# The 8 best gallery shows in Rome in October 2026

> Hank Willis Thomas and Man Ray at Galleria Continua, Brigitte Niedermair at Richard Saltoun, Eva Beresin at Amanita and Umico Niwa at T293: the contemporary art exhibitions to see in Rome this month, with the museum shows and Rome Art Week.

Rome · Best shows · By On View, updated Oct 3, 2026 · Tags: Rome, Exhibitions, October 2026, Rome Art Week, Contemporary art, Galleries, Museums, What to see

October is when Rome’s art season is at full strength. The galleries opened their autumn exhibitions in the second half of September, the museums bring out their big shows in the second week of October, with Pontormo at the Scuderie del Quirinale and Richard Avedon at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni both opening on October 9, and Rome Art Week, from October 19 to 25, opens studios and galleries across the city. The gallery shows are fewer than in Paris or Berlin and easier to see: most are free to walk into, a short walk from one another, and empty on a weekday afternoon.

These are the eight gallery exhibitions in Rome we would plan around this month, in the order we would see them, with dates and addresses from our listings and a link to each show’s own page, where the pictures are. Eleven more follow, among them the shows at the city’s foundations and academies, and the museum exhibitions, which this month include a Vermeer and a Kandinsky retrospective, are in the questions at the end. For the galleries themselves, see [the 10 best contemporary art galleries in Rome](https://onview.so/guides/best-art-galleries-rome).

## 1. Hank Willis Thomas and Man Ray: *Tomorrow I shall contradict myself*

- Sep 25 – Dec 31, 2026 (on view)
- At [Galleria Continua](https://onview.so/rome/continua.md), Repubblica · Via Vittorio Emanuele Orlando 3, The St. Regis Rome · Tue–Sat 11–1, 2–7
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/continua/tomorrow-i-shall-contradict-myself

![](https://images.onview.so/6a213749da68bac4.webp)

The title is a line of Man Ray’s, and the show sets him beside an American artist born, as Hank Willis Thomas puts it, shortly after Man Ray died. Thomas first met the older artist’s work as a photography student in New York, and what the two share is the idea that a photograph is something made, not taken. Man Ray’s rayographs, solarisations, objects and paintings hang with Thomas’s retroreflective works, in which a second image hidden in the surface appears only under a flash, and with his sculptures of gestures, clasped hands and a raised fist, cut monumental in veined marble.

It is the first time Galleria Continua has shown Thomas, in Rome and in San Gimignano at once. Here it is inside The St. Regis hotel, by Piazza della Repubblica, through December 31.

## 2. Umico Niwa: *Daphne, Act Two*

- Sep 18 – Oct 16, 2026 (on view, closing soon)
- At [T293](https://onview.so/rome/t293.md), Borgo · Piazza del Catalone · Tue–Fri 12–7, Sat 3–7
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/t293/daphne-act-two

![](https://images.onview.so/4a75beeae4254093.webp)

The exhibition is built like a play. In the first room, Act One, the cast is introduced: the Daphnes, figures with something human about them that Niwa makes of cast pewter and organic materials. In the second, Act Two, they are caught mid-scene on a stage set, dressed in foraged materials that give each a gesture and a mood. Niwa’s sources are Cantonese opera, Kabuki and Shakespeare played in gardens, and the subject is play in every sense: theater, games, and gender as something performed.

This is the first of the month’s shows to close, on October 16, at T293’s new space on Piazza del Catalone, a few minutes from St. Peter’s. It is open from noon, and on Saturday from 3.

## 3. Brigitte Niedermair: *Madame Hirsch*

- Oct 6 – Dec 18, 2026 (on view)
- At [Richard Saltoun Gallery](https://onview.so/rome/richard-saltoun-gallery.md), Piazza di Spagna · Via Margutta 48a-48b · Tue–Fri 10:30–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/richard-saltoun-gallery/madame-hirsch

![](https://images.onview.so/502478ebdc2d4f1f.webp)

For a year Brigitte Niedermair followed one woman, Renate Hirsch Giacomuzzi, through her life in Bolzano, St. Moritz, Venice and Sardinia: a night at La Fenice for The Magic Flute, polo at St. Moritz, a swing at Soprabolzano, an Easter tree in Bolzano. The pictures, made in 2004 and 2005, read like a diary but are composed like tableaux, somewhere between document and staging, by a photographer from Merano who is better known for her fashion work, for Dior among others. Her method, she says, is to make, wait and see.

