NEWS

5 Can’t-Miss Summer Art Events in New York City

Image via Madison Square Park
Fata Morgana; Image via Madison Square Park

Summer is an amazing time in New York City for a lot of things: dining outdoors, exploring Central Park, riding a bike along the Hudson River. But it’s also one of the best times of year for art lovers. The city is packed with amazing shows, festivals, and exhibits in the summer — some of them even outdoors so you can enjoy the weather at the same time.

We’ve put together a list of  of our favorites, below.
1. Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life. The New York Botanical Garden will host the first solo Kahlo exhibit in New York City in more than 10 years. The show will feature a dozen of her original paintings and works on paper, and will pay special attention to the artist’s relationship with plant imagery and the natural world.

2. Neue Galerie’s Gustav Klimt exhibit. Though Klimt’s  famed Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer makes its permanent home at the Neue Gallerie, this summer the museum has an expanded exhibit around the piece, which explores the relationship between artist and subject (Bloch-Bauer was the only person Klimt ever painted twice), as well as the Bloch-Bauer family history, and the history of the painting itself. The exhibit began April 1, to coincide with the release of the feature film “Woman in Gold,” which chronicled the Nazi capture of the painting, and the Bloch-Bauer’s fight to get it back.

3. Fata Morgana at Madison Square Park. The park will host its largest outdoor art installation in history, a 500-foot long canopy sculpture made of gold discs, by artist Teresita Fernandez, all summer long.

4. Summergarden: New Music for New York: Art and music combine in this free event at by the Museum of Modern Art. Hosted each Sunday evening in July, the Museum’s Sculpture Garden, the series will feature music by jazz and classical musicians from the Julliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

5. The Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit. Held over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends for more than 80 years, this sidewalk-style exhibit showcases everything from paintings, to sculpture, photography, and crafts.