Featured Events in New York in February 2025 (February Updated)

Experts debate which Olympics were the best designed, with Mexico City, Los Angeles, Barcelona, and Grenoble drawing enthusiastic advocates. But a consensus usually forms around the graphic program created for the XXth Olympiad held in Munich, West Germany, in 1972. Usually attributed to a single visionary creative director, Otl Aicher, the program was in fact created by a team of designers who worked tirelessly on every detail of it for nearly six years. The result was a fully coordinated, rigorously executed, totally comprehensive scheme that set a new standard for the design of the Games. It became an influential model not only for the design of sporting events but for comprehensive identity programs of any kind. This exhibition highlights the program created for the 1972 Munich Olympics at its best, one for each event, each capturing both a moment in time and making a bid for permanence. Together, they demonstrate a magically calibrated balance of consistency and surprise, control and power, precision and exuberance: no less than the athletes they celebrate.Graphic designer Michael Bierut graduated from the University of Cincinnati and worked for ten years with Massimo Vignelli before joining the New York office of the design consultancy Pentagram in 1990. His teaching appointments have included positions at the Yale School of Art and the Yale School of Management. He was the recipient of the AIGA Medal in 2006 and the Design Mind Award from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in 2008.

The majority of the posters in this exhibition date from the Golden Age of London Passenger Transport Board posters, when many artists were commissioned to produce designs, primarily for London Underground and its various connecting networks of tram and bus lines. In this post-World War I era, the overarching concept behind the poster campaigns was to encourage off-peak travel across the wider network through eye-catching, attractive designs, thus driving up revenues for under-utilized lines. Most of these posters were not advertising the train lines themselves, but featured images focused on pastoral or unspoiled destinations for weekend day trips, such as historic houses, beaches, or sporting events like rowing races, all on the outer reaches of the Tube lines. These vividly colored posters frequently juxtaposed the inherent grayness of inner city London with an exaggerated vibrant atmosphere available just a short Tube ride away.

MoMA would not be what it is today without Lillie Plummer Bliss. In 1929, after years of advocating for modern art in New York, Bliss, together with Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Mary Quinn Sullivan, founded The Museum of Modern Art. When she died, at 66, just two years later, Bliss left a large part of her art collection to the museum—a visionary act that fundamentally changed MoMA’s trajectory. Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern brings together 40 works from Bliss’s collection, including paintings and works on paper by Paul Cézanne, Odilon Redon, Georges-Pierre Seurat, and Pablo Picasso. Bliss was a fierce supporter of these groundbreaking artists at a time when modern art was often met with suspicion or ridicule. “They have something to say worth saying and claim for themselves only the freedom to express it in their own way,” she declared. Her uniquely generous gift, which allowed for the sale of her works to fund new acquisitions—including Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night—provided the young museum with a means to develop its collection far into the future. Bliss’s remarkable contribution to the history of modern art in the United States remains under-recognized. This is partly due to her wish to stay out of the spotlight; at the end of her life, Bliss requested that her personal papers be burned. While much of her story remains left to the imagination, Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern illuminates this pivotal figure through the works of art she loved most.

Art of Commerce: Trade Catalogs in Watson Library features a selection of the library’s extensive holdings of sale catalogs. Watson Library has almost two thousand trade catalogs published in many countries from the eighteenth century to the present. Objects featured include furniture, jewelry, tiles, ironwork, glasswork, lighting, stoves, tableware, textiles, decorative paper, artist’s materials, fashion, typography, automobiles, and musical instruments. Numerous catalogs illustrate works of art or related objects now in The Met collection.

Art of Commerce: Trade Catalogs in Watson Library features a selection of the library’s extensive holdings of sale catalogs. Watson Library has almost two thousand trade catalogs published in many countries from the eighteenth century to the present. Objects featured include furniture, jewelry, tiles, ironwork, glasswork, lighting, stoves, tableware, textiles, decorative paper, artist’s materials, fashion, typography, automobiles, and musical instruments. Numerous catalogs illustrate works of art or related objects now in The Met collection.

For the 2024 Great Hall Commission, Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze (born 1942, Shanghai, based in Taipei) has created two monumental works of Chinese calligraphy for the Museum’s historic space. Her project is the third in the series of commissions for The Met’s Great Hall and the artist’s first major project in the United States.

For the 2024 Great Hall Commission, Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze (born 1942, Shanghai, based in Taipei) has created two monumental works of Chinese calligraphy for the Museum’s historic space. Her project is the third in the series of commissions for The Met’s Great Hall and the artist’s first major project in the United States.

