The best museum exhibitions in NYC right now

One of the most visited historical sites in Europe, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, has opened an exhibition in New York for the first time. Find it at the Center for Jewish History in the Flatiron District through April 30, 2025.

New Yorkers can now walk through a full-scale re-creation of the rooms where Anne Frank, her parents Otto and Edith, her sister Margot, the Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer (all Jews) spent two years in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Inside the re-created annex itself, every object displayed in glass cases is original—things that Anne, her family and fellow hideout Jews touched and used daily, alongside exact replicas of other items.

Brace yourself for a deeply emotional experience.

Depending on what you learned in high school history class, you might be surprised to discover that Brooklyn—an area firmly in the northern Union states—actually has significant ties to slavery. A new exhibit coming to the borough digs into that painful history.

Titled "Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn," the exhibit will open at the Center for Brooklyn History on January 30. While there are few firsthand testimonies from enslaved people in Brooklyn, the exhibit offers clues to what they endured. It also sheds light on the often-overlooked narratives of enslaved individuals in Kings County and the generational legacies of inequality. The exhibit is free to visit through August 30 in the center's Fransioli Gallery.

Expect to see archival documents, rare personal accounts from enslaved Brooklynites and artwork that helps visitors visualize this period in Brooklyn's development. The exhibit also delves into genealogy and celebrates the work of family historians, researchers, and artists who trace their roots through this difficult past.

On October 27, 1904, New Yorkers dressed in their finest clothing and hosted dinner parties to celebrate the big news of the year. After four years of messy, sometimes controversial construction, a subway had opened in New York City. Officials didn't know if people would show up for its debut, but more than 100,000 people descended beneath the ground that evening to traverse the system's 9 miles and 28 stations. The next day, a Sunday, more than 1 million people showed up on the subway's first full open day. 

It may not seem like a big deal to us now, but the subway was revolutionary—and it still is. A fascinating new exhibit at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn digs into the history and the future of our underground rail system. Titled "The Subway Is...," the exhibition brings together artifacts, photos, multimedia installations, old advertisements, train models and more to tell the story of our city's subway system. 

The clothes we put on our bodies every day don't just keep us warm or covered or in fashion. They also say something. Clothing conveys meaning—sometimes in direct ways like "I'm mourning" and sometimes in indirect ways like "screw the status quo." 

A new exhibit titled "Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore" at the New-York Historical Society digs into how clothing has played a crucial role in the lives of everyday women. The exhibit, on view through June 22, 2025, explores how women have influenced, adapted and defied societal expectations through clothing. See a wide array of women's clothing, from a Depression-era house dress to a psychedelic micro mini to an Abercrombie & Fitch wool suit from 1917. Unlike most other women's fashion exhibitions, there's not a ball gown in sight, and that's exactly what makes this show so special. 

For the Brooklyn Museum, it's nothing new to spotlight artists from the borough. But the museum's new Brooklyn Artists Exhibition will be the largest showcase of Brooklyn artists in the museum's two centuries of history.

The newly opened exhibition, which coincides with the renowned museum's 200th birthday, features more than 200 artists reflecting the range of creativity in the borough. From a documentary photograph of the Brooklyn waterfront by Tracie Dawn Williams to a stunning sculpture by Richard Haining made of reclaimed wood from the city's water towers, the show is a celebration of the borough and the artists who make Brooklyn a place unlike any other.

Across seven galleries, plus a video room and two entrance spaces, the sprawling exhibit highlights artists at all stages of their careers working across the full range of disciplines—from drawing, painting, collage, and photography to sculpture, video, and performance. It's on view through January 26, 2025. 

When you think of Franz Kafka, there are a few words that likely come to mind: Lonely, tortured, isolated. But this depiction doesn’t actually tell the full story of Kafka, a new exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum argues. Yes, the Czech writer known for his surrealist literary masterpieces like The Metamorphosis, did have a difficult life before dying at the age of 40 from tuberculosis.

But he was also known to be funny, a brilliant love letter writer, a good friend, and even a playful spirit. In fact, many of the solo photos we see of Kafka were really photos with other people who have been cut out of the scene over the years, Sal Robinson, curator at The Morgan explained during a tour of the new exhibit. The show, simply titled "Franz Kafka," is now on view through April 13, 2025.