Curated by Paola Ugolini, the show opens on Tuesday, October 6, with a reception from 6 to 8 pm, and runs to December 18 on Via Margutta. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday; Saturday is by appointment.

## 4. Eva Beresin: *Fool’s Privilege*

- Sep 17 – Nov 13, 2026 (on view)
- At [Amanita](https://onview.so/rome/amanita.md), Ponte · Via dei Banchi Vecchi 24 · Tue–Sat 12–7
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/amanita/fools-privilege

![](https://images.onview.so/679b81b6f06ce34a.webp)

Fools and babies have one thing in common: they stand outside authority, and may say what no one else can. Eva Beresin’s paintings and sculptures of the last year take that license for themselves, with stretched, Mannerist bodies in loose oil and acrylic and titles to match, Too sweet to trust and How did the fool become stupid? among them. The largest work is a canvas hung like a tapestry that shows the Palazzo dei Pupazzi, the sixteenth-century palace the gallery occupies, with the smaller paintings as views into its rooms.

It is the painter’s second show with Amanita, the New York gallery that opened in Rome a year ago. On Via dei Banchi Vecchi through November 13, open from noon.

## 5. *Giovanni Kronenberg*

- Sep 16 – Oct 31, 2026 (on view)
- At [z2o Sara Zanin Gallery](https://onview.so/rome/z2o-sara-zanin-gallery.md), Testaccio · Via Alessandro Volta 34 · Tue–Sat 12–7
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/z2o-sara-zanin-gallery/giovanni-kronenberg

![](https://images.onview.so/f8f4bc26e3a9dd98.webp)

Kronenberg has shown with z2o for more than ten years, and this is his fourth solo exhibition there. The sculptures are assembled from things that had other lives, metal, plastic, granite, wood and organic matter, joined so that each loses its use and becomes hard to name. The drawings, which have grown freer and less tied to resemblance, are the subject of a new monograph, with essays by Cecilia Canziani, Antonio Grulli and Alessandro Rabottini, to be presented during the show.

Through October 31 at the gallery’s space in Testaccio. [Luca Moscariello’s Quasi ombra](https://onview.so/rome/z2o-sara-zanin-gallery/quasi-ombra), trompe-l’œil paintings of wood grain and shadow, is at z2o Project, a short walk away in San Saba, until November 22.

## 6. Satya Forte and Pedro Zhang: *Double Solo*

- Sep 12 – Nov 13, 2026 (on view)
- At [Monitor](https://onview.so/rome/monitor.md), San Lorenzo · Via degli Aurunci 44/46/48 · Tue–Fri 2–7, Sat by appointment
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/monitor/double-solo

![](https://images.onview.so/1760ef910cb845b0.webp)

Monitor has galleries in Rome, in Lisbon and in a village in Abruzzo, and this exhibition pairs an artist from its Italian side with one from its Portuguese side, both in their twenties. Satya Forte, born in Atri in 2000, makes photographs, sculptures and drawings with hair, under titles such as Alba Luce and Miniature di paesaggio. Pedro Zhang, born in Évora in 2001, paints small nocturnal pictures out of childhood imagery and the natural world; his first gallery show was in Lisbon this spring.

In San Lorenzo, facing Piazza dell’Immacolata, through November 13. The gallery opens at 2 pm, Tuesday to Friday, which makes it a good stop before [Gilda Lavia](https://onview.so/rome/gilda-lavia) and the [Pastificio Cerere](https://onview.so/rome/fondazione-pastificio-cerere), both a few streets away.

## 7. Andrés Anza: *Paisaje a la montaña*

- Sep 23 – Nov 21, 2026 (on view)
- At [Anna Marra Contemporanea](https://onview.so/rome/anna-marra-contemporanea.md), Jewish Ghetto · Via di Sant’Angelo in Pescheria 31–32 · Mon–Fri 3:30–7:30, Sat 10–2
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/anna-marra-contemporanea/paisaje-a-la-montana

![](https://images.onview.so/ad8c6148e9199075.webp)

Andrés Anza, the Mexican ceramicist who won the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2024, makes sculptures that could be coral, cactus or something seen under a microscope. His second show at Anna Marra comes out of the Cerro de la Silla, the mountain that stands over his city, Monterrey. The new sculptures sit between the microscope and the telescope, drawing on microbiology, invented botany and star maps, and for the first time he uses dense, glossy glazes, from deep blues to saturated earths, so that the gallery reads as a single habitat.

