Museum & Exhibition Guide — 2026-05-20

Must-See Exhibitions Opening Now

"Greater New York" — MoMA PS1, New York City

• What: A survey exhibition spotlighting six emerging and mid-career New York-based artists, examining what it means to make art in the city today.
• Dates: Currently on view, 2026
• Why Go: Harper's Bazaar calls this the exhibition that "has the answers" about where New York art is heading right now. The show is generating buzz as a defining cultural moment for the city's art scene, with each of the six featured artists offering a distinct perspective on contemporary New York life.

Otherworlds by Jakob Kudsk Steensen — PHI, Montréal

• What: An immersive exhibition by Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen examining contemporary ecological realities through virtual, sonic, and video worlds.
• Dates: Currently on view, 2026
• Why Go: Located in Old Montréal, PHI's presentation of Otherworlds offers a genuinely genre-defying experience that blurs the line between art, science, and environmental urgency. Kudsk Steensen's work has earned international acclaim for its ability to translate climate anxiety into sensory wonder.

Best London Exhibitions — May 2026 (Multiple Venues, London)

• What: London's current exhibition season includes "spine-tingling Spanish art," "iconoclastic streetwear," and director Liam Young's film installation After the End (2024).
• Dates: Various, currently on view
• Why Go: The Nudge's freshly updated May 2026 guide points to an unusually rich moment for London galleries, with one critic noting "Geri Halliwell's boots" among the unexpected highlights. The breadth — from Spanish masters to streetwear culture — signals the diversity defining London's museum scene this season.

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thenudge.com

thenudge.com

Currently Running: Editor's Picks

Marcel Duchamp Retrospective — MoMA, New York City

• What: A once-in-a-generation retrospective of Marcel Duchamp's career at the Museum of Modern Art.
• Through: Summer 2026 (dates ongoing)
• Highlight: Frieze calls it a "once-in-a-generation" show but delivers a pointed critique: the exhibition "is built like a mausoleum when it should be a monument to the artist's ungovernable wit and wonder." The critical debate alone makes this unmissable. Gagosian has also opened a companion Duchamp show at his newly relocated New York gallery.

Raphael — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

• What: A blockbuster survey of Raphael's work, featuring major loans including Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn from the Galleria Borghese, La Muta from Urbino, Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione from the Louvre, and La Fornarina from Rome.
• Through: Summer 2026
• Highlight: Artnet News reports the show was a "coup of diplomacy, money, and persistence" — the behind-the-scenes story of securing these loans is nearly as fascinating as the paintings themselves. A gallery devoted entirely to Raphael's portraits is the centerpiece.

Willem de Kooning Drawings — The Art Institute of Chicago (or affiliated venue), Chicago

• What: A focused show bringing rarely seen drawings by Willem de Kooning into focus.
• Through: Ongoing
• Highlight: The Artnet exhibitions page flags this as a standout for the season, highlighting works that have seldom been exhibited publicly, offering a new lens on de Kooning's process and mark-making.

Beyond Art: Science, History & Immersive

• "Life in the Cosmos" (immersive genre-defying experience) at Science Museum, London — Described as "a once in a lifetime adventure through the cosmos to explore visions of the future through the science of today," this immersive show sits at the intersection of science communication and experiential art, supported by Griffin Catalyst.

• "The Science of Independence" (landmark USA history exhibition) at Science Museum, London — Marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, this exhibition reveals the scientific history behind the founding of the USA through remarkable maps, paintings, and artefacts. The Science Museum notes this is a "landmark exhibition" supported by Griffin Catalyst, currently on view and bookable now.

Last Chance: Closing Soon

• "Yellow: More than Van Gogh's Favourite Colour" (touring, Dutch collections) — closes May 17, 2026 (check venue). This exhibition, which brought together some ten Van Gogh paintings alongside works by other artists exploring the colour yellow, was built around the Sunflowers (January 1889). If your city is still hosting it, this is a final-days opportunity.

• Spring 2026 NYC Museum Season (multiple venues, New York) — Timeout New York's spring guide highlights this as a peak season with shows at the Met, MoMA, MoMA PS1, and the Museum of Natural History (including the Lombardi Trophy display). Many spring-season shows began winding down as of mid-May. Check individual venue listings for closing dates.

• Gagosian New Gallery Opening Show (Duchamp) — New York — Vanity Fair reports Larry Gagosian's inaugural exhibition at his newly relocated ground-floor space at 980 Madison Avenue centres on Marcel Duchamp. As an opening show, the window to see it in its launch context is narrowing.

Exhibition Trends & Insights

1. Duchamp Dominates the Conversation. The Marcel Duchamp retrospective at MoMA and the companion Gagosian opening show have made Duchamp the artist of the season in New York — generating a rare split between critical caution (Frieze's "mausoleum" critique) and popular enthusiasm. The debate itself is driving footfall.

2. Immersive and Ecological Art Goes Mainstream. From PHI's Otherworlds in Montréal to the Science Museum's cosmos experience in London, immersive exhibitions with environmental or cosmological themes are no longer niche — they are headlining museum programming at major institutions globally. The convergence of digital art, sound design, and ecological messaging is the defining curatorial trend of 2026.

3. New York Remains the Global Hub — But Montréal and London Are Asserting Themselves. While New York's spring season (Raphael at the Met, Duchamp at MoMA, Greater New York at PS1) is unmatched in scale, this week's freshest coverage highlights Montréal and London as increasingly ambitious competitors, with London's diverse exhibition mix and Montréal's PHI presenting genuinely world-class programming.