For the past six decades, Barbie has delighted fans around the globe. And this new exhibit in NYC celebrates the doll in all her full plastic glory. Barbie: A Cultural Icon is now open at the Museum of Arts and Design to celebrate the 65-year history of the Barbie franchise and its global impact.

The exhibit includes 250 vintage dolls as well as life-size fashion designs, ads, and vintage interviews with the doll's designers. The show also considers the impact of the Space Age and even the Civil Rights Movement, which would eventually lead to the creation of the first Black and non-white Barbies in the 2000s. You'll also be able to see how American fashion evolved through the years, from disco to beachwear and eventually, to the inclusion of different body types. 

It's on view through March 16, 2025.

As the world commemorates the centennial of James Baldwin's birth, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) presents Turkey Saved My Life - Baldwin in Istanbul, 1961–1971, a landmark exhibition featuring rare photographs of the iconic writer by Turkish photographer Sedat Pakay.

Running between December 12, 2024 and February 28, 2025 in the Grand Lobby of the Central Library, this exhibition offers an unprecedented glimpse into Baldwin’s transformative years in Istanbul from 1961 to 1971, when the author-activist moved to Istanbul seeking refuge from the entrenched racism and homophobia he experienced in America. The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs, including panel discussions, film screenings, and readings that further explore Baldwin’s unique connection to Turkey.

When Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker was first published 50 years ago, the book's release was met with great anticipation. Excerpts in The New Yorker gained lots of attention—including from the biography's subject, NYC government official Robert Moses, who described the deeply researched book as "venomous." Even so, it was impossible to predict whether a 700,000-word biography would resonate with readers. 

The book quickly earned acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize and finding a home on bookshelves across America, especially among New Yorkers. Now, five decades later, the monumental work still resonates for its look at NYC’s past and the lessons it holds for our future. The book and its tenacious author are the subject of a new exhibit at New-York Historical Society Museum & Library titled “Robert Caro’s The Power Broker at 50." See it at the Upper West Side museum through February 2, 2025. 

Just Do It. Er, Just Frame It. That's the motto of this exhibition at Poster House, a museum in Chelsea that's dedicated to posters. 

"Just Frame It: How Nike Turned Sports Stars into Superheroes" explores how one company paved the way for modern sports advertising. During the 20th century, it became a rite of passage for a professional athlete to cement their icon status by having their persona memorialized on a Nike poster. Today, in an age where athletes’ images are much more accessible and "just like us," these 60 posters may seem quaint—but they’re also larger-than-life and undeniably entertaining, just like the stars they depict.

Photographers featured in the exhibit include Chuck Kuhn, Bob Peterson, Gary Nolton, Ancil Nance, John Terence Turner, Chuck Rodgers, Harry De Zitter, Bill Sumners, Jean Moss, Pete Stone, Richard Noble, Cliff Watts, and Peggy Sirota. See it through February 23, 2025.

Edges of Ailey is the first large-scale museum exhibition to reflect on the life, work and legacy of the visionary artist Alvin Ailey. Ailey founded his eponymous dance company in 1958, creating a platform for modern dance through his innovative repertoire and the unflinching support of other dancers and choreographers. His creative pursuits even extended far beyond dance.

This multimedia cross-disciplinary exhibition—presented in the museum’s 18,000+ square-foot fifth-floor galleries—brings together painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, print, and video made before, during, and after the artist's lifetime (1931-1989). It crystallizes his incredible influence on the contemporary art world and establishes him as one of the great polymaths and earliest, most celebrated multi-hyphenates of the 20th century. 

See it from through February 9, 2025 at The Whitney.

The legendary Shirley Chisholm is deservedly getting a major museum presentation courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York and the Shirley Chisholm Project at Brooklyn College. Running through July 20, 2025, Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100 will delve into the life and legacy of the native New Yorker and barrier-breaking politician, who was the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to run for president on a major party ticket.

Marking the centennial of the late Chisholm’s birth, her first major exhibition will take over the museum's second-floor North Gallery and tell the multi-dimensional story of the American icon in three sections—Brooklyn Life, Political Career, and Legacy—using historical artifacts, photographs, archival footage, and art pieces.

