The Large Galleries
The giants of the international commercial art world, these NYC galleries do everything from advising to tapping into the zeitgeist (and some might say creating the zeitgeist as well). Their shows range from new names to legends of modern/contemporary art; displayed in simple spaces and backed by impeccable research. In addition, many of the galleries publish catalogs and monographs, hold virtual and/or IRL exclusive interviews with artists, curators, and historians, posting the results on their websites. The result is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the field of art, from creation to collecting.
Gagosian: Jeff Koons Porcelain Series (November 13, 2025 – February 28, 2026 at 541 West 24th Street), Richard Prince: Folk Songs (November 6 – December 20, 2025 at 555 West 24th Street), Richard Serra: Running Arcs (For John Cage) (September 12 – December 20, 2025 at 522 West 21st Street), Richard Diebenkorn (November 8 – December 20, 2025 at 980 Madison Avenue), Lauren Halsey (November 14 – December 20, 2025 at Park & 75 [821 Park Avenue])
Hauser & Wirth: Franz Gertsch: Presence (November 11, 2025 – January 31, 2026 at 134 Wooster Street), Louise Bourgeois: Gathering Wool (November 6, 2025 – January 24, 2026 at 542 West 22nd Street location), Catherine Goodman: Island (November 13 – December 20, 2025 at 443 West 18th Street location)
Pace Galleries: Li Songsong: History Painting (November 7 – December 20, 2025 at 540 West 25th Street location), Antoni Tàpies: On paper (November 7 – December 20, 2025 at 540 West 25th Street location), Agnes Martin: Innocent Love (November 7 – December 20, 2025 at 540 West 25th Street location), Friedrich Kunath: Aimless Love (November 7 – December 20, 2025 at 510 West 25th Street location), David Byrne (April 10 – December 31, 2025 at 540 West 25th Street location)
David Zwirner: Breakthrough: Prints from ULAE 1957-2009 (opening January 15, 2026 at 537 West 20th Street location), Luc Tuymans: The Fruit Basket (November 6 – December 19, 2025 at 533 West 19th Street location), William Eggleston: The Last Dyes (opening January 15, 2026 at 519, 525, & 533 West 19th Street location), Nicole Eisenman: STY (October 30, 2025 – January 10, 2026 at 52 Walker Street location), Sosa Joseph: Rain over the river (November 7 – December 20, 2025 at 34 East 69th Street location) Elisheva Biernoff: Elsewhere (opening January 8, 2026 at 34 East 69th Street location)
The Mid-Size & Small Galleries
Offering everything from a deep dive into a little-known aspect of an artist’s career, an introduction to an established artist from another country, or exploring a topic you never considered before, the mid-size and small galleries of NYC leave an indelible impression on visitors. Run by noted experts in their subject, these gallerists often place their artists’ works in major arts institutions around the country, helping create permanent collections that future generations of art lovers will find useful and relevant. The listing below is just a sample of the fantastic variety of works available for viewing this season.
Mid-Size Galleries
Hollis Taggart: Drop, Cloth (December 4, 2025 – January 10, 2026 at 521 West 26th Street location), Holiday Remix (December 12, 2025 – January 3, 2026 at 109 Norfolk Street location)
Lehmann Maupin (501 West 24th Street): Kader Attia: Shattering and gathering our traces (October 30 – December 20, 2025)
Lisson Gallery: Sean Kelly: Tower (November 6, 2025 – January 24, 2026 at 508 West 24th Street location), Tishan Hsu: emergence (October 30, 2025 – January 24, 2026 at 504 West 24th Street location)
Luhring Augustine: Reinhard Mucha (November 14, 2025 – January 17, 2026 at 531 West 24th Street location) Ragnar Kjartansson: Sunday Without Love (November 1 – December 20, 2025 at 17 White Street location)
Small Galleries
Alexander Gray Associates (384 Broadway): Ruby Sky Stiler: Long Pose (November 7 – December 20, 2025)
HB381 (381 Broadway): Irene Nordli: Both Sides Now (November 7 – December 20, 2025)
Claire Oliver Gallery (2288 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd): We AmerRícans (November 5, 2025 – January 3, 2026)
Rosenberg & Co. (19 East 66th Street): Currents of Modernism: Between Europe and America (October 23 – December 20, 2025)
Seizan Gallery (525 West 26th Street, Ground Floor): AWAI: Marina Berio, Aya Fujioka, Asa Hiramatsu (October 23 – December 20, 2025)
Staley-Wise Gallery (100 Crosby Street, Suite 305): Looking at Life (December 11, 2025 – February 7, 2026)
Jack Shainman: Charisse Pearlina Weston: mis-/mé- (squeeze) (October 30 – December 20, 2025 at 513 West 20th Street), Faith Ringgold (November 14, 2025 – January 24, 2026 at 46 Lafayette Street)
School Museums & Galleries
NYC has an international reputation for the depth and breadth of its educational institutions: what is less known is how many of them contain galleries open to the public (often with free admission). These spaces feature a stunning range of exhibition topics: alumni artworks, school collections/archives, and graduate students’ work in curation, design, and research.