In the Ghetto, beside the Portico d’Ottavia, through November 21, with a text by Marina Dacci. The gallery is open on weekday afternoons and on Saturday morning.

## 8. *A che gioco stiamo giocando?*

- Sep 12 – Nov 14, 2026 (on view)
- At [Galleria Gilda Lavia](https://onview.so/rome/gilda-lavia.md), San Lorenzo · Via dei Reti 29/C · Tue–Sat 2–7
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/rome/gilda-lavia/a-che-gioco-stiamo-giocando

![](https://images.onview.so/e21a381ac09a1b32.webp)

What game are we playing? The group show curated by Anna Simone asks what art can still do when serious things, war, power, the land, are turned into games and everything arrives through a screen: whether it can resist, or simply becomes one more product. Eleven artists answer in ceramics, textiles, acrylic paintings and installations, on dystopian futures, neocolonialism, patriarchy and the language of war; among them are Elena Bellantoni, Pamela Diamante, Leonardo Petrucci and Lucia Marcucci.

At Galleria Gilda Lavia, which opened in San Lorenzo in 2018, through November 14. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 2 to 7.

## Also worth seeing

- [Svenja Deininger: ON LEANING](https://onview.so/rome/federica-schiavo-gallery/on-leaning.md) at Federica Schiavo Gallery (on view, just opened, Oct 14, 2026 – Jan 30, 2027): A new solo show of the painter’s work, on the Lungotevere dei Vallati; opens on the evening of October 13.
- [Jay Payton: De Anima](https://onview.so/rome/sant-andrea-de-scaphis/de-anima.md) at Sant’Andrea de Scaphis (on view, Sep 30 – Nov 21, 2026): In the deconsecrated ninth-century church in Trastevere that Gavin Brown runs as a gallery; opened September 30.
- [Luca Moscariello: Quasi ombra](https://onview.so/rome/z2o-sara-zanin-gallery/quasi-ombra.md) at z2o Sara Zanin Gallery (on view, Oct 1 – Nov 22, 2026): Paintings that counterfeit wood grain and cast shadows, at z2o Project in San Saba.
- [Mario Cresci: I luoghi del possibile](https://onview.so/rome/materia/i-luoghi-del-possibile.md) at Matèria (on view, Oct 3 – Dec 5, 2026): The Italian photographer at Matèria, in San Lorenzo; opened October 3.
- [Suanjaya Kencut: Where Do We Belong?](https://onview.so/rome/mucciaccia/where-do-we-belong.md) at Galleria Mucciaccia (on view, Sep 25 – Nov 9, 2026): Fifteen paintings and twelve fiberglass sculptures by the Balinese artist, on Via Laurina.
- [Andrew Hem & Dulk](https://onview.so/rome/dorothy-circus-gallery/andrew-hem-dulk.md) at Dorothy Circus Gallery (on view, closing soon, Sep 29 – Oct 23, 2026): Two painters of memory and wildlife in a double show of pop surrealism; closes October 23.
- [Dom Bouffard: Sound Drawings per il Portico d’Ottavia](https://onview.so/rome/valentina-bonomo/sound-drawings-per-il-portico-dottavia.md) at Galleria Valentina Bonomo (on view, closing soon, Jun 11 – Oct 15, 2026): Graphic scores in ink and graphite, in the Ghetto; closes October 15.
- [Portia Zvavahera: Like Flowers We Fade](https://onview.so/rome/fondazione-memmo/like-flowers-we-fade.md) at Fondazione Memmo (on view, Apr 29 – Nov 1, 2026): The Zimbabwean painter’s first institutional show in Italy, made during a residency in Rome; free, and closes November 1.
- [Eugenio Tibaldi: BENU](https://onview.so/rome/fondazione-pastificio-cerere/benu.md) at Fondazione Pastificio Cerere (on view, Sep 23 – Nov 28, 2026): Drawings, carved wooden phoenixes and a film from a project with the women held at Rebibbia prison.
- [Peter Marcasiano and Michele Tocca: A Sort of Song](https://onview.so/rome/fondazione-giuliani-per-l-arte-contemporanea/a-sort-of-song.md) at Fondazione Giuliani per l’Arte Contemporanea (on view, just opened, From Oct 8, 2026): Two painters of ordinary things, a generation apart, in Ostiense; opens October 8, from 6 to 9 pm.
- [LIVING! Julian Beck pittore](https://onview.so/rome/accademia-nazionale-di-san-luca-via-ripense/living-julian-beck-pittore.md) at Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Via Ripense (on view, Jul 10 – Nov 14, 2026): About forty paintings and drawings from 1944 to 1958 by the co-founder of the Living Theatre; free.

