The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, is highlighted as the state's first modern art museum, uniquely housed in a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion. Founded in 1954 by collector Marion Koogler McNay, the institution manages a collection of over 20,000 objects, including masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Georgia O'Keeffe, set across 25 acres of landscaped gardens.
The Birmingham Museum of Art hosted its 69th annual Museum Ball, themed "An Evening in Paris," to celebrate the institution's enduring presence in the Alabama cultural landscape. The black-tie gala featured French-inspired decor, fine dining, and live entertainment, drawing a significant crowd of local patrons and civic leaders.
The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched "Calder: rêver en équilibre," a massive retrospective featuring over 300 works by the American modernist Alexander Calder. The exhibition spans the artist's entire career, from his early engineering-influenced "Circus" performances and hand-wrought jewelry to his iconic suspended mobiles and monumental outdoor sculptures. Notably, the show marks the first time the Frank Gehry-designed institution has installed artworks on its exterior lawns, creating a dialogue between Calder’s geometric forms and the building's avant-garde architecture.
The Norton Museum of Art is in negotiations to acquire a monumental sculpture by the late Richard Serra to serve as the centerpiece of a new public art park in West Palm Beach. The proposed Norton Cultural Park would transform a two-acre waterfront site into a series of 14 landscaped "garden rooms" featuring world-class artworks. City commissioners have granted preliminary approval for a lease agreement that allows the museum to manage the land, which was formerly a pioneer cemetery.
The Fitchburg Art Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary with the exhibition “Kaleidoscope: 100 Years of Collecting for our Community.” The show honors the legacy of founder Eleanor Norcross, a Victorian-era artist and collector who studied under William Merritt Chase and exhibited in Parisian salons. Although Norcross died in 1923 before the museum opened, her estate and personal collection of paintings and decorative arts provided the foundation for the institution, which officially opened in 1929.
Students from Becket Washington School and their families gathered at the Becket Arts Center for the opening of a dedicated exhibition featuring student artwork. The show, hosted in the center's upstairs gallery, highlights the creative output of local youth and remains open to the public through April 26.
The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County has highlighted three major cultural events in the region, including two significant visual arts exhibitions. The Norton Museum of Art is hosting "Shelter," a survey of paintings by Danielle Mckinney that explores themes of solitude and domestic life, while the Cultural Council’s own gallery is debuting "Kinetic Energy," a group show featuring 14 local artists whose work captures the intersection of athleticism and artistic expression.
Melissa Chiu has been appointed as the new director of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, departing her long-standing role at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum. Additionally, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced that its highly anticipated, $724 million David Geffen Galleries will finally open to the public on May 4, while the Vatican revealed plans for a sound-based pavilion at the Venice Biennale dedicated to Saint Hildegard of Bingen.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced that the David Geffen Galleries will officially open to the public on May 4, 2026. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, the $724 million horizontal concrete and glass structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and replaces four aging buildings. The new facility features a single-story main exhibition level dedicated to the museum’s permanent collection, supported by seven ground-level pavilions housing educational spaces, a theater, and retail outlets.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta is hosting a major retrospective titled “Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer,’” featuring nearly 200 works by the Japanese-American artist. The exhibition highlights Noguchi’s philosophy that art should exist in everyday spaces, showcasing everything from his iconic midcentury furniture and floor lamps to his functional playground designs. Simultaneously, the city is preparing for 'illumine 2026,' an outdoor light-based art exhibition at the Historic Oakland Cemetery that further explores the integration of art into public life.
Abu Dhabi is celebrating World Art Day 2026 with a series of high-profile events centered in the Saadiyat Cultural District, most notably the exhibition "Picasso, the Figure" at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Running until May 31, the show features loans from the Musée National Picasso-Paris and the Musée du Louvre, exploring the artist's lifelong obsession with the human form. The festivities also include documentary screenings, olfactory art experiences, and extensive community workshops at Manarat Al Saadiyat covering ceramics, textiles, and printmaking.
