The museum’s Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art highlights the bold innovations and shifting perspectives that shaped art over the 20th century through the present. The sweeping scientific, social, and cultural changes of the 20th century transformed how people understood the world. Across Europe and America, they embraced unconventional materials, experimental techniques, and a succession of diverse, often fragmented movements that reflected the disorienting pace of modern life. Some engaged directly with contemporary experience or popular culture, while others turned to personal expression or the freedoms of abstraction. 

Featured image: Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975, Portrait of a Musician, 1949, casein, egg tempera and oil varnish on canvas mounted on wood panel, Anonymous gift (67.136)

By the late 20th century, artists pushed further, challenging narratives, and inviting active viewer participation. The resulting work interrogates identity, power, and representation, while artist working in new media expanded the boundaries of authorship, originality, and the very nature of art itself.

Visitors to the gallery will encounter works by Thomas Hart Benton, Gertrude Abercrombie, Grace Hartigan, Nam June Paik, and others. From representational styles to abstraction, painting to new media, these works trace the diverse ways artists expanded the field of artistic possibility.