Spring is often a season of rebirth—but in museums across the globe, it’s also becoming a season of reckoning, remembrance, and radiant creative expression. This year’s slate of exhibitions centering Black artists, thinkers, and histories is both expansive and electric. From the genre-defying work of Kandis Williams to the celebratory legacy of Faith Ringgold, these shows invite viewers to sit with complexity, beauty, and bold reimaginings of cultural narratives.
Whether it’s The Work of Art tracing the legacy of the Federal Art Project through a more inclusive lens, or Paris Noir placing post-colonial resistance at the heart of the French art canon, these exhibitions aren’t just timely—they’re essential. Some, like Adam Pendleton’s Love, Queen, feel like direct conversations with today’s political moment. Others, like Roberto Lugo: Orange and Black, bridge the past and present with visual wit and soul.