The French Painter Who Sculpted Light
Eugène Carrière's glowing portraits come to Basel. Plus, the unlikely star of the Dutch Golden Age, an artist invites you to paint, and more art highlights.
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San Diego, “Eduardo Chillida: Convergence” (Until Feb. 8)
It’s not surprising that Eduardo Chillida came to sculpture through architecture, which he studied briefly in Madrid before abandoning it to draw in Paris. It wasn’t until the artist returned to his native Basque Country in the early 1950s, that he began experimenting with weight, form, and space in a blacksmith’s shop, laying the foundation for his massive sculptures from wood and alabaster. This survey, his most expansive U.S. exhibition in half a century, showcases 85 works including his Abesti gogorra wood sculptures and a virtual walkthrough of the famed steel masterpiece Comb of the Wind on the Basque coast. sdmart.org
Bonn, “W.I.M. The Art of Seeing” (Until Jan. 11 2026)
Wim Wenders began his career at the center of New German Cinema, creating a distinctive sentimental aesthetic. He became famous with early collaborations with writer Peter Handle, such as films like The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972) and Wrong Move (1975), and the ruminative black-and-white film Alice in the Cities (1973–74). By the 1980s, his Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas cemented his international acclaim. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, this exhibition showcases the whole of the German director’s creative vision, presenting his films alongside photographs, drawings, and collages. bundeskunsthalle.de
Madison, “Cuestiones Caribeñas/Caribbean Matters: Assemblage And Sculpture By Pablo Delano” (Until Dec. 14)
Pablo Delano appropriates archival photographs, documents, objects, and cultural references to examine the fraught colonial history and rich cultural identity of the Caribbean. After decades of photographing Caribbean life in New York and Trinidad, the Puerto Rican artist began creating multimedia installations as a critical form of storytelling. Following Delano’s presentation at last year’s Venice Biennale, this show aims to place Caribbean social and political history, free of stereotypes and prescribed narratives, within a global scope. chazen.wisc.edu
New York, “The Magical City: George Morrison’s New York” (Until May 31, 2026)
George Morrison’s route to the center of Abstract Expressionism was neither conventional nor easy. Born in a remote Native American village on the shore of Lake Superior, the young boy learned to draw in a full body cast while recovering from a surgery. His childhood was plagued by illness and poverty, before he landed in New York on a scholarship to the Art Students League in 1942. The city’s landscape, its vibrant culture, and the company of artists like Willem de Kooning and Louise Nevelson proved influential for Morrison. This show examines 25 abstract paintings from those early years, in what he called the “magical city.” metmuseum.org
San Francisco, “New Work: Sheila Hicks” (Until Aug. 9 2026)
Sheila Hicks has spent nearly 70 years enchanted by textiles and weaving, making her a pioneer in the new Fiber Art movement in the 1960s and ’70s. Even now, with fiber at last taken seriously by the art world, she continues to invent new possibilities for the medium informed by her extensive travels and life in Paris. The American artist’s first solo exhibition with the museum features Phare, a towering column of twisting cords inspired by a lighthouse off the French coast, and small-scale experiments with structure and material. sfmoma.org
