A meticulous reconstruction of the 14th-century Templo Mayor, perhaps the greatest of Aztec monuments, forms the heart of one of the most ambitious exhibitions ever staged at London’s Royal Academy. More than 350 treasures, many seen for the first time outside Mexico, include exquisite turquoise mosaics, monumental sculptures and the pictorial manuscripts the Aztecs used to record their history. Other elements of Aztec belief–like the human sacrifices that, according to the Spanish, made the temple reek of blood–are left to the imagination. The Royal Academy of Arts, London, Nov. 16-April 11.

GAINSBOROUGH

Tremulous dark forests, lustrous socialites dripping jewels, and children chasing butterflies are among the vibrant images that fill Thomas Gainsborough’s work. The 18th-century English painter built his worldwide reputation on accessible, rather sentimental portraits. Yet, as the show demonstrates, his work was also highly original and intellectually rewarding. The Tate Britain’s major fall exhibition brings together the largest group of Gainsboroughs ever gathered, including many lesser-known pieces returned to the United Kingdom for the first time in living memory. It’s a welcome reassessment of the lively and inventive imagination behind those bucolic landscapes and luminous smiles. Tate Britain, London, Oct. 24-Jan. 19.

RICHARD AVEDON

The secret of his portraits is simple, but the results are complex. Avedon shoots unflinching, warts-and-all photographs that are nevertheless more glamorous than any Hollywood publicity still. What makes them rich are the sitters, from singer Marian Anderson to deep-thinking literary critic Harold Bloom. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sept. 26-Jan. 5.

PICASSO, EL NACIMIENTO DE UN GENIO (THE BIRTH OF A GENIUS)

Tokyo’s most talked-about show this fall peers into the adolescent mind of Pablo Picasso. The Ueno Royal Museum is displaying 222 drawings, paintings and sketches–rarely seen outside Barcelona’s Museu Picasso–that the artist completed between the ages of 9 and 23. The show reveals how freely the young Picasso experimented with different styles, from his youthful depictions of Hercules to the far more mature “The First Communicants,” which he painted when he was 14. The large, surprisingly realistic and detailed oil painting, depicting a girl in a white dress and veil kneeling before an altar, is the star of the show. The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Sept. 21-Dec. 8.

MAX BECKMANN: UN PEINTRE DANS L’HISTOIRE

He was perhaps Germany’s most distinguished, prolific and overlooked 20th-century artist. Finally, 52 years after his death, Centre Pompidou in Paris is giving Beckmann his due: a high-profile retrospective with 100 paintings and 60 drawings, including his most famous triptych, “Departure,” which captured his sinister and Gothic view of the increasingly powerful Nazi regime. In the 1930s the Nazis labeled Beckmann’s work, filled with frightful circus characters and scenes of violence, “degenerate,” forcing him into exile. Now viewers can judge for themselves. Centre Pompidou, Paris, through Jan. 6.

NELSON MANDELA

Inspired in part by John Lennon, whose drawings continue to raise millions for charity, former South African president Nelson Mandela will begin selling his own art works this fall. Five hundred prints of five signed lithographs, titled “My Robben Island” (where Mandela spent most of his 27 years in prison) will sell for up to $2,200 each. Proceeds go to the Mandela Trust, which supports a fund for children and other charities. The 84-year-old Nobel Prize winner has long dabbled in drawing. But before going public he took a tutorial this year from a South African artist. He then revisited Robben Island with a photographer and picked a series of perspectives that caught his eye. From these photos he sketched in charcoal, then added pastel colors using overlays. The result is far better than one might expect. The most arresting image–the view through prison bars at distant Table Mountain–easily could become a new trademark for one of the late 20th century’s iconic figures. Belgravia Gallery, London, Sept. 23-30.

THE WORMHOLE EXHIBIT

Held in a 700-year-old Beijing temple, this show will introduce the high-tech works of eight modern Taiwanese artists. The pieces, which make use of a variety of modern media from video illusions to lasers to corrugated paper, will line a narrow corridor so audiences can experience the visual effects up close. Confucius Temple, Beijing. Oct. 25-Nov. 24.

MAGNA GRAECIA

Long before the Romans had an empire extending into Greece, the Greeks had an empire that gobbled up Sicily and southern Italy. The colonizers paused to make some wonderful art–in terra cotta, stone and bronze–and left it behind for us to see almost 3,000 years later. Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oct. 27-Jan. 5.

BREAKING THE VEILS

Since 9-11, Muslim women have frequently been seen through a prism of violence and oppression. Eager to break that stereotype, 51 female artists from 21 Islamic countries, including Iran, Morocco and Malaysia, are showing their paintings in a touring exhibit that will travel from Rhodes through Western Europe. Few of the works are overtly religious or provocative. An exception is Palestinian Laila Shawa’s “The Deal,” a silk-screen depicting a Palestinian flag superimposed on an image of corpses beside a wall covered in dollar signs. Palace of the Grand Master, Rhodes, Sept. 19-Oct. 30. Technopolis Exhibit Hall, Athens, Jan. 26-Feb. 26 (more dates in Western Europe and the United States TBA).

ULTRA BAROQUE

Young Latino artists from the United States, South America and Europe who don’t want to be ghettoized anymore strut their stuff–in painting, video and installation. And the Walker–possibly America’s best contemporary-art museum–is always worth a visit. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Oct. 13-Jan. 5.

ALSO CHECK OUT: If there’s such a thing as an art exhibition for everybody, it’s probably Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l’Oeil Painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Oct. 13-March 2. Manet/Velazquez: The Spanish Manner in the 19th Century explores the influence of Spanish masters like Goya and Murillo on the French painters Delacroix, Courbet and, in particular, Manet, at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, through Jan. 5. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando’s elegant concrete-and-glass Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas debuts to the public on Dec. 14. MAMFW has a stellar collection, but the building is a work of art in itself.