Mary Heilmann: Long Line

Through Jan 19

Colorful chairs and benches in an art gallery with a large green and white mural. Text: "Mary Heilmann Long Line."
Colorful chairs and benches in an art gallery with a large green and white mural. Text: "Mary Heilmann Long Line."

Installation view of Mary Heilmann: Long Line (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 9, 2025-January 19, 2026). On wall: Long Line, 2025. On floor: Monochrome Chairs, 2015; April Chairs, 2025. Photograph by Tiffany Sage/BFA.com. © BFA 2025

On view
Floor 5

Open: Apr 9, 2025–Jan 19, 2026

Mary Heilmann (b. 1940; San Francisco) once said that "museums are places to hang out," and this exhibition embodies that spirit, inviting social connection and engagement with the Whitney's architecture, the Hudson River, and the surrounding cityscape. The immersive environment includes a hand-painted enlargement of Heilmann's 2020 painting Long Line, as well as a variety of sculptural chairs related to furniture she has displayed in galleries and homes. The influence of 1960s counterculture and geometric Minimalism are reflected in Heilmann's decades-long approach to abstraction, one centered on exuberant color and unorthodox form. Long Line was influenced by the artist's experience watching waves off the coasts of Long Island and California—here it creates a visual rhyme with the Hudson River

This new site-specific installation, Mary Heilmann: Long Line, celebrates the tenth anniversary of the opening of this building, for which Heilmann created Mary Heilmann: Sunset (2015). That project, which included a large-scale reproduction of a vibrant painting, a film, and Heilmann's signature chairs, inaugurated the Museum's largest outdoor gallery and transformed it into a site of reverie and leisure as well as a place for reflection on an ever-changing city.

Mary Heilmann: Long Line is organized by Laura Phipps, Associate Curator.


En Español

Mary Heilmann (n. 1940; San Francisco) dijo una vez que "los museos son lugares para pasar el rato" y esta exposición encarna ese espíritu, invitando a establecer una conexión social y a interactuar con la arquitectura del Whitney, el río Hudson y la vista circundante de la ciudad. El ambiente inmersivo incluye una ampliación pintada a mano del cuadro Larga línea de Heilmann de 2020, al igual que varias sillas escultoricas relacionadas con los muebles que ha presentado en galerías y hogares. La influencia de la contracultura de los sesenta y el minimalismo geométrico se reflejan en el enfoque que Heilmann ha dado durante décadas a la abstracción, centrado en colores exuberantes y formas no ortodoxas. Larga línea se vio influenciada por la experiencia de la artista observando las olas en las costas de Long Island y California; que aquí crea una rima visual con el río Hudson.

Esta nueva instalación específica de sitio, Mary Heilmann: Larga línea, celebra el décimo aniversario de la apertura de este edificio, para el que Heilmann creó Atardecer (2015). Aquel proyecto, que incluyó una reproducción a gran escala de una pintura vibrante, una película y las sillas emblemáticas de Heilmann, como las que se exponen aquí, inauguró la galería al aire libre más grande del Museum y la transformó en un sitio de ensueño y recreación, así como un lugar de reflexión sobre una ciudad en constante cambio.






Mobile guides

Abstract painting with bold green and white brushstrokes, creating a dynamic, flowing pattern across the canvas.
Abstract painting with bold green and white brushstrokes, creating a dynamic, flowing pattern across the canvas.

Mary Heilmann, Long Line (detail), 2020. Acrylic on wood panel, 24 × 96 × 3.25 in. (60.96 × 243.84 × 8.26 cm). Collection of Megan & Mark Dowley. Courtesy of the Artist, 303 Gallery, New York, and Hauser & Wirth. © Mary Heilmann. Photograph by Thomas Barrat

Learn more about selected works from artists and curators.

View guide

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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