The next twelve months feature a wealth of artistic high points, from Van Eyck portraits at the National Gallery to the eagerly-awaited From Russia exhibition at the Royal Academy .From RussiaMore than a blockbuster, this exhibition explores the relationship between French and Russian art during the 19th and early 20th century, and includes works from the major state museums in both Moscow and St Petersburg: killer Gauguins and impressionist works, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso, culminating with Malevich's Suprematist abstractions.· Royal Academy, London, Jan 26-April 18 .Peter DoigWith subjects ranging from his memories of a Canadian adolescence, skiing, drugs, road trips, movies, and life in Trinidad - where Scottish-born Doig now lives - and a technical breadth that keeps his art always on the move, this is the first mid-career survey of this influential and fascinating painter.Liverpool Biennial 2008The visual-arts high-point of the city's year as European capital of culture, the biennial's previous four editions have been, by international standards, lacklustre affairs. The theme explores the artistic imagination, under the title Made Up. Other concurrent city-wide exhibitions include the lively Independents Biennial, the John Moores painting prize exhibition and the New Contemporaries show of student and graduate work.· Various venues, Liverpool, Sept 20-Nov 30.Rothko at Tate Modern/Francis Bacon at Tate BritainFrancis Bacon said some disparaging things about Mark Rothko, but also realised that the American's fields of colour would make great backgrounds to his tortured figures. Between Bacon's ebullient miserabilism and Rothko's aspirations to the tragic, London should be fun, fun, fun next autumn.· Mark Rothko, Tate Modern, London, Sept 26-Feb 1; Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, London, Oct 1-Jan 11.Van Eyck to Titian: the Renaissance PortraitProduced in conjunction with the Prado in Madrid, this exhibition brings together around 70 paintings from both northern and southern renaissance Europe, along with relevant sculptures, prints and medals. The show includes Van Eyck and Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Dürer, Holbein and Boticcelli, Cranach and Titian.· National Gallery, London, Oct 15-Jan 18 .