Our pick of the best museum and gallery shows to see in Chicago this spring

Chicago’s spring art season features a diverse array of exhibitions, highlighted by Dabin Ahn’s solo debut at Document, which explores memory and grief through fractured canvases and Korean ceramics. The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a tribute to the late Lucas Samaras, showcasing his experimental Polaroid self-portraiture, while the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) launches an ambitious group show examining the political and cultural impact of dancehall and reggaetón.

Lily Allen’s ‘West End Girl’ Portrait Makes Its Museum Debut

Lily Allen's portrait, created by Spanish artist Nieves González for the cover of her album 'West End Girl,' has gone on public display at London's National Portrait Gallery. The painting, which blends Old Master techniques with contemporary fashion, was loaned to the museum by Allen herself and will be exhibited for a year.

The Untold Story of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek’s Intimate—and Complex—Bond

Andrew Durbin’s new dual biography, *The Wonderful World That Almost Was*, explores the profound and volatile relationship between photographer Peter Hujar and artist Paul Thek. Spanning from their meeting in the late 1950s to their deaths from AIDS-related complications in the 1980s, the book details how their shared experiences—most notably a 1963 visit to the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo—fundamentally shaped their artistic trajectories. While Hujar captured the mummified remains in haunting photographs, Thek translated the encounter into his visceral "meat pieces" and wax effigies.

Rare Portraits Reveal How Elizabeth I Turned Image Into Power

Philip Mould & Company in London is hosting a new exhibition titled "Elizabeth I: Queen and Court," featuring four rare portraits of the Tudor monarch alongside depictions of her closest advisors and political rivals. The show traces Elizabeth's visual evolution from a pious young princess to a formidable, iconographic ruler, highlighting how she utilized fashion and symbolism to solidify her authority and manage public perception during a period of immense political and religious transition.

Philadelphia art museums celebrate America's 250th anniversary with blockbuster two-venue show

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have announced a massive collaborative exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists" to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Featuring over 1,000 works, the show spans from colonial-era masterpieces like Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of George Washington to contemporary Indigenous art and modern portraiture by Barkley L. Hendricks. The exhibition will also debut 120 works from the Middleton Family Collection, including significant Hudson River School and American Impressionist pieces.

Rare Wifredo Lam Portrait Lands in New York

The Hispanic Society Museum and Library has acquired Wifredo Lam’s 1927 painting "Portrait of a Boy," marking the first time a work by a Cuban artist has entered the institution's permanent collection. Purchased at a Sotheby’s auction after decades in a private collection, the portrait dates from Lam’s formative years in Cuenca, Spain. The work represents a rare, representational style from the artist's early career, predating the Afro-Cuban Surrealism for which he became globally renowned.

Yayoi Kusama Infinity Room Coming to Cincinnati Art Museum This Summer

The Cincinnati Art Museum has announced it will host Yayoi Kusama’s immersive installation, "All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins," from July 17 through October 18, 2026. On loan from the Dallas Museum of Art, the exhibition features one of the artist's signature Infinity Mirror Rooms filled with polka-dotted acrylic pumpkins, accompanied by twelve of her pumpkin paintings created between 1990 and 2004.

Gainsborough’s Powdered Wig Portraits Are Suddenly Hot in New York

A new exhibition at the Frick Collection in New York has assembled 25 portraits by the 18th-century British painter Thomas Gainsborough. The show focuses on his depictions of the era's elite, showcasing the powdered wigs, lavish fabrics, and social stature of his sitters.

Exhibition | Celia Paul, 'Innervisions' at Gladstone Gallery, 515 West 24th Street, New York, United States

British artist Celia Paul makes her debut at Gladstone Gallery with 'Innervisions,' a solo exhibition of new paintings in New York. The body of work continues Paul’s career-long exploration of her London studio—a space she has occupied for decades overlooking the British Museum—transforming the domestic environment into a vessel for temporal and psychological reflection.

Inez & Vinoodh Handpick 6 Defining Works From Their New Retrospective

The Dutch photography duo Inez & Vinoodh have launched a major retrospective titled "Can Love Be a Photograph" at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Spanning their career since 1986, the exhibition features 150 works that blur the lines between fashion photography, celebrity portraiture, and fine art. To mark the opening, the artists highlighted six defining works—including the digitally manipulated "Thank You Thighmaster" series—that prioritize conceptual depth and psychological mutation over the glossy celebrity culture they are often associated with.

