This Year’s Unmissable Art Exhibits Across Major U.S. Cities

The American art scene in 2025 presents an extraordinary range of exhibitions that span centuries, styles, and perspectives. From provocative contemporary installations to thoughtful retrospectives of beloved masters, this year’s calendar offers exceptional opportunities for both seasoned art enthusiasts and curious newcomers. Here’s a curated look at the exhibitions defining the cultural landscape across major U.S. cities.

1. Standout Exhibits from Coast to Coast

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

The Metropolitan Museum continues its tradition of mounting ambitious exhibitions that draw from its vast collection while bringing in significant loans from around the world. This year, the museum offers several particularly compelling shows.

“Alice Neel: People Come First” brings together over 100 paintings, drawings, and watercolors from the artist whose unflinching portraits captured the diversity of 20th century American life. Neel’s work, with its psychological intensity and social consciousness, feels remarkably relevant today. Her portraits of neighbors in Spanish Harlem, art world figures, and family members reveal an artist deeply engaged with humanity in all its complexity. The exhibition includes several rarely-seen pieces from private collections, offering a comprehensive view of her seven-decade career.

The Met’s “Graffiti & Street Art” exhibition marks a significant acknowledgment of urban expression as a vital artistic movement. Featuring over 150 works by pioneers like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Lady Pink alongside contemporary practitioners, this exhibition examines how street art evolved from underground practice to global phenomenon. The show’s innovative installation transforms museum galleries with immersive environments that evoke the city streets where this art form was born.

Complementing this exhibition, “The Rise of Graffiti Writing” offers a more historical perspective, tracing the evolution of this art form from the New York subway system of the 1970s to international gallery walls. Through photographs, video installations, and preserved works, the exhibition documents how marginalized voices found expression through unauthorized public art. The Met’s presentation thoughtfully addresses the tension between institutional recognition and the inherently rebellious nature of street art.

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago’s premier art museum presents two exhibitions that approach artistic tradition from different angles, each offering fresh perspectives on familiar territory.

“Matisse and the Mediterranean” explores how Henri Matisse’s encounters with Mediterranean light and culture transformed his approach to color and composition. The exhibition brings together over 70 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, many rarely seen in the United States. Organized chronologically, the show traces Matisse’s artistic evolution from his first transformative trip to the south of France in 1904 through his later years in Nice. The Art Institute’s presentation places particular emphasis on the artist’s process, including preliminary sketches and alternative versions that reveal his relentless experimentation.

“Contemporary Native Voices” presents works by Indigenous artists who engage with traditional forms while addressing present-day realities. The exhibition features more than 40 artists from diverse tribal backgrounds, working across media including painting, sculpture, video, installation, and photography. Particularly powerful are pieces addressing environmental justice, cultural preservation, and the ongoing impact of colonization. By placing these contemporary works in dialogue with the Art Institute’s historical Native American collection, the exhibition creates a conversation across centuries.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

On the West Coast, SFMOMA offers exhibitions that reflect the Bay Area’s unique position at the intersection of artistic tradition and technological innovation.

“Art and AI: The Next Frontier” explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping creative practice. This groundbreaking exhibition features works by artists collaborating with AI systems, creating pieces that challenge traditional notions of authorship and creativity. From generative portraits that evolve in response to viewers to sculptures designed through algorithmic processes and then fabricated by human craftspeople, the exhibition showcases the complex relationship between human creativity and machine learning. Interactive installations invite visitors to participate in the creative process, blurring the line between artist, artwork, and audience.

“Diego Rivera’s America” presents the most comprehensive examination of the Mexican muralist’s work in the United States in over two decades. Centered around SFMOMA’s collection of Rivera’s preparatory drawings for his San Francisco murals, the exhibition expands to include portable murals, large-scale oil paintings, and rarely-seen works on paper. The presentation emphasizes Rivera’s vision of a shared American identity that transcended national borders, particularly relevant in our current political climate. A highlight is the reconstruction of portions of his controversial Rockefeller Center mural, “Man at the Crossroads,” which was destroyed in 1934 due to its inclusion of a portrait of Lenin.

2. Modern & Contemporary Must-Sees: MoMA and The Whitney

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NYC

New York’s MoMA continues to balance exhibitions of established masters with provocative presentations of less familiar figures whose work expands our understanding of modernism and its legacies.

“Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde” recovers the fascinating story of an influential but often overlooked figure in the development of modern art. As a critic, editor, dealer, and collector, Fénéon championed artists including Seurat, Signac, and Matisse while maintaining radical political commitments. The exhibition brings together works from his personal collection alongside archival materials that document his role in shaping the artistic avant-garde of late 19th and early 20th century Paris. The best art exhibits this year challenge our understanding of art history by revealing figures like Fénéon, whose contributions have been underrecognized.

“Faith Ringgold: Projects” presents the multifaceted work of an artist who has consistently merged aesthetic innovation with political engagement over a career spanning more than six decades. Best known for her narrative quilts, Ringgold has worked across painting, sculpture, performance, and children’s books. This exhibition places particular emphasis on her public art projects and community engagement, demonstrating how her artistic practice extends beyond gallery walls to address social issues directly. The presentation includes her powerful “American People Series” alongside more recent work that continues to confront issues of race and gender in American life.

