Museums across the United States are launching a series of major exhibitions to mark the nation's 250th anniversary. These shows use art and material culture to explore the construction of American identity, featuring themes like migration, modernity, and reinterpretations of national icons.
The College of DuPage (COD) will host a new outdoor exhibition titled 'Walking With Giants,' featuring large-scale sculptures and installations by various artists on its campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The show aims to transform the campus environment into an immersive art experience, with works placed in public spaces for students and visitors to encounter.
The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee announces a summer 2026 season featuring three exhibitions: the Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists 2025, showcasing five local artists; After the Empire: American Prints from the Haggerty Collection, examining American identity through satire and social commentary; and Defying Empire: Revolutionary Prints from Britain and America, challenging traditional narratives of the American Revolution. The exhibitions run from June 4 to August 1, 2026, with the Nohl Fellowship co-presented with the Lynden Sculpture Garden.
The Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington has unveiled its spring/summer 2026 exhibition schedule, featuring a diverse lineup of solo and group presentations. Highlights include a major exhibition by Diné artist Eric-Paul Riege exploring Indigenous cosmology and institutional knowledge, a showcase of Helen Frankenthaler’s experimental printmaking alongside works by Analia Saban, and the annual University of Washington MFA and MDes thesis exhibition. The season also features "Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance," a collection-based show examining the intersection of personal life and structural social forces.
The George Washington Carver Museum in Austin has unveiled its 2026 programming, headlined by the exhibition "Who Draws the Maps?" featuring three decades of work by the late artist Steven Bernard Jones. The museum is also debuting "And Still I Speak," a window installation of century-old photographs from Clarksville, one of the first freedman's communities in the United States, alongside a new core exhibition titled "The African American Presence in 19th Century Texas."
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is launching "Kindred Spirits: Artists in the Tenth Street Studio Building" on March 7, an exhibition exploring the collaborative network of 19th-century American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church. Centered on Church’s "Scene on the Catskill Creek," the show highlights the significance of New York’s Tenth Street Studio Building—the first purpose-built space for artists—where figures like Albert Bierstadt and Martin Johnson Heade fostered the Hudson River School movement.
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is launching "Kindred Spirits: Artists in the Tenth Street Studio Building" on March 7, 2026. This exhibition is part of the global Frederic Church 200 celebration, marking the bicentennial of the influential landscape painter's birth. Centered around Church’s "Scene on the Catskill Creek," the show highlights the collaborative environment of the nation’s first purpose-built artist studio space in New York City.
The AU Museum at American University is launching five new contemporary art exhibitions on February 7, 2026. The shows include 'Humanist Touch: Works from the Weber Collection,' featuring over 80 works by primarily local DC artists, and 'Ilana Manolson: The Air We Share,' which focuses on paintings of weeds as a form of environmental advocacy. The exhibitions showcase a variety of mediums and will be on view through May 17, with an opening reception on February 7.
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown is hosting a major exhibition titled 'The Scandinavian Home: Art and Identity, 1880-1920' from February 7 to May 17, 2026. The show features over 80 objects, including paintings, textiles, ceramics, and furniture, drawn primarily from the private collection of Dr. David and Susan Werner. It is organized into thematic sections exploring movements like Norwegian Revival, Art Nouveau, Vitalism, and Symbolist Experimentation, showcasing works from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Washington and Lee University's Art Museum and Galleries is hosting five temporary exhibitions through Winter Term 2026, including "Edward Burtynsky: Taking Place" at the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, "Moffat Takadiwa: Recoded Memories" at the Watson Galleries, and "Luminous Layers: Glazed Surfaces and the Art of Reflection" alongside "Points of Exchange: Asian Ceramics in the Reeves Collection" at the Reeves Museum, plus "Expressions of Color: Paintings by Evelyn Dawson" at the McCarthy Gallery. The museum is also offering free public programming such as Artful Yoga sessions and an MLK Week Open House featuring artworks connected to the Civil Rights movement.
Komal Shah discusses the exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works From the Shah Garg Collection" at Washington University in St. Louis' Kemper Art Museum. The show spans nearly eight decades and features nearly 70 artists, including Howardena Pindell, Joan Mitchell, Jaune Quick-to-see Smith, Katharina Grosse, Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, and Mary Weatherford. Shah, who established the collection with her husband Gaurav Garg, emphasizes the importance of celebrating women artists and challenging the notion that excellence is limited to men.