Revisiting One of Fauvism’s Wildest Painters

The Parisian gallery Helene Bailly Marcilhac is hosting a comprehensive monographic exhibition dedicated to the Dutch-French painter Kees van Dongen. The show traces the artist's career from his early days as a leading figure of the Fauvist movement through his later developments in portraiture, still life, and genre painting. Spanning several decades, the exhibition highlights Van Dongen's evolution from the "terrifying" bold colors of his youth to the more nuanced, expressive works of his later years, such as his 1950s floral studies and racing scenes.

In Paris, the Picasso Museum is dedicating an exhibition to Henry Taylor — our photos

The Musée National Picasso-Paris has launched a major exhibition dedicated to American artist Henry Taylor, running from April 8 to September 6, 2026. The showcase features approximately 100 works, including portraits, sculptures, and installations that explore African American social realities, collective memory, and urban struggles. Developed in collaboration with the artist, the exhibition spans 13 galleries and places Taylor’s expressive, human-centric practice in direct dialogue with the legacy of Pablo Picasso.

Thomas Gainsborough’s Portraits of Pride and Prejudice

A new exhibition at the Frick Collection, "Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture," re-examines the 18th-century English painter's work. It focuses on how his portraits, from early Suffolk "conversation pieces" to later Bath society commissions, used landscape and lavish clothing to visually encode social status, ownership, and belonging.

The Art of Appearing

De l’art de paraître

The Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris is hosting an exhibition titled "Révéler le féminin," which explores the intersection of 18th-century fashion and portraiture. Curated in collaboration with the Palais Galliera and the Musée d’arts de Nantes, the show features works by prominent portraitists like Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and Maurice Quentin de La Tour alongside rare period textiles. The exhibition examines how the rising bourgeoisie used clothing as a visual language of prestige and social standing during the Enlightenment.

Beacons in a Grim World

Two concurrent solo exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen Gallery feature the work of artists Kevin McNamee-Tweed and Tajh Rust. McNamee-Tweed presents enigmatic, tenderly absurd ceramic scenes, while Rust debuts in New York with figurative paintings that explore perception and Black identity through portraits of leisure and experimental silvered glass works.

Exhibition | Catherine Opie, 'To Be Seen' at National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The National Portrait Gallery in London is hosting "To Be Seen," the first major UK museum exhibition dedicated to the American photographer Catherine Opie. Curated in collaboration with the artist, the show spans over 30 years of work, including her seminal 1991 series "Being and Having" and her Holbein-inspired portraits of the LGBTQ+ community. The exhibition is further expanded through a series of interventions where Opie’s contemporary photographs are placed in direct dialogue with the gallery’s permanent collection.

Barkley L. Hendricks at Marian Goodman Gallery

The Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks presents "All is Portraiture," a major exhibition of the artist's work at the Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris. The show, running from February 6 to April 4, 2026, features a comprehensive checklist of Hendricks's portraits, offering a focused look at this central aspect of his celebrated practice.

Philadelphia Museum of Art and PAFA team up for a massive American art show

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have launched "A Nation of Artists," a massive collaborative exhibition marking the United States' 250th anniversary. Spanning 20,000 square feet across both institutions, the show features over 1,000 works ranging from 18th-century portraiture and Hudson River School landscapes to contemporary pieces by local artists. The exhibition was catalyzed by significant loans from the private collection of Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton and his wife, Leigh, which filled critical gaps in the museums' permanent holdings.

LIKE A DUET. In Conversation with Anne Imhof by Tyler Mitchell

Artists Anne Imhof and Tyler Mitchell engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue reflecting on their recent solo exhibitions, "Wish You Were Gay" at Kunsthaus Bregenz and "Wish This Was Real" at C/O Berlin. The conversation explores the intersection of performance, photography, and the choreography of space, with both artists discussing how they manipulate the viewer's physical and emotional presence within an installation.

Maspeth gallery showcases SoCal artist’s works through May 2

Los Angeles-based artist Molly Bounds makes her New York solo debut at Mrs. gallery in Maspeth, Queens, with the exhibition "The Light That Loses, The Night That Wins." The show features a series of psychological portraits and cinematic scenes rendered in oil and acrylic, capturing figures in moments of solitude, internal conflict, and escapism. Following her presentation with the gallery at The Armory Show in 2025, this exhibition highlights Bounds' transition from printmaking to complex, mood-driven painting.

