arts & entertainment

The Vero Beach Museum of Art summer schedule begins on Memorial Day. Museum galleries will be closed on Mondays beginning May 25. (Summer Art Camp, studio classes, and contemplative art classes continue their regular schedule.) Galleries, along with the Museum Store, will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Complimentary docent-led tours, free with paid admission, take place daily at 2 p.m. The Museum will reopen Mondays on September 14.

Summer holiday closures: The Museum is closed on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25), Juneteenth (Friday, June 19), Independence Day (Friday, July 4), and Labor Day (Monday, September 7). We will also close at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 10 and Friday, July 24 for member events. 

In exhibition news, American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection remains on view through Sunday, June 7; Construction: from Abstraction to Architecture is on view through Sunday, July 12; and The Museum in the Garden: Envisioning the New VBMA is open through Sunday, January 3, 2027. Two summer exhibitions will be opening soon: James Prosek: At Work opens Saturday, July 11 in the Holmes Gallery, and Jill Nathanson: Chromatic Phrasesopens on Saturday, July 25 in the Schumann and Titelman Galleries. The Museum will present Hokusai, Hiroshige, Hasui: Japanese Landscapes in Print as its final touring exhibition, Coming from MFABoston and opening on November 21, the expansive exhibition features more than 100 works of art and will span both Holmes and Titelman galleries.

VBMA “Second Saturdays” features free admission all day, on the second Saturday of each month, Visitors of all ages will enjoy free admission and can engage in complementary programming, including Museum Studios (mini-tours, art making for families, performances, lectures, and films).

As a Blue Star Museum, VBMA offers free admission to active-duty U.S. military personnel and their families from Saturday, May 16 (Armed Forces Day) through Sunday, September 6. The Museum offers free admission to Veterans and active-duty military personnel throughout the year. 

Through the Bank of America’s Museums on US program, free admission is available to all Bank of America cardholders the first full weekend (Saturday and Sunday) of each month. Visitors must show their Bank of America card at the Visitor Services Desk on arrival to gain free admission.

The 2026–2027 season exhibition calendar:

James Prosek: At Work

July 11–October 25, 2026

Holmes Gallery

Celebrating 30 years of art making, James Prosek shares more than 70 works from his studio and field studies in painting, watercolor, and sculpture with the Vero Beach Museum of Art. Prosek is a naturalist whose creations reflect the immense biodiversity of our planet and its imaginative potential through botanical portraits, fish, and wildlife found during his travels. This exhibition is organized by the Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey, and features new interpretive texts authored by the Vero Beach Museum of Art. Support of this exhibit is provided by Barry and Jennifer Jaruzelski and the Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation.

Jill Nathanson: Chromatic Phrases

July 25, 2026–February 7, 2027

Schumann and Titelman Galleries through Oct. 25, Schumann Gallery through Feb. 7

This original exhibition presents over 20 recent works by Jill Nathanson whose abstract paintings are shaped through a deliberate process that balances spontaneity with a predetermined structure. This interplay between intention and material response brings into focus the dynamic movement of layered color relationships. Informed by her early immersion in Color Field painting of the 1960s and 1970s, Nathanson extends this lineage through a sustained exploration of color as an experiential phenomenon. In her work, color does not remain fixed or purely descriptive but instead suggests movement as it is shaped by the interaction of light and perception. Chromatic Phrases is curated by Chief Curator Caitlin Swindell and organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

Hokusai, Hiroshige, Hasui: Japanese Landscapes in Print

November 21, 2026–February 7, 2027

Holmes and Titelman Galleries

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is the first venue in the United States to host this exhibition of more than 100 works by the two great 19th-century masters of the “Floating World,” Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), with modern prints by Kawase Hasui (1883–1957), a key member of the shin hanga (“new prints”) movement. Hasui developed new subjects and themes in landscape prints through the mid-1950s, when he was named a “living national treasure” in 1956. 

Through a selection of extraordinary color woodblock prints by these three masters, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the most evocative places in Japan, both real and imagined. It will illustrate a period of cultural change in Japan as Western influence shaped artistic tastes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Together, these artworks by three artists trace the evolution of the Japanese landscape print tradition, with Hokusai as innovator, Hiroshige as developer, and Hasui as the artist who reinvented the field in modern terms. This exhibition is organized by MFABoston.

