WEEKLY Dose of Art

New York has a problem right now.

Too much good art, all at the same time, haha!

Spring in the city is always lively. But the museums thought to contribute to the weather too. 

You get to see the kind of shows that get talked about for decades are all open right now, all within a few subway stops of each other.

Clear your calendar to see these 6 art shows.

Artist spotlight of the week

In 1917, a man took a regular toilet, flipped it upside down, signed it "R. Mutt," and submitted it to an art exhibition.

The art world lost its mind.

That man was Marcel Duchamp. And that toilet, called Fountain, is now considered one of the most important artworks ever made. 

MoMA just put together 300 of his works for the first big Duchamp show in America since 1973. That's 53 years

But Michaelina had already answered them. She painted herself into the canvas, standing on the right side and staring straight at the viewer. Like she was saying, I made this. Remember me.

People still ignored her. In the early 1900s, a museum curator even wrote that a painting this bold could not have come from a woman.

Now, after all these years, she’s finally getting her first-ever show in the UK at the Royal Academy in London. It’s open until June 21, 2026.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were the most famous artist couple who ever lived. Their relationship was, to put it simply, a complete mess. Married in 1929, both had affairs constantly. They divorced, remarried, hurt each other, and inspired each other, all while making some of the most important art of the 20th century.

Quick context:

• Frida: Mexican painter known for small, raw, deeply personal self-portraits full of pain and symbolism, started painting after a near-fatal bus accident at 18

• Diego: painted enormous wall-sized murals on public buildings. His mother called their marriage a union between an elephant and a dove

What makes this show different is the design. MoMA partnered with the Metropolitan Opera, which is launching a new opera about Diego bringing Frida back to life on the Day of the Dead.

Most people know Andy Warhol from his famous paintings of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. He was one of the biggest artists of the 20th century, known for making art that looked like advertisements and advertisements that looked like art.

But this show has nothing to do with any of that.

After Warhol got his first Polaroid camera in the 1960s, he basically never put it down. He photographed everything around him constantly, his friends, his home, his dog, random visitors, boring afternoons, famous people, etc. These photos filled six private albums that almost nobody ever saw while he was alive.

Iris van Herpen is technically a fashion designer. 

She trained as a dancer before she became a designer, and you can feel it in every piece she creates. Her clothes look like they're moving even when they're completely still. They look like deep-sea creatures, or something you'd find in a science lab.

She has dressed Beyoncé and Rosalía. 

Her pieces are made from materials like 3D-printed polyamide, laser-cut acrylic, and molded silicone, which are not things most designers even think about using.

This show has been traveling the world since 2023, going through France, Australia, Singapore, and the Netherlands. Finally, it’s in New York.

Yves Saint Laurent was one of the most famous fashion designers who ever lived. He ran a French fashion house from the 1960s until the early 2000s and dressed some of the most iconic women in the world. 

But do you know why YSL became so legendary? It was because of the photographers who shot those clothes.

The second half of the show goes into the private archives, showing personal notebooks, magazine clippings, and private snapshots that reveal how Saint Laurent thought about photography not just as a marketing tool but as part of the art itself.

Before You Go

New York in spring is already pretty hard to say no to. Add six of the best art shows in years, all running at the same time, and honestly, what's the excuse?

Book the ticket.

This Week in Art