Is learning something new on your list of resolutions for 2026? Consider this your nudge to follow your curiosity straight to a local museum.
Denver and Boulder are rolling out a slate of exciting new exhibits in the year ahead—from a high-fashion moment making its debut at the Denver Art Museum to a deep dive into the University of Colorado’s storied past at the Museum of Boulder.
Ahead, we share Colorado museum exhibits worth marking on your 2026 calendar.
Museum of Boulder: “Blazing Trail for 150 Years at CU Boulder”
Jan. 16, 2026 – March 1, 2026
It’s a big birthday year for the nation, Colorado and the University of Colorado. The United States will celebrate its semiquincentennial (250th anniversary), while Colorado marks 150 years of statehood. CU Boulder, founded in 1876, is also turning 150.
Old Main, the university’s first building, marked CU’s founding in 1876, with the first students arriving in Boulder in September 1877.
Already, the Museum of Boulder features an interactive display exploring how Boulder might have developed differently if key decisions had gone another way. In one scenario, the city could have ended up with a state prison instead of the state’s flagship university.
The museum’s exhibition, “Blazing Trail for 150 Years at CU Boulder,” highlights the people, ideas and milestones that have shaped CU while looking ahead to what continues to guide it forward.
BMocA: “Yes &…”
Jan. 29, 2026 – May 3, 2026
If you’ve ever seen an improv comedy show, you’re probably familiar with the concept of “yes, and …” In a nutshell, it’s a guiding principle that encourages comedians to accept an idea from their partners and build upon it.
That same principle is at play at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (or BMoCA for short), which is bringing together an eclectic mix of 18 artists for the “Yes & …” exhibit. The show offers an antidote to the creative fatigue some may be feeling as artificial intelligence has exploded in popularity in recent years.
A preview explains that the exhibition draws attention to the human nature of art—“the wavering line, thick brushstroke, hand-squished clay, rough-hewn wood—and the deliberate choices that reveal the artist’s process when pairing found objects, cultural content, new technology or formal elements.”
Each artist in “Yes &”… exhibits two works to show the continuation of a style as well as veering from formulas.
Museum-goers may leave with a renewed appreciation for the imperfections that emerge when art is made by human hands.
History Colorado Center: “Mountains Majesty: On the Summit With John Fielder”
Jan. 24, 2026 – Jan. 10, 2027
From colorful wildflowers painting Colorado’s alpine trails to snow dusting the jagged red rocks of Roxborough State Park and canopies of golden aspens set against brilliant blue fall skies, landscape photographer John Fielder has a knack for capturing the state’s beauty. In fact, he has earned a reputation as “Colorado’s Photographer,” and in 2023 donated more than 6,000 of his photographs to History Colorado.
Fielder’s hiking trips often took him to Colorado’s highest summits, where he sometimes waited for hours—and endured difficult weather—in pursuit of the perfect shot. Fielder died in 2023 after a cancer battle.
For this “Mountains Majesty” exhibit, History Colorado members selected their favorite mountain photographs, celebrating Colorado’s 150th anniversary of statehood in 2026.
MCA Denver: Ana María Hernando’s “Seguir Cantando (Keep Singing)”
March 5, 2026 – July 5, 2026
Have you ever seen sculptures made of tulle? Argentine-born, Colorado-based artist Ana María Hernando transforms the delicate fabric into immersive sculptural forms, and this spring she brings that vision to a solo exhibition at MCA Denver. Among the works on view is Waterfalls, a commanding, double cascade of bright pink tulle.
The fabric—popular in everything from tutus to bridal veils—suggests a complacent feminine fragility, according to the museum’s preview, an idea Hernando actively rebels against through her powerful displays.
Her sculptures will command spaces—walls, ceilings, windows—and the exhibition moves with color, from black charcoal, gray tulle and dark paint to white tulle and embroidery, before culminating in works that explode with color.
Titled seguir cantando (“keep singing”), the exhibition is an invitation to persist with joy amid adversity.
Denver Art Museum: “DIVA”
Oct. 4, 2026 – Jan. 10, 2027
The Denver Art Museum is rolling out the red carpet for its upcoming exhibit “DIVA,” a glamorous exhibition featuring 200 objects worn by legendary cultural icons across decades.
Curators have teased an extraordinary lineup, including pieces donned by Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Lady Gaga, RuPaul, Prince and Tina Turner, as well as one of Rihanna’s unforgettable Met Gala looks.
With an emphasis on glamour and spectacle (I think we can expect a lot of sparkle!) the exhibition also highlights the artistry of opera, featuring costumes worn by figures such as Maria Callas, a well-known Greek opera singer popular in the 1950s, among others.
Fashion-forward to the max and star-studded, “DIVA” is organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which previously housed the exhibit.
Shoes worn by Prince © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Other 2026 exhibits coming to the Denver Art Museum include:
- “What We’ve Been Up To: People” (Feb. 8, 2026 – Sept. 29, 2026) which is a collection of 60 photographs of people that are a part of the museum’s collection and have never been shown in the galleries before.
- “Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives” (Feb. 16, 2026 – Oct. 11, 2026) is another must-see exhibition for fashion-loving museum-goers who delight in the art of dressing up. Spanning decades of design, the exhibit spotlights iconic moments in fashion history, beginning with an 1896 ball gown to the emergence of the “Little Black Dress” represented by a Coco Chanel shift from 1926 and alongside more modern creations.
