TORONTO.- Today, the Art Gallery of Ontario announced its exhibitions on view in 2027. Bringing together exceptional art and artists from Ontario and around the world, the museum presents nine new, original exhibitions.
These exhibitions debut at an exciting moment as the museum looks ahead to the opening of the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery in 2027. Designed to significantly increase space for the AGO’s growing collection of modern and contemporary art, this is the seventh expansion the museum has undertaken since its founding in 1900.
“2027 is a big year for the AGO with the opening of the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery. I am very proud of the work of our Curatorial team. These exceptional exhibitions will engage our audiences. There is something for everyone," says Stephan Jost, the AGO's Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO.
“The Art Gallery of Ontario is a world-class cultural space that inspires, educates and delights visitors of all ages with its innovative approach to showcasing classic and contemporary artists,” said Zee Hamid, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. “The Ontario government is proud to protect the significant cultural and economic value of this national treasure. The upcoming exhibitions in 2027 and at that time the brand-new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will offer exciting reasons to visit again and again.”
Great art experiences at the AGO are made possible in part by the support of AGO Members. Members always see special exhibitions first and see them for free. For more information about the benefits of AGO Membership, visit ago.ca/membership.
Admission to the AGO and all special exhibitions is always free for Ontarians under 25, AGO Members, Annual Passholders, and Indigenous peoples. For more details visit ago.ca.
Exhibitions opening at the AGO in 2027 include:
Opening January 20, 2027, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster: OPERA (QM. 15) makes its AGO debut, bringing to life a holographic projection of famed opera singer Maria Callas. Featuring the artist in disguise, visitors encounter the figure as though in a darkened theatre and listen as she lip-synchs various arias from Callas’s early career. Curated by Debbie Johnsen, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art, this installation will be on view through mid-2028.
Opening February 5, 2027, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun: Man of Many Masks, Man of Many Colours is an exhibition of large-scale works by the recipient of the 2025 Gershon Iskowitz Prize. Combining Coast Salish cosmology with formal approaches drawn from surrealism, pop art, and the Canadian landscape tradition, this solo exhibition features paintings and drawings from the 1980s to present. This exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art and Marina Dumont, Assistant Curator, Modern Art, and organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in partnership with the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation. The exhibition will be on view through January 2, 2028.
Opening March 3, 2027, Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change, is the first major exhibition in Canada to examine the intersection of the climate crisis and contemporary art on a global scale. Featuring 40 artworks from the past 25 years, this landmark exhibition underscores the urgency and relevance of sustainability and the environment as defining issues of our time. Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Eva Respini, Co-CEO and Chief Curator, with Andrea Valentine-Lewis, Curatorial Assistant. The presentation at the AGO is led by Debbie Johnsen, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art and will be on view through September 6, 2027.
Opening April 23, 2027, Gershon Iskowitz: Memory Works is a moving distillation of early works, from 1947 to 1955 by Holocaust survivor and renowned modernist painter Gershon Iskowitz. Featuring 24 paintings and 16 works on paper, these rarely seen works reveal community and resilience in their portraits of Jewish life in Poland, his upbringing, and experiences in Auschwitz. Guest curated by Ihor Holubizky and Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliot Chair, Prints and Drawings, AGO, this exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and will be accompanied by a hardcover publication. The exhibition will run through Sept. 19, 2027.
Opening July 28, 2027, Matisse: Notes on Jazz is a focused presentation of late-career works celebrating Matisse’s artistic range and many innovations. Included in the exhibition are select paintings, drawings, prints, artist books, and textiles—from the AGO Collection and from collections in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Central to the exhibition is Jazz (1947), Matisse’s artist book consisting of vibrant pochoir prints which exemplifies his ability to unite drawing and colour in a wholly original way. Curated by Adam Welch, the AGO’s Carol & Morton Rapp Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, the exhibition will be on view through January 23, 2028.
