Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions
- The Museum will be closed Sunday, April 9 in observance of Easter.
2022
February 12-May 1, 2022
New London County Quilts & Bed Covers, 1750-1825
October 2, 2021-January 23, 2022
Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives
May 21-September 18, 2022
Dana Sherwood: Animal Appetites and Other Encounters in Wildness
2021
November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Expanding Horizons: Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery
June 5-September 19, 2021
Social & Solitary: Reflections on Art, Isolation, and Renewal
October 2, 2021-January 23, 2022
Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives
2020
November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Expanding Horizons: Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
November 7, 2020 to May 23, 2021
Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery
July 7 – November 1, 2020
Fresh Fields: American Impressionist Landscapes from the Florence Griswold Museum
September 29, 2019 – May 24, 2020
“Nothing More American:” Immigration, Sanctuary, and Community – an exhibition by Matthew Leifheit
2019
September 29, 2019 – May 24, 2020
“Nothing More American:” Immigration, Sanctuary, and Community – an exhibition by Matthew Leifheit
June 1 – September 8, 2019
Fragile Earth: The Naturalist Impulse in Contemporary Art
February 9–May 12, 2019
The Great Americans: Portraits by Jac Lahav
September 29, 2018 – January 27, 2019
Paper Trail: American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors
2018
September 30, 2017 – January 28, 2018
On the Front Lines: Three Reflections on Identity
World War I and the Lyme Art Colony
Oscar Fehrer: Reflecting and Reflections
A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe)
February 9 to May 6, 2018
Pen to Paper: Artists’ Handwritten Letters from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art
P.S.: Letters from the Lyme Art Colony
May 11 – September 16, 2018
Art and the New England Farm
September 29, 2018 – January 27, 2019
Paper Trail: American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors
2017
October 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a Museum
February 10–May 28, 2017
Matilda Browne: Idylls of Farm and Garden
June 3 – September 17, 2017
Flora/Fauna:The Naturalist Impulse in American Art
September 30, 2017 – January 28, 2018
On the Front Lines: Three Reflections on Identity
World War I and the Lyme Art Colony
Oscar Fehrer: Reflecting and Reflections
A Room of Her Own (Ballad of Ruth Coxe)
2016
October 2, 2015 – January 31, 2016
The Artist in the Connecticut Landscape
February-May 31, 2016
Ten/Forty: Collecting American Art at the Florence Griswold Museum
June 3-September 18, 2016
American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920
October 1, 2016 – January 29, 2017
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a Museum
2015
June 8, 2013 through May 2015
Matthew Geller’s Anticipator
February 6 through May 31, 2015
Peter Halley: Big Paintings
June 6—September 20, 2015
All the Sea Knows: Marine Art from the Museum of the City of New York
October 2, 2015–January 31, 2016
The Artist in the Connecticut Landscape
2014
February 7 through June 1, 2014
Lyme Artists Abroad
March 21 through June 1, 2014
Lucien Abrams: A Cosmopolitan in Connecticut
June 7, 2014 – September 21, 2014
Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum
June 7, 2014 – September 21, 2014
Thistles and Crowns: The Painted Chests of the Connecticut Shore
October 3, 2014, through January 25, 2015
Life Stories in Art
A concurrent series of exhibitions highlighting the contributions of three American women artists based in Connecticut. “Forever Seeing New Beauties:” The Art of Mary Rogers Williams
Modern Figures: Mary Knollenberg Sculptures
Kari Russell-Pool: Self-Portraits in Glass
October 4, 2013–January 26, 2014
Harry Holtzman and American Abstraction
December 6, 2013 through January 5, 2014
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition
February 7 through March 16, 2014
The Artist’s Easel
2013
October 4 – November 3, 2013
Wee Faerie Village in the Land of Oz
June 8 – September 22, 2013
Animal/Vegetable/Mineral: An Artist’s Guide to the World
February 8 – June 2, 2013
Arthur Heming: Chronicler of the North
October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
White on White: Churches of Rural New England
October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson:
American Impressionist
December 1, 2012 through January 6, 2013
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition
2012
December 1, 2012 – January 6, 2013
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition
October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
White on White: Churches of Rural New England
October 5, 2012 – January 27, 2013
The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson: American Impressionist
October 5 – November 5
Wee Faerie Village in the Land of Picture Making
Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation
June 15 – September 23, 2012
On Hudson: Highlights from the Albany Institute of History & Art
February 10 – June 10, 2012
..isms: Unlocking Art’s Mysteries
October 1, 2011 – January 29, 2012
The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans
2011
November 19 – January 9, 2012
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition
October 1 – 31, 2011
Of Feathers & Fairy Tales: Enchanted Birdhouses at the Museum
October 1, 2011 – January 29, 2012
The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans
July 1 – September 18, 2011
American Landscapes: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum
Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation
May 6 – June 26, 2011
In Mountain Laurel and the Lyme Art Colony
February 12 – June 26, 2011
Inspiration & Impact: The Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
October 2, 2010 – January 30, 2011
With Needle and Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley
2010
November 20 – January 9, 2011
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Tradition
July 3 – September 19, 2010
Connecticut Treasures: Works from Private Collections
