Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
April 12, 2026–September 5, 2027
Philadelphia Museum of Art
April 12, 2026–July 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:
- 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.
Images
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Stuart Davis (1892 – 1964), Something on the Eight
Ball, 1953-1954, Oil on canvas, 56 × 45 in, Framed:
67 5/8 x 56 1/2 x 3 in, Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Purchased with the Adele Haas Turner and Beatrice
Pastorius Turner Memorial Fund, 1954, 1954-30-1
Daniel Garber (1880 - 1958), Tanis, 1915, Oil on
canvas, 60 × 46 1/4 in, Purchased with funds
contributed by Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, 2011,
2011-60-1
Childe Hassam (1859-1935), Up the Avenue from
Thirty-Fourth Street, 1917 Oil on canvas, 36 in ×
29.93 in, The Middleton Family Collection
Edward Hopper (1882 – 1967), The Lee Shore, 1941,
Oil on canvas, 28 1/4 x 43 in, The Middleton Family
Collection
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 – 1986), Red Hills and Bones,
1941, Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 × 40 in, Philadelphia
Museum of Art, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949,
1949-18-109
Charles Willson Peale (1741 – 1827) Staircase Group
(Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay
Peale I), 1795, Oil on canvas, 7 ft 5 1/2 in × 39 3/8 in,
Philadelphia Museum of Art, The George W. Elkins
Collection, 1945.
John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925), A Siesta, 1904-
1905, Oil on canvas, 22 3/8 × 28 9/16 in, The
Middleton Family Collection
Charles Willson Peale(1741–1827)
Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942), New England Woman,
Hugh Henry Breckenridge (1870–1937) ,
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Gift of Mrs.
Hugh H. Breckenridge in memory of the artist,
1938.14.
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), Mother and Sara
Admiring the Baby, c. 1901. Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 ×
29 in, The Middleton Family Collection.
Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017), J. S. B. III, 1968,
Oil on canvas, 48 x 34 3/8 in, Pennsylvania Academy
of Fine Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richardson
Dilworth, 1969.17.
Winslow Homer (1836–1910), Fox Hunt, 1893, Oil on
canvas, 53 x 83 1/4 x 5 in, Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Joseph E. Temple Fund, 1894.4.
Jasper Johns (b. 1930), Flag, 1960–66. Encaustic and
printed paper collage on paper laid down on canvas,
17 1/2 × 26 3/4 in, The Middleton Family Collection.
Thomas Moran (1837–1926), Mists in the
Yellowstone, 1908. Oil on canvas, 30 × 45 in, The
Middleton Family Collection.
Margaretta Angelica Peale (1795-1882), Strawberries
and Cherries, ca. 1813-1830, Oil on canvas, 10 1/16 x
12 1/8 in, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Source
unknown, 1924.11
Horace Pippin (1888–1946), John Brown Going to His
Hanging, 1942, Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 30 1/4 in,
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, John Lambert
Fund, 1943.11.
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Number 4, 1951, Oil,
enamel, aluminum paint on canvas, 30 1/8 × 25 in,
The Middleton Family Collection.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1960). What is an
American?, 2001-03, Lithograph, chine collé,
monotype, ed. 3/4, 68 x 40 in, Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, Gift of Ofelia Garcia,
2015.42.11.
Benjamin West (1738–1820), Death on a Pale Horse,
1817, Oil on canvas, 176 x 301 in, Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy
purchase, 1836.1.
Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
An Amethyst Hummingbird with a White Orchid,
c. 1875-90 Oil on canvas 20 x 12 in.
Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) Untitled, c. 1960
Oil on canvas 95 1/2 x 78 1/2 in.
The Middleton Family Collection
Everett Shinn (1876–1953) Theatre Scene, c. 1906–07
Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 36 in.
The Middleton Family Collection
Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900)
Scene on the Magdalena, 1854 Oil on canvas
28 1/4 x 42 in.
Thomas Eakins The Gross Clinic
