Current Exhibitions
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Radicals and Revolutionaries: America’s Founding Fathers
ThroughThis exhibition features paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and decorative arts from the MFAH collections, along with several works of art from other Houston collections.
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Modernism on the Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs
ThroughRaghubir Singh pushed the genre of street photography into a world of living color. This retrospective traces the full trajectory of the visionary photographer’s career. Singh lived in Hong Kong, Paris, London, and New York—but his eye was perpetually drawn back to his native India.
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Michelangelo and the Vatican: Masterworks from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples
ThroughMasterworks by Michelangelo—and contemporaries including Raphael, Titian, and Tintoretto—highlight the artistic legacy of Pope Paul III and the vital role that drawing played in art production throughout Europe in the late 15th and 16th centuries.
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Passion for Perfection: The Straus Collection of Renaissance Art
ThroughThe Straus Collection, donated to the MFAH in 1941, marked a turning point for the Museum. These remarkable paintings, as well as bronzes, sculptures, and works on paper, not only formed the cornerstone of the European art department but also put the MFAH firmly on the map.
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Eye on Houston: High School Documentary Photography
ThroughThe annual Eye on Houston exhibition celebrates the diversity of neighborhoods throughout the city. This year’s edition showcases photographs by students from high schools across the Houston Independent School District, with an overwhelming focus on what the teens experienced because of Hurricane Harvey.
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Off-site Exhibition: MFA Contemporary @ Heights Mercantile
ThroughThe MFAH and Heights Mercantile have partnered to create MFA Contemporary @ Heights Mercantile, a Museum-curated gallery space located at 714 Yale Street. Currently on view is the video installation American Desert (for Chuck Jones), which presents desert landscapes culled from Road Runner cartoons.
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Extravagant Objects: Jewelry and Objets d’Art from the Masterson Collection
ThroughFor centuries, jewelry and objets d’art have been sought after by royals, aristocrats, and the affluent to demonstrate status, wealth, power, and taste. Extravagant Objects showcases a dazzling array in an exhibition at Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts.
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Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India
ThroughCenturies of royal treasures from India come to the United States for the first time, in an epic presentation. Masterpieces and relics—never before seen beyond palace walls—include ceremonial regalia, paintings, jewels, furnishings, tents, weapons, and large-scale photomurals.
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A History of Photography: Selections from the Museum’s Collection
ThroughA History of Photography is a series of installations that trace the course of photography from its invention to the present day, showcasing important new acquisitions and treasured masterpieces from the MFAH collection.
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Reflection and Enlightenment: Chinese Buddhist Gilt Bronzes from the Jane and Leopold Swergold Collection
ThroughThis installation features a selection of Chinese Buddhist gilt bronzes from the collection of Jane and Leopold Swergold.
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Contemporary Dutch Design: Selections from the Museum’s Collection
ThroughObjects from the MFAH collection highlight a range of materials, techniques, and unprecedented approaches that place Dutch designers at the forefront of the contemporary design field.
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Spanish Colonial Paintings from the Thoma Collection
ThroughThe Museum presents a selection of Spanish colonial paintings from the celebrated collection of Carl and Marilynn Thoma.
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Arts of Islamic Lands: Selections from The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait
ThroughThe Museum’s landmark partnership with the Kuwait-based al-Sabah Collection and the cultural institution Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah makes possible this installation featuring some 250 objects from the 8th to 18th century that present a comprehensive spectrum of Islamic art.