SFMOMA Announces 2026 Exhibitions, Including Transformed Fisher Collection Galleries, Matisse’s Femme au chapeau, and RM x SFMOMA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 9, 2026) — The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announces its 2026 exhibition schedule, featuring works by a range of modern and contemporary artists. With new site-specific installations on the museum’s free-to-visit first floor spaces and a complete reimagination of the museum’s expansive Fisher Collection display, visitors to SFMOMA will encounter a broad transformation of all seven floors of the museum.

“The upcoming year at SFMOMA reflects the museum’s deep commitment to sharing contemporary art from around the world and the Bay Area’s rich artistic community,” said Christopher Bedford, Helen and Charles Schwab Director of SFMOMA. “By spotlighting local artists, revisiting influential moments in art history, and presenting a bevy of new installations, our 2026 exhibitions offer fresh ways of seeing, understanding, and engaging with art that is particularly relevant to our current era.”

Commissioned by SFMOMA for its Floor 4 terrace, Rose B. Simpson: Behold is a monumental bronze sculpture visible from multiple locations in and around the museum, opening January 17. Beginning January 24, Samia Halaby: Kinetic Paintings will present four newly acquired works by the pioneering digital artist on a monumental digital screen in the museum’s Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium.

On April 18, the museum unveils Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10, a major reinstallation of the renowned Doris and Donald Fisher Collection featuring interactive and family-friendly storytelling. Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal, opening May 16, 2026, explores the story behind one of the most iconic works in the museum’s collection and looks at how this 1905 painting—shocking at the time of its debut—has influenced artists and charmed audiences for more than 120 years.

Also opening May 16, an exhibition of works from the museum’s collection explores the relationship between photography and dance in Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs. Then, opening July 11, Graciela Iturbide: Between Two Worlds is an expansive retrospective for the Mexico-based photographer.

The newest entries to SFMOMA’s ongoing series of new wall-based artworks by local artists keenly attuned to the present moment are Bay Area Walls: Craig Calderwood, opening July 11 and Bay Area Walls: Isaac Vazquez Avila, opening August 8.

SFMOMA also debuts two major site-specific installations in the museum’s admission-free spaces on Floor 1 and 2: Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc opening August 22 in the Roberts Family Gallery and Sarah Sze: Forever is Composed of Nows opening November 21 in the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium.

RM x SFMOMA brings together 200 works from the collections of RM, of 21st century pop icons BTS, and SFMOMA in an exhibition opening in October 2026.

The latest iteration of SFMOMA’s long-running New Work series features work by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and artist Raven Chacon, who will debut a four-channel silent film with drawings and an ambient soundtrack in an exhibition opening October 24. The 2026 SECA Art Award Exhibition opens December 12, 2026, continuing SFMOMA’s program supporting Bay Area artists with their first major museum exhibition.

Rose B. Simpson: Behold

January 17, 2026–ongoing

Floor 4

Behold, the latest work by mixed-media artist Rose B. Simpson, is a colossal outdoor sculpture commissioned by SFMOMA for its Floor 4 terrace. Simpson, who resides in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, is one of our moment’s most important sculptors, working with clay and mixed materials in a matrilineal tradition that bridges past, present and future. At over 24 feet tall, the honey-colored bronze sculpture Behold will be visible from various locations in and around the museum, including Yerba Buena Gardens across the street.

The parent and child figures depicted in the sculpture are connected by beaded necklaces strung from their shoulders and a bending, ornamental ladder that arcs between their heads, illuminating a mental and emotional connection that flows between them. In the artist’s words, “Like branches of a tree, a child grows from the hip of a monumental parent.” The figures’ steady outward gazes also connect the sculpture, visitors and the museum itself to the legacies of Indigenous people embedded in the lands and waters of San Francisco.

Behold is a profoundly hopeful and vulnerable artwork. As Simpson says, “It asks us to be human with each other, to change our narrative through wonder, witness and a foundation in the soft warmth of our humanity.”