The portrait

López de la Serna CAC has launched a collective exhibition exploring the evolution of portraiture through the works of four major contemporary artists: Francesco Clemente, Alex Katz, David Salle, and Henry Taylor. The exhibition moves beyond traditional representation to examine how identity is constructed in the postmodern era, utilizing diverse approaches ranging from Clemente’s mystical pastels and Katz’s flat, vibrant aesthetics to Salle’s fragmented collages and Taylor’s socially conscious figuration.

Michaelina Wautier Finally Known by Her Name

The Royal Academy of Arts in London has launched a monographic exhibition dedicated to Michaelina Wautier, a 17th-century Brussels-based painter whose work was misattributed to male contemporaries for centuries. Despite her mastery across diverse genres—including portraiture, floral still lifes, and large-scale history paintings typically reserved for men—her identity was obscured by patriarchal societal norms and a lack of biographical documentation. The show highlights her technical brilliance, notably in works like "The Triumph of Bacchus," which was long credited to male artists due to the era's restrictions on women studying nude models.

Björk, Rihanna and a passionate embrace: visions of love – in pictures

A new book titled 'Can Love Be a Photograph: 40 Years of Inez and Vinoodh' has been published, accompanied by an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. The publication celebrates four decades of work by the influential fashion photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, featuring celebrity portraits and surrealist visions organized around 16 thematic connections.

Irving Penn’s portraits of Picasso, Botero, and more head to auction.

A series of portraits by renowned photographer Irving Penn will be auctioned at Christie's New York on April 3rd. The sale features iconic images of major 20th-century cultural figures, including artists Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Isamu Noguchi, as well as writer Joan Didion.

Amy Sherald exhibit sets 21st century visitor record at BMA

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has achieved a historic milestone with its exhibition 'Amy Sherald: American Sublime,' which drew 84,000 visitors between October 2025 and March 2026. This figure more than doubled the museum's initial projections and set a new record for the highest attendance of any exhibition at the institution in the 21st century. The show featured 45 large-scale portraits by the Baltimore-born artist, focusing on themes of identity and representation.

Shaniqwa Jarvis: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Artist Shaniqwa Jarvis is set to debut her first UK solo exhibition, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," at London’s Public Gallery on April 30, 2026. The show features twelve new works that blend photography with silk, mirrored surfaces, aluminum, and collage to explore themes of grief, memory, and renewal. Central to the exhibition are immersive silk installations that create live double exposures and a new film work that weaves together personal archival footage with intimate conversations on motherhood, labor, and identity.

'Steven Shearer' at David Zwirner, London, United Kingdom on From 5 Jun 2026

Canadian artist Steven Shearer will present a major exhibition of new figurative oil paintings, drawings, and significant loans at David Zwirner’s London gallery in June 2026. The showcase marks Shearer’s first solo presentation in the city since 2007, highlighting his unique ability to blend canonical art history with contemporary subcultures. His work frequently explores classical subjects like the artist’s studio and the Rückenfigur through a modern, often visceral lens.

Everything you need to know about the Met Gala 2026 and ‘Costume Art’ exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced details for its 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, titled 'Costume Art,' which is set to open on May 10, 2026. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show will explore the 5,000-year history of the 'dressed body' by juxtaposing contemporary and historical fashion with sculpture, antiquities, and portraiture from across the museum’s 17 departments. The exhibition will be preceded by the annual Met Gala on May 4, 2026, serving as the primary fundraiser for the department.

Spring Gallery Night MKE: 7 Art Exhibits to See

Milwaukee’s art scene is celebrating its seasonal renewal with Spring Gallery Night MKE, a city-wide event featuring over 60 participating galleries across neighborhoods like the Third Ward and Walker’s Point. The weekend-long program highlights diverse local talent through curated exhibitions, including Var Gallery’s "30x30x30" creative marathon, a Surrealist-inspired group show at Portrait Society Gallery, and the expansive MIAD Senior Exhibition featuring over 200 graduating students.

Philippe Halsman's Portraits Feature the Entire 20th-Century Cultural Elite: The Exhibition in Veneto

Nei ritratti di Philippe Halsman c’è tutta l’élite culturale del Novecento. La mostra in Veneto

The Palazzo Pinato Valeri in Piove di Sacco, Italy, is hosting a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the legendary photographer Philippe Halsman. The show traces his career from his early 1930s Parisian portraits to his iconic American period, featuring his surrealist collaborations with Salvador Dalí and his famous "Jumpology" series. The collection includes intimate and experimental portraits of 20th-century icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sophia Loren.