The Brandywine Museum of Art has announced a new group exhibition titled "Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life," featuring works by 10 contemporary artists. The show is divided into two thematic sections: "Abundance," which examines the history of wealth and commerce in America, and "Excess," which focuses on the environmental and social consequences of overconsumption. Curated by Kerry Bickford, the exhibition includes diverse media ranging from traditional painting to works made from discarded materials like trash-picked toys and grocery flyers.
Art Sonje Center in Seoul has launched 'Spectrosynthesis Seoul,' a landmark exhibition featuring 74 artists and collectives that explores the history and current state of queer art. The show, organized in collaboration with the Hong Kong-based Sunpride Foundation, features major international figures like Mark Bradford and Shin Wai Kin alongside prominent Korean artists such as Ayoung Kim and Mire Lee. By moving beyond small-scale independent shows into a major institutional space, the exhibition aims to map a comprehensive landscape of LGBTQ+ artistic practices.
The National Gallery in London, established in 1824, continues to evolve as the primary repository for Great Britain’s national collection of European paintings. Originally founded with the purchase of 38 works from John Julius Angerstein, the museum now houses over 2,600 masterpieces, including significant Italian Renaissance, Dutch, and French Impressionist works. Recent developments include a 2025 announcement that the institution will expand its remit to collect 20th-century art, supported by a new wing planned for the 2030s.
The Wrightwood 659 museum in Chicago has launched "Martin Wong: Chinatown USA," the first major monographic exhibition of the artist's work since 2017. Featuring over 100 paintings, sculptures, and drawings, the show explores Wong’s complex relationship with his Chinese-American identity, his life in New York’s Lower East Side, and his fascination with urban landscapes, sign language, and queer intimacy. The exhibition includes significant loans such as the triptych "Tai Ping Tien Kuo" and the record-breaking "Portrait of Mikey Piñero at Ridge Street and Stanton."
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in West London has announced a major exhibition, "Peter Blake: In the Studio," scheduled to run from November 2026 to April 2027. The landmark show will feature a full-scale recreation of the artist’s Hammersmith workspace, providing an immersive look at the environment where the 'Godfather of British Pop Art' conceived his most famous works. The exhibition will span seven decades of Blake's career, showcasing paintings, collages, and sculptures alongside his personal collection of curiosities and memorabilia.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has launched "Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer’," the first major design retrospective of the artist’s work in nearly 25 years. Featuring approximately 200 objects, the exhibition spans Noguchi's diverse career, from early commercial products like the Radio Nurse and fashion illustrations to his iconic furniture for Herman Miller and Knoll. The show is organized thematically, exploring how Noguchi blurred the lines between industrial design, architecture, and fine art.
The Bishop Gallery in Brooklyn will host a landmark exhibition titled "Our Friend, Jean: Early Works of Jean-Michel Basquiat" during New York Art Week this May. The show features rare early pieces and intimate photographs from the collection of Alexis Adler, who lived with Basquiat between 1979 and 1980. The exhibition focuses on the artist's formative years, showcasing works created on unconventional surfaces like doors and furniture before his rise to global stardom.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) have launched a massive joint exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists," featuring over 1,000 works spanning from 1700 to 2026. The collaboration utilizes a chronological approach at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a thematic framework at PAFA, showcasing a diverse array of objects including colonial teapots, a New Mexican "death cart," and works by masters like Georgia O'Keeffe and Horace Pippin. The project also incorporates significant loans from the private collection of Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton.
The Orlando Museum of Art has launched its annual "Art in Bloom" festival, a multi-day event where floral designers create living arrangements inspired by specific works in the museum’s permanent collection and current exhibitions. Organized by the Council of 101, the showcase features floral interpretations of pieces by artists such as James Rosenquist, Beatriz Milhazes, and Howard William Mehring, alongside fashion displays, pop-up shops, and silent auctions.
