# The 12 best gallery shows in New York City in October 2026

> A Brice Marden survey at Gagosian, Yvonne Jacquette at Karma, Yoshitomo Nara’s first show with Zwirner and Anthony McCall’s solid light: the exhibitions to see in Manhattan this month, and when they close.

New York · Best shows · By On View, updated Oct 2, 2026 · Tags: New York, NYC, Chelsea, Tribeca, Exhibitions, October 2026, Galleries, What to see

October is the richest month of the New York gallery year. The September shows that opened the season are all still up, most of them until October 24, and the last days of the month bring the next wave, with Yoshitomo Nara at Zwirner and Lari Pittman at Lehmann Maupin opening on October 29. Between the two there is more to see in Chelsea and Tribeca than any one weekend allows.

These are the twelve gallery exhibitions we would make time for, chosen for the work rather than the gallery, with their dates and addresses from our listings and a link to each show’s own page, where the pictures are. A dozen more that deserve a visit follow, and the museums, led by Arthur Jafa at the New Museum, are in the questions at the end. For the galleries themselves, see [the 12 best art galleries in New York City](https://onview.so/guides/best-art-galleries-nyc).

## 1. Brice Marden: *I Am Plane Image*

- Sep 15 – Dec 12, 2026 (on view)
- At [Gagosian, West 21st Street](https://onview.so/manhattan/gagosian-west-21st-street.md), Chelsea · 522 West 21st Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/gagosian-west-21st-street/i-am-plane-image

![](https://images.onview.so/7a6e2114d6ca441a.webp)

The show of the season: six decades of Marden’s paintings, from the monochrome oil-and-wax panels of the 1960s to the looping calligraphic canvases of his last years, with major loans from museums and rarely seen works from the estate and private collections. It is organized around the plane and the material presence of paint, which is to say around what Marden cared about most, and it is the first chance since his death in 2023 to see the whole arc in one place.

It runs longer than almost anything else this month, through December 12, at 522 West 21st Street. Gagosian’s two 24th Street spaces have Deana Lawson and Jordan Wolfson at the same time, so give the block an afternoon.

## 2. Yvonne Jacquette: *From the Air*

- Sep 3 – Oct 31, 2026 (on view)
- At [Karma](https://onview.so/manhattan/karma.md), Chelsea · 549 West 26th Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/karma/from-the-air

![](https://images.onview.so/be2344f05d503865.webp)

Karma’s first show of Yvonne Jacquette (1934–2023) gathers paintings and works on paper from 1971 to 2016 that look down on cities, clouds and fields from planes, helicopters and high towers. It follows how the bird’s-eye view became both her subject and her method: early watercolors framed by the oval of a passenger window, then pastels and large oils in which the frame drops away and mills, highways and Manhattan blocks tilt up toward the viewer in patches of dotted, almost Pointillist color.

Jacquette chartered small planes over Maine, rode helicopters above New York at night and sketched from the upper floors of the World Trade Center, later reworking the studies from memory. A painter long admired by other painters, she is getting the attention she was owed; the show is on West 26th Street through October 31.

## 3. *Deana Lawson*

- Sep 10 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view) · 541 West 24th Street
- At [Gagosian, West 24th Street](https://onview.so/manhattan/gagosian-west-24th-street.md), Chelsea · 541 West 24th Street, also 555 West 24th Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/gagosian-west-24th-street/deana-lawson

![](https://images.onview.so/e504b9426afd8b85.webp)

Lawson’s first solo show with Gagosian brings mirror-framed photographs and holograms from her Edge Control series, which reworks the surveillance imagery of beauty supply stores. Her large, staged photographs of Black life have been among the most discussed of the last decade, and here the reflective frames pull the viewer into the frame too.

At 541 West 24th Street through October 24, with Jordan Wolfson’s new sculptures next door at 555, in his first show with the gallery in New York.

