America in the Making

America in the Making surveys the Addison Gallery of American Art’s collection from the 18th century through the present. Filling the entire museum, the exhibition examines how American art has recorded, shaped, reinforced, and challenged the country’s evolving society, politics, values, and cultural identity.

Presented in connection with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the exhibition is organized chronologically and includes many of the Addison’s notable works. It considers early portraits and national identity, 19th-century landscape painting and ideas of Manifest Destiny, the complexities of modern life, abstraction and individualism, and contemporary art’s engagement with an increasingly multicultural society and urgent present-day concerns.

The exhibition also reflects on the Addison’s collection itself. Its strengths, gaps, and continuing development reveal the influence of individual taste, institutional priorities, and wider social and cultural forces. The result is both a history of American art and a portrait of a collection—and a nation—that remains continually “in the making.”

When: September 8, 2026, to January 31, 2027

Venue: Addison Gallery of American Art

Description: The exhibition presents works from the Addison’s permanent collection in a chronological installation spanning the museum’s entire building, from the colonial period to the present.

Tickets: Price not available

Support: Generous support is provided by the Sidney R. Knafel Fund and the Bernard and Louise Palitz Exhibitions Fund, with additional support from Jana Paley (PA ’81).