After a long winter, the arrival of spring this year feels like the return of sensation to a dormant limb. What better way to embrace it than by attending nearly 70 art shows we’ve listed below? This season, we categorized the exhibitions to help you dive straight into what excites you most.
The must-see exhibitions include the much-anticipated Whitney Biennial, the grand reopening of the New Museum, and Duchamp’s playful rebellion at MoMA. Other shows explore art history in intriguing ways: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the Met Opera, the return of Paul Klee’s ‘degenerate art,’ and, remarkably, a major Raphael exhibition in the United States for the first time.
From the Asia Society’s display of Shivas and Buddhas to the Brooklyn Museum’s restored Egyptian Books of the Dead, devotional art is well-represented. This season also highlights the human form, from the vivid edges of medieval manuscripts to modern reflections on skin. Fashion is in focus, with Pioneer Works exploring the textile industry and the Frick examining Gainsborough’s portraiture and fashion. (We won’t discuss the Bezos influence at the Costume Institute.) Public art is also blooming alongside the warmer weather, including a giant Buddha on the High Line.
These exhibitions redefine and explore the essence of living in this city, each offering discoveries to stumble upon, linger over, and take home. At this moment, that feels precisely what we need.
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