## 4. *Yoshitomo Nara*

- Nov 5 – Dec 12, 2026 (coming up) · 537 West 20th Street and 533 West 19th Street
- At [David Zwirner, Chelsea](https://onview.so/manhattan/david-zwirner-chelsea.md), Chelsea · 525 West 19th Street, also 519 and 533 West 19th, 537 West 20th Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/david-zwirner-chelsea/yoshitomo-nara

Nara’s first exhibition with David Zwirner, and his first major New York solo show in years, fills two buildings from October 29. At 537 West 20th Street, new paintings pair muted, layered color with diffused brushwork, large monochrome drawings made with oil-based paint sticks extend his line, and early works from the 1980s trace the origins of his wide-eyed, big-headed figures. At 533 West 19th, thirteen bronze heads, enlarged tenfold from palm-sized clay models and coated in matte white urethane, recall the snow “monsters” of his childhood winters.

The opening reception is on Thursday, October 29, from 6 to 8 pm, and the show runs to December 12. Until then Zwirner’s 19th Street spaces have [Nate Lowman’s shaped canvases of keys](https://onview.so/manhattan/david-zwirner-chelsea/hanging-out), to October 24, and [Thomas Ruff’s pixelated jpegs of 9/11](https://onview.so/manhattan/david-zwirner-chelsea/jpegs-ny), to October 17.

## 5. Lynda Benglis: *KNOTTING, TYING, FOLDING*

- Sep 11 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view)
- At [Pace Gallery](https://onview.so/manhattan/pace-gallery.md), Chelsea · 540 West 25th Street, also 508–510 West 25th Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/pace-gallery/knotting-tying-folding

![](https://images.onview.so/2abab287d1ba8149.webp)

Sculpture from 1972 to 2024 in glazed ceramic, bronze and pleated paper, with particular attention to rarely shown glass pieces from 1985. Benglis has been turning the gestures of Abstract Expressionism into three dimensions for more than fifty years, and the knots and folds here, some tiny and some monumental, are as alive as anything she has made.

At 540 West 25th Street through October 24, in a building that also has Torkwase Dyson’s deep-sea paintings and, across the street, [Arlene Shechet’s monumental metal sculptures and ceramics](https://onview.so/manhattan/pace-gallery/she-said-she-said). The galleries close early, at 4 pm, on Tuesday, October 6.

## 6. Lee Bul: *The Anatomy of Every Setting Sun*

- Sep 10 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view)
- At [Hauser & Wirth, West 22nd Street](https://onview.so/manhattan/hauser-and-wirth-west-22nd-street.md), Chelsea · 542 West 22nd Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/hauser-and-wirth-west-22nd-street/the-anatomy-of-every-setting-sun

The Korean artist’s first New York show with Hauser & Wirth, and a chance to see the range of a career that has run from early performances through the cyborg sculptures of the 1990s to the mirrored, crystalline installations of recent years. The gallery’s five-story building on West 22nd Street gives the new work room to breathe.

Through October 24. In the same building, the Arp exhibition, with a display design echoing the artist’s studio in Locarno, and George Rouy’s paintings both close on October 17, so an early-month visit catches all three.

## 7. Tauba Auerbach: *Zephyr, Zephyr*

- Sep 10 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view) · 521 West 21st Street
- At [Paula Cooper Gallery](https://onview.so/manhattan/paula-cooper-gallery.md), Chelsea · 521 West 21st Street, also 529 West 21st Street and 534 West 21st Street · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/paula-cooper-gallery/zephyr-zephyr

![](https://images.onview.so/8ecf83823f08c093.webp)

Auerbach has long worked at the border of art and the sciences, and this show takes natural turbulence as its subject: pointillist paintings of microscopic foam, thermal photographs of water currents, sculptures and glass chimes that turn air movement into sound. It is rigorous and beautiful in equal measure, which has become Auerbach’s signature.

At 521 West 21st Street through October 24. Paula Cooper’s other spaces on the block have [Eric N. Mack’s textile installations](https://onview.so/manhattan/paula-cooper-gallery/you-red-the-shirt-off-my-back) and Liz Glynn’s copper American Progress.

