. The exhibition travels to the Musée d’Orsay in March.brings some of the biggest and brightest names in painting to Toronto this fall, the city also offers other must-see attractions ranging from contemporary installations to international photography and world-class street art.
All of these shows look to impress with bold new approaches to viewing art. Welcome to Toronto’s new cultural standard, where institutions, commercial galleries and festivals compete for audiences with a mix of the traditional and experimental. A Frank Gehry-designed renovation of the AGO signalled the most visible shift to a more user-friendly art scene. The $276-million transformation created new spaces, a more open environment and heralded a wave of blockbuster shows designed to appeal to a wider audience, among them the treasures of King Tut, a retrospective of contemporary-art superstar Ai Weiwei and an exhibition celebrating David Bowie.
It’s all part of a movement to bring art to the streets. Five years ago, the City of Toronto established StreetARToronto to promote graffiti and street artists, and the city is rapidly becoming a global destination for urban art. This summer, two major new works–an eight-storey mural by English artist Phlegm and portraits by Toronto’s Troy Lovegates and Labrona at Underpass Park in the West Don Lands–were unveiled.