Museums & Institutions
These 18 Artists Are Having the Biggest Moment at U.S. Museums Right Now
The quarterly Museum Artist list for June 2026.
We are midway through the year, and I have just finished my quarterly “Museum Artist” list. Below is my ranking of which living artists have been getting the most attention in U.S. museum shows in June 2026.
This time out, I looked at about 350 museums, and found about 3,500 artists on view. Of those, just 720 appeared in more than one museum show during the month.
My rankings of the artists are based on a mix of breadth (presence in a great number of group shows) and depth (solo shows or special museum spotlights). To avoid clutter, I’ve moved my “Methodology” section, which has changed a bit, to the bottom. It explains the number that appears alongside each artist’s name. Basically, it adds up group show appearances, which I count as 1, with larger shows, which I rank from 2 to 6. I include the number for transparency’s sake, so you can see how I put this together, rather than out of a pretense at being scientific.
The project is fun to do because it gives a sense of which artists are having a moment. But in the end, it’s just a way to tell a story.
Museum websites are not always complete or reliable. I am certain that I miss some things. I’ll note any updates or corrections right here.
Thoughts on June’s List
Some names have risen and fallen since December 2025—but the truth is, a lot is the same.
The big theme of U.S. museum programming remains spotlighting Native and Black artists. Beyond this, the unique focus of summer 2026 is the 250th birthday of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, because reckoning with histories of racism and colonialism was already the primary focus, the practical effect seems to be to amplify the artists whose work was already in heavy rotation. (See the entries, for instance, for Jeffrey Gibson, Sky Hopinka, or Carrie Mae Weems.)
Amusingly, nonagenarian proto-Pop/neo-Dada artist Jasper Johns also seems to get a little bump from the festivities. He is, at this point, basically part of U.S. history himself. As importantly: His work is very associated with the American flag.
Another birthday shapes the list: Betye Saar will turn 100 in July. She is widely loved by curators, and is receiving a tribute show at the Palmer Museum that celebrates her impact on other artists, plus a celebration of her doll collection at the New York Historical Society. And Saar was honored in June at MoMA‘s Party in the Garden—alongside with Martin Puryear, another storied Black artist who had a uniquely good month.
Artists who almost made the cut included Ai Weiwei, Carol Bove, Nick Cave, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Glenn Ligon, Mickalene Thomas, Dyani White Hawk, Deborah Roberts, and Alison Saar.
Below, the 18 artists I think are having the biggest moment in June.
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Jeffrey Gibson (23)
Gibson continues his run as the most-visible artist in the United States, partly owed to his long-running immersive MASS MoCA show, which will finally close later this year. But the first half of 2026 has also seen him honored by an exhibition titled “They Teach Love” at the Boise Art Museum, featuring more than 50 of his works from the Jordan D. Schnitzer collection, explicitly timed to the America 250 celebrations.
Also putting Gibson’s name in the news (though I am not actually counting it here because it’s not a temporary exhibition): This Burning World, a large-scale mural adapted from Gibson’s 2023 installation of the same name, put up at the beginning of the year by the ICA San Francisco in the Mission District.
And there’s more: Gibson is co-curator of the traveling show “An Indigenous Present,” which includes many of the other Native artists lower down on my list. He’s got a lot going on!
LARGE SHOWS
—“Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love” at Boise Art Museum, Idaho, January 31–July 26, 2026
—“Power Full Because We’re Different” at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, November 3, 2024–September 7, 2026
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
—“The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 12, 2025–June 9, 2026
GROUP SHOW
—”Precious: The Value of Ornament” at Portland Museum of Art, Maine, March 13–July 19, 2026
—“Everything Now All At Once” at Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, August 21, 2025–July 26, 2026
—“Remixed: Entwined Histories & New Forms” at Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, February 22–August 30, 2026
—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026
—“Sport and Spectator” at Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas, June 12–December 6, 2026
—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027
—“Art and Design from 1900 to Now” at Rhode Island Museum, Providence, June 4, 2022–April 11, 2027
—”Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting” at National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C., May 15, 2026–May 1, 2027
—“Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, April 25, 2026–April 2028
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Sky Hopinka (21)
Known for his experimental and lyrical work exploring Native American history and life, the filmmaker is having a huge month, thanks in part to Red Metal Dust at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. This is a new commission for its Annenberg Court of large landscape photographs on copper, meant as the institution’s reflection on U.S. history for America 250.
