The Memorial Day weekend museum lineup in NYC right now is, objectively, ridiculous. The Met just opened its new Costume Art galleries — nearly 12,000 square feet of brand-new exhibition space adjacent to the Great Hall. The Brooklyn Museum is in week two of Iris van Herpen’s North American debut. MoMA still has Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera on view through June 5. And the Whitney Biennial is hanging through its full spring run.
If you’ve been putting off the museums, this is the weekend. Here’s what to see, when to go, and how to stack them.
Don’t Miss: Costume Art at The Met
The single hottest ticket in NYC right now. The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition Costume Art opened to the public on May 10 following the Met Gala, and it runs all the way through January 10, 2027. It’s also the inaugural exhibition in the Met’s new costume galleries — a nearly 12,000-square-foot space carved out next to the Great Hall.
The premise: pair garments from the Costume Institute’s collection with paintings, sculpture, and works on paper from across the Met’s encyclopedic holdings, and let visitors see the deep, continuous relationship between clothing and fine art. The show puts every type of body on display and pulls from centuries of the Met’s collection — which means you’re getting Costume Institute craftsmanship next to European Paintings, ancient sculpture, and contemporary work in the same room.
Practical details: Costume Art is included with general Met admission. The Met is at 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. Standard hours are Sunday–Tuesday and Thursday 10 am–5 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am–9 pm, closed Wednesdays. Members get early access from 9–10 am on select weekends, so if you have a Met membership, use it. The 4/5/6 to 86th Street is your closest subway.
Pro tip: Go Friday or Saturday evening for the extended 9 pm closing — the crowds thin out after 6 pm and the new galleries are stunning under the evening light.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses at the Brooklyn Museum
Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen’s Sculpting the Senses is the show that has fashion people, art people, and science-fiction people all losing their minds. It’s her first North American museum survey, and it opened May 16 in the Brooklyn Museum’s Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery on the 5th floor. It runs through January 3, 2027.
The exhibit puts 140+ haute couture creations next to contemporary artworks, scientific artifacts, and natural history specimens — van Herpen has spent her career fusing 3D printing, laser-cut leather, hand-stitched magnetic fibers, and biological materials into wearable sculpture, and the show traces that practice across her career.
Practical details: The Brooklyn Museum is at 200 Eastern Parkway. The Iris van Herpen exhibit requires timed tickets — book in advance through brooklynmuseum.org, especially for the weekend. The 2/3 to Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum drops you at the front door. Pair the visit with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden next door (separate ticket) or a walk through Prospect Park.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at MoMA
MoMA’s Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera show is tied to the Met Opera’s production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, and it runs May 14 through June 5, 2026. This is a tightly curated dip — five paintings and a drawing by Kahlo plus more than a dozen works by Rivera, all pulled from MoMA’s own collection. It’s not a huge show, but the works on view are core-collection pieces you don’t always get to see together.
Practical details: MoMA is at 11 West 53rd Street. Standard hours are 10:30 am–5:30 pm daily, with Saturday extended hours until 7 pm. The exhibition is included with museum admission. MoMA is free for New York State residents the second Friday of every month, 4–8 pm — that doesn’t fall in this window, but UNIQLO Free Friday Nights run every Friday evening from 4–8 pm and admission is free for everyone. If your weekend includes Friday afternoon, go then.
Whitney Biennial 2026 — Still Up
The Whitney Biennial opened March 8 and is the survey show every two years that defines the state of American contemporary art. The 2026 edition features 56 artists, duos, and collectives. If you haven’t been yet, Memorial Day weekend is a smart time — the early-spring opening rush has cooled and you can actually sit with the work.
Practical details: The Whitney is at 99 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District. Standard hours run Wednesday–Monday 10:30 am–6 pm, closed Tuesdays. The Whitney offers pay-what-you-wish admission Friday evenings 7–10 pm — that’s the move if budget matters. The A/C/E to 14th Street and the L to 8th Avenue are your subway options.
How to Stack Three Museums in a Weekend
Doing all three blockbusters across a long weekend is genuinely possible. Here’s the playbook:
Saturday morning — The Met. Get there at opening (10 am). Hit Costume Art first, before the crowds. Spend two to three hours, refuel at the rooftop bar if it’s open (check the seasonal schedule), and you’re back in the world by early afternoon.
Saturday late afternoon or Sunday — Brooklyn Museum. The Iris van Herpen timed tickets are easier in late-afternoon slots. Take the 2/3 from the Met (transfer at Times Square or Nevins) and you’re at Eastern Parkway in about an hour. If you have time, walk through the museum’s permanent collection on floors 1–4 before or after — the African and Egyptian galleries are first-rate.
Sunday morning or Monday — MoMA. A morning slot at MoMA before the Memorial Day crowds arrive lets you see Frida and Diego in maybe 45 minutes, then pick three other galleries on your way out. The whole visit can be done in two hours if you’re disciplined.
Free and Reduced Admission This Weekend
If you’re stacking a budget weekend:
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is always free. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology is free Tuesday–Sunday. The National Museum of the American Indian downtown (Smithsonian) is free every day. The Studio Museum in Harlem remains free during its in-construction programming.
For the bigger museums, MoMA’s UNIQLO Free Friday Night (Friday 4–8 pm) is the most reliable free-admission window, and the Whitney’s Friday pay-what-you-wish (7–10 pm) gives you a no-pressure way to see the Biennial.
The Bottom Line
You have three world-class fashion-meets-art exhibitions running simultaneously, plus a major American contemporary survey, plus the city’s free museums. There is no excuse not to see at least one this weekend. If you only do one, make it Costume Art at the Met — those new galleries won’t feel new for long.
