The Brooklyn Museum will celebrate its 200th anniversary later this year with a suite of events and programming. Launching in fall, the institution will reinterpret its storied collection, including the launch of a mobile “Museum on Wheels.”
While the museum itself wasn’t inaugurated until 1897, the building’s inception dates further back to 1823, when it was founded as the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library. Amongst the notable names included in its history, the acclaimed American poet and essayist Walt Whitman served as one of its librarians.
“This is a time of great momentum at the Brooklyn Museum!” noted several of the institution’s directors in a statement. “Always a trailblazer, the Museum has a long history of transformation and defying convention. We are a space that welcomes diverse points of view, challenges the status quo, and weaves together all forms of art and culture to truly represent the people we serve. At this exciting moment in our journey, we look forward to celebrating our history and future ambitions as a museum that is both rigorous and joyous, historic and contemporary.”
Standout events include a group exhibition in October that exclusively spotlights Brooklyn-based artists, the largest in the museum’s history — consisting of work by Jeffrey Gibson, Vik Muniz, Mickalene Thomas, and Fred Tomaselli, amongst others. Further on, the luster and fascination of gold, both as a color and a material, will be of focus through a series of artworks that map out how its shaped cultures and legacies. The festivities will continue on into 2025 with another regional showcase on the borough of Brooklyn and a major retrospective exhibition on the sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet in March. See the full list of programming here.
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Pkwy,
Brooklyn, NY 11238
