Exhibitions in Chicago
May 2027
May at a glance: 1 exhibition opening, 1 closing, and 11 more on view across the city.
Opening in May
Closing in May
Also on through May
Zurbarán: Divine Lightto 20 Jun 2027Art Institute of Chicago
The first US exhibition on Francisco de Zurbarán in 40 years: about 50 works of the Spanish Golden Age painter from 30 lenders worldwide.
Atrium Project: Celeste Raponeto 20 Jun 2027Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
The Chicago painter's large-scale Sideline (After Ben Shahn) fills the two-storey entrance atrium: four languid women, limbs entwined, waiting for something that never comes.
How Do We Heal?to 11 Jul 2027Smart Museum of ArtFree
A thematic draw from the Smart's permanent collection exploring art and healing across six strands: health, grief, displacement, trauma, mindfulness and protection.
Nina Chanel Abney: While Supplies Lastto 11 Jul 2027Smart Museum of ArtFree
Paintings, sculpture, works on paper and installation in which Abney borrows the grammar of advertising to show how extraction, consumer culture, militarisation and environmental decline became routine.
Nina Chanel Abney: Between Usto 11 Jul 2027Smart Museum of ArtFree
A large-scale site-specific mural for the Smart's Threshold series, using the flat visual language of diagrams and educational charts to map power, labour, housing and inequality as one system.
From the Center: Looking at Lucy Lippardto 11 Jul 2027Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Spanning three floors, this exhibition explores the far-reaching impact of art historian, critic and curator Lucy Lippard through themes found in her work.
Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential Clothingto 18 Jul 2027Chicago History Museum
Garments and accessories worn by George and Martha Washington, John Adams and Abraham and Mary Lincoln, shown alongside the conservation work that keeps them intact.
Cleopatra & Egypt's Sunken Citiesto 19 Sept 2027Field Museum
More than 200 objects raised from ancient Egyptian ports underwater, centred on Isis, Aphrodite, Helen of Troy and queens Cleopatra and Arsinoe II.
The Seasons: Time, Change, and the Natural Worldto 20 Dec 2027Art Institute of Chicago
A yearlong photography and media show on seasonal change, with some works rotating in and out as the year turns and others on view throughout.
Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lostto 3 Jan 2028Art Institute of Chicago
A 21-panel painting over 100 feet wide carries viewers from the nocturnal solitude of the artist's Kashmiri childhood through the frenzy of the Western art world to a fragile, renewed dawn.
Body and Being in African Artto 1 Mar 2028Art Institute of Chicago
More than 50 objects from the Arts of Africa collection show beliefs and values surrounding the body shared across the continent, and the distinct cultural forms those ideas take.
Image credits
13
- Trương Công TùngTrương Công Tùng, Installation view of Wake, mayfly…, Kiang Malingue New York, 2026.
- Testaments to the Beautyful OnesHashim Nasr, A Dream of Symbiosis, from the series A Leap into a Dream, 2024
- Zurbarán: Divine LightCourtesy of Art Institute of Chicago
- Atrium Project: Celeste RaponeCeleste Rapone, Sideline (after Ben Shahn), 2025. Courtesy of the artist
- How Do We Heal?Courtesy Smart Museum of Art
- Nina Chanel Abney: While Supplies LastCourtesy the artist and Smart Museum of Art
- Nina Chanel Abney: Between UsPhoto Claire Dorn, courtesy Smart Museum of Art
- From the Center: Looking at Lucy LippardCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
- Threads of a Nation: Preserving Presidential ClothingCourtesy of Chicago History Museum
- Cleopatra & Egypt's Sunken CitiesPhoto: Jerome Delafosse ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation
- The Seasons: Time, Change, and the Natural World© 1990, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, Bequest of the artist.
- Raqib Shaw: Paradise LostCourtesy of Art Institute of Chicago
- Body and Being in African ArtCourtesy of Art Institute of Chicago
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