Opening July 28, 2027, Mary Pratt & Jack Chambers: The Lives of Others brings together, for the first time ever, two essential Canadian painters. Renowned for their paintings of everyday life—from kitchen tables to suburban streetscapes—through their singular attention to detail and use of light, they each in their own way turned that which was intimate into something extraordinary. The more than 70 works in this exhibition are drawn from the AGO’s Collection, with key loans from private and public collections. Curated by Rene van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, the exhibition will be accompanied by a publication and will be on view through January 23, 2028.
Opening August 6, 2027, in Pursuit of Venus [infected], (2015-2017), is a monumental installation by Māori artist Lisa Reihana. Conceived as a response to the 1800s wallpaper Les sauvages de la mer Pacifique, this monumental video work and its rich soundscape, seeks to redress colonial misrepresentations, highlighting instead Māori and Pacific Indigenous people’s relationships with their own cultural knowledge and spaces. This work will be on view in the J.S. Maclean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art, through 2028.
Opening November 3, 2027, Pointillist Politics: Neo-Impressionism, Anarchy, Utopia is the first exhibition to foreground the anarchist theory that lays at the heart of Neo-Impressionism. Portraits and landscapes, from urban labour to idyllic utopias, by Maximilien Luce, Camille Pissarro, Paul Signac and more reveal the artists’ hopeful vision for the future. Featuring more than 50 paintings from museums and private collections in Canada, the US, and Europe, this exhibition is co-curated by Caroline Shields, Curator, European Art, AGO and Esther Bell, Hardymon Director, Clark Art Institute and is co-organized by the AGO and the Clark Art Institute. The exhibition will be accompanied by a hardcover publication and will be on view through March 19, 2028.
Opening December 4, 2027, Tides of Treasure: Medieval Art and the Sea brings together more than 50 rare and exquisite artworks from the Thomson Collection of European Art and collections around the world, to explore how the seas shaped the art and beliefs of medieval Europe. Highlights include the most important group of fifteenth-century mother-of-pearl carvings in Canada, as well as remarkable examples of carved walrus ivory. Curated by Lindsay Corbett, Thomson Curatorial Fellow, AGO, and Adam Harris Levine, Associate Curator, European Art, AGO, this exhibition will be accompanied by a digital publication. This exhibition will be on view through June 4, 2028.
Opening December 18, 2027, Image Incarnate: Icons from the Malcove Collection brings together 40 rare icons from collection of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto to consider a tradition in which images are not just about artistic expression, but visual theology. Featuring works created between the 14th to 18th centuries, and originating from Greece, Russia, the Balkans, and Italy, this exhibition is curated by Lindsay Corbett, Thomson Curatorial Fellow, AGO, and Adam Harris Levine, Associate Curator, European Art, AGO. This exhibition will be on view through 2029.
Stay tuned for more information about these and other upcoming exhibitions, at ago.ca/exhibitions. Opening dates may be subject to change.
Beyond Toronto, AGO original exhibitions opening across the globe in 2027 include:
• Building Icon’s: Arnold Newman’s Magazine World, 1938-2000, a retrospective of photographs and prints from the AGO’s extensive holdings, curated by Sophie Hackett, Curator of Photography, AGO, with photo scholar and independent curator Tal-Or Ben Choreen, opens at Fundacin Canal on February 9, 2027, and will be on view until June 13, 2027. This presentation is co-organized by Fundacin Canal in Madrid.
• David Blackwood: Myth & Legend opens at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in the summer of 2027. Curated by Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, AGO, this unique retrospective marries art and archive to consider the master printmaker’s process and legacy.
• Melissa Auf der Maur: My '90s Rock Photographs, an exhibition of intimate photographs featuring videos, ephemera and multimedia installation, by Canadian artist and musician Melissa Auf der Maur, organized by the AGO and co-curated by the AGO’s Curator of Photography Sophie Hackett and Curator of Special Projects & Director of Publishing Jim Shedden, opens at FotoFocus Center in October of 2027.
