WASHINGTON, DC.- The Phillips Collection presents Out of Many: Reframing an American Art Collection, an exhibition rooted in the museum’s century-old collection. The exhibition embraces the concept of “many” as a fundamental value in understanding the diverse histories and narratives of art and culture in the United States. Bringing together approximately 75 works across painting, print, photography, sculpture, and mixed media spanning over a century, the exhibition celebrates and examines the beauty, complexity, and contradictions of the American experience through the lens of visual art. Out of Many will be on view through February 15, 2026.

Grounded by highlights from The Phillips Collection’s holdings alongside significant loans from the Howard University Gallery of Art, The David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, and the National Gallery of Art, among other institutions and galleries, the exhibition foregrounds a more expansive vision of American art. Out of Many connects a diverse constellation of stories about American identity, engaging themes of landscape, social life, place and abstraction, cultural memory and erasure, and the politics of representation through the works of both well-known figures and historically overlooked artists.

“The Phillips Collection has long been at the forefront of collecting and presenting modern and contemporary art of the United States,” says Vradenburg Director and CEO Jonathan P. Binstock. “Founder Duncan Phillips was passionate about using his ‘experiment station’ to champion artists who were bold, independent-minded, and explored innovative new directions in art. Out of Many builds on this legacy, continuing to expand our understanding of what American art has been and what it can be.”

The exhibition stems from the Seeing U.S. research initiative, a multi-year effort to recover voices and share more comprehensive histories within the museum’s permanent collection. “The field of American art has shifted dramatically, breaking away from exclusionary narratives to embrace a wider range of cultural perspectives,” says Dr. Adrienne L. Childs, Senior Consulting Curator at The Phillips Collection. “Out of Many reconsiders American art and builds a new story about how artists have imagined and depicted the peoples, cultures, landscapes, and histories of the United States.”

Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the United States, this exhibition takes part in a nationwide reflection on the country’s evolving cultural and artistic identity. “This presentation considers the museum’s dynamic history of collecting art of the United States while featuring loans that help to expand and enrich the story of American art,” says Camille Brown, Associate Curator at The Phillips Collection.

To deepen its inquiry, The Phillips Collection has partnered with the Howard University Gallery of Art and The David C. Driskell Center, institutions that hold rich collections of African American art and have provided both critical loans and scholarly insight. These collaborations build on long-standing relationships and help ensure the exhibition reflects the full dynamism of American art history.

Out of Many follows in the tradition of Phillips exhibitions that have reassessed the museum’s collection, including Breaking it Down: Conversations from the Vault (2024), Seeing Differently: The Phillips Collects for a New Century (2021), and Made in the USA: American Masters from The Phillips Collection (2014).