The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965

June 28, 2019–May 1, 2025

Red building with green storefronts, a barber pole, and a fire hydrant on a sunny day with long shadows.
Red building with green storefronts, a barber pole, and a fire hydrant on a sunny day with long shadows.

Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Oil on canvas, 35 3/16 × 60 1/4 in. (89.4 × 153 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 31.426. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

This exhibition of more than 120 works, drawn entirely from the Whitney’s collection, is inspired by the founding history of the Museum. The Whitney was established in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptor and patron, to champion the work of living American artists. Mrs. Whitney recognized both the importance of contemporary American art and the need to support the artists who made it. The collection she assembled foregrounded how artists uniquely reveal the complexity and beauty of American life.

The exhibition begins with a gallery devoted to selections from the Museum’s founding collection, followed by galleries that weave their way through major art historical movements and genres. Key achievements by individual figures, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Jacob Lawrence, are interspersed throughout the show. Icons of the collection such as Calder’s Circus and the work of Edward Hopper are featured as well as more recent acquisitions—in particular, Norman Lewis’s American Totem (1960), a painting made at the height of the civil rights movement by an under-appreciated protagonist in the story of Abstract Expressionism. Such additions demonstrate that the Whitney’s collection is a dynamic cultural resource that allows us to continually reframe the history of American life and artistic production.

This exhibition is organized by David Breslin, former DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, with Margaret Kross, Senior Curatorial Assistant, and Roxanne Smith, Curatorial Assistant.

The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965 is sponsored by

Major support is provided by the Barbara Haskell American Fellows Legacy Fund.

Generous support is provided by the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation.

En español

Esta exposición de más de 120 obras de la colección permanente del Whitney está inspirada en el origen del Museo. El Whitney fue fundado en 1930 por la escultora y mecenas Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, con el fin de destacar el trabajo de artistas estadounidenses vivos. La Sra. Whitney estaba consciente tanto de la importancia del arte contemporáneo en Estados Unidos como de la necesidad de apoyar a los artistas que lo crean. La colección que reunió puso en primer plano la manera única en que los artistas revelan la complejidad y la belleza de la vida estadounidense.

La exposición comienza con una galería dedicada a selecciones de la colección fundacional del Museo, seguida de salas que se abren camino a través de los principales movimientos y géneros históricos del arte. Las obras clave de figuras individuales como Georgia O'Keeffe y Jacob Lawrence se entremezclan a lo largo de la muestra. Se destacan obras ícono de la colección, como Circus [Circo] de Calder y las pinturas de Edward Hopper, así como adquisiciones más recientes. Un ejemplo de esto es American Totem [Totem americano] (1960) de Norman Lewis, una pintura creada en el punto más álgido de la lucha por los derechos civiles, por uno de los protagonistas menos apreciados de la historia del expresionismo abstracto. Tales adiciones demuestran que la colección de Whitney es un recurso cultural dinámico que nos permite reformular continuamente la historia de la vida y la producción artística en Estados Unidos.

Esta exposición fue organizada por el anterior DeMartini Family Curator y Director de la Colección David Breslin, junto a Margaret Kross, Asistente curatorial sénior y Roxanne Smith, Asistente curatorial.

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On a desert plain, a pool table with one red and two white pool balls extends toward a dull sky with yellow, blue, orange, and red clouds.
On a desert plain, a pool table with one red and two white pool balls extends toward a dull sky with yellow, blue, orange, and red clouds.

Man Ray, La Fortune, 1938. Oil on linen, overall: 23 11/16 × 28 13/16 in. (60.2 × 73.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Simon Foundation, Inc. 72.129. © Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

Hear from a range of artists, curators, and scholars speaking about works on view.

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On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

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