With September, the summer break comes to an end and the German art market goes from zero to a hundred. Between the gallery weekends in Frankfurt, Cologne and Düsseldorf, and Berlin Art Week with its numerous art fairs, openings and exhibitions, the scene condenses into ten days like at almost no other time of the year.

To help you keep track of all these dates and the necessary transport planning, we have summarised the key highlights of the 2026 art season: city by city, including a calendar overview for planning your route.

The 2026 art season calendar at a glance

Event	City	2026 dates	Key facts
Frankfurt Art Experience	Frankfurt	4 to 6 September	Over 50 openings, around 40 galleries, young talents from the Städelschule and the HfG Offenbach
DC Open	Düsseldorf and Cologne	4 to 6 September	18th edition, 50 galleries, kick-off of the Rhineland season
HALLEN 07	Berlin (Reinickendorf)	5 to 13 September	Group exhibition, over 50 artists across more than 9,000 m²
Berlin Art Week	Berlin	9 to 13 September	15th anniversary, around 120 participating venues
Gallery Night by Gallery Weekend Berlin	Berlin	Thursday 10 September, 6pm to 10pm	Around 54 galleries open simultaneously
POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair	Berlin (Tempelhof)	10 to 13 September	13th edition, 96 galleries from 20 countries, focus on Turkey
ART COLOGNE	Cologne	5 to 8 November	The second major Rhineland date of the season

The calendar is tight, and that is exactly what makes this period so interesting. Between 4 and 13 September, a determined visitor can take in Frankfurt or the Rhineland on the first weekend, then Berlin the following week, and get a feel for the entire German contemporary scene.

Berlin Art Week: the capital celebrates 15 years of contemporary art

From 9 to 13 September 2026, Berlin Art Week marks its fifteenth anniversary. Over five days, around 120 venues take part: museums, private collections, project spaces and galleries share a programme that runs through the whole city.

New to this edition is the Berlin Art Week garden, set up at the Kulturforum between the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Gemäldegalerie. A central meeting point, designed as a place to pause between two exhibitions and catch up with people.

In terms of programming, 2026 deliberately turns its gaze eastwards, giving considerable space to migration narratives and to strong political positions carried by performance, sound and theatre.

POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, in the Tempelhof hangars

From 10 to 13 September 2026, the thirteenth edition of POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair takes over hangars 5 and 6 of the former Tempelhof airport. The setting alone is reason enough to come. This year, 96 galleries from 20 countries are exhibiting, with a particular focus on galleries from Turkey.

👉 For galleries making the trip, a fair like POSITIONS always raises the same logistical question: how to get the works there without stress, on time, and with the right paperwork. That is precisely what we set out to simplify at Moviiu with our fast quote solution for art transport.

Gallery Night by Gallery Weekend Berlin

On Thursday 10 September 2026, from 6pm to 10pm, around 54 Berlin galleries open their doors at the same time for an evening of openings and late viewings. Among the presentations to note: Wu Tsang at Isabella Bortolozzi, Kerstin Brätsch and Katharina Sieverding at Galerie Thomas Schulte, Jeremy Shaw at Galerie Neu, and David Horvitz and Alfredo Jaar at Hua International.

HALLEN 07, over 9,000 m² of exhibition space in Reinickendorf

From 5 to 13 September 2026, the Wilhelm Hallen host HALLEN 07, a group exhibition spread across more than 9,000 m² in a striking industrial setting. Over 50 artists are represented, with the participation of galleries and collections such as ChertLüdde, Esther Schipper, Robert Grunenberg, Galerie Nagel Draxler, as well as the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and the Art Collection Telekom.

The museums and institutions you really should see

Three venues deserve some of your time during the week.

At the Gropius Bau, the exhibition Kreuzberg: Kunst und Migration seit 1960 traces the history of migrant communities in this emblematic district, with contributions from Mehmet Aksoy, Nuray Demir and Pınar Öğrenci.

At the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), the Bienal de São Paulo comes to Germany for the first time. This Berlin edition, titled Nicht alle Reisenden folgen Wegen, Humanität als Praxis, features work by Forensic Architecture, Leiko Ikemura, Emeka Ogboh and Wolfgang Tillmans, among others.

