The Dittmar Memorial Gallery in Evanston is hosting 'I Was Here,' a community-driven exhibition running from April 9 to May 3, 2026. Curated by Jasmine Ametovski and Clare Kirwan, the show features 24 local artists utilizing diverse mediums such as sound, video, and beeswax to document their daily lives. The project prioritizes lived experience and personal encounters over traditional, academic studio practices.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a major upcoming exhibition, "Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous," scheduled for October 2026. The show seeks to reframe the legacy of Lee Krasner by presenting her work as equal in significance to that of her husband, Jackson Pollock, challenging the historical narrative that has long positioned her in his shadow.
The Blanton Museum of Art in Austin has launched 'Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded,' a major exhibition featuring over 20 digital artworks produced between 2004 and 2022. On loan from the Thoma Foundation, the collection includes pieces by prominent figures such as teamLab, Leo Villareal, and Marina Zurkow that utilize coding, real-time data, and generative AI. The show highlights the evolution of digital practice in the "post-social media era," ranging from interactive installations to algorithmic critiques of environmental and social issues.
Major U.S. museums are launching a series of high-profile exhibitions this spring, headlined by a massive Marcel Duchamp retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Other key highlights include the North American debut of Iris van Herpen’s technologically-driven fashion at the Brooklyn Museum and a focused look at Peter Hujar’s photography of the New York underground at the Morgan Library & Museum.
Cabrillo Gallery is set to launch its Student Exhibition 2026 on April 20, featuring a diverse range of media including painting, sculpture, and photography created by Cabrillo College students. The exhibition kicks off with a special reception on April 19, integrated into the countywide Ripple Effect arts festival, which will include live music, interactive art activities, and a student art sale.
Brooklyn-based painter Kelly Ahern is set to debut a one-night solo exhibition titled 'Surface Tension' at the Bushwick Gallery on April 14, 2026. The show is part of the gallery’s 'Solo Statement' program, specifically the series 'Doesn't Play Well with Others,' which grants artists total creative autonomy to curate and present their work. The exhibition will feature Ahern's latest abstract compositions and conceptual pieces, focusing on her unique approach to the medium of painting.
New Orleans Auction Galleries has announced its Spring Fine Art and Design sale, scheduled for April 23, 2026. The auction will feature 279 lots spanning over a century of artistic production, highlighted by significant works from Mexican modernist José Clemente Orozco, Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Southern Regionalist John McCrady. The collection explores diverse themes ranging from the metaphysical to social and political commentary through painting, sculpture, and mixed media.
Vanderbilt University has announced its inaugural participation in the Venice Biennale, marking a major milestone for the institution's arts program. Faculty artists Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and Kamaal Malak have been selected to present works in the 61st International Art Exhibition, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. To complement the exhibition, the university will launch "Resonance: Vanderbilt University in Venice," a two-month public program series featuring sonic inquiries, performances, and scholarly convenings.
Park City photographer David Winegar has been selected for the Springville Museum of Art’s 102nd annual Spring Salon for the third consecutive year. His winning entry, 'Balancing Act,' is a large-format, hand-processed black and white photograph depicting an ancient pine tree at sunrise in Canyonlands National Park. The piece explores themes of resilience and perseverance through the lens of the Utah landscape.
The Toledo Museum of Art has launched a new digital exhibition titled "Birds in Art: Devotion and Decadence," curated by a group of 25 students from the University of Toledo. The online showcase features a diverse selection of paintings, sculptures, and photographs drawn from the museum's permanent collection, all centered on the cultural and artistic symbolism of avian subjects.
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.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched a major retrospective titled 'Raphael: Sublime Poetry,' featuring over 230 works sourced from more than 60 international institutions and private collections. The exhibition provides a chronological survey of the Renaissance master’s career, spanning his early years in Urbino to his definitive period at the papal court in Rome, and includes iconic paintings such as the 'Alba Madonna' alongside rare preparatory sketches and immersive projections of his Vatican frescoes.
Sam Quigley, the director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut, has announced his retirement after 12 years at the helm. During his tenure, Quigley was instrumental in modernizing the institution by establishing the Near :: New Gallery for regional contemporary art, creating a permanent Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibition, and overseeing the development of the 12-acre Lyman Allyn Park. He also significantly bolstered the permanent collection with acquisitions by major figures such as John Singer Sargent and David Driskell.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced the official opening date of April 19, 2026, for its new David Geffen Galleries. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, the 274-meter-long concrete structure will house between 2,500 and 3,000 objects from the museum's permanent collection. The inaugural display will feature a mix of historical masterpieces by artists such as Matisse and Van Gogh alongside new contemporary commissions by Todd Gray, Lauren Halsey, and Do Ho Suh.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) have announced a major collaborative exhibition titled "A Nation of Artists," set to open in April 2026. Featuring over 1,000 works spanning three centuries, the show will integrate paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts, including more than 120 pieces from the prestigious Middleton Family Collection. The exhibition is designed to coincide with the United States' 250th anniversary and the reopening of PAFA’s Historic Landmark Building.
