Art is a balm. Art is an inspiration and a call to action. Art helps us discover ourselves and our community. Art tickles us and validates us. Looking at some queer art exhibitions is also a great way to spend some time when visiting a new city.
Whether you’re a lover of abstract painting or outrageous fashion, these are the must-see exhibitions with the most queer content you’ll find inside galleries in 2025.
Santa Barbara, California
Friends and Lovers. To March 2, 2025
This group exhibition of contemporary heavy hitters is built around the idea that LGBTQ2S+ people have forged circles of friendship and alternative families as they navigate a mostly straight world. Composed of works from the collection and works on loan, the artist list is impressive: Nell Campbell, Pui Tiffany Chow, Félix González-Torres, Edie Fake, Alex Foxton, Gerald Incandela, Narsiso Martinez, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Joey Terrill, Chiffon Thomas and T.J. Wilcox. At Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1130 State St., Santa Barbara, California).
Palm Springs, California
David Hockney: Perspective Should Be Reversed. To March 31, 2025
One of the most influential British artists of the last century, David Hockney made gay life seem sunny and accessible. And at 87, he’s still an art-world player. This touring collection from Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation contains 200 works from six decades of Hockney’s career, including prints, collages, photographs and drawings made on Apple products. At the Palm Springs Art Museum (101 Museum Dr., Palm Springs, California). The exhibition then runs from May 31 to November 2, 2025, at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (101 Monroe Center St. N.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan).
Hong Kong
Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades. To May 5, 2025
This two-person exhibition juxtaposes the photographic works of gender-bending Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura, who has described himself as Andy Warhol’s “conceptual son,” with iconic works from American feminist artist Cindy Sherman. Sherman is best known for her portraits depicting various women caught in dramatic moments. Meanwhile, Morimura’s self-portraits have him in drag and other costumes to critique gender, sexuality and pop culture. A perfect match. The exhibition focuses on major early series by Morimura and Sherman. At M+ (West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Dr., Kowloon, Hong Kong).
Liverpool, United Kingdom
The Holly Johnson Story. To July 27, 2025
The British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood injected a pounding dollop of in-your-face queerness into the 1980s pop music scene. Their instigator-in-chief was Liverpudlian Holly Johnson, an openly gay pop star when there were few others. Marking the 40th anniversary of their debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (that’s the one with “Relax”), this exhibition charts Johnson’s personal life and career, from a young musician to an internationally renowned star. At National Museums Liverpool (Peter St., Liverpool, U.K.).
Berlin, Germany
Young Birds from Strange Mountains: Queer Arts from Southeast Asia and its Diaspora. To August 4, 2025
Running at one of the world’s leading LGBTQ+ museums, the exhibition title is taken from a poem by 20th century Vietnamese poet Ngô Xuân Diệu, some of which were censored for depicting same-gender intimacy. The show, featuring works by queer artists from Southeast Asia and its diaspora—Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia—explores what it’s like for queer people to live in societies where they struggle to find belonging. At Schwules Museum (Lützowstraße 73, Berlin, Germany).
London, United Kingdom
Leigh Bowery! From February 27 to August 31, 2025
Performer, promoter, designer and muse (to painter Lucian Freud) Leigh Bowery made an indelible mark on fashion and club culture. Born in Australia, Bowery frolicked across 1980s London, pushing boundaries and raising eyebrows. Alexander McQueen, Jeffrey Gibson, Anohni and Lady Gaga wouldn’t have had the same careers without him.The exhibit showcases many of Bowery’s famed looks and uses the icon as an entry point to the creative scenes of London, New York and beyond. At Tate Modern (Bankside, London, U.K.)
Tokyo, Japan
Hilma af Klint: The Beyond. March 4 to June 15, 2025
Born in 1862, Swedish painter Hilma af Klint produced abstract work that was way ahead of contemporaries like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. Though she produced more than 1,000 paintings, she kept her work secret and was only “discovered” by art critics and academics in the 1980s. Af Klint never married, lived only with women and was part of a group of women called The Five which explored ideas around spirituality and mysticism, leading some to speculate about her queerness. Whatever her orientation and identity, her work is definitely trippy. At The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (3-1 Kitanomarukōen, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan).
Paris, France
Wolfgang Tillmans: Rien ne nous y préparait—Tout nous y préparait/Nothing prepared us for it—Everything prepared us for it. June 13 to September 22, 2025
The last exhibit in the famed Centre Pompidou before it closes for five years’ worth of renovations will be by gay German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Best known for his photos of 1990s European alt culture, Tillmans has been given free reign to makeover the space as he sees fit. The exhibition is expected to focus on how media and information has transformed our era and ideas for a new humanism and alternative ways of living together. It’s also the last chance to visit the arts centre until it reopens in 2030. At The Centre Pompidou (Place Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France).
Chicago, Illinois
City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago. July 5, 2025, to January 25, 2026
This intergenerational group exhibition spotlights Chicago’s often underacknowledged role in the story of queer art and activism. Starting in the mid-1980s, when activists mobilized in the face of the HIV/AIDS crisis, the works reflect changes in the queer community both locally and globally. The 30 included artists use many media and methods, including photos, sculptures, painting, drawing and video, to explore queer intimacy and community. The exhibition takes its title from Chicago’s official motto, Urbs in Horto, which translates to “city in a garden.” At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, Illinois).
Bonus: Anywhere in the 50 United States
If you’re sending a postcard home from your American travels, why not seal it with the new Love stamp from the U.S. Postal Service. It’s emblazoned with an image by the late gay American artist Keith Haring.
