The city empties out every summer for a reason. Out East, the light is better, the pace is slower, and the art is genuinely worth the drive. This year the East End is having a moment, with America's 250th anniversary bringing a wave of ambitious programming to the museums, foundations, and sculpture gardens between Southampton and Springs. Here are ten places to build a weekend around, where you can see a Pollock studio in the morning, a blue-chip sculpture garden in the afternoon, and still make it to the beach by golden hour.

_{Fly's Eye Dome by Buckminster Fuller, courtesy of LongHouse Reserve}

LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton 

Jack Lenor Larsen's 16-acre garden is the most photogenic stop on the East End. This season brings new sculptures from Sean Scully, Larry Bell, Renée Cox, and William Kentridge, set among permanent works by de Kooning, Sol LeWitt, and Yoko Ono.

_{Arcmanoro Niles, “3AM My Mind Won’t Rest Again (From a Distance I Look Organized and Brave)”, (2024). Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London}

Guild Hall, East Hampton 

A village institution since 1931. "Forgotten Words I Never Got to Say" marks Arcmanoro Niles's first solo museum presentation, timed to the tenth anniversary of his 2016 Guild Hall residency, the very first in the museum's Artist in Residence program. Tracing a decade of work, it gathers the saturated color, glittering surfaces, and gold-toned figures that have made Niles one of the most recognizable painters of his generation, with scenes pulled from family, memory, and daily life. Through 19 July.

_{Exterior of The Watermill Center, Photo by Maria Baranova/Courtesy of The Watermill Center}

The Watermill Center, Water Mill 

Robert Wilson's experimental arts center has two unmissable summer moments: the US debut of collectible design fair Nomad (25-28 June), and the annual Summer Festival on 24 and 25 July, where Madeline Hollander reimagines Wilson's Einstein on the Beach for its 50th anniversary.

_{Installation view of Sanford Biggers: Drift at the parrish Art Museum. Photo by Jenny Gorman, courtesy of the Parrish Art Museum and the Artist}

Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill 

The anchor of any Hamptons art weekend. "Sanford Biggers: Drift" gathers new textiles, prints, and site-specific installations through 13 September, with a full survey of the late Tony Bechara opening 27 June. The Herzog & de Meuron building is worth the trip on its own.

_{Installation view of "Windows" at Halsey McKay courtesy of Halsey McKay}

Halsey McKay, East Hampton 

The summer group show brings together 36 artists across generations, from Jane Freilicher to Hope Gangloff, all circling the idea of windows and openings. On view through 13 July, alongside a Steven Cox solo show.

_{Dia Bridgehampton, New York. Photo by Bill Jacobson Studio, New York}

Dia Bridgehampton 

Inside a shingled former firehouse and church, Dia launches a year-long commission from Alan Ruiz on 26 June, working with daylight as material. Don't leave without seeing the permanent Dan Flavin installation.

_{Pollock-Krasner House and Studio. Courtesy of the Pollock-Krasner House}

Pollock-Krasner House, Springs 

One of the great art pilgrimages in America. The paint-splattered studio floor where Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner worked is still here, exactly as they left it. Tours run Thursday to Sunday by reservation.

Cultivist Members, check your app for details on our visit to the Pollock-Krasner House for our Mini-Cultivist July Session.

_{Robert Nava “And Suddenly They Evolved” (2024) Courtesy of Peter Marino Art Foundation and Robert Nava}

Peter Marino Art Foundation, Southampton 

The architect and collector's private museum at 11 Jobs Lane is one of the most beautiful spaces on the East End, and it rotates a fresh set of shows from his collection every summer. This year brings four: eighteen introspective portraits and Dome paintings by Iranian-American painter Y.Z. Kami; a double-height Cathedral Gallery pairing two under-recognized postwar women, Betty Parsons and Carla Accardi; ten large, graffiti-bright canvases of dragons and mythical beasts from Robert Nava; and over 100 pieces of nineteenth-century Tiffany silver. On view through 3 October.

_{Eisenhower Corn Flakes Box, featured in “The Story of America” exhibit at Southampton Arts Center. Courtesy of the Southampton Arts Center}

"The Story of America," Southampton Arts Center 

Timed to the nation's 250th, this sweeping exhibition moves through 250 years of American political and cultural history in rare objects, campaign materials, and symbolic artifacts. Through 18 July.

_{Installation view of “A Thousand Words: Photography at The New Yorker” Curated by Elisabeth Biondi at The Church, Sag Harbor. Courtesy of The Church}

The Church, Sag Harbor 

Eric Fischl and April Gornik's converted church hosts "This Land," curated by Donna de Salvo and Seph Rodney. The show runs from Hudson River School painters to contemporary takes on the American landscape, 20 June through 6 September.