Oct 30, 2025
Art of Icons and Innovation
Paul McCartney, Melissa Auf der Maur, Black style and Impressionism. 2026 at the AGO delivers it all
Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond (Clouds), 1903. Oil on canvas. Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., bequest of Mrs. Eugene McDermott in honor of Nancy Hamon, 2019.67.13.McD.
2026 at the AGO is shaping up to be a year full of great art. From rarely seen photographs by Paul McCartney and Melissa Auf der Maur, to works by Impressionist greats and an exploration of Black style through time, the exhibition lineup features art through the eyes of icons and innovators.
Here are four major exhibitions coming to the AGO in 2026 — starting with Beatlemania captured from behind the lens.
Opening February 18, 2026, from Paul McCartney’s personal archive and the National Portrait Gallery, London, England, comes Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-1964: Eyes of the Storm. Featuring more than 250 intimate and historic photographs, shown alongside video clips and archival materials, the exhibition captures both the intensity of The Beatles touring schedule and the energy of the era, as well more intimate views of his bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Curated by Paul McCartney with Sarah Brown for MPL Communications and Rosie Broadley for the National Portrait Gallery, the presentation at the Art Gallery of Ontario is organized by Jim Shedden, Curator, Special Projects & Director, Publishing. The exhibition will run through June 7, 2026.
Paul McCartney. Self-portrait. London, 1963. © 1963-1964 Paul McCartney under exclusive license to MPL Archives LLP.
Opening June 24, 2026, The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art reveals the sweeping arc of a pivotal movement and its considerable impact on two successive generations of avant-garde painters. Highlighting the unique innovations of its core members, among them Claude Monet (image at top), Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot, and the many artists who built upon and reacted against their work, from Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh to Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse, the exhibition is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and makes its Canadian debut at the AGO. Curated by Dr. Nicole R. Myers, the DMA’s Chief Curatorial and Research Officer and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art, the AGO presentation will be led by Dr. Caroline Shields, the AGO’s Curator of European Art. The exhibition will be on view through October 18, 2026.
Opening September 2026, Melissa Auf der Maur: My ‘90s Photographs presents an intimate portrait of the last analogue decade, through the lens of Canadian musician Melissa Auf der Maur. As bass player for iconic 90s alternative rock bands Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins, Auf der Maur toured the world, documenting life backstage, onstage, and in the crowd. Featuring more than 200 photographs, the exhibition is a time capsule of Generation X, co-curated by Sophie Hackett, AGO Curator of Photography and Jim Shedden, AGO Curator, Special Projects & Director, Publishing. The exhibition will be on view through Spring 2027.
Melissa Auf der Maur, Self-portrait in mirror with Hole, Lollapalooza backstage, USA, 1995, chromogenic print. ©Melissa Auf der Maur
Opening October 2026, Sunday Best traces the histories of migration, activism, self-determination, and fashion design, woven into the enduring ritual of dressing in one's “best” clothing. Featuring fashion, visual art, ephemera, and time-based media, this expansive exhibition considers the use of style and self-fashioning in Black diasporic communities, from the 1880s to the present. Making its world debut in Toronto, Sunday Best is conceived and curated by Dr. Julie Crooks (Curator, Arts of Global Africa & the Diaspora, AGO) and Dr. Jason Cyrus (Associate Lecturer, London College of Fashion), with Amanda Bock (The Lynne and Harold Honickman Assistant Curator of Photographs, Philadelphia Art Museum), and Clare Sauro (Cara Keegan Fry Curator at the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University). The exhibition design is in consultation with U.K.-based JA Projects architecture and design firm. Sunday Best is organized by the AGO and the Philadelphia Art Museum. The exhibition will be on view through February 2027 in Toronto, before opening at the Philadelphia Art Museum in spring 2027.
Laura Wheeler Waring, After Sunday Service, 1940. Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 36.8cm. Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art.
AGO exhibitions are always free for AGO Members, Annual Passholders and Ontarians under 25. For more on 2026 at the AGO, visit ago.ca/press. For a list of current and upcoming exhibitions at the AGO, visit ago.ca/exhibitions