Blue Sky Gallery, a cornerstone of Portland’s photography scene, is celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout 2025. Founded in 1975 by five artists who pooled their unemployment checks to open a tiny storefront, the non-profit collective has since showcased over 1,000 photographers and expanded into a major space in the city's Pearl District. The milestone year includes a series of decade-focused exhibitions and a rooftop gala to honor its history as one of the oldest artist-run photography galleries in the United States.
Larry Gagosian, often considered the most powerful art dealer in the world, has publicly reflected on rare professional setbacks, including a failed 2016 gallery opening in San Francisco and a misunderstood location in Geneva. These admissions coincide with a strategic shift for his empire, marked by the opening of a new street-level gallery at 980 Madison Avenue in New York. The move signals a departure from the exclusive, upper-floor models of the past toward a more accessible physical presence.
The Mint Museum Uptown is set to debut "Mint to Be: The Feminine Body as Costume Art" on May 1, an exhibition that explores the feminine form through the lens of fashion and identity. Curated by Professor Perrine DeShield-Jenkins, the showcase serves as a Met Gala–inspired experience featuring interactive narratives, photo activations, and a high-stakes runway competition where 20 Charlotte-based designers will vie for a $1,000 prize for couture that best reimagines the body as a living canvas.
The Hopkinsville Art Guild has launched its annual Spring Member Art Exhibition at the Hopkinsville Community College Auditorium Gallery. Featuring 80 works by 26 local artists, the show spans diverse media including oil painting, pottery, and photography. During the opening, Peggy Luensmann was awarded Best of Show, with top honors also going to Steve Chlupsa, Linda Pierce, and Henrietta Kemp.
The Dallas Museum of Art has launched "The Samurai Collection, Dallas, Samurai to the Imperial Court," a comprehensive exhibition featuring over 90 works of art. The showcase includes a diverse array of traditional weaponry, armor, paintings, and decorative objects, drawing from the museum's permanent collection as well as international loans. Running through September 6, 2026, the display tracks the evolution of samurai culture from its military roots to its role within the Imperial Court.
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.
The Museum of Modern Art has launched 'Noguchi's New York,' a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The exhibition utilizes photographs, architectural models, and archival materials to document his extensive footprint across the city, from the Ford Foundation’s Sunken Garden to the Challenger memorial. By focusing on his public installations, the show highlights Noguchi’s unique ability to blend natural materials with abstract forms within the urban grid.
Phoenix-based painter Eliza McLamb is marking a quarter-century of artistic practice with a major retrospective at the Phoenix Art Museum. Titled "Eliza McLamb: 25 Years of Color and Emotion," the exhibition features over 40 abstract works produced between 1996 and 2021, showcasing her signature emotive style and deep connection to the Sonoran Desert.
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has announced a diverse slate of upcoming exhibitions featuring folk art, experimental photography, and avant-garde fashion. Key highlights include a retrospective of Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf, a showcase of Minnie Evans' surrealistic paintings inspired by her dreams, and an exploration of Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s gothic and abstract photography. These exhibitions are scheduled to roll out between October 2026 and May 2027.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, is launching a new exhibition titled "Pressing Importance: Salem and the Declaration of Independence" on May 2, 2026. Curated by Dan Lipcan, the show features rare materials from the museum's Phillips Library, including two of the earliest surviving broadside editions of the Declaration. The display focuses on the Revolutionary-era manuscripts, newspapers, and pamphlets that were instrumental in circulating the message of independence throughout the colonies.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, has announced a major upcoming exhibition dedicated to the work of Keith Haring, scheduled to run from June 6, 2026, to January 25, 2027. Moving beyond his well-known street art and drawings, the show focuses specifically on Haring’s three-dimensional output, including sculptures, objects, and immersive installations. The exhibition aims to contextualize these works within the vibrant creative networks of downtown New York during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation has released the first comprehensive posthumous CV for the pioneering American sculptor Richard Hunt. Drawing from digital archives and research, the document reveals a career far more expansive than previously recorded, documenting 193 solo exhibitions and over 350 group shows across seven decades. This release follows the 2022 acquisition of Hunt’s massive physical archive by the Getty Research Institute, which continues to process over 1,000 linear feet of historical material.
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., has opened a new exhibition showcasing the work of its underclassman visual arts students. The event highlights the creative output of younger students within the prestigious arts-focused public high school.
Students in Jessamine County, Kentucky, participated in a project where they transformed skateboards into personalized artworks. The initiative, likely part of a school or community program, involved customizing the decks with individual designs, merging functional sports equipment with creative expression.
Students from Chelsea High School and other local schools have their artwork displayed in a community exhibition at the Chelsea Public Library. The show, titled "Chelsea Through Our Eyes," features paintings, drawings, and mixed-media pieces created by young artists.
Austin's art scene is currently showcasing ten new exhibitions across various galleries and museums, highlighting a diverse range of artists and mediums. This surge in activity signals a period of significant growth and vitality for the city's cultural landscape, attracting both local engagement and broader national attention.