PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Spotlighting century-old watercolor paintings by Egyptian artist Ahmed Yousef, Ancient Egypt in Watercolors: Paintings and Artifacts from Dra Abu el-Naga is on view at the Penn Museum.

Last exhibited in Cairo during the 1920s, the watercolor paintings have been carefully preserved in the Penn Museum's Archives for more than 100 years. They have never been on display in the United States.

Ancient Egypt in Watercolors reveals the often underappreciated, but critical function of art in archaeology. The 1,500 sq. ft. exhibition highlights elaborately decorated tomb chapels during the New Kingdom (approximately 1550 BCE-1070 BCE), a "golden age" that marked the height of Egypt's power and wealth. Many affluent officials built their tombs at Dra Abu el-Naga—a key part of the larger Theban Necropolis. Their tomb paintings show scenes from everyday life and imagery depicting the journey to the netherworld—illuminating how much the ancient Egyptians valued family bonds, honoring their ancestors, and continuing one's identity into the next life.

"The watercolors are copies of important tomb paintings of high officials and their families interred at Thebes and provide a rich record of the vitality of Egyptian funerary art of the New Kingdom," says Penn Museum Egyptologist Dr. Josef Wegner, Lead Curator of Ancient Egypt in Watercolors. "Together with select artifacts on display for the first time, the exhibition reveals a society at the zenith of its power and creativity."

Between 1921-1923, Penn Museum archaeologist Clarence Fisher excavated at Dra Abu el-Naga—taking photographs and commissioning these watercolor paintings. Yousef, a gifted young artist, was among the 200 local workmen who helped with the excavation.

"Archaeology requires more than digging. There is a value of collaboration in archaeological research, and the role an artist can play alongside the archaeologist in documenting and preserving ancient sites. Art, both ancient and modern, has an important role in maintaining memory and interpreting the past," Dr. Wegner adds. "We are still learning more about the people of the New Kingdom by studying these watercolor paintings, the Penn Museum's extensive collections, and field notes that archaeologists left behind."

Many of the tombs recorded in the watercolor paintings are still standing today. Other tombs, however, were more vulnerable. Some original works in the tombs themselves have been lost to time—destroyed by the elements. One of the deteriorated tombs in Dra Abu el Naga's Lower Cemetery (Tomb 306) belonged to the Doorkeeper of Amun (Temple), Irdjanen, and his wife, the Chantress of Amun, Mutemipet. Dating to the 19th Dynasty (ca. 1295-1186 BCE), the tomb's interior artworks have been preserved through Yousef's watercolors and Fisher's archival photographs—the only documentation that still exists.

"Ahmed Yousef's paintings are artworks in their own right," Dr. Wegner adds.

Ancient Egypt in Watercolors draws attention to one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt excavated by the Penn Museum during the first half of the 20th century, as well as the prominence of the Museum's Egyptian Collections of more than 50,000 artifacts—with nearly 3,000 objects from Dra Abu el-Naga. Of those, a selection of nearly 60 rarely-seen artifacts complement the paintings, including 3,500-year-old bread loaves, statuary of high officials and New Kingdom royalty, funerary stelae, shabti figurines (which ensured comfort for deceased individuals in the Afterlife), amulets, ostraca (informal notes), canopic jars, among others.

The eight-month exhibition will feature multimedia elements and two rotations of watercolor paintings: The first group will be on display through June while the second will be on view beginning July 1.

Ancient Egypt in Watercolors will close in November—just ahead of the grand opening for the Penn Museum's Egypt Galleries: Life and Afterlife on December 12, 2026. Following extensive conservation across nearly three decades, its centerpiece will be the 4,300-year-old Tomb Chapel of Kaipure—a high-ranking treasury official of Egypt's Old Kingdom (ca. 2350 BCE). This architectural marvel, excavated more than a century ago at Saqqara, features a massive 5-ton "false door" with nearly 100 carved and painted limestone blocks. Visitors will be able to enter and move through the space to experience what it feels like to be inside an ancient tomb chapel.

Life and Afterlife represents the first phase of the Penn Museum's bi-level, 14,000 sq. ft. Ancient Egypt and Nubia Galleries. The second phase is the Egypt and Nubia Galleries: Royalty and Religion—showcasing the monumental 3,000-year-old palace of Pharaoh Merenptah, whose towering 30-ft. columns will be displayed at their full height for the first time since their excavation more than 100 years ago. These galleries are scheduled for completion in 2029.