1. “Vermeer’s Love Letters,” June 18 - Sept. 8
Haven’t we all missed The Frick? The museum reopens on April 17 with beloved masterpieces and a whole new floor filled with works. Coming in June there’s a jewel box of treasures in a small exhibition of Vermeers. Hung alongside the Frick’s own “Mistress and Maid,” will be “The Love Letter” on loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and “Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid” from the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. It’s the first time they’ll be on view together, and it’s the kind of tightly focused, gorgeously presented exhibition the Frick has been known for. How much beauty can you pack into one visit?
The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St., frick.org
2. “Sargent and Paris,” April 27–Aug. 3, 2025
After wowing audiences in London last year, John Singer Sargent’s beloved, notorious “Madame X” is back and starring in an exhibition that brings several of his Paris-era works together and juxtaposes them with portraits of other Parisians by Sargent’s contemporaries. “Madame X” will be on view along with extraordinary loans like “Fumée d’ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris)” from the Clark Art Institute, “Dr. Pozzi at Home” from the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
For a deeper immersion in Parisian society at the turn of the 20th century, The Met’s beloved “Sight and Sound” series presents “Fauré, Sargent, & Paris” with Leon Botstein conducting The Orchestra Now and tenor Benjamin Truncale in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on May 18 at 2 pm.
The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Ave., metmuseum.org
3. “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” April 9 – Aug. 10
Sherald’s groundbreaking portrait of Michelle Obama will be a centerpiece of this exhibition, and probably the reason many people will visit. But the wealth of works in this, the artist’s first New York museum survey, is the real treasure. Her subjects are Black Americans—from cities, suburbs, and countryside, on beaches, bicycles and at parties, smartly dressed and joyfully portrayed. “I paint because I am looking for versions of myself in art history and in the world,” Sherald has stated. In those versions of herself, don’t be surprised if you find a version of yourself, your family, and your friends.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St., whitney.org
4. “Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers,” May 11 – September 27
One of the most exciting discoveries in the art world in recent years was the fact that Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was creating pure abstraction before anyone had come up with such an idea. MoMA has just acquired a portfolio of 46 botanical drawings. Look for careful studies from life juxtaposed with arcane diagrams referencing af Klint’s spiritual beliefs about “what stands behind the flowers.”
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., moma.org
5. “Motherwell” and “Dynamic Duos,” March 22 – Aug. 2, 2025
Doubling down on duos, the New York Public Library is filling its Wachenheim Gallery with two shows. “Dynamic Duos” brings artworks built on shared visions and collaborative talents. They’re the result of creative couples, friends, co-workers, or in the case of Doug and Mike Starn, twin brother photographers. It’s partly a way to debunk the conception of the lone genius laboring by candlelight in a garret, and mostly a way to highlight the power of two.
”Robert Motherwell: At Home and in the Studio” offers a first glimpse at two recent gifts—a series of prints from the Dedalus Foundation and a gift from the artist’s family of books from his studio and library. Alongside rarely seen etchings, aquatints, lithographs, and screenprints, they offer a new glimpse into the iconic 20th-century New York artist.
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, nypl.org
6. “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction,” April 20 – Sept. 13
While painters were trying to confront the flatness of the picture plane in early Modernism, they were treading on ground already explored for centuries by textile artists. About 150 works include fiber works, basketry, and sculptures, as well as paintings and drawings. Once regarded as inferior to other forms, but now reassessed and embraced by contemporary artists, textiles are given center stage in this exhibition’s final stop after an international tour.
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., moma.org
7. Hemingway Gallery
For 50 years, Hemingway Gallery has been bringing handcrafted art, antiquities, furniture, and decorative objects from artists in Africa to their New York gallery. Masks, wall hangings, sculptures, and jewelry fill the gallery. Some are historic. Some have been used in homes or ceremonies. Some are created specifically for the art market. All are intended as a way to build connections to other cultures.
Hemingway Gallery, 88 Leonard St., hemingwaygallery.nyc
8. “Mary Ann Unger: Across the Bering Strait,” April 17- May 17
Berry Campbell Gallery offers a rare chance to get to know an important American artist, Mary Ann Unger (1945 – 1998). Unger’s sculptures feature biomorphic shapes evocative of growth, regeneration, and decay. Included is “Across the Bering Strait,” considered her grand opus, presented in its entirety for the first time in New York City. It’s an installation of 34 sculptures, which, according to the artist’s 1994 statement, references the global movement of peoples throughout time.
Berry Campbell, 524 W. 26th St., berrycampbell.com
9. “The Art of Folio” April 16 - July 12
Both art lovers and bibliophiles will want to check out this show. The Folio Society is a London-based publisher known for lavishly produced, striking editions of great works. Over 90 illustrators’ work completed over the past 78 years will be on view with images from everything from “Beowulf” to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Society of Illustrators Museum of Illustration, 128 East 63rd St., societyillustrators.org
10. “Lincoln Center Immersive” through October
Invisible treasures await on Lincoln Center’s campus. Three separate virtual exhibitions are planned for the Josie Robertson Plaza. In the open space and along the façades of the buildings, visitors will be able to watch virtual dancers leap out of history in “Archive of Dance” (through June 14). In “Miles Regis SAFE SPACE” virtual artwork will inhabit the space from mid-June through October, and from October on, viewers will encounter newly commissioned poetry of Mahogany L. Browne. At the David Geffen Hall’s Welcome Center visitors can use their phones to activate the exhibitions and then point their screens at different areas of the plaza to see and hear the magic.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Plaza, With Avenue between 62nd and 65th streets, lincolncenter.org
One of the most exciting discoveries in the art world in recent years was the fact that Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was creating pure abstraction before anyone had come up with such an idea.