A Nation Of Artists-Philadelphia Museum of Art: April 12, 2026–July 5, 2027 Pennsylvania Academy Of The Fine Arts: April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) present A Nation of Artists, a landmark exhibition and collaboration with the private Middleton Family Collection, on view from April 2026 to September 2027.

Organized in conjunction with America’s 250th anniversary, A Nation of Artists examines how artistic production in the United States has been shaped by creativity, exchange, expansion, conflict, and innovation. At PAFA, works made from the late 18th century to today will be arranged thematically to explore scenes of westward expansion, the rise of industry, and international exchange. At PMA, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2026, visitors will encounter a chronological display of American art from 1700 to 1960, revealing the global connections that spurred artistic and technological innovation, as well as makers inspired by the natural world, western expansion, and dramatic shifts in economic abundance and disparity.

Installed throughout PAFA’s recently restored Historic Landmark Building and PMA’s newly renovated American art galleries, the exhibition will chart America’s history from 1700 to the present day through more than 1,000 paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts, and more. Across both museums, more than 120 rarely seen works from the Middleton Family Collection—one of the nation’s most significant private holdings of American art—will be on public view for the first time.

Collective highlights from A Nation of Artists will include:

Large-scale portraiture and figurative paintings, from Charles Willson Peale’s self-portrait and portrait of George Washington to Thomas Eakins’s famous Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic).

Lush landscapes and scenes of the natural world by Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, Winslow Homer, Rookwood Pottery, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Explorations of the Civil War period, including a monumental jar made and inscribed by the enslaved potter Dave, who later took the name David Drake.

Textiles, ceramics, and sculpture by Native American artists from Haida, Hodínöhšö:ni:h (Iroquois Confederacy), Diné, Hopi, and Pueblo nations and contemporary Lenape artist Laura Watters Maynor (Delaware Tribe of Indians, Wolf Clan).

Impressionist paintings by Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Daniel Garber, and John Singer Sargent, as well as work by modern masters such as Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.

Contemporary artists such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Rina Banerjee, María Berrío, Willie Cole, Clarity Haynes, Gisela McDaniel, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Catherine Opie, Stephanie Syjuco, Mickalene Thomas, and Kara Walker, and many more.

“Our aspiration is that this exhibition is for everyone—no prior knowledge of art or history required,” noted John S. Middleton. “We believe in the power of storytelling to connect people and are thrilled to partner with these two storied institutions to share the works that have brought our family so much joy and inspiration. Like baseball, art has the power to bring people together and surprise us when we least expect it. With every viewing, there’s something new to discover. It’s an honor to help bring American art to life in a new way during this very special 250th commemoration of our country’s founding.”

“This is a transformative moment for PAFA and for Philadelphia,” said Kristen Shepherd, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. “As PAFA celebrates its 220th anniversary as America’s first art museum and school and the reopening of the Historic Landmark Building, we invite audiences into a renewed experience—one that reflects our storied legacy as the nation’s first art school and museum, while offering a powerful setting for a reimagined installation of our collection, enriched by works from the Middleton Family Collection. In collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we are proud to present A Nation of Artists in a way that is deeply rooted in PAFA’s history, yet forward-looking in its exploration of what defines American art today.”

“Commemorating the country’s semiquincentennial and PMA’s 150th anniversary, we are honored to collaborate with the esteemed Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the rarely seen Middleton Family Collection,” said Daniel Weiss, George D. Widener Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “A Nation of Artists will span three centuries of art to trace the ever-evolving story of American creativity. This exhibition, a cultural milestone, will bring together voices from around the country through innovative programs, partnerships, and scholarship.”

To learn more about A Nation of Artists, including exhibition details, programming, and visiting information, visit ANationofArtists.org

Noah Davis January 24–April 26, 2026 At The Philadelphia Museum Of Art

The Philadelphia Art Museum announces a landmark survey of the late American artist Noah Davis (1983–2015). Bringing together over 60 works, this exhibition will chart Davis’s practice across painting, sculpture, works on paper, and curating, marking the final stop on an international tour organized with DAS MINSK in Potsdam, the Barbican in London, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

Davis’s work captures the intricacies of Black life with tenderness and depth, linking personal and collective narratives in ways that profoundly resonate with our times. Arranged chronologically, the exhibition will feature work made from 2007 until his untimely death in 2015, addressing a wide range of subjects, including politics, family histories, mythology, race, architecture, and visual culture. His masterfully constructed paintings—which fluidly move between styles and techniques to alternately depict dreamlike, joyful, melancholic, and even surreal scenes—will be shown alongside his experimental sculptures and works on paper that speak to the conceptual foundations of Davis’s practice.

