The best US exhibitions in 2026

Museums across the USA are civic landmarks, community hubs, economic engines and major draws for out-of-town visitors.

Oh, and they also exhibit world-class art.

In addition to displaying their rich and varied permanent collections, American museums produce temporary exhibitions that combine scholarship with showmanship. These shows highlight works both by artists who are household names and by those whose breakout moment lies just around the bend – helping visitors think about, look at and understand the world around them in new ways.

An exciting lineup of exhibitions will pack both the calendar and gallery walls in 2026. In particular, the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding provides a timely chance to take a fresh look at American art.

Here are seven exhibitions all over the US that are worth planning a trip around in 2026.

People walk in a riverfront park in a big city. A large museum is seen across the road. — The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Max Touhey, via Whitney Museum

1. Whitney Biennial 2026

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
On view: starting March 8, 2026

The 82nd edition of this venerable survey of the new, the now and the next of American art is the tentpole of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2026 program. Staff curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer have selected a wide range of works in many media (and often multimedia) by 56 individual artists and collectives drawn from the full spectrum of American experience. (This year’s lineup skews notably young, with more than half the creators born after 1980.) As you walk through this survey of the American art scene, you might find yourself outraged or befuddled, galvanized or inspired. But one word that never describes the Whitney Biennial? Boring.

A huge artwork of a figure in silhouette adorns a building on a street in a city. — **Left:** The Seattle Museum of Art. Shutterstock **Right:** A visitor at “Ai, Rebel.” Alborz Kamalizad, via Seattle Art Museum

A man looks at gold-covered sculptures in a museum gallery. — **Left:** The Seattle Museum of Art. Shutterstock **Right:** A visitor at “Ai, Rebel.” Alborz Kamalizad, via Seattle Art Museum

2. Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
On view: March 12–September 7, 2026

The rare art star who actually deserves the overused term “iconoclast,” Ai Weiwei creates conceptual art that breaks boundaries – and breaks through to the masses. In his practice, he uses humor and extraordinary creative variety to make works in many forms that are as politically potent as they are accessible. (They’re often beautiful, too). This retrospective at the Seattle Art Museum will be the artist’s biggest yet in the US, and will feature many of his greatest hits, from the photograph series Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995) to the monumental installation Sunflower Seeds (2010), among many others.

A quilt whose panels show various floral and heart-inspired motifs. — **Clockwise from top left:** Baltimore-Style Album Quilt, 1845-1850. American Folk Art Museum; “Alexander Hamilton“ by Giuseppe Cerrachi, 1794. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; A view of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Getty Images; “Artist Considers the 21st Century Implications of Psychosis as Public Health Crisis or, Critical/Comedic Analysis into the Pathophysiology of Psychosis“ by Vanessa German, 2014. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

A marble bust of a heroic figure. — **Clockwise from top left:** Baltimore-Style Album Quilt, 1845-1850. American Folk Art Museum; “Alexander Hamilton“ by Giuseppe Cerrachi, 1794. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; A view of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Getty Images; “Artist Considers the 21st Century Implications of Psychosis as Public Health Crisis or, Critical/Comedic Analysis into the Pathophysiology of Psychosis“ by Vanessa German, 2014. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

3. America 250: Common Threads

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
On view: March 14–July 27, 2026

In an era of divisive politics and polarization, the priceless Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in rural Arkansas will use the power of art to spark dialogue, community and (dare we say it?) patriotism. The institution’s contribution to the USA’s semiquincentennial festivities will use a display of documents – including the Declaration of Independence – as a launchpad for presenting paintings, textiles, sculptures and even toys that illustrate how Americans have seen themselves from 1776 to the present. Expect quilts to factor big in the presentation – and the presence of live quilters in the galleries, continuing the art-making into the present. Corny? Perhaps. But these days, we all deserve to have our spirits lifted a bit.

