The best museum exhibitions in NYC right now

Through May 31, the Museum of the Moving Image is rolling out a sprawling tribute to HBO’s legendary mob drama, pairing a deep-dive exhibition with a lineup of special screenings and in-person appearances from creator David Chase and several of the show's key cast members.

Now open in the museum’s Amphitheater Gallery, “Stories and Set Designs for The Sopranos” explores how the series built its unforgettable world, from Tony’s suburban New Jersey home to the neon glow of the Bada Bing. Drawing from Chase’s personal archive, the exhibition brings together scripts, notes, concept art and design plans that trace the show’s narrative and visual language from the pilot episode to its installation as a cultural phenomenon.

If you’ve ever wondered how a strip club or pork store makes its way into a museum context, that’s kind of the point. The exhibition reframes the show’s locations as feats of production design, showing off the work behind the environments that helped redefine prestige TV way before streaming made it a buzzword.

“He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model” brings a sprawling, handmade replica of New York City to the Museum of the City of New York, just steps from Central Park. The exhibition marks the first time the viral model, famously constructed by Queens-born truck driver Joe Macken, has been presented in New York City itself.

Macken began the project in 2004 and stuck with it for the next 21 years, quietly recreating the five boroughs by hand in his upstate New York home. Built from everyday materials like balsa wood, cardboard and glue, the finished model measures roughly 50 by 27 feet and is made up of more than 300 individual sections. It captures the city’s skyline, neighborhoods and landmarks with obsessive detail, from Midtown towers to outer-borough blocks.

Now installed in MCNY’s Dinan Miller Gallery, the model sits in conversation with the museum’s core exhibitions, including “New York at Its Core” and “Timescapes.” “Joe’s model reflects the wonder and complexity of this city through the eyes of someone who has lived it, loved it, and painstakingly rebuilt it,” said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the museum’s Ronay Menschel director and president.

If you're a fan of Survivor, you won't want to miss "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast: Celebrating 50 Seasons of Survivor." Running through May 31, the exhibit will be an immersive, nostalgia-heavy tribute to the CBS juggernaut. It will feature some of the show's most memorable moments and will give visitors the chance to step into the winner-takes-all world of Survivor.

The exhibit celebrates 50 seasons with actual items from the show and plenty of behind-the-scenes photos. There will be authentic outfits worn by Jeff Probst and castaways, immunity idols and necklaces and a torch snuffer. View original sketches for logos, sets and props. There’s even a chance to snap a pic with the iconic torch and sit at a replica Tribal Council. While the museum hasn't revealed exactly which iconic wardrobe pieces will make an appearance, fans are hoping for the infamous Q skirt, Boston Rob Mariano’s Red Sox hat or perhaps Angelina Keeley’s jacket. In addition to the artifacts, the exhibit will include plenty of photos and videos spanning all fifty seasons, plus screenings of classic episodes in the Paley Museum’s Bennack Theater.

Inside the newly reopened Studio Museum, "From Now: A Collection in Context" highlights pieces from the collection in different themes, such as the body, sound, nature, gold and text. In the gold section, for example, see Barkley L. Hendrick’s iconic Lawdy Mama, a painting of his cousin sporting an Afro crown on a gold background, as well as LaKela Brown’s sculptural reliefs showcasing hoop earrings as an emblem of African American beauty. In the text section, don’t miss the 1984 Jean-Michel Basquiat collage, Bayou. 

If the popularity of certain podcasts and documentaries is any indication, Americans are fascinated by learning about cults. A new exhibit at the Museum of Sex New York seizes on that topic with its exploration of nonconforming, experimental lifestyles and the marks they've left on our society. 

From now until April 12, 2026, experience history and culture through the lens of American cults and communes at "Utopia: Three Centuries of Sexuality in American Cults and Communes." The two-story show features more than 300 artworks, photographs, films, records, garments and rare artifacts from 20 historical intentional communities. 

