American Icon: The US Flag in Art

American Icon: The US Flag in Art examines how artists have interpreted the Stars and Stripes across changing periods of American history. The installation considers the flag as a symbol of pride, protest, identity, and national ideals, showing how its meaning has continually been reshaped through art.

The exhibition presents approximately 30 paintings, prints, and photographs dating from the late 1800s to the present. Featured artists include Gordon Parks, Childe Hassam, Dorothea Lange, Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Corita Kent, Neil Armstrong and NASA, and Robert Frank. Selected works include Johns’s *Flags II [trial proof]*, Hassam’s *Allies Day, May 1917*, Kent’s *Flag of My Home*, Armstrong and NASA’s photograph *Buzz Aldrin Poses with Flag*, and Frank’s *Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey*.

When: June 6 through December 6, 2026

Venue: National Gallery of Art, East Building Concourse galleries

Tickets: Free admission; passes are not required

Featured artists: Gordon Parks, Childe Hassam, Dorothea Lange, Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Corita Kent, Neil Armstrong and NASA, and Robert Frank, among others

Works on view: Paintings, prints, and photographs exploring the US flag’s changing artistic and cultural meanings

Related content: An interactive article explores Childe Hassam’s paintings of the US flag and his role in American Impressionism

Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Curator: Kanitra Fletcher, associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic Art at the National Gallery of Art