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
—“Red Metal Dust” at Barnes Collection, Philadelphia, March 21, 2026–January 18, 2027
SMALL SHOWS
—“Sky Hopinka: The Myth Is Now” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, January 30–August 2, 2026
—“Sky Hopinka: Kicking the Clouds” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 11–December 6, 2026
SPOTLIGHTS
—“Sky Hopinka: Lore” at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 27–June 6, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Sites of Assembly” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, June 6–August 2, 2026
—“Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, April 5–August 23, 2026
—“Topographies: Mapping Being and Belonging” at Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, June 13–September 20, 2026
—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026
—“An Indigenous Present” at Frist Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, June 26–September 27, 2026
—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027
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Kara Walker (18)
Arguably the most widely shown artist at the moment, given the huge scope of her group-show appearances.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
—“In Character” at SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, February 4–June 8, 2026
—”Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection” at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California, March 4–June 28, 2026
—“See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, February 7–June 28, 2026
—“Cut It Out: Papercutting Traditions and Beyond” at Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, February 18–July 18, 2026
—“Past-Forward: Modern and Contemporary Art from HoMA’s Collection” at Honolulu Museum of Art, November 9, 2024–July 19, 2026
—“Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” at National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., February 27–July 26, 2026
—“Cameron Art Museum: The Collection” at Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina, October 3, 2025–August 16, 2026
—“From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026
—“Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 11–September 20, 2026
—“Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar” at Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, Pennsylvania, May 9–September 13, 2026
—“Positive Fragmentation: From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Long Beach Museum of Art, California, June 26–September 27, 2026
—“David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, February 21–October 11, 2026
—“Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70 – Part II” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 7–October 25, 2026
—“Common Sense” at Brooklyn Museum, May 1–November 8, 2026
—“Self, Made: Fourteen Modern Artists from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection” at Art Institute of Chicago, June 25–November 9, 2026
—“A Nation of Artists” at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027
—“This Must Be the Place: Inside the Walker’s Collection” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 20, 2024–March 12, 2028
—”Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, April 25, 2026–April 2028
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Marie Watt (18)
Watt’s long-touring, four-decade survey “Storywork,” now in Salt Lake City, has made her an enduring presence (like Gibson’s show in Boise, it is from the Jordan D. Schnitzer collection). She also features in a bevy of shows about craft (“Handmade Revolution,” “Truths Be Told”) and U.S./Indigenous history (“America 250,” “Knowing the West,” “Indian Theater”).
MAJOR RETROSPECTIVES
— “Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, February 21–June 21, 2026
SPOTLIGHTS
—“Marie Watt: Heart in the Sky” at Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 11–June 14, 2026
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
—“America 250: Common Threads” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, April 19–July 27, 2026
—“Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West,” North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, May 2, 2026–August 9, 2026
—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026
—“In the Shadow of the Eagle” at Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine, May 2025–October 2026
—“Truths Be Told: Artists Activate Traditions” at Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico. December 7, 2025–January 7, 2027
—“Steel Valley Visions: An American Legacy” at Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, October 4, 2025–January 18, 2027
—“A Room for Animal Intelligence” at Seattle Art Museum, November 28, 2025–January 31, 2027
—“Handmade Revolution: Craft in the Pacific Northwest” at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon, June 13, 2026–March 13, 2027
—“This Must Be the Place: Inside the Walker’s Collection” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 20, 2024–March 12, 2028
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Cara Romero (16)
I interviewed Romero last year for the Art Angle about the major surge of museum attention. For June, the exhibition “Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light),” which began at the Hood Museum Museum of Art in New Hampshire, moved to Phoenix. Meanwhile, Romero is also in group shows including “Guggenheim Pop” in NYC and “Motherboards” in San Jose, the latter about women and technology.
LARGE SHOWS
— “Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light),” Phoenix Art Museum, February 28, 2026–June 28, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
— “Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life,” Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2026–June 7, 2026
— “Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology,” Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, September 7, 2024–June 21, 2026
— “Sovereign Acts III,” James Gallery, City University of New York, March 25, 2026—July 17, 2026
— “Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene,” Kemper Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, May 21, 2026–September 12, 2026
— ”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at the Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona, March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026
— “American Conversations,” Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine, April 10–November 15, 2026
— “Collecting America: Recent Acquisitions,” Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon, June 13, 2026–December 6, 2026
— “Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now,” Guggenheim Museum, June 5, 2026–January 10, 2027
— “Motherboards,” San José Museum of Art, California, April 10, 2026–January 10, 2027
— “Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles,” Autry Museum, Los Angeles, May 30, 2026–January 31, 2027
— “Into the Time Horizon,” Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027
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Betye Saar (16)
The tribute show to the about-to-be-centenarian is celebrated at the Palmer Museum is built around her influence, and centers her work Vision of El Cremo (1967). Another mark of that influence: Two other artists in the top ranks, Kara Walker and vanessa german, are also in that show.
