The best museum exhibitions in NYC right now

If you’ve ever walked down a Harlem block or past Fulton Street and thought, “Damn, that’s a look,” you already understand the heart of “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s razor-sharp spring exhibition that puts the precision, politics and poetry of Black menswear on full, unapologetic display.

The exhibition is more than a fashion retrospective: it’s a sensory experience that feels like stepping into someone’s memory, someone’s vision, someone’s mirror.

"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" is now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue through October 26.

While most art exhibits in New York City keep you at a distance, the Museum of Modern Art invites you to get closer at its new Hilma af Klint exhibit, “What Stands Behind the Flowers,” on view starting May 11.

Swedish artist Hilma af Klint is typically most known for “Paintings for the Temple,” her giant abstract artworks depicting geometric and organic shapes that she attributed to “divine messengers” or spirit guides. This body of work, however, takes its direction from af Klint herself and focuses on the natural world—highly detailed botanical drawing—in which she assigns a spiritual meaning to.

On view for the very first time, these self-studies ask us to attune to the natural world in a new way. See them through September 27. 

Anybody who has taken a high school English class is likely familiar with the name Jane Austen, but that wasn't the case when Austen was alive. Instead, she published her works—even the famed Pride and Prejudice—anonymously. It wasn't until after her death in 1817 that Austen's name became famous as one of the great English novelists. 

That interesting legacy, as well as much more Austen lore, is part of a new exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum titled "A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250." It features first-edition copies of her novels, corresponding artworks, personal letters, historical documents and artifacts from Jane Austen's House in Chawton, England. This major exhibition celebrating Austen's 250th birthday is now open through September 14, 2025.

Amid the Hollywood Red Scare nearly eight decades ago, Paul V. McNutt offered these words that still ring true today: “It does not require a law to cripple the right of free speech. Intimidation and coercion will do it.”

McNutt, who was serving as lead counsel for the Motion Picture Alliance, went on to explain that the film industry cannot be a free medium if it’s called “un-American” any time it introduces a new idea or produces a film critical of the status quo. His words, which encapsulate the Hollywood Blacklist era, are now part of a new exhibit at The New York Historical titled “Blacklisted: An American Story.” It’s on view at the Upper West Side museum through October 19, 2025.

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. 

On any day at the Guggenheim Museum, it’s impossible not to look up at the incredible architectural design by Frank Lloyd Wright. But now when you gaze upward, your eyes will be treated to an extra surprise: a hanging jungle of palm trees, cacti, and other lush plants. Why exactly?

It’s part of a new exhibit by artist Rashid Johnson, titled “A Poem for Deep Thinkers.” True to its name, this vast exhibition taking over the entire museum will indeed make you think about themes of social alienation, escapism, masculinity, parenthood and care for self and others. See it at the Guggenheim through January 18, 2026.  

The Guggenheim’s Director Mariët Westermann says the work invites us to, “Come curious. Be ready to be open and astonished.”

Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the artist’s death, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new exhibition "Sargent and Paris" features approximately 100 works of art from the titular creator John Singer Sargent. It's the largest international exhibition of Sargent’s work since 1998. The sprawling exhibition spans his arrival in Paris in 1874 as a talented 18-year-old art student through the mid-1880s, when his infamous portrait Madame X (1883-1884) scandalized Parisian salons.

On view through August 2, the retrospective will include paintings, watercolors, drawings and numerous preparatory sketches, which will be displayed alongside select portraits of Parisiennes by Sargent’s contemporaries.

“This magnificent exhibition will shed new light on a transformative period in the life and career of one of America’s most important painters,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s CEO said in a press release. “By situating Sargent’s work within the context of the city that formed and inspired him, Sargent and Paris will illuminate this influential artist’s meteoric rise, providing new insights into his unique talent and skill in capturing the vibrant society he inhabited.”

Portraits of American First Ladies typically don't tell us much about the personality of the person. Maybe we can see a steely determination in her eyes or get a sense of her style, but we don’t learn much about who she is. Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama changed all of that by focusing on the essence of the subject.

You can now see this iconic portrait and many other renowned works by Sherald in a new exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. The exhibition, titled “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” is open April 9-August 10, 2025. With nearly 50 paintings, it’s the most comprehensive exhibition of the American artist’s work, which includes a portrait of Breonna Taylor, as well as paintings that center everyday Black Americans. 

