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.
An ongoing group exhibition titled 'Echoes of Past and Future' at Divine Art Gallery in Delhi brings together 48 artworks by 48 artists, spanning generations of Indian modern and contemporary art. The show features works by masters such as Anjolie Ela Menon, Manu Parekh, and Himmat Shah alongside contemporary voices like Ashok Bhowmick and Bhaskar Rao, aiming to create a dialogue between past and present artistic expressions.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced a new exhibition titled "Star Wars in Motion" as part of its inaugural lineup, set to open on September 22, 2026, in Los Angeles's Exposition Park. The showcase will feature vehicle designs, props, costumes, and illustrations from the first six Star Wars films, including iconic items like Luke's Landspeeder and General Grievous's Wheel Bike. The museum, co-founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, will open with over 30 exhibitions and more than 1,200 objects spanning visual storytelling from ancient sculptures to modern cinema.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced details of its inaugural Cinema exhibition, titled 'Star Wars In Motion,' set to open on September 22. Curated by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the exhibition will feature vehicle designs, props, costumes, and illustrations from the first six Star Wars films, including Luke's Landspeeder and General Grievous's Wheel Bike. The museum, located at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, will launch with over 30 installations tracing visual storytelling from ancient sculptures to modern cinema, drawing from a founding collection of more than 40,000 works.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced its first Star Wars-themed exhibition, titled *Star Wars in Motion*, which will focus on vehicles and transportation from the first six films of George Lucas's saga. The installation is part of the museum's inaugural *Cinema* exhibition, one of over thirty presentations opening on September 22, curated by Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson from the museum's founding collection.
The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University's College Avenue campus is hosting 'Andy Warhol: On Repeat,' an exhibition running through July 31st. The show features Warhol's Polaroids, Polacolor prints, 'Crosses' series (1982), and 'Screen Tests'—silent, looping film portraits that place visitors in an immersive, repetitive visual environment. An interactive element allows guests to sit before a camera and become part of the artwork, echoing Warhol's exploration of identity under observation.
The Heard Museum in Phoenix has opened a new exhibition titled "Wisdom from the Future," which pairs artwork by 28 Indigenous artists aged 55 and older with personal letters they wrote to their younger selves. The letters offer reflections on creativity, identity, and lived experience, with participating artists including Kay WalkingStick, Norbert Peshlakai, Preston Singletary, and others. The exhibition was developed in connection with the museum's Creative Aging program, which supports older adults in developing artistic skills.
The Guntersville Museum hosted a recognition ceremony for the 18th annual ARTS Works All-County Student Art Exhibit, organized by the nonprofit Artists Responding to Students (ARTS). The exhibit featured around 100 artworks from K-12 students across Marshall County, including Boaz, Grant, Guntersville, and Albertville. For the second year, the show included special needs artists, with the Kamryn HeART Award presented in memory of a young artist. Additionally, the Lakeview Community Civic Organization displayed posters from its Black History Month contest. Winners were announced across multiple grade categories, judged by two National Board Certified Teachers from Decatur.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) has announced its inaugural exhibition schedule, curated by founder George Lucas himself. Opening on September 22, the museum will feature over 30 galleries and more than 1,200 works, exploring human history and the human condition through narrative art forms including illustration, sequential art, and cinema. The exhibitions will showcase production designs, props, and costumes from the Lucas Archives, alongside works by iconic artists such as Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, Frank Miller, and Mœbius, spanning adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, children's literature, and comics.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open on September 22, 2026, in Los Angeles's Exposition Park, has announced its inaugural exhibition schedule curated by George Lucas. The museum will showcase a wide range of narrative art, from Americana works by Thomas Hart Benton and Norman Rockwell to documentary photography by Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Capa, as well as public murals by Diego Rivera and Judith F. Baca. The collection also includes production designs, props, and costumes from the Lucas Archives, alongside illustrations by Frank Frazetta, Maxfield Parrish, and N.C. Wyeth, children's literature art by Beatrix Potter and Jacob Lawrence, and comics and manga by Jack Kirby, Alison Bechdel, and Mœbius.
Derrick Adams has opened a maximalist exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), featuring vibrant, densely layered works that blend pop culture references with social commentary. The show presents a bold visual experience, combining painting, sculpture, and mixed-media installations that celebrate Black joy and resilience while critiquing systemic inequities.