This exhibition features a selection of artwork by teens from across the United States who received the highest national recognition in the 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: the Gold and Silver Portfolio Award, The Herblock Award for Editorial Cartoon, the New York Life Award, and the Gold Medal Award. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the United States. Established in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards bring the work of young people to regional and national audiences. Former recipients include artists Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Kay WalkingStick, and John Baldessari—all represented in The Met collection—and writers Stephen King, Amanda Gorman, and Joyce Carol Oates.

This exhibition features a selection of artwork by teens from across the United States who received the highest national recognition in the 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: the Gold and Silver Portfolio Award, The Herblock Award for Editorial Cartoon, the New York Life Award, and the Gold Medal Award. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the United States. Established in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards bring the work of young people to regional and national audiences. Former recipients include artists Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Kay WalkingStick, and John Baldessari—all represented in The Met collection—and writers Stephen King, Amanda Gorman, and Joyce Carol Oates.

This exhibition features a selection of artwork by teens from across the United States who received the highest national recognition in the 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: the Gold and Silver Portfolio Award, The Herblock Award for Editorial Cartoon, the New York Life Award, and the Gold Medal Award. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in the United States. Established in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards bring the work of young people to regional and national audiences. Former recipients include artists Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Kay WalkingStick, and John Baldessari—all represented in The Met collection—and writers Stephen King, Amanda Gorman, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Experience crucial moments in the history of LGBTQ+ civil rights captured by famed Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah in the latter half of the 20th century.

Valeria Luiselli, Ricardo Giraldo, and Leo Heiblum’s Echoes from the Borderlands is a series of captivating sound studies that explore the history of the U.S.–Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. This winter, Dia presents Echoes from the Borderlands: Study Two, which blends field recordings and conversations to highlight issues like the genocide of Native peoples, migration, reproductive rights, and environmental destruction. Visitors are invited to experience this project in four six-hour segments that journey through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and play consecutively during Dia Chelsea’s open days.

Valeria Luiselli, Ricardo Giraldo, and Leo Heiblum’s Echoes from the Borderlands is a series of captivating sound studies that explore the history of the U.S.–Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. This winter, Dia presents Echoes from the Borderlands: Study Two, which blends field recordings and conversations to highlight issues like the genocide of Native peoples, migration, reproductive rights, and environmental destruction. Visitors are invited to experience this project in four six-hour segments that journey through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and play consecutively during Dia Chelsea’s open days.

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is a stage show celebrating the life and music of the legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. The musical takes the audience on a journey through Diamond's life, from his early days as a struggling songwriter to his rise to fame in the 1960s and beyond. Along the way, the show explores the stories behind some of Diamond's most beloved songs and the moments that inspired them.

Based on the 1960 film by Roger Corman and featuring a book by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Ashman, Little Shop follows meek plant store attendant Seymour, his co-worker crush Audrey, her sadistic dentist of a boyfriend and the man-eating plant that threatens them and the world as we know it.

From a young age, acclaimed Pop artist David Hockney (British, b. 1937) cemented his reputation as one of the most innovative and experimental artists of his generation. Hockney/Origins: Early Works from the Roy B. and Edith J. Simpson Collection examines the early period of Hockney’s career in depth, from his time as a student at the Royal College of Art in London during the early 1960s to his formative years in the 1970s.

Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwood forest. Jesse is a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who seems to have it all, but inside, her heart is broken. Finding herself at a turning point, Jesse leaves everyone and everything behind, gets in her car and drives... Thousands of miles later, she hits the majestic forests of Northern California, where a chance meeting and a leap of faith change her life forever. With its deeply personal story, refreshingly contemporary sound, and awe-inspiring design, Redwood explores the lengths –and heights– one travels to find strength, resilience and healing.

In 1969, The Who created a rock opera that changed the course of music history. Some 25 years later,The Who’s TOMMYarrived on Broadway, winning 5 Tony Awards® and pushing the boundaries of what musical theatre can be. This March, the Amazing Journey arrives in a dazzling new production direct from a sold-out, record-breaking, award-winning Chicago premiere. “Broadway has nothing else like this wizardry going on, not this season and nothing I know of for next season. Visually and sonically overwhelming, it’s a prescient masterpiece of a rock opera.”Chris Jones,Chicago Tribune

Since the early 1970s, artist, activist, and scholar Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (b. 1951, Chicago, IL; lives and works in South Kent, CT) has made photographs that testify to the beauty and complexity of Black life, honoring the rhythms of the everyday and marking important rites of passage for the people who appear in them.