Finally, the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and the Schinkel Pavillon jointly present the project Projektionen auf den Osten, which explores new historical perspectives. The n.b.k. façade also hosts a site-specific intervention by the Guerrilla Girls.

DC Open: Düsseldorf and Cologne open the Rhineland season

From 4 to 6 September 2026, DC Open celebrates its 18th edition. 50 galleries from Düsseldorf and Cologne join forces to kick off the season in the Rhineland.

What stands out at every edition is the density of the local ecosystem: a network of loyal collectors, leading museums, dynamic off-spaces and internationally recognised galleries. That combination makes the region an essential international meeting point, and DC Open is the best illustration of it.

Worth noting for later in the season: ART COLOGNE, from 5 to 8 November 2026, will be the region’s second major date, bringing galleries and collectors from around the world together in the Cologne exhibition halls.

Frankfurt Art Experience: over 50 openings on the banks of the Main

From 4 to 6 September 2026, the Frankfurt Art Experience opens the season in Frankfurt with over 50 openings across the city. Around 40 galleries, alongside a selection of off-spaces and institutions, present solo and group exhibitions: painting, installation, photography, printmaking, video art.

The programme gives plenty of room to young talent, notably from the Städelschule and the HfG Offenbach, alongside established artists. The opening evening starts on Friday from 6pm, after which the galleries stay open all weekend.

How to plan your German art season tour

Frankfurt and the Rhineland fall on the same weekend, 4 to 6 September. So you have to choose your first highlight, or accept seeing only part of each. Berlin follows from 9 to 13 September, which leaves a few days to travel on to the capital.

👉 Our suggestion for a two-part tour:

• First weekend (4 to 6 September): Frankfurt Art Experience for the emerging scene and the art schools, or DC Open for the gallery and collector ecosystem of Düsseldorf and Cologne.
• Second stage (9 to 13 September): Berlin Art Week, with Gallery Night on the evening of Thursday 10th, POSITIONS at Tempelhof from 10 to 13, HALLEN 07 at the Wilhelm Hallen, and at least one of the three major institutional exhibitions (Gropius Bau, HKW, n.b.k. and Schinkel Pavillon).

And if you cannot fit everything into September, ART COLOGNE in November offers a second chance to reconnect with the Rhineland scene.

Why this period matters so much for art transport

Behind every opening, every fair booth, every museum hang, there are works that have travelled. Sometimes a few kilometres, often a great deal further. With so many events packed into a few days, the practical questions come up fast: what packaging for a fragile canvas, how to handle the customs formalities for a piece crossing a border, who to trust with a sculpture that has to arrive intact for the opening.

That is exactly what Moviiu simplifies. Our online art transport solution gives you an instant quote in a few minutes, with no registration, transparent pricing, insurance options and real-time tracking. Useful when several shipments have to be organised between two openings.

Moviiu will be there

During DC Open and Berlin Art Week, our team will also be on the road. Take the opportunity to meet us in person: we would be delighted to show you how Moviiu can take the weight off your national and international art transports.

And if you are already preparing your shipments for the season, you can get a quote in a few minutes directly online, without waiting for us to visit.

See you soon in Germany.

Our answers to frequently asked questions about the German art season 2026

When does Berlin Art Week 2026 take place?

Berlin Art Week 2026 runs from 9 to 13 September 2026. It celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, with around 120 participating venues across the city.

Where is POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair held?

POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair is held in hangars 5 and 6 of the former Tempelhof airport, from 10 to 13 September 2026, with 96 galleries from 20 countries.

Can you do both DC Open and Frankfurt Art Experience on the same weekend?

Both events run on the same dates, from 4 to 6 September 2026, in Frankfurt on one side and between Düsseldorf and Cologne on the other. The programmes therefore run in parallel.

What is the major art event in Germany after September?

ART COLOGNE, from 5 to 8 November 2026, brings galleries and collectors from around the world together in the Cologne exhibition halls and is the season’s second highlight in the Rhineland.