A century ago this fall, Robert Rauschenberg was born in Texas. He went on to become a Pop art pioneer and one of the most renowned American artists of this era. Now, museums and galleries across the globe are planning shows that honor the late artist's expansive creativity, spirit of curiosity and commitment to change.

For its part, Museum of the City of New York is highlighting the artist's time in New York City. "Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World" explores Rauschenberg’s integration of photography and found objects into his art, reflecting his deep engagement with "the real world" and his complex relationship with urban life in NYC. He was a photographer with a bold creative vision which was essential to his art making, and this exhibition celebrates that. 

The show is organized into three sections—Early Photographs, In + Out City Limits, and Photography in Painting—tracing the evolution of Rauschenberg’s photographic practice and its interplay with painting, sculpture, and assemblage. See it through April 19, 2026.

If you ever lost an afternoon chasing ghosts, the Paley Museum has your next field trip lined up. The midtown mainstay is celebrating one of gaming’s most beloved icons with a new exhibit, “45 Years of PAC-MAN,” opening Friday, January 16 and running through May 31.

At the exhibition, visitors can jump straight into the action with classic Pixel Bash arcade cabinets, competitive rounds of PAC-MAN Battle Royale Chompionship and newer titles like PAC-MAN WORLD 2 Re-PAC. There’s also a chance to tackle what the museum bills as the world’s largest PAC-MAN.

Beyond the gameplay, the exhibit digs into the design moves that made the franchise so influential, like introducing power-ups, giving enemies distinct personalities and using sound and animation to turn pixels into emotion. PAC-MAN helped shape the blueprint for modern gaming culture, from storytelling to merch that’s still flying off shelves four decades later.

The new exhibit "Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births" at Museum of Arts & Design covers 150 years of how design has affected everything from menstruation to motherhood to menopause—and how all of these phases interact with products, programs and policies.

"Designing Motherhood" goes beyond biology and gender to explore that while being born is a universal human experience, the designs that shape that experience are not. See it through March 15, 2026.

When Louis Armstrong sang the inimitable lyric "I hear babies cry, I watch them grow," he was referencing the kids in his neighborhood of Corona and East Elmhurst, according to Regina Bain, executive director of the famed musician's namesake museum. And a new oral exhibit this fall will give a voice to his Queens community, highlighting the people who grew up next to Louis and Lucille Armstrong. 

Titled "The Corona Collection," the new exhibition at The Louis Armstrong House Museum will debut on October 2 and run through March 2026. Throughout, hear the voices of the Armstrongs' neighbors as they recount cherished memories, share heartfelt stories and dig into neighborhood histories. These oral histories offer an intimate look into the couple's life and their deep community connection. 

Self-described "mad potter" Jonathan Adler, known for the quirk and charm in his stunning ceramics works, gets the spotlight at this new exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle. The exhibition, The Mad MAD World of Jonathan Adler, combines Adler's own work with some of his favorite pieces from the museum's collection. You'll see more than 150 pieces of ceramics, metal, fiber and more that help to tell the story of Adler's 30-year career. It's on view through April 19, 2026.

No matter your personal taste, there's bound to be something in this exhibition you wish you could take home. Perhaps it's the adorable fox with a twisty tail or the erotic vase decorated with breasts or the psychedelic spin on a Delft blue container reading "shrooms." Every piece is exquisitely crafted, of course, but it's Adler's signature quirk and charm that takes the show to the next level. How often can you say a ceramics show will make you chuckle? Adler's will. 

The show is a full-circle moment for Adler, as he sold his first pots in the museum's store back in 1993, helping to kickstart his success.

For its part of the Robert Rauschenberg centennial, NYC's Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side is hosting a major show called "Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can't Be Stopped" through April 5, 2026. The show will feature more than a dozen historic pieces, including Rauschenberg's monumental painting "Barge," all which reflect the artist’s radical legacy. 