## Frequently asked questions

### What are the best museum exhibitions in Rome in October 2026?

The [Scuderie del Quirinale](https://onview.so/rome/scuderie-del-quirinale/pontormo) opens Pontormo, the first large monographic show of the Mannerist painter, on October 9, the same day [Richard Avedon: In the American West](https://onview.so/rome/palazzo-delle-esposizioni/in-the-american-west-1979-1984), all 110 prints, opens at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. [Palazzo Bonaparte](https://onview.so/rome/palazzo-bonaparte/kandinsky) has more than seventy Kandinskys from the Centre Pompidou until February. Two shows end on October 11: [Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter](https://onview.so/rome/palazzo-barberini/un-vermeer-a-palazzo-barberini-donna-in-blu-che-legge-una-lettera), on loan to Palazzo Barberini from the Rijksmuseum, and [Ovid and the arts](https://onview.so/rome/galleria-borghese/metamorfosi-ovidio-e-le-arti) at the Galleria Borghese. For contemporary art, [MACRO](https://onview.so/rome/macro) has Miriam Cahn’s retrospective and Hito Steyerl, [MAXXI](https://onview.so/rome/maxxi) opens Sophie Calle and Tatiana Bilbao on October 16, and the [Musei Capitolini](https://onview.so/rome/musei-capitolini) have Diego Rivera and Mexican modernism at Villa Caffarelli.

### Which exhibitions in Rome close in October 2026?

October 11 is the date to watch: the Vermeer at Palazzo Barberini, Ovid at the Galleria Borghese and the centenary show at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna all end. Among the galleries, Dom Bouffard closes at Valentina Bonomo on October 15, Umico Niwa at T293 on October 16, Andrew Hem and Dulk at Dorothy Circus on October 23, and Giovanni Kronenberg at z2o on October 31. Isaac Julien’s installation at the Galleria Borghese and Alex Da Corte’s hang of the MAXXI collection end on October 25; Portia Zvavahera at the Fondazione Memmo and Hito Steyerl at MACRO end on November 1.

### What opens in Rome in October 2026?

Brigitte Niedermair opens at Richard Saltoun on October 6, with a reception from 6 to 8 pm, and A Sort of Song at the Fondazione Giuliani on October 8, from 6 to 9. October 9 is the big day: Pontormo at the Scuderie del Quirinale and Avedon at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Svenja Deininger opens at Federica Schiavo on the evening of October 13, and Sophie Calle and Tatiana Bilbao at MAXXI on October 16. Gordon Matta-Clark, once announced there for October, now opens on November 13.

### When is Rome Art Week 2026?

From Monday, October 19 to Sunday, October 25. Rome Art Week is free: 139 galleries and institutions put on exhibitions and events, and about 500 artists open their studios across the city. Before it, on Saturday, October 10, the Giornata del Contemporaneo opens Italy’s contemporary art museums free of charge, MAXXI and MACRO included. After it, the Roma Arte in Nuvola fair brings about 140 galleries to La Nuvola, in EUR, from November 20 to 22.

### Are gallery shows in Rome free?

Yes. Every gallery exhibition here is free and needs no booking, and so are the Fondazione Memmo and the Accademia di San Luca’s space on Via Ripense. Hours are the thing to check: many galleries open only in the afternoon, most are closed on Sunday and Monday, and a few see visitors on Saturday by appointment. Each gallery’s page has its hours, and [the map](https://onview.so/rome/map) shows which are near each other.

Everything on view in Rome, at every gallery and museum, is on [the list](https://onview.so/rome) and [the map](https://onview.so/rome/map), with the openings coming up under Events. For the galleries themselves, read [the 10 best contemporary art galleries in Rome](https://onview.so/guides/best-art-galleries-rome). The weekly email, under Resources, has each week’s openings and closings.

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Published Oct 3, 2026; the text was last revised on Oct 3, 2026. The addresses, hours and dates are from On View's listings for Rome as of Wednesday, October 14, 2026. This page: https://onview.so/guides/best-gallery-shows-rome-october-2026. All the guides: https://onview.so/guides.md. Every gallery and museum in Rome: https://onview.so/rome.md. All of On View: https://onview.so/llms.txt