A Yayoi Kusama Infinity Room, Cecily Brown, and More — The Most Exciting Exhibits Coming to the Dallas Museum of Art

The doors may have just opened to the new Frida Kahlo exhibit, but the Dallas Museum of Art is already buzzing the next big things. There’s the largest U.S. exhibit of famous painter Cecily Brown, a traveling retrospective that finally gives a mid-century pop artist her due, and the return of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity room, All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, for the first time since 2018. 

We’re previewing the most exciting exhibits coming to the Dallas Museum of Art in 2024 and 2025.

“Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations” at the DMA

September 29, 2024 through February 9, 2025

A Dallas Museum of Art premiere, “Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations” unites 30 large-scale works from the British-American painter — including two that will make their public debut — to form a major mid-career retrospective. The New York-based artist has become famous for her contemporary works that are rich in depth and color, often with themes of sexuality and eroticism. 

Brown’s large-scale canvases and abstract expressionism invite viewers to slow down and take in the complex works. With a whopping 30 pieces on view (the largest U.S. exhibition of Brown to date), be prepared to set some time aside for “Themes and Variations.”

“Marisol: A Retrospective” at the DMA

February 23 through July 6, 2025

The traveling show, which took six years to erect, isn’t just a retrospective. It’s a return to well-earned relevance for the mononymic Venezuelan American artist Marisol (1930–2016). A darling of the pop art movement, she was a massive presence throughout the 1960s (arguably just as famous at the time as her friend Andy Warhol), but her influence had been largely erased over time. 

“Like too many women artists, she was basically written out of art history. ‘Marisol: A Retrospective’ looks to right that wrong,” Sarah Cascone writes for ArtNet.com. 

The comprehensive “Marisol: A Retrospective” was made possible when the artist bequeathed her entire estate to the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in New York after her death in 2016. It debuted at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2023 and will end its tour at the Dallas Museum of Art in 2025. 

“Return to Infinity: Yayoi Kusama”

May 4, 2025 through January 18, 2026

I recently caught one of Kusama’s infinity mirrored rooms (The Souls of Millions of Lightyears Away) at The Broad in Los Angeles. There was, as I was told there almost always is, a line, even though the room is almost always on view. But immersing yourself in one of Kusama’s unique infinity rooms — even if only for a few allotted seconds — is always worth it. They’re transportative, beautiful, a little strange, and yes, deeply selfie-friendly. 

I imagine lines will become a regular thing at the DMA when Kusama’s All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins (2016) makes its grand return to the museum for the first time since 2018. Dallas fell hard for the 95-year-old Japanese artist’s winsome work then (the DMA extended the room’s stay several months), and I’m sure we’ll queue up again.