TRIBUTES
— “Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar” at Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Pennsylvania. May 9–September 13, 2026
SMALL SHOWS
— “Betye Saar’s Black Dolls,” the New York Historical, May 8–October 4, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
— “Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. February 11–June 7, 2026
— “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” at Getty Museum, Los Angeles. February 24–June 14, 2026
— “Little Boxes” at Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts. Through July 2026
— “From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York. November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026
— “Space Is the Place: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. April 5–September 6, 2026
— “The Expanding Field: MOCA’s Collection from the 1940s to 1970s” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. April 18–September 20, 2026
— “Positive Fragmentation: From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Long Beach Museum of Art, California. June 26–September 27, 2026
— “David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami. February 21–October 11, 2026
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Kay WalkingStick (15)
The Cherokee artist’s paintings, which layer Native designs with landscape imagery, are touring in “Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School,” which juxtaposes her work with that of Hudson River School canvasses from the 19th century.
LARGE SHOWS
—“Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School,” Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania, June 20-October 11, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper” at Cleveland Museum of Art, February 1–June 7, 2026
—“America 250: Common Threads” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, April 19–July 27, 2026
—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026
—“Niagara Falls: Mist and Majesty” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 2–September 20, 2026
—“An Indigenous Present” at Frist Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, June 26–September 27, 2026
—”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at the Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona, March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026
—“Wisdom from the Future” at Heard Museum, Phoenix, opening date unknown–December 6, 2026
—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027
—“Branch: Trees in American Art” at Trout Gallery, Dickenson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 12, 2026–January 26, 2027
—“Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting” at National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C., May 15, 2026–May 1, 2027
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Carrie Mae Weems (15)
Weems is right behind Walker in terms of sheer number of group shows. The ICA Boston has picked her work Blues and Pinks 3, an appropriation of classic Civil Rights photos, to respond to America 250. She is also featured in exhibitions like “Containing Multitudes,” “Dear America,” and “This Is America,” all responding to the nation’s anniversary as well.
SPOTLIGHTS
—“Collection Spotlight: Carrie Mae Weems” at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, April 14–September 13, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—”Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, February 11–June 7, 2026
—”Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” at Getty Museum, Los Angeles, February 24–June 14, 2026
—”Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection” at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California, March 4–June 28, 2026
—“See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection” at Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, February 7–June 28, 2026
—“Containing Multitudes” at Minneapolis Institute of Art, December 20, 2025–August 2, 2026
—“From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026
—“ReVision: Women in Photography” at Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, June 11–August 30, 2026
—”Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200” at Brooklyn Museum, February 28, 2025–September 6, 2026
—“untitled: 20 Years of Collecting Contemporary Art” at McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, March 27–September 6, 2026
—“Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 11–September 20, 2026
—“This Is America: Selections from PAMM’s Collection” at Perez Art Museum Miami, May 28, 2026–May 23, 2027
—”Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, April 25, 2026–April 2028
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Kent Monkman (14)
The Cree artist has a big show, “History is Painted by the Victors,” featuring over 40 of his large, hyper-realistic paintings, touring. (Kate Brown interviewed Monkman for the Art Angle, if you want to dive deeper.)
LARGE SHOWS
—“Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors” at Akron Art Museum, Ohio, April–August 2026
SPOTLIGHTS
—”Kent Monkman: Death of Adonis” at Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, June 27, 2026–January 3, 2027
GROUP SHOWS
—“Sovereign Acts III,” James Gallery, City University of New York, March 25, 2026—July 17, 2026
—”House Made of Dawn: Art by Native Americans 1880 to Now, Selections from the Hsu-Tang Collection,” New York Historical, New York, April 22, 2026—August 16, 2026
—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026
—“Paintings from the Heard Collection” at Heard Museum, Phoenix, June 26, 2026–September 7, 2026
—”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at the Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona, March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026
—“The Crossing: Picturing the American Revolution” at Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2026–January 10, 2027
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Caroline Monnet (14)
The Canada-based filmmaker and artist, who is of Anishinaabe and French ancestry, has two long-running pieces on view: She got the nod from Kenyon College’s Gund Museum for its first-ever atrium commission, and also has a special piece on view for the ICA Boston.
The latter work was commissioned alongside last year’s ICA stop of the touring “An Indigenous Present” show—which also takes Monnet to the Frist Museum in Nashville for its ongoing national tour.
