May is shaping up to be a vibrant month in the art world. Galleries, museums and cultural spaces open their doors to invite us to live new sensory experiences.
Between mutant forms, immortal jewels and photographs that cross history, May reminds us that art has the capacity to transform, provoke and connect us. We delve into May art highlights to discover what’s new.
Kenjiro Okazaki: Art as a mutant force between form and perception
The Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates the mutant universe of Kenjiro Okazaki. The Japanese artist has been blurring the boundaries between painting, sculpture, architecture and robotics for decades. From his early sculptures Akasakamitsuke to his recent creations after 2021, Okazaki invites us to reflect on the world through zōkei, that “plastic force”, which in times of crisis, redefines the connection between perception and reality.
One of the pieces installed in the exhibition. Editorial credit: Shu Nakagawa.
Under the title Now and Beyond, the exhibition displays nearly 100 works born from the connection between art, thought and science. Through the rapid social changes we are living through, such as the integration of AI, political conflicts or environmental crises, Okazaki does not reconstruct the world: he reconstructs theview. Each work is a space where time expands, chaos is attempted to be ordered and the artist’s art emerges as the true map for rebirth.
When? April 29 to July 21, 2025.
Where? 4 Chome 1-1 Miyoshi, Koto City, Tokyo, Japan.
Opening hours: Monday from 9:00h to 18:00h. Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00h to 18.00h.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
David Hockney’s art in Paris
David Hockney exhibits his universe at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, occupying every corner with more than 400 works spanning seven decades of artistic exploration. From his early Portrait of My Father (1955) to the legendary A Bigger Splash (1967) and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972), the tour reflects Hockney’s evolution in capturing the color, light and emotion of each period of his life.
Painting done on iPad, 27th March 2020, No. 1. Editorial credit: David Hockney.
We can enjoy Bradford’s youthful portraits to the legendary Californian reflections, and immerse ourselves in a sensory journey between eras, styles and passions. The tour ends with recent pieces, where the artist is inspired by figures such as Edvard Munch and William Blake. Works such as After Munch: Less is Known than People Think (2023) and After Blake: Less is Known than People Think (2024) cross astronomy, spirituality and history in an introspective narrative. In addition, nature, portraits and flowers come to life in unexpected formats, fusing tradition and technology.
When? From April 9 to August 31, 2025.
Where? 8 av. du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris, France.
Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 am to 20.00 h. Friday from 11.00 h to 21.00h. Tuesday closed.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
Bohemian Esperpéntic Nights
The Museo de Historia de Madrid embarks on a journey through the literary bohemia, a tour that explores its origins, evolution and footprint in the Spanish capital. The exhibition Madrid, ¡Viva la Bohemia! Los bajos fondos de la vida literaria exhibits oil paintings, drawings, photographs and films that transport us to the bohemian atmospheres of Paris and Madrid. In the first section, Paris: the first lights, we are transported to the Paris of Henry Murger, whose Scènes de la vie bohème inspired a series of cultural events. From opera to zarzuela, as well as life in Madrid’s cafés.
Los Chulos, 1906, by José Gutiérrez-Solana. Editorial credit: Banco Santander Collection.
The exhibition delves into the bohemian Madrid, from its first generation in the mid-nineteenth century, until the rebirth of the heroic figure of the bohemian. Through pieces such as the Café del Parnasillo, by Ricardo Balaca, or the nocturnal images of Gutiérrez Solana, we approach the harsh reality of the time in the city. In the space La bohemia heroica, political and social thought merges with the literary struggles of the time. Finally, the tour culminates with La luz en el espejo, a tribute to Luces de bohemia, Valle-Inclán’s masterpiece.
When? From February 27 to June 1, 2025.
Where? Calle de Fuencarral, 78, Centro, Madrid
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00h to 20.00h.
Tickets: Free admission.
The memory of the land
In the Espai 13 of the Fundació Joan Miró, Paula García-Masedo is installed to exhibit Ver en natural, a unique sculptural piece that breathes with the earth and its memories. From plant remains of the pasture of the Lozoya Valley and ancestral linen fabrics, the artist builds us a landscape where compression and fragility intermingle. Stains, textures and organic pigments such as acorns and leaves come together to challenge our way of seeing.
