As this summer approaches, get out your calendars and make plans to visit these free museums in New York City. There are many galleries to visit in New York City all throughout the summer months; Chelsea, in particular, has some of the season’s most intriguing exhibitions.

The Munch and Expressionism exhibition at the Neue Galerie is open now through June 13. This show features paintings and prints from Edvard Munch’s contemporaries in Germany, including Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Austria’s haunted genius, Egon Schiele. In total, the exhibition consists of 35 paintings and 50 works on paper from worldwide public and private collections. The canvases depict the anxiety and urgency at the beginning of the 20th century; the curator compares the artists’ approaches to themes such as urban anxiety, adolescence, and self-portraiture. Munch and Expressionism also features The Scream, a symbol of modern angst.

Munch himself was known for his exploration of dark themes, such as alienation, sin and human vulnerability. His use of vivid color intensifies the emotional power of his subjects; this approach helped him pave the way for a new attitude during the early 20th century. This exhibition is the first study of the artist’s work in the context of his German and Austrian peers.

Another amazing exhibit in Chelsea is Beauty – Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial – open through August 21. Beauty has a wide range of items on display, from everyday objects like clocks and humidifiers to fin-shaped leather jackets, sweaters from Africa and renderings from futuristic architect Sou Fujimoto. Beauty is a celebration of design as an endeavor that engages the mind, body, and senses, with a focus on aesthetic innovation. Featuring more than 250 works from around the globe, Beauty is organized around seven themes: extravagant, intricate, ethereal, transgressive, emergent, elemental, and transformative. The objects range from experimental prototypes and interactive games to fashion ensembles and architectural interventions. The idea of this exhibit is to interpret beauty in many different ways, through this vast range of objects.

A well-known collection in Chelsea is Picturing Prestige: New York Portraits, 1700-1860 at the Museum of the City of  New York, open through October 11. In the 18th century, New York City’s elite began to commission paintings of themselves and loved ones to display in their homes to indicate their status. Portraits were often created to celebrate or commemorate a moment in someone’s life, such as marriage. Picturing Prestige features 160 years of portraits in New York City. This collection captures the characteristics of the rising merchant city as it grew to be the most populated and important port in the United States. In addition to capturing the change in the city, the exhibit captures the changing work of portraiture and artistic patronage. Among this collection are George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John E. Brooks, the founder of Brooks Brothers.

This Place at the Brooklyn Museum is open through June 5. Twelve photographers visited Israel and the West Bank between 2009 and 2012 to see the troubled region up close. Featuring more than 600 photographs, This Place offers a complex and fragmented portrait, displaying ‘the rifts and paradoxes’ of this place, rather than a single, simple vision. Over the years, the photographers travelled throughout the region and engaged with a variety of individuals and communities. Although the exhibition consists of twelve varying perspectives, several common themes, such as family, identity, home, and the environment, are present. The images presented in this exhibition are beyond divisive political debates to treat each subject with humanity. It inspires viewers to raise questions and engage viewers in conversation.

If you are looking for a break from the sweltering hot summer sun, these museums are the perfect places to go. With a variety of exhibits on offer, Chelsea is the ideal locale to spend a day this summer.