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
—“Caroline Monnet: This Land” at the Gund, Gambier, Ohio, May 17, 2023–December 30, 2026
—“Caroline Monnet: Man-made Land” at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, September 25, 2025–March 21, 2027
SMALL SHOWS
—”Caroline Monnet: This Old House Is All We Have” at the Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, Michigan, June 19–September 6, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Memory of a Future Once Imagined” at Sun Valley Museum of Art, Ketchum, Idaho, March 13–June 10, 2026
—“An Indigenous Present” at Frist Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, June 26–September 27, 2026
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Emmi Whitehorse (14)
Whitehorse’s exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum is extremely unusual, unfolding over the course of a year in two parts, the first closing in early June, followed by a Part II focused on a different aspect of this Diné painter’s work.
LARGE SHOWS
— “Emmi Whitehorse: Intimate Landscapes: Part I and Part II” at Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico, February 21–October 3, 2026
SPOTLIGHTS
— “Fresh Paint: Emmi Whitehorse” at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York. June 4–September 28, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Altered States in the Acid West” at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, January 16–June 6, 2026
—“Paintings from the Heard Collection” at Heard Museum, Phoenix, June 26, 2026–September 7, 2026
—“Rooted Strong: Visions of America from New Mexico” at New Mexico Museum of Art, April 4–October 4, 2026
—”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona, March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026
—“Branch: Trees in American Art” at Trout Gallery, Dickenson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 12, 2026–January 26, 2027
—“Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting” at National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. May 15, 2026–May 1, 2027
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Rose B. Simpson (13)
Simpson’s biggest outing right now is the large installation of two art cars, the black ceramic Maria and the black-on-white Bosque, at the de Young in San Francisco. She is also a presence in buzzy group shows like “Several Eternities in a Day” at the Hammer and “Some American Dreams” at the Fabric Workshop and Museum.
SMALL SHOWS
—“Rose B. Simpson: LEXICON” at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, August 30, 2025–February 7, 2027
GROUP SHOWS
—“still/emerging: Native American Works on Paper” at Cleveland Museum of Art, February 1–June 7, 2026
—“Some American Dreams” at Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, April 15–June 14, 2026
—“Grounded” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 14, 2025–June 14, 2026
—“Smart to the Core: Wise to Power” at Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, September 23, 2025–July 5, 2026
—“Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, April 5–August 23, 2026
—“Recognition of Art by Women: In Retrospect” at Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, March 28–September 27, 2026
—”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at the Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona, March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026
—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027
—“Art and Design from 1900 to Now” at Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, June 4, 2022–April 11, 2027
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Jasper Johns (12)
The 96-year-old artist has, of course, been a pillar of the U.S. art scene since the late ‘50s. This month he gets a small solo tribute from the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina, where he is something of a hometown hero. But he also gets a bump from patriotic fare like “American Icon: The U.S. Flag in Art” at the NGA in D.C.
SMALL SHOWS
—”Jasper Johns: All Familiar Things” at Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, January 17–August 30, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Rauschenberg’s Reach” at University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, March 7–August 8, 2026
—“Dialogues & Conversations” at Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, March 6–August 9, 2026
—“60 Years of Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Editions Limited) in Los Angeles” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 5–August 30, 2026
—“Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70 – Part II” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 7–October 25, 2026
—“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960” at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington, D.C., March 22, 2024–November 1, 2026
—“The Art of Paper” at Asheville Art Museum, North Carolina, June 4–November 29, 2026
—“American Icon: The US Flag in Art” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., June 6–December 6, 2026
—“A Nation of Artists” at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027
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Rashid Johnson (12)
Johnson’s large-scale show, touring from the Guggenheim to Fort Worth, Texas, keeps him in the news.
MAJOR RETROSPECTIVES
—“Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers” at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, March 8–September 27, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection” at Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, February 7–June 28, 2026
—“X Marks the Spot: Contemporary Screenprinting at Brand X Editions” at Dallas Museum of Art, May 24–November 8, 2026
—“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960” at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington, D.C., March 22, 2024–November 1, 2026
—“Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200” at Brooklyn Museum, February 28, 2025–September 6, 2026
—“This Is America: Selections from PAMM’s Collection” at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, May 28, 2026–May 23, 2027
—“Big Things for Big Rooms” at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., December 20, 2025–July 4, 2027
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Catherine Opie (12)
Known most of all for her work documenting queer communities, the Los Angeles–based Opie is another figure who registers purely via group shows, among them SFMoMA’s current tribute to the legacy of the now-defunct San Francisco Art Institute.