Majestic, incredible elephants are getting the spotlight in a new exhibit at The American Museum of Natural History. "The Secret World of Elephants" showcases both modern and ancient elephants, offering visitors a chance to see a full-scale model of a woolly mammoth, learn about what elephants eat, touch an elephant's tooth, listen to elephant calls and more.

The exhibition is now open in the museum’s LeFrak Family Gallery. An additional ticket is required to visit the exhibit; museum members can visit for free.

Eighty years ago, as World War II raged on, Danish citizens worked together to ferry 7,000 Jewish people to safety, keeping them out of concentration camps. 

Now, New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is commemorating that anniversary, known as one of the most effective examples of mass resistance in modern history. "Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark," the museum’s first exhibition developed for elementary-age students, is now opne.

The exhibit focuses on themes of separation, bravery and resilience to help children ages 9+ reflect on the dangers of prejudice and on their own potential for courageous collective action. 

After nearly a decade of planning, designing and building, the massive new wing at the American Museum of Natural History is now open to the public. The architecturally stunning, 230,000-square-foot Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation houses scientific wonders—including a butterfly vivarium, an insectarium and a 360-degree immersive experience.

From amazing costumes to Broadway history to fun photo opps, this long-awaited new museum is a must-see for theater buffs.  

You can expect the new museum to highlight over 500 individual productions from the 1700s all the way to the present. 

Among the standout offerings: A special exhibit dubbed "The Making of a Broadway Show," which honors the on- and off-stage community that helps bring plays and musicals to life multiple times a week. 

Your Roblox avatar can now get a whole new wardrobe, including an ancient Greek helmet, Japanese warrior armor and even Vincent van Gogh’s straw hat, courtesy of this new app created by The Met museum and Verizon. 

The free app, called Replica, allows visitors to scan certain objects at the museum, which are then turned into digital images that can be applied in the Roblox online gaming platform. The augmented reality initiative was designed as a way to attract kids to The Met, museum spokesman Kenneth Weine said, but collecting the digital items promises fun for all ages. 

Inside the museum, 37 objects are now a part of the Replica app, and finding each one sets visitors on a scavenger hunt throughout the galleries. Objects are scattered throughout the museum in sections including Arms and Armor, The American Wing, Egyptian Art and several more. 

Here's more about how it works. 

As the Revolutionary War came to a close, British Loyalists and soldiers evacuated the colonies in droves. But the evacuation was more complicated for Black Loyalists, some of whom joined the British cause in response to offers of freedom. 

In 1783, the new government formed a special committee to review the eligibility of some Black Loyalists to evacuate with the British Army, and that committee met at Fraunces Tavern in Lower Manhattan. A new permanent exhibit at the Fraunces Tavern Museum explores this important moment in history. 

The exhibition first opened last year, and officials are now moving it to a larger permanent gallery within the museum. The new space will offer a chance to include recent new discoveries of significant information concerning the identities of individuals participating in the Birch Trials and their inclusion in the Book of Negroes.

Hundreds of items have been pulled from the New York Public Library's expansive and centuries-spanning archive to be put on display—many of them for the first time—in a permanent exhibition called "The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures."

Inside the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and its beautiful Gottesman Hall, are more than 250 unique and rare items culled from its research centers spanning 4,000 years of history and includes a wide range of history-making pieces, including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his "discovery" of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas.

Can you imagine how grim our world would be without the influence of Jim Henson? For those of us who learned comedy, whimsy and even literacy from Sesame Street and the Muppet franchise, the Museum of the Moving Image has provided the ultimate treat: a permanent exhibition featuring over 47 Muppet and puppet characters; 27 screens of archival footage from The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock and beyond; and stories of how the great genius and his architects brought to life some of our favorite characters.

The energy in INTER_, Manhattan’s newest art experience, feels more like a meditation retreat than a typical gallery—and that’s by design. 

The experiential, multi-sensory museum now open in Soho invites visitors into a heightened state of contemplative awareness through a sound bath, light installations and aspects of meditation all combined with interactive digital art. 

INTER_ is now open at 415 Broadway. Tickets—which start at $36 for adults and $27 for kids 12 and under—can be purchased here. (Time Out readers get a discount with code TIMEOUT15.)