Art history has focused on the myth of the tough white male abstract painter for far too long. What is becoming more and more clear is that women around the world have been innovating and refining abstraction with as much vigour and far more whimsy. Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940–1970 is a major Whitechapel Gallery exhibition featuring 81 international women artists and 150 of their paintings that depict true freedom of experience. The works—including some by standouts like Mozambican-Italian Bertina Lopes, Lebanese-American Etel Adnan and American Helen Frankenthaler—are clearly masterpieces. 

Whitechapel Gallery, London, England (February 9 to May 7) 

A master of taking humble everyday objects and elevating them to the spectacular, American artist Sarah Sze uses repetition and order on a large scale to create fragile galaxies that leave the viewer in awe. Hardware- store supplies, sticks, wire and ready-made and handcrafted objects are all fair game in the construction of her impressive installations. With Timelapse, Sze’s latest exhibition, one can’t help but be excited by the prospect of her art living within the Guggenheim Museum’s distinct spiral ramp, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Expect to see her work in surprising places—even on the exterior looking out over 5th Avenue.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City (March 31 to September 12) 

The AGO is presenting Wolfgang Tillmans: To Look Without Fear, a retrospective of the German artist’s work that was originally organized and shown at MoMA in New York City. Known as a master of presentation, Tillmans, who’s based between London, England, and Berlin, creates photo-based work that documents everything from youth and political movements to architecture, portraiture and abstraction. Instead of framing photos, the artist prefers using Scotch tape or bulldog clips and directly attaching prints to the wall at varying heights. The overall effect is one of a great composer, allowing each photo to build off the others. Video and sound installations also accompany his print-based work. 

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (April 7 to October 1)

Laboratoires et observatoires brings together the work of two photographers—Canadian Lynne Cohen (1944–2014) and French-born Marina Gadonneix (1977)—and bridges the generational gap between them. Both women meditate on pictorial space as a place for things to happen—staging areas where the human body goes about its crazy business. Cohen’s eye falls on a sense of foreboding and the creepiness of institutional spaces, while Gadonneix’s complementary work delves into spaces in transition and testing zones, pushing toward abstraction. 

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (April 12 to August 28)

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