A Renaissance painting depicts a courtier wearing sumptuous clothing. — **Left:** “Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione“ by Raphael, 1518. RMN - Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY **Right:** The Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Shutterstock

A view of a huge hall in a beaux-art-style museum building. — **Left:** “Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione“ by Raphael, 1518. RMN - Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY **Right:** The Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Shutterstock

4. Raphael: Sublime Poetry

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
On view: March 29–June 28, 2026

This is the kind of blockbuster art event only the Met can pull off. Bringing together over 200 works by one of the most famous artists who ever lived, this exhibition is the first comprehensive look at Raphael’s oeuvre ever mounted in the US. Through a display of huge paintings, drawings and sumptuous tapestries (which were considered the height of opulence and refinement in the Renaissance), visitors can expect a fresh look at the creative process and output this singular artist, who looms as large over the history of art as any figure, ever. Whether you’ve never set foot in the Met or you drop in weekly, this show is reason alone to get planning your next visit – now.

The exterior of a museum on a city street — **Clockwise from top left:** The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Shutterstock; “George Washington“ by Gilbert Stuart. The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Shutterstock; “J. S. B. III, 1968” Barkley L Hendricks. The Philadelphia Museum of Art

A portrait of a man in the 18th century wearing a wig and formal dress. — **Clockwise from top left:** The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Shutterstock; “George Washington“ by Gilbert Stuart. The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Shutterstock; “J. S. B. III, 1968” Barkley L Hendricks. The Philadelphia Museum of Art

5. A Nation of Artists

Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
On view: April 12, 2026–September 2027

It feels right that this sprawling survey of American art – over 1000 works, across two institutions, on display for more than a year – will be taking over Philadelphia, the USA’s “Cradle of Liberty,” for the country’s 250th birthday. On view at both the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the exhibition will tackle the wide, thrilling, sometimes messy, always engaging scope of the visual arts in the United States – from colonial-era portraits to Hudson River School landscapes to works by Indigenous and African American creators. A selection of masterworks from the private Middleton Family Collection will provide a special enhancement to the presentation. Ambitious? Sure. But so is the American project.

A painting depicts a woman bathing a child. — **Left:** “The Child's Bath” by Mary Cassatt, 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago **Right:** The Art Institute of Chicago. Shutterstock

Visitors in the light-filled atrium of an art musuem. — **Left:** “The Child's Bath” by Mary Cassatt, 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago **Right:** The Art Institute of Chicago. Shutterstock

6. Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
On view: September 6, 2026–January 3, 2027

A perennial favorite of art lovers, Mary Cassatt has a story that’s hard to resist. After persisting in her desire to train and work as an artist – a rare feat for a 19th-century woman – the Pennsylvania-born Cassatt moved for good to Paris in the 1860s, and officially joined the then-radical circle of Impressionist painters (the only American to be a member). Yet it was in the later phases of her career that she produced perhaps her most memorable – and certainly most innovative – works, including her timeless paintings depicting children with their mothers and caretakers. This exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago will leave you with a fresh perspective on the work of a wonderfully familiar artist.

An antique photograph shows the back of a woman draped in stylish fabric. — **Left:** “The Actress Marie Laurent” by Nadar, c 1856. Bibliothèque nationale de France **Right:** The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Shuttestock

The concrete vault of an art museum. — **Left:** “The Actress Marie Laurent” by Nadar, c 1856. Bibliothèque nationale de France **Right:** The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Shuttestock

7. Photography’s First Century: Masterworks from the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Kimbell Museum of Art, Fort Worth
On view: October 4, 2026–January 17, 2027

The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth’s Louis Kahn–designed jewel box for old master paintings, mounts its first-ever exhibition of photography, with a focus (ahem) on the first decades of the world-changing medium. Drawing from one of the world’s great repositories of historic photographs – the Bibliothèque nationale de France – this exhibition will trace the development of photography through advancements both technical and artistic. On rare, low-light display will be works by Félix Tournachon (Nadar), Eugène Atget, Sonia Delaunay, Man Ray, Brassaï and other photographic pioneers.