Kandinsky, Haniel and Morellet: Three Exhibitions to Watch

01

Wassily Kandinsky’s career will be traced through works held in Japan at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum from November 7 to December 27, 2026. Organized in five sections, the exhibition moves through his Munich period, the emergence of abstraction and the Blue Rider, his reception in Japan, the Bauhaus and geometry, and his Paris years. It also examines Kandinsky’s relationship with Japanese artists, including a circa-1940 embroidered obi by Saito Kazo. The project is described as the first survey of Kandinsky’s career through works held widely in Japan; earlier solo retrospectives there took place in 1987 and 2002. The exhibition is also listed for presentations in Utsunomiya and Miyagi.

02

MKM Museum Küppersmühle has begun a yearlong presentation of the Haniel Collection, bringing works previously accessible mainly to company employees and business partners into a public museum setting. The exhibition includes Yves Klein’s Planetaire “Terre” (1961) and Damien Hirst’s Beautiful, insane, insensitive, erupting, liquid, ice, vice painting (Spin Painting) (2005), alongside works by Wols, Hans Hartung, Katharina Grosse, Gerhard Richter and Lucio Fontana. Wols receives a particularly dense presentation, described by the museum as a rare concentration of his postwar work. The exhibition opened on October 8, 2026, and places postwar abstraction, with Informel at its center, in dialogue with the Ströher Collection.

03

Fondazione Biscozzi Rimbaud in Lecce will inaugurate a François Morellet tribute on October 16 at 7 p.m., with the installation remaining on view through November 15, 2026. On the building façade, π piquant neonly n° 9, 1=6° (2007) will glow toward Piazzetta Giorgio Baglivi, making the neon work visible from the public square. Inside, Due trame di griglia -1°+1° (#10 mm) (1975), normally kept in storage, will be brought to the entrance, while Sette doppie trame di bianco su rosso (1960) enters the exhibition route. The foundation is participating in the national “François Morellet Centenary in Italy 1926–2026” project.