February 2026 offers a rich panorama of exhibitions across the Gulf region. From meditations on memory and identity to reflections on resistance and nature, these shows reveal the breadth of contemporary artistic practice shaping the region today. Below is our top 10 of standout exhibitions currently on view, inviting visitors to engage with diverse voices, media, and narratives.
1. The Truth by Hussein Al Mohasen
XVA Gallery presents The Truth, a solo show by Saudi artist Hussein Al Mohasen that delves into perception, reality, and the fluid nature of visual experience. Featuring the artist’s latest works, the exhibition approaches “truth” not as a fixed or absolute concept, but as something emotional, interpretive, and collectively shaped. The show will be open to the public until 5 February 2026.
2. Mathaf: we refuse_d
Until 9 February 2026, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art is holding we refuse_d, an exhibition that brings together works by fifteen acclaimed artists across four generations, examining refusal as a political, poetic, and ethical stance. Spread across seven galleries and additional spaces, the exhibition addresses themes of resistance, endurance, and creative persistence under conditions of censorship, displacement, and silencing.
3. Encoded in Petals by Soraya Abu Naba’a
Meanwhile, Artbooth Gallery is hosting Encoded in Petals, a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Soraya Abu Naba’a. Developed over several years and spanning painting, textile installation, drawing, sculpture, and spatial intervention, the show explores nature, memory, women’s labour, and the transmission of ancestral knowledge. Encoded in Petals will run through 15 February 2026.
4. Serendipity by Yuyu Zhitong
Serendipity is Chinese artist Yuyu Zhitong’s solo exhibition at Volery Gallery, running through 11 February 2026. On display is a new series of abstract paintings shaped by an intuitive yet disciplined process. In these works, which unfold at the intersection of chance and structure, Zhitong reflects on identity, transition, intimacy, and lived experience, allowing perception to emerge through layered visual rhythms.
5. Two Clouds in the Night Sky by Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim
Two Clouds in the Night Sky showcases the colourful works of renowned Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim. Deeply rooted in the natural landscape of Khor Fakkan, Ibrahim’s practice is process-driven and intuitive, drawing on organic forms and repetitive gestures. The exhibition is taking place at the Cultural Foundation and will welcome all visitors until 22 February 2026.
6. Autorretrato (Self Portrait) by Gabriel Chaile
Another notable exhibition currently on display at Mathaf is Autorretrato (Self Portrait) by Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile, presented as part of the museum’s 15th anniversary programme. Departing from traditional portraiture, Chaile’s large-scale installation reimagines the self through sculptural form. Material, texture, and symbolic references come together to articulate identity as something constructed through cultural memory, labour, and collective experience. The installation will remain on view until 21 February 2026.
7. And After: Group Exhibition
Also at the Cultural Foundation, And After is a group exhibition that examines the element of air and its different states, as understood within Arabic terminology. The exhibition, which showcases mixed-media art pieces by 15 creatives, reflects on how these elemental conditions shape environments, emotions, and internal rhythms. The show, on display until 22 February 2026, encourages viewers to consider moments of pause, transition, and transformation.
8. When the Window Refused to Fly, and the Arch Decided to Hold the Sky
This exhibition, organised by Green Art Gallery, offers an opportunity to admire Emirati artist Asma Belhamar’s drawings and sculptural assemblies. Continuing her investigation into architectural elements, Belhamar treats structures as carriers of memory and projections of the future. The works negotiate tensions between nostalgia and futurity, preservation and acceleration, inspiration and repose. The show will end on 18 March 2026.
9. The Bouquet and the Wreath by Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook presents The Bouquet and the Wreath, her first extensive survey exhibition, at Jameel Arts Centre until 8 March 2026. Spanning 45 years of art practice alongside new commissions, the show brings together recurring motifs of flowers, beds, and language. These elements frame the artist’s enduring explorations of desire and mortality, curiosity and difference.
10. L’ÉCOLE Middle East: Birds of Verse
L’ÉCOLE Middle East invites everyone to attend Poetry of Birds, a stunning exhibition that focuses on the imagery of birds at the crossroads of Islamic art and Western jewellery design of the 19th-20th centuries. Open until 25 April 2026, the showcase features about 150 pieces (jewellery, precious objects, and gouache drawings) by famous maisons such as Cartier and Buccellati, tracing symbolic and aesthetic exchanges across cultures and histories.
You might also be interested in exploring the Xposure International Photography and Film Festival in Sharjah and the Hybrid Vistas collective exhibition.
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