National Gallery of Art presents 'Dear America' drawn from its collection

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is presenting a new exhibition titled “Dear America” that draws entirely from the museum’s own collection to examine artists’ interpretations of the American experience. The show gathers works selected by the gallery to foreground how painters, photographers, and other makers have grappled with themes tied to national identity.

According to the National Gallery of Art, the installation brings together pieces from across the institution’s holdings to create a conversation between different periods and artistic approaches. The presentation aims to highlight contrasts and continuities in how artists depict belonging, citizenship, public life and social change, using the museum’s collection as a lens.

The National Gallery

The gallery’s curators organized the exhibition to encourage visitors to trace connections between familiar historical works and more recent artistic responses. By arranging collection highlights around shared themes, the show seeks to prompt fresh readings of established holdings and surface lesser-known perspectives in the gallery’s archives, the museum says.

The exhibition is housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and is part of the institution’s ongoing program of rotating displays that repurpose collection material to speak to contemporary conversations. The gallery has published details about the selection and curatorial rationale on its website, and will supplement the exhibition with interpretive materials for visitors, per the museum.