Exhibition of the Year

‘Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist’
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
21 June–23 September

Placing Morisot in the centre of the Impressionist movement, this exhibition (which travels to three more venues) includes her early Manet-influenced works, the luminous garden paintings, and later experiments. Some of these works haven’t been seen together since Renoir, Monet and Degas hung a tribute show in 1896, a year after her death.

Self-Portrait (1885), Berthe Morisot. Photo: courtesy Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France/Bridgeman Images

‘Bruegel’
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
2 October–13 January 2019

From snow scenes and carnivals to towers of Babel and strange late paintings such as The Misanthrope, the most comprehensive exhibition to date on Pieter Bruegel the Elder gathers works from across Europe to flaunt the 16th-century Flemish master’s genius.

The Birdnester (1568), Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Photo: © KHM-Museumsverband

‘Charles I: King and Collector’
27 January–15 April
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Here were exceptional works of art, taken individually – by the likes of Van Dyck, Titian, Mantegna and Holbein – but in its reuniting of an extraordinary collection for the first time since the 17th century this exhibition was a historic moment. A fascinating exploration of how a monarch, and the influential tastes of his wife, Henrietta Maria, changed the appreciation of art in England.

Charles I (1635–36), Anthony van Dyck. Photo: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018

‘Joan Jonas’
Tate Modern, London
14 March–5 August

This American pioneer of performance and video art received the largest exhibition of her work ever staged in the UK. The show ranged from early creations of the late 1960s to more recent offerings exploring urgent themes such as climate change, via short films (one of 1989 based on an Icelandic saga starred art-world favourite Tilda Swinton) and even live performances by Jonas herself. Now in her 80s, she shows no sign of slowing down.

Reanimation (2010), Joan Jonas, photograph of performance at Performa 13,
New York, 2013. Photo: © Paula Court; courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

‘Delacroix (1798–1863)’
Musée du Louvre, Paris
29 March–23 July

A collaboration with the Met in New York, where it is currently showing, this exhibition brought together 180 works from every stage of Delacroix’s career. From the serene to the outrageous, such as The Death of Sardanapalus, this visual feast demonstrates why he was one of the most exciting artists of the 19th century.

Combat of the Giaour and Hassan (1835), Eugène Delacroix. Photo: © Petit Palais/Roger Viollet

‘Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer’
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
13 November 2017–12 February

A staggering number of visitors flocked to see more than a hundred drawings by ‘Il Divino’ – including a whole room dedicated to drawings for the Sistine chapel. The exhibition also included three of his marble sculptures and his earliest painting, The Torment of St Anthony, made when the artist was just 13.

Figure of Christ Rising from the Tomb (c. 1532–34), Michelangelo Buonarroti. Photo: © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Shortlists | Acquisition of the Year | Artist of the Year | Book of the Year | Digital Innovation of the Year | Museum Opening of the Year