Exhibitions

Front Lines: Women Etchers at the Fore, 1880 to Today

Aug 07, 2025 - Apr 26, 2026, Markell Gallery

This exhibition brings together the etchings of an international array of women who have continued the legacy of the etching revival of the turn of the twentieth century, expanding the scope of the medium and their own creative practices. Through work of artists including Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Suzanne Valadon, Emma Amos, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Käthe Kollwitz, Hung Liu, Louise Nevelson, Howardena Pindell, Dorothea Rockburne, Barbara Rossi, Alison Saar, and Suzanne Valadon, "Front Lines" explores such themes as gender, race, class, and identity in addition to the expressive idioms of both figuration and abstraction.

Rudy Burckhardt: Three Maine Films

Jun 28, 2025 - Nov 09, 2025, Media Gallery

This exhibition shares three films artist and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt shot near his home in midcoast Maine: "Daisy" (1966), "The Apple" (1967), and "Caterpillar" (1973). Together, these shorts reveal the playful, contemplative, and collaborative aspects of the artist’s work and pay homage to the state’s natural landscapes.

John McKee: As Maine Goes

Jun 28, 2025 - Nov 09, 2025, Center Gallery

In 1966, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presented an exhibition of photographs by John McKee titled "As Maine Goes." The exhibition featured a series of black-and-white photographs that starkly depicted the environmental degradation of Maine’s coastal landscapes, highlighting issues such as pollution, seaside dumps, and the impact of unchecked development. Almost 60 years later, the Museum is refreshing McKee’s original exhibition in a new presentation that is no less relevant in the face of the changing climate and its impact on Maine.

Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944

Jun 28, 2025 - Nov 09, 2025, Bernard and Barbro Osher Gallery

In January 1944, at the height of World War II, Gordon Parks photographed Herklas Brown, owner of the general store and Esso gas station in Somerville, Maine. These 65 photographs, which are being exhibited at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in partnership with The Gordon Parks Foundation, highlight an important early chapter in Parks’ career—before he joined Life magazine in 1948 and began to achieve wider recognition.

Flora et Fauna: Nature in Ancient Mediterranean Art and Culture

Mar 06, 2025 - Mar 07, 2026, Walker Gallery

Featuring works from the collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art spanning nearly two thousand years —from approximately 1300 BCE to 400 CE—Flora et Fauna examines how ancient Mediterranean societies understood and depicted the natural world.

Currents: Art Since 1875

Oct 12, 2023 - Jan 03, 2027, Boyd Gallery

"Currents: Art Since 1875" tells new stories, asks provocative questions, and challenges assumptions about the human experience through works of twentieth and twenty-first century art.

Re|Framing the Collection: New Considerations in European and American Art, 1475-1875

May 14, 2021 - , Bowdoin Gallery

This exhibition of art in the Atlantic World considers empire-building across Europe, North America, and their colonies, and how it shaped interconnected global networks from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.