![The Best Museum Exhibits In NYC Right Now](https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/secretnyc.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/29122628/RS79811_FilipWolak_FreeFridays-Biennial_0550_9549-1024x683.jpg)
Art moves people, challenges them, sparks creativity, and so much more. And we’re lucky enough to have some of the best art exhibits in the world, right here in NYC!
That’s why we’ve scoured museum websites to pull together all of the most exciting exhibits that are currently showing or coming soon. A few go beyond traditional art museums, but it’s all about blurring the lines, right?
Check out these wonderful exhibits happening in NYC right now:
1. Jenny Holzer: Light Line
Open through September 29, 2024
Light Line recreates Jenny Holzer’s iconic landmark 1989 installation at the Guggenheim, filling the famous rotunda with scrolling texts, featuring selections from her iconic series, such as “Truisms” and “Inflammatory Essays.” Plus, there’s plenty more of Holzer’s works from the 1970s to the present day, including paintings, stone pieces, and more. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Price: Museum admission
Where: The Guggenheim (1071 5th Ave)
2. Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry
Open through January 5, 2025
Tracing the history of hip-hop from the 1980s to today, Ice Cold features some of the most iconic star-studded jewelry donned by hip-hop’s biggest cultural influences. From Slick Rick’s gem-encrusted crown to the Notorious B.I.G.’s legendary gold ‘Jesus piece’ and Jay-Z’s diamond-studded Roc-A-Fella medallion, the exhibit walks through the evolution of jewelry and its intertwined relationship with rap culture. Other artists’ accessories on display include Nicki Minaj, Erykah Badu, A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, FERG, and Tyler, the Creator, among others. Learn more about the exhibit here.
Price: Museum admission
Where: American Museum of Admission (200 Central Park Ave)
3. Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm
Open through August 18, 2024
Get an inside look into the life of Paul McCartney, the famed member of The Beatles who’s now been certified into a modern music icon. In this brand new exhibition, you’ll get a peek into never-before-seen photos from the Pentax camera of McCartney from the peak era of his career. With over 250 photos on display, you can see a personal glimpse into the intensity of The Beatles’ 1960s touring schedule, “The Fab Four” members, his personal life outside music, and his meteoric rise to fame. If you like The Beatles this exhibit is a must-visit. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Price: Museum admission
Where: Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn)
4. Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
Open through September 2, 2024
The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion invokes all of your senses, featuring around 220 fashion garments and accessories that takes the theme of nature to a whole new level. You can smell your way through the exhibit, touch the walls and dresses, and check out how the motionless ‘artwork’ of fashion can be brought back to life through sensory experience. After all, it’s this exhibit that this year’s Met Gala was based around…so it’s pretty cool. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Price: Museum admission, Purchase your tickets here!
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue)
5. Arbetare, The Met’s Rooftop Commission
Open through October 27, 2024
The Met’s latest iteration of the rooftop commission piece taps Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj, who’s created a sprawling installation consisting of various sculptures inspired by childhood doodles he found on the desks of his former school in Kosovo, in addition to other student’s desks in Albanian and Yugosloavian schools. With cultural and political tensions of the region in the spotlight, the theme of growing up in a traumatic environment evidently shines through. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Price: Museum admission
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue)
6. Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than The Real Thing
Open through August 11, 2024
The 81st installment of the renowned Whitney Biennial is now open, and features 71 visionary artists filling up the gallery to tell stories, spark discussion, and comment on issues using media and art. This year’s iteration focuses on finding “the real” in the age of AI, as well as exploring the fluidity of identity and form. Learn more about the exhibit and see all 71 artists in it here.
Price: $30
Where: 99 Gansevoort St
7. Vivian Maier: Unseen Work
Open through September 29, 2024
Before the Fotografiska closes its doors later this year, be sure to stop by and check out their latest exhibition showcasing the works of legendary American street photographer Vivian Maier. It features over 200 works from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s, portraying the complex world of post-war America and the hell of the American dream through the lens of vintage and modern prints, Super 8 films and soundtracks. Learn more about the Vivian Maier exhibit here!
Price: $24
Where: Fotografiska (281 Park Ave S)
8. The Banksy Museum
Open through July 31, 2024
Consisting of over 160 Banksy-inspired works, the brand new Banksy Museum in SoHo brings art lovers as close as possible to the beloved mysterious artist. This museum actually pulls together a collection of other artists’ works who have reimagined iconic pieces like “Girl with Balloon” and “Flower Thrower.”
🎈 Buy your tickets to the Banksy Museum here!
Price: $30
Where: 277 Canal St
9. The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
Open through July 28, 2024
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism is open now, right at the end of Black History Month, and it pays homage to the influential era of 1920s-40s NYC. The 160 works of paintings, sculptures, photography, film, and ephemera explores the everyday modern life of bustling Harlem and its Black society during the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration. Learn more about the exhibit here.
Prices: Museum admission
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 5th Ave)
10. From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper: Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors
Open through October 27, 2024
Appropriately ranging from Edward Hopper to Paul Revere, this exhibit showcases more than 140 prints, drawings, and watercolors depicting America’s long history. It offers a glance at all aspects of “the American experience” including early 18th-century portraits of Indigenous leaders, picturesque views of towns and cities, inspiring landscapes, and dramatic images of historic events. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Prices: $24
Where: New-York Historical Society (170 Central Park W)
11. Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters
Open through September 8, 2024
Step into a wonderland full of posters, yes posters, that all promote the greatest city on Earth…New York City! Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters is a collection of over 80 posters curated by the internationally recognized authority on vintage posters Nicholas D. Lowry paying homage to the Big Apple. The 19th and 20th century travel posters used to market NYC depict the thriving metropolis, the hustle and the bustle, the bright lights and the imposing structures that still shine through all these years later. It’s a love letter to the city…through the eyes of vintage travel posters. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Prices: Free – $12 depending on day
Where: Poster House (119 W 23rd St)
12. Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory
Open through August 11, 2024
This retrospective exhibit on pioneering artist, curator, and theorist Amalia Mesa-Bains is currently ongoing at El Museo del Barrio. It features over 40 works, touching on intersectional feminist themes, environmentally centered spirituality, and cultural diversity to counter the racist and gendered erasures of colonial repression. The Chicanx artist’s 3 decades of work (much of it anyway) are on display together for the first time. Learn more about the exhibit here.
