11 Must-See Museum Exhibitions in 2025 Including Anselm Kiefer, Lee Bul and Robert Rauschenberg
By Emily May
From debut solo exhibitions to expansive surveys, here are 11 museum shows to visit in 2025.
Anselm Kiefer, “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind”
Stedelijk Museum and Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Mar. 7–June 9
Amsterdam’s Stedelijk and Van Gogh Museums both have strong links to Anselm Kiefer. While the former has acquired and displayed the German artist’s work since the 1960s, the latter, as its name suggests, is dedicated to showcasing the work of Vincent van Gogh, whom Kiefer cites as a major inspiration. As a result, the two institutions have joined forces for the first time to present “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind” (“Tell me where the flowers are”), a two-part exhibition spread across both venues.
At the Van Gogh Museum, previously unexhibited works by Kiefer will be shown in combination with key paintings by Van Gogh, highlighting the connections between their practices. Meanwhile, the Stedelijk’s contribution will offer an unprecedented opportunity to see all of Kiefer’s works in the museum’s collection displayed together, and to understand his important role as one of the first German artists to address his homeland’s fraught history. The exhibition will also feature more recent paintings by Kiefer, alongside new spatial installations. Notably, a 24-meter-long painterly piece will fill the space around the Stedelijk’s historic staircase.
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“Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly”
Museum Brandhorst, Munich (also traveling to Museum Ludwig, Cologne)
Apr. 10–Aug. 17
This year marks the centennial of American artist Robert Rauschenberg’s birth. To honor this milestone, the artist’s foundation has coordinated a diverse program of exhibitions and events across Europe and the United States. A highlight will be “Five Friends,” a landmark group show placing Rauschenberg’s work in dialogue with that of his closest collaborators—John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, and Cy Twombly—all of whom profoundly influenced the fields of music, dance, painting, sculpture, and drawing in the post-war period.
Opening at Munich’s Museum Brandhorst before touring to Museum Ludwig during Art Cologne 2025, “Five Friends” will feature over 150 works of art, scores, stage props, costumes, photographs, and archival materials. At Brandhorst, there will also be a series of dance performances and concerts taking place within the show, highlighting the close personal and professional relationship between choreographer Cunningham and composer Cage.
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Lee Bul, “My Grand Narrative”
Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul
September (also traveling to M+, Hong Kong, in spring 2026 before touring internationally)
One of the most important contemporary artists to emerge from Asia in the last few decades, Lee Bul is known for an artistic practice conjuring both utopian potentials and dystopian possibilities. Spanning performance, painting, and sculpture, her practice often involves unexpected, contrasting materials—everything from silk and mother of pearl to fiberglass and silicone.
A broad selection of Bul’s oeuvre, created between the 1980s and today, will be showcased in “My Grand Narrative,” the most comprehensive survey of her career to date. The title references her ongoing project “Mon grand récit,” a series of architectural installations that will be presented as immersive, room-scale environments reflecting on the grand narratives of modernism and its failed utopias. Meanwhile, her “Cyborg Series” (1997–2011) will combine her critiques of female representation and idealized beauty standards with her fascination for science fiction aesthetics.