Art Students League of New York (215 West 57th Street): 150 Years: The Abstract Expressionists and 150 Years: Reexamining Realism (both September 4 – December 31, 2025), 150 Years: Fake Paintings at the League (October 16 – December 31, 2025)
Bard Gallery (18 West 86th Street): Viollet-le-Duc: Drawing Worlds (January 28 – May 24, 2026)
Grey Art Museum (New York University, 18 Cooper Square): Handle with Care: Robert Rauschenberg’s Ecological Conscience (September 9, 2025 – April 11, 2026), Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert (January 22 – April 11, 2026)
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery (Hunter College, Hunter West Building, 132 East 68th Street): Speaking in Pairs (February 5 – April 19, 2026)
ISAW [Institute for the Study of the Ancient World] (15 East 84th Street): Rodin’s Egypt (November 19, 2025 – March 15, 2026)
ISLAA [Institute for Studies on Latin American Art] (142 Franklin Street): Marcia Schvartz: Power in Looking Back (September 6 – December 20, 2025), Violaciones Domésticas: Feminist Constellations in 1990s Argentina (September 6 – December 20, 2025)
Mishkin Gallery (Baruch College, 135 East 22nd Street): TBA
Museum at FIT (227 West 27th Street): Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis (September 10, 2025 – January 4, 2026)
New York School of Interior Design (170 East 70th Street): Sketching the Surface: Exploring the New York School of Interior Design Archives and Contemporary Pattern Design (September 26, 2025 – April 3, 2026)
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture (8 West 8th Street): Joseph Marioni: Artist’s Choice (November 14, 2025 – January 5, 2026)
Pratt Manhattan Gallery (144 West 14th Street): In Our Time: Eleven Artists + W.E.B. Du Bois (September 26 – December 20, 2025)
Print Center New York (535 West 24th Street): Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print (September 18 – December 20, 2025), Felipe Baeza: Anima (February 5 – May 23, 2026)
Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging and The Center for Black Visual Culture present: Reflections in Black: A Reframing (Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography & Imaging, Gulf & Western Galleries, 721 Broadway from September 4 – December 21, 2025)
Wallach Gallery (Columbia University, 615 West 129th Street, 6th Floor): Lotty Rosenfeld: Disobedient Spaces (November 7, 2025 – March 15, 2026), MODA Curates 2026 (March 28 – April 12, 2026)
Associations & Cultural Centers
A side effect of NYC’s diversity is the tremendous amount of organizations eager to share their communities’ artistic/cultural contributions to the USA and the world at large. Their exhibitions are geared more towards contemporary and/or modern works, with the occasional historical show linking to the institution’s background. In addition, they offer concerts, educational programs, films, and lectures (both virtual and in-person) on a wide variety of subjects that are enjoyed by fans and newbies alike.
AS/COA (Americas Society/Council of the Americas, 680 Park Avenue): Amazonia Açu (September 3, 2025 – April 18, 2026), Flag Series: MAHKU, Pedro Mana, Yube Nawa Ainbu, 2025 (September 3, 2025 – April 18, 2026), Atrium Series: Evan Venegas, Day Map 61317, 2017 (September 3, 2025 – April 18, 2026), Lilia Carrillo: Ruptures and Premonitions (May 6 – August 1, 2026)
Austrian Cultural Forum New York (11 East 52nd Street): Vally Wieselthier: Sculpting Modernism (October 15, 2025 – February 9, 2026)
Center for Book Arts (28 West 27th Street): Shatter / Chatter: Rosaire Appel (January 21 – May 2, 2026), Rewriting the World: Isidore Isou and the Lettrist Book (January 21 – May 2, 2026)
Czech Center New York (Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street): Station for Paused Forecasting: Unstable landscapes by a new generation of artists from the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague (September 10 – December 31, 2025)
The Drawing Center (35 Wooster Street): Voice of Space: UFOs and Paranormal Phenomena (October 17, 2025 – February 1, 2026), Trisha Donnelly (October 17, 2025 – February 1, 2026)
The Grolier Club (47 East 60th Street): Jewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts from the JTS Library (September 17 – December 27, 2025), Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen (December 4, 2025 – February 14, 2026), The Second Printing Revolution: Invention of Mass Media (January 14 – April 11, 2026), Running Through Heaven: Visions of Jack Kerouac (March 5 – May 16, 2026), Risings: The Irish Literary Revival and the Making of a Nation (April 29 – July 25, 2026) Information here
Instituto Cervantes New York (211 East 49th Street): Isabel Azkarate (October 2, 2025 – January 18, 2026)
Japan Society (333 East 47th Street): Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries (September 12, 2025 – January 11, 2026)
National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South at 20th Street): The Winter Show (December 4, 2025 – January 30, 2026) Information here
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center or 111 Amsterdam Avenue between 64th & 65th Streets): Syncopated Stages: Black Disruptions to the Great White Way (September 17, 2025 – February 21, 2026)
New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street): 100: A Century of Collections, Community, and Creativity (until June 30, 2026)

New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (42nd Street and Fifth Avenue): Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures (ongoing), A Century of The New Yorker (February 22, 2025 – February 21, 2026), ¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics (October 4, 2025 – March 8, 2026), Niyū Yūrk: Middle Eastern and North African Lives in the City (October 4, 2025 – March 8, 2026)
Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation (87 Eldridge Street): Building Models: The Shape of Painting Curated by Saul Ostrow (September 5, 2025 – January 17, 2026)
Scandinavia House (58 Park Avenue): A Time for Everything: 25 Years of Contemporary Art at Scandinavia House (October 18, 2025 – February 14, 2026)
Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street): Something Else Entirely: The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey (October 4, 2025 – February 7, 2026, Peter Kuper’s Insectopolis: A Natural History (May 14 – October 25, 2025), The Original Art – 45th Annual Exhibition (October 25, 2025 – January 24, 2026)