One of the best ways to fight off the January blues is to start plotting “shows to see” on your calendar. As photography celebrates its 200th birthday, we’ve cherry-picked 10 of 2026’s hottest photography exhibitions, spanning London, Paris, Beijing and beyond – for your perusal (and vacationing inspiration).

AARON STERN, HARD COPY NEW YORK, ICP, NEW YORK

Kicking off the year is an expanded iteration of Aaron Stern’s Hard Copy exhibition, co-curated by David Campany at the ICP in New York. Several of the participating artists will get stuck into this month’s installation themselves, embodying the DIY essence of this project, which delves into the magic of Xerox printing. Highlights will include Thomas Ruff’s reappropriated nudes from the 1990s, Stephen Shore’s portraits of Andy Warhol and a 50-foot-long mural by Gray Sorrenti. Stern promises us an experience that is bodily, immersive and old school. And speaking of old school, while you’re at it, don’t miss the chance to experience work by the OG street photographer Eugène Atget in the rooms next door.

Hard Copy New York runs at the International Center of Photography, New York, from January 29 until May 4 2026.

MARTIN PARR, GLOBAL WARNING, JEU DE PAUME, PARIS

The first exhibition of legendary photographer Martin Parr after his passing will be Jeu de Paume’s witty take on our fraught relationship with our planet. Consumerism, mass tourism and globalisation have long been key themes in Parr’s work, which features eye-poppingly gaudy colours to convey the excesses of contemporary capitalism. Although globe-trotting in scope, the presentation will serve as a stark reminder of our increasingly “flat world”, where you find the same fast food chains and shopping malls wherever you go. A publication co-produced with Phaidon will accompany the show. It is indeed hard to imagine the landscape of photography without Parr’s sharp eye. What a legacy he leaves us.

Global Warning runs at Jeu de Paume, Paris, from January 30 until May 24 2026.

SOPHIE CALLE, LOUISIANA, DENMARK

Louisiana, the spectacular coastal museum in Denmark, will host the provocative French artist Sophie Calle this spring, and it’s set to be a crowd-pleaser. It will encompass a selection of new works, as well as the newly acquired The Blind, for which Calle asked people who were blind from birth to describe their image of “beauty”. Not much else has been announced about the show, but we can bank on the classic Calle cocktail of romance, desire and intrigue – with a splash of suspense.

Sophie Calle runs at Louisiana, Humblebaek, from March 3 until August 8 2026.

CATHERINE OPIE, TO BE SEEN, NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

Catherine Opie’s first major UK exhibition will gather photographic portraits from her 30-year career, which is dedicated to notions of queer culture, liberation and home. Opie’s contribution to art history shouldn’t be underestimated, for she has made visible those who have often gone unseen, and, in turn, challenged us to question the canon. As the title suggests, the show will focus on ideas of representation, visibility and identity. You’ll be invited to come face to face with Opie’s ennobling, Baroque-like portraits of her friends, whose statements are emphatic: “We’re here, and we’re queer!”

To Be Seen runs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from March 5 until May 31 2026.

DAIDO MORIYAMA, DECLARATIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHY, HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON FOUNDATION, PARIS

This forthcoming show in Paris will hinge on Daido Moriyama’s French connection, which began with the photographer’s 2008 pilgrimage to the city of Chalon-sur-Saône, where Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of photography, was born. Moriyama has since maintained a passionate relationship with the earliest surviving photograph, the famous View from the Window at Le Gras, and is said to have a poster of the image above his bed. This show will unravel as a love letter to the medium of photography – its aura, transformations and echoes across time. Emphasis will be placed on Moriyama’s books and magazine contributions, and his writings on photography will be translated into French for the first time.

Declarations to Photography runs at Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris from May 20 until October 4 2026.

CAMILLE VIVIER, MEP, PARIS

Most audiences will be more familiar with Camille Vivier’s work on the page than on the wall, but this is certainly set to change with the MEP’s first major showing of her work. The powerhouse of fashion photography has developed a very distinctive visual language, in which elements of romance, fantasy, fetishism, mythology, underground culture and horror collide. Exploring forms and femininity, this dream of a show will showcase work across both commercial and personal work, from nudes, puppets and fashion to self-portraits displayed on TV screens. Your flabber will be gasted.

Camille Vivier runs at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, from June 10 until September 20 2026.

THOMAS SAUVIN, BEIJING SILVERMINE: ARCHIVE ANTHOLOGY, FOTOGRAFISKA, SHANGHAI

Thomas Sauvin’s Silvermine project will be coming to Shanghai this summer, and it will be its biggest presentation to date. The one-of-a-kind archive consists of negatives salvaged from a recycling plant on the edge of Beijing, and collectively captures everyday life during China’s rapid transformation from the mid-1980s to 2000s. Holly Roussell’s curation will feature a massive installation of 1000+ images mounted on coloured plexiglass (amazingly, representing just 0.1% of the full archive), a light wall to consult negatives, a reconstruction of Sauvin’s studio and a playful presentation of Until Death Do Us Part, the cult photo book documenting the forgotten custom of Double Happiness cigarettes at Chinese weddings.

Beijing Silvermine: Archive Anthology runs at Fotografiska, Shanghai from June 19 until October 18 2026.

JOHN BALDESSARI, UCCA, BEIJING

Five years after his death, the renowned American conceptual artist John Baldessari will be honoured by his first institutional showing in China. It will introduce his work to new audiences and inspire budding artists with his many lessons on life and art, whether that’s the importance of salvaging from mess or why we should learn from kids. The exhibition will be comprehensive, starting from Baldessari’s earliest experiments with text and image, moving through the 1970s (after he cremated all his paintings and made cookies from the ashes), to his later works which engage with pop culture and new media. There will also be a chance to discover his rarely-seen maquettes, in which Baldessari would cut out and scribble on source material as a way of exploring his creative process.

John Baldessari runs at UCCA, Beijing, from September 19 2026 until March 1 2027.

THE 90S, TATE BRITAIN, LONDON

Another sure-fire hit from Tate will come at their other Thames-side gallery this autumn. Curated by none other than Edward Enninful, it will travel not too far back to the heady days of 90s Britain, a decade of excitement, possibility and chaos. It saw the rise of multiculturalism, new media and, of course, Kate Moss, the “cocky kid from Croydon”, whose ascent into the high fashion world coincided with the phenomenon of “Cool Britannia”, as she walked runways for British names such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Excitingly, the collections of these designers will be exhibited alongside work by Juergen Teller and Corrine Day, Damien Hirst and Gillian Wearing. Brace yourself for a big fat dose of nostalgia.

The 90s runs at Tate Britain, London, from October 1 2026 until February 14 2027.

ANIMAL MODEL, PHOTO ÉLYSÉE, LAUSANNE

This winter, the Swiss museum Photo Élysée will transform into a zoo of sorts, telling a 200-year story of animals in photography. Featuring dogs, cats, cows, horses, zebras, birds, lions, monkeys and many, many more in a mix of imagery that ranges from the amateur to iconic, the scientific to artistic, it’s bound to offer a much-needed alternative to the tiny screens we so often consume animals through today. Expect more awe than aww.

Animal Model runs at Photo Élysée, Lausanne from December 4 2026 until April 4 2027.