The week of May 25 through 31, 2026 is one of those rare stretches where the museum calendar is genuinely loaded across all five boroughs and the price ceiling for the best exhibit in town is, somehow, zero dollars. MoMA PS1 in Long Island City is in the middle of Greater New York 2026, which is free for everyone, every day. MoMA in midtown has a focused Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera show that opened in March and runs through September. The Brooklyn Museum is three weeks into Iris van Herpen’s first major U.S. survey. You HAVE to clear at least one afternoon for this week’s lineup — preferably two.

Don’t Miss: Greater New York 2026 at MoMA PS1 (Free, Through August 17)

If you only do one museum this week, do MoMA PS1. The signature Greater New York survey is back for its sixth edition, this time coinciding with the institution’s 50th anniversary, and it sprawls across every level of the historic school building at 22-25 Jackson Avenue in Queens. The show features over 50 multidisciplinary artists living and working in the New York area, including site-specific commissions, new productions, and performances alongside recent works. Per MoMA PS1’s curatorial team, the exhibition emphasizes “the forces that shape daily life in the city today, as well as strategies of resistance and adaptation in the face of increased surveillance, economic precarity, and shifting technologies.”

Here’s the part that still feels unreal: as of January 1, 2026, MoMA PS1 is free for all visitors, every day it’s open. No timed ticket, no membership requirement, no “suggested donation” awkwardness. Walk in. The museum is open Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday from 12 to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

This week also has a programmed event tied to the exhibition: a Paper Offerings Workshop on Monday, May 25 from 1 to 5:45 p.m., plus a major performance program Saturday, May 30 from 2 to 6 p.m. featuring Tom Thayer, Chang Yuchen & Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and the artist Kite — three of the most interesting names in the show. Saturday’s the move if you want the exhibit plus a live element.

Getting there: the 7 train to Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue puts you a two-minute walk away. The E and M to Court Square works too.

MoMA: Frida and Diego: The Last Dream (Through September 12)

MoMA’s Frida and Diego: The Last Dream is in its third month, and the crowds have not let up. The exhibition pairs six paintings and a drawing by Frida Kahlo with over a dozen works by Diego Rivera — all drawn from MoMA’s permanent collection — set inside a stage design by Jon Bausor, who also designed the set and co-designed the costumes for the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. The opera runs at the Met through June 5, so seeing the show and then catching a performance is the museum-and-opera double bill the cultural calendar quietly built for you this spring.

What’s on the walls includes Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940), Fulang-Chang and I (1937), and My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (1936), plus Rivera’s monumental Agrarian Leader Zapata (1931) and Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita (1931). Photographic portraits by Lola Álvarez Bravo and Leo Matiz round it out.

MoMA is at 11 West 53rd Street. Weekday afternoons in the gallery are noticeably less brutal than weekends. The exhibition runs through September 12, 2026.

Brooklyn Museum: Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses

The Brooklyn Museum opened Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses on May 16, which means this week is the third week of the show — past the opening-week chaos, before the inevitable summer rush. Van Herpen is the Dutch designer who turned haute couture into something closer to sculpture and biology — 3D-printed dresses, garments that look like crystallized water, kinetic pieces that move with the body. The Brooklyn show is the largest U.S. survey of her work to date.

The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. The Brooklyn Museum operates on a suggested admission model. Also on view: The Brooklyn Books of the Dead (currently open), and Everyday Rebellions: Collection Conversations (through July 5, 2026), so you can build a 90-minute loop that takes you across a wide range without ever leaving Eastern Parkway.

Getting there: the 2/3 to Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum drops you at the front door.

The Weekend Move

Here is the play if you have one Saturday: take the 7 train to PS1 in the morning, catch the 2 p.m. Greater New York performance program, then ride the G train down to the Brooklyn Museum for an afternoon with Iris van Herpen. Lunch at a coffee shop on Vernon Boulevard between stops. Zero admission cost at PS1, suggested-donation at Brooklyn, and you’ll have seen two of the most-talked-about exhibitions in the city in a single day for less than the price of a fancy dinner.

If You Want a Weekday Pick

Tuesday and Wednesday are great MoMA days because the Brooklyn Museum and PS1 are both closed — so the midtown room is the natural target. Walk in mid-afternoon, head straight to the Kahlo gallery, then loop back through the second-floor collection on your way out. Allow 90 minutes. Bring a friend who likes to argue about Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair.

Practical Notes

• MoMA PS1 — 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens, NY 11101. Free admission for all, every day open. Open Thursday/Friday/Sunday/Monday 12–6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
• MoMA — 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan. Standard admission applies; check the MoMA website for current pricing and timed entry. Frida and Diego: The Last Dream runs through September 12, 2026.
• Brooklyn Museum — 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn. Open Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Suggested admission model. Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses opened May 16.