What’s on Across Europe in 2024

By Katie Sehl

From Olympic-themed exhibitions to the continent’s biggest pop-song showdown, here are the hottest arts and culture happenings to pencil in for the year ahead.

European Capitals of Culture

Bad Ischl, Austria

Bodø, Norway

Tartu, Estonia

All Year

Bad Ischl (pictured), Bodø and Tartu are 2024’s European Capitals of Culture, a coveted title handed down annually by the European Union. During this year-long salute to arts and culture, you can soar above Bad Ischl in a hot- air balloon during Gosau Balloon Week, coast down Tartu’s Emajõgi River in the Jõmmu, a medieval wooden barge, or sample reindeer tartar at ArktiskMat, a celebration of Arctic food culture in Bodø.

Cultural Olympiad

Paris, France

Until September 8

Cultural Olympiad brings brain and brawn together with more than 1,600 events planned across France in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. If athleisure is your thing, dueling exhibits at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and Palais Galliera track fashion trends from the runway to the sports arena. And if dance is where it’s at, sprint across the Champs-Élysées to the Palais Garnier (pictured) to catch a class or performance by the Ballet School of the Opéra National de Paris, or go for gold in Versailles at a revival of the opera-ballet, Les Fêtes Grecques et Romaines.

Biennale Arte 2024

Venice, Italy

April 20-November 24

Once every two years, the contemporary art crowd loads into gondolas and vaporettos and sets sail for La Biennale di Venezia, widely considered the “Olympics of the art world.” The 60th edition of the exhibition invites international artists to present work fit for the theme “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” chosen by the festival’s first Latin American curator, Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP).

Eurovision

Malmö, Sweden

May 7-11

The winner takes it all at the 68th annual edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, set to land in Malmö, Sweden, on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s career-catapulting win. Beloved for its hammy and campy performances, the contest pits acts from across the continent and beyond against each other in a bid to win best song. The hottest ticket will be for the Grand Final at the Malmö Arena, but fans can also catch one of the Semi-Finals or crash one of the many watching parties that will take over the southern coastal city in May.

The National Gallery’s Bicentenary

London, U.K.

Begins May 10

See works from Georges Seurat, Claude Monet and Michelangelo, among others, as the National Gallery in London stages a re-display of its entire permanent collection of Western European masterpieces from the 13th to early-20th century in celebration of its bicentenary. The 200th birthday festivities kick off with 12 simultaneous National Treasures exhibitions across the U.K., then continue through the summer in Trafalgar Square, which will serve as the backdrop for an array of public art activities. Come September, a once-in-a-century Vincent van Gogh exhibition will unveil never-seen-before pieces from private collections alongside the artist’s major works, with surprises in store regarding Sunflowers, one of the gallery’s most popular paintings.

2024 Museum Openings on Our Radar

Kunstsilo

Kristiansand, Norway

An abandoned grain silo serves as the new functionalist home for the largest collection of Norwegian and Nordic modernist art, as well as digital contemporary art and experiential exhibitions, on Odderøya island in Southern Norway.

Female Artists of the Mougins Museum

Mougins, France

What was formerly the Mougins Museum of Classic Art will reopen as the first major European museum devoted to women, featuring works by Marie Laurencin, Lee Krasner, Marina Abramović and more.