Davis was deeply invested in the idea that art should be accessible to all. In 2012, he and his wife, fellow artist Karon Davis, cofounded the Underground Museum in the historically Black and Latinx neighborhood of Arlington Heights, Los Angeles. They converted four storefronts into a free cultural center, transforming the parking lot into a garden planted with purple flowers. For a period, Davis used the Underground Museum as a studio, as well as a site for residencies, and an exhibition space, eventually entering into a partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) to lend works from their collection starting in 2014. By the time of his death, Davis had planned 18 exhibitions for the Underground Museum using MOCA’s collection—the majority of which remain unrealized— motivated by the desire to “change the way people view art, the way they buy art, the way they make art.”

Highlights from the exhibition will include 40 Acres and a Unicorn (2007), a striking blend of fantasy and history; Isis (2009), a portrait of his wife Karon depicted as the Egyptian goddess; Savage Wilds (2012), a series in which Davis cast his gaze upon the complex portrayals of Black subjects on daytime television; and the renowned Pueblo del Rio series (2014), paintings that reimagined one of the oldest, largest, and most architecturally significant public housing developments in Los Angeles.

The exhibition is curated by Eleanor Nairne, Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator for Modern and Contemporary Art and Head of Department at the Philadelphia Art Museum and former Barbican Senior Curator, and Wells Fray-Smith, Curator, Barbican.

“On every encounter, I am struck again by the potency of Noah Davis’s work and it is an honor to share his practice with audiences in Philadelphia,” said Nairne. “Given how voraciously he drew from art history, I like to think that he would have been glad to be in the rich company of the museum’s collections.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalog of essays and archival material copublished by Prestel, with original texts by Tina M. Campt, Wells Fray-Smith, Paola Malavassi, Eleanor Nairne, and Claudia Rankine. Additional contributors include Dawoud Bey, T. J. Clark, Francesco Clemente, Karon Davis, Marlene Dumas, Helen Molesworth, and Jason Moran.

About Noah Davis

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1983, Davis had his first painting studio in high school. He briefly studied film and conceptual art at Cooper Union in New York before leaving to pursue his own artistic education. By 2004 he had moved to Los Angeles and was working at the bookshop Art Catalogues, where he could feed his appetite for a wide-reaching history of culture and, in particular, painting. Drawing on the legacy of artists ranging from Caspar David Friedrich to Mark Rothko, Romare Bearden to Kerry James Marshall, he developed a distinctive painterly style—one that engaged deeply with both the histories of representation and abstraction. Davis blended historical and contemporary source material to create images of Black life that are unbound by a specific time or place. Davis passed away in 2015 at age 32 from a rare form of cancer.

About the Philadelphia Art Museum

The Philadelphia Art Museum is a national and international destination for art, but first, we are Philadelphia’s art museum—for all of the many diverse communities of the city. Through our collections, exhibitions, events, educational activities, celebrations, and more, the museum is a storyteller, and we welcome everyone to be part of the story—our doors are wide open. To learn more, go to visitpham.org. Instagram / Facebook / X / Threads / YouTube / TikTok: @visitpham

Sebastian Errazuriz: Double Take November 22, 2025 – August 16, 2026 - At The Philadelphia Art Museum

The Philadelphia Art Museum is pleased to announce Sebastian Errazuriz: Double Take, a mid-career survey by artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz (b. 1977, Chile). Running from November 22, 2025 – August 16, 2026, the exhibition will explore Errazuriz’s multi-hyphenate practice spanning art, craft, design, and technology, from antiquity-inspired furniture to multimedia work informed by artificial intelligence.

