Mid-April Art Watch: 10 Exhibitions You Still Have Time to See
April may be halfway through, but there’s still time to catch some of the month’s most exciting art exhibitions. From staff-curated gems to major retrospectives, this list spotlights shows that are still open—or just opening—across the country. Whether you’re drawn to bold contemporary works, timeless classics, or fresh voices in the art world, these exhibitions offer something to spark your curiosity. Don’t let the month slip by—there’s still plenty of time to dive into wonderful exhibitions.
1. Artists at Work: The Mia Staff Art Show
The Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis, MN
Closes April 27, 2025
Not all of the artistry at Mia comes from outside the museum—many employees are artists as well, and this exhibition spotlights their work.
The Staff Art Show was organized and curated by Team Mia, a group of museum staff devoted to cultivating a positive work environment, encouraging generosity and relationship-building among staff, providing accessible opportunities for connection and growth, and recognizing and celebrating museum employees. We are pleased to showcase the immense talent among us.
Utopia: Access Denied, by Rocky Xóchihua, Facilities
2. IN YOUR FACE: Portraits by Gila Rayberg
Pensacola Museum of Art
Pensacola, FL
Closes September 7, 2025
Over the past two decades, Gila Rayberg has been increasingly captivated by portraiture. Her whimsical mosaics capture the character and emotion of each individual through the use of brilliant colors and engaging patterns.
Rayberg says, “the artworks are predominantly material driven, combining a wide variety of dishes and other would-be discarded ‘memory-ware’, alongside more traditional mosaic materials. The curves, rims, handles and rounded crockery often become defining elements within my portraits. A teacup handle may become an ear or a strand of hair; the lip of a cup, an eyelid. I love those ‘aha’ moments when the perfect shard reveals itself to me. I ponder the memory of where an object originated, who gave it to me, and other significance it may hold. Endless combinations of disparate elements come together to tell new stories & keep my mind active, while the cutting and placing of each piece keeps me physically grounded. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing, all else falls to the wayside.”
Gila Rayberg. (Image courtesy of Artist and Museum)
3. Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist
National Gallery of Art
Washington D.C.
Closes July 6, 2025
One of the defining artists of the 20th century, Elizabeth Catlett addressed the injustices she witnessed and experienced in the United States and Mexico through her bold prints and dynamic sculptures. See more than 150 of her creations in this exhibition, including rarely seen paintings and drawings.
Trace the career of this cultural force—from her roots in Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York to the remarkable body of work she made during some 60 years in Mexico. In striving to make art for the people, Catlett put justice at the very center of her work.
Elizabeth Catlett, Angela Libre, 1972, lithograph in color on silver foil, Private Collection. © 2024 Mora-Catlett Family / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Photocredit: Neil Boyd Photography
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4. Frida: Beyond the Myth
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Richmond, VA
Closes September 28, 2025
The exhibition showcases many of the artist’s most important paintings and drawings from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954. More than 60 works of art in a variety of media, many rarely seen outside of Mexico, include self-portraits, still lifes, and compositions from her imagination. Also on view are photographs of Kahlo taken by many of those closest to her, including internationally renowned photographers Lola Álvarez Bravo, Imogen Cunningham, Julien Levy, Dora Maar, and Nickolas Muray.
Kahlo began painting during her recovery from a traumatic bus accident that she barely survived and that forever changed her life. This exhibition closely examines the inimitable style and complexity of Kahlo’s paintings. Her life was a seemingly open book but was also paradoxically enigmatic, as she depicted life-altering events with unflinching truth yet masterfully employed symbolism and continually reinvented herself in iconic self-portraits. Her jewel-like paintings are among the most beautiful, memorable, and haunting images of the 20th century.
Frida on White Bench , New York (detail), 1939, Nickolas Muray (American, born Hungary, 1892–1965), Carbon pigment print. Private Collection ©️ Nickolas Muray Photo Archives, Licensed by Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
5. Amy Sherald: American Sublime
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, NY
Closes August 10, 2025
Across Amy Sherald: American Sublime, Sherald’s contemplative subjects appear most concerned with their own interiority, prioritizing their own peace and self-realization over how others might perceive them and the shackles of history, though they are inevitably impacted by both. Her audacious project highlights what she has called the “wonder of what it is to be a Black American,” rendering a rich and unconstrained Black world in vibrant Technicolor.
