The Shows of 1994: Picasso and Pugin, Constable and Claude: looking forward to next year, Dalya Alberge selects the best of the forthcoming exhibitions

JANUARY

The Unknown Modigliani Some 240 drawings from a recently-discovered collection of 440 amassed by Paul Alexandre, Modigliani's young doctor friend and first great patron. They reflect the extent to which the greatest Italian painter of the 20th century, best known for his elegantly elongated female figures - and being the doomed and debauched victim of drugs and drink - was also a brilliant draughtsman. Some are spontaneous sketches of people; others reveal a remarkable ability to register images in his visual memory. Royal Academy, 14 Jan-4 Apr.

Wall to Wall Following in a tradition that takes in cave painting, frescoes and graffiti, artists will be painting the Serpentine's walls - not just the vertical kind, but floors and ceilings. Serpentine, 19 Jan-27 Feb.

Art of the Ancient World The world's greatest collection of antiquities in private hands - the hands of George Ortiz, the Bolivian millionaire. All the great civilizations will be represented. Among some 300 exhibits, Ancient Egyptian portraits of Pharaoh Amenemhat III and delightful hippopotami; Cycladic near-abstract carvings; and a Byzantine marble head of a young boy. RA, 20 Jan-6 Apr.

Claude: The Poetic Landscape This French master's magical use of light will seduce you. Some 25 paintings and 50 drawings look at the significance of mythology, literature and the Bible in his landscapes. National Gallery, 26 Jan-10 Apr.

FEBRUARY

Picasso: Sculptor and Painter A radical new interpretation of this century's most influential artist is promised for this major show. It challenges the conventional view that Picasso's sculpture is secondary to his painting. From the artist who once said that 'sculpture is the art of the intelligence', and who revolutionised the whole art form in terms of technique and subject-matter, are 168 exhibits. Sculptures, paintings, drawings, ceramics will explore the relationship between his two- and three-dimensional work. Many are being loaned by Picasso's family. Includes key works of the Rose and Cubist periods and found-object sculptures of the Second World War. Tate, 16 Feb-8 May.

Medardo Rosso A chance to reassess the Italian sculptor (1858-1928) who, until the First World War, enjoyed a reputation second only to Rodin's, but who is little known in Britain. In his day, works that created subtle nuances of light and shadow gave him a name as a master of 'Impressionism in sculpture'. He was largely self-taught, after being expelled from the Brera Academy for questioning the lack of opportunities to work from the nude. Put on a pedestal by Parisian society, he was a rival and friend of Rodin. Whitechapel Gallery, 25 Feb-24 Apr. Then, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 5 May-19 Jun; Henry Moore Sculpture Institute, Leeds, 9 Jul-21 Aug.

MARCH

Dali: The Early Years The making of a larger-than-life character whose Surrealist art of the irrational, erotic and insane was to become inseparable from a Surrealist life - his eccentric appearance, his moustache, his genius for publicity. This is the first exhibition to show how this phenomenon came about - his rebellious student days in Madrid, where he befriended the film-maker Luis Bunuel (with whom he made the first Surrealist films), his expulsion from the Madrid Academy in 1926, and his first exhibition in Paris in 1929, when he became a controversial figure in the Catalan avant-garde. As Freud said to Dali in 1938, 'What interests me in your art is not the unconscious but the conscious'. Part of the Spanish festival in London. Hayward Gallery, 3 Mar-30 May.

Eulalia Valldosera Images of the human body, in every media from performance to painting, by this Catalan artist. She will be creating a work specially for this show - a work inspired by her inability to give up smoking: she will deposit thousands of carefully-collected cigarette butts on the floor and, using a broom, sweep them up to form a huge depiction of a headless female torso, stretched across the floor. Part of the 1994 Spanish Arts Festival. Institute of Contemporary Arts, 4 Mar-17 Apr.

