December Exhibitions and Event Listings for the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Press Release
Contact the Museum's Media Relations Team:
(216) 707-2261
marketingandcommunications@clevelandart.org
Events
Song Recital Project: Singing “Don Quixote”
Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Experience a unique program of vocal works inspired by Don Quixote, performed by Jason Fuh (baritone) and Betty Meyers (piano), presented by the Song Recital Project.
- Selections from Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte
- Sets of songs by Maurice Ravel and Jacques Ibert composed for G. W. Pabst’s 1933 film Don Quichotte
- Selections from Mitch Leigh’s musical Man of La Mancha
MIX: Snow Globe
Friday, December 5, 2025, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Ticket Required
Join us for MIX: Snow Globe, a winter holiday–themed party that features music from across the world. Hailing from Lagos, Nigeria, and nominated for Cleveland Magazine’s “Best DJ of 2024” and “Best DJ of 2025,” DJ Ik Dubaku spins Afrobeats, Afro house, and dance music from Asia and beyond. He is joined by DJ Flaco Flash, who spins Latin music from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Head to the Donna and James Reid Gallery (217) to hear Gabrieli’s Horns perform classic holiday tunes arranged for brass quintet from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Be sure to take photos among the museum’s holiday decor in the atrium. Themed food and drink items, including cocktails, beer, and wine, are available to purchase from Bon Appétit.
With admission to MIX, guests can view the CMA’s newest fashion exhibition, Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses, which examines the art historical inspirations that fuel recent creative Italian lexicon.
Guests are encouraged to dress up in winter- or holiday-inspired outfits, including but not limited to “ugly” sweaters.
Disclaimer: No full-face masks, heavy face paint, glitter, weaponlike props, or excessively oversized costumes are permitted. All outfits are subject to security screening. The Cleveland Museum of Art may refuse entry to any visitor whose attire does not comply with these requirements.
The Cleveland Chamber Choir: In Four Voices
Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Donna and James Reid Gallery | Gallery 217
Free; No Ticket Required
The Cleveland Chamber Choir presents a specially curated concert featuring music for four voices. The selections include William Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices, English madrigals, and three pieces by Cleveland-area composer Dr. Judith Eckelmeyer.
The region’s premier professional choir, the Cleveland Chamber Choir provides audiences with exceptional performances of a unique and diverse repertoire, blending music by living composers with nine centuries of choral repertoire and emphasizing the works of composers historically excluded from the concert hall. Since its founding in 2015, the choir has won acclaim for inclusive programming, for partnering with community charities, and for free concerts that ensure everyone can afford to hear world-class professional choral singing.
Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Ristow, the Cleveland Chamber Choir brings together performing artists, audience members, and donors with the philosophy that choral music is a vehicle for good in the world that should be accessible and welcoming to all. All the ensemble’s members are professional singers who currently reside in Northeast Ohio. The mission of the choir is to nurture and amplify the strength and resonance of Northeast Ohio’s choral artistry.
Chamber Music in the Galleries: The Music Settlement Faculty
Wednesday, December 10, 2025, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Paula and Eugene Stevens Gallery |Gallery 229B
Free; No Ticket Required
We are thrilled to continue our popular Chamber Music in the Galleries concert series. The repertoire performed at each concert is inspired by