Basel Exhibition Listing: January 2026
- Valentina Peduzzi
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
With so many museums in Basel (over 40!), it can be difficult to keep track of all the exhibitions and know when they are about to close. This article provides a listing with descriptions of the current and upcoming exhibitions in Basel. Make sure to to visit those that are closing before it’s too late!
Final Days
Kunsthalle Basel
Steinenberg 7, 4051 Basel
This contemporary art space pushes boundaries and gives space to new and bold voices, always placing the artists at the centre.
Troy Montes Michie
Until 25 January 2026
"Troy Montes Michie (b. 1985) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work intersects collage, identity, and cultural representation, weaving intricate narratives that explore the complexities of race, gender, and power. In his first solo exhibition in Europe at Kunsthalle Basel, he presents new works that challenge conventional depictions of identity, media, and societal norms. His practice blends abstraction and figuration to examine themes of Blackness, queerness, and societal visibility, while critically engaging with the tensions between representation and erasure in contemporary culture. By drawing from archives and mass media, Michie exposes the complexity of the gaze and disrupts dominant narratives, offering a nuanced critique of how powerful groups have targeted marginalized communities for oppression." Excerpt from Kunsthalle Basel.
Fondation Beyeler
Baselstrasse 101, 4125 Riehen
The vision of the founder couple Ernst and Hildy Beyeler was that the Fondation Beyeler should be an open, active museum that inspires an appreciation for art in a wide audience. A museum that promotes both cultural education and interpersonal encounters.
Until 25 January 2026
"Organised in close collaboration with the artist and her studio, the exhibition offers a complete overview of Kusama’s more than seven-decade career. Alongside some of her most iconic artworks, the exhibition will feature early works never seen in Europe before as well as new productions and one of the artist’s celebrated Infinity Mirror Rooms. The artist, one of contemporary art’s superstars, has achieved cult status with her exploration of repetitive patterns and structures, notably her characteristic polka dots and mirror rooms, which carry viewers away into worlds that seem to expand without limits. The exhibition will highlight the wealth of artistic media Kusama has worked with over the years, among them painting, sculpture, installations, drawing, collage, happenings, live performances, fashion and literature." Excerpt from Foundation Beyeler.
Do not forget to book your ticket in advance, especially at weekends, as for many days are already sold out.
HEK Haus der elektronischen Künste
Freilager-Platz 9, 4142 Münchenstein
The HEK is an interdisciplinary institution is dedicated to digital culture and the new media art forms.
Until 1 February 2026
"Regionale 26 at HEK is dedicated to the current weather situation and takes a close look at what is brewing. Threatening weather moods such as storms, rain, dark clouds, lightning, and thunder form the atmospheric framework of the exhibition. The works on view generate frequencies within this emotional spectrum—audible as sound, vibrations, and noise on the one hand, and perceptible in a figurative sense as moods, resonances, and commentaries on the political and social state of the world on the other. Particularly low frequencies below 20 Hz, which are no longer audible but physically noticeable, play a special role. These infrasound frequencies can induce relaxation but also evoke tension and restlessness, and are often described as 'ghostly.' Visitors encounter works that intertwine weather and vibration, making these frequencies tangible both acoustically and metaphorically." Excerpt from HEK.
Kunsthaus Baselland
Helsinki-Strasse 5, 4142 Münchenstein
With a focus on regional, national and international contemporary art, the Kunsthaus Baselland offers the artists a platform for artistic exchange of solo, group or thematic exhibitions.
Until 25 January 2026
"While Eva Lootz was one of the leading pioneers of the 1970s, her work is only now being discovered in all its abundance and astonishing relevance: born in Vienna in 1940, the artist has lived in Madrid since the 1960s, choosing to live and work in Spain at a time when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship that remained in power until the mid-1970s. Making art, as Lootz understands it and understood it from the very beginning, was therefore shaped by political resistance and social and private resilience. For Lootz, being political means, more than anything else, looking closely, listening carefully, and understanding what is being said or read. The materials she uses emphasize softness and poetic fluidity—even when they are made of marble or bitumen—while reflecting the origins of their extraction at the same time: salt, sand, water, stone. Her oeuvre includes drawings, sculptures, videos, photographs, (wall) paintings and site-specific interventions." Excerpt from Kunsthaus Baselland.
