There’s no better time in New York than early fall. As the temperatures soften, dropping just enough to justify a full wardrobe reset, a sense of renouveau and excitement fills the air. It is especially palpable in the art world, where a flurry of new exhibitions and two highly anticipated museum reopenings—the Studio Museum in Harlem and the New Museum on the Lower East Side—are taking center stage. This season also belongs to Rauschenberg; on the centennial of his birth, both the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of the City of New York are unveiling new exhibitions of his work. With so much to see and look forward to, here are our highlights.
Man Ray: When Objects Dream
There is a renewed hunger for the work of Man Ray in New York that was palpable during the opening preview and reception of the MET’s new exhibition Man Ray: When Objects Dream, where a plugged-in crowd of curators, fashion insiders, and collectors, including Palm Beach’s very own Beth DeWoody, marvelled at the trailblazing artist’s creative output. Unfolding as a journey through his artistic life, the exhibition explores the many ways in which Man Ray stretched the possibilities not only of photography, but also of painting, sculpture, and film. The artist is best known for pioneering the rayograph, a term he coined by fusing his name with “photograph.” It is a print making technique akin to photography but without a camera, made by placing objects on photosensitive paper and exposing them to light. With this method, Man Ray turned familiar everyday objects into otherworldly compositions. At the Met, the rayograph is positioned within the full breadth of Man Ray’s prolific practice, underscoring its significance and lasting artistic influence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Through February 1, 2026.
Flora Yukhnovich’s Four Seasons
If there was ever any doubt as to why 35 year old art star Flora Yuknovich is where she is in her career today—her work has sold a record $3.6 million at auction—spending time immersed in her mural installation Four Seasons at the Frick Collection puts them to rest. Inspired by François Boucher’s Four Seasons, also on view in the collection, Yuknovich reinterprets the work of the French Rococo painter with a clarity and freshness that feels wholly her own. Her compositions flow between representation and abstraction, and her energetic brush strokes are imbued with a vibrancy that revives Rococo excess for the present. If you haven’t had the chance to visit the Frick since its renovation and expansion by Selldorf Architects (with support from the firm Beyer Blinder Belle) that’s all the more reason to go. The Frick Collection, through March 9, 2026.
Monet and Venice
Organized alongside the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Monet and Venice is the largest museum show dedicated to the artist in over 25 years and reunites 19 of his Venetian paintings for the first time since their Parisian debut in 1912. Monet’s Venice paintings are brimming with prismatic strokes of color and with depictions of palaces that hover above the lagoon and canals like apparitions. Even though Monet only visited Venice once in 1908, the city had a profound impact on him, inspiring some of his most atmospheric works. The exhibition places these canvases in dialogue with over a hundred other works, books, and artifacts, including portrayals of Venice by artists such as Canaletto, John Singer Sargent, J. M. W. Turner, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and James McNeill Whistler, underscoring the city’s enduring role as a touchstone for artistic vision. Brooklyn Museum, October 11, 2025 – February 1, 2026
BONUS: If you’re at the Brooklyn Museum, don’t miss Christian Marclay’s Doors, a brilliant cinematic exploration linking decades of film history through doorways. On view through Sunday, 12 April 2026.
Robert Rauschenberg
In celebration of Robert Rauschenberg’s 100th birthday and with the support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, both the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of the City of New York will present exhibitions of the artist’s work. At The Guggenheim, Rauschenberg’s monumental silkscreen painting Barge (1962–63) will return to New York for the first time in 25 years, presented alongside a dozen pivotal works from the museum’s collection, underscoring the artist’s engagement with material and medium. The Museum of the City of New York focuses on Rauschenberg’s relationship with New York City throughout his life, which he captured through the lens of his camera. A photographer in his own right, Rauschenberg often included found objects in his works, creating captivating screenshots of urban life in the city during the 1970s and 80s. Both New York shows join a chorus of world-wide exhibitions and tributes to Rauschenberg, celebrating his radical creativity, his preoccupation with human culture, his fearless experimentation, and his enduring impact on contemporary art.
Life Can’t Be Stopped
Guggenheim Museum, October 10, 2025 – May 3, 2026
Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World
Museum of the City of New York, through April 19, 2026
The New Museum Reopening
One of the most highly anticipated art world events of the fall is the reopening of the New Museum. Closed since March 2024, it tapped OMA/Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas for its new construction and expansion. Visually complimenting the original building and doubling its exhibition space by adding a sprawling 60,000-square-feet, the ‘new’ New Museum was redesigned with the goal of becoming a hub for community (with more gathering space, a new public plaza and lobby) and for creative exploration (by creating new venues for artist residencies, public programs and more focus on the institution’s cultural incubator NEW INC.) The inaugural exhibition, New Humans: Memories of the Future, will explore the relationship between humans and technology through the work of 150+ artists. Debuting commissions include; a new sculpture celebrating women in public life by Sarah Lucas, VENUS VICTORIA, will be on view for two years at the Plaza, Tschabalala Self’s Art Lovers, depicting a romantic embrace, will be visible to passerbys on the street in the new Facade section, and Klára Hosnedlová’s site-specific sculpture exploring questions of labor, gender and historical memory will be displayed in the Atrium Stair.
Studio Museum in Harlem Reopening
Equally exciting is the reopening of one of New York’s cultural pillars, the Studio Museum in Harlem. After closing in 2018, the museum reopens its doors with a new 82,000 square-foot building, designed by Adjaye Associates alongside Cooper Robertson, that doubles its exhibition space, as well as its artist-in-residence program. A major retrospective of Tom Lloyd’s work will take us on a voyage back through the museum’s founding history, as he was the subject of the Studio Museum’s first ever exhibition Electronic Refractions in 1968. An artist, community organizer and activist, Tom Lloyd (1929–1996) was known for working at the intersection of art and technology, creating visionary light sculptures imbued with political messaging and activism. The reopening also debuts new site-specific commissions by Camille Norment and Christopher Myers. November 15, 2025