A man was killed on September 17 on the National Mall in Washington, DC, while unloading a 1979 BMW M1 Art Car custom-painted by Andy Warhol. The vehicle was being prepared for the pop-up exhibition 'Cars at the Capital,' scheduled to run from September 17-23 in temporary pavilions near the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. A winch holding the car on a flatbed truck came loose, pinning the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene; his identity has not been released. Exhibition organizer Hagerty Drivers Foundation canceled the event out of respect for the deceased.
The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis has opened its largest-ever exhibition, "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection." The show features over 80 works by nearly 70 artists, with a focus on women artists and artists of color. A centerpiece is a monumental diptych by Joan Mitchell, her last completed work before her death in 1992. The exhibition, which previously traveled from New York City to Berkeley, California, will be on view through January 5.
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland, opens a new exhibition titled "In Nature’s Studio: Two Centuries of American Landscape Painting," running from September 13, 2025, to January 4, 2026. The show features nearly 90 paintings from the museum's own collection and that of the Reading Public Museum, spanning movements from the Hudson River School to Impressionism, Tonalism, and modern trends, with highlights including Frederic Church's "Cotopaxi" (1862) and Thomas Cole's study for "The Voyage of Life: Childhood."
Inkfish Gallery in Des Moines, Washington, will open an exhibition titled 'Art of the Sixties' on Friday, September 5, 2025, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The show, curated by George C. Scott of Inkfish Foundation and Fred Andrews of Des Moines Legacy Foundation with funding from 4Culture of King County, features works from the 1960s encompassing Pop Art, Op Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Hot Rod Art, and Psychedelic Art. Artists highlighted include Andy Warhol, Peter Max, Margaret Keane, Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, Robert Crumb, and Roy Lichtenstein.
A private collection of signed prints by Bob Dylan will be auctioned at Halls Fine Art in Shrewsbury on July 9, 2025, with a total valuation of £50,000. The collection includes hand-finished works named after locations and dates from Dylan's musical career, with the standout piece 'Side Tracks' estimated at £20,000 to £25,000. Other notable prints include 'Train Tracks in Green', 'Sunflowers', and 'Cityscape', alongside a signed Fender Stratocaster guitar and works by The Connor Brothers and L.S. Lowry.
Seattle's Henry Art Gallery, located on the University of Washington campus, has permanently waived its admission fee, making entry free for all visitors at any time. Previously, tickets cost between $6 and $10, with free admission limited to the first Thursday of each month and certain groups such as students, children, and military personnel. The museum, which opened in 1927 as Washington state's first public art museum, now spans 40,000 square feet and includes galleries, a cafe, a 154-seat auditorium, and the James Turrell Skyspace installation.
Winterthur Museum in Delaware has opened a new exhibition titled "Almost Unknown: The Afric-American Picture Gallery," which brings to life a fictional gallery imagined in 1859 by Black writer and schoolteacher William J. Wilson, writing under the pseudonym Ethiop. In a series of columns for the magazine "The Anglo-American," Wilson described an imaginary museum of Black history and art, featuring works like a depiction of a slave ship, a bust of poet Phillis Wheatley, and images of Crispus Attucks and Haitian Revolution heroes. Curator Jonathan Square has transformed Wilson's fantasy into an immersive, haunted-attraction-style exhibition using objects from Winterthur's collection, with dark lighting, sound effects, and false walls that evoke a carnival ride inspired by Jordan Peele films and "The Shining."
The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis has won the 2024 best monograph award from the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) for its exhibition catalog "Adam Pendleton: To Divide By." The catalog, published by the museum and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, was honored during the society's Outstanding Catalog Awards ceremony in Denver on April 4. Edited by Kemper curator Meredith Malone, the volume features essays by Malone, Joshua Chambers-Letson, Hal Foster, and a conversation between Pendleton and critic Isabelle Graw, along with transcripts of two film portraits by the artist.
Adam Pendleton, a contemporary artist known for his abstract and text-based works, has a major exhibition in Washington, D.C., that challenges viewers to engage in deep contemplation. The show, likely at a prominent institution, features his signature blend of painting, collage, and language, exploring themes of history, identity, and social justice.
Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary co-chairs and sponsors of this year's Met Gala, sparking widespread protests and calls for boycotts. Guerrilla activist group Everyone Hates Elon plastered New York with anti-Bezos signage, and activists placed 300 bottles filled with fake urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to highlight Amazon workers' bathroom break complaints. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined his invitation, and the absence of celebrities like Meryl Streep and Zendaya fueled speculation about a boycott, though representatives denied any coordinated protest. Despite the controversy, the gala proceeded with many attendees and is expected to raise more than last year's $31 million for the Costume Institute.
