What to See in New York Right Now | May 2026

May in New York is one of the most beautiful months of the year — and one of the busiest in the art world. The Chelsea galleries are at their peak, the museums are showing exhibitions you can't miss, and the city is buzzing with creativity. Here are our five picks for May.

Giuseppe Penone | Gagosian, Chelsea

The Reflection of Bronze | Through July 2, 2026 | 555 West 24th Street

Giuseppe Penone is one of the most important and fascinating figures of 20th-century Italian art, and a founding member of the Arte Povera movement. He spent decades working with trees — trunks, bark, growth rings — exploring the boundary between art and nature, the living and the inanimate. In this exhibition at Gagosian Chelsea — his first solo show at the gallery in New York — he turns to bronze, a permanent and timeless material, creating sculptures that preserve the impression of wood within metal. The idea is simple and profound: nature leaves its fingerprint forever.

Raphael: Sublime Poetry | The Metropolitan Museum

Through June 28, 2026

This is what people call a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition — and for good reason. It's the first comprehensive show on Raphael ever presented in the United States, featuring over 200 works — paintings, drawings, tapestries, and decorative arts — on loan from the Louvre, the Vatican, the National Gallery in London, the Uffizi, and beyond. Curator Carmen Bambach has done exceptional work. If you've toured the Met with us before, you already know what a remarkable place it is. With an exhibition like this, all the more so.

Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley | MAD Museum

Through August 16, 2026 | 2 Columbus Circle

Nikolai and Simon Haas are twins, artists and designers based in Los Angeles — and their work is one of the strangest, most magical, and most compelling things you'll see this year. Their Uncanny Valley is a world of hybrid creatures, intricate hand-made ceramics alongside algorithms — like a fantasy that crossed the boundary between worlds. This retrospective presents around 85 works spanning a decade of creation. Not a typical design show — a journey.

Greater New York 2026 | MoMA PS1

Through August 17, 2026 | Long Island City — Free Admission

Every five years, MoMA PS1 presents a survey of artists living and working in New York — and it's one of the best opportunities to see what's happening in the local scene, unfiltered. The exhibition features over 150 works, including site-specific installations, performances, and new works created especially for the event. This year also marks PS1's 50th anniversary. Free admission.

Museum Mile Festival

June 9, 2026 | Fifth Avenue

Once a year, Fifth Avenue closes to traffic and hundreds of thousands of people walk between New York's great museums — the Met, the Guggenheim, the Museum of the City of New York, the Jewish Museum, and more — with free admission, street performances, and an atmosphere that feels almost magical. Our favorite event in the entire city. Save the date.

Want to see all of this with a guide? We offer tours of Chelsea galleries and the Metropolitan Museum — in small groups or privately. Get in touch: chelseagallerytour@gmail.com