April 24 – June 27, 2010
Tula Telfair: Landscapes in Counterpoint
February 13 – April 18, 2010
Sewell Sillman: Pushing Limits
Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation
2009
October 24, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Call of the Coast: Art Colonies of New England
November 21 – January 10, 2009
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Celebration
October 10 – November 1, 2009
The Lyme Art Colony’s Wee Faerie Village
Summer 2009 – March, 2012
Patrick Dougherty Stickwork: The Rambles, a site specific temporary installation
July 18 – October 18, 2009
Lyme in Mind: The Clement C. Moore Collection
April 18 – July 12, 2009
Visions of Mood: Henry C. White Pastels
January 17 – April 12 , 2009
The Road Less Traveled: Thomas Nason’s Rural New England
2008
November 22 – January 4, 2009
Magic of Christmas: A Holiday Celebration
October 11, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women
August 2 – October 5, 2008
Warm Winds: Connecticut Artists in the Tropics
May 3 – July 27, 2008
Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, 1885-1915
Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art
February 2 – April 27, 2008
The Fininshing Touch: Understanding the Techniques of Impressionist and Tonalist Painters
October 27, 2007 – April 27, 2008
The Artistic Heritage of Connecticut: Highlights from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
2007
October 20 through January 27, 2008
Faces and Figures: American Portraits from the Florence Griswold Museum
October 27 through April 27, 2008
The Artistic Heritage of Connecticut: Highlights from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
July 7 – October 14, 2007
Picturing Health: Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration
June 30 – October 14, 2007
The Way We Work: David Macaulay’s Human Body
June 3 , 2006 – June 24, 2007
The Freedom Business:
Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith
March 31 – July 1 , 2007
A Circle of Friends: The Artists of the Florence Griswold House
2006
September 16, 2006 through March 25, 2007
A Collective Endeavor: Three Decades of Acquisitions
January 14 through May 28, 2006
Finding Religion:American Art from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
Ongoing exhibition (starts July 1, 2007)
An American Place: The Art Colony at Old Lyme
June 3 through September 10, 2006
A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr.
June 3, 2006 through March 25, 2007
The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith
featuring the poems of Marilyn Nelson
2005
November 17, 2004 – January 8, 2005
Magic of Christmas
September 17, 2005 through January 8, 2006
The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographs of New England, 1885 – 1920
May 1 – September 11, 2005
May Night: Willard Metcalf at Old Lyme
November 24, 2004 – May 29, 2005
From Likeness to Landscape: American Art from the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
October 9, 2004 through April 17, 2005
A Matter of Style: The Influence of French Art on the Old Lyme Art Colony
2004
November 20, 2004 – January 2, 2005
Magic of Christmas
October 9 – November 14, 2004
The Hay House : Step Right In!
June 19 through September 26, 2004
Envisioning New England: Treasures from Community Art Museums
June 4 through September 26, 2004
“A Pretty Fine Old Town “: Childe Hassam in Old Lyme
January 10, 2004 through January 2, 2005
A Haven for Painters: The Art Colony at Old Lyme
January 17, 2004 through May 30, 2004
A Corner in an Etcher’s Studio
January 17, 2004 through June 13, 2004
White, Green, and Gold: The Seasons in American Landscape Painting
2003
November 22, 2003 through January 4, 2004
Home for the Holidays
October 11, 2003 through January 4, 2004
The American River
October 11, 2003 through January 4, 2004
The River’s Course
June 28 – September 28, 2003
Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism
2002
February 9, 2002 – January 2, 2005
The American Art Colony at Lyme
July 2, 2002 – June 22, 2003
The American Artist in Connecticut: Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection
November 22, 2002 – January 4, 2003
Home for the Holidays
2001
January 20 – November 25, 2001
Painter’s Paradise: A Land Distinctly Lyme
December 1 – 30, 2001
Home for the Holidays
2000
January 15 – May 28, 2000
Community Choices: New Perspectives on the Permanent Collection
June 3 – September 24, 2000
The California Impressionists at Laguna
September 30 – November 26, 2000
American Impressionism from the Florence Griswold Museum
December 2 – 31, 2000
Home for the Holidays
1999
January 16 – May 30, 1999
The Lure of Lyme: Celebrating an American Art Colony (film premiere)
June 5 – September 5, 1999
Henry Ward Ranger and the Humanized Landscape
September 11 – November 28, 1999
Collecting for the Future: Gifts in Honor of the Centennial
December 4, 1999 – January 2, 2000
Home for the Holidays
1998
January 17 – May 31, 1998
American Naïve Paintings from the National Gallery of Art
June 16 – August 30, 1998
Wilson Henry Irvine and the Poetry of Light
September 5 – November 29, 1998
Embracing Nature: Selections from the Permanent Collection
December 5, 1998 – January 3, 1999
Celebration of Holiday Traditions
1997
February 1 – June 20, 1997
Revealing the Lyme Landscape
June 28 – September 28, 1997
Visions of Home: American Impressionist Images of Suburban Leisure and Country Comfort
October 5 – November 30, 1997
An American Tradition: The Pennsylvania Impressionists
December 4, 1997 – January 4, 1998
Celebration of Holiday Traditions
1996
November 3, 1995 – June 2, 1996
The American Impressionists at Lyme
June 8 – September 29, 1996
Color, Light and Atmosphere: The Art of Charles & Mary Roberts Ebert
October 5, 1996 – January 5, 1997
Lines of Thought: American Works on Paper from a Private Collection
December 4, 1996 – January 3, 1997
Celebration of Trees
1995
March 3 – June 25, 1995
Material Matters: Revealing History through Objects
July 7 – September 3, 1995
A Noble Tradition: American Painting from the National Arts Club
September 8 – October 29, 1995
The Art of Ivan Olinsky
December 4, 1995 – January 3, 1996
Celebration of Trees