The year 1889 in art involved some significant events.

Events

• February 2 – Sixth annual exhibition of Les XX opens in Brussels, including the first important display of Paul Gauguin's work.
• May 6 – October 31 – Exposition Universelle in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower as its entrance arch.
• May 8 – Van Gogh moves from Arles to the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
• June – The Volpini Exhibition: Exposition de peintures du Groupe impressioniste et synthétiste, faite dans le local de M. Volpini au Champ-de-Mars organised by Paul Gauguin and Émile Schuffenecker at the Café des Arts in Paris; other exhibitors include Émile Bernard and Charles Laval.
• July 15 – The Scottish National Portrait Gallery opens in Edinburgh^[1] in premises designed by Rowand Anderson, the first in the world to be purpose-built as a portrait gallery.^[2]
• July 23 – Marie Triepcke marries fellow-artist Peder Severin Krøyer in Augsburg.
• August 17 – The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition opens in Melbourne, Australia.
• Edvard Munch stages his first one-man exhibition and wins a state scholarship to study in Paris.
• Alfred Sisley settles at Moret-sur-Loing.
• The Skulpturensammlung moves into the Albertinum in Dresden.
• The Imperial Museum of Nara is established in Japan.^[3]

Works

• Jean Béraud - La Pâtisserie Gloppe
• Pierre Bonnard – Self-portrait (approx. date)
• William-Adolphe Bouguereau
  • Première rêverie
  • The Shepherdess
• Antoine Bourdelle – Adam
• Henry Jamyn Brooks – Private View of the Old Masters Exhibition, Royal Academy, 1888
• Milly Childers – Self-portrait Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine
• Henry de Groux – Christ aux Outrages
• Thomas Eakins – The Agnew Clinic
• Paul Gustav Fischer – The Royal Theatre Ballet School, Copenhagen
• Stanhope Forbes – The Health of the Bride
• Henry Justice Ford – Illustrations to Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book
• Louis Édouard Fournier – The Funeral of Shelley
• Paul Gauguin
  • The Green Christ and The Yellow Christ (Pont-Aven, c. September)
  • Portrait of Jacob Meijer de Haan (Le Pouldu, after October 2)
  • Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (Le Pouldu, after October 2)
  • The Flageolet Player on the Cliff (Le Pouldu)
• Alfred Gilbert – Marble bust of Queen Victoria
• J. W. Godward
  • Grecian Reverie
  • His Birthday Gift
  • Ianthe
  • Waiting For An Answer
• Félix Resurrección Hidalgo – La Parisienne
• Jozef Israëls – A Son of the Ancient Race (several versions)
• Juan Luna – Hymen o Hymenee
• Frederick McCubbin – Down on His Luck
• Arturo Michelena – La Joven Madre ("The Young Mother")
• Claude Monet – The Valley of the Creuse, Sunset
• Edvard Munch
  • Inger on the Beach, Summer Night
  • Music on Karl Johan Street
  • Spring
• Blanche Nevin – Peter Muhlenberg (marble)
• Eilif Peterssen – Salmon Fishermen at Nesøya
• Ilya Repin – Portrait of Baroness Varvara Ivanovna Ikskul von Hildenbandt
• Auguste Rodin – The Burghers of Calais (sculpture)
• John Singer Sargent
  • Gabriel Fauré
  • Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
  • Lady Fishing - Mrs Ormond
  • An Out-of-Doors Study
• Henryk Siemiradzki – Phryne at the Poseidonia in Eleusis
• Arthur Streeton – Golden Summer, Eaglemont
• Franz Stuck – The Guardian of Paradise
• Vincent van Gogh
  • Hospital in Arles series
    • Garden of the Hospital in Arles (June)
    • Ward in the Hospital in Arles (October)
    • Portrait of Doctor Félix Rey (January)
  • Self-portrait and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (January)
  • Self-Portrait as a sick person (Saint-Rémy, August)^[4]
  • Bedroom in Arles (second and third versions, September)
  • View of Arles, Flowering Orchards and View of Arles with Trees in Blossom (Spring)
  • Butterflies series (Spring)
  • Irises
  • Rain (Saint-Rémy, October/November)
  • The Ravine of the Peyroulets
  • A Road at Saint-Remy with Female Figure
  • The Starry Night (Saint-Rémy, June)
  • Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy series
    • Trees and Undergrowth series
  • Portrait of Trabuc, an Attendant at Saint-Paul Hospital and Portrait of Madame Trabuc (Saint-Rémy, September)
  • Two Crabs (c. January)
  • Wheat Fields series
    • Wheat Field, Sunrise (Saint-Rémy)
    • Wheat Field with Cypresses (three paintings, Saint-Rémy, July–September)
    • Peasant Woman Binding Sheaves (after Millet)
• Carl von Marr – The Flagellants
• Fritz von Uhde – Heathland princess
• Édouard Vuillard – Self-portrait
• John Quincy Adams Ward – Bust of Alexander Lyman Holley (bronze, New York City)

Births

• January 19 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss geometric abstract painter, sculptor and dancer (died 1943)^[5]
• January 21 – Hermann Glöckner, German Constructivist painter and sculptor (died 1987)
• April 15 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and muralist (died 1975)
• May 11 – Paul Nash, English painter (died 1946)
• June – James Sleator, Irish painter (died 1950)
• July 31 – Júlíana Sveinsdóttir, Icelandic painter and textile artist (died 1966)
• August 13 – C. R. W. Nevinson, English war artist (died 1946)
• August 20 – David Kakabadze, Georgian artist (died 1952)
• September 28 – Seán Keating, Irish romantic-realist painter (died 1977)
• October 10 – Han van Meegeren, Dutch painter and art forger (died 1947)
• October 17 – Karl Völker, German painter and architect (died 1962)
• October 29 – Edward Wadsworth, English painter (died 1949)
• November 1 – Hannah Höch, German Dada photomontage artist (died 1978)^[6]
• November 10 – Clive Stephen, Australian sculptor (died 1957)

Deaths

• January 23 – Alexandre Cabanel, painter (born 1823)
• February 5 – James Smetham, pre-Raphaelite painter (born 1821)
• February 24 – Philip Henry Delamotte, photographer and illustrator (born 1821)
• May 23 – John O'Connor, painter (born 1830)
• October 6 – Jules Dupré, painter (born 1811)
• December 27 – Eduard Bendemann, painter (born 1811)
• date unknown – Jules Tavernier, French painter (born 1844)