If you have any pre-summer travel plans on the cards for May, consider crafting an itinerary that features art exhibitions – wondrous culminations of culture and aesthetics that will add a layer of depth to your holiday. Here are some of our highlights for the month:
La Serena Forte dei Marmi, Milan
Photo: Memento Mori by Samo Shalaby
The newly renovated La Serena Forte dei Marmi hotel has made it a point to support artists from the Middle East through its rotating exhibitions curated by Dubai-based Tabari Artspace, and this month, Egyptian-Palestinian artist Samo Shalaby’s bold and vibrant pieces from his Memento Mori series are on display. Combining acrylic paintings with antique French and Italian wood and brass frames with a mystical and surrealist touch, the resulting designs are head-turning embodiments of magical realism. Runs until October 2025
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York City
Bedfellows by Massoud Hayoun
Based in Los Angeles, Massoud Hayoun paints scenes and portraits inspired by his Egyptian and Tunisian grandparents, as well as current events. He is an award-winning author, and both his literary and artistic work interrogate enduring systems of control, juxtaposed against the healing offered by culture and community. Themes like exile and loss are eternalised in his paintings, which will be shown through London gallery Larkin Durey at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Halo in New York. Runs from 8-11 May, 2025
Qatar: Close to my Soul, Doha
Painting by Jassim al-Zaini
Um Alzain by Salman Al-Malik
Art from the extensive collection of Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, son of Qatar’s former Emir, is on show at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. Works from the 1960s onwards from a selection of Qatari artists will be situated in a way that shows an evolution of creativity over the past few generations, which occurred in tangent with the nation’s cultural and social transformation. Paintings, sculptures and installations will be…
