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Trees connect some of New York’s strongest exhibitions this summer. They carry memory, time, spirituality, transformation, and remind us that nature remains one of contemporary art’s most enduring collaborators.
Begin at Pace Gallery (540 West 25th Street), where Julian Schnabel’s Italy Through Its Trees, dedicated to Georg Baselitz and Bruno Bischofberger, is on view through August 14, 2026. Monumental paintings of trees become portraits of friendship, memory, and the passage of time.
Continue to Lisson Gallery (508 West 24th Street), where Kelly Akashi’s Heirloom is on view through July 25, 2026. Bronze, glass, stone, and cast botanical forms speak to inheritance, growth, decay, and regeneration, revealing nature as something continuously becoming.
Just down the street at Gagosian (555 West 24th Street), Giuseppe Penone’s The Reflection of Bronze, curated by former Whitney Museum of American art Director Adam Weinberg, is on view through July 17, 2026. Penone’s sculptures reveal trees as living archives, holding time, touch, memory, and the quiet intelligence of the natural world.
End at Paula Cooper Gallery (521 West 21st Street), where Meg Webster’s Thicket is on view through July 24, 2026. The first thing you notice when opening the door from the street is the smell. Before seeing the work, you breathe it in. The installation reminds us that nature is something we experience with our entire bodies.
I often say that I love nature as much as I love art. It is an added bonus when they come together as powerfully as they do in these four exhibitions.