Among the highlights of the Guggenheim show is the 32-foot-long silkscreen painting "Barge," mostly created over a 24-hour period in the early 1960s. It's joined by an untitled silkscreen 1963 painting, which introduced vibrant color into his work. One of the earliest pieces in the show is a piece from 1953 called "Untitled (Red Painting)," in which the artist layered brith red paint over a collaged newspaper. Other pieces show how his transfer methods evolved over the decades.

If you found your jaw dropping over the jewelry in the blockbuster films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), then you've got to check out this exhibit at Museum of Art and Design in Columbus Circle. Called "Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture," the show features the jewelry Fletcher made for Queen Ramonda and the Dora Milaje, displayed with a selection of the films' costumes by Academy Award–winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter. The exhibition offers a behind-the-scenes look at how adornment defines character, advances world-building, and represents Black sovereignty on screen.

Treat your eyes to these pieces in brass and gold featuring semi-precious stones. With bold, sculptural designs, this jewelry is meant to articulate Black identity and embody spiritual meaning. Expect to see 75 works from the artist’s collection, which tell Fletcher's story of growing from a self-taught metalsmith to an influential designer. It also explores how her practice exemplifies the ethos of Afrofuturism, a cultural movement that reclaims Black identity and history while envisioning egalitarian futures.

It's on view through March 15, 2026.

In 2001, artist Kip Fulbeck began traveling the country photographing multiracial people of all ages and walks of life. They were photographed from the chest up, with no clothes, jewelry, hats or makeup on. And they were asked to write their answer to one big question: "What are you?"

After photographing more than 1,200 people, the project culminated in the landmark book and exhibition Kip Fulbeck: Part Asian, 100% Hapa which toured throughout the U.S. Now, over two decades later, the new exhibition "Hapa.me — 25 years of the Hapa Project" on view at New York City's Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) revisits some of the original subjects, capturing how they look now and sharing their current answers to Fulbeck's original question.

"Hapa.me" is on display at the MOCA in Chinatown until March 29, 2026. 

Most people associate the sari with its South Asian origin. IN a new exhibit, the New York Historical adds another layer to the garment's story by unearthing how the sari—and those who wear it—made New York City a home. "The New York Sari: A Journey Through Tradition, Fashion, and Identity" runs through April 2026.

This exhibition traces the path of the sari from the Indian subcontinent to NYC, going from exotic object of trade to a tradition embraced by many communities. The sari holds many different identities; whether it be within consumer empires, dance and performance or explorations of gender and identity, museum officials explained. 

Sure, you can learn about the American Revolution in history books. Or you can experience it in real life—in the actual place where history was made—during this upcoming exhibit at Fraunces Tavern Museum in Lower Manhattan. 

The museum has debuted “Path to Liberty: The Emergence of a Nation” in honor of America’s 250th anniversary. It's housed inside Fraunces Tavern, a historic building that served as a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty, hosted Washington's farewell to his officers and even was hit by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. 

It's hard to imagine now in our globalized world, but many of the young American soldiers who headed onto massive ships like the USS Intrepid during World War II had never even seen the ocean before. They’d soon be navigating the Pacific, launching planes off of aircraft carriers and battling Axis enemies. 

Now, the stories of those military members are on display in a new permanent exhibit at the Intrepid Museum, the historic aircraft carrier docked along the Hudson River in Hell’s Kitchen, which served from 1943 to 1974. The new 10,000-square-foot exhibit includes 50 never-before-seen artifacts, crew member oral histories, videos and photos showcasing the ship's history.

Plus, you’ll get to see the museum’s newest WWII aircraft acquisition, a legendary fighter-bomber called the FG-1D Corsair. Planes just like it often flew off of Intrepid’s flight deck during the war.

This new exhibit celebrates New York City through 100 different songs about NYC that were released between the 1920s and the 2020s. Patrons will notice a map of the five boroughs projected onto the floor of the space. Once stepping on an area, they'll hear music connected to that specific borough. 

"Songs of New York: 100 Years of Imagining the City Through Music" is an exciting new interactive exhibit on view at Museum of the City of New York (MCNY).

