New York art exhibitions to see in April

April is the month to be outdoors and enjoy the 'calm' before the rush of the summer crowds arrive. Discover New York’s cherry blossoms in Central Park to the city’s Easter celebrations., and when April showers begin to dust the buildings in moisture, venture inside to see an array of intriguing and thought-provoking art from group shows to retrospectives, all scattered across the city.

New York continuously proves to be a powerhouse of creativity, and we don’t want you to miss a thing. Plan your next visit with our handy, monthly updated guide to the best exhibitions to see around the city.

Wanting a longer stay? See the Wallpaper* edit of New York's best design hotels.

The best New York art exhibitions: what to see this month

‘The Orchid Show: Mexican Modernism’

New York Botanical Garden until 27 April 2025

In the Bronx, the New York Botanical Garden showcases this year's edition of the Orchid Show which spotlights Mexican modernism and, more specifically, the joyful buildings of architect Luis Barragán. Each spring the garden aims to celebrate orchids, one of the plant world's most fascinating and diverse species. Mexico is home to more than 1,300 orchid species, making it fertile turf to celebrate the country's biodiversity—and its architecture. In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, visitors can encounter orchid-festooned walls, fountains and trellises inspired by Barragán's rainbow-hued ouevre.

Read the full review here

Syd Mead 'Future Pastime'

534 West until 21 May

'Future Pastime' is the title of a new show in New York looking at forty years of the visionary art of Syd Mead, one of the most influential future-facing concept artists in cinema. Working on films like Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), TRON (1982), and, most famously of all, Blade Runner (1982), Mead brought the future to life, splicing technically accurate, high dynamic gouache renderings of future technology in a realistic, lived-in world. Curated by Elon Solo and William Corman, 'Future Pastime' focuses on Syd Mead’s lifestyle imagery, richly hedonistic worlds – whether human or alien – with a dynamic, utopian sheen.

Writer Jonathan Bell

Read the full review here

Tatsuo Miyajima: Many Lives

Lisson Gallery until 19 April

Installation artist and sculptor Tatsuo Miyajima presents a solo exhibition at Lisson Gallery, the first in the US in over five years. A theme throughout all his work is time, and the cycles of life and death, which are conveyed through the use of LED technology. In his latest exhibition death is viewed not as an end point but as a portal to transformation.

lissongallery.com

Shining a light on The Subway Sun

New York Transit Museum, ongoing

In the New York subway, posters advised and informed users, encouraging correct etiquette and manners. For 'Shining a light on The Subway Sun' posters designed by illustrators Fred G. Cooper and Amelia Opdyke Jones are celebrated, with the exhibition showcasing more than 40 selections from the museum's collection of approximately 120 original poster artworks and more than 100 vintage posters, most produced between 1936 and 1965.

nytransitmuseum.org

Songs of New York

Museum of the City of New York, ongoing

Featuring music from 100 artists, ‘Songs of New York’ explores a full range of music which has influenced the city from the 1920s through to present day. Different genres explore different locations from subways to apartments, vibrant nightlife to neighbourhoods. The exhibition is also immersive and interactive.

www.mcny.org

Pirouette

MoMA until 18 October

The Museum of Modern Art explores iconography, objects and design that have impacted everyday life. The aim of the exhibition is to showcase the power of design and how it translates the human experience into ‘tangible forms’. Visitors will see icons such as ‘I ♥️ NY’ logo to Telfar’s Shopping Bag, dubbed the “Bushwick Birkin”. Other items include varying technology from the cassette player to the Macintosh 128K Home Computer. The exhibition is a fun glimpse of nostalgia while also looking towards the future.

www.moma.org

Richard Learoyd: A Loathing of Clocks and Mirrors

Pace Gallery until 26 April, 2025

British photographer Richard Learoyd’s photographs are on show at Pace Gallery. The exhibition features a selection of imagery produced with his custom-built camera, between 2018 and 2025. He was inspired by Dutch Golden Age painting, and wanted to take viewers on a journey through intimate moments and explore the relationship between subject and light. ‘Light and space have always been central to my work,’ Learoyd explains. ‘I want to capture more than just an image; I want to convey a sense of time, intimacy, and presence—things that transcend the immediate and evoke a more timeless feeling.’

