El Arte de la Pintura. Confluencias en tiempo de los Austrias
Over eighty works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Zurbarán, Velázquez and Carreño de Miranda trace artistic confluences between Spain, Flanders and Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
What's On
Fairs, festivals and exhibitions across the Costa del Sol, from Málaga to Marbella and beyond.
December 2025
March 2026
Vladimir Veličković: Huida, vértigo y caída
The Serbian-French painter's dramatic imagery of flight, vertigo and falling anchors the opening season of MEET, the new exhibition space in the former Museo Ruso building at Tabacalera.
Archipiélago
Contemporary works from the Suñol Soler Collection are arranged as an 'archipelago' of visual narratives at the Thyssen, and the show enters its final month before closing on 6 September.
April 2026
GRÁFIKA. De Picasso a Baldessari
Entering its final weeks, this survey of contemporary printmaking masters from Picasso to Baldessari, drawn from the Fundación Unicaja collection, closes on 6 September.
Tejiendo historias
Thirty-nine women artists chart a recent history of textile art at Málaga's municipal contemporary art centre, curated by Alicia Ventura and closing at the end of September.
May 2026
El Gesto y la Materia: Abstracciones internacionales (1945-1965)
Post-war gestural abstraction from the Pompidou's Paris collection, including Kazuo Shiraga's Planeta Naturaleza, is in its closing weeks beneath the Cube.
Los Ribalta y el barroco naturalista
Ten canvases by Francisco and Juan Ribalta on loan from the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia trace the arrival of Caravaggesque naturalism in Spanish Baroque painting.
Dalí. Diez recetas de inmortalidad
Marbella's engraving museum shows Dalí's graphic suite on the theme of immortality, a rare chance to see the Surrealist's printmaking on the western Costa del Sol.
Joana Vasconcelos: Transfiguración
The Portuguese sculptor's monumental textile and everyday-object installations take over the Museo Picasso Málaga in a summer blockbuster that closes on 27 September.
June 2026
Ryan Schneider. Murmuración
Sculptures in sapele wood, stone, bronze and gold that the American artist made during a two-month residency at La Térmica go on show in its final month before closing.
Manuel Franquelo. El lenguaje de las cosas
An intimate homecoming tribute to the Málaga-born hyperrealist Manuel Franquelo, mounted with his family's collaboration around fourteen prints and photographic works.
Nacho Martín Silva. Mis manos son mis ojos
Curated by Juan Francisco Rueda, this La Térmica project weaves painting and photography into an accessibility-minded exhibition that invites visitors to see through touch.
Paz Errázuriz. Poéticas de resistencia
The Chilean photographer's unflinching portraits of those on the margins of Pinochet-era society anchor the young MUCAC's strongest show to date.
Habitar las raíces. Prácticas sensoriales en territorio
Eleven collectively created sensory installations turn the Museo Ralli into a walk through terrestrial, transit and sensorial territories, running to the end of the year.
July 2026
INT25
Fifty-two works by master's students from UMA's Faculty of Fine Arts showcase painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video and installation.
Joan Miró. El valor del símbolo
Fundación Unicaja explores Miró's private vocabulary of stars, birds and constellations in a focused summer show on the symbolic force of his visual language.
La Concepción contest winners' exhibition: XX Photography and XVI Quick Painting
Winning entries from the botanical garden's twentieth photography contest and sixteenth quick-painting contest hang together in the garden's exhibition hall until early September.
Ni musas ni modelos
Picasso's birthplace turns the tables on art history with a survey of women artists in its collections, from Helen Frankenthaler to Marisol Escobar.
Leyendas Olímpicas
Replicas of Olympic torches since 1968 and memorabilia from Spanish medallists including Fuengirola's own double champion Theresa Zabell trace the history of modern Olympism.
XXXI Feria del Libro de Verano de Estepona
Estepona's long-running summer book fair fills the seafront promenade with booksellers' stalls and evening browsing until mid-September.
Marina Abramović. Self Portrait, 2002/2013
A focused audiovisual presentation of the performance-art pioneer's self-portrait piece gives Málaga a rare first-hand encounter with Abramović's work.
Y sonó la música. Iconografía musical en el arte
Fundación Unicaja's summer-to-autumn show traces how painters and sculptors have depicted music and musicians across the history of art.
August 2026
Teoría de Cuerdas
A newly opened journey through musical history told via lyres, harps, lutes and guitars from five continents, gathered at Benalmádena's exhibition centre.
Michael Ruíz Molina: photography exhibition
A two-week photography show at Estepona's seafront Mirador del Carmen offers a local counterpoint to the town's summer of big-name touring exhibitions.
BIOPARC Fuengirola, 25 años creando juntos el mejor zoológico del mundo
An open-air photographic exhibition on the promenade marks the 25th anniversary of Andalucía's top-ranked zoo with images of emblematic species and conservation milestones.
Gloria Trevi at Starlite Occident
The Mexican pop icon gives her only European concert of the year in the Nagüeles quarry, a genuine exclusive for the Costa del Sol.
III Festival Flamenco Noctiluca
Rincón de la Victoria's young flamenco festival opens with the experimental programme "Lo Inédito" before its main night spreads across Rincón, Benagalbón and La Cala del Moral.
Nile Rodgers & CHIC
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers brings the Chic disco-funk songbook to Starlite for one of the marquee international dates of the season's final week.
Canela Party 2026
Torremolinos's fancy-dress indie institution returns with a bill of real international cachet, headed by Deafheaven, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mannequin Pussy and flamenco singer Ángeles Toledano.
Imaginary Cities
Seventy-nine works spanning generative AI pieces, paintings and architectural models imagine impossible urban landscapes in the Diputación-backed show at the Casa del Consulado.
