It is not just people who need tender loving care. Sometimes art does, too. A conservator, who is equal parts chemist and artist, may remove yellowed varnish and gently clean the surface; fill in some missing areas of paint; or attach a lining to the back of a canvas to help stabilize the paint...
Current Exhibitions
Jan 26 2019 to Jun 30 2019
Seventy years ago—in the aftermath of the unprecedented devastation of World War II—a group of artists and poets came together in a Parisian café with the intention of creating a movement that rejected European traditions in favor of something new, fresh, and spontaneous. They named themselves...
Jun 1 2019 to Aug 11 2019
For centuries, artists have used food as a subject—from Dutch still lifes teeming with meats, fruits, and vegetables—to Andy Warhol’s infamous soup cans. This exhibition features work from the Museum’s permanent collection, as well as art borrowed from galleries and studios in Lexington and...
Jun 1 2019 to Dec 8 2019
The transcendent quality of light has engaged artists for centuries. This installation drawn from the permanent collection explores literal and metaphoric meanings of illumination. It includes sun-shot landscapes, a gold-leafed Russian icon, a Tiffany lamp, and a curious painting commissioned by...
Jun 1 2019 to Dec 8 2019
Julian Dupré’s In the Pasture takes center stage in this exhibition that looks at the power of the land—as a source of nourishment as well as a marker of place and history. Typically this popular painting, made in France in 1883, would be contextualized by other genre scenes or examples...
Jun 1 2019 to Feb 9 2020
Mistaken Identity
Art is not always what it seems. In October, 2007, a man named Mark Landis—who claimed his father grew up in Lexington—contacted the former director of the Museum and offered to donate a small watercolor by post-Impressionist Paul...
