Highlights from the Permanent Collection

Conversations between new acquisitions, infrequently seen works on paper, and permanent collection favorites take place throughout the Modern’s first floor, celebrating key narratives from modern and contemporary art. Andy Warhol’s Flowers, 1970, and Anselm Kiefer’s Papst Alexander VI: Die goldene Bulle (Pope Alexander VI: The Golden Bull), 1996, grace the Grand Lobby. 

In the initial galleries, Willem de Kooning’s Two Women, 1954–55, Mark Rothko’s White Band No. 27, 1954, and Sam Francis’s Untitled, from Mako Series, 1967, demonstrate the influence and variety of mid-century abstraction. Moving into the 1960s and 1970s, Andy Warhol’s Twenty-Five Colored Marilyns, 1962, and James Rosenquist’s F-111, 1974, exemplify Pop art’s simultaneous celebration and critique of consumerism, mass media, and pop culture. Works by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Richard Prince, and Ed Ruscha come together to prompt dialogues around American identity.  

In the subsequent galleries, artists take inspiration from the land to create sculptures, drawings, photographs, and performances, crafting narratives that range from the autobiographical to the philosophical. Linda Ridgway’s unique cast bronze sculpture Three Squares, 2001, pays homage to a family idiom by connecting the provision provided by a parent with that provided by nature. Marina Abramović’s The Lovers, 1988, documents the artist’s physical and psychological journey as she traversed the Great Wall of China, while Robyn O’Neil’s These final hours embrace at last; this is our ending, this is our past, 2007, employs an “everyman” perspective to explore themes of evolution, catastrophe, and apocalypse.   

Wangechi Mutu’s The Seated III, 2019, joins two other bronze sculptures looking out over the reflecting pond, CLEAN SLATE, 2018, by KAWS, and Drape, 1999, by Joseph Havel. All three works combine familiar imagery with elements of surprise, an experience that recurs throughout the permanent collection galleries. 

For more works on view, visit our collection online.