New York has some art shows we are looking forward to seeing in 2026, from Gainsborough’s elegant portraits at the Frick and a rare Caravaggio at the Morgan, to Carol Bove’s sculptural takeover of the Guggenheim, a handcrafted vision of New York at the Museum of the City of New York, a timely look at revolution at the Met, and Marcel Duchamp’s radical legacy at MoMA.
Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture — The Frick Collection
This landmark exhibition offers New York’s first ever deep dive into Thomas Gainsborough’s portraiture, showcasing more than two dozen masterworks that spotlight the 18th-century painter’s dazzling connection to fashion, culture, and identity. Rather than just pretty clothes, you’ll see how clothing signified status, taste, and social dynamics in his time, and how Gainsborough’s brush elevated portraiture into a conversation about style itself, blending art history and sartorial intrigue in a fresh way.
Carol Bove — Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Carol Bove’s first major museum survey traces over 25 years of innovative practice, from early drawings to her commanding steel and scrap-metal “collage sculptures.” Installed within Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic rotunda, the show highlights how Bove manipulates material, scale, and space to spark unexpected dialogues between object and architecture, inviting viewers to experience contemporary sculpture as both physical form and poetic encounter.
He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model — Museum of the City of New York
Experience an extraordinary, handmade vision of New York like no other: Joe Macken’s expansive model of the city, built over 20 years from everyday materials. At 55 by 30 feet and filled with meticulous architectural detail, this immersive sculpture brings the city’s skyline and neighborhoods to life in a way that’s both playful and awe-inspiring.
Caravaggio’s “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” in Focus — The Morgan Library & Museum
This focused exhibition offers an unusual chance to see one of Caravaggio’s earliest masterpieces alongside works that influenced him and those he influenced. At its heart is Boy with a Basket of Fruit, a stunning early example of naturalism that helped redefine Baroque painting, complemented by context that traces Caravaggio’s radical impact on 17th century art. It’s a must for anyone who loves dramatic realism and art history up close.
Revolution! — The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, this ambitious installation brings together prints, paintings, and rare works that chart the global circulation of revolutionary ideas and the people who shaped them—from Indigenous leaders and enslaved poets to founding fathers. It’s both a visual feast and a fresh lens on a pivotal moment in history that still resonates today.
Marcel Duchamp — The Museum of Modern Art
MoMA’s sweeping retrospective brings nearly 300 works by Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential provocateur of 20th century art, together in one place for the first time in decades. From Cubist shockers like Nude Descending a Staircase to his groundbreaking readymades that redefined what art is, this survey charts the playful yet radical evolution of a genius who forever changed how we think about creativity itself.