American Made: Painting and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection

Closes June 7, 2026

Holmes and Titelman Galleries

This exhibition features more than 80 works by renowned American artists, including Benjamin West, Sarah Miriam Peale, Edward Moran, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Robert Henri, and Charles Alston. Spanning 250 years, with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries, the collection traces the evolution of American art and explores a range of subjects, from landscapes to still lifes, genre scenes and portraits. The exhibition, which is organized into eight thematic sections, demonstrates how American artists from the colonial era through the 20th century supported the growth and progress of the nation. American Made was curated by Todd Herman, PhD, president and CEO of The Mint Museum; Kevin Sharp, director of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; and Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum.

Construction: from Abstraction to Architecture

Closes July 12, 2026

Schumann and Stark Galleries

Since the early 20th century, artists have explored the concept of construction in various ways. Geometric abstractionists used rigid structures and grids as compositional frameworks, while the Bauhaus and Constructivist movements embraced art through the lens of engineered design, often inspired by industrial materials and architecture. Mid-century artists continued this exploration with structured geometric compositions, leading to Minimalism, where industrial materials and modular systems emphasized repetition and form. Today, contemporary art and architecture engage with these ideas, particularly by focusing on facades and the materials and techniques used to create them. This exhibition, drawn primarily from the VBMA’s permanent collection with select loans, examines construction’s influential role in modern and contemporary art. Construction: from Abstraction to Architecture is curated by Chief Curator Caitlin Swindell and organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art. 

The Museum in the Garden: Envisioning the New VBMA

Closes January 3, 2027

Stark Gallery

This exhibition traces the evolution of the designs for VBMA’s new building and transformed campus created by Allied Works architecture and Unknown Studio Landscape Architecture & Urban Design. Beginning with conceptual sketches from 2022 and progressing to the fully realized renderings of the project now underway, this exhibition showcases the bold plans that will propel the Museum’s growth and broaden its reach, deepening its commitment to art education, presenting its collection and new exhibitions, and hosting speakers and performances. Museum in the Garden is organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art with Allied Works.

Mark Your Calendar for VBMA’s Favorite Signature and Family Events:

Holidays at the Museum: December 12, 2026—FREE

Guests will enjoy a free day at the Museum filled with holiday cheer, family-friendly tours, and activities centered on the artwork on display. Music and dance performances by local youth and community groups will complement time in the studios for creating festive artwork to bring home.

International Lecture Series: November 30, 2026 and January 11 & February 1, 2027

VBMA presents the 45th season of the Treasure Coast’s most celebrated arts and humanities lecture series in conjunction with the exhibition Hokusai, Hiroshige, Hasui: Japanese Landscapes in Print. This year’s featured speakers are Noriko Murai, Professor of Art History at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, in Tokyo, Japan; Andreas Marks, Mary Briggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art; and Pico Iyer, travel writer, essayist, and novelist. They will provide audiences with multiple perspectives to help frame the exhibition’s themes. For tickets, visit https://www.vbmuseum.org/international-lecture-series/.

GALA 2027–Cherry Blossoms at Night: January 29, 2027

Save the date for Vero Beach Museum of Art’s annual gala, arguably the season’s most iconic and anticipated event, and even more so this year! Attendees will enjoy cocktails, dinner, entertainment, and will be among some of the final visitors to spend time in the current galleries before the museum goes dark and continues its expansive and exciting rebuild. For sponsorships and ticket information, visit https://www.vbmuseum.org/events/gala/.

VBMA will offer a slate of lectures and performances that complement exhibitions on view. Tickets are available at vbmuseum.org.

• Picturing Paradise: From John James Audubon to the Florida Highwaymen with Keri Watson—June 13, 2026
• Frank Lloyd Wright and His Influence on Florida Architecture with Wayne Wood— September 12, 2026
• Ballet Vero Beach—November 14, 2026 & February 6, 2027
• Asbury Short Film Concert—January 22 & 23, 2027

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is at 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach, Florida, 32963. For hours, admission fees, membership, and tickets to classes, programs, and events, visit vbmuseum.org.

Directions: From I-95 (Exit 147), from U.S. 1, and Indian River Boulevard, take State Road 60 east over the Merrill Barber Bridge to the beachside, and turn right at the first traffic light into Riverside Park. Parking is free.