## 8. *Tony Cragg*

- Sep 10 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view)
- At [Marian Goodman Gallery](https://onview.so/manhattan/marian-goodman-gallery.md), Tribeca · 385 Broadway · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/marian-goodman-gallery/tony-cragg

![](https://images.onview.so/1c4a260092be8dd8.webp)

New sculpture by the British artist, whose stacked and twisting forms in bronze, steel, wood and stone have been among the most recognizable in contemporary sculpture for forty years. Marian Goodman’s Tribeca building, at 385 Broadway, has the scale these pieces want, and Cragg is at his best when given it.

Through October 24, alongside [Edith Dekyndt’s Notes on What is What](https://onview.so/manhattan/marian-goodman-gallery/notes-on-what-is-what). Nairy Baghramian follows in November.

## 9. Hiroshi Sugimoto: *Unnatural Habitat*

- Sep 15 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view)
- At [Lisson Gallery](https://onview.so/manhattan/lisson-gallery.md), Chelsea · 504 West 24th Street, also 508 West 24th Street · Tue–Sat 10–6, and by appointment
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/lisson-gallery/unnatural-habitat

![](https://images.onview.so/b6199825cbc5fa4e.webp)

Photographs from Sugimoto’s Diorama series, begun in the 1970s at the American Museum of Natural History, in which the museum’s stuffed animals and painted backdrops become, under his long exposures, indistinguishable from life. New washi-paper screens extend the idea, and the show as a whole is about how museums stage an artificial nature.

At 504 West 24th Street through October 24, with [a survey of the Brazilian artist Leonilson](https://onview.so/manhattan/lisson-gallery/leonilson) next door at 508. Yu Hong’s altarpiece-like paintings open at Lisson in November.

## 10. Anthony McCall: *Solid Light, 1973, 2020, 2026*

- Sep 11 – Oct 31, 2026 (on view)
- At [Sean Kelly](https://onview.so/manhattan/sean-kelly.md), Hudson Yards · 475 Tenth Avenue · Tue–Fri 11–6, Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/sean-kelly/solid-light-1973-2020-2026

![](https://images.onview.so/b52d93a5d4bf622d.webp)

Three of McCall’s solid-light works, in which a projected beam, made visible by haze, becomes a sculpture you can walk through: Line Describing a Cone, from 1973, the piece that made his name; Skylight, from 2020; and the newly debuted Swarm. Sean Kelly’s tall main gallery, at Tenth Avenue and 36th Street, is one of the few in the city that can show them properly.

Through October 31, with Luke Agada’s first show with the gallery alongside. The gallery is a fifteen-minute walk north of the Chelsea district; go late in the day, when the room is darkest.

## 11. Hew Locke: *The Wanderers*

- Sep 9 – Oct 24, 2026 (on view) · 390 Broadway, 2nd Floor
- At [P.P.O.W.](https://onview.so/manhattan/p-p-o-w.md), Tribeca · 390 Broadway, also 392 Broadway · Tue–Sat 10–6
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/p-p-o-w/the-wanderers

![](https://images.onview.so/4a0eec081e088642.webp)

Locke’s third solo show with P.P.O.W. centers on new Odyssey boats, a fleet of model ships in the devotional tradition once hung in churches for safe passage, here encrusted with beads, medals, coins and imagery drawn from his own altered share certificates, to evoke histories of migration and trade. Nineteenth-century Parian ware busts of Queen Victoria and Princess Alexandra are dressed up with found materials in his Souvenir series, and there are new watercolors.

Locke’s commission for the Metropolitan Museum’s facade made him a familiar name in New York; this is the fuller account. At 390 Broadway, second floor, in Tribeca, through October 24.

