A small vintage circus dancer puppet in a leaping pose on a red fringe-covered platform.
A small vintage circus dancer puppet in a leaping pose on a red fringe-covered platform.

Alexander Calder, Calder's Circus (detail), 1926-31 (installation view, High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 18, 2025–March 9, 2026). Wire, wood, metal, cloth, yarn, paper, cardboard, leather, string, rubber tubing, corks, buttons, rhinestones, pipe cleaners, and bottle caps, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from a public fundraising campaign in May 1982. One half the funds were contributed by the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust. Additional major donations were given by The Lauder Foundation; the Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.; the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc.; an anonymous donor; The T. M. Evans Foundation, Inc.; MacAndrews & Forbes Group, Incorporated; the DeWitt Wallace Fund, Inc.; Martin and Agneta Gruss; Anne Phillips; Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller; the Simon Foundation, Inc.; Marylou Whitney; Bankers Trust Company; Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. Dayton; Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz; Irvin and Kenneth Feld; Flora Whitney Miller. More than 500 individuals from 26 states and abroad also contributed to the campaign 83.36.1-72. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Gus Powell

Last chance

High Wire: Calder’s Circus at 100
Through Mar 9
Learn more about the exhibition Book Tickets
A large group of people dance together outdoors, raising their arms, while others watch and walk nearby.

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The Whitney Biennial is the longest-running survey of American art, and has been a hallmark of the Museum since 1932. The current format—a survey show of work in all media occurring every two years—has been in place since 1973. Mark your calendars for the next iteration, opening March 2026. 

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artport

Check out art that's created specifically for the web on artport—the Whitney's gallery space for Internet and new-media art.

Dive Into Our Collection

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  • A woman’s life plays out on a TV set in the middle of her living room.
    A woman’s life plays out on a TV set in the middle of her living room.

    Lynn Hershman Leeson, Lorna, 1979–1984. Video installation, color, sound; with television, interactive laser disc shown as DVD, modified remote control, television cabinet, night table, end table, wood chair, upholstered chair, mirror, fishbowl with plastic goldfish, clothing, wallet, belt, shoes, watch, telephone, magazines, framed storyboards, and framed art, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Digital Art Committee, the Director's Discretionary Fund, and Nina and Michael Zilkha 2019.291. © Lynn Hershman Leeson

  • A single hand in a leopard-print sleeve reaches out from a narrow gap in a concrete wall.
    A single hand in a leopard-print sleeve reaches out from a narrow gap in a concrete wall.

    Clarissa Tossin, Ch'u Mayaa, 2017. Video, color, sound, 17:56 min., aspect Ratio: 16:9. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Film and Video Committee 2019.320. © Clarissa Tossin

    Originally commissioned and produced by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for the exhibition, “Condemned to Be Modern,” at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery as part of the Getty's "Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA"

  • A geometric industrial building with two large silos, a tall smokestack, and crisscrossing power lines.
    A geometric industrial building with two large silos, a tall smokestack, and crisscrossing power lines.

    Charles Demuth, My Egypt, 1927. Oil, fabricated chalk, and graphite pencil on composition board, overall: 35 15/16 × 30 in. (91.3 × 76.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.172

  • Orange reclining nude silhouette leans back beside a blue window against an olive background.
    Orange reclining nude silhouette leans back beside a blue window against an olive background.

    Kay WalkingStick, April Contemplating May, 1972. Acrylic on canvas, overall: 49 7/8 × 49 7/8 in. (126.7 × 126.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee 2018.138. © Kay WalkingStick

  • Painted with angular lines and emotionless faces, three suited men gaze over two open caskets, with a courthouse in the background
    Painted with angular lines and emotionless faces, three suited men gaze over two open caskets, with a courthouse in the background

    Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931–1932. Tempera on canvas mounted on composition board, overall: 84 × 48 in. (213.4 × 121.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Edith and Milton Lowenthal in memory of Juliana Force 49.22. © Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • Bold text reads I KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF STRENGTH LEFT against a geometric pattern and framed by bead-like metal tacks
    Bold text reads I KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF STRENGTH LEFT against a geometric pattern and framed by bead-like metal tacks

    Jeffrey Gibson, I Know You Have A Lot of Strength Left, 2017. Rawhide, acrylic, graphite, metal tacks, and canvas on panel, overall: 82 1/8 × 65 1/8 × 2 3/4 in. (208.6 × 165.4 × 7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 2018.40. © Jeffrey Gibson

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Frank WANG Yefeng, The Levitating Perils #2

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.