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Who gets to decide what counts as art? Whose artistic talent has been excluded from the main stage? How do we create a fuller view of American creativity?
These are the questions that the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts have partnered to answer with A Nation of Artists, a new exhibition showcasing the history and evolution of American art.
Indigenous, African American, immigrant and historically underrepresented artists join established icons in a first dual-museum experience — broadened by the support of The Middleton Family Collection — to enrich the narrative of American art. The exhibition marks the first time the public will experience more than 120 Middleton Family Collection works presented together.
Beyond the dual exhibits, residents and visitors can also enjoy citywide family-friendly programming, discounted ticket options, and community events like workshops, artist talks and school programs.
A Nation of Artists debuts as a cultural milestone celebrating the nation’s creative and artistic legacy at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (April 12, 2026 to September 2027) and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (May 2026 through September 2027).
A Nation of Artists will be housed in both the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), making for two distinct but connected experiences.
The collection will span three centuries and more than 1,000 works, from classic and fine art to contemporary art, across various media. On view: a mix of works previously exhibited, works never before on view and 120 rarely seen pieces on loan from the Middleton Family’s private collection.
Gilbert Stuart George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait), 1796 Oil on canvas, 96 x 60 inches (243.84 x 152.4 cm) The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Bequest of William Bingham — Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art
The PMA and PAFA will pair familiar artists alongside underrepresented voices to reveal connections, juxtapositions and themes of America’s ever-evolving creativity, identity, and nationhood. Highlights include:
Note: Admission tickets for each museum will be sold separately.
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Beaux-Arts building, A Nation of Artists will focus on American art from about 1700 to 1960, including furniture, decorative arts, paintings and sculpture from the Middleton Family Collection.
Visitors will begin in the award-winning Early American Galleries, exploring the nation’s artistic roots, before continuing to the renovated second-floor galleries, which will house paintings as well as works by visual and mixed-media artists.
Philadelphia Museum of Art — Photo by Elevated Angles for Visit Philadelphia
A Nation of Artists’ debut marks PAFA’s reopening of the Historic Landmark Building, which will house rare works from the Middleton Family Collection.
The nation’s first art museum and school will display Middleton works dating back to the attraction’s founding in 1805. Here, the theme is variety and contrast highlighted through galleries that trace how American artists were trained — and how they challenged tradition through experimentation and innovation.
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — Photo by R. Kennedy for Visit Philadelphia
For more about A Nation of Artists, click the button below.
A Nation of Artists
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