AGO announces 2025 exhibitions, featuring retrospectives of David Blackwood and Joyce Wieland

Yayoi Kusama’s INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM: LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER returns to Toronto in April

“From David Blackwood’s Newfoundland to Tina Modotti’s Mexico, from Oluseye’s homage to Yoruba cultural practices, to Joyce Wieland’s radical patriotism, the art and artists on view in 2025 give us diverse perspectives on home with emotion and technical mastery,” says Julian Cox, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, AGO. “The AGO is home to great art, and as we showcase the strength of the AGO collection, we invite visitors to discover what home means to them.”

The AGO’s Department of Photography turns 25 in 2025. A leader in the acquisition and presentation of vernacular photography and works by 2SLGBTQ2+ artists, the Department will mark the occasion with an exhibition and publication featuring highlights from its collection.

In 2025, the AGO continues to share great art with the world, as original exhibitions Building Icons: Arnold Newman’s Magazine World, 1938-2000, and KAWS: FAMILY travel to Korea and the United States.

Beyond the 2025 exhibition season, construction continues for the new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery. With 13 new galleries across five floors, the expansion will significantly increase space for the AGO’s growing collection of modern and contemporary art. It is scheduled to open in 2027.

“In 2025, the Art Gallery of Ontario will engage visitors with unique and innovative world-class exhibitions – affirming its status as one of the leading cultural institutions in our province,” said Stan Cho, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. “With works that showcase a wide array of Canadian, Indigenous, and international artists, next year’s slate of exhibitions is a must-visit for all ages. Bring the family throughout the year and enjoy all that the AGO has to offer.”

Admission to the AGO and all special exhibitions is always free for Ontarians under 25, AGO Members, Annual Passholders and Indigenous peoples. For more details visit ago.ca.

Exhibitions opening at the AGO in 2025 include:

Opening January 18, 2025, Louise Noguchi: Selected Works, 1986-2000 spotlights the distinguished Toronto artist’s work in video and sculpture. Organized by Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, AGO, the exhibition features three works from the AGO collection and is anchored by the explosive three-minute-long video Crack (2000), featuring flowers ripped apart by the sudden lashes of a whip. Also on view is the large sculptural installation Fruits of Belief: The Grand Landscape (1986) and the mirrored sculpture Eden (1990-1). This exhibition is on view through July 27, 2025.

Opening February 15, 2025, Nigerian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist Oluseye will present a new large-scale installation. Inspired by merindinlogun, a Yoruba divination ritual, Oluseye illustrates the spiritual, mythological, and biographical elements that have shaped his worldview and art. In an homage to Yoruba cultural practices, Oluseye presents 16 large-scale bronze cowrie shells, resting atop a hand-carved divination tray. Curated by Julie Crooks, Curator of Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, AGO, this work will be on view through February of 2026.

Opening February 15, 2025, Kenojuak Ashevak: Highlights from the Dr. Ronald M. Haynes Collection presents 14 prints by the renowned Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013). The first of two installations showcasing artworks from the Dr. Ronald M. Haynes Collection, the works on view celebrate Ashevak’s fluid graphic storytelling and stunning skill with stonecut printing across more than three decades. A highlight is The Woman Who Lives in the Sun, one of the most iconic and recognizable works in Inuit art history. Curated by Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, AGO, these works are all promised gifts to the AGO.

Opening February 15, 2025, Letendre/Morrisseau, brings together eight works by the boundary pushing painters Rita Letendre (1928-2021) and Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007). Highlighting their shared use of colour and line, the installation features Letendre’s Méduse (1960) and Morrisseau’s six-panel masterpiece Man Changing into Thunderbird (1977). This exhibition will be on view through 2027.

Opening Saturday, March 29, 2025, Tim Whiten: A Little Bit of Light marks Whiten’s receipt of the 2022 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO. Spanning five decades, the more than 30 works on display range from works on paper and cotton, to sculpture, three-dimensional objects, and mixed media installations. Drawing upon various spiritual traditions, mythologies, and rituals, Whiten’s practice stands out for its particularly fine-tuned consideration of materials. Curated by Julian Cox, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, AGO, this exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in partnership with the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation

Opening in April of 2025, Yayoi Kusama: INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER (2017) is an immersive room-sized installation by the acclaimed Japanese artist. Featuring mirrored spheres suspended from the ceiling and arranged on the floor, from inside the room visitors can peer into a seemingly infinite field of silver orbs. Accommodating four people every minute, the installation returns on view, following a successful tour to museums in the United States. It was acquired by the AGO in 2017 thanks to 4,700 #InfinityAGO donors who participated in the AGO’s ambitious crowdfunding campaign and the David Yuile & Mary Elizabeth Hodgson Fund.

Opening May 3, 2025, Recuerdo: Latin American Photography at the AGO takes visitors on an odyssey from Mexico to Argentina, through various moments in time, to consider art of and from Latin America. Highlighting new acquisitions and unseen works from the AGO’s Photography Collection, this poetic exhibition juxtaposes photographs from press collections, works by artists once known, and those by noted photographers, including Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Tina Modotti. This exhibition is curated by Marina Dumont-Gauthier, Curatorial Assistant, Photography, AGO.

