Notable acquisitions span historical and contemporary art, with outstanding works by artists Jules Breton, Richard Hunt, and Graciela Iturbide, among others

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art today announced a wide-ranging group of recent acquisitions, adding more than 200 works to the nation's art collection. Acquisitions across media expand key areas of the National Gallery's collection and create opportunities to forge new art historical connections through exceptional works by leading artists across time and regions.

Highlights of the acquisitions include a major work by French academic painter Jules Breton that was recently featured in the exhibition Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment, a monumental sculpture by American abstractionist Richard Hunt that will be installed in the Sculpture Garden, and an array of works by celebrated contemporary artists, including Graciela Iturbide, Nicolas Party, Kay WalkingStick, William T. Williams, and others.

"The National Gallery's acquisitions advance our commitment to artistic excellence by allowing us to continually expand the depth and breadth of our collections," said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art. "The exemplary works entering our collection showcase new dimensions of major artistic traditions from the 18th century to the present, in American art and beyond. We are grateful to the many donors who have enabled these gifts to the nation."

The recently acquired works, which enter the collection through a combination of gifts and purchases, will offer the National Gallery's audiences new ways to engage with artistic achievement, innovation, and the exchange of ideas throughout art history. Many of the recent acquisitions bring artists into the collection for the first time; others build on the National Gallery's holdings of works by particular artists or movements in meaningful ways. The museum's first work by a female artist associated with the Hudson River school, Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome, is a significant addition to its holdings of 19th-century American landscape paintings, while a triptych arrangement of Niagara Falls by Native American artist Kay WalkingStick and a fantastical work by Swiss painter Nicolas Party create contemporary throughlines with the landscape tradition. Other works exemplify themes, such as the iterative nature of the creative process, different approaches to abstraction, various documentary practices, and experimentation with new media.

"The National Gallery continually seeks to add perspectives and depth to our collection across time, place, and media, identifying artists and works whose contributions will enable us to expand how we tell the living history of art," said E. Carmen Ramos, the National Gallery's chief curatorial and conservation officer. "This grouping brings together major historical works by artists including Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Jules Breton, and Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome alongside recent work by living artists including Graciela Iturbide, Nicolas Party, and William T. Williams, who are continuing to advance the field of contemporary art."

Acquisition Highlights Include:

Painting

• Jules Breton's The Cliff (La Falaise) (1874) enters the collection after being displayed on loan in the landmark exhibition Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment (2024–2025). Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1874, it is a remarkable example of the Barbizon school of naturalist painting by one of the most successful and critically recognized artists of the era.
• Marguerite Gérard's I Reread Them with Pleasure (1788–1789) and Deserved Sorrows (1788–1789) showcase her development into an important artist of the French Revolution period. They demonstrate both her technical virtuosity and her sophisticated engagement with Dutch genre painting.
• Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome's American Landscape (1872) is the artist's only known large-scale painting and the first work by a woman associated with the Hudson River school to enter the National Gallery's collection.
• Nicolas Party's Landscape (2023), the first work by this contemporary Swiss painter to enter the National Gallery's collection, exemplifies his color-saturated approach.
• Juan Sánchez's The Most Cultural Thing You Can Do (1983) is a pivotal early work in his ongoing exploration of the enduring cultural and political bonds between Puerto Rico and its diaspora in the United States. This is the first painting by Sánchez to enter the National Gallery (joining two lithographs already in the collection), and it is the only Sánchez painting held by a museum in the Washington, DC, area.
• Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida's Isabelita and Thor (1893), the National Gallery's first work by this important Spanish painter, adds to the museum's holdings of 19th-century European paintings beyond France.
• Two large-scale geometric paintings by William T. Williams—Hawk's Return (1969–1970) and Harlem Angels (1968)—expand the National Gallery's holdings of one of the leading abstract painters of the past century.
• Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), recently featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale and in a solo exhibition at the New York Historical Society, created a significant triptych, The Niagara Cascades (2024). This work exemplifies the artist's ongoing exploration of the land and its significance in Native American culture.
• Martin Wong's Prison Bunk Beds (c. 1988–1991), the first painting by the acclaimed artist in the National Gallery's collection, showcases the influence of street art and the exploration of contemporary society in his work.

Prints and Drawings

• Seven prints by Camille Billops—For Japanese with Mirrors (1975), Had I Know (1973), Porque No (1978), and I am Black, I am Black, I am Dangerously Black (set of four state proofs) (1973)—significantly expand the National Gallery's holdings of her work, underscoring her inventive printmaking techniques and distinctive figurative style.
• Eva Gonzalès's sketchbook (mid-1860s) is a rare document of the artist's early training and is the only known sketchbook by this Impressionist artist in a US museum. Filled with animal and botanical drawings, figure studies, and landscape sketches, it illustrates how aspiring artists used natural history publications to educate themselves and to develop their drawing skills.
• Giulia Carlotta Mengs's Portrait of a Couple in the Guise of Angelica and Medoro (c. 1790/1800) is the first work to appear on the market by this 18th-century German artist. She was a court painter and part of a family of prominent artists, including her brother Anton Raphael Mengs, whose works are also part of the National Gallery's collection.
• Laura Piranesi's Veduta della Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (View of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore) (c. 1780s) is the third etching by this artist in the collection. Its acquisition expands the National Gallery's ability to feature both the work of a member of one of Rome's leading artistic families and the participation of women in the 18th-century Italian art market.
• Shahzia Sikander's Oil and Poppies (2019–2020), a monumental watercolor at over eight-feet tall, is the first large-scale drawing by the acclaimed Pakistani American artist to enter the National Gallery's collection.

Sculpture

• Fred Eversley's Untitled (parabolic lens) (1970/2020) showcases the influential sculptor's contributions to the postwar Light and Space movement, bridging art and science with sculptures that use light refraction and the motion of the viewer to create kinetic effects. This is the first work by Eversley to enter the collection. He passed away in March 2025, knowing the nation's museum was going to acquire his sculpture.
• Richard Hunt's Planar and Tubular (2012–2020) is a striking stainless steel sculpture standing nearly 12 feet high. It is emblematic of the abstract and surreal compositions that drove Hunt's production for more than six decades. Not only is it the first sculpture by the acclaimed artist to enter the National Gallery's collection, but it is also the first permanent installation in the Sculpture Garden by an African American artist.

Photography and Video

• Muriel Hasbun's photographic and sound installation Protegida | Watched Over (1996–2003), a major work in the artist's experimental practice of exploring memory, loss, and family history, was partially inspired by a 15th-century altarpiece at the National Gallery.
• A group of 159 photographs made by Graciela Iturbide between 1969 and 2012 offers insights into her life and work in Mexico as well as her travels across four continents. The works span the career of one of Latin America's most important contemporary photographers.
• Guadalupe Rosales's shortcut (2022), the artist's first work to enter the collection, represents her exploration of Latinx cultural memory rooted in Southern California.
• Thomas Ruff's Portrait (V. Liebermann) (1998) and Portrait (M. Roeser) (1999) are highly detailed, large-scale color photographs that reexamine the genre of portraiture. As a prominent member of the Düsseldorf school, a group of students who studied with photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, Ruff pushes the medium's conceptual and technological possibilities.
• Sarah Sense's (Chitimacha/Choctaw) Hinushi Bayou Teche (2024) is the first work by the artist to enter the National Gallery's collection. It demonstrates her signature practice of lattice-woven photographs that highlight Native American history and heritage.

Press Release: The National Gallery of Art's Recent Acquisitions Introduce New Artists and Perspectives to the National Collection

Acquisitions Checklist (PDF)

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