Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls: Mist and Majesty examines how artists have portrayed one of North America’s most celebrated natural landmarks and how the falls’ symbolism has changed from the early 19th century to the present. More than 20 paintings, photographs, prints, and other works trace the site’s evolving histories and meanings across roughly two centuries.

The exhibition includes Frederic Edwin Church’s monumental *Niagara* (1857), along with modern and contemporary perspectives by Alec Soth, Kay WalkingStick, Sam Gilliam, and Tseng Kwong Chi. It also considers Niagara Falls as a destination for spectacle, tourism, technological development, and daring entertainment, including images of Charles Blondin’s tightrope walk and the construction of a power house.

When: May 2–September 20, 2026

Venue: National Gallery of Art, West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M72

Tickets: Free admission; passes are not required.

Selected works: Featured works include Frederic Edwin Church’s *Niagara* (1857); Alec Soth’s *Niagara Falls, Ontario* (2019); Kay WalkingStick’s *The Niagara Cascades* (2024); Charles Hunt and Rudolf Ackermann’s *Falls of Niagara* (1833); Sam Gilliam’s *Niagara on the Potomac* (1995); George Barker’s *Niagara* (1860s–1870s); Tseng Kwong Chi’s *Niagara Falls, New York* (1984, printed 2022); Platt D. Babbitt’s *Niagara Falls* (around 1855); Joseph Pennell’s *Building a Power House* (1910); and J. McPherson’s image of Charles Blondin crossing Niagara Falls by tightrope in the 1860s.

Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Curators: Sarah Cash, associate curator of American and British paintings, and Diane Waggoner, curator of photographs, both of the National Gallery of Art.