These 18 Artists Are Having the Biggest Moment at U.S. Museums Right Now

We are midway through the year, and I have just finished my quarterly “Museum Artist” list. Below is my ranking of which living artists have been getting the most attention in U.S. museum shows in June 2026.

This time out, I looked at about 350 museums, and found about 3,500 artists on view. Of those, just 720 appeared in more than one museum show during the month.

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My rankings of the artists are based on a mix of breadth (presence in a great number of group shows) and depth (solo shows or special museum spotlights). To avoid clutter, I’ve moved my “Methodology” section, which has changed a bit, to the bottom. It explains the number that appears alongside each artist’s name. Basically, it adds up group show appearances, which I count as 1, with larger shows, which I rank from 2 to 6. I include the number for transparency’s sake, so you can see how I put this together, rather than out of a pretense at being scientific.

The project is fun to do because it gives a sense of which artists are having a moment. But in the end, it’s just a way to tell a story.

Museum websites are not always complete or reliable. I am certain that I miss some things. I’ll note any updates or corrections right here.

Some names have risen and fallen since December 2025—but the truth is, a lot is the same.

The big theme of U.S. museum programming remains spotlighting Native and Black artists. Beyond this, the unique focus of summer 2026 is the 250th birthday of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, because reckoning with histories of racism and colonialism was already the primary focus, the practical effect seems to be to amplify the artists whose work was already in heavy rotation. (See the entries, for instance, for Jeffrey Gibson, Sky Hopinka, or Carrie Mae Weems.)

Amusingly, nonagenarian proto-Pop/neo-Dada artist Jasper Johns also seems to get a little bump from the festivities. He is, at this point, basically part of U.S. history himself. As importantly: His work is very associated with the American flag.

Another birthday shapes the list: Betye Saar will turn 100 in July. She is widely loved by curators, and is receiving a tribute show at the Palmer Museum that celebrates her impact on other artists, plus a celebration of her doll collection at the New York Historical Society. And Saar was honored in June at MoMA‘s Party in the Garden—alongside with Martin Puryear, another storied Black artist who had a uniquely good month.

Artists who almost made the cut included Ai Weiwei, Carol Bove, Nick Cave, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Glenn Ligon, Mickalene Thomas, Dyani White Hawk, Deborah Roberts, and Alison Saar.

Below, the 18 artists who had the biggest moment in June.

Installation view of “Jeffrey Gibson: POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT” at MASS MoCA. Photo: Tony Luong courtesy of MASS MoCA.

Gibson continues his run as the most-visible artist in the United States, partly owed to his long-running immersive MASS MoCA show, which will finally close later this year. But the first half of 2026 has also seen him honored by an exhibition titled “They Teach Love” at the Boise Art Museum, featuring more than 50 of his works from the Jordan D. Schnitzer collection, explicitly timed to the America 250 celebrations.

Also putting Gibson’s name in the news (though I am not actually counting it here because it’s not a temporary exhibition): This Burning World, a large-scale mural adapted from Gibson’s 2023 installation of the same name, put up at the beginning of the year by the ICA San Francisco in the Mission District.

And there’s more: Gibson is co-curator of the traveling show “An Indigenous Present,” which includes many of the other Native artists lower down on my list. He’s got a lot going on!

—“Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love” at Boise Art Museum, Idaho, January 31–July 26, 2026

—“Power Full Because We’re Different” at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, November 3, 2024–September 7, 2026

—“The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 12, 2025–June 9, 2026

—”Precious: The Value of Ornament” at Portland Museum of Art, Maine, March 13–July 19, 2026

—“Everything Now All At Once” at Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, August 21, 2025–July 26, 2026

—“Remixed: Entwined Histories & New Forms” at Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, February 22–August 30, 2026

—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026

—“Sport and Spectator” at Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas, June 12–December 6, 2026

—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027

—“Art and Design from 1900 to Now” at Rhode Island Museum, Providence, June 4, 2022–April 11, 2027

—”Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting” at National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C., May 15, 2026–May 1, 2027

—“Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, April 25, 2026–April 2028

Installation view, “Sky Hopinka: Red Metal Dust” 2026. Photo: © Barnes Foundation.

Known for his experimental and lyrical work exploring Native American history and life, the filmmaker is having a huge month, thanks in part to Red Metal Dust at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. This is a new commission for its Annenberg Court of large landscape photographs on copper, meant as the institution’s reflection on U.S. history for America 250.

—“Red Metal Dust” at Barnes Collection, Philadelphia, March 21, 2026–January 18, 2027

—“Sky Hopinka: The Myth Is Now” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, January 30–August 2, 2026

—“Sky Hopinka: Kicking the Clouds” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 11–December 6, 2026

—“Sky Hopinka: Lore” at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 27–June 6, 2026

—“Sites of Assembly” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, June 6–August 2, 2026

—“Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, April 5–August 23, 2026

—“Topographies: Mapping Being and Belonging” at Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, June 13–September 20, 2026

—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026

—“An Indigenous Present” at Frist Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, June 26–September 27, 2026

—“Into the Time Horizon” at Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027

Installation view, “Past-Forward: Modern and Contemporary Art from HoMA’s Collection.” Courtesy of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Arguably the most widely shown artist at the moment, given the huge scope of her group-show appearances.