Bust Shelf Green Marble, 2018, designed by Sebastian Errazuriz

Alongside the exhibition, Errazuriz will be honored with the 39th Collab Design Excellence Award. Collab is the museum's affinity group for modern and contemporary design and has celebrated diverse international designers who have made important contributions that advance all disciplines of design. Collab was established in 1986 and presents the award annually. Previous awardees have included Florence Knoll Bassett, Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Ingo Maurer, George Nakashima, Gaetano Pesce, Patricia Urquiola, and Marcel Wanders, among others.

Errazuriz’s creative imagination challenges upheld ideas of what design should be and, moreover, asks what it could be. Embracing humor and appropriation, his limited-edition and unique pieces often have a subtext that goes beyond form or function to include personal narratives, political messages, and cultural commentary. While many of Errazuriz’s pieces are functional, his work upends a number of conventions established within the design industry, including the notions that form should follow function, or that materials should be used where most appropriate.

Sebastian Errazuriz: Double Take will present over 20 years of making, including early conceptual works that take nature and existing found objects as sources of inspiration. The exhibition will feature furniture, mirrors, and other products that the designer creates from appropriated and digitally manipulated Greco-Roman antiquities from museum collections. Also on display will be a range of the designer’s “kinetic” cabinets, defined by their moveable elements. Errazuriz is interested in disrupting the idea that cabinets must consist of a box with two front doors, regardless of their design. Instead, objects in Double Take propose a dynamic way of living with furniture that rotates, spins, and fans out in different directions.

A final, monumental installation will feature a full-wall graphic made up of drawings that Errazuriz has created through the use of artificial intelligence. Imagine is a new work, which spells out the word “IMAGINE” in neon lights, the letters flashing in alternating patterns to alight only “AGI” at certain points. Unlike current AI models which are trained for specific tasks, the concept of AGI, or artificial general intelligence, involves systems possessing human-like cognitive abilities, allowing them to learn new skills, adapt to novel situations, and demonstrate common sense and creativity without explicit pre-programming. This focal point of the exhibition explores Errazuriz’s fascination with, and apprehension about, the potential impact of AI on artists, designers, and culture more broadly.

“The diverse body of work by Sebastian Errazuriz conveys imagination and cleverness, while also bewildering those who encounter it. The pieces are meant to be lived with, but, at the same time, are provocations. They have an air of mystery around their function and meaning,” said Tiffany Lambert, The Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Design. “This survey exemplifies one way to understand and challenge how design can impact our daily lives.”

The Philadelphia Art Museum is a national and international destination for art, but first, they are Philadelphia’s art museum—for all of the many diverse communities of the city. Through their collections, exhibitions, events, educational activities, celebrations, and more, the museum is a storyteller, and they welcome everyone to be part of the story—their doors are wide open. To learn more, visit www.visitpham.org

Design Unveiled For Calder Gardens A New National And International Cultural Destination In Downtown Philadelphia On Benjamin Franklin Parkway

World renowned design firm Herzog & de Meuron and acclaimed landscape designer Piet Oudolf have conceived a place where art and nature combine for reflection, contemplation, and learning

The Board of Trustees of Calder Gardens has unveiled the design for its new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in the heart of downtown Philadelphia. Featuring a building conceived by Pritzker Prize-winning design practice Herzog & de Meuron and gardens by internationally acclaimed Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, the project is dedicated to the art and ideas of Alexander Calder, a native Philadelphian who is considered one of the most innovative and influential artists of the 20th century.

Galleries will be illuminated by natural light, in a structure ensconced in a flowing landscape of native and flowering species, Calder Gardens will present a rotating selection of masterworks from the Calder Foundation, New York, including mobiles, stabiles, monumental sculptures, and paintings. “The esthetic value of these objects cannot be arrived at by reasoning,” Calder wrote in 1933. “Familiarization is necessary.” Installed both indoors and outdoors, Calder’s art will be in constant dialogue with nature and the changing atmospheres of the seasons. Calder Gardens will provide the public with a singular place for contemplation and reflection, as well as abundant opportunities for learning and community building through a schedule of inclusive public programs and special events.

“Our intention for Calder Gardens is not only to create the ideal environment for the public to encounter my grandfather’s work but also to elevate personal contemplation and reflection,” said Alexander S. C. Rower, President of the Calder Foundation. “Calder’s role as a pioneer of experiential art is essential to his legacy. For viewers who open themselves up to the possibilities of his mobiles and stabiles, the unexpected takes root. His objects continuously unfold in real time.”

