January opens the year with major international developments across museums, exhibitions, and the art market. Preparations for the 61st Venice Biennale intensify as countries begin to announce their national pavilion artists and projects, including new and debut participations that signal the Biennale’s expanding global scope. In the United States, Anselm Kiefer’s Becoming the Sea anchors a major survey at the Saint Louis Art Museum, presenting decades of work alongside monumental, site-specific paintings in an immersive institutional setting. Looking ahead, 2026 is set to reshape global cultural infrastructure with a wave of significant museum openings and reopenings, from Los Angeles and London to emerging cultural hubs worldwide. On the market side, Christie’s reveals highlights for Americana Week 2026, underscoring continued collector interest in foundational American art, while also announcing an unprecedented auction of a George Washington portrait with a record-setting estimate. Meanwhile, David Lynch’s paintings take center stage in a rare European solo exhibition at Pace Berlin, and Frieze identifies ten artists to watch in 2026, pointing to emerging voices and practices poised to define the year ahead.