## 12. Norman Lewis: *Jumping Jive*

- Sep 10 – Nov 14, 2026 (on view)
- At [Michael Rosenfeld Gallery](https://onview.so/manhattan/michael-rosenfeld-gallery.md), Chelsea · 100 Eleventh Avenue · Tue–Sat 10–6, and by appointment
- The show on On View: https://onview.so/manhattan/michael-rosenfeld-gallery/jumping-jive

![](https://images.onview.so/7146fee7b8faeae0.webp)

Lewis (1909–1979) was the one Black painter at the center of Abstract Expressionism, and his small, rhythmic canvases of the 1940s and 1950s, with their processions of figures dissolving into calligraphic marks, have been reclaimed over the last decade by museums that long ignored them. Michael Rosenfeld has represented the estate for years and knows the work better than anyone.

At 100 Eleventh Avenue, at West 19th Street, through November 14. Lewis is also in Geometries at [the Studio Museum in Harlem](https://onview.so/manhattan/the-studio-museum-in-harlem), among nearly thirty artists working with line and grid.

## Also worth seeing

- [Pierre Soulages: Paintings on Paper](https://onview.so/manhattan/levy-gorvy-dayan/paintings-on-paper.md) at Lévy Gorvy Dayan (on view, Sep 17 – Oct 24, 2026): More than twenty works on paper by the French abstract painter, most never shown before, in the East 64th Street townhouse.
- [Baldwin Lee: New York (1975–1979)](https://onview.so/manhattan/howard-greenberg-gallery/new-york-1975-1979.md) at Howard Greenberg Gallery (on view, Sep 17 – Nov 7, 2026): Large black-and-white photographs of the city in the late 1970s, shown publicly for the first time; Lee grew up in Chinatown.
- [Leidy Churchman: Space Remembers](https://onview.so/manhattan/matthew-marks-gallery-west-22nd-street/space-remembers.md) at Matthew Marks Gallery, West 22nd Street (on view, Sep 11 – Oct 24, 2026): Thirteen new paintings and three sculptures on consciousness and perception.
- [Joseph Yaeger: Agita](https://onview.so/manhattan/gladstone-gallery-west-24th-street/agita.md) at Gladstone Gallery, West 24th Street (on view, Sep 16 – Oct 31, 2026): The London painter’s first show with Gladstone: watercolor on gesso, with a confessional publication.
- [Thea Djordjadze: A well of night](https://onview.so/manhattan/spruth-magers/a-well-of-night.md) at Sprüth Magers (on view, Sep 18 – Dec 19, 2026): Sculptures in steel, aluminum, wood and plaster set against the neo-Renaissance townhouse on East 80th Street.
- [Cannupa Hanska Luger: American Traditional](https://onview.so/manhattan/garth-greenan/american-traditional.md) at Garth Greenan (on view, Sep 9 – Oct 24, 2026): Opens the gallery’s new second building at 10 Greene Street in SoHo, with Rosalyn Drexler at no. 25.
- [Danh Vo](https://onview.so/manhattan/white-cube/danh-vo.md) at White Cube (on view, closing soon, Sep 10 – Oct 16, 2026): New work, the artist’s return to New York after his 2018 Guggenheim show, on Madison Avenue; closes October 16.
- [People Make Art: A Tribute to Melvin Edwards](https://onview.so/manhattan/alexander-gray-associates/people-make-art-a-tribute-to-melvin-edwards.md) at Alexander Gray Associates (on view, Sep 9 – Oct 24, 2026): A group show in honor of the sculptor, in Tribeca.
- [Claire Falkenstein: San Francisco, Paris, Rome](https://onview.so/manhattan/ortuzar-projects/san-francisco-paris-rome.md) at Ortuzar (on view, Sep 10 – Oct 31, 2026): The postwar sculptor’s wire and glass works, by city, on White Street.
- [Taryn Simon: Special Focus on Taryn Simon](https://onview.so/manhattan/almine-rech/special-focus-on-taryn-simon.md) at Almine Rech (on view, closing soon, Sep 16 – Oct 21, 2026): Photographs of the pens and documents behind the 2025 executive orders, alongside her Guggenheim show; closes October 21.
- [Margot Bergman: On the other hand](https://onview.so/manhattan/anton-kern-gallery/on-the-other-hand.md) at Anton Kern Gallery (on view, Sep 8 – Oct 31, 2026): The breakthrough paintings of 2012–14 and the raw invented portraits that followed, on East 55th Street.
- [Lari Pittman: The Remedy of Analog Space and Time](https://onview.so/manhattan/lehmann-maupin/the-remedy-of-analog-space-and-time.md) at Lehmann Maupin (coming up, Oct 29 – Dec 19, 2026): Twelve new paintings and ten works on paper; opens October 29 with a reception from 6 to 8 pm.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which New York gallery shows close in October 2026?