The Public Works Art Center in Summerville, South Carolina, opens five new exhibitions on May 21 with a reception from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The shows include "GODBODY: THE FEMME," a group exhibition celebrating Black women artists; Amy Stewart's "Intersections" exploring interconnectedness; Nick Cerrato's "Our Society Needs To…" featuring abstract works created with his feet; Sarah Mitchell's "Wildlife in Wool" with needle-felted animals; and the Summerville Artist Guild's annual "All Members Show." During the reception, guild members will create collaborative paintings for sale to benefit the Summerville Rocks Scholarship Fund.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board has approved a plan to close the institution for a two-year, comprehensive renovation project. The decision follows public criticism from former President Donald Trump regarding the center's physical state and past financial management.
A 15-foot-tall gold-leafed bronze statue of Donald Trump, titled "Don Colossus," was unveiled at his National Doral golf club in Miami, Florida, ahead of the G20 summit. The statue, funded by $450,000 raised by cryptocurrency moguls and sculpted by Alan Cottrill (founder of Four Star Pizza), depicts Trump raising a triumphant fist with a plaque reading "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!" The unveiling was organized by televangelist Mark Burns of "Pastors for Trump," who posted that the statue was "not a golden calf," and was attended by evangelical Christian leaders and reportedly some Hassidic rabbis.
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, in collaboration with the National Gallery (NGA) in Washington, D.C., has organized 'The Stars We Do Not See,' the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Australian Indigenous art ever shown outside Australia. Opening in Washington on October 25 and running through March 1, 2026, the show features over 200 works from the 19th century to the present, including 130 of the NGV's most prized pieces by revered artists from across Australia. The title is inspired by late Yolŋu artist Gulumbu Yunupiŋu, known for her celestial mappings, and the exhibition will travel to several U.S. cities and Toronto over two and a half years.
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities gallery in Washington, D.C., is hosting "Behind the Uniform," an exhibition featuring artwork by 125 artists, including several Capitol Hill veterans. Curated by Kasse Andrews-Weller, an Army and Air Force veteran, and co-curated by Moira McGuire, the show presents works that express wartime experiences and personal stories, with many artists using art as a means of healing from trauma. Highlights include a large quilt by the Treasured Piece Makers, led by Anne Crouch, made from uniform fabric and mission logos, and a painting by Jeremiah Foxwell honoring his bomb-disposal partner Kevin Powell.
The next Wilmington Art Loop, a free citywide art exhibition, opens on Friday, June 6, 2025, from 5–9 PM. Now in its 38th year, the event is a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Out & About Magazine. Participating venues include The Delaware Contemporary (featuring RADIUS and ARC 25 exhibitions), Wilmington’s Redding Gallery (hosting the City of Wilmington Employee Juried Art Show and a display on the Tubman-Garrett statue), The Mezzanine Gallery (showcasing Jen Hintz Eggers), MKT Gallery (presenting Troy Jones’s “Ancestral Echoes: Masks We Wear”), and Bridge Art Gallery. A free shuttle, provided by the City of Wilmington Parks & Recreation Department, will run from The Delaware Contemporary parking lot, with riders voting on additional gallery stops.
Sara Messinger, a 26-year-old photographer based in New York, has been nominated by Michael Foley, director of Leica Gallery NY, for her poignant portraits of teenagers. Her work, which has appeared in The Cut, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, was recently exhibited alongside Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson at Leica's New York gallery. Messinger describes her focus on teenagers as an organic discovery, drawn to their authenticity and honesty, and uses her photography to explore childhood fears and a search for connection.
The essay explores the emergence of "longevity capitalism," a financial and biopolitical regime where biological duration and life expectancy are treated as assets for capital accumulation. As traditional welfare systems and collective pension schemes collapse, the uncertainty of human lifespan has been transformed into a speculative frontier, with retirement security increasingly tied to volatile private equity and cryptocurrency markets.
A pop-up exhibition in Tribeca, New York, has transformed Mriya Gallery into the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Reading Room, displaying over 3,000 bound volumes of printed Epstein files. Organized by the Washington, DC-based Institute for Primary Facts, the room holds 3,437 volumes encompassing 3.5 million pages of released documents, printed over about a month. The free exhibition runs until 21 May and requires advance booking.