Baltimore Museum of Art Unveils Spring 2026 Lineup with Three Matisse Exhibitions

The Baltimore Museum of Art will present a tightly timed suite of Matisse exhibitions in March 2026 that brings rare drawings, Caribbean book illustrations, and new work by a Maryland-born painter to its 10 Art Museum Drive campus. The museum says the slate captures Matisse’s enduring influence and leverages its claim to be home to the world’s largest public collection of works by Henri Matisse.

Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again opens March 11 and runs March 11–September 6, 2026, bringing together approximately 30 paintings and works on paper by Henri Matisse and Louis Fratino. The BMA describes the show as pairing “luminous figure studies, interiors, still-lifes, and self-portraits” and notes that Fratino, born in Annapolis in 1993 and educated at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, will show new paintings. “Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again is a dynamic, intergenerational dialogue…” the museum wrote in its press materials.

Matisse and Martinique: Portraits and Poetry opens March 18 and focuses on one of Matisse’s least-known series of book illustrations, works inspired by the artist’s 1930 visit to Martinique and created for his friend John-Antoine Nau’s Poésies Antillaises. The BMA’s announcement frames the Martinique material as an opportunity to foreground Matisse’s print and book work rather than his better-known canvases.

One slot in the March trio highlights Matisse’s late mural project: Matisse in Vence: The Stations of the Cross brings rare drawings and related materials tied to the Stations of the Cross mural the artist created for his chapel in Vence, France. The museum calls it “the first thorough examination of The Stations of the Cross mural Matisse created for his architectural masterpiece in Vence, France.” The press excerpts provided do not specify a precise opening date for the Vence presentation or the co-organizing partner listed in the materials.

The BMA positioned the March exhibitions as part of its scholarly and public-program mission, adding that “General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.” The museum’s visitor information in the release lists regular hours as Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursdays until 9 p.m., and states that the Sculpture Gardens are open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to dusk. The BMA campus sits three miles north of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University; the institution also maintains a community branch at Lexington Market.

Separately, the museum is circulating a large traveling exhibition, Matisse: Masterworks from The Baltimore Museum of Art, which Minneapolis Institute of Art materials describe as featuring 50 works of painting and sculpture, 30 prints, and the artist’s book Jazz, with most works drawn from the Cone Collection assembled by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone. The Minneapolis presentation lists sponsors including The Crosby Family Fund for Exhibitions, Delta Airlines, Thomson Reuters, Christie’s, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, and “StarTribuneNew,” and notes audio guide rentals at $5 for members and $6 for non-members; the MIA contact line is 888 642 2787 and the museum address is 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404.

Baltimore viewers will be able to see the BMA’s March programming on its home campus at 10 Art Museum Drive; the press materials include several truncated items that the museum did not specify in the excerpts provided, including the phone number listed under general information, the end date for Matisse and Martinique, and the named co-organizer for Matisse in Vence. The March suite nevertheless cements the BMA’s dual role as steward of an extensive Matisse collection and as an organizer of traveling exhibitions built from Baltimore holdings.