Calder was born in Philadelphia in 1898, and his connections to the city are grounded in the rich artistic lineage of his family. A trio of iconic installations by three generations of Calders can be found along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway: at the southeast end, atop City Hall, stands the monumental statue William Penn (c. 1886–94) by the artist’s grandfather Alexander Milne Calder; at the midpoint sits Swann Memorial Foundation (1924) by his father Alexander Stirling Calder; and at the northwest end is Calder’s own 1964 mobile The Ghost, which hangs majestically in the main hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Thus Calder Gardens brings into the 21st century the legacy of a Philadelphia family whose work has defined and enriched the city for over a century.

About the Design

Crafted specifically for the presentation of Calder’s work, the landscape and architecture of Calder Gardens will unfold as a choreographed progression that moves visitors from the quotidian city context to a more contemplative realm beyond the traditional museum experience, allowing them to engage with art as a personal, real-time encounter—as the artist intended.

“This was actually an open-ended process rather than a finished concept based on a fixed program. A kind of conceptual path which made us carve out the ground rather than build forms and volumes above—we were looking for space to present Calder’s work in a new and unprecedented way,” said Jacques Herzog, founding partner along with Pierre de Meuron of Herzog & de Meuron. “That space in the making eventually grew into a whole sequence of different galleries and also rather unexpected spaces, niches and gardens; such as the apse and the quasi-galleries or open plan gallery, the sunken or vestige gardens. And not only galleries in the classical sense, but every corner and angle, every stair and corridor should be offering itself up as a place to put art.”

Discreetly nestled into the landscape, Herzog & de Meuron’s almost 18,000 sq ft structure will be sheathed in softly reflective metal cladding that blurs the boundaries between architecture and the natural world—the material and the immaterial.

Departing the busy Parkway, visitors will approach the building along a path that winds through a meadow-like landscape punctuated by trees, arriving at the main entrance on the building’s north façade. Beyond the threshold, a sequence of spaces will reveal themselves below ground level as distinct volumes that will house a constantly changing display of Calder’s most acclaimed works. Large windows will wash the interiors with natural light and frame both the shifting geometries of Calder’s work and views of different gardens conceived as outdoor galleries. A Sunken Garden and Vestige Garden, visible from within the building through expansive glazing that likewise permits visitors outdoors to see into the building’s exhibition spaces. Quiet but theatrical, Herzog & de Meuron’s design has been conceived to amplify the impact of the artworks—to encourage engagement with their kinetic properties by affording visitors many different vantage points—and catalyze discovery and reflection.

The seamless relationship between the built elements designed by Herzog & de Meuron and the gardens envisioned by Piet Oudolf is central to the philosophy of Calder Gardens. The site will be distinguished by its naturalistic four-season garden, intending to create an entirely different experience than all other cultivated, manicured gardens on the Parkway.

“I see my gardens as living sculptures where change is constant,” Oudolf said. “The site is like a canvas to work on, and each plant has a personality that must work with the others. The composition of the garden is variable and will evolve through the seasons. For Calder Gardens, the horticultural design must also serve the works of art. My hope is that people will take the time to stand still and think here, to fully experience these elements together and have an emotional reaction that stays with them long after their visit. It’s not about what you see, but what you sense.”

About Calder Gardens

The nonprofit Calder Gardens was launched by a group of Philadelphia philanthropists working in collaboration with the Calder Foundation and partnership with the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. While governed by its board and curatorial committee, Calder Gardens will be operated by the Barnes Foundation—a renowned cultural and educational institution—to provide administrative, operational, and educational programming support when the new site opens to the public in what constitutes a new model for institutional sustainability and efficiency.

