The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC is sending treasures from its collection to institutions in ten states to celebrate next year’s US semiquincentennial. Under the auspices of the programme, dubbed “Across the Nation”, museums from Alaska to North Carolina will exhibit choice works by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Berthe Morisot, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko, Alma Thomas, Sol Lewitt and Winslow Homer, among others. The NGA is covering all associated expenses, from transportation and installation to any needed conservation and training services, plus the costs of local marketing campaigns.
According to Kaywin Feldman, the NGA’s director, the initiative “is the manifestation of the National Gallery’s vision as the nation’s art museum, and we are so thrilled to bring some of the most beloved works from the nation’s collection of art directly into communities across the country”.
Georgia O’Keeffe's Winter Road I (1963) is now on view at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
The participating institutions and loans involved include: the Anchorage Museum in Alaska showing works by O’Keeffe, Rothko and Nancy Graves; the Denver Art Museum showing a Rembrandt self-portrait and a portrait of the artist attributed to his studio; the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, showing Impressionist works by Matisse, Cézanne and others; the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City hosting the second-ever public display of a LeWitt wall drawing from the NGA's collection; the Boise Art Museum in Idaho showing works by Rothko, Morisot and Thomas Eakins; the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan showing paintings by Botticelli, Hans Memling and Andy Warhol; the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, showing paintings by Edgar Degas, O’Keeffe and Thomas; the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno hosting a presentation of the NGA’s exhibition Dorothea Lange: Seeing People; the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, showing paintings by Northern European Old Masters including Frans Hals and Lucas Cranach the Elder; and the New Britain Museum of Art in Connecticut showing a painting by Robert Duncanson alongside one by Homer. Many of the works loaned by the NGA are already on view at partner institutions, with the rest opening later this month or next month; all will remain on view through May 2026.
Mark Rothko's Untitled (1950) goes on view this month at the Boise Art Museum in Idaho National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc
The NGA’s North America-spanning loans come as President Donald Trump’s administration has pressured federal agencies and federally-funded institutions to cease their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, and prioritise initiatives related to the 250th anniversary of the US’s founding in 2026. Following Trump’s signing of an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” on his first day in office, the NGA and the Smithsonian Institution both closed their diversity offices; the NGA receives nearly 80% of its operating budget from the federal government.
The National Endowment for the Arts eliminated a grant programme intended to support projects in historically underserved communities and is instead seeking 2026 grant applications for “projects that celebrate the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity by honoring the semiquincentennial of the United States of America”. In an executive order on 29 January titled “Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday”, Trump also revived his vision for a “National Garden of American Heroes” that would feature monuments to famous figures from history, politics, sports, television and other fields. The executive order specified that the sculpture garden should be completed “as expeditiously as possible” as part of the semiquincentennial celebrations.