Amy Sherald, What's precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American), 2017. Oil on canvas, 54 × 43 × 2.5 in. (137.16 × 109.22 × 6.35 cm). Private collection, courtesy Monique Meloche Gallery. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photograph by Joseph Hyde
6. ANNIE LEIBOVITZ / WORK
The Mint Museum
Charlotte, NC
Opens April 27 - August 31, 2025
This landmark exhibition celebrates Leibovitz’s illustrious 50-year career. Her legacy is one of capturing the essence of her subjects with unparalleled intimacy and artistry. Leibovitz’s images feature a remarkable roster of artists, musicians, politicians, athletes, and other influential figures. From her early black-and-white work to her more recent, painterly conceptual portraits, the exhibition showcases the breadth and depth of her creative journey.
Visitors will enjoy the exhibition in an engaging dual format, with prints on paper complemented by cutting-edge digital displays. This immersive presentation highlights both the timeless quality of her work and her embrace of new photographic technologies. See the works that define Leibovitz as one of the most significant photographers of our time.
Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Springsteen on tour, Paris, 2016. Photo courtesy of the artist ©Annie Leibovitz.
7. Jack Whitten: The Messenger
MoMa- The Museum of Modern Art
New York, NY
On View Through August 2, 2025
Jack Whitten: The Messenger presents a revelatory history of the artist’s exploration of race, technology, jazz, love, and war. From the upheaval of the 1960s to the end of his life in 2018, Whitten faced great pressure to pursue representational art as a form of activism. Yet he dared to invent forms of abstraction—and offered the world a new way to see.
Jack Whitten. Atopolis: For Édouard Glissant. 2014. Acrylic on canvas, eight panels, overall 124 1/2 × 248 1/2″ (316.2 × 631.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Sid R. Bass, Lonti Ebers, Agnes Gund, Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, and Daniel and Brett Sundheim
8. Good Vibrations: The Prints of Victor Vasarely
The Butler Institute of American Art
Youngstown, OH
On View Through July 20, 2025
Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), born in Hungary, is considered one of the first practitioners of Op Art, abstract art where optical effects occur in a viewer’s personal perception. He briefly studied medicine at the University of Budapest from 1925-27 but left to pursue art for two years and then enrolled at the Muhely Academy in Budapest which is often referred to as the “Hungarian Bauhaus”.
Victor Vasarely, “Titan A,” 1985, 15 7/8″ x 15 3/8.” Serigraph in color on Arches paper. Signed in pencil, numbered. From the regular edition of 300.
9. David LaChapelle: Picture Show
North Carolina Museum of Art
Raleigh, NC
On View Through July 20, 2025
With over 80 prints, drawings, and videos across the NCMA’s two locations, Dear Sonja, (NCMA Winston-Salem) and David LaChapelle: Picture Show (NCMA) honor the artist’s journey over the past four decades. This survey includes his iconic staged tableau works and interpretive series, such as Stations of the Cross and Jesus Is My Homeboy.
David LaChapelle, Death by Hamburger, 2001, chromogenic print, 40 × 60 in.; © David LaChapelle, Courtesy of the artist
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10. Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules
Guggenheim Bilbao
Bilbao, Spain
On View Through September 28, 2025
Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules contextualizes the painter’s creative output through the lens of her artistic affinities, influences, and friendships. Comprising thirty of Frankenthaler’s poetic abstractions created between 1953 and 2002, the exhibition also features select paintings and sculptures by some of her contemporaries—Anthony Caro, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and David Smith—highlighting the synergies between these artists.
Painting Without Rules is designed chronologically, decade to decade, beginning with the 1950s and ending in the 2000s. Each section, paced by a curatorial text, represents another chapter of Frankenthaler’s prolific career. The exhibition celebrates the legacy of a pioneering artist who never stopped exploring new ways to make abstract art.
Helen Frankenthaler, Western Dream, Oil on canvas, 177.8 x 218.4 cm, 1957. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2023 (2023.560) © 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP. Photo: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian