22 art exhibitions in L.A. to look forward to in 2026

While L.A. is poised to be the sports epicenter of the world for the next few years, there’s a lot more to look forward to than the World Cup in 2026. The city’s arts and culture scene is thriving: Between major exhibition openings at the best museums across the county, the completion of long-awaited expansions and renovations, and the opening of two brand-new museums on the horizon, Los Angeles is poised to become the talk of the art world.

From the debuts of the world’s first AI arts museum and the eagerly anticipated Lucas Museum (fingers crossed!) to SoCal’s first solo exhibition dedicated to Yoko Ono, here are 22 things we’re excited to check out in L.A. museums during 2026. (It’s also worth noting that many of the best exhibitions from 2025 are continuing into next year, including the Hammer Museum’s biennial “Made in L.A.” showcase, the Broad’s display of Robert Therrien’s large-scale sculptures and “Monuments” at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA—our pick for the best exhibition of 2025.) 

Psst: You can see nearly all of our picks below without having to pay for admission if you brush up on L.A.’s free museum days first.

LA Art Show
Los Angeles Convention Center, Jan 7–11
Though the LA Art Show is, obviously, an art show as opposed to a traditional exhibition, the largest and longest-running art fair will gather over 90 exhibitors at the Convention Center for a veritable art extravaganza at the start of the year. Notable for this 31st edition of the show are the first significant solo presentation of actor Sylvester Stallone’s abstract works and the debut of the fair’s Latin American Pavilion, providing a platform for underrepresented artists to share their takes on themes of memory, migration and identity. Meanwhile, non-commercial platform DIVERSEartLA will present “The Biennials, Art Institutions and Museums in the Contemporary Art Ecosystem,” exploring how these institutions impact the evolution of contemporary art.

“Selena: From Texas to the World”
Grammy Museum, Jan 15–Mar 16
The beloved late singer, who’s ascended to music and fashion icon status since her untimely death in 1995, is the focus of a new show at the Grammy Museum. Co-curated by the singer’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, the exhibition will peek behind the curtain of Selena’s life, artistry and career, exploring how her legacy continues as a symbol of empowerment for both young women and Latin communities. You can see the singer’s personal artifacts displayed for the first time outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, including her Grammy Award, cellphone, hand-drawn fashions and microphone, still marked with her signature red lipstick. In preparation for the opening, artist Mister Toledo recently created a mural of the singer outside the museum (above).

“What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem”
Variety Arts Theater, Feb 6–Mar 20
The only show on our list not housed in a dedicated museum or gallery, special exhibition “What a Wonderful World” has definitely piqued my interest. The display of film and video art, billed as “a sweeping odyssey into the depths of human experience,” will take over all six stories of the abandoned, historic Variety Arts Theater in Downtown L.A. (the theater served as the setting for this past Halloween’s immersive haunt Delusion, and honestly, the expansive space was as impressive as the production itself). Over a century of visual storytelling will be explored, blurring the line between visual art and cinema. The contemporary video works by artists including Marina Abramović, Doug Aitken, Chris Burden, Cyprien Gaillard, Arthur Jafa and Precious Okoyomon—juxtaposed with cinematic works by the likes of Walt Disney and Georges Méliès—come from the time-based art collection of the Germany-based Julia Stoschek Foundation.

“Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry”
USC Pacific Asia Museum, Feb 14–Sept 6
The Pacific Asia Museum’s galleries have been closed for months in preparation for this immersive new exhibition, which is taking over the entire museum and marks a new, artist-centered shift to its programming. The ambitious show will use the visual language of mythology to take visitors on an immersive journey through the immigrant experience, combining objects from USC PAM’s 5,000-year-spanning historical collection with new media technology and works by over 20 contemporary artists, led by L.A.-based Korean American muralist Dave Young Kim. Highlights include a wrap-around video installation in a reconstructed airplane cabin and an AI feature that puts visitors in the shoes of an immigrant. Along the way, mythical creatures—dragons, cranes, guardian spirits and shapeshifters—nod to intergenerational legacies.

“Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo”
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Feb 14, 2026–Jan 10, 2027
The Academy Museum’s entire 2026 calendar is packed with exhibitions I can’t wait to check out. First up is a deep dive into Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo. One of Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved films, Ponyo was notable for its focus on hand-drawn animation, with not only the characters but the backgrounds drawn frame-by-frame rather than using animation cels or CGI. Last year, Studio Ghibli donated original production materials to the Academy Collection, so this show will highlight those items, including art boards, posters, a Studio Ghibli animation desk and original drawings—some of which will be displayed in North America for the very first time—pairing them with immersive and interactive elements like an animation table and a play environment for kids.

Later in the year, a different—and equally impressive—type of hands-on animation will be in the spotlight for “Hidden Worlds: The Films of Laika.” Opening December 13, the traveling exhibition sheds light on the Portland, Oregon-based company’s stop-motion animation process by looking at its filmography, from Coraline to Kubo and the Two Strings.

“Fútbol Is Life: Animated Sportraits by Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.”
LACMA, Feb 15–July 12
Whether or not you follow soccer, you probably know by now that Los Angeles is hosting eight matches of the World Cup in summer 2026. In celebration of its arrival, this LACMA show will display Lyndon J. Barrois Sr.’s ode to the world’s most beloved sport. The artist’s miniature “sportraits” re-create classic moments in both women’s and men’s soccer using materials like gum wrappers, glue and paint—even if you’re not a sports fan, the playful sculptures and stop-motion animations will win you over.

“Dear Little Friend: Impressions of Galka Scheyer”
Norton Simon Museum, Feb 20–July 20
Each New Year’s Day, the Norton Simon Museum gets ready for its close-up as the background of the Rose Parade, but this year, the exterior will be looking better than usual, thanks to a recent $15-million renovation. Set on a congested thoroughfare but somehow tucked away, the museum has long been underappreciated and overlooked. Did you know, for example, that the facade of the museum is covered in some 115,000 hand-crafted Heath Ceramics tiles, which were recently cleaned and restored? Or that sculptor Auguste Rodin’s famed The Thinker sits outside? A new exhibition—which looks at how German art dealer Galka Scheyer helped bring European modernism to the United States—is the perfect excuse to make your way to Pasadena to check out not only the works by artists including Alexei Jawlensky, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee and Vassily Kandinsky, but also the museum’s restored facade and renovated sculpture garden.

“Destiny Is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection”
Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, Feb 24–April 26
Even between exhibitions, blue-chip Hauser & Wirth’s Arts District location is worth a visit, if only for its setting—located in a vast former flour mill that’s an architectural work of art in itself, the gallery complex also houses the excellent on-site restaurant Manuela. But it’s even better when the galleries are filled with thought-provoking pieces, as they will be in February, with this showcase of works from the collection of Eileen Harris Norton, who grew up in Watts and has been championing works by women, artists of color and California artists for 50 years now. The show will feature more than 80 works that reflect her commitment to social justice. See the namesake painting by Kerry James Marshall, along with works by artists including Mark Bradford, Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson and Glenn Ligon.

Opening the same day will be an exhibition of works by queer L.A.-based artist Christina Quarles, who created the series in the wake of the Altadena wildfires. The colorful, dense and frenetic pieces reflect the sense of displacement the artist felt last year.

“Haegue Yang: Star-Crossed Rendezvous”
MOCA Grand Avenue, Mar 1–Aug 2
MOCA and the LA Phil are collaborating on this presentation, which includes both the U.S. debut of an immersive installation by South Korean artist Haegue Yang and an accompanying concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall across the street on March 10. On the visual arts side, Yang is known for large-scale structures made with venetian blinds and set against choreographed sequences of light and movement. This work in particular is an ode to the late pioneering avant-garde composer Isang Yun, whose Double Concerto will be performed during the LA Phil concert.

“The Egyptian Book of the Dead”
Getty Villa, Mar 4–Nov 30
The reopened Getty Villa will descend into the underworld with this exhibition, which looks at the ritual spells and religious writings ancient Egyptians employed to garner favor with Re and Osiris in the afterlife. See the Getty’s hieroglyphics-adorned collection of Book of the Dead manuscripts, dating back to around 1000 BCE. The show should dovetail nicely with the museum’s “Sculpted Portraits From Ancient Egypt,” which runs through January 2027.

“Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials”
Hammer Museum, April 5–Aug 23
The multisensory nature of art is explored in this exhibition, which looks at the intertwined relationship between contemporary art and living materials through large-scale installations, painting, mixed-media sculpture, video and sound. Over 20 artists from North, Central and South America have employed mediums like stones, avocado, cacao, achiote, cochineal and clay in their works, inviting visitors to engage their senses of touch, smell and hearing when interacting with the art.

“Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation”
California African American Museum, April 7, 2026–Feb 28, 2027
This show aims to give Black queer culture in California the credit it’s due as a part of the decades-long fight for LGBTQ rights and recognition. Through historical materials, photographs, film and vintage newspapers, the exhibition recovers a history that’s been largely excluded from the record, introducing visitors to sites, protagonists and allies who played a role in the fight for democracy and free expression.

David Geffen Galleries
LACMA, opening in April 2026
In the works for well over a decade and under construction since 2020, the David Geffen Galleries, a single-building replacement for LACMA’s eastern campus, will finally welcome museumgoers in April. The Peter Zumthor–designed amoeba-shaped structure will have shopping and restaurant spaces on the ground floor, while its sprawling single floor of galleries floats above both sides of Wilshire Boulevard. Exhibition details are still to come, as is word of any sort of opening celebrations, but you can keep tabs on the art installation process on LACMA’s Instagram. 

In the meantime, a mock-up of Henri Matisse’s colorful ceramic cut-out, La Gerbe (The Sheaf), is visible from the second you exit LACMA’s parking garage elevators, and if you peer over the construction fences to the south, you’ll spy the top of living sculpture Split-Rocker, a monumental rocking horse and dinosaur mash-up from Jeff Koons covered in roughly 45,000 drought-tolerant perennials and succulents.

Dataland
Opening in spring 2026
Though originally scheduled to open in 2025, Dataland—the world’s first museum of AI Arts—will debut this spring in the Frank Gehry-designed Grand L.A. (across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which Anadol blanketed in projections back in 2018). And while the concept of AI art can be contentious to say the least, the artwork filling this project from Refik Anadol Studios decidedly won’t be of the AI “slop” variety. Rather, the museum aims to merge real human imagination with machine creativity and capabilities.

For about a decade, Turkish American media artist Anadol and his wife and studio cofounder, Efsun Erkılıç, have been translating troves of data into morphing images and rippling particles. Inside the space, you’ll find five galleries of installations, including floor-to-ceiling projections in a rainforest-inspired Infinity Room that we dare you not to be wowed by—the multisensory experience will even be complemented by AI-generated scents.

“Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind”
The Broad, May 23–Oct 11
The inimitable artist, musician and activist—and John Lennon’s other half—is the subject of the Broad’s highly anticipated upcoming show, Ono’s first-ever solo museum exhibition in Southern California. Organized in collaboration with the Tate Modern in London, “Music of the Mind” will allow visitors to directly interact with works from the artist’s seven-decade long career, reflecting Ono’s belief that art can both be made and live within the mind. In conjunction with the show, the museum will transform the olive trees on the outdoor East West Bank Plaza into Wish Trees for Los Angeles, where visitors can tie their own wishes on the branches. Many of the works invite audience engagement, in fact, all working toward a common goal of peace and connection. Also on display will be Acorn Event (1968) and Bed Peace (1969) anti-war works of activism Ono and Lennon worked on together. Tickets for the special exhibition will be available in early 2026 at thebroad.org.

“Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles”
Autry Museum of the American West, May 30, 2026–Jan 31, 2027
This L.A.-centric exhibition looks at the Declaration of Independence’s promise of life, liberty and happiness, and how that promise has been fulfilled—or not—throughout the city’s development. Told via the stories of diverse Angelenos alongside historical and contemporary objects, media and art, the show “invites you to step into a conversation that has been shaping Los Angeles for over two hundred years.” Also of note this upcoming year at the Autry is “Native Skate,” which opens September 18 and traces both skateboarding’s Southern California origins and the importance of the sport in Indigenous communities, especially among Native youth.

“Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon”
Academy Museum, May 31, 2026–Feb 28, 2027
Just in time for silver screen starlet Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, the Academy Museum will present a centennial celebration dedicated to the woman and her work, offering “unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon.” In addition to posters, portraits, letters and rarely seen personal items, highlights from the exhibition include two screen-worn costumes from Some Like It Hot and the rarely exhibited famous pink dress Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

“This Land Is…”
The Huntington, June 14, 2026–Jan 11, 2027
Part of a multiyear initiative centered around the upcoming 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, this major exhibition will draw from the Huntington’s collections to “explore land as a defining force in American life” from before the country’s founding to present day. Meanwhile, its “Stories From the Library” series, which displays rare archival materials from the institution’s library collections through new thematic lenses, will be continuing through 2028, with future chapters focusing on topics from damaged books to early medicine.

“Every Minute Is History”: Five Views of Los Angeles
Getty Center, Sep 1, 2026–Jan 3, 2027
Five photographers who pushed their medium in new directions in the second half of the 20th century present their unique takes on the city in this Getty show. Influenced by techniques including social documentary practices, staged scenes and fashion, the photographs of Laura Aguilar, Reynaldo Rivera, George Rodriguez, Patssi Valdez and Ricardo Valverde expanded Chicano and Chicana representation in Los Angeles.

“The Horror Show”
Academy Museum, Sept 27, 2026–July 25, 2027
Right in time for Halloween season, the Academy Museum seeks to answer the question “Why do horror films matter so deeply to so many?” in this immersive look at the genre whose cultural cachet is always increasing. Knowingly employing horror tropes and exploring the lasting appeal of scary movies, the show will be divided into six subcategories of horror—gothic, psychological, science, slasher, religion and ghosts. Expect re-creations of iconic settings where visitors will encounter creatures, monsters and objects from their favorite horror flicks and, in typical Academy fashion, a behind-the-scenes look at the storytelling and production processes of films from the original Frankenstein to The Shining to Get Out.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Opening Sept 22, 2026
If all goes according to plan, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will finally open its doors in Exposition Park this September. The verdant spaceship-like building between the Natural History Museum and the L.A. Memorial Coliseum adds something decidedly different and otherworldly to L.A.’s architectural scene and has been piquing Angelenos’ interest for years now. The five-story museum will feature 35 galleries, two state-of-the-art theaters, classrooms, a library, dining options and a gift shop.

The “Narrative Art” part of the museum’s moniker reflects a collection Lucas has been amassing for the past 50 years, made up of more than 40,000 artworks that reflect the importance of the somewhat nebulous field of illustrated storytelling, so expect to see paintings, murals and comics from the likes of Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo and Jack Kirby. And don’t worry: The museum will also house the Lucas Archive—think Star Wars props, models, costumes, concept art and more that trace the trajectory of Lucas’s filmmaking career. There’s still no information available about ticketing or the opening exhibition, but to be honest, after waiting so long, we’re thrilled just to have a firm opening date.

“In the Future We Call Now: Dreams of Democracy, Realities of Racism”
Japanese American National Museum, late 2026
And lastly, after an almost-two-year closure to install a new core exhibition, we can look forward to the reopening of the Japanese American National Museum near the end of the year. Informed by updated research and a fresh interpretation of Japanese American history, “Dreams of Democracy” will feature never-before-exhibited artifacts and photographs from JANM’s collection while bringing back certain pieces like the museum’s Heart Mountain barracks and Lance Matsushita’s model of the Manzanar War Relocation Center. The immersive exhibition will wind through the remodeled first floor, promising a more dynamic experience that traces the past, present and future of the Japanese American experience. Also opening at JANM the same time will be “Pictures of Belonging,” an exhibition of works by three trailblazing Japanese American women artists—Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi and Miné Okubo—that debuted at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.