Zurbaran The little-known series of paintings, Jacob and his Twelve Sons - a grand procession of full-length figures, each almost seven-foot high - by the 17th-century Spanish master inspired by Caravaggio - will be loaned from Auckland Castle, the Bishop of Durham's residence. How these works came to England is a mystery, but legend has it that they were captured by pirates en route to America. NG, 9 Mar-22 May.

Goya The Cabinet Pictures, sketches and miniatures: London's first major show in nearly 30 years on this Spanish master and portraitist of mankind - a searing satirist of the worst excesses of human nature. Some 100 small-scale paintings will span Goya's entire career and range - his bitter, sardonic humour and his sense of humanity. As Baudelaire once said, 'Goya's great strength lies in his having created credible monsters . . . Nobody more than he has dared to make the absurd possible'. Exhibits will range from his remarkable self-portraits of the 1790s (including his celebrated image of the artist in his studio) to his tragi-comic witchcraft scenes. RA, 17 Mar-12 Jun.

Medieval Islamic pottery An exhibition that examines the divide between the scientific and the artistic approaches to looking. Ashmolean, Oxford, 23 Mar-15 May.

Moral Tales A visual interpretation of British political and cultural life in the 1980s - unemployment, Northern Ireland and the arms-race - through the eyes of Gilbert and George, Tony Cragg and Richard Hamilton, among others. Tate, Liverpool, 29 Mar-Spring 95.

APRIL

Glass Gallery A magnificent new gallery in glass and steel (with 140 pillars of 8,000 stacked, green squares of glass) is promised for the National Collection of Glass - featuring more than 6,000 exhibits created over the last 4,000 years. From the earliest tiny phials for precious perfumes to multi-coloured 20th- century sculptural pieces. Victoria and Albert Museum, opens 27 Apr.

MAY

Raphael The genesis of three masterpieces by one of the great names of the High Renaissance - the Bridgewater Madonna, the Holy Family with a Palm Tree and the Madonna del Passeggio - on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland since 1945, is explored through preparatory drawings from collections throughout Europe. NG, Scotland, 5 May-10 Jul.

British Landscape Watercolours An exhibition drawing on the Fitzwilliam's collection, one of the most outstanding in the country: Girtin, Constable, Palmer. Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, 17 May-4 Sept.

Twentieth-century African art A major show charting the developments in art of Sub-Saharan Africa. It sets out to refute two myths: that traditional art died on contact with the West, and that there has been no modern African art, merely reflections of Western culture. Organised by the Museum for African Art, New York. This is a taster for the nationwide 1995 African festival. Tate, Liverpool, 28 May-14 Aug.

JUNE

19th-century painting Caspar David Friedrich's famous Chalk Cliffs on Rugen is among 80 paintings and 40 drawings to be loaned by the Oskar Reinhart Foundation, Winterthur - one of Europe's finest collections of 19th-century German, Austrian and Swiss art. NG, 15 Jun-4 Sept.

Pugin First exhibition on the father of the Victorian Gothic revival, and one of the most important designers of the 19th century - probably best-known for his collaboration on the design of the Houses of Parliament. This major show will reflect his passion for applying the principles of medieval art and architecture to modern design - in architecture, furniture, jewellery, textiles - and it will include more than 400 exhibits. V & A, 15 Jun-11 Sept.

JULY

The Italian Renaissance The explosion of intellectual activity is reflected in ceramics, illustrated books and textiles. Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 1 Jul-25 Sept.

Wolfgang Laib Abstracts by this Zen Buddhist German artist are steeped in religion. Peace, serenity and a love of nature are conveyed through a palette of beeswax, honey, rice and pollen. He'll be collecting the materials locally, from the hillsides of Yorkshire, and making his largest work to date specially for the studio. Henry Moore Studio at Dean Clough, Halifax, 8 Jul-5 Nov.

Constable The first exhibition to look at Constable solely as a draughtsman. Most of the drawings, largely from a private collection, have not been exhibited before. Dulwich Picture Gallery, 13 Jul-16 Oct.

The Romantic Spirit in German art, 1790- 1990 The Romantic movement, a crucial turning-point in the history of Western culture. From the dramatic landscapes - at once real and visionary - of Friedrich to the Forest paintings of Max Ernst. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 28 Jul-4 Sept. Then, Hayward, 29 Sept-early Jan 95.

AUGUST

Master drawings Some of the NPG's finest drawings and miniatures: Gainsborough, Reynolds, Rossetti. National Portrait Gallery, 5 Aug-23 Oct.

Monet to Matisse Landscape painting in France, 1874-1914. Artists as diverse as Monet and Braque, Gauguin and Matisse are linked together to illustrate the crucial influence of one generation on another. Aims to show both celebrated and rarely-exhibited paintings in new contexts. NG, Edinburgh, 11 Aug-23 Oct.

Visions of the Ottoman Empire In a show on artists inspired by the Orient, the romance of Delacroix is contrasted with the more realistic approach of later artists such as Edward Lear. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 16 Aug-5 Nov.

SEPTEMBER

Barbara Hepworth Some 90 sculptures and 20 drawings make up her first full retrospective since 1968. Tate, Liverpool, 14 Sept-4 Dec.

The Glory of Venice A major show of 18th- century art - everything from painting to print-making. All the greats - Tiepolo, Canaletto, Piranesi and Guardi - will be in town. Religious art, history painting and architectural fantasies. RA, 15 Sept-14 Dec.

Karl Hagedorn Manchester's first modernist painter (1889-1969) - an artist who caused an outcry in 1913, when he exhibited a modernist painting (with shades of the Vorticists). Such was the horror of it, the head of the city's art college forbad his students to see the exhibition. To make matters worse, and making the Mancunians even more suspicious of him, Hagedorn introduced the tango to Manchester. The Whitworth has acquired that painting, and after extensive research with the artist's family, is showing him some belated respect. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 21 Sept-23 Dec (to be confirmed).

Avant-Garde Art and the Great War Visions of despair, mutilation and tragedy: the first survey to examine how the experience of the First World War profoundly affected art and artists from most of the countries involved in the conflict. More than 250 works by artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky, Picasso and Spencer. Barbican Centre, 29 Sept-11 Dec.

OCTOBER

Whistler First major show in 25 years will show this poetic artist as one of the most important 19th-century artists for whom what mattered in painting was not subject but its translation into colours and form. Ruskin, the critic who in 1877 described Whistler's Nocturnes as 'flinging a pot of paint in the public's face', will be turning in his grave. Tate, 12 Oct-8 Jan 95.

Ana Maria Pacheco The new Gas Hall stages its first contemporary art show. Work by this Brazilian-born artist will include a 32-foot-long boat with carved wooden figures - a comment on the idea of the voyage of life. It is a work that promises to take the inspiration of South America, medieval art, Expressionism, classical mythology - almost everything, it might seem. Gas Hall, Birmingham, 18 Oct-23 Dec.

Self-portraiture Rembrandt, father of the self- portrait (producing more than 80 during his long career), is compared with artists over three centuries. Among the show's themes, are self-portraiture as a commentary on the artist's place in society, compared to self-portraiture as self-analysis. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 28 Oct-8 Jan 95.

NOVEMBER

Christina Rossetti One of the major poets of the Victorian period is celebrated with a centenary show that will include paintings by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and rare editions of her poetry displayed with the original illustrations. NPG, 18 Nov-12 Feb 95.

DECEMBER

Byzantine Treasures Icons, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics - jewels of craftsmanship that recall a great civilization. After all, it flourished for 11 centuries - AD 330-1453 - and across an area spanning northern Italy to Egypt, the Strait of Gibraltar to the Caucasus. British Museum, Dec-Apr 95 (to be confirmed).

(Photographs omitted)