2023 Exhibitions

Each year, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site presents special exhibitions of historic and contemporary art that debut here and travel the country. 

What other art will you see on a visit? Browse Thomas Cole paintings on view and Collection Highlights.


Traveling Exhibitions

Women Reframe American Landscape

Nov 18, 2023-Mar 31, 2024

New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT

Illuminating the artistic contributions and perspectives of women, this two-part exhibition includes the first retrospective of the nineteenth-century American artist Susie M. Barstow (1836–1923) and a presentation of contemporary works by artists Teresita Fernández, Guerrilla Girls, Marie Lorenz, Tanya Marcuse, Mary Mattingly, Ebony G. Patterson, Anna Plesset, Wendy Red Star, Jean Shin, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Cecilia Vicuña, Kay WalkingStick, and Saya Woolfalk. Engaging multigenerational perspectives, this exhibition recenters women in the canon of American art and expands how we think about land and landscape.

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The exhibition will then travel to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI, from May 4 to August 25, 2024.

The Pollinator Pavilion

at The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park at Newfields, Indianapolis, IN

Summer 2023

 Designed by internationally renowned artists Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, the Pavilion provides a fantastical architectural setting to encounter birds year-round while exploring a nurturing relationship with nature. The installation at Newfields will include plantings indigenous to Indianapolis, complementing the work Newfields has done through the Wild Birds Unlimited Native Pollinator Meadow and other efforts to support pollinator populations and expand native species.

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About Historic Exhibitions

Each year, The Thomas Cole National Historic Site invites a guest curator to bring a new perspective to Thomas Cole’s work by creating a new exhibition of nineteenth-century art in Thomas Cole’s reconstructed New Studio. The exhibitions bring together artwork from museums and private collections across the country.

About Contemporary Exhibitions

 OPEN HOUSE: Contemporary Art in Conversation with Cole is an annual series of curated contemporary artist installations located within, and in response to, the historic home and studios of artist Thomas Cole. Operating from the concept that all art is contemporary, the program activates conversations between artists across centuries. Exhibitions and artworks have ranged from those that literally reference Thomas’s iconic works to those that expand on issues and themes relevant to him, including art, landscape, history, and balancing the built and natural worlds. OPEN HOUSE projects shed light on the connections between nineteenth century American art and our contemporary moment.

Meg DiStefanoOur Exhibitions