These days, Coney Island is known for its roller coasters, Mermaid Parade, and Hot Dog Eating Contest, but back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was a very different story. Instead, the Brooklyn neighborhood resembled "a war zone" between 1965–1975 amid ill-conceived government projects, as the Coney Island History Project explained.

Now, a new exhibit of street photography from that era examines what life was like back then. Charles Denson grew up in the West End of Coney Island and began photographing his neighborhood as a teenager. His photos are now part of the exhibition "Coney Island Streets: 1965–1975," which you can visit for free all summer at the Coney Island History Project. 

See the exhibit for free at the Coney Island History Project exhibition center (3059 West 12th Street, next to the West 12th Street entrance to Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, just a few steps off the Boardwalk). It's open on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays through Labor Day, 1–7pm.

The foxtrot, lindy hop, salsa, hustle and vogue all have roots in New York City, whether they were born here, shaped here or popularized in the city’s clubs. A new exhibit at Museum of the City of New York turns the museum into a dance floor as it digs into the fascinating history and important role of these dances and more.

“Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor” celebrates 200 years of social dance in New York City. It highlights the city’s dance floors as sites for connection, creativity and joyful rebellion. You’ll get to see everything from 1800s-era ball gowns to Louis Armstrong’s trumpet to Celia Cruz’s shoes to Big Daddy Kane’s outfits. Plus, digital screens throughout the exhibition offer dance lessons—and it’s nearly impossible not to move your body when the music starts.

Grab your dancing shoes, and go see it now through February 22, 2026 in East Harlem.

Even if you don't know how to play music, it’s practically impossible not to reach out and strum or pluck the strings when an instrument appears in front of you—or at the very least, expect that a musician will appear to play it. That’s what makes these new abstract artworks by Jennie C. Jones so mind-bending. 

Three massive instrument sculptures now sit on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop in Jones’s latest work titled “Ensemble.” But only one of the instruments makes sound when it’s activated by the wind. The other two don’t make sound at all, even though they’re capable of doing so. That's exactly the point. Instead, their potential for sound and the tension between dormancy and activation is where they hold power. Go see these cool sculptures on the Met’s gorgeous rooftop through October 19.

Nordic traditions meet the New York art scene at this exciting new exhibition at Scandinavia House. On view through Saturday, August 2, “Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art” brings together 55 works by 24 contemporary artists who reinterpret and evolve Nordic folk traditions in the U.S. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a slate of artist talks, workshops, films and live music.

With featured artists including Bill Amundson, Talon Cavender-Wilson, Maeve Gathje, Ketil "K.J." Groven, Jess Hirsch, Gene and Lucy Tokheim, among others, the exhibition explores how Nordic heritage has been reshaped by generations living in the Upper Midwest. From Robin Carlson’s reinterpretation of the Norwegian skinnfeld as a full-sized buffalo hide to Lisa Wiitala’s ryijy (Finnish pile rugs) honoring local berries to Talon Wilson’s metalwork bridging his training in Swedish blacksmithing with his Dakota lineage, the show reveals how traditional techniques have endured and remained vibrant in the present, rather than exist as static relics of the past.

Those who lived through the Cold War era will remember the horrors of the time: Wearing identification tags to school, practicing duck-and-cover drills and facing the constant threat of nuclear war. Though we’re only a few decades removed from that generation, it can be hard for younger people to wrap their minds around those terrors. 

A new exhibit at NYC’s Poster House titled “Fallout: Atoms for War & Peace” sheds light on the Nuclear Age, exploring its potential for scientific innovation and its use as a dangerous weapon. The exhibit chronicles the past through a visually stunning collection of 60 posters, including artwork by General Dynamics as well as activist pieces protesting nuclear war; it also offers important lessons for our future.

“Fallout” is the debut point-counterpoint exhibition at Poster House, which is the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to the history of posters. Find the exhibit in the Flatiron District museum through September 7, 2025.

The Brooklyn Museum is celebrating a big birthday. As the museum turns 200, it’s marking the occasion with a sprawling exhibition that celebrates the museum's history, showcases artists from the borough and highlights new gifts in the collection. The massive show highlights hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and photographs pulled from the impressive museum’s full collection of 140,000 items. 

“Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200” is now open through February 22, 2026.