Until 25 January 2026
"The Regionale is an annual group exhibition developed in the context of a cross-border cooperation of 18 institutions in Germany, France, and Switzerland with a focus on local contemporary art production in the three-country region around Basel." Excerpt from Kunsthaus Baselland.
Kunstmuseum Basel – Hauptbau
St.Alban-Graben 8, 4010 Basel
Home to one of the oldest public art collections in the world since 1661, the Kunstmuseum Basel displays its exhibitions across three buildings.
Until 11 January 2026
"Cassidy Toner’s new works take center stage at the Kunstmuseum Basel. Awarded the Manor Art Prize 2025, the US-born, Basel-based artist (b. 1992, Baltimore) presents an entire body of new work in Cassidy Toner. Besides the Point. On view are sixteen ceramic sculptures, a sprawling wall drawing, a video piece, and an installation featuring cast objects in synthetic resin and tin—all created especially for the exhibition." Excerpt from Kunstmuseum Basel.
Museum der Kulturen
Münsterpl. 20, 4051 Basel
The Museum der Kulturen Basel (MKB) is the largest anthropological museum in Switzerland, and seeks to enrich cultural life and raise awareness of all forms of culture.
Things for faith and meditation
Until 11 January 2026
"People have always sought spirituality, not least at home in their everyday lives. This year’s Christmas exhibition shows items such as candles, figurines, and pictures that support them in prayer and meditation. Some of them are simple and practical, others particularly beautiful and artistic. Spirituality is not sought merely in churches, temples or ceremonial houses but also privately at home where people pray and meditate and engage in small ritual acts in everyday life. For this purpose, they rely on a variety of items, some quite small and practical, others elaborate and designed with devotion. The exhibition is all about these paraphernalia." Excerpt from Museum der Kulturen.
People and their works
Until 25 January 2026
"The exhibition explores the creativity, the skill, and the biographies of the people who created the multifarious items in the museum’s collections; they range from simple, everyday things to ornate objects of ritual significance." Excerpt from Museum der Kulturen.
Museums Night (Museums Nacht)
Basel starts the year with the Museums Night. During this special evening, numerous museums and cultural institutions in the city and the surrounding areas of Münchenstein, Riehen, as well as in Saint-Louis and Weil am Rhein, will stay open until 2am.
The Museum Night is the perfect occasion to discover the museums in your city, and this year it will take place on Friday, 23 January 2026.
With just one ticket, free for those under 26 years, you will have access to 230 events across 43 museums and institutions. Art will interact with literature, music, film, performances, talks and workshops. With your ticket, you can also use the special shuttle buses for free or hop on and off one of the vintage trams that will operate between the Tram-Museum (MParc), Bahnhof SBB, Wettsteinbrücke and Messeplatz.
23 January 2026, from 6pm to 2am
Tickets: Free for under 26 years / Regular CHF 24 / KulturLegi CHF 12 / Museums-PASS-Musée CHF 19
Openings
Fondation Beyeler
Baselstrasse 101, 4125 Riehen
25.01.2026 – 25.05.2026
"For the first time in its history, the Fondation Beyeler will devote an exhibition to Paul Cezanne, a pioneer of modern art and one of the most important artists in the museum’s collection. The exhibition will focus on the last and most significant phase of the artist’s career, highlighting key themes of his later years, among them still lifes, portraits, landscapes and bather scenes. Bringing together around 80 oil paintings and watercolours, the exhibition will bring to life Cezanne’s groundbreaking work as regards form, light and colour – the qualities that have inspired and influenced artists for generations and through to the present day." Excerpt from Kunsthalle Basel.
If you are aware of any other exhibitions in Basel that are about to close or will open this month, please leave a comment below.
Valentina Peduzzi
Originally from Ticino, the sunniest region of Switzerland, Valentina has lived in Basel since 2020. You can find her at vernissages and exhibitions, as well as architectural guided tours, a new interest since she moved to the city.