10 essential NYC art exhibitions to add to your calendar this fall

As the weather cools and crowds begin to retreat indoors, there’s no better way to venture beyond the comforts of home than by exploring the city’s vibrant art scene. From major museum showcases to intimate gallery exhibitions, New York City has plenty to see this fall. Here are 10 of the best upcoming museum and gallery exhibitions to add to your calendar this season.

“Brice Marden: I Am Plane Image” at Gagosian

522 W 21 St. / Website

Now through Dec. 12, Brice Marden’s artwork is on display at Gagosian. This comprehensive survey of Marden’s paintings is the first time the artist’s work has been showcased in New York City in 20 years. With paintings dating from 1961 to 2023, the exhibition explores Marden’s lifelong analysis of the plane and the corporeal presence of his work.   Entry into the exhibition is free.

Price: Free

“Chasing Clouds” at The Met

1000 Fifth Ave. / Website

With rainy fall days approaching, what’s a better way to take a good look at the clouds than at The Metropolitan Museum of Art? From now until Feb. 28, visitors can learn about the extraordinary story of how clouds have been captured by artists throughout history. Starting in the early 1800s, the exhibit details how photographers had to resort to painting the skies due to photography limitations of the era. Guests will have the opportunity to see oil sketches, drawings, paintings, and photographs in the later decades of beautiful cloud layouts–ending in the 1920s with American photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s “Equivalents,” a collection of cloud studies. Tickets can be purchased on the museum’s website or at the door.

Price: Pay-What-You-Can Admission for New York State Residents
Jacob Riis, [Family in room in tenement house.] from How the Other Half
Lives. (90.13.3.125) Museum of the City of New York

“The Bowery: Devil’s Mile” at New Museum

235 Bowery / Website

Opening on Sept. 24, this exhibition is the first to examine the striking history and culture of New York’s oldest thoroughfare. Exploring over five centuries of what was once recognized as the world’s most infamous Skid Row, “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile” features both artworks and artifacts that lead visitors through the Bowery as a Lenape footpath, entertainment hub, and more recently as a flourishing community of artists. Named after the Bowery’s old nickname, Devil’s Mile, the exhibit will be on view until Jan. 31. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

Price: $28 Adult Tickets

“Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works” at Poster House

119 W 23 St. / Website

Reopening on Sept. 25 with brand-new installations, Poster House will be showcasing the rich history of Native graphic art. Curated by Brian Johnson of the Monacan Indian Nation, “Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works” features works that span nearly two centuries and represent over 60 Native American and Indigenous tribes and nations. The exhibit will be on display until Feb. 21. Tickets can only be purchased at the door.

Price: $15 Adult Tickets
“Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works” is reopening at Poster House this month.Courtesy of Poster House

“Raise Your Voice” at The Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Ave. / Website

As the year of America’s 250th birthday comes to a close, take a look at all of the New York-based activism that has occurred over the past centuries. Opening on Sept. 25, “Raise Your Voice” will explore the four ways in which New Yorkers have initiated change within the city. By learning about demonstrating, organizing, art and media, and direct action, guests can view the historic tools and objects that have transformed the city over time. A final section within the exhibit titled “Your City, Your Move” will feature a poster-making station and on-site voter registration to put the learned tactics into action. Tickets can be purchased on the museum’s website or at the door.

Price: Pay-What-You-Can Admission for New York State Residents

“You Should Be Dancing: New York, 1976 and Beyond” at The New York Historical

170 Central Park W. / Website

From Oct. 2 to April 4, The New York Historical will be transporting visitors back to a decade when the new music genres included punk, disco, and hip hop. The exhibition will share how New York, during a time of financial crisis, built a new wave of culture rooted in creativity and celebration. Beginning in the 1970s, the exhibit will feature musical instruments, fashion items, albums, flyers, and more that reveal the long-term effects this period had on American culture. Tickets to the museum can be purchased on The New York Historical’s website or at the door.

Price: $24 Adult Tickets
Mika Ninagawa’s “Feel the Flow(ers)” opens at the Brooklyn Museum in October.Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

Mika Ninagawa’s “Feel the Flow(ers)” at Brooklyn Museum

200 Eastern Parkway / Website

Even with summer coming to a close, it doesn’t mean that all the beauty of the season has to leave as well. From Oct. 2 to April 2027, guests can view “Feel the Flow(ers),” Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa’s first immersive installation in the U.S. Located within Brooklyn Museum’s Education Gallery, the exhibition will be filled with colorfully vibrant images of flowers that transport visitors into a massive garden where one can touch and smell every petal. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. 

Price: Pay-what-you-wish Admission for New York State Residents

“The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors” at MoMA

11 W 53 St. / Website

The works of Surrealism’s most captivating artists, such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst, will be unveiled at the Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 4. The exhibition will study the role Surrealist books have played throughout history, beginning with their profound influence in the 1920s and ending with the enduring presence of Surrealism found within volumes in the 1950s and 60s. Showcasing rare artists’ books for the first time at MoMA from the Helen and Sam Zell collection, “The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors” will be on view until Jan. 23. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.  

Price: $30 Adult Tickets
Roy Lichtenstein,Brushstroke, 1965. Offsetlithograph, 25 1/16 x 29 3/4 in. (63.7 x 75.6cm). Whitney Museum of American Art,New York; gift of the Roy LichtensteinFoundation 2019.98. © Roy LichtensteinFoundation/DACS 2026

“Roy Lichtenstein: Like New” at Whitney Museum of American Art

99 Gansevoort St. / Website

Celebrating a key figure within the Pop Art Movement, “Roy Lichtenstein: Like New” brings together almost 130 pieces of the artist’s best-known works ranging from the 1940s all the way up to the 1990s. From Oct. 11 to May 10, guests can view paintings, sculptures, drawings, and more that reveal how immaculate Lichtenstein’s handmade work is. The exhibit reunites all the works originally seen in the artist’s first exhibition of Pop-style work from the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1962. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. 

Price: $30 Adult Tickets

“Rembrandt’s Lions: Art and Exile in Dutch Republic” at The Morgan Library and Museum

225 Madison Ave. / Website

Opening on Oct. 23, The Morgan Library and Museum will present a collection of drawings, paintings, and more to explore the foundational influence Rembrandt van Rijn had on Dutch culture. The exhibition will more broadly focus on the migrants, immigrants, exiles, and refugees present in Amsterdam during the 17th century who shaped both Rijn and the larger Dutch Republic. The exhibition will be on display until Jan. 31. Tickets to the museum can be purchased on the museum’s website or at the door.

Price: $25 Adult Tickets