Must-See Museum Exhibits in New Orleans This January

With so much to do in New Orleans, many forget that the city’s art scene is just as vibrant as the food and music. January is a great time to visit a museum. Check out the highlighted exhibits below and search our calendar to find even more art in New Orleans. 

"Burke’s Delight: The Stacey and Michael Burke Collection"

Ogden Museum of Southern Art presents "Burke’s Delight: The Stacey and Michael Burke Collection," featuring a significant recent donation of over 80 works by more than 50 artists from across the American South. This donation not only expands the Museum’s already impressive collection but also highlights the profound contributions of self-taught and Visionary artists to the region’s artistic heritage. This exhibition presents work that often challenges traditional notions of artistic values and aesthetics through the use of unconventional materials and techniques. These deeply authentic makers explore themes common to the Southern experience, such as family, tradition, the land, community, memory, spirituality and resilience in the face of adversity. See it at the Ogden starting on January 17, 2026 through January 10, 2027.

“it takes a long time to stay here: Paintings by Jordan Ann Craig"

"it takes a long time to stay here" is artist Jordan Ann Craig’s (Northern Cheyenne) largest institutional exhibition to date. Her large-scale abstract paintings reflect her engagement with Indigenous, especially Northern Cheyenne, aesthetic traditions and her dynamic and innovative exploration of color, line, and geometric form. Craig’s practice often begins with research in museum collections and archives—studying, learning from, and engaging in a dialogue with traditional Indigenous artistic forms, such as beadwork, pottery, and textiles. She also draws inspiration from the landscape of what is now the Southwestern United States, where she lives and works. See it at the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane through January 16, 2026.

"Poetic Gaps: Opacity in the Photographic Imprint"

Curated by Kaillee Coleman and Fei Xie, "Poetic Gaps: Opacity in the Photographic Imprint" draws on poet-philosopher Édouard Glissant’s idea of “opacity,” exploring how photography, sculpture, and installation can highlight what resists being fully seen or captured. Through vignettes of images, objects, and landscapes, the exhibition asks what lingers before, beyond, or outside the frame, emphasizing presence, absence, and the unseen. See it at  Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane through January 16, 2026.