Samia Halaby: Kinetic Paintings

January 24, 2026–May 19, 2026

Floor 1

A prolific painter and pioneer in digital art, Samia Halaby has been exploring the visual language of abstraction for over six decades. The artist’s dynamic painting compositions investigate how we perceive the moving world through the interplay of textures, surfaces, color, and light. After purchasing a Commodore Amiga 1000 in 1986, Halaby rediscovered computer programming as an artistic tool and taught herself how to code what she calls “kinetic paintings.” In this expanded form of picture making, lines and shapes are no longer static planes, but seem to sprout, grow, and change, akin to the generative characteristics of nature. This presentation brings four of Halaby’s 1987–88 kinetic paintings—newly acquired by SFMOMA—to a monumental digital screen in the free-to-see space of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium.

Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10

Opening April 18, 2026

Floors 3, 4, 5 and 6

Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 reveals an ambitious, multi-pronged approach to storytelling, engaging visitors with nearly 250 works of art by 35 artists through relatable and resonant narratives and experiences. Spanning approximately 60,000 square feet across four floors of the museum, the presentation emphasizes accessibility across a broad range of audiences and offers fresh opportunities to experience this renowned collection and connect with new objects and ideas.

Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal

May 16–September 13, 2026

Floor 4

Henri Matisse ignited passionate controversy in 1905 with the public debut of Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat) at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. A portrait of the artist’s wife, Amélie, this singular painting was at the center of a defining moment of rupture in the history of modern art, shocking audiences with its seemingly carefree brushstrokes and bright hues that purposefully departed from observed reality. It was established as the leading image of Fauvism, the first French avant-garde art movement of the 20th century, and its impact has continued for more than 120 years. Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal will shed new light on how the painting—now an icon of the museum’s collection—made its mark on art history. Positioning Matisse in dialogue with his peers and followers, as well as artists working today, this major exhibition will examine in greater depth than ever before the painting’s historical context, subject, circulation and impact.

Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs

May 16, 2026–January 31, 2027

Floor 3

Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs explores the evolving dialogue between the two mediums, including photography’s role in shaping how dance is recorded and remembered, and how dancers have inspired photographers to see movement anew. Drawing on SFMOMA’s permanent collection, the exhibition opens with a gallery devoted to Irving Penn’s images of Anna Halprin and the San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop, along with photographs and ephemera that reflect Halprin’s experimental approach to movement and gesture. The second gallery turns to Kamaitachi, the partnership between Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe and Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata. Photographs by Imogen Cunningham, Barbara Morgan, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Avedon and others expand this visual conversation on dance. The final section of the exhibition shifts to nightlife, anchored by Malick Sidibé’s photographs of dancing at parties in Mali, and accompanied by images by Nan Goldin, Larry Fink, Janine Gordon, Weegee and others.

Graciela Iturbide: Between Two Worlds

July 11–November 29, 2026

Floor 3

Beloved photographer Graciela Iturbide believes the camera is a means for better knowing the world. This expansive survey of the Mexico City–based artist’s black-and-white photographs immerses viewers in Iturbide’s visual world of uncanny scenes and dreamlike traditions. This retrospective marks Iturbide’s return to SFMOMA, the first US institution to exhibit the artist’s work in 1990. Between Two Worlds is also a testament to the thoughtful relationships she has developed in her life as a photographer, from living with Indigenous communities in Juchitan, Mexico, and Chicanx groups in East Los Angeles to her travels to Delhi, India.

Bay Area Walls: Craig Calderwood

July 11, 2026–June 2028

Floor 5

In Omen Studies (2026), a mural commissioned by SFMOMA for the Bay Area Walls series, Craig Calderwood draws upon their visually bold yet intricate vernacular of symbols and patterns to tell a story of transformation. An oleander tree stands witness to the unwelcome impacts of urban beautification and increasing surveillance in San Francisco’s Mission District. The change of scenery in Calderwood’s work portrays disappearing queer spaces and a gradual removal of the vibrant neighborhood’s identity.

Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc

August 22, 2026—ongoing

Floor 1

Jacob Hashimoto blends sculpture and design in complex assemblages that seem to float through the air. Hashimoto creates mesmerizing and intricate installations comprising thousands of hand-built kites made of bamboo and Japanese paper—some layered with colorful collaged-paper graphics. At SFMOMA Hashimoto will launch the largest installation of his career, mixing more than 75,000 elements suspended together into a cloud canopy. The enveloping exhibition will cover the museum’s free-to-visit Roberts Family Gallery from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

Bay Area Walls: Isaac Vazquez Avila

August 8, 2026–June 2028

Floor 2

“Isaac Vazquez Avila’s mural will fuse a range of different processes and influences. From hand-painted signage to the energetic, textured strokes of David Alfaro Siqueiros’ Polyforum panels in Mexico City, this Bay Area Walls project will also reference the DIY spirit of Los Angeles’ Ramona Gardens and Estrada Courts murals, as well as the atmosphere of Bay Area coastal and inland landscapes.

RM x SFMOMA

October 2026–February 2027

Floor 7

RM x SFMOMA is the first museum exhibition featuring artworks from the personal collection of RM, of 21st century pop icons BTS. An exclusive US presentation, the exhibition will bring together 200 works from the collections of RM and SFMOMA, offering a rare chance to see modern Korean artworks—many never before exhibited to the public—in conversation with modern and contemporary artworks from around the world.

New Work: Raven Chacon

October 24, 2026–November 7, 2027

Floor 6

Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and artist Raven Chacon connects Diné worldviews with Western classical, avant-garde and noise music traditions in his sonic-centered practice to address Indigenous identity and sovereignty. For New Work: Raven Chacon, the artist will debut a five-channel silent film with drawings and an ambient soundtrack of spaghetti western instrumentals and drone noises. Chacon juxtaposes Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles (1950) with video footage drawn from the Prelinger Archives film collection to compose a speculative depiction of travelers visiting Southwest tribal lands. Presented during the same year as the US Semiquincentennial, this timely commission considers the Doctrine of Discovery as an ongoing, default principle leading to generational expansion of territories, both terrestrial and beyond.

Since 1987, SFMOMA’s New Work series has provided a platform for artists to experiment with a new idea or body of work. The series focuses on the innovative visions of living artists and has played a key role in shaping the breadth and character of the museum’s collection and programming.

Sarah Sze: Forever is Composed of Nows

November 21, 2026–ongoing

Floor 1

Sarah Sze’s Forever is Composed of Nows is a site-specific, multisensory commission composed of three monumental paintings and a dynamic flow of video projections and rhythmic, pulsating soundscapes that create a fully immersive experience. Inspired by the ephemerality of images, the fragility of nature, and the passage of time, Sze’s most ambitious project to date transforms SFMOMA’s Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium into a shifting landscape where light, sound, and movement intertwine. The exhibition’s title references a 19th-century poem by Emily Dickinson, whose written work resonates with Sze’s own meditation on time as a continuum of present moments, each adding to the memory of forever.

2026 SECA Art Award Exhibition

December 12, 2026–May 30, 2027

Floor 2

Every two years SFMOMA recognizes the achievements of one or more Bay Area artists of exceptional talent and promise through the SECA Art Award—the culmination of a process consisting of nominations, portfolio reviews, studio visits and discussions between SFMOMA’s curators and SECA members. Since 1967, the SECA Art Award has honored more than 90 Bay Area artists with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying publication. The award distinguishes Bay Area artists whose work, at the time of nomination, has not received substantial recognition from a major institution.

CREDITS

Major support for Rose B. Simpson: Behold is provided by Katie and Matt Paige. Meaningful support is provided by Jonathan Gans and Abigail Turin, James Park, and Lisa Stone Pritzker.