GROUP SHOWS
—“Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection” at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California, March 4–June 28, 2026
—“People Make This Place: SFAI Stories” at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, July 26, 2025–July 5, 2026
—“Defining Landscapes” at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 7–July 26, 2026
—“Containing Multitudes” at Minneapolis Institute of Art, December 20, 2025–August 2, 2026
—“Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture” at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, March 19–August 23, 2026
—“New Acquisitions: Photography” at High Museum of Art, Atlanta, June 12–September 6, 2026
—“Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, April 14–September 20, 2026
—“Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70 – Part II” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 7–October 25, 2026
—“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960” at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington, D.C., March 22, 2024–November 1, 2026
—“Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles” at Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, May 30, 2026–January 31, 2027
—“A Nation of Artists” at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027
—“This Must Be the Place: Inside the Walker’s Collection” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 20, 2024–March 12, 2028
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Martin Puryear (12)
The beloved 85-year-old master of wood sculpture’s career retrospective was co-organized with the MFA Boston, and is currently in Cleveland, before heading on to Atlanta’s High Museum.
This month, Puryear’s 2-D work is getting some love as well, at the Addison Art Gallery in Massachusetts and at the Whatcom Museum in western Washington.
MAJOR RETROSPECTIVES
—“Martin Puryear: Nexus” at Cleveland Museum of Art, April 12–August 9, 2026
SMALL SHOWS
—”Martin Puryear: In Print” at Addison Art Gallery, Andover, Massachusetts, January–July 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press” at Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington, February 6–June 28, 2026
—“Artist’s Choice: Arthur Jafa, Less is Morbid” at Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 19, 2025–July 5, 2026
***
vanessa german (11)
It’s nice to see german have a moment. Based in Pittsburgh, she’s known for her mixed-media figures that are giddy with color and energy, and invoke ritual power figures.
At Louisville’s Speed Museum, she is the first-ever recipient of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. Her project involved research and collaboration, resulting in an absorbing installation that includes works made in collaboration with locals.
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
—“vanessa german: …do you remember when you were the sky?” at Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, April 10–June 28, 2026
SPOTLIGHTS
—“Black Girl on Skateboard Going Where She’s Got to Go to Do What She’s Got to Do and It Might Not Have Anything to Do With You, Ever,” at Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, Wisconsin, May 1–December 31, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Where I Learned to Look: Art from the Yard” at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado, March 6–July 25, 2026
—“America 250: Common Threads” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, April 19–July 27, 2026
—“untitled: 20 Years of Collecting Contemporary Art” at McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, March 27–September 6, 2026
—“The Crossing: Picturing the American Revolution” at Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, June 27, 2026–January 10, 2027
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Odili Donald Odita (11)
Through next spring, visitors to MoMA can see this artist’s colorful mural in the lobby, abstract patterns inspired by different songs. The museum even has a Spotify playlist of what inspired the Nigerian-born artist, with tracks by Led Zeppelin and Fela Kuti. Meanwhile, a piece by Odita features as a main attraction of “A Nation of Artists,” the multi-venue show celebrating the 250th birthday of the U.S. in Philly.
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
—“Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life” at Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, April 8, 2025–Spring 2027
SMALL SHOWS
—“Odili Donald Odita: A Joyner/Giuffrida Visiting Artist Program” at the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, June 20–August 16, 2026
GROUP SHOWS
—“Everything Now All At Once” at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, August 21, 2025–July 26, 2026
—“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, April 18–August 9, 2026
—“A Nation of Artists” at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027
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Methodology
How this project works: I look at a huge list of museums to see what artists were on view at any time during a given month, in this case, June 2026. Combing through the data, I get a sense of who is getting a particularly large amount of attention from institutions.
I’m interested in breadth of influence, so I don’t weight “important” museums more than others.
While the count of shows is clear (if sometimes incomplete, for many reasons), how you value larger shows dedicated to an artist is more subjective. Art being art, there are many, many quirks when it comes to comparing shows.
For transparency, here is how I am valuing different types of shows.
—GROUP SHOW: 1
—BIENNIAL: 2
—SPOTLIGHT (a show that focuses on a single work of art): 3
—SMALL SHOW: 4
—SPECIAL COMMISSION (a new work made for the museum): 4
—TRIBUTE (a show about an artist’s influence, featuring the artist alongside others influenced by them; I added this just for Betye Saar): 4
—LARGE SHOW: 5
—MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE: 6
The most finicky decisions are in parsing “small” and “large” shows, and sometimes deciding if something is a “large” show or a “retrospective” when an artist is getting a substantial celebration earlier in their career. I’ve made note of my thinking in the entries when it’s a question.