Don’t miss these temporary exhibitions in Seattle!
Seattle is an exciting city to visit or live in if you love art. We have so many incredible museums here, from the Seattle Asian Art Museum to the National Nordic Museum. In the spirit of helping you navigate the sheer breadth of options, we put together this guide to some of the coolest current exhibitions in Seattle. Whether you’re looking for an immersive experience or a family-friendly exhibition, we got you. Some of these exhibitions are even free of charge every day or on free admission days.
Make sure to save this post and check back regularly as we will update this list to reflect the most current options a few times a year.
Here are some of the best temporary exhibitions in Seattle that you can view now and coming soon in 2025:
1. Suchitra Mattai: she walked in reverse and found their songs
Suchitra Mattai is a vibrant textile artist who draws inspiration from her Indo-Caribbean heritage. This exhibition closes in late July so make sure to visit the Seattle Asian Art Museum (located in Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park) before then to see it. You can visit the museum for a free open house on Friday, May 23 to view the exhibition along with live music, food, and more—RSVP here.
📍Where: Seattle Asian Art Museum
📅 When: April 9 through July 20, 2025
🎟️ Get tickets here!
2. Let Me Be Myself: The Life Story of Anne Frank at Holocaust Center
This traveling exhibition is coming to the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Belltown for two months only this spring. It’s an immersive experience centered on Anne Frank’s life.
To raise awareness of the exhibit, Seattle Center announced a contest in an Instagram post. You can win prizes if you post about visiting the exhibition at the Holocaust Center and the Anne Frank Tree at Seattle Center’s Peace Garden.
📍Where: Holocaust Center for Humanity
📅 When: April 3 through May 31, 2025
🎟️ Get tickets here!
3. Tariqa Waters: Venus is Missing at SAM
Don’t miss the new Tariqa Waters solo exhibition at Seattle Art Museum that opened in early May, which is described as “an immersive environment that will take you on a science fiction-inspired journey.”
📍Where: Seattle Art Museum
📅 When: May 7, 2025 through January 5, 2026
🎟️ Get tickets here!
4. Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei at SAM
Seattle Art Museum is showcasing the work of provocative Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at all three of its locations (downtown SAM, Olympic Sculpture Park, and Seattle Asian Art Museum). At the main retrospective currently open at SAM, you can view some of the artist’s most iconic pieces as well as “several works making their international debut.” This will be the largest US exhibition ever of this famous artist; don’t miss it. The main exhibition at SAM has timed entry so get your tickets for it in advance.
📍Where: Seattle Art Museum
📅When: March 12 through September 7, 2025
🎟️ Get tickets here!
5. Ai Weiwei: Water Lilies at Seattle Asian Art Museum
Ai Weiwei’s Water Lilies is an absolutely massive panel of water lilies constructed out of LEGO blocks. Go marvel at it up close in person at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, located in Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill.
📍Where: Seattle Asian Art Museum
📅When: now through March 2026
🎟️ Get tickets here!
6. Asian Comics at MoPOP
Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form just opened at Museum of Pop Culture this spring. The temporary exhibition has multiple fascinating sections such as “Censorship and Sensibility: Freedom and Expression” and “Multimedia: Beyond the Printed Page.”
📍Where: Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
📅When: now through January 2026
🎟️ Get tickets here!
7. Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder at SAM
Thaddeus Mosley is “a contemporary sculptor inspired by modernist aesthetics and traditional African wood carvings” and Alexander Calder “revolutionized modern sculpture.” You can visit SAM in downtown Seattle to view the works of these two American sculptural artists in dialogue for a limited time this spring.
📍Where: Seattle Art Museum
📅When: Now through June 1, 2025
🎟️Get tickets here!
8. Alex Katz: Theater and Dance at Frye Art Museum
On a budget? Seattle’s only free art museum is small but worth a visit. Located in First Hill, Frye Art Museum is currently presenting the colorful work of New York painter Alex Katz. The exhibit explores his decades of collaborations with theater groups and choreographers.
📍Where: Frye Art Museum
📅When: Now through June 8, 2025
🎟️Get tickets here!
9. Myron Curry: Where Do We Go From Here at NAAM
The Northwest African American Museum in Seattle’s Central District is showcasing an exhibit by Myron Curry that is meant as a call to action. Curry’s vibrant portraits “showcase a variety of iconic figures ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to Tupac Shakur, alongside intimate moments of Black resilience.”
📍Where: Northwest African American Museum
📅When: Open now (temporary)
🎟️Get tickets here!
10. AshaAung Helmstetter: Recognition, Love, and Healing at NAAM
The Northwest African American Museum is also currently showcasing this exhibition by AshaAung Helmstetter: “a series of paintings honoring Black Americans; emphasizing liberation and resilience, through a lens of love.” Some are portraits, some are abstract, and all are bursting with color.
📍Where: Northwest African American Museum
📅When: Open now (temporary)
🎟️Get tickets here!
11. Anne-Karin Furunes: Illuminating Nordic Archives
This spring, National Nordic Museum in Ballard will be hosting this artist’s first solo exhibition in a US museum since 2010. Anne-Karin Furunes is a Norwegian artist who paints portraits and landscapes with a twist: she’s known for her hand-perforated canvases. This exhibit will focus on “paintings inspired by the historic and recent photography of Svalbard.”
📍Where: National Nordic Museum
📅When: March 15 through June 8, 2025
🎟️ Get tickets here!
12. Northwest Trolls by Thomas Dambo
Northwest Trolls by Thomas Dambo is a long-term but ultimately temporary installation of larger-than-life trolls in the PNW area. The troll sculptures are constructed from recycled materials and will be maintained for three years. They can be found outside the National Nordic Museum in Ballard, at Lincoln Park in West Seattle, in nearby Issaquah, and (via a short ferry ride) on Bainbridge and Vashon islands. There’s also one in Portland. Since they’re all outside, you can visit them for free. Read more about the Northwest Trolls.
📍Where: multiple locations
📅When: now through August 2026
13. The MiG-21 Project at The Museum of Flight
Seattle’s Museum of Flight is hosting the world premiere of Ralph Ziman’s The MiG-21 Project. It took Ziman five years to transform a Cold War-era fighter jet with millions of colorful glass beads. This exhibit opens on June 21 and tickets are available now.
📍Where: The Museum of Flight
📅When: June 21, 2025 through January 2026
🎟️ Get tickets here!