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
  • 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

  • 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 figure with pale skin in a bright yellow blouse surrounded by flurries of pinks, greens, and yellows
    A figure with pale skin in a bright yellow blouse surrounded by flurries of pinks, greens, and yellows

    María Berrío, A Universe of One, 2018. Collage, watercolor, and charcoal on canvas, overall: 72 × 60 in. (182.9 × 152.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Gary and Anne Borman Trust 2019.306. © María Berrío

  • A man in a leather jacket focuses as he lights a cigarette on a dimly lit street.
    A man in a leather jacket focuses as he lights a cigarette on a dimly lit street.

    Peter Hujar, David Lighting Up, 1985. Gelatin silver print, sheet (sight): 14 13/16 × 14 7/8 in. (37.6 × 37.8 cm) Image (sight): 14 5/8 × 14 3/4 in. (37.1 × 37.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift from the Emily Fisher Landau Collection 2024.284. © The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • Black spiral overlay spirals inward toward a glowing orange triangle on a teal background.
    Black spiral overlay spirals inward toward a glowing orange triangle on a teal background.

    Mary Ellen Bute, Synchromy No. 4: Escape, 1937–1938. 16mm film, color, sound, 4 min., transferred to video, aspect Ratio: 4:3. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Film, Video, and New Media Committee 2014.101. © Estate of Mary Ellen Bute; courtesy Arsenal - Institut für film und videokunst, Berlin

  • Mesh wires shaped into a long, fluid blob, like lava in a lava lamp
    Mesh wires shaped into a long, fluid blob, like lava in a lava lamp

    Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.270, Hanging Six-Lobed, Complex Interlocking Continuous Form within a Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1955, refabricated 1957–1958. Brass and steel wire, overall: 63 7/8 × 14 15/16 × 14 15/16 in. (162.2 × 37.9 × 37.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard Lipman 63.38. © 2020 Estate of Ruth Asawa / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy The Estate of Ruth Asawa and David Zwirner

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.