Price: Pay as you wish
Where: El Museo del Barrio
13. The Secret World of Elephants, American Museum of Natural History
Open now
Explore 60 million years of elephant history at this upcoming exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History! The Secret World of Elephants is set to include life-size models, fossils, and casts of these beloved creatures to illustrate elephants’ size, as well as videos and interactive exhibits to introduce visitors to these massive mammals’ incredible abilities!
Price: $28
🐘 Learn more about The Secret World of Elephants here!
Where: American Museum of Natural History (200 Central Park Ave)
14. Other of Pearl
Open through October 31, 2024
This climate change-focused exhibit on Governors Island is the brainchild of Jenny Kendler, whose new activation features intimate, delicate works—all displayed in the cavernous, subterranean magazine of historic Fort Jay, a star-shaped fortification built on Governors Island between 1775 and 1776. Visitors can get up close and personal with pearl sculptures grown inside oysters, bells rung by fossilized whale ear bones, a crystalline whale eye cast of sea salt and human tears, glass vials filled with oil from long dead whales, and a human nervous system meticulously strung from thousands of tiny pearls.
It’s meant to serve as commentary on oysters and whales as central players in an ecological entanglement between human and nonhuman beings, waterways, and flows of capital. Learn more about the exhibit here!
Prices: Free
Where: Governors Island National Monument
15. Apollo: When We Went to the Moon
Open through September 2, 2024
Feeling lunar and otherworldly?! This special exhibit at The Intrepid Museum pays homage to the history of the Apollo program and tells the tale of NASA’s current Moon to Mars campaign. Through interactive media, photographs, and rarely-seen artifacts directly from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® archives, visitors can learn more about the infamous Space Race with the Soviet Union and all the people and technology behind this fascinating sector of science. Learn more about the “Apollo: When We Went to the Moon” exhibit here.
Prices: $36
Where: The Intrepid Museum (Pier 86, W 46th St)
16. Women’s Work, New-York Historical Society
Open through August 25 2024
What is “women’s work” anyway? In this new exhibition consisting of about 45 objects, it demonstrates how “women’s work” (historical trends encouraging women to take certain jobs) defies categorization. Items like medical kits and military uniforms are on display, proving just how essential women’s labor efforts have been to the backbone of American society. While celebrating the strides society has made in equality over the years, the exhibit simultaneously shines light on inequalities that still persist today. Learn more here.
Price: $13-$24
Where: New-York Historical Society (170 Central Park West)
17. This is New York: 100 Year of the City in Art and Pop Culture
Open through July 21, 2024
To celebrate 100 years of the Museum of the City of New York, they’re showcasing a brand new exhibit that explore ours beloved city across all art forms. Through both famous and lesser-known depictions of New York in film and television, visual and performing arts, music, poetry and literature, and even fashion, the exhibit showcases the magic of NYC and what makes it so special. We’re talking everything from an interactive installation of songs inspired by each borough to an immersive 16-screen experience drawn from hundreds of movies about the city made over the past century. It’s the ultimate New York homage.
Prices: $20
Read more about the exhibit here!
Where: Museum of the City of New York (1220 5th Ave)
18. INTER_, SoHo
Open now
Take a journey of self-discovery at this groundbreaking and interactive art experience in SoHo. Consisting of a multi-sensory environment where your presence becomes part of the art, the mind-bending installations and digital creations here invite you to explore mind, body, and reality. There’s also an INTER_planetary section of the exhibit that explores Earth’s elements like ether, earth, water, air and fire. This storytelling experience that spans visual, spatial, audio, and experiential elements simply cannot be missed!
Prices: $33-45
Learn more about INTER_ here.
Where: 415 Broadway
19. Ghost Stories: A Mysterious, Macabre Interactive Tour
Open now
Happening on select weekends is a Ghost Stories tour, an interactive tour of all things frightful in the Metropolitan Museum of Art! Get ready to travel across time and cultures to see things like Flying Dutchmen and funerary masks, still life art and sculptures from Egypt, Europe, and beyond. Plus, you’ll even hear some ghoulish stories about the museum itself… Do you have what it takes to make it through the Ghost Stories tour?
Price: $47.50
🐫 Buy tickets to the Ghost Stories tour here!
Where: The Met (1000 5th Avenue)
20. RiseNY
Open now
Are you ready to fall in love with New York City all over again? RiseNY is a 3 part art exhibit, museum, and ride that will take you through the history of the Big Apple. Starting with a short documentary by award-winning director Ric Burns about Times Square’s influence on the city, you’ll move into a variety of art exhibits about NYC’s pop culture and arts scene throughout history. Everything from the Notorious B.I.G‘s tracksuit to a Beatles drumhead is housed here. Finally, hop into a soaring immersive ride that will fly you over the iconic skyline. This breath-taking and surreal experience will surely leave you speechless!
Prices: $25-$43
🏙️ Purchase tickets to RISE NY here!
Where: 160 W 45th St