New Exhibition Opens at the NGA: “American Landscapes in Watercolor”

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*Hudson River Logging* (1892; watercolor over graphite on wove paper, 14×20 5/8) by Winslow Homer *Credit:* Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase). 2014.136.171

Two centuries of watercolor paintings capture the nation’s beauty––from sea to shining sea––in a new exhibition at Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art: “American Landscapes in Watercolor.” In the country’s early years, explorers used watercolor for mapping and documenting the topography of the land. By the 19th century, American painters such as Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Winslow Homer (1836-1910) and others had begun to translate their observations and experiences of the American landscape into larger, carefully finished works of art. Featuring 30 works, mostly drawn from the National Gallery’s Corcoran Collection, the exhibition explores how artists with different backgrounds and styles captured some of the most iconic places in the United States—from the Hudson River Valley and the choppy ocean waters of New England to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park—in watercolor.

The exhibition opens tomorrow, August 2, and runs through February, 1, 2026. Admission is free to the public.