The New Season: Fall 2025 - Art, from Calder sculptures to Impressionist masters

In Philadelphia this fall, a new oasis awaits: Welcome to Calder Gardens, named for the famed sculptor Alexander Calder.

"I'm hoping that Calder Gardens will really actually be a place for introspection," said Sandy Rower, president of the Calder Foundation (and grandson of the sculptor).

Beneath the garden, 31 Calder works fill an indoor/outdoor sanctuary. The space is meant for reflection and contemplation. "We really want you to be able to have an unmitigated experience. We want nobody between you and the art," Rower said.

As the seasons change, some of the art will, too, complementing the evolving landscape.

"The gardens themselves have this own kind of cyclical nature, rather like a Calder sculpture," said Rower.

Calder is best known for transforming the way we interpret art forms. Rower said, "My grandfather realized you could draw a figure in a wire – like, a two-dimensional drawing but expanded in three dimensions. Make a volumetric drawing of a person, a portrait, or an acrobat, or an animal, or some scene, and creating something that was experienced by people in a very different way than you would a solid mass."

Just like the garden's namesake, the space embraces the unconventional.

"I'm trying to work with my grandfather's own idea, where he doesn't predispose you to a certain outcome," Rower said. "He'd like to create a forum where there's an object in space, and you enter that space. The space is part of the work of art. For some people these kind of subtle things can happen, and you can have an experience. Hopefully it's an uplifting one."

The Calder Gardens aren't the only place in Philadelphia to immerse yourself in art and nature. The Barnes Foundation this season presents the wild workings of Henri Rousseau.

Other art world highlights this fall include a host of Impressionist works on display coast-to-coast. Take in Monet's illustrations of Venice in Brooklyn. Look out at Camille Pissarro's landscapes in Denver. Or say aloha to Mary Cassatt portraits in Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Museum of Art is filled with personalized pastel portraits of Amy Sherald; and the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Northern California celebrates 75 years of Peanuts.

And things are larger than life in Los Angeles, with Robert Therrien's visual tribute to everyday objects – a fresh perspective for a fresh season.

Northeast:

• "Northern Lights," at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo, N.Y. (through Jan. 12, 2026)
• "Man Ray: When Objects Dream," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (through Feb. 1, 2026)
• "Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention," at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Me. (Oct. 10, 2025-Jan. 11, 2026)
• "Helen Frankenthaler: A Grand Sweep," at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City (Nov. 18, 2025-Feb. 8, 2026)

Midwest:

Southwest:

West:

• "Manet and Morisot," at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (Oct. 11, 2025-March 1, 2026)
• "Monuments," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (Oct. 23, 2025-May 3, 2026)

International:

Photos courtesy of:

• Calder Gardens, 2025. Photograph by Tom Powel. Artwork by Alexander Calder © 2025 Calder
• Calder installing Le Guichet (1963) with grandson Alexander S. C. Rower, Lincoln Center, New York, 1965. Photograph by Bob Serating. © 2025 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
• Mary Cassatt: Honolulu Museum of Art
• The Broad, The Broad Art Foundation, The Glenstone Museum, and Mike Kelley
• Charles M. Schulz, 1969. Photo: Tom Vano. © Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, Calif.
• Denver Art Museum: bpk/Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource, N.Y.
• akg-images/Laurent Lecat

Story produced by Julie Kracov. Editor: Carol Ross.

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