“Judd” offers a comprehensive survey of Donald Judd’s work across media, from his early paintings to the minimal sculptures for which he is best known. Drawing extensively from MoMA’s collection and supplemented by key loans, the exhibition traces Judd’s evolution from painter to sculptor to designer, emphasizing the intellectual rigor and material sensitivity that characterized all his work. The museum’s thoughtful installation allows visitors to experience the precise proportions and subtle variations that make Judd’s seemingly simple boxes such powerful presences in space.

Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC

The Whitney’s program for 2025 reflects its commitment to presenting diverse perspectives on American art and experience.

“Julie Mehretu: A Survey” presents the most comprehensive overview to date of this Ethiopian-American artist whose large-scale abstract paintings incorporate references to architecture, urban planning, and geopolitical events. The exhibition traces Mehretu’s development from her early work of the late 1990s to her recent, more gestural paintings, demonstrating her evolving approach to abstraction as a language for engaging with history and politics. The Whitney’s presentation includes several new works created specifically for this show, offering visitors the chance to see the latest developments in her practice.

“American Sublime: Thomas Cole’s Photography” offers a surprising new perspective on the founder of the Hudson River School. Recently discovered photographs taken by Cole in the 1840s, among the earliest landscape photographs made in America, are presented alongside his paintings and drawings of the same subjects. This juxtaposition reveals how Cole used the new medium of photography to study natural forms while continuing to transform these observations through painting. The exhibition provides fascinating insight into artistic practice at a moment when technology was beginning to transform visual culture.

“Salman Toor: How Will I Know” showcases an emerging painter whose intimate scenes of young, queer, brown men navigate the complexities of contemporary life between Pakistan and New York. Toor’s work draws on the history of figurative painting while addressing thoroughly contemporary experiences of migration, belonging, and identity. The exhibition includes both his signature intimate domestic interiors and more recent, larger canvases that engage with public space. Through his distinctive visual language—characterized by fluid brushwork, acid-bright color, and attenuated figures—Toor creates scenes of both vulnerability and joy.

3. How to Plan Your Year of Art: Tips for Catching the Best Exhibits

Planning an art-filled 2025 requires strategy, especially for major exhibitions that may sell out quickly or travel to multiple venues. Here are some approaches to ensure you don’t miss the most significant shows.

Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Art Calendar

The most efficient way to track exhibitions is through museum newsletters. Major institutions like the Met, MoMA, the Art Institute, and SFMOMA offer email subscriptions that provide advance notice of upcoming shows. Many also send subscriber-only previews and early booking opportunities, giving you an advantage for high-demand exhibitions.

Social media has become an essential tool for art world information. Following museums, galleries, and art critics on platforms like Instagram provides real-time updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses of exhibition preparation. Art-focused publications with strong online presences, such as Artforum, Hyperallergic, and ARTnews, offer comprehensive coverage of upcoming exhibitions and can help identify under-the-radar shows worth attention.

Several dedicated apps and websites now compile exhibition information across multiple institutions. These platforms allow you to filter by location, dates, and artistic interests, creating personalized exhibition calendars that sync with your travel plans.

Booking and Travel Tips for Major Exhibits

For blockbuster exhibitions, consider membership at the hosting museum. Member preview days offer the chance to view shows before they open to the general public, often with significantly smaller crowds. The cost of membership frequently pays for itself if you plan to visit the museum multiple times throughout the year.

When traveling specifically for exhibitions, look for hotel packages that include museum tickets. Many major hotels in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco partner with nearby museums to offer packages that include guaranteed exhibition access, sometimes with extended viewing hours.

Consider visiting major exhibitions on weekday afternoons or during extended evening hours when available. These times typically have smaller crowds than weekends, allowing for a more contemplative experience. Some museums also offer “quiet mornings” with limited attendance for viewers who prefer a less crowded environment.

For exhibitions with timed entry, book your tickets as far in advance as possible, especially if your travel dates are fixed. If tickets appear sold out online, check with the museum directly about last-minute releases or cancellations.

Experiencing Top Shows Virtually

For those unable to travel, virtual access to exhibitions has improved dramatically since museums expanded their digital offerings during the pandemic. Many major museums now provide virtual tours of special exhibitions, often with enhanced content like curator interviews and artist perspectives.

Some institutions offer live-streamed curator talks or virtual opening events that provide deeper insight into exhibitions than might be available during an in-person visit. The Brooklyn Museum has been particularly innovative in this area, offering virtual gallery tours led by curators who respond to questions in real time.

Digital exhibition catalogs have become increasingly sophisticated, often including video content, installation photography, and interactive features beyond what’s possible in print publications. These expanded catalogs sometimes remain available online after exhibitions close, creating a permanent record of temporary shows.

Several museums have developed partnerships with platforms that specialize in high-resolution art imaging, allowing viewers to examine works in extraordinary detail from home. These platforms sometimes provide access to works not included in the physical exhibition due to fragility or loan restrictions.

While nothing replaces the experience of standing before an artwork in person, these virtual options offer valuable alternatives for those whose circumstances don’t allow physical attendance, as well as supplementary information for those planning in-person visits.

From provocative contemporary installations to thoughtful retrospectives of beloved masters, 2025 promises an exceptional range of art experiences across the United States. Whether you’re planning cross-country art pilgrimages or exploring institutions in your own city, this year’s exhibition calendar offers extraordinary opportunities to engage with human creativity across centuries and cultures.