Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960
Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960 surveys a century of artistic experimentation and cultural change, from 1860 through 1960. The exhibition presents 208 works by 122 artists in a largely chronological installation, tracing the development of Modernism, abstraction, and other movements shaped by changing ideas in science, philosophy, technology, and society.
The exhibition draws primarily from the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection, including many works donated by founding benefactor Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It also includes contemporary works by artists whose practices show how the period’s revolutionary ideas continue to influence art today. The installation occupies the Outer Ring galleries on the Museum’s second floor.
When: March 22, 2024–November 1, 2026
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Outer Ring galleries on the second floor
Works: 208 artworks by 122 artists
Artists: Artists represented include Berenice Abbott, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, David Alekhuogie, Hurvin Anderson, Alexander Archipenko, Hans (Jean) Arp, George Christian Ault, Milton Avery, Francis Bacon, Giacomo Balla, Daniel Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Castera Bazile, George Wesley Bellows, Rigaud Benoit, Thomas Hart Benton, Dawoud Bey, Charles Biederman, Oscar Bluemner, Amoako Boafo, Constantin Brancusi, Cecily Brown, Joan Brown, Alexander Calder, Cang Xin, Emily Carr, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Joseph Cornell, Carlotta Corpron, Ralston Crawford, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Stuart Davis, Roy DeCarava, Dorothy Dehner, Willem de Kooning, Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Richard Diebenkorn, Burgoyne Diller, Arthur G. Dove, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Torkwase Dyson, Thomas Eakins, Max Ernst, Aleksandra Exster, Helen Frankenthaler, Yun Gee, Alberto Giacometti, Julio González, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, George Grosz, Grace Hartigan, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Barbara Hepworth, Auguste Herbin, Hans Hofmann, Loie Hollowell, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Thomas Houseago, Jasper Johns, Rashid Johnson, Wassily Kandinsky, Barbara Kasten, Franz Kline, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Krasner, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Fernand Léger, Nadia Khodossievitch Léger, Annette Lemieux, El Lissitzky, Morris Louis, Rick Lowe, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Sally Mann, Reginald Marsh, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Joan Mitchell, László Moholy-Nagy, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Grandma Moses, Gabriele Münter, Elie Nadelman, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Aliza Nisenbaum, Georgia O’Keeffe, Catherine Opie, Gordon Parks, Nicolas Party, Paul Pfeiffer, Ann Pibal, Pablo Picasso, Horace Pippin, Jackson Pollock, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Larry Rivers, Auguste Rodin, John Singer Sargent, Gino Severini, Ben Shahn, David Smith, Leon Polk Smith, Janet Sobel, Joseph Stella, Joel Sternfeld, Clyfford Still, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Rufino Tamayo, Pavel Tchelitchew, Alma Thomas, Joaquín Torres-García, Genesis Tramaine, Cy Twombly, Lesley Vance, Édouard Vuillard, Abraham Walkowitz, Dyani White Hawk, Tsuruko Yamazaki, Flora Yukhnovich, and Zao Wou-Ki. The page notes that some listed artists are no longer on view and that additional artists were added on January 17, 2026.
Contemporary context: Works by 19 contemporary artists in the permanent collection, including Abraham Cruzvillegas, Torkwase Dyson, Annette Lemieux, Joel Sternfeld, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Genesis Tramaine, and Flora Yukhnovich, connect current artistic practices with ideas that emerged during the exhibition’s historical period.
Background: Joseph H. Hirshhorn donated nearly 6,000 works, including a substantial number of sculptures, in preparation for the Museum’s opening on October 4, 1974. Another 6,400 works entered the collection after his death in 1981. These gifts helped form one of the world’s significant collections of postwar American and European art; the Hirshhorn collection now contains more than 13,130 artworks.
Organizers: The exhibition is organized by Hirshhorn Curator Marina Isgro and Assistant Curator Betsy Johnson, with assistance from former Curatorial Assistant Alice Phan.
Design: The installation was designed by Paris-based exhibition specialists Studio Adrien Gardère.
Programs: The exhibition is accompanied by free public programs, including an artist talk on March 22, 2024, and a 50th-birthday celebration on October 4, 2024.
Accessibility: An accessibility brochure is available, with printed copies and a braille version offered at the Museum.
Audio tour: Katy Hessel’s free, nine-stop “Museums Without Men” audio tour focuses on nine works by women artists in the exhibition. Stops include a Constructivist marionette by Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Exster, a monochromatic abstraction by Lee Krasner, and a painting by Flora Yukhnovich. The tour can be accessed through the Hirshhorn website and the Hirshhorn Eye smartphone guide.
Tickets: Price not available
Support: The exhibition received a grant from The Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, with major support from Véronique and Marshall Parke and the John and Barbara Vogelstein Foundation. Additional funding came from the Hirshhorn International Council and Hirshhorn Collectors’ Council.