New York’s age of graffiti began on the city streets in the early 1970s. This new movement, often consciously artistic despite its unsanctioned origins, came of age over the next 20 years. Above Ground centers on the many artists who transitioned from illegally writing on subway cars to creating paintings on canvas and exhibiting in galleries and museums. Their works embody an important transitional moment for the movement’s evolution, as it permeated into broader consciousness and significantly influenced global culture. The exhibition provides a window into a vibrant subculture of young creators and highlights previously unseen treasures from the Museum’s major collection of graffiti-based art. The collection, which was donated by the artist Martin Wong 30 years ago, comprises more than 300 canvases and works on paper. Among the highlights on view in this exhibition are works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by seminal figures in the street art movement, including Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, and Futura 2000. Together, they capture the passions and ambitions of artists transitioning from the street to the walls of prominent galleries in New York and around the world.

New York’s age of graffiti began on the city streets in the early 1970s. This new movement, often consciously artistic despite its unsanctioned origins, came of age over the next 20 years. Above Ground centers on the many artists who transitioned from illegally writing on subway cars to creating paintings on canvas and exhibiting in galleries and museums. Their works embody an important transitional moment for the movement’s evolution, as it permeated into broader consciousness and significantly influenced global culture. The exhibition provides a window into a vibrant subculture of young creators and highlights previously unseen treasures from the Museum’s major collection of graffiti-based art. The collection, which was donated by the artist Martin Wong 30 years ago, comprises more than 300 canvases and works on paper. Among the highlights on view in this exhibition are works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by seminal figures in the street art movement, including Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, and Futura 2000. Together, they capture the passions and ambitions of artists transitioning from the street to the walls of prominent galleries in New York and around the world.

Opening on January 16, 2025, Lévy Gorvy Dayan will present the significant solo exhibition Michelangelo Pistoletto: To Step Beyond, organized in collaboration with Galleria Continua. This major presentation will feature painting and sculpture spanning the Italian artist’s groundbreaking practice from the early 1960s to the present, illuminating the radicality of his evolving oeuvre. Pistoletto once wrote, “If art is life’s mirror, then I am the mirror maker.” Ever advancing the bounds of his artmaking, Pistoletto engages developments in technology, society, and the environment to consider contemporary existence while also looking to the future.

Opening on January 16, 2025, Lévy Gorvy Dayan will present the significant solo exhibition Michelangelo Pistoletto: To Step Beyond, organized in collaboration with Galleria Continua. This major presentation will feature painting and sculpture spanning the Italian artist’s groundbreaking practice from the early 1960s to the present, illuminating the radicality of his evolving oeuvre. Pistoletto once wrote, “If art is life’s mirror, then I am the mirror maker.” Ever advancing the bounds of his artmaking, Pistoletto engages developments in technology, society, and the environment to consider contemporary existence while also looking to the future.

From the tales of famous travelers like Marco Polo and Alexander the Great to the ancient encyclopedias of Pliny and Isidore, medieval conceptions of the world were often based more on authoritative tradition than direct observation. This exhibition presents one of the most fascinating examples of a medieval guide to the globe, known as the Book of the Marvels of the World. Written in France by an unknown author, this fifteenth-century illustrated text vividly depicts the remarkable inhabitants, customs, and natural phenomena of various regions, both near and far. Reuniting two of the four surviving copies, The Book of Marvels: Imagining the Medieval World brings to life medieval conceptions—and misconceptions—of a global world. Additional objects in the exhibition demonstrate how foreign cultures were imagined in the Middle Ages, and what the assumptions of medieval Europeans tell us about their own implicit biases and beliefs. Highlights include rare illustrated manuscripts of Marco Polo and John Mandeville; a richly ornamented Ottoman Book of Wonders, made for a sultan’s daughter; and a spectacular medieval map of the Holy Land, based on pilgrimage accounts.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

The traditional East Asian lunar calendar consists of a repeating twelve-year cycle, with each year corresponding to one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. The association of these creatures with the Chinese calendar began in the third century BCE and became firmly established by the first century CE. The twelve animals are, in sequence: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Each is believed to embody certain traits that are manifested in the personalities of people born in that year. January 29, 2025, marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake, a creature characterized as alert, calm, and smart.

This exhibition of more than 30 works celebrates the recent acquisition of Gottfried's searing photographs taken during the last decades of the 20th century.