October is a strong month for art in New York. The city’s museum calendar brings together two major modern-art retrospectives—Roy Lichtenstein at the Whitney and Constantin Brancusi at MoMA—alongside contemporary painting, photography, sculpture and gallery shows across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.musa+1
Here’s a guide to the exhibitions and events worth putting on your list this month.
Roy Lichtenstein at the Whitney
Roy Lichtenstein: Like New opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art on October 11 and runs until May 10, 2027. The exhibition brings together roughly 130 works made from the early 1940s through the 1990s.whitney+1
Rather than presenting Lichtenstein only through his familiar Pop-art imagery, the show traces how his interest in perception, visual recognition and reproduction shaped a career-long investigation into duplication, simulation and image culture.whitney
A highlight is the recreation of three murals, including a nearly 96-foot-long version of Greene Street Mural (1983). For anyone interested in Pop art, graphic image-making, or the visual language of advertising and mass media, this is likely one of the season’s most important museum exhibitions.whitney
Brancusi at MoMA
Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio opens at the Museum of Modern Art on October 25 and runs until February 27, 2027. The exhibition brings rarely lent sculptures from Brancusi’s Paris atelier—currently closed for renovation—together with works from MoMA’s own collection.musa+1
Alongside his sculptures, the show includes photographs, films, hand-carved furniture, tools and archival materials. The result is not simply a display of finished objects, but a look at the studio as a space of making, thinking and experimentation.musa
For visitors interested in modern sculpture, craftsmanship and the relationship between art and its working environment, this is one of the most compelling exhibitions to see in New York this autumn.
Contemporary art beyond the museums
October is also a busy month for contemporary galleries, particularly in Chelsea, Tribeca, Brooklyn and Long Island City. Many exhibitions opened in late September and remain on view through late October, while a new wave of shows opens toward the end of the month.onview
Highlights include:
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Brice Marden at Gagosian, on view until December 12.onview
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Yvonne Jacquette at Karma, through October 31.onview
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Yoshitomo Nara at David Zwirner, opening October 29.onview
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Lari Pittman at Lehmann Maupin, also opening October 29.onview
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Anthony McCall: Solid Light, 1973, 2020, 2026, alongside shows by Tauba Auerbach, Lee Bul, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tony Cragg and Hew Locke.onview
These exhibitions offer a useful contrast to the museum retrospectives: while Lichtenstein and Brancusi provide historical context, the gallery programme shows how contemporary artists are working with painting, light, material, identity and image-making today.
Other museum highlights
If you have time for more than the two headline shows, several other exhibitions are worth considering.
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The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors at MoMA, through January 23, 2027, explores Surrealism through artists’ books by André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Claude Cahun, Max Ernst and others.musa+1
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Jakob Kudsk Steensen: Wetland opens at MoMA on October 12, bringing immersive digital and ecological art into the museum programme.musa
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Arthur Jafa: I Am Tony is on view at the New Museum through January 3, 2027, presenting a major survey of the artist’s moving-image work.onview
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Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous is on view at the Met, offering another perspective on postwar American abstraction.onview
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Taryn Simon fills the Guggenheim’s rotunda through March, adding photography and archival work to the month’s programme.onview
How to plan your visit
For a focused day, start at the Whitney for Lichtenstein: Like New, then continue downtown or across the city for contemporary galleries. If you are visiting later in the month, build a separate visit around Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio at MoMA, which opens on October 25.whitney+1
For a broader itinerary, pair one major museum exhibition with two or three gallery shows. October’s programme makes New York particularly rewarding for seeing how modern art, contemporary practice and the city’s gallery scene connect.
