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.

Free at the Whitney

Every Friday evening from 5–10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month, admission to the Museum is free. Both offerings include free access to exhibitions, special programming, city views, and more. Visitors 25 and under are always free, every day. 

More about free offerings

The Whitney Biennial 

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. 

More about the Whitney Biennial

Child drawing on paper titled "Seven Soothing Sketches" with colorful markers and a pill organizer on a table.

Family Programs

Whitney family programs offer artmaking workshops, special events and tours, in-gallery activity guides, and at-home artmaking challenges. Join us for upcoming family events or Free Second Sundays.

More about family programs

A metal art sculpture over water with a city skyline in the background at sunset.

Video

Watch our latest video series to dive deeper into art at the Whitney.

A view of the Museum with people and traffic in the foreground.

Podcasts

Listen to Artists Among Us, featuring long-form and short-form podcasts exploring artworks and events in and around the Whitney through conversation.

Blurred images of mugshots arranged in a grid against a black background.

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

View all
  • A background of blue obscured almost completely by bright red streaks running up and down the canvas.
    A background of blue obscured almost completely by bright red streaks running up and down the canvas.

    Alma Thomas, Mars Dust, 1972. Acrylic on canvas, overall: 69 1/4 × 57 1/8 in. (175.9 × 145.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from The Hament Corporation 72.58. © Estate of Alma Thomas (Courtesy of the Hart Family)/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A woman in a vintage suit and hat walks along a cobblestone street, looking to her right.
    A woman in a vintage suit and hat walks along a cobblestone street, looking to her right.

    Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #23, 1978. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 8 × 9 15/16 in. (20.3 × 25.2 cm) Image: 7 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (19.1 × 24 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner 2010.221. © Cindy Sherman, courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures

  • Crowded nighttime street with brass musicians playing while people dance, walk, and watch from porches.
    Crowded nighttime street with brass musicians playing while people dance, walk, and watch from porches.

    Archibald John Motley, Jr., Gettin' Religion, 1948. Oil on linen, overall: 32 × 39 7/16 in. (81.3 × 100.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, Josephine N. Hopper Bequest, by exchange 2016.15. © Valerie Gerrard Browne

  • A female figure in sunglasses set against a medley of colorful abstract forms, with a pair of legs extending from above
    A female figure in sunglasses set against a medley of colorful abstract forms, with a pair of legs extending from above

    Emma Amos, Baby, 1966. Oil on canvas, overall: 45 × 50 1/8 in. (114.3 × 127.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchased jointly by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum purchase with funds provided by Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee 2019.1a-b. © Emma Amos; courtesy of the artist and RYAN LEE Gallery, New York

  • Large gray geometric blocks arranged in angular formation against black walls with radiating white lines.
    Large gray geometric blocks arranged in angular formation against black walls with radiating white lines.

    Robert Morris, Untitled (3 Ls), 1965 refabricated 1970. Stainless steel, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard and Jean Lipman 76.29a-c. © Robert Morris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • A wall with a portrait of a Black woman, with additional portraits and hands holding a vase of lillies surrounding her.
    A wall with a portrait of a Black woman, with additional portraits and hands holding a vase of lillies surrounding her.

    Toyin Ojih Odutola, Wall of Ambassadors, 2017. Charcoal, pastel, and pencil on paper, sheet (sight): 38 1/2 × 29 7/8 in. (97.8 × 75.9 cm) Image (sight): 38 1/2 × 29 7/8 in. (97.8 × 75.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the O’Grady Foundation 2018.101. © Toyin Ojih Odutola, courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

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.