Explore the works of Tove Jansson at the first-ever U.S. exhibition dedicated to the beloved Finnish artist, writer, and creator of the Moomins, held at the Brooklyn Public Library this summer.

On view from June 28 through September 30, Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open will offer attendees the rare opportunity to step into Jansson’s creative universe through immersive installations, archival materials, rare artifacts, multilingual editions of her books, and public programming for all ages. The exhibition will also introduce visitors to lesser-known aspects of Jansson’s life, including her early career in political satire and her identity as a queer woman in postwar Europe.

New Yorkers love to talk about transit—to complain about it, to joke about it, to express their love for it. So it’s only fitting that The New Yorker magazine would cover transit in exactly the same way. Since the magazine began a century ago, it has featured cartoons that both rib and extol public transportation. 

A new exhibit, “Commentary on The Commute: A Century of The New Yorker's Transportation Cartoons," explores how the magazine’s famed comical drawings have explored this subject over the past 100 years. The exhibit is free to visit through October 26, 2025; find it at the New York Transit Museum’s outpost inside Grand Central Terminal.

Next time you’re waiting for a train or passing through Grand Central, it’s worth taking the time to stop and explore this free exhibition. Find it in the shuttle passage next to the stationmaster’s office. It's open on weekdays from 10am-7:30pm and weekends from 10am-6pm. 

If you're a diehard fan of seeing Tom Cruise hanging dangerously off of a cliff or out of a helicopter or from the side of a skyscraper, this is the museum exhibit for you.

Now through December 14, Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria is celebrating the pop-culture phenomenon that is the Mission: Impossible film franchise with Mission: Impossible—Story and Spectacle, an exhibition that immerses visitors in the remarkable stunts and key dramatic moments of the decade-spanning series. Sections of the exhibition will be devoted to each film in the series, spotlighting each title's mind-boggling stuntwork and action sequences as well as behind-the-scenes content of how it all came together onscreen. 

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.

Step into the vibrant world of Lorenzo Homar, a pioneering printmaker, poster designer, calligrapher, painter, illustrator, caricaturist, and theatrical set designer. Homar's poster work is the subject of an exhibit at Poster House titled "Puerto Rico in Print: The Posters of Lorenzo Homar" on view through September 7, 2025. 

Es-pranza Humphrey, assistant curator of collections at Poster House, describes Homar as "the father of the Puerto Rican poster." Homar was active from the 1950s through the 1990s, and few artists equal his impact and influence as a teacher of poster design and printmaking in Latin America.

In the exhibition, you'll see the artist's use of non-traditional colors at complements and the way he plays with silk-screening, typography, and calligraphy. The exhibition showcases the breadth of Homar's work, featuring posters for jazz performances, ballet shows, jazz concerts, and political causes. 

In honor of The Handmaid’s Tale finale, The Paley Museum in midtown is hosting an immersive exhibit featuring the costumes, artifacts and props from the Emmy Award-winning show. It's on view through Sunday, June 8.

At the Paley Museum, “The Legacy of The Handmaid’s Tale: June’s Evolution from Handmaid to Rebel” will put you face-to-face with its costumes, including June's iconic red handmaid’s dress, cloak and white winged bonnet and Serena Joy Waterford’s haunting teal dress, as well as costumes worn by other pivotal characters. You’ll also get to see Commander Waterford’s Scrabble board, Nichole’s doll from Nick, June’s Boston map and June’s terrifying Handmaid muzzle.

Long before New Yorkers could aimlessly scroll on their phones while riding on the subway, they could always read The Subway Sun. This subway poster series, designed to look like a newspaper's front page, encouraged civility, safety, cleanliness, and pride in their city and its mass transit rail system.

A new exhibit at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, titled "Shining a light on The Subway Sun: The art of Fred G. Cooper and Amelia Opdyke Jones," brings the ad campaign's story to life. See a collection of original artwork and vintage posters from the 1930s and 1940s—many of which are still incredibly relevant today.

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.

Depending on what you learned in high school history class, you might be surprised to discover that Brooklyn—an area firmly in the northern Union states—actually has significant ties to slavery. A new exhibit coming to the borough digs into that painful history.