The Calder Gardens Board announced its selection of Herzog & de Meuron as Design Consultants in 2020. Ballinger will be the project’s Executive Architects. Presented before the Philadelphia Art Commission this week, the Basel, Switzerland-based firm’s design has been developed over the past two and a half years through intensive collaboration with the organization’s board, the Calder Foundation, and, since 2021, Piet Oudolf. The shared goal has been to create a place where art and nature merge uniquely: the 1.8-acre Calder Gardens site—situated between 21st and 22nd Streets, across from the Barnes Foundation—will be a sanctuary-like retreat for Philadelphia residents and visitors alike, and a complement to the existing configuration of internationally acclaimed arts institutions that line the Parkway. “Calder Gardens marks a culturally rich Parkway,” said Joe Neubauer, Founder of the Neubauer Family Foundation and lead funder of the initiative.

In addition to lead funding from the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Calder Gardens project has been brought to fruition by numerous philanthropists and private foundations, including The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Estate of H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, and an anonymous donor. The project is also supported by the Commonwealth’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The $70 million projected budget for Calder Gardens will include a substantial endowment to provide ongoing operating support and has been raised through the generous contributions of these patrons.

Sue Urahn, president and chief executive officer of The Pew Charitable Trusts, said, “Pew is very pleased to support Calder Gardens and we are excited to see the plans for it begin to take shape. The new public space will be a wonderful addition to the Parkway and enhance Philadelphia’s reputation as a world-class city in which to live, work, and visit.” “The Calder family is integral to the history and now the future of Philadelphia. I am grateful for the range of partners that will bring Calder Gardens and the amazing art and ideas to the Parkway,” said Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia. “This will continue to build upon an evergrowing arts and culture presence in our great city, further enhancing the city's cultural experiences for visitors and residents alike.”

Marsha Perelman, President of the Board, Calder Gardens, said of the design unveiled today, “To honor Calder’s work in a project of this significance, we engaged some of the world’s most respected and experienced talents. Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf are universally admired for their work on cultural sites. They know what it takes to create an unparalleled art experience and to challenge conventions to expand our minds and senses. I am thrilled that Philadelphians will be able to benefit from this unique experience in their own city.” Calder Gardens is scheduled to open in 2024.

The public can learn more about Calder Gardens online at caldergardens.org and on social media @Calder_Gardens on Instagram and Twitter.

The Barnes Foundation Presents Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel; September 26, 2021 Through January 9, 2022

This is the first exhibition dedicated to the French artist and model Suzanne Valadon at a major US arts institution. The first self-taught woman to exhibit at the Salon de la Sociéte Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Valadon challenged behavioral codes with her art and lifestyle, breaking new ground with her unapologetic portraits and nudes. On view in the Barnes’s Roberts Gallery from September 26, 2021 through January 9, 2022, this exhibition considers Valadon’s rich contribution to the early 20th-century art world and features representative works from all stages of her career.

From a childhood marked by poverty and neglect to a career as a popular artist’s model, Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon, 1865–1938) defied the odds to become a successful painter. Passionate about art from an early age, she modeled in her teens for artists including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Edgar Degas encouraged her earliest artistic efforts, praising the use of line in her drawings and introducing her to printmaking techniques. Later, when she turned to painting, she exhibited her work regularly at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne. Valadon made a living from her art at a time when women faced countless obstacles to professional success, but despite these accomplishments, her work has received scant attention outside of France.

Curated by Nancy Ireson, the Barnes Foundation’s Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator, the exhibition features 54 works, including paintings, drawings, and prints created between 1890 and 1937. The exhibition is structured around a series of themes, including the artist’s representations of her family and her exploration of the female body. Refusing to follow artistic trends and continuously faithful to figurative representation, Valadon developed a distinctive pictorial language characterized by decisive lines and bold coloration.

CATALOGUE

The exhibition is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue edited by Nancy Ireson, which explores the new ways of looking at Valadon presented in the show. Published by the Barnes Foundation in association with Paul Holberton Publishing, London, the fully illustrated book includes contributions by Ireson, Martha Lucy, Denise Murrell, Adrienne L. Childs, Lauren Jimerson, and Ebonie Pollock that tackle the artist’s treatment of the female figure, her navigation of the art world, and her depictions of an as-yet-unidentified Black model. Additionally, an essay by South African artist Lisa Brice reflects on her interest in the painter, finding resonance between Valadon’s pioneering work and contemporary artists and events, and a chronology by Marianne Le Morvan presents a fascinating overview of the artist’s turbulent life.

The Barnes Foundation 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19130
https://barnesfoundation.org/