Overview: 127 contemporary paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from the collection of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff were shown in the exhibition. Artists represented included Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella, as well as other abstract expressionists and younger artists. The exhibition was arranged by visual motif or artistic device into 10 thematic sections: Scrape, Concentricity, Line, Gesture, Art on Art, Drip, Stripe to Zip, Figure or Ground, Monochrome, and Picture the Frame. All of the works in the exhibition were donated or promised gifts to the National Gallery of Art.

A public symposium, A New Look at Postwar Art: The Collection of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, was held on November 21. The 64th National Gallery of Art American Music Festival from November 22 through December 2, 2009, was presented in honor of the exhibition. An additional concert of newly composed music by Roger Reynolds was performed on March 7, 2010, in recognition of the exhibition and Editions with Additions: Working Proofs by Jasper Johns. During the month of January, a film program, What You See Is What You See, featured documentaries about artists whose works were included in the exhibition. A teacher workshop, "Evening with Educators—Postwar Modernism: The Meyerhoff Collection, was held in April. The Garden Café offered a special menu of regional American foods.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art. Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, was curator.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.