Make time to visit these museums and galleries during the Art Basel whirlwind

The first weekend in December signals more than just the obvious — the beginning of the month — it’s when the art world descends on Miami for the premier event of the year, Art Basel. Here, we’ve rounded up the museums and galleries to visit during the whirlwind four-day weekend art extravaganza. While a majority of them are in Miami, we did include one in Fort Lauderdale that shouldn’t be missed.

Frost Art Museum at FIU

Located far from the madness of Miami Beach and Wynwood wherea majority of events take place is this stellar museum located on the Florida International University Main Campus. Still up during Art Basel will be their groundbreaking exhibit Art after Stonewall, 1969-1989, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riotsof 1969. The more than 200 works featured — including film, video art, photography, sculpture, painting and music — tell the story of the LGBTQ liberation movement on visual culture. Also, check out South Beach, 1977-1986: Photographs by Gary Monroe, a photo exhibit highlighting the aging Jewish community of South Beach. frost. fiu.edu.

Emerson Dorsch Gallery

The visionary gallery owned by Tyler Emerson Dorsch and Brook Dorsch, some of the first to set their sights and move to Little Haiti from Wynwood, is where you’ll see Mette Tommerup’s Love, Ur; a complex installation of creative zones of dyed canvases undulating like tectonic plates.

The installation’s title refers to Ur, originally the name of an ancient Sumerian City, Ur which in Tommerup’s native Denmark is used to refer to the pre-Christian Nordic world and its essential connection to nature. In the installation, Mette makes use of this particular association. emersondorsch.com.

Miami (MOCA)

In the heart of Downtown North Miami, the world-class contemporary art museum has been featuring thought-provoking exhibitions for more than two decades. Drop in to see Cecilia Vicuña: About to Happen and Alice Rahon: Poetic Invocations.

In Cecilia’s first major U.S. solo exhibition which opens the same night as Basel, the Chilean-born artist will showcase her multi-disciplinary work including performance, sculpture, drawing, video, text and site-specific installations created over four decades. The show by Rahon, also a first solo show, features the French-Mexican surrealist painter’s paintings, works on paper, assemblages, original poems and manuscripts and photographs. mocanomi.org.

The Bass

One of Miami Beach’s most iconic museums, which several years ago underwent a total transformation, The Bass has a trio of shows during Basel. In Haegue Yang: In the Cone of Uncertainty, the artist, who splits his time between Seoul and Korea, showcases her window blind installations light sculptures, anthropomorphic sculptures and mural-like graphic wallpaper.

Showcasing a new commissioned site-specific work along with paintings, sculpture and interactive installations of both new and recent works is Lara Favaretto: Blind Spot. Finally, in Mickalene Thomas’ Better Nights you’ll step into an installation that embodies an apartment environment. thebass.org.

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)

Five major exhibits will be on display during Miami Art Week, including the funky neon works in Jose Carlos Martinat’s American Echo Chamber and Elemental featuring the experiential sculptures made with silk, graphite, onyx, mirrors, glass and charcoal by contemporary artist Teresita Fernandez.

Other featured shows are Zhao Gang’s History Painting; a collection of Caribbean art in The Other Side of Now: Foresight in Contemporary Caribbean Art; Estás Vendo Coisas, a video installation by artists Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca; and What Carried Us Over: Gifts from Gordon W. Bailey featuring 60 artworks gifted to PAMM by the Los Angeles-based collector Gordon W. Bailey. pamm.org.

NSU Art Museum

Cross the Miami-Dade County line and visit this stellar museum in the heart of Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Here you’ll find a trio of exhibitions that feature contemporary pieces, illustrations and surrealist works. In Happy, there are more than 40 works by some of the art world’s most well-known contemporary artists including Yoko Ono, Mark Rothko, Kenny Scharf, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Keith Haring.

The illustrations by William J. Glackens are featured in From Pencil to Paint, specifically more than 100 of the ones he created between the 1890s and 1930s. Latin American art from NSU’s collection is included in I Paint My Reality: Surrealism in Latin America including pieces by artists Wilfredo Lam, Frida Kahlo, Roberto Matta, Rufino Tamayo, Amelia Pelaez and Joaquin Torres- Garcia. nsuartmuseum.org.