April 13, 2026

The must-see exhibitions in Florence

All the must-see events

All the must-see art events in Florence.

Rotkho a Firenze (until August 23)

The major exhibition will be held at Palazzo Strozzi until August 23, 2026, the major exhibition dedicated to Rothko curated by his son Christopher Rothko and Elena Geuna. The exhibition features over 70 works, including iconic and monumental canvases, exploring the artist's connection to the Florentine Renaissance, including satellite venues at the Museum of San Marco and the Laurentian Library.

Baselitz. AVANTI! (until September 13)

The Museo Novecento in Florence presents Baselitz. AVANTI!, a major exhibition dedicated to one of the leading figures in contemporary art, organized in collaboration with the artist's studio.
For the first time in Italy, this wide-ranging exhibition focuses on a fundamental and often less explored aspect of Georg Baselitz's practice: engraving.
Spread over the museum's three floors, the exhibition brings together around 170 works, including prints, paintings, and sculptures, reflecting the complexity and radical nature of a career spanning over sixty years. The selected works illustrate the variety of themes addressed by the artist and reaffirm his idea of art as a process, transformation, and subversive gesture, far removed from any form of reassuring harmony.

Ottone Rosai. Poeta innanzitutto (until October 4)

The exhibition begins with a comparison between the paintings from the Rosai Bequest and the artist's works from the Alberto Della Ragione Collection, brought together for the first time in a single exhibition. Divided into two distinct areas, the exhibition allows visitors to explore the figures and places dear to Ottone Rosai (Florence, 1895 – Ivrea, 1957), providing a complex picture of the painter and his relationship with his city and the intellectuals of his time. The exhibition is completed by a selection of documents from the Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux, Archivio Contemporaneo Alessandro Bonsanti. The exhibition also constitutes an important link between the Florentine civic collections and the figure of Georg Baselitz, who will soon be the subject of a major exhibition at the Museo Novecento. Baselitz is in fact a great admirer of Ottone Rosai, whose works he discovered during his first stay in Florence in 1965.

Mario Ceroli. Mito e Materia (until May 29)

The first anthological exhibition dedicated to the master, organized in Italy by the Tornabuoni Gallery in Florence (Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 3) after the important monographic exhibition at the GNAMC in Rome, which ended last January and confirmed his role in the contemporary art scene. The relationship between Tornabuoni Arte and Ceroli has deep roots: the gallery in Paris dedicated two solo exhibitions to him in 2010 and 2022, and today, building on this foundation, the exhibition in Florence traces the main stages of Ceroli's career as a leading figure in the Roman art scene from the 1960s to 2000. The exhibition brings together forty works—including sculptures and installations, along with the classic silhouettes in wood, the artist's favorite material—that are significant to his career, characterized by great imaginative freedom and creative research. The exhibition includes Squilibrio (Imbalance), from 1988, in a smaller bronze version, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man, one of Ceroli's most emblematic inventions, almost his ‘logo’, an explicit declaration of three-dimensionality. Created between the 1980s and early 1990s, there is a series of works in wooden planks (Russian pine), whose protagonists are the heroes of Greek mythology and warriors, in particular the cycles inspired by the famous Riace Bronzes,

Firenze Déco. Atmosfere degli anni Venti a Palazzo Medici Riccardi (fino al 25 agosto)

In the 1920s, Florence was one of the most dynamic centers of Italian artistic culture, distinguishing itself as a creative hub in the fields of decorative arts, fashion, and design, in dialogue with major international capitals. This period of great ferment is the focus of the exhibition Firenze Déco. Atmospheres of the 1920s, on view through August 25, 2026, at Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The exhibition explores the cultural vibrancy of the decade through a rich selection of works—including ceramics, furnishings, jewelry, textiles, clothing, and posters—that bear witness to the convergence of tradition and innovation. The exhibition highlights key figures and master craftsmen, from Gio Ponti to Galileo Chini, from Thayaht to Ferragamo and Gucci, underscoring Florence’s role on the national and international scene and the decisive contribution of those years to the city’s modern identity.

Toulouse-Lautrec. Un tuffo nella Parigi della Belle Époque at the Museo degli Innocenti (until June 7)

The Museo degli Innocenti in Florence is hosting a major exhibition dedicated to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the undisputed master of the Belle Époque and symbol of late 19th-century Paris. Over 170 works by the French artist, from Hamburg and Albi—his hometown—will be on display alongside furniture, documents, and original artifacts, as well as works by other leading figures of the period. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey of total immersion into fin-de-siècle Montmartre, with its famous brightly colored posters, lively café-concerts, and the irresistible energy of Parisian nightlife. The exhibition, conceived and produced by Arthemisia with the Museo degli Innocenti, Cristoforo, the Ernst Barlach Museumsgesellschaft Hamburg, and BridgeconsultingPro, is curated by Dr. Jürgen Doppelstein, with Gabriele Accornero as project manager of the collection.

Da Palasport a Forum: la storia del Nelson Mandela Forum in 40 anni di manifesti

Da Palasport a Forum: la storia del Nelson Mandela Forum in 40 anni di manifesti è una mostra che racconta quattro decenni di vita culturale, sociale e civile di Firenze attraverso 200 manifesti originali. L’esposizione ripercorre la storia dell’impianto fiorentino dal 1985, anno dell’inaugurazione come Palasport Firenze, fino a oggi, evidenziandone l’evoluzione in Nelson Mandela Forum, spazio simbolo di incontro tra arti, sport, culture e impegno civile. Dai grandi concerti internazionali – da Ray Charles a Paul McCartney, passando per James Brown, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Vasco Rossi e molti altri – agli spettacoli teatrali e musicali, con protagonisti come Roberto Benigni, il trio Panariello–Conti–Pieraccioni, il Cirque du Soleil e Notre Dame de Paris. La mostra ricorda anche eventi sportivi, iniziative sui diritti umani, incontri civili e il ruolo cruciale del Forum durante l’emergenza Covid, quando divenne il principale hub vaccinale della Toscana. Ogni manifesto è accompagnato da una targa che riporta tutte le date degli artisti e degli eventi ospitati, trasformando l’esposizione in un vero archivio della memoria collettiva. Visitabile gratuitamente, la mostra celebra il Mandela Forum come luogo multifunzionale, inclusivo e profondamente legato alla città, capace di rinnovarsi nel tempo senza perdere la propria identità.

Icone di potere e bellezza at Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (until June 14)

The exhibition analyzes the historical development of the use of images for the celebration, preservation, and transmission of imperial power. Curated by Daniele Federico Maras and Barbara Arbeid, respectively director and curator of the Florentine museum, the exhibition presents 20 ancient objects of great symbolic value from the Medici collections, grouped around four life-size gilded bronze heads: three imperial portraits from the Santa Giulia Museum in Brescia, managed by the Brescia Museums Foundation, and a head of Venus from the ancient grand ducal collections. In particular, visitors can admire medallions and coins (aurei, sestertii, denarii, asses) that conveyed the imperial portrait as a symbol and guarantee of the continuity of power, as well as gems, rings, and gold necklaces, intended for ‘private’ use but no less rich in symbolic meaning, and a splendid life-size eagle's head, symbol of Jupiter's majesty.