a pastoral scene with brown cows grazing amid wheat grass on a hillside near a well or similar drilling tower; a dirt path leads from the foreground down the right side of the view into the distance; blue skies with billowing clouds fill the top two-thirds of the scene

Exhibitions

The Museum produces six to eight temporary exhibitions each year, in addition to its display of works from the permanent collection.

Temporary exhibits are often curated by Museum staff using works from the collection. Other exhibits are borrowed from other museum collections or from institutions that specialize in traveling shows. Exhibitions are carefully chosen to support both the curriculum of the College and the needs of the Museum’s education programs. See below for current and upcoming exhibits.

Permanent Collection Galleries

This installation of Middlebury’s art collection invites visitors to join a conversation sparked by objects created throughout time and around the globe. Arranged thematically to highlight similarities as well as differences across cultures, the reinstalled galleries represent steps in the ongoing journey toward a more inclusive and accessible presentation of the many stories art can tell.

Historically, museums in the United States have prioritized art made by White men. As a result, the important contributions of many artists have been absorbed, marginalized, overlooked, or ignored—especially those of women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists. While the present display features more diverse personal and artistic identities than ever before (with the highest increase among Black, women, and LGBTQIA+ artists), much work lies ahead.

Current Exhibitions

  • a pastoral scene with brown cows grazing amid wheat grass on a hillside near a well or similar drilling tower; a dirt path leads from the foreground down the right side of the view into the distance; blue skies with billowing clouds fill the top two-thirds of the scene

    Recent Acquisitions: 2016–2023

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    Featuring more than thirty recent additions to the museum’s permanent collection, this exhibit includes work by Veronica Ryan, Sean Scully, Joan Snyder, John Steuart Curry, Fidelia Bridges and James McNeil Whistler, among others. Some of the works will be accompanied by short texts prepared by the 2022–2023 cohort of Robert Reiff museum interns.

  • various metal items welded together and displayed on a white wall

    Tossed: Art from Discarded, Found, and Repurposed Materials

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    Comprised of nearly twenty works that make use of discarded materials, Tossed, which is curated by the museum’s longtime exhibition designer Ken Pohlman, explores themes of thrift, aesthetics, social / political commentary, and cultural reference juxtaposing contemporary works—by artists such as Swoon, Richard Stankiewicz, El Anatsui, Romuald Hazoumè, Melvin Edwards, and Betye Saar—with artists’ statements and contextual insights about our throwaway society.

Upcoming Exhibitions

  • a view of the Sphinx with the pyramids of Giza in the background, c. 1870

    The Light of the Levant: Early Photography and the Late Ottoman Empire

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    This exhibition highlights the important role of the Levant region in early photography. In its broadest historical meaning, the area of the Levant, controlled by the Ottoman Empire during all or part of the nineteenth century, encompassed contemporary Greece, Turkey, and most of the Arab world.