St. Gregory's College in Lagos, Nigeria, launched its inaugural Gregorian Art Exhibition on April 25, 2026, at Jubilee Hall. Organized by the St. Gregory's College Old Boys Association in honor of legendary artist Bruce Onobrakpeya, the three-day event features established and emerging artists under the theme “Celebrating Legacy, Excellence and Continuity.” Speakers included former association chairman Dr. Michael Omolayole and current president Francis Kudayah, who announced plans for an annual art clinic and a digital platform called the “Gregorian Art Mart.” Onobrakpeya, who could not attend in person, delivered a vote of thanks reflecting on his career and the school's role in his development.
Robert Longo, the New York-based artist known for monumental charcoal drawings, returns to Japan after thirty years with the solo exhibition 'Angels of the Maelstrom' at Pace Gallery Tokyo, on view until June 17. The show presents recent drawings and sculptures that juxtapose allegorical images of crashing waves, whales, tigers, and peonies with portraits of 20th-century American icons, centered on a large-scale depiction of Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani titled *Untitled (American Samurai)*, which Longo frames as a symbol of cultural convergence.
The inaugural Gregorian Art Exhibition opened on April 25, 2026, at St. Gregory's College, Ikoyi, Lagos, organized by the Old Boys Association to honor renowned Nigerian artist Bruce Onobrakpeya. The three-day event, themed “Celebrating Legacy, Excellence and Continuity,” brought together an intergenerational mix of artists, cultural figures, and stakeholders, featuring speeches from alumni leaders Dr. Michael Omolayole and Francis Oluwole Kudayah, who announced plans for a yearly art clinic and a digital platform called the “Gregorian Art Mart.” Onobrakpeya, unable to attend in person, reflected on his decision to remain in Nigeria and credited the school for shaping his artistic identity.
An exhibition titled 'Caravaggio | Revolution: Baroque Masterpieces from the Roberto Longhi Foundation' opens to the public on April 26 at Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina. The show centers on Caravaggio's painting 'Boy Bitten by a Lizard' and includes 40 other works by leading Baroque masters from the Roberto Longhi Foundation. A section of the exhibition also explores Caravaggio's influence on modern visual storytelling through music videos, films, and photography, featuring works by artists such as David LaChapelle and Tom Hunter. Opening weekend includes a talk by Professor Cristina Acidini, president of the Roberto Longhi Foundation.
A major retrospective and group exhibition titled “The Gregorian Art Exhibition” is set to take place at St. Gregory’s College in Lagos, Nigeria, from April 25 to 27, 2026. The event honors the legendary Nigerian modernist Bruce Onobrakpeya and will feature works by him alongside other notable alumni and artists including the late Victor Uwaifo and David Dale. The opening is expected to draw high-profile figures such as Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe.
Mulberry Art Studios in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has launched a posthumous exhibition titled "Is This Art?: The Collected Works of Donald Shoffstall." The show features a collection of photocopied signs and posters that Shoffstall, a local figure who experienced homelessness, stapled to telephone poles throughout the city during the late 20th century. Curated by Steve Sylvester and Jerry Greiner, the exhibition presents these stream-of-consciousness writings and abstract graphic works as significant pieces of outsider art.
The Michelson Museum of Art in Marshall, Texas, has launched "Postcards from Home," a new exhibition featuring the works of Max Cole and Don Brown. The show highlights the regional history of East Texas through Cole’s illustrations of historic landmarks and Brown’s plein air paintings of local landscapes like Caddo Lake. The exhibition was organized through a collaboration with the Harrison County Historical Museum and Centenary College, bringing together works that were previously held in private and bank collections.
Bologna is set to host a diverse array of major art exhibitions throughout the spring 2026 season, spanning photography, street art, and contemporary installations. Key highlights include a photographic exploration of Frida Kahlo at Palazzo Pepoli, a retrospective of Italian Informal artist Mattia Moreni at MAMbo, and a significant showcase of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Mirror Paintings at Palazzo Boncompagni. The city’s cultural institutions are also featuring international names like Banksy, Agnès Varda, and the influential German photography duo Bernd & Hilla Becher.