In addition to the audio-adjacent portion of the program, visitors will be able to look through archival photos of the artists whose music the exhibit focuses on. Expect photographs by Allan Tannenbaum, Joe Conzo, Fred W. McDarrah and Janette Beckman, among others, with lens pointed to legendary acts like Blondie, LL Cool J and the Velvet Underground.

Eighty years ago, as World War II raged on, Danish citizens worked together to ferry 7,000 Jewish people to safety, keeping them out of concentration camps. 

Now, New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is commemorating that anniversary, known as one of the most effective examples of mass resistance in modern history. "Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark," the museum’s first exhibition developed for elementary-age students, is now open through October 15, 2028.

The exhibit focuses on themes of separation, bravery and resilience to help children ages 9+ reflect on the dangers of prejudice and on their own potential for courageous collective action. 

After nearly a decade of planning, designing and building, the massive new wing at the American Museum of Natural History is now open to the public. The architecturally stunning, 230,000-square-foot Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation houses scientific wonders—including a butterfly vivarium, an insectarium and a 360-degree immersive experience.

From amazing costumes to Broadway history to fun photo opps, this long-awaited new museum is a must-see for theater buffs.  

You can expect the new museum to highlight over 500 individual productions from the 1700s all the way to the present. 

Among the standout offerings: A special exhibit dubbed "The Making of a Broadway Show," which honors the on- and off-stage community that helps bring plays and musicals to life multiple times a week. 

Your Roblox avatar can now get a whole new wardrobe, including an ancient Greek helmet, Japanese warrior armor and even Vincent van Gogh’s straw hat, courtesy of this new app created by The Met museum and Verizon. 

The free app, called Replica, allows visitors to scan certain objects at the museum, which are then turned into digital images that can be applied in the Roblox online gaming platform. The augmented reality initiative was designed as a way to attract kids to The Met, museum spokesman Kenneth Weine said, but collecting the digital items promises fun for all ages. 

Inside the museum, 37 objects are now a part of the Replica app, and finding each one sets visitors on a scavenger hunt throughout the galleries. Objects are scattered throughout the museum in sections including Arms and Armor, The American Wing, Egyptian Art and several more. 

Here's more about how it works. 

As the Revolutionary War came to a close, British Loyalists and soldiers evacuated the colonies in droves. But the evacuation was more complicated for Black Loyalists, some of whom joined the British cause in response to offers of freedom. 

In 1783, the new government formed a special committee to review the eligibility of some Black Loyalists to evacuate with the British Army, and that committee met at Fraunces Tavern in Lower Manhattan. A new permanent exhibit at the Fraunces Tavern Museum explores this important moment in history. 

The exhibition first opened last year, and officials are now moving it to a larger permanent gallery within the museum. The new space will offer a chance to include recent new discoveries of significant information concerning the identities of individuals participating in the Birch Trials and their inclusion in the Book of Negroes.

Can you imagine how grim our world would be without the influence of Jim Henson? For those of us who learned comedy, whimsy and even literacy from Sesame Street and the Muppet franchise, the Museum of the Moving Image has provided the ultimate treat: a permanent exhibition featuring over 47 Muppet and puppet characters; 27 screens of archival footage from The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock and beyond; and stories of how the great genius and his architects brought to life some of our favorite characters.

Opening March 16 at the New York Transit Museum’s Grand Central Gallery & Store, "Inspired by MetroCard" explores how the humble fare card evolved into a creative canvas for artists, designers and institutions across the city. The free exhibition pulls from contemporary artworks and the museum’s own collection to show how MetroCards have been transformed into fashion pieces, sculptures, paintings and collages, as well as limited-edition cards.

Rather than treating the MetroCard solely as transit technology, "Inspired by MetroCard" presents it as an accessible design object, one handled by almost every New Yorker and that material artists repurposed in strikingly personal ways. The show includes rare art MetroCards, fashion collaborations and works created from expired or discarded cards. Among the highlights are works by artists as different as Nina Boesch, Barbara Kruger, Nina Vishneva, Thomas McKean and VH McKenzie, who have turned the cards into everything from mosaic tiles to canvases and even a wedding dress.

