The Cincinnati Art Museum is open on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Kick off 2020 with a visit to the museum and see special exhibition Treasures of the Spanish World before it closes on January 19.

In addition, the museum will host a roster of new special exhibitions in 2020, ranging from decorative arts to contemporary art, and addressing history as well as modern social and cultural concerns. The museum hopes to further its goal of contributing to a more vibrant Cincinnati by inspiring its people and connecting our communities.

General admission to the museum is free. Some exhibitions are ticketed. Cincinnati Art Museum members receive free admission to all ticketed special exhibitions as well as early access to the museum on Saturdays and Sundays from 10–11 a.m. The following exhibition schedule is subject to change.

The Levee: A Photographer in the American South

Now through February 2, 2020

Contemporary Indian photographer Sohrab Hura receives his first solo exhibition with The Levee: A Photographer in the American South. Featuring an 83-picture suite titles The Levee, in which Hura explores themes of connection, perspective and place, this is the first exhibition of this collection outside India.

Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Free admission.

Women Breaking Boundaries

Now through April 12, 2020

Women Breaking Boundaries highlights artworks from across the museum’s permanent collection, most of which were created by self-identified female artists from the seventeenth century to today. By pairing historic and contemporary works of art in many mediums, the exhibition explores how these artists challenged the norm in an art world historically dominated by men. This is the museum’s main contribution to ArtsWave’s Power of Her initiative.

Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Free admission.

“Something Over Something Else”: Romare Bearden’s Profile Series

February 28–May 24, 2020

Something Over Something Else features 30 vibrant collages from Romare Bearden’s renowned series. In 1977, a feature profile of Bearden by Calvin Tompkins in The New Yorker provoked the artist to reflect upon his life story during the 1920s and 30s. The result was a two-part series that traces his journey from rural Mecklenburg, North Carolina to working-class Pittsburgh and culminates with his treasured first studio in Manhattan. Transcending autobiography, Bearden’s Profile Series, accompanied by evocative texts co-written with his friend Albert Murray, expresses a deep reverence for humanity and the struggles and triumphs of African Americans.

Organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Andrew Wyeth Foundation for American Art, Eric and Jan-Michele Kearney and LPK.

Ticketed. Free for members.

Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970

March 13–June 7, 2020

This dazzling presentation of exceptional silver and mixed-metal wares casts new light on the legacy of Gorham and reflects the industry, artistry, innovation and technology of the manufactory for 120 years. Adeptly coupling art and industry, Gorham boldly rose from a small firm, established in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island, to become the largest silver company in the world, placing uniquely American design on the international stage. Creating everything from commissioned presentation pieces to show-stoppers for the dining room, Gorham responded to the era’s desire to celebrate, feast, socialize, honor and simply enjoy the everyday in style.

Organized by the RISD Museum, this exhibition was made possible by a sponsoring grant from the Henry Luce Foundation with additional support from the Zennovation Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the RISD Museum Associates, Textron Inc., the Rhode Island Council for Humanities, friends and members of the Board of Governors, and a generous in-kind gift from Spencer Marks, Ltd. The exhibition is presented by Huntington Bank and Evolo Design and is generously supported by the John A. Schroth Family Charitable Trust. Cincinnati.com/The Cincinnati Enquirer is the media sponsor.

Ticketed. Free for members.

One Each: Still Lifes by Pissaro, Cézanne, Manet and Friends

May 15–August 9, 2020

This one-gallery exhibition features still life paintings by five celebrated French painters, all created in the mid-1860s–the formative years of Impressionism. Joining the Cincinnati Art Museum’s great painting by Paul Cézanne are sterling examples from the hand of Édouard Manet, regarded as the “father of modern painting,” and Camille Pissarro. Rounding out the group are a painting by Frédéric Bazille and a rare early still life by Claude Monet.

Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Toledo Museum of Art.

Free admission.

Paintings, Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America

June 26–September 6, 2020

This exhibition focuses on the fate of 2,000 of the finest European paintings from the Berlin State Museums that traveled to the United States in 1945 and were exhibited at the National Gallery of Art and 13 other museums across the country from 1948–49 before returning to Germany. The exhibition addresses Nazi expropriation of artworks during the war; it features four of the Berlin paintings that traveled across Europe and America during and after the war; and it explains the role of “Monuments Man” Walter Farmer, a voice of conscience who protested the paintings’ export from Germany and later became a supporter of the arts in the Cincinnati region.

Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Ticketed. Free for members.

Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal . . .

July 10–October 11, 2020

The first major survey of the work of one of America’s most important conceptual artists, Hank Willis Thomas. Thomas has fearlessly addressed racism, inequality and bias in bold, skillfully crafted works. Through photographers, sculpture, video, audience-activated digital animation and collaborative public art projects, he invites us to consider the role of popular visual culture in perpetuating discrimination and how art can raise critical awareness in the ongoing struggle for social justice and civil rights.

Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon.

Ticketed. Free for members.