The AGO’s Big 2027

On 29 September the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announced its 2027 exhibitions (the release calls them nine new, original exhibitions but lists ten openings, all below), timed around the opening of its Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, a wing that adds 40,000 square feet for modern and contemporary art. The AGO has not yet set a date for the wing beyond “2027”. For advisors selling Toronto as a weekend or as the first night of a longer Canada trip, the list gives fixed dates to build around, including the winter months.

The 2027 calendar

Dates are from the AGO; the museum notes they may change.

• 20 January: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster: OPERA (QM.15), a holographic projection of the opera singer Maria Callas, in which the artist, in disguise, lip-syncs arias from Callas’s early career. On view through mid-2028.
• 5 February: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Man of Many Masks, Man of Many Colours, large-scale paintings combining Coast Salish cosmology with surrealism and pop art. To 2 January 2028.
• 3 March: Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change, 40 works from the past 25 years, organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery. To 6 September.
• 23 April: Gershon Iskowitz: Memory Works, rarely seen early paintings and works on paper (1947–55) by the Holocaust survivor and modernist painter. To 19 September.
• 28 July: Matisse: Notes on Jazz, built around Jazz (1947), Matisse’s artist’s book of stencil prints, with paintings, drawings and textiles. To 23 January 2028.
• 28 July: Mary Pratt & Jack Chambers: The Lives of Others, more than 70 works and the first show to pair the two Canadian painters. To 23 January 2028.
• 6 August: in Pursuit of Venus [infected] by Māori artist Lisa Reihana, a large video installation. Through 2028.
• 3 November: Pointillist Politics: Neo-Impressionism, Anarchy, Utopia, more than 50 paintings by Signac, Pissarro, Luce and others, co-organized with the Clark Art Institute. To 19 March 2028.
• 4 December: Tides of Treasure: Medieval Art and the Sea, more than 50 works including carved walrus ivory. To 4 June 2028.
• 18 December: Image Incarnate, 40 icons from the 14th to 18th centuries. Through 2029.

Before then

Three things are worth knowing this autumn. Sunday Best: The Power & The Glory of Black Style, a world-premiere exhibition on Black dress across the diaspora since the 1880s, opens to members on 7 October and to the public on 13 October. The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse closes on 18 October and the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrored Room on 25 October. And the AGO expects to finish rebuilding its shop and visitor entrance, with a new coffee bar and free entry to the shop, in November.

If you’re travelling: adult admission is $30, and an Annual Pass costs $40, so the pass pays for itself on a second visit. Admission is free on the first Wednesday evening of each month, 6 to 9 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays and open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

For advisors

• Winter weekends: the Callas hologram (from 20 January) and Yuxweluptun (from 5 February) give clients a dated reason to visit Toronto in winter.
• Summer 2027: the two 28 July openings, Matisse and Pratt/Chambers, suit clients pairing Toronto with Muskoka or Niagara wine country.
• Repeat visitors: recommend the $40 Annual Pass to clients staying several days or returning in 2027; it includes all special exhibitions.
• Watch: the opening date of the Dani Reiss gallery, which will be the AGO’s headline event of the year.

Sources

• Art Gallery of Ontario, ‘Art Gallery of Ontario announces 2027 exhibition line up’, news release, Toronto, 29 Sept 2026
• https://ago.ca/125 (Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery: opens 2027, adds 40,000 sq. ft.)
• https://ago.ca/exhibitions (current shows and closing dates, accessed 1 Oct 2026)
• https://ago.ca/exhibitions/sunday-best-power-glory-black-style (Sunday Best dates)
• https://ago.ca/visit (adult admission $30, Annual Pass $40, hours, free first-Wednesday evenings)
• https://ago.ca/press-release/ago-transform-visitor-welcome-fall-2026-support-rbc-foundation (shop and visitor welcome rebuild, completion Nov 2026)