Current Exhibitions
The Baltimore Museum of Art’s outstanding collection encompasses 90,000 works of art, including the largest holding of works by Henri Matisse in the world, as well as masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh.
A summertime oasis, the BMA’s Sculpture Gardens feature a 100-year survey of modern and contemporary sculpture on nearly three landscaped acres in the heart of the city. Admission to the collection is free to everyone, every day.
If you are traveling to see a particular work of art, please call ahead to 443-573-1730 to make sure it is on view.
Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing
Ongoing
Free
“We hope visitors will be inspired by the stories contained in each of these incredible works of art, connecting the objects to the people who created and collected them." —David Park Curry, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and American Painting & Sculpture
A spectacular new presentation of the grand American Wing presents more than 800 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts intertwined, revealing surprising connections and fascinating stories. Thematic displays explore the international character of American art and Baltimore's position as a major center for art production and foreign trade from the late 18th century forward.
State-of-the-art lighting, new herringbone wood floors, a new palette of colors for the walls and ceilings, and many other improvements bring forth John Russell Pope’s magnificent neoclassical architecture as the perfect setting for the BMA’s masterpieces of American art.
Just one of the many highlights in the new presentation is a stunning, light-infused gallery featuring outstanding examples of Louis Comfort Tiffany's decorative works and those of his colleagues and competitors. See vibrant stained-glass windows, towering columns adorned with mosaics, an elaborate mantelpiece, and stunning, silver objects. This breathtaking moment in the collection shows how decorative arts thrived in the glamorous late 19th century, achieving commercial and critical success.
Two galleries are dedicated to modern American masterpieces by Georgia O'Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Marsden Hartley, Joseph Stella, and many other acclaimed artists.
A selection of 21st-century objects, such as Richard Lee's Sinking and Burning (2005), a cabinet with reverse glass painting, will also reveal unexpected links between historic and contemporary American art.
Curated by David Park Curry, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and American Painting & Sculpture.
Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries
November 23, 2014–May 2015
Free exhibition
Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries heralds the return of the Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, located within the renovated American Wing. The exhibition features more than 20 samplers and silk embroideries made by American girls who attended schools in Maryland and other East Coast states during the 18th and 19th centuries.
From opulent to understated, the works provide a fascinating glimpse into early American life. The samplers and embroideries on view were once displayed by families as showpieces to advertise their daughters' accomplishments. Landscapes, still lifes, tributes to national heroes, and literary and biblical scenes are among the wide range of subjects. One of the most elaborate works depicts the exuberant interior of King Solomon's palace and the imperial trappings of the Queen of Sheba's entourage in silk, metallic threads, sequins, and glass gems.
Curated by Anita Jones, Curator of Textiles
Front Room: Dario Robleto
November 16, 2014 – March 29, 2015
Free exhibition
This exhibition features Robleto's Setlists for a Setting Sun, a body of poetic sculptures, prints, and cut-paper works that weave together the histories of recorded light and sound. The artist has drawn inspiration for the pieces from nautical history, space exploration, early sound recordings, and family legacies within American popular music.
The show debuts three works created by Robleto (American, born 1972) at Headlands Center of the Arts in Sausalito, CA, as part of its program to commission art from outstanding contemporary artists. These new works were inspired in part by the BMA's proximity to the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScl) on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University.
Hear the artist discuss the cross-pollination of art and science at the STScl on Tuesday, March 3.
Read the exhibition brochure (pdf)
Curated by Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman.
On Paper: Alternate Realities
September 21, 2014-April 12, 2015
Free exhibition
Twenty-six narrative prints never before on view playfully exaggerate and reimage the visual language of popular culture. These works by American artist consider larger societal issues while exploring myths, folk lore, religious stories, and fairy tales. Among the prints featured are two complete portfolios by Raymond Pettibon and Trenton Doyle Hancock, as well as newly acquired works by Wangechi Mutu, Amy Cutler, Chitra Ganesh, Toshio Sasaki, Iona Rozeal Brown, and William Villalongo.
At the center of the exhibition is an eight-panel, accordion bound work titled El Regreso del Caníbal Macrobiótico (The Return of the Macrobiotic Cannibal) (1998) by Enrique Chagoya. The colorful combination of woodcut, color lithograph, and chine-collé printing juxtaposes images of American comic book characters, Catholic iconography, medical illustrations, Mayans in overcoats, and alien spaceships.
Curated by Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs Ann Shafer.
Black Box: Anri Sala
September 14, 2014-February 22, 2015
Free
The film recreates the terror and uncertainty civilians endured during the siege of Sarajevo by interspersing scenes of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsing the First Movement of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique with a musician making her way through what became known as Sniper Alley. Sprinting through the streets, the music runs through her head. At each crossing, she hesitates, holds her breath, and pushes through.
After reading art historian and critic Michael Fried’s insightful analysis of Sala’s work in his book Four Honest Outlaws: Sala, Ray, Marioni, Gordon, Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman was inspired to invite Fried to select a work by Sala for presentation in Baltimore.
Don't miss the art historian and artist in conversation at the BMA February 21. The pair will discuss the impact of narrative, sound, and the limits of language in Sala’s evocative films.
Curated by the artist and Michael Fried, The Johns Hopkins University J. R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities, and organized by Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman.
Contemporary Art Wing
Ongoing
Free
There’s always something new to see at the BMA. The Museum’s exciting new presentation of the art of our time keeps the visitor experience lively and fresh through two new exhibition series and the return of the acclaimed Front Room series.
Guyton\Walker. Untitled. 2011. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Fund, BMA 2011.39.1-27. Courtesy of Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Sarah Oppenheimer
Architectural intervention
November 18, 2012 – Ongoing
The BMA is the first major museum to commission and acquire a site-specific installation by award-winning artist Sarah Oppenheimer. For the dramatic two-part work, the artist opens sightlines between the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Contemporary Wing and through the wall between the contemporary and Cone collections, inserting meticulously crafted aluminum and reflective glass. The groundbreaking architectural intervention allows you to see unexpected views of fellow visitors, art works, and galleries above, below, and across from you.
Oppenheimer received a BA in Semiotics from Brown University and an MFA from Yale University, where she is a visiting critic in painting and printmaking in the School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in the U.S. and Europe at venues including the Rice University Art Gallery, Houston; the Saint Louis Art Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and the Skulpturens Hus, Stockholm.
Oppenheimer’s architectural intervention at the BMA is generously funded by the Nathan L. and Suzanne F. Cohen Contemporary Art Acquisitions Endowment and a gift from the Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Visit your favorite works by Matisse, Picasso, Pissarro, Courbet, and Degas in the world-class Cone Collection galleries. Special exhibitions inspired by or from the collection are often presented in these galleries as well.
A Grand Legacy: Five Centuries of European Art
European Art Galleries
Ongoing
A Grand Legacy: Five Centuries of European Art features the monumental Rinaldo and Armida, one of the world's finest paintings by Sir Anthony van Dyck, as well as masterpieces by Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin.
