As the art world descends on Hong Kong for Art Basel, museums and galleries begin launching their summer blockbusters. These are the exhibitions opening in April that caught our eye.
Morris Mania: How Britain’s Greatest Designer Went Viral, William Morris Gallery, London
5 April-21 September
This exhibition is part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of the William Morris Gallery, housed in a mansion the artist lived in as a teenager. The show will bring together works from the collection dating back to the 1860s, with items lent by other institutions, as well as a plethora of Morris-themed objects loaned and donated from members of the public. More
Dr Martens boots decorated with William Morris’s “Strawberry Thief” pattern© William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
Boom: Art and Design in the 1940s, Philadelphia Museum of Art
12 April-1 September
Marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, this show plays on the double meaning of the word “boom” as either the rumble of weaponry or the boost of invention and progress. The exhibition will bring together more than 250 works drawn from the museum’s rich holdings of that decade—many being conserved especially for the show—and spans painting, sculpture, fashion, photography, furniture and design. More
A 1940 dinner jacket created by the avant-garde couturier Elsa Schiaparelli
Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art
Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombl, Museum Brandhorst, Munich and Museum Ludwig, Cologne
10 April-17 August and 3 October-11 January 2026
Robert Rauschenberg, the tirelessly experimental and collaborative American artist who died in 2008, would have turned 100 this year. In honour of his centenary, the New York-based Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is spearheading a globe-spanning programme of exhibitions, beginning with this show, which brings together more than 150 objects including works of art, archival material, costumes, stage props, scores and a performance programme. More
Cy Twombly’s 1952 image of Robert Rauschenberg is in Museum Brandhorst’s collection
© Cy Twombly Foundation
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
12 April-15 September
Though a national treasure in Portugal, and well known in France, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva’s wider reputation has dwindled since her death, and she still “needs to be rediscovered by many audiences”, according to the show’s curator. This exhibition, which comprises around 70 works from public and private lenders around the world, takes a broadly chronological view of the artist’s evolving visual language. More
Vieira da Silva’s Le Jeu de cartes (1937, the card game)
Private collection, France-Portugal
Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
4 April-24 August
Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes, it will focus on the relationship between the painter and his daughter, Marguerite Duthuit-Matisse, who he had with his model Caroline Joblaud in 1894. Included in the show will be ubiquitous masterpieces, like Marguerite au chat noir (1910) as well as many works that have simply never been seen. More
Marguerite, on the right, can be identified in Matisse’s Tea (1919) by the ribbon she wore to hide a scar on her neck
Museum Associates/LACMA; © 2020 Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