The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne is hosting a major exhibition of Cartier’s historic jewelry and objects, organized in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum. The showcase features over 300 items, ranging from the iconic 1917 Tank watch and the surrealist 1967 Cartier Crash to opulent commissions for figures like the Maharaja of Patiala, the Duchess of Windsor, and Grace Kelly.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has launched "Martin Puryear: Nexus," the most comprehensive survey of the 84-year-old American sculptor’s work in nearly two decades. Co-organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the exhibition features approximately 50 pieces, including large-scale sculptures, drawings, and maquettes spanning 50 years of Puryear’s career. A unique feature of the show is the inclusion of diverse interpretations from various artists and architects, though many works are left intentionally open-ended to encourage personal viewer connection.
The Portland Japanese Garden has launched its first major exhibition of 2026, "Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints," running through June 16th. This showcase explores the evolution of mokuhanga, a traditional Japanese woodblock printing technique that originated in the 17th century as an accessible art form for the masses. The exhibition features a diverse array of works ranging from historical masterpieces to contemporary interpretations by artists from Portland, Japan, and across the United States.
The High Museum of Art has launched the first solo museum exhibition for American photographer Mimi Plumb, titled "Blazing Light." Spanning five decades of work, the exhibition features over 100 photographs across three major series: "The White Sky," "Landfall and The Golden City," and "The Reservoir." These gritty, black-and-white images document the evolving landscape of the American West, specifically California, while capturing the psychological tension of a society grappling with environmental decay and economic instability.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the Italian Renaissance master in the United States. Featuring over 170 masterpieces and rarely seen treasures, the exhibition traces Raphael’s meteoric career from his origins in Urbino to his transformative years in Florence and his final decade serving the papal court in Rome. The show highlights his unique ability to blend intellectual rigor with emotional lyricism, positioning him as a peer to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
The Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida is launching a major exhibition titled "Florida in the Frame: A Century of Artists’ Reflections on the Sunshine State." Drawing from the extensive Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers Collection, the show features over 65 artists including American masters like Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Moran alongside Florida Highwaymen painters. The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections that explore the state's natural landscapes, the development of its urban centers, and its evolution into a global tourism destination between 1850 and 1950.
The Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is hosting the first major Parisian retrospective of the multi-disciplinary artist Brion Gysin, running from April 10 to July 12, 2026. Titled "Brion Gysin, the Last Museum," the exhibition features over 140 works spanning the artist's career, including his pioneering "Cut-up" literary techniques, calligraphic paintings, and the immersive "Dreamachine." The show also contextualizes Gysin’s legacy by featuring works from his contemporaries and those he influenced, such as William Burroughs, Patti Smith, and Keith Haring.
Two of Keith Haring’s rare art cars, a 1963 Buick Special and a 1983 Land Rover Series III, are going on public display in New York City for a limited 10-day engagement. The exhibition, titled "Keith Haring: In the Street," serves as the inaugural show for Free Parking, a new gallery space located in a West Village carriage house. The presentation includes original 3D works and photographs, complemented by a series of talks featuring figures from the 1980s downtown scene like Muna Tseng and Carlo McCormick.
Gladstone Gallery has opened a solo exhibition of American painter Maureen Gallace, marking the gallery's final presentation at its Cheongdam-dong location in Seoul. The show features Gallace’s signature small-scale oil and acrylic paintings, which utilize a wet-on-wet technique to depict rural and coastal landscapes of the American Northeast. These works are characterized by a process of reduction, stripping away specific details and human presence to balance between figuration and abstraction.
Los Angeles is hosting a diverse array of major museum exhibitions this spring, ranging from cinematic retrospectives to ancient history and automotive culture. Key highlights include the Academy Museum’s immersive look at Studio Ghibli’s 'Ponyo' and a massive 50th-anniversary tribute to 'Jaws,' while the Getty Villa explores ancient Egyptian spirituality through the 'Book of the Dead.' Other notable shows include a 1990s fashion retrospective at the ASU FIDM Museum and a unique exploration of soccer culture at LACMA through the miniature sculptures of Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.