Opening June 21, 2025, Joyce Wieland: Heart On is an ambitious retrospective highlighting five decades of radical artmaking by the Toronto-born artist. Showcasing her playful artistry and activism through more than 100 artworks and recently restored films, the exhibition and its accompanying publication, locates Wieland as a key figure in 20^th century art and film. Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO and Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art, MMFA and will be on view through January 4, 2026.

Opening June 28, 2025, Surusilutu Ashoona is an exhibition of 17 playfully irreverent prints and drawings by the renowned Kinngait artist Surusilutu Ashoona (1941-2011) from the AGO’s foundational Inuit art collections – generously gifted by Dr. Michael Braudo, the Klamer Family and Samuel and Esther Sarick. This exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO and will be on view through October 2025.

Opening July 19, 2025, Naoko Matsubara is a career-spanning exhibition of 20 woodcut prints by the celebrated Japanese-Canadian print maker. Anchoring the exhibition is Tagasode (2014), a monumental 2 metre long single-sheet print that recalls the ikō – a piece of furniture on which a kimono hangs. Composed of an array of vibrant, complementary colours animated with incisions and wood grain, Tagasode is the culmination of Matsubara’s printmaking career, and a testament to her accomplished handling of the woodcut medium. Curated by Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, AGO this exhibition is the artist’s first AGO solo exhibition.

Opening August 9, 2025, Remade: Clay, Plaster, Stone is an exhibition of rarely seen sculptures by Toronto artists Frances Loring and Florence Wyle, whose estate was gifted to the AGO in 1983. Highlighting Loring and Wyles’s commitment to the artform and featuring archival materials and interviews, this exhibition is curated by Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, AGO, and Melissa Alexander, W. David Hargraft Fellow in Canadian Art and will be on view through 2026.

Opening August 16, 2025, Faye Heavyshield marks Heavyshield’s receipt of the 2021 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO. Celebrated for her sculptures and installations that draw upon her personal history and deep relationship to the land, this exhibition will feature new and acclaimed works, including a re-staging of Venus as Torpedo (1995-96). Curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO, this exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in partnership with the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation.

Opening September 13, 2025, Jesse Mockrin marks the American painter’s first ever museum solo exhibition. Inspired by Baroque paintings, sculptures and drawings held by the AGO, Mockrin radically re-envisions these works through a contemporary lens, creating poetic and subversive paintings and drawings. Curated by Adam Harris Levine, Associate Curator of European Art, AGO, these works will be installed alongside works from the AGO collection. Organized by the AGO, this exhibition will be on view through March of 2026.

Opening October 18, 2025, David Blackwood: Home, is a career spanning retrospective of one of Canada’s foremost printmakers. Born and raised on Bonavista Bay, David Blackwood (1941-2022) put onto paper an enduring vision of Newfoundland, drawn from childhood memories, dreams, superstitions, legends, and oral traditions. Tracing Blackwood’s career from his first days as an art student at the Ontario College of Art to his final drawing, this expansive retrospective brings together more than 80 drawings and prints, alongside proofs, copper plates and archival materials. Curated by Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, AGO, this exhibition aims to reveal the creative evolution of a beloved Canadian artist.

Opening November 8, 2025, New Acquisitions: Selections from the Dr. Ronald M. Haynes Collection features 22 works by 16 Inuit artists. The second of two installations showcasing artworks from the Dr. Ronald M. Haynes Collection, included in the display are works on paper by Pitseolak Ashoona, Jessie Oonark and Pudlo Pudlat, as well as small soapstone sculptures by Mathew Aqigaaq, George Arluk, Seepee Ippellie, and Nootaraloo. Curated by Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art, AGO, these works are all promised gifts to the AGO.

Stay tuned for more information about these and other upcoming exhibitions, at ago.ca/exhibitions. Opening dates may be subject to change.

Beyond Toronto, AGO original exhibitions opening across the globe in 2025 include:

• Building Icons: Arnold Newman’s Magazine World, 1938-2000, a retrospective of more than 100 photographs and prints from the AGO’s extensive holdings, curated by Sophie Hackett, Curator of Photography, AGO, with photo scholar and independent curator Tal-Or Ben Choreen, will open at Museum Hanmi Samcheong in Seoul, Korea, on November 29, 2024.
• KAWS: FAMILY, a solo exhibition of paintings, sculptures and works on paper by American artist Brian Donnelly (aka KAWS), organized by the AGO and curated by Julian Cox, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, AGO, will open at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in March 2025.

@AGOToronto | #SeeAGO

Contemporary Programming at the AGO is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

ABOUT THE AGO
Located in Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, attracting approximately one million visitors annually. The AGO Collection of more than 120,000 works of art ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists to European masterpieces. The AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, including solo exhibitions and acquisitions by diverse and underrepresented artists from around the world. The AGO is embarking on the seventh expansion project undertaken since it was founded in 1900. When completed the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will increase exhibition space for the museum’s growing modern and contemporary collection and reflect the people who call Toronto home. With its groundbreaking Annual Pass program, the AGO is one of the most affordable and accessible attractions in the GTA. Visit ago.ca to learn more.

The AGO is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts, and generous contributions from AGO Members, donors, and private-sector partners.