their rival Augustus.
Neue Hofburg / Weltmuseum Wien, Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna
khm.at
Lena Göbel
Transmission im/mobile
14 October 2026 – 7 February 2027, Schlossmuseum Linz
In her current series Lost in Transmission, Lena Göbel combines personal memories with artistic expression. Wooden objects, such as old cider barrels or a gate from her grandfather’s workshop, become canvases for portraits of relatives, bringing her own family history to life. Göbel explores, through her art, the transmission and passing on of stories and experiences from one generation to the next. This also includes the role of women in the 1950s, who subtly asserted themselves in a male-dominated world.
Schlossberg 1, 4020 Linz
ooekultur.at/Location-Detail/Schlossmuseum-Linz
Maria Legat
Missionarsstellung
27 November 2026 – 28 March 2027, Neue Galerie Graz
Maria Legat has given her first major retrospective the title Missionarsstellung, thereby also setting the thematic direction of the exhibition. We may all think we know what this term means, but the artist takes up the expression in order to examine its far-reaching social implications. The missionary position reflects traditional gender roles and implies a particular positioning of women: subordinate, selfless and passive. As an artist, mother and citizen, Legat seeks to articulate a counter-position shaped by appreciation, equality and empathy.
Neue Galerie Graz, Joanneumsviertel, 8010 Graz
museum-joanneum.at/neue-galerie-graz
Anja Korherr
Nightshifters
19 September 2026 – 31 January 2027, Neue Galerie Graz, studio
Anja Korherr’s paintings are complex visual structures. The painter and comic artist creates surreal visions of space based on staged photographic compositions. These phantasmagorias, which appear to draw on the vocabulary of Modernism – Cubism and Futurism – migrate through different media, including photography, performance and painting, taking the form of memories or dream images.
The fragmented and overlapping spatial structures make it difficult to establish exactly what is taking place within the image. Fiction and reality appear to cancel each other out. Nightshifters are not only people who typically work at night. The term also refers to a computer function that automatically shifts the colours of a display towards warmer tones after sunset.
Neue Galerie Graz, Joanneumsviertel 1, 8010 Graz
museum-joanneum.at/neue-galerie-graz
Picasso – Bacon
What It Feels to Be Human
18 September 2026 – 31 January 2027, Albertina
This major exhibition brings together the two most important figurative painters of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon, in a compelling juxtaposition. Inspired by Picasso, Bacon decided to become a painter. Throughout his life, he wrestled with this towering father figure and ultimately sought to surpass him. For the second half of the 20th century, Bacon wanted to become what Picasso had been for the first: a chronicler of humanity in all its contradictions and turmoil.
Around 70 key works from international museums and private collections illustrate, in an impressive dialogue, the similarities between the oeuvres of the two masters and Picasso’s significance for the generation of artists that followed.
Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna
albertina.at
Why Are You Creative?
By Hermann Vaske
23 October 2026 – 14 November 2027, Altstadt (Rupertinum)
What makes an idea a good idea? Where does talent lie in creative people?
For more than 30 years, filmmaker and author Hermann Vaske has put these questions to some of the most prominent artists, scientists, activists and thinkers of our time. More than 1,000 people have answered him – some with words, many with drawings or artefacts, some briefly, others at greater length, and some very personally.
The Rupertinum presents the most entertaining answers from Vaske’s collection. They reveal what sparks creativity. But creativity also has two sides: things that are actually intended to prevent ingenuity – such as censorship or prohibitions – can sometimes produce the most ingenious ideas.
Wiener-Philharmoniker-Gasse 9, 5020 Salzburg
museumdermoderne.at
ARTfair Innsbruck
23–25 October 2026, Olympiaworld Innsbruck
With its 30th edition, ARTfair Innsbruck looks back on a development that exemplifies the transformation of the European art-fair landscape. What began in 1996 as an ambitious project has developed into an established fixture between the art centres of Vienna, Munich, Zurich and northern Italy. Its geographical location continues to make the fair a meeting point for different collecting traditions and cultural influences.
OLYMPIAWORLD, Olympiastraße 10, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
artfair-innsbruck.com
Curiosity in the Flow: Salzburg Art Between New Beginnings and Remembrance
2 October 2026 – 4 April 2027, Mönchsberg
The exhibition brings together works by artists from Salzburg. It offers a variety of perspectives on a place that may appear familiar, yet is deeply associated with picturesque landscapes, Baroque architecture and a rich and turbulent cultural history.
Unexpected contrasts and a wide range of artistic media invite visitors to embark on a process of discovery. Works from the collections of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg and the Artothek Land Salzburg, together with selected loans, come together to create a multifaceted picture of a place in constant transformation.
Mönchsberg, Mönchsberg 32, 5020 Salzburg
museumdermoderne.at
Katrin Plavcak
Painting Reality in Surreal Times
18 September 2026 – 10 January 2027, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
The exhibition explores life and painting in turbulent times and questions how we perceive the world amid fake news, political instability and looming crises. For Plavcak, one of the key concepts is “sabotage”. The exhibition invites visitors not simply to accept the status quo, but to challenge it – while at the same time avoiding self-sabotage in the face of the challenges of our era, from social media and artificial intelligence to the climate crisis.
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1, 4020 Linz
lentos.at
Women Artists of the Albertina
30 October 2026 – 14 February 2027, Albertina
To mark its 250th anniversary, the Albertina is devoting this exhibition to the history of its collection of women artists for the first time, thereby offering a new perspective on art history. Spanning the period from the 15th century to the 1970s, the exhibition demonstrates how women played a decisive role in shaping the development of art, even though their contributions remained invisible or were forgotten for a long time.
Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna
albertina.at