Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200

Retrospective of the Brooklyn Museum's 200-year history and its role in shaping American art and culture.

Why go

The exhibition reframes the museum's bicentennial not as retrospective nostalgia but as active reckoning—pairing historic pieces (Delaware youth moccasins acknowledging the land's original inhabitants) with work by living Brooklyn artists like KAWS, Duke Riley, and Tourmaline, and recent gifts from Derrick Adams, Julie Mehretu, and Robert Frank tha

What to expect

Three interconnected galleries on the 4th floor: *Brooklyn Made* traces art and design created in the borough from the 17th century onward; *Building the Brooklyn Museum and Its Collection* pairs transformational artworks with archival materials documenting the Beaux-Arts building and collection development; *Gifts of Art in Honor of the 200th* sho

Things to know

• Exhibition runs February 28, 2025–September 6, 2026.
• Organized by a curatorial team including Catherine Futter (Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Decorative Arts) and Pauline
• Features works by Brooklyn-based artists including KAWS, Duke Riley, and Tourmaline alongside established figures like Alex Katz, Joel Stern
• Begins with Delaware youth moccasins acknowledging the Lenape people's ancestral claim to the land.
• Significant support provided by the Hooper Family in honor of Franklin William Hooper, who directed the Brooklyn Museum 1897–1913.

Plan your visit

Included in general admission. Located in the Decorative Arts and Design Galleries on the 4th Floor. Check museum hours before visiting.