Pieces from the installation Ver en natural, at Fundació Joan Miró. Editorial credit: Roberto Ruiz.
Far from classical representation, the work drags us into an immersive and tactile experience, where matter and perception beat in the same pulse. Inspired by the notion of Paul Cézanne, the artist turns the exhibition tour into an exercise of sensory rediscovery. The structure conditions the steps, and forces us to fragment our gaze. Each pigment and each compressed texture makes us see the astronomical cycles, the seasons, the stories of a landscape worked by man and nature.
When? From April 10 to June 29, 2025.
Where? Parc de Montjuic, s/n, Barcelona.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00h to 20.00h. Sunday from 10.00h to 19.00h. Monday closed.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
Yoko Ono’s art as a bridge of transformation
The capital of Germany opens the doors to Yoko Ono‘s exhibition with more than 200 works. Gropius Bau captures the revolutionary essence of the artist with installations that challenge the body and mind. From the stages of New York and Tokyo to the London of the 1960s, the artist wove invisible webs between words, objects and actions. The mythical studio at 112 Chambers Street and her first book, Grapefruit, resonate here as seeds of a participatory revolution, and invite us to touch, observe, transform the art that is lived.
Yoko Ono in Half-a-Room, 1967, installation view, Half-A-Wind Show. Editorial credit: Clay Perry.
The exhibition relives iconic moments such as Ceiling Painting, Apple and Half-A-Room, witnesses of a time when every gesture was a political act. Censored, provocative, tender and fierce, Ono filmed bodies, destroyed barriers and called for peace from the ruins. Moreover, feminist concerns run through her creations like tense and luminous threads, from Cut Piece to Freedom. In each space, Yoko Ono asks the question: How much of the world we dream of are we willing to imagine and build?
When? From April 11 to August 31, 2025.
Where? Niederkirchnerstraße 7, Berlin, Germany.
Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday from 12.00 h to 19.00h. Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 h to 19.00h. Tuesday closed.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
When luxury becomes eternal art
The Victoria and Albert Museum dresses up for the first major exhibition in nearly thirty years dedicated to Cartier, the Maison that transformed the art of jewelry into a universal emblem. More than 350 pieces reveal its legacy: from the visionary beginnings of Louis-François Cartier’s grandchildren to his reign as “the jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers”. The tour leads us to discover historic stones and dazzling designs, parts of a history tinged with elegance and power.
From left to right: Panthère clip brooch, Cartier Paris, 1949. Editorial credit: Nils Herrmann. Panther bracelet, Cartier Paris, 1978. Editorial credit: Marian Gérard.
Among the treasures on display shine the Williamson Diamond brooch of Elizabeth II (1953) and the Scroll tiara, symbol of coronations and iconic covers like Rihanna’s in 2016. Grace Kelly revives in her engagement ring, and Maria Felix dazzles with her gold snake (1968). In addition, there is no shortage of panther jewelry and legendary watches like the irreverent Crash (1967), immortal witnesses of the Cartier genius.
When? From April 12 to November 16, 2025.
Where? Cromwell Rd, LondonSW7 2RL, United Kingdom
Opening hours: Saturday to Thursday from 10.00h to 17.45h. Friday from 10.00h to 22.00h.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
Stories of struggle and hope through the lens
World Press Photo exhibition returns to Amsterdam with new award-winning photographs. The winning image is by Samar Abu Elouf, who captures a boy from Gaza who, after losing both arms in an Israeli attack, embarks on a journey of hope to Doha for treatment. The De Nieuwe Kerk exhibition space offers us a portal to never forget the resistance and humanity that resides within barbarism.
Droughts in the Amazon, one of the finalist images. Editorial credit: Musuk Nolte.
Among the different categories we find two Spanish photographers, Samuel Nacar and Luis Tato, who delve into the shadows of politics and recent history. Nacar reveals the invisible scars of the survivors of Syrian prisons, while Tato immortalizes the fury of Kenyan youth facing corruption and police violence. The exhibition will be in Amsterdam until September, and will move to Barcelona on the 7th of November 2025.
When? From April 18 to September 21, 2025.
Where? De Dam, 1012 NP Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 11.00 h to 18.00h. Sunday closed.
Tickets: You can buy your ticket here