Sun and Thunder Metal Beach Festival 2026
Three days of metal beside the Mediterranean with Twisted Sister, Avantasia, Lordi, Eivør, Primal Fear and Destruction on a single stage.
Love of Lesbian
The Catalan indie-pop band makes its Starlite debut on the festival's closing night.
Noche en Vela Vélez-Málaga 2026
The historic centre becomes an open-air stage until 3am with concerts by David DeMaría and Gonzalo Hermida, the Málaga Symphony Orchestra, theatre, circus, street parades and visits lit by 10,000 candles.
"Senda Litoral de Mijas" Photography Contest, Phase 2
Entry deadline of 31 August for the town hall's photography contest celebrating the eastern stretch of Mijas's coastal footpath, with jury-awarded prizes for images taken during August.
September 2026
Urban Art Fest Málaga 2026
Three days of live painting, graffiti battles, an art auction and more than 170 international tattoo artists make this the Costa del Sol's biggest street-culture weekend of the autumn.
V Pepe Romero Guitar Festival Málaga
Fifteen concerts across the month at the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro, Teatro Cervantes and Fundación Unicaja celebrate the international guitar festival's fifth edition.
LVI Semana de Verdiales
Málaga's historic Peña Juan Breva devotes its 56th annual week to the verdiales, the province's ancestral fiddle-and-cymbal folk tradition, in an intimate flamenco setting.
XXV Semana Internacional de Cine Fantástico de la Costa del Sol
The Costa del Sol's fantastic-film week marks its silver anniversary with a free-admission farewell edition, making this the last chance to cover a 25-year fixture of the coast's film calendar.
XXIV Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla
The world's most important flamenco festival returns with some seventy-two performances and twenty-two world premieres across eleven Seville venues, amply worth the trip from the coast.
38th Lyric Season opening gala: Carlos Álvarez and Sabina Puértolas
Málaga's own star baritone Carlos Álvarez and soprano Sabina Puértolas open the Teatro Cervantes's 38th lyric season with opera and zarzuela arias alongside the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga.
El Kuelgue
The Buenos Aires sextet fuses funk, jazz, rock, bossa nova, tango, reggae and candombe in the Cruz de Humilladero venue.
Apulanta
Finland's iconic rock band, founded in 1991, returns to Marenostrum's traditional Finnish concert series with greatest hits and catalogue gems.
Carmen Linares
Princess of Asturias Award-winning cantaora Carmen Linares, one of the living legends of flamenco song, gives a recital at Antonio Banderas's Teatro del Soho.
Dido and Aeneas — 38th Temporada Lírica
Purcell's baroque tragedy of the Carthaginian queen brings early opera to the Teatro Cervantes as the first full production of the 38th lyric season.
Rodney Smith. The End
The American photographer's surreal, impeccably tailored black-and-white world arrives at the converted bullring's Puerta 9 gallery for the autumn season.
Ciro y los Persas
The former Los Piojos frontman Andrés Ciro Martínez brings his Argentine rock band to the Cruz de Humilladero hall on their European tour.
XVI Certamen de Pintura Evaristo Guerra: winners' exhibition
The winning and selected works of the Diputación de Málaga's 4,500-euro Evaristo Guerra painting prize go on show in Vélez-Málaga's Convento de San Francisco.
Raimundo Amador: De Pata Negra a Raimundo
The flamenco-blues guitar legend honours his late brother Rafael Amador in a tour spanning from Pata Negra to his solo career.
October 2026
Eugenio Recuenco. Fulgor y Delirio: Cartografía de lo humano
Celebrated photographer Eugenio Recuenco premieres an unpublished series of large-format images, lightboxes and audiovisual pieces in La Térmica's marquee autumn opening.
San Diego Comic-Con Málaga 2026
The second European edition of San Diego Comic-Con returns to FYCMA after a 90,000-strong debut, bringing comic art, film and pop-culture illustration to Málaga on a massive scale.
¡Olé! El mito de lo español a través de Andalucía
The Thyssen's autumn flagship examines how Andalusian folklore shaped the world's image of Spain, a timely unpicking of the clichés the Costa del Sol trades on.
Picasso. Propaganda y activismo político
Picasso's birthplace museum opens an autumn show on the artist as political activist, tracing his anti-fascist, anti-war and peace-movement imagery; the run is announced through February 2027 but the closing date is not yet fixed.
Danza Málaga 2026
The province's principal dance festival spans three weeks across the Cervantes and Echegaray stages, with flamenco royalty Farruquito and Pastora Galván alongside contemporary companies such as La Phármaco.
32º Festival de Cine Francés de Málaga
The Alliance Française's 32nd francophone film week, under the motto "Révolution du regard", spreads exclusive previews across the Albéniz, the Pompidou and other city venues.
Julio González, pintor y dibujante
In collaboration with the Museo Reina Sofía, the Thyssen uncovers the pioneering iron sculptor's little-known practice as a painter and draughtsman in its major autumn opening.
Munch–Picasso
The season's marquee opening sets more than one hundred paintings, drawings and prints by Edvard Munch in dialogue with Picasso on emotion, desire and modern life.
November 2026
Festival Internacional de Jazz de Málaga 2026
Málaga's flagship jazz week returns to the Teatro Cervantes with a bill running from Mario Biondi's opening night to a closing set by Grammy-winning virtuoso Michel Camilo and his trio.
23º Festival de Sevilla — Festival de Cine Europeo
Spain's premier showcase of contemporary European cinema fills Seville's screens for nine days, a genuinely trip-worthy fixture for Costa del Sol cinephiles.