Los premios
Artist Gala Berger presents a three-act exhibition titled "Los premios" (The Prizes), which revisits the radical spirit of the 1968 Latin American avant-garde. The show specifically references two historic 1968 exhibitions at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires—the Georges Braque Prize and "Materials, new techniques, new expressions"—where artists staged protests involving egg-throwing, stink bombs, and manifestos against censorship and institutional tutelage.
The New Museum in Manhattan has officially unveiled its $82 million expansion, a transformative project designed by architects Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu. The renovation has doubled the institution's footprint, adding three levels of gallery space and a new 'public spine' featuring an atrium staircase. To mark the reopening, the museum launched 'New Humans: Memories of the Future,' a massive 732-object survey curated by Massimiliano Gioni that explores the intersection of art, visual culture, and emerging technologies like AI.
Artist Linda Colletta has transformed her studio practice within Bridgeport’s historic American Fabric Arts building, a former lace factory, by blending painting with labor-intensive weaving. Drawing inspiration from the site’s industrial history and the teachings of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers, Colletta repurposes drop cloths and tears apart her own canvases to weave them back together. Her recent work explores the materiality of paint and the concept of "Thought Forms," a visual language for emotions influenced by early 20th-century Theosophy.
The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg has launched two major exhibitions: a career-spanning survey of Iranian-born artist Ali Banisadr and a site-specific installation by Ward Shelley and Douglas Paulson. Banisadr’s exhibition, "The Alchemist," features nearly 20 years of work including large-scale paintings that blend abstraction with intricate, emerging figures. Accompanying this is "The Last Library IV: Written in Water," a life-sized library constructed from corrugated cardboard that explores the fragility of the written word and the impact of censorship and AI on language.
Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk is presenting a solo exhibition that bridges the gap between traditional Indigenous art forms and contemporary abstraction. The showcase features a range of media, including painting, photography, and video, all centered on the enduring power of Lakota storytelling and the preservation of cultural heritage through visual language.
The Muskegon Museum of Art is set to premiere a landmark exhibition titled “HerStory of Animation: Mary Blair & Beyond,” running from June 6, 2025, through September 27, 2026. Curated by animation historian Mindy Johnson, the show features production artwork, rare films, and studio artifacts from over a century of female contributions to the field. Highlights include works by early pioneers like Helena Smith Dayton and Bessie Mae Kelley, alongside modern icons such as Mary Blair and Oscar-winner Brenda Chapman.
Ans Azura is hosting a major auction in Bucharest titled "The Shape of Today," featuring a curated selection of Romanian contemporary and modern art. The sale spans generations, from historical avant-garde masters like Marcel Iancu and Victor Brauner to global contemporary stars like Adrian Ghenie. The collection explores how Romanian artists have navigated identity, language, and resistance through various political and cultural shifts over the last century.
A curated selection of international open calls and residencies for Spring 2026 offers diverse opportunities for emerging artists across visual arts, photography, and film. Key highlights include the Krupa Art Foundation Young Prize, which has expanded its categories to painting, digital art, and sculpture with three major cash prizes, and the 14th edition of 'Wystaw się w CSW' for independent photographers in Poland. Other notable opportunities include 'Underneath the Floorboards,' a platform for avant-garde and experimental video work seeking to showcase non-traditional artistic languages.
The Singaporean art gallery Utterly Art is making a return through a collaboration with the Visual Arts Centre (VAC) at its former Chinatown location. Rebranded as VAC Art Gallery And Studio, the space has been revamped by VAC director Iola Liu to serve as both a retail gallery and an art studio. The inaugural group exhibition, titled "Welcome Home!", features works by 20 local and Southeast Asian artists across various media, including street art, pop art, and traditional still life.
The National Portrait Gallery in London has unveiled a new family portrait of Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, and their two sons, captured by the acclaimed American photographer Catherine Opie. Taken at the family's home in Old Windsor, the image depicts the group in their library alongside their pet Labradors. The work is a centerpiece of Opie’s major retrospective, "Catherine Opie: To Be Seen," which opens this week.
Former picture researcher Caroline Chapman has released a new book titled "Painted Mysteries: Interpreting Great Paintings," which decodes the hidden symbolism in over 135 historic artworks. The publication serves as a guide for modern viewers to understand the complex visual language used by masters such as Botticelli, Rembrandt, and Raphael, unravelling layers of meaning that have become elusive over time.