pacegallery.com

Sandy Williams IV: Life in Ellipsis,

Palo Gallery until 5 April

Artist Sandy Williams IV will be showcasing six new sculptures which dives into the exploration of how time and self identity intertwine. Also brushing upon socio-carceral systems, and interpersonal relationships, the ‘Time Ruler’ series presents objects ‘that measure the duration of a single second at a speed of one mile per hour’. The work 00:10 (To Remember the Murder of Eric Garner) includes ten bronze ‘Time Rulers’ commemorating Eric Garner following his murder by an NYPD officer that held him in a prohibited chokehold for 10 seconds.

palogallery.com

Elles

Fleiss-Vallois until 26 April

With works spanning from 1934 to 2024, the exhibition ‘Elles’ brings together eight radical female artists who have laid the groundwork for future generations of women artists. ‘Elles’ includes 50 of Leonora Carrington’s early drawings, which will be unveiled for the first time, alongside works by Pilar Albarracín, Niki de Saint Phalle, Eulàlia Grau, Zhenya Machneva, Lucie Picandet, Virginie Yassef, and Julia Wachtel. With work spanning a century the artists look at women’s role in society during periods of male dominance, political unrest, social upheaval, or technological advancement.

fleiss-vallois.com

Dieter Roth: Islandscapes

Hauser & Wirth until 9 April

Featuring a selection of graphic works, monoprints, and unique pieces spanning from the early 1960s to 1975, this exhibition focuses on the late artist Dieter Roth’s printmaking, which accompanied every phase of his life and practice. His adventurous experimentation allowed him to step out of the boundaries between painting, sculpture, design, literature, poetry and music.

hauserwirth.com

Tyler Mitchell's 'Ghost Images'

Gagosian from until 5 April, 2025

Ghost Images is Tyler Mitchell’s debut exhibition at Gagosian. The images of leisurely times at the seaside have a gothic theme, and are rooted in the artist's Southern upbringing. It delves into memory, and how a photograph can actually capture a moment in time and is it able to capture presences that are unseen, but deeply felt.

gagosian.com

Shifting Landscapes

Whitney Museum of American Art until January 2026

‘Shifting Landscapes’ is a group show exploring how evolving political, ecological, and social issues motivate artists as they attempt to represent the world around them. The works are drawn from the gallery’s collection featuring works from the 1960s to present day with a variety of approaches towards the environment from cityscapes to rural landscapes, the works gathered here bring ideas of land and place into focus, all works uniting on how society is shaped by the spaces around us.

whitney.org

Light by Rafaël Rozendaal

MoMA until Spring 2025

Artist Rozendaal chose the internet as his canvas for this graphically hypnotising installation. With each square designed as a story board sketched on paper, it is then translated into code where its final form is a website which powers the animation. The graphically intriguing installation uncovers a new way to harness a multi-dimensional landscape, with the installation presenting a selection of his work across a 25 feet resolution screen in MoMAs Garden Lobby.

moma.org

'In the Shadow of the American Dream: David Wojnarowicz'

The Museum of Modern Art, ongoing

Wojnarowicz's work has been recontextualised by MoMA, who have presented it alongside his contemporaries from the eighties New York downtown scene including filmmaker Marion Scemama, Donald Moffett, Agosto Machado and painter Martin Wong. Important works here include Wojnarowicz's's 1987 Fire, while Machado’s Shrine is a moving time capsule of ephemera. It includes a ‘Justice for Marsha’ sign, referring to questions around the suspicious death of trans activist Marsha P Johnson in 1992, as well as club flyers and memorial service cards.

Writer: Lauren Cochrane

moma.org