October 10: Anna Park at Lehmann Maupin and Zwirner’s Ali Forney Center benefit. October 16: Danh Vo at White Cube. October 17: Arp and George Rouy at Hauser & Wirth, Thomas Ruff and Scott Kahn at Zwirner, Nikki Maloof and the two other solo shows at Perrotin, Dora Jeridi and the Haas Brothers at Boesky, and Scott and Tyson Reeder at CANADA. October 24 is the big day: Deana Lawson and Jordan Wolfson at Gagosian, the three Pace shows, Lee Bul, Tauba Auerbach and Eric N. Mack, Tony Cragg, Sugimoto and Leonilson, Hew Locke, Leidy Churchman, Rana Begum, Soulages and many more. October 31: Yvonne Jacquette, Anthony McCall, Joseph Yaeger, Becky Suss, Baldwin Lee, Cristina BanBan and Margot Bergman.

### What opens at New York galleries in late October 2026?

October 29 is the night: Yoshitomo Nara at David Zwirner, Lari Pittman at Lehmann Maupin, Mildred Thompson at Galerie Lelong, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Mary Lovelace O’Neal at Boesky, with receptions from 6 to 8 pm. Steve Locke opens at Alexander Gray on October 30, and Grace Carney at P.P.O.W. the same day. Cici Wu’s show at 47 Canal opened on October 1. In November: Baselitz at Gagosian, Yu Hong at Lisson, Nairy Baghramian at Marian Goodman, Doris Salcedo at White Cube and Karon Davis and Ludovic Nkoth at Salon 94.

### What are the best museum shows in New York in October 2026?

The [New Museum](https://onview.so/manhattan/new-museum) has the largest survey yet of Arthur Jafa, over two floors of its expanded building, with Diego Marcon’s films and a history of the Bowery alongside. [The Studio Museum in Harlem](https://onview.so/manhattan/the-studio-museum-in-harlem) is in its first season in its new building, with Geometries, a Mark Bradford alphabet and Peggy Cooper Cafritz’s collection. Taryn Simon fills the Guggenheim’s rotunda through March, and the Met has Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous.

### How do I see the most in one day?

Start in Tribeca at 10 or 11 (Marian Goodman, P.P.O.W., Bortolami, James Fuentes, Mendes Wood DM and Andrew Kreps are within five minutes of each other), take the subway to 23rd Street after lunch, and walk Chelsea from Lehmann Maupin and Gagosian on 24th down to Zwirner on 19th, with Pace on 25th and Karma on 26th as the detours. Sean Kelly, up at 36th Street, needs its own half hour at the end. [The map](https://onview.so/manhattan/map) has every gallery and its hours.

Everything on view in Manhattan, at every gallery and museum, is on [the list](https://onview.so/manhattan) and [the map](https://onview.so/manhattan/map), with the openings coming up under Events. For the galleries themselves, read [the 12 best art galleries in New York City](https://onview.so/guides/best-art-galleries-nyc). The weekly email, under Resources, has each week’s openings and closings.

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Published Oct 2, 2026; the text was last revised on Oct 2, 2026. The addresses, hours and dates are from On View's listings for New York as of Tuesday, October 13, 2026. This page: https://onview.so/guides/best-gallery-shows-nyc-october-2026. All the guides: https://onview.so/guides.md. Every gallery and museum in New York City: https://onview.so/manhattan.md. All of On View: https://onview.so/llms.txt