Lead support for Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal is provided by Mimi and Peter Haas Fund. Presenting support is provided by Bank of America and Dana and Bob Emery. Major support is provided by Neal Benezra Exhibition Fund, Carolyn and Preston Butcher SFMOMA Exhibition Fund, and Davidow Family Fund for Exhibitions of Modern Art. Significant support is provided by Mary Jane Elmore, Christine and Pierre Lamond, The Elaine McKeon Endowed Exhibition Fund, and Deborah and Kenneth Novack. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, Dolly and George Chammas, Laurie and Jim Ghielmetti, Robert Lehman Foundation, Stuart G. Moldaw Public Program and Exhibition Fund, Nancy and Alan Schatzberg, Thomas W. Weisel and Janet Barnes, Bobbie and Mike Wilsey, Pat and Bill Wilson Exhibitions Fund, and Anonymous.

Visionary support for Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 is provided by Fisher Art Foundation. Lead support is provided by Penny S. and James G. Coulter and Mimi and Peter Haas Fund. Presenting support is provided by Dana and Bob Emery. Major support is provided by Katie Hall and Tom Knutsen. Significant support is provided by Concepción S. and Irwin Federman, Alexandria and Kevin Marchetti, and Deborah and Kenneth Novack. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, Sabrina Buell and Yves Béhar, Nancy and Alan Schatzberg, and Susan Swig.

Omen Studies was commissioned and executed by Craig Calderwood as a part of Bay Area Walls, a series of commissions initiated in 2020. Major support is provided by Roberta and Steve Denning Commissioning Endowed Fund. Significant support is provided by Diana Nelson and John Atwater Commissioning Fund. Meaningful support is provided by Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Commissioning Endowed Fund and Denise Littlefield Sobel Commissioning Endowed Fund.

Bay Area Walls: Isaac Vazquez Avila was commissioned and executed by Isaac Vazquez Avila as part a series of commissions initiated in 2020. Major support is provided by Roberta and Steve Denning Commissioning Endowed Fund. Significant support is provided by Diana Nelson and John Atwater Commissioning Fund. Meaningful support is provided by Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Commissioning Endowed Fund and Denise Littlefield Sobel Commissioning Endowed Fund.

Meaningful support for Sarah Sze: Forever is Composed of Nows is provided by Merryl and James Tisch.

Significant support for New Work: Raven Chacon is provided by Robin Wright and Ian Reeves. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal and Adriane Iann and Christian Stolz. Additional support is provided by Joan Dea and Lionel Conacher Media Arts Exhibitions Endowed Fund.

Meaningful support for Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal and Sabrina Buell and Yves Béhar.

Significant support for RM x SFMOMA is provided by Mary Jane Elmore. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal and Jonathan Gans and Abigail Turin.

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Image Credits:

Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big, part of Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 (installation view, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, on view December 20, 2025–ongoing); photo: Don Ross

Portrait of Rose B. Simpson; courtesy the artist, Jessica Silverman and Jack Shainman Gallery; photo: Minesh Bacrania

Samia Halaby, Foldgrow 6, 1987 (still); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; courtesy the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg; © Samia Halaby

Henri Matisse, Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat), 1905; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, bequest of Elise S. Haas; © 2025 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photo: Ben Blackwell

Barbara Morgan, Martha Graham-Letter to the World, 1940, printed 1980; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William R. Fielder; ©️ Estate of Barbara Morgan

Graciela Iturbide, La Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas, Juchitán, Oaxaca, México (Our Lady of the Iguanas, Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico), 1979, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of the artist; © Graciela Iturbide

Craig Calderwood, Summoners, 2020, courtesy of the artist; photo: Et Al.

Jacob Hashimoto, The Fractured Giant, 2022, Boise Art Museum; photo: Tobin Rogers Photography

Isaac Vazquez Avila, Como Siempre; courtesy the artist and Pt. 2 Gallery, Oakland; photo: Shaun Roberts

Portrait of RM; courtesy HYBE

Portrait of Raven Chacon, photo: Neal Santos

Sarah Sze, Forever is Composed of Nows (rendering); courtesy Sarah Sze Studio

2026 SECA Art Award Exhibition logo