Located in the shuttle passage at 42nd Street and Park Avenue, the Grand Central gallery is one of the most accessible museum spaces in the city, fitting for a show about an object built on accessibility. "Inspired by MetroCard" runs through October 2026, offering one last chance to see how a piece of plastic helped shape not just how New Yorkers traveled, but how they expressed themselves along the way. For more information, click here.

Mark your calendar: on March 21, 2026, the New Museum is throwing open the doors to its long-awaited new building—and New Yorkers get first dibs with free admission all opening weekend. The 60,000-square-foot expansion, designed by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, doubles the museum’s gallery space and gives the Bowery icon a major glow-up. The new addition slips in right next to the existing SANAA-designed building, bringing a larger Sky Room, a new 74-seat forum for talks and screenings and a street-level entrance plaza that finally gives the museum some breathing roo

Inside, the reopening exhibition, "New Humans: Memories of the Future," takes over the entire expanded building with work by more than 200 artists, writers, scientists and filmmakers, exploring how technology and social change keep reshaping what it means to be human. There’s a mix of contemporary heavy-hitters like Hito Steyerl, Wangechi Mutu and Anicka Yi alongside 20th-century visionaries including Salvador Dalí, Hannah Höch and H.R. Giger. There are also new site-specific commissions, like a façade work by Tschabalala Self and a monumental sculpture by Klára Hosnedlová.

Opening May 15, “For The Win: Objects of Sports Excellence” will bring more than 70 glittering symbols of athletic glory—from Olympic medals to Super Bowl hardware—into the museum’s Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, set inside the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals. 

The Vince Lombardi Trophy itself will be on view. The sterling silver prize, which has been handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. since 1967 and awarded annually to the Super Bowl champions, anchors an exhibition that spans more than 15 sports and nearly 150 years of competition. The show aims to trace how trophies, rings and medals evolved alongside modern sports culture.

Among the most poignant highlights is one of Jesse Owens’s gold medals from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a reminder of the runner's historic four-gold performance on one of the world’s most politically charged stages. The exhibition also highlights New York’s own sports legacy, featuring 2024 WNBA championship rings worn by New York Liberty stars Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart, alongside Kevin Durant’s Team USA medal from the 2024 Paris games.

The exhibition launches ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and will kick off the museum’s broader programming initiative, “World Cup, World Cultures: Celebrating the Community and Science of Sport,” designed to welcome global visitors and spotlight the intersection of athletics, science and storytelling.

Opening its doors (or, rather, spreading its kinetic, three-dimensional wings) on Saturday, May 16 and running through Sunday, December 6 at the arts institution, "Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses" will celebrate one of the most forward-thinking designers in the industry, with 140 extraordinary haute-couture creations from the iconic Dutch designer on view alongside contemporary artworks, objets d’art and scientific artifacts. The Van Herpen exhibit will serve as first major New York presentation of the designer's work, after premiering at Paris's Musée des Arts Décoratifs in November 2023 and moving onward to Brisbane, Singapore and Rotterdam. 

The designs on view will include the avant-garde, highly sculptural garments that have made Van Herpen a runway pioneer—her ethereal, futuristic pieces celebrate both classic craftsmanship and nerdy technology (3D printing, laser cutting and the like). "A pioneer in the use of new technologies, Van Herpen transcends conventional clothing norms while embracing both traditional couture artisanship and innovative techniques. Ranging from the micro to the macro, the exhibition explores the body’s place in space, its relationship to clothing and its environment, and its future in a rapidly changing world," says museum organizers. 

Along with the wearable garments, which have been sported by cultural luminaries from Beyoncé to Björk to Lady Gaga, the Sculpting the Senses activation will also feature rare archival materials and a soundscape by composer Salvador Breed for a full multisensory experience.