Summer time within the metropolis is an Italian ice from a cart, lounging within the park with a ebook and a tallboy, taking the scenic route (I’m keen on the ferry) since you’ve received nowhere to be and, rattling, it’s good out. It’s additionally an invite to get out of your borough ( you, Manhattan and Brooklyn) — and what higher means to take action than by following our listing of 20 exhibits throughout all 5?
These are long-running exhibitions at museums and different non-commercial areas. A few of them are distinctly rooted: a gaggle present devoted to group constructing in and across the South Bronx; two exhibits on the Queens Museum riffing on its historical past, in addition to aesthetics distinctive to the borough, reminiscent of cellphone restore outlets in Jackson Heights. Others provide an opportunity to look at the lesser-known practices of well-known artists, such because the work of Lorna Simpson, the drawings of painter Beauford Delaney, the botanical illustrations of summary artist Hilma af Klint, or the ten years American artist John Singer Sargent spent in Paris.
We’ve received exhibits marking anniversaries — the Artwork College students League turns 150, Jane Austen turns 250 — and celebrating beginnings, reminiscent of summary painter Fanny Sanín’s first solo within the metropolis she’s lived in for 54 years. And we’ve received surveys galore, centering lauded artists on the peak of their careers, like portraitist Amy Sherald; these we’ve not too long ago misplaced, such because the late painter Jack Whitten; and people we’ve not too long ago recovered from historical past, like photographer Consuelo Kanaga. Odor the flowers, sluggish it down — and see some artwork. —Lisa Yin Zhang, Affiliate Editor
Shaping American Artwork: A Celebration of the Artwork College students League of New York at 150
Artwork College students League, 215 West 57th Avenue, Suite 1, Midtown, ManhattanThrough August 17
Milton Avery, “Untitled” (1945), watercolor on paper (picture courtesy the Artwork College students League of New York)
The Artwork College students League is wanting good for 150. Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Mark Rothko, and a whole bunch of 1000’s extra artists, each famend and obscure, handed via its halls. It celebrates its anniversary and ongoing legacy by way of an exhibition that options scores of alumni. Don’t miss a sister exhibition on the New York Historic, which additionally showcases works by these affiliated with the league.
Nameless Was a Lady: The First 25 Years
Gray Artwork Museum, 18 Cooper Sq., Noho, ManhattanThrough July 19
Left: Marie Watt, “Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi)” (2012), reclaimed wool blankets and metal (picture by Denis Y. Suspitsyn; courtesy Whitney Museum of American Artwork, New York); proper: Betye Saar, “Globe Trotter” (2007), mixed-media assemblage (picture courtesy the artist and Roberts Initiatives)
Carrie Mae Weems, Marie Watt, Chitra Ganesh, An-My Lê, and Sonya Clark are only a few of the 41 people featured on this sprawling exhibition celebrating the primary 25 years of Nameless Was A Lady, a grant program for mid-career girls artists primarily based in the USA.
Geumhyung Jeong: Toys, Chosen
Canal Initiatives, 351 Canal Avenue, Soho, ManhattanThrough July 26; September 19–November 21
Set up view of Geumhyung Jeong: Toys, Chosen (picture courtesy Canal Initiatives)
Take a dip into the uncanny valley this summer time at nonprofit artwork house Canal Initiatives — marionette limbs screwed into hoverboards and draping limply off tables make up simply among the cyborg visions of South Korean artist Geumhyung Jeong. Her solo present explores the more and more urgent stress between humanity and know-how, probing themes not simply of surveillance however of need.
Fanny Sanín: Geometric Equations
Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, Higher East Aspect, ManhattanThrough July 26
Fanny Sanín, “Acrylic no. 1” (1972), acrylic on canvas (picture by and courtesy Whitney Browne, Robert Lorenzson, Eric Politzer, Daniel Quat, Mayer Sasson, Jim Sturdy, and William H. Titus)
Giant-scale work, smaller compositions, pencil research, and collages come collectively on this exhibition of Colombian-born artist Fanny Sanín, whose six-decade profession has largely been devoted to geometric abstraction. It’s the artist’s first institutional survey in New York Metropolis, the place she has lived and labored for the previous 54 years.
Jack Whitten: The Messenger
Museum of Trendy Artwork, 11 West 53rd Avenue, Midtown, ManhattanThrough August 2
Jack Whitten “Atopolis: For Édouard Glissant” (2014), acrylic on canvas (© 2025 The Museum of Trendy Artwork, New York; picture by Jonathan Muzikar, courtesy Museum of Trendy Artwork)
This career-spanning exhibition ranges from Jack Whitten’s early ghostly experiments within the mid-’60s to the long-lasting floor-bound sweeping method he pioneered within the ’70s and his intricate mosaics of the ’90s, in addition to different lesser-known experimental forays. From a piece of swirling sorbet oranges to a sewn black floor with a gap punched via it, these work invite you to stand up shut.
Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Japanese Parkway, Crown Heights, BrooklynThrough August 3
Consuelo Kanaga, “Hands” (1930), gelatin silver print (picture courtesy Brooklyn Museum)
Almost 200 movies, images, and items of ephemera comprise this six-decade retrospective of American photojournalist Consuelo Kanaga (1894–1978). A trailblazing but undersung artist, she used her digicam to doc urgent social justice points, together with racial terror and oppression, city poverty, and staff’ rights.
Learn our full assessment right here.
Sargent & Paris
Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, 1000 Fifth Avenue, Higher East Aspect, ManhattanThrough August 3
John Singer Sargent, “In the Luxembourg Gardens” (1879), oil on canvas (picture courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Artwork)
It’s a marvel to see Sargent’s “Madame X” — among the many nineteenth century’s best portraits — in particular person. Sargent & Paris is that and a lot extra, following the artist via his first decade in Paris, as a scholar, a Salon darling, and at last, the infamous artist behind that scandalous portrait. Don’t miss this one.
Learn our full assessment right here.
Amy Sherald: American Chic
Whitney Museum of American Artwork, 99 Gansevoort Avenue, Meatpacking District, ManhattanThrough August 10
Amy Sherald, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons)” (2024), oil on linen (picture courtesy Hauser & Wirth)
Grisaille-style portraits of former First Girl Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, a Black lady murdered by police who turned a rallying image within the Black Lives Matter motion, are standouts on this touring survey of over 40 work. The most important exhibition of the Georgia-born artist’s profession thus far, it options new and barely seen works, significantly those who discover on a regular basis Black American life by centering topics who’ve been traditionally omitted of body.
Learn our full assessment right here.
Working Data: Shared Imaginings, New Futures
Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse, Concourse Village, The BronxThrough August 17
Melanie Hoff, “Dance Poem Revolution” (2024) (courtesy the artist)
Consider this exhibition as an incubator: 11 social follow artists and collectives create interactive instruments that assist foster group constructing across the South Bronx and past. Coding, gardening, listening, dancing, and contributing to a “quantum time capsule” are simply among the extra unorthodox actions you would possibly interact in.
Learn our full assessment right here.
Saya Woolfalk: Empathic Universe
Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, Columbus Circle, ManhattanThrough September 7
Set up view of Saya Woolfalk: Empathic Universe on the Museum of Arts and Design in New York Metropolis (courtesy the Museum of Arts and Design)
For her first retrospective, Saya Woolfalk has reworked the fifth ground of the museum right into a utopia for “Empathics,” an invented race of ladies with intricate methods of gown, storytelling, and social group, drawn from quite a lot of real-world cultures. The present’s astronomical preparations, psychedelic shade schemes, and, in fact, the Empathics themselves — with plush heads and painted faces, tugging strollers and holding arms — will make stepping out into Columbus Circle an much more dizzying expertise than regular.
Within the Medium of Life: The Drawings of Beauford Delaney
The Drawing Middle, 35 Wooster Avenue, Soho, ManhattanThrough September 14
Beauford Delaney, “Yaddo” (1950), pastel on paper (© Property of Beauford Delaney, by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire, Courtroom Appointed Administrator; picture by Knoxville Museum of Artwork, courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York)
Although higher recognized for work of the Harlem Renaissance, figurative portraits of mates like James Baldwin, and, later, summary expressionist works made in Paris, Beauford Delaney all the time liked drawing. This exhibition spotlights that individual ardour via 90 works on paper spanning his profession, alongside work and varied items of archival ephemera.
A Vigorous Thoughts: Jane Austen at 250
The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, Murray Hill, ManhattanThrough September 14
Unknown artist, “Silhouette of Rev. George Austen” (left) and “Silhouette of Mrs. Cassandra (Leigh) Austen” (proper) (c. 1800s), ink on paper (picture courtesy Morgan Library & Museum)
Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of celebrated English creator Jane Austen’s beginning, this present gathers a plethora of non-public objects together with letters, manuscripts, books, and artworks. Taken collectively, it opens up new outlooks on the trajectory of her profession and legacy.
Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers
Museum of Trendy Artwork, 11 West 53rd Avenue, Midtown, ManhattanThrough September 27
Hilma af Klint, “No. A,” from The Atom Sequence (1917), watercolor, pencil, and metallic paint on paper (picture courtesy the Museum of Trendy Artwork, New York)
Museum-goers who fell in love with Hilma af Klint’s big, colourful work on the Guggenheim a number of years in the past get to see a distinct aspect of the artist with this exhibition. The small botanical and summary work that comprise this present provide perception into af Klint’s beginnings with all the great thing about her monumental later artwork.
Breakdown: The Promise of Decay
Staten Island Museum, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Constructing A, Staten IslandThrough September 28
Jade Doskow, “The Storm” (2022), archival giclée print (picture courtesy Staten Island Museum)
Decay will get a foul rap — with out its nourishment, we wouldn’t survive. This fascinating present transforms the scientific topic right into a drama with actors like heroic mycelium and harmful microplastics. By artworks and museum objects, it reminds us that this unseen ecosystem is integral to our lives.
Above Floor: Artwork from the Martin Wong Graffiti Assortment
Museum of the Metropolis of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, East Harlem, ManhattanThrough October 5
Lee Quiñones, “Breakfast at Baychester” (1977), ink on paper (picture courtesy the Museum of the Metropolis of New York)
Consisting of works collected and donated by the late painter Martin Wong, this exhibition traces the evolution of New York Metropolis graffiti from its underground roots to middle stage of the artwork world. Highlights embrace works by Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Girl Pink, and Futura 2000.
Take heed to the Hyperallergic Podcast associated to the exhibition right here.
The Gatherers
MoMA PS1, 22–25 Jackson Avenue, Lengthy Island Metropolis, QueensThrough October 6
Element view of Tolia Astakhishvili, “Dark Days” (2025) (picture by Kris Graves)
Fourteen worldwide artists come collectively to create sculptures which might be hauntingly acquainted but not like something you’ve ever fairly seen. These artists, who embrace Ser Serpas, Samuel Hindolo, and Nick Relph, deal in rubbish and surplus, waste and extra, drawing consideration to a rising aesthetics of civil development, deconstruction, and the palimpsests left by the too-quick biking between the 2.
Learn our full assessment right here.
Lorna Simpson: Supply Notes
Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, 1000 Fifth Avenue, Higher East Aspect, ManhattanThrough November 2
Lorna Simpson, “For Beryl Wright” (2021), ink and screenprint on two gessoed fiberglass panels (picture by James Wang, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth)
Like her images, for which she is healthier recognized, Lorna Simpson’s portray follow is extra simply skilled than described: It’s apparitional and abraded, coolly distant with an undertow of emotion, and figuration nearly all the time dissolves into abstraction. Good factor The Met’s placing on the primary survey of Simpson’s work, with 30 works drawn from the final 10 years. These items revolve round massive themes — race, gender, historical past — to gesture at that query central to visible artwork: How do photos create that means?
Abang-guard: Makibaka
Umber Majeed: J😊Y TECH
Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, QueensThrough January 18, 2026
Video nonetheless of Abang-guard, “Bridged Monuments – Filipino Community Cultural Center of Delano, California” (2025) (courtesy the artists)
The Queens Museum’s constructing served because the New York Metropolis Pavilion on the 1964–65 World’s Honest. Sixty years later, Abang-guard, a Filipino artist duo consisting of Maureen Catbagan and Jevijoe Vitug, revisit the honest by reshaping the structure of the Philippines and New York pavilions. By work, performances, sculptures, and movies, they meditate on websites of Filipino-American remembrance, such because the Filipino Group Cultural Middle in Delano, California.
Umber Majeed “Timeline” (2024–25), PVC vinyl (picture by and courtesy the artist)
Umber Majeed is one other artist who riffs on the historical past of a 1964–65 World Honest pavilion — if constructing a counter-narrative via drawings, installations, ceramics, and even an augmented actuality expertise counts as “riffing.” It’s one other chapter in her ongoing exploration of the South Asian diaspora by way of avenues as numerous as a defunct vacationer company operated by her uncle and the aesthetics of Jackson Heights cellphone restore outlets.
Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, Higher East Aspect, ManhattanThrough January 18, 2026
Rashid Johnson, “The Broken Five” (2019), ceramic tile, mirror tile, branded purple oak flooring, vinyl, spray enamel, oil stick, black cleaning soap, wax (© Rashid Johnson, 2025; picture by Martin Parsekian, courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, New York)
The exhibition’s central set up, which transforms the Guggenheim’s rotunda into a surprising show of books and crops, is purpose sufficient to see this exhibition. However Johnson’s multimedia artwork exploring Black id is among the most considerate work you’ll see this summer time. It’s by turns humorous and poignant, and all the time highly effective.
Learn our full assessment right here.