—“In Character” at SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, February 4–June 8, 2026

—”Rhapsody: Works from the Cooper Rosenwasser Collection” at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California, March 4–June 28, 2026

—“See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, February 7–June 28, 2026

—“Cut It Out: Papercutting Traditions and Beyond” at Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, February 18–July 18, 2026

—“Past-Forward: Modern and Contemporary Art from HoMA’s Collection” at Honolulu Museum of Art, November 9, 2024–July 19, 2026

—“Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” at National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., February 27–July 26, 2026

—“Cameron Art Museum: The Collection” at Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina, October 3, 2025–August 16, 2026

—“From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026

—“Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience” at National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 11–September 20, 2026

—“Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar” at Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, Pennsylvania, May 9–September 13, 2026

—“Positive Fragmentation: From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Long Beach Museum of Art, California, June 26–September 27, 2026

—“David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, February 21–October 11, 2026

—“Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70 – Part II” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 7–October 25, 2026

—“Common Sense” at Brooklyn Museum, May 1–November 8, 2026

—“Self, Made: Fourteen Modern Artists from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection” at Art Institute of Chicago, June 25–November 9, 2026

—“A Nation of Artists” at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027

—“This Must Be the Place: Inside the Walker’s Collection” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 20, 2024–March 12, 2028

—”Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America” at Montclair Museum, New Jersey, April 25, 2026–April 2028

Marie Watt, Companion Species (Speech Bubble) (2019). Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photo: Edward C. Robison III.

Watt’s long-touring, four-decade survey “Storywork,” now in Salt Lake City, has made her an enduring presence (like Gibson’s show in Boise, it is from the Jordan D. Schnitzer collection). She also features in a bevy of shows about craft (“Handmade Revolution,” “Truths Be Told”) and U.S./Indigenous history (“America 250,” “Knowing the West,” “Indian Theater”).

MAJOR RETROSPECTIVES

— “Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, February 21–June 21, 2026

—“Marie Watt: Heart in the Sky” at Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 11–June 14, 2026

—“America 250: Common Threads” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, April 19–July 27, 2026

—“Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West,” North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, May 2, 2026–August 9, 2026

—“Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969” at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 5–September 7, 2026

—“In the Shadow of the Eagle” at Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine, May 2025–October 2026

—“Truths Be Told: Artists Activate Traditions” at Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico. December 7, 2025–January 7, 2027

—“Steel Valley Visions: An American Legacy” at Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, October 4, 2025–January 18, 2027

—“A Room for Animal Intelligence” at Seattle Art Museum, November 28, 2025–January 31, 2027

—“Handmade Revolution: Craft in the Pacific Northwest” at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon, June 13, 2026–March 13, 2027

—“This Must Be the Place: Inside the Walker’s Collection” at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 20, 2024–March 12, 2028

Cara Romero, 3 Sisters (2022). Courtesy the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth © Cara Romero.

I interviewed Romero last year for the Art Angle about the major surge of museum attention. For June, the exhibition “Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light),” which began at the Hood Museum Museum of Art in New Hampshire, moved to Phoenix. Meanwhile, Romero is also in group shows including “Guggenheim Pop” in NYC and “Motherboards” in San Jose, the latter about women and technology.

— “Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light),” Phoenix Art Museum, February 28, 2026–June 28, 2026

— “Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life,” Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2026–June 7, 2026

— “Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology,” Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, September 7, 2024–June 21, 2026

— “Sovereign Acts III,” James Gallery, City University of New York, March 25, 2026—July 17, 2026

— “Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene,” Kemper Museum, Kansas City, Missouri, May 21, 2026–September 12, 2026

— ”Native Voices: 75 Years of Creativity” at the Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona,  March 4, 2026—October 10, 2026

— “American Conversations,” Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine, April 10–November 15, 2026

— “Collecting America: Recent Acquisitions,” Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon, June 13, 2026–December 6, 2026

— “Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now,” Guggenheim Museum, June 5, 2026–January 10, 2027

— “Motherboards,” San José Museum of Art, California, April 10, 2026–January 10, 2027

— “Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles,” Autry Museum, Los Angeles, May 30, 2026–January 31, 2027

— “Into the Time Horizon,” Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027

Betye Saar, Female Doll with Two Heads Above (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects Los Angeles, California. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer.

The tribute show to the about-to-be-centenarian is celebrated at the Palmer Museum is built around her influence, and centers her work Vision of El Cremo (1967). Another mark of that influence: Two other artists in the top ranks, Kara Walker and vanessa german, are also in that show.

— “Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar” at Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Pennsylvania. May 9–September 13, 2026

— “Betye Saar’s Black Dolls,” the New York Historical, May 8–October 4, 2026

— “Act on It! Artists, Community, and the Brockman Gallery in Los Angeles” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. February 11–June 7, 2026

— “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” at Getty Museum, Los Angeles. February 24–June 14, 2026

— “Little Boxes” at Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts. Through July 2026

— “From Now: A Collection in Context” at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York. November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026

— “Space Is the Place: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. April 5–September 6, 2026

— “The Expanding Field: MOCA’s Collection from the 1940s to 1970s” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. April 18–September 20, 2026

— “Positive Fragmentation: From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Long Beach Museum of Art, California. June 26–September 27, 2026

— “David C. Driskell & Friends: Creativity, Collaboration, and Friendship” at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami. February 21–October 11, 2026

Kay WalkingStick, July Low Water (2010). Courtesy the artist and Hales, London and New York. Photo:JSP Art Photography. © Kay WalkingStick.

The Cherokee artist’s paintings, which layer Native designs with landscape imagery, are touring in “Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School,” which juxtaposes her work with that of Hudson River School canvasses from the 19th century.

—“Kay WalkingStick / Hudson

This article was originally published by Artnet News.

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