Titled "Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn", the exhibit is now open at the Center for Brooklyn History. While there are few firsthand testimonies from enslaved people in Brooklyn, the exhibit offers clues to what they endured. It also sheds light on the often-overlooked narratives of enslaved individuals in Kings County and the generational legacies of inequality. The exhibit is free to visit through August 30 in the center's Fransioli Gallery.

Expect to see archival documents, rare personal accounts from enslaved Brooklynites and artwork that helps visitors visualize this period in Brooklyn's development. The exhibit also delves into genealogy and celebrates the work of family historians, researchers, and artists who trace their roots through this difficult past.

On October 27, 1904, New Yorkers dressed in their finest clothing and hosted dinner parties to celebrate the big news of the year. After four years of messy, sometimes controversial construction, a subway had opened in New York City. Officials didn't know if people would show up for its debut, but more than 100,000 people descended beneath the ground that evening to traverse the system's 9 miles and 28 stations. The next day, a Sunday, more than 1 million people showed up on the subway's first full open day. 

It may not seem like a big deal to us now, but the subway was revolutionary—and it still is. A fascinating new exhibit at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn digs into the history and the future of our underground rail system. Titled "The Subway Is...," the exhibition brings together artifacts, photos, multimedia installations, old advertisements, train models and more to tell the story of our city's subway system. 

Now on view at the Museum of Sex, Long Island Girl: The Superrealism of Carole Feuerman is a series of early sculptures by New York-based artist Carole Feuerman that have never before been publicly exhibited in the US.

Feuerman's superrrealist works from the 1970s and '80s are an evocative exploration of "sexuality and female interiority as a celebration of the human experience, emphasizing agency and empowerment." The exhibition includes more than 30 sculptures from the pioneering artist, as well as a re-creation of a studio corner offering a behind-the-scenes look at Feuerman's process, which includes manipulating industrial materials like vinyl and painted resins to achieve astonishingly lifelike effects. 

See the show through August 31, 2025.

When Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker was first published 50 years ago, the book's release was met with great anticipation. Excerpts in The New Yorker gained lots of attention—including from the biography's subject, NYC government official Robert Moses, who described the deeply researched book as "venomous." Even so, it was impossible to predict whether a 700,000-word biography would resonate with readers. 

The book quickly earned acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize and finding a home on bookshelves across America, especially among New Yorkers. Now, five decades later, the monumental work still resonates for its look at NYC’s past and the lessons it holds for our future. The book and its tenacious author are the subject of a new exhibit at The New-York Historical titled "Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50." See it at the Upper West Side museum through August 3, 2025. 

The legendary Shirley Chisholm is deservedly getting a major museum presentation courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York and the Shirley Chisholm Project at Brooklyn College. Running through July 20, 2025, Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 will delve into the life and legacy of the native New Yorker and barrier-breaking politician, who was the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to run for president on a major party ticket.

Marking the centennial of the late Chisholm’s birth, her first major exhibition will take over the museum's second-floor North Gallery and tell the multi-dimensional story of the American icon in three sections—Brooklyn Life, Political Career, and Legacy—using historical artifacts, photographs, archival footage, and art pieces.

Majestic, incredible elephants are getting the spotlight in a new exhibit at The American Museum of Natural History. "The Secret World of Elephants" showcases both modern and ancient elephants, offering visitors a chance to see a full-scale model of a woolly mammoth, learn about what elephants eat, touch an elephant's tooth, listen to elephant calls and more.

The exhibition is now open in the museum’s LeFrak Family Gallery. An additional ticket is required to visit the exhibit; museum members can visit for free.

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 opne.

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.

Hundreds of items have been pulled from the New York Public Library's expansive and centuries-spanning archive to be put on display—many of them for the first time—in a permanent exhibition called "The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures."

Inside the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and its beautiful Gottesman Hall, are more than 250 unique and rare items culled from its research centers spanning 4,000 years of history and includes a wide range of history-making pieces, including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his "discovery" of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas.

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.

The energy in INTER_, Manhattan’s newest art experience, feels more like a meditation retreat than a typical gallery—and that’s by design. 

The experiential, multi-sensory museum now open in Soho invites visitors into a heightened state of contemplative awareness through a sound bath, light installations and aspects of meditation all combined with interactive digital art. 

INTER_ is now open at 415 Broadway. Tickets—which start at $36 for adults and $27 for kids 12 and under—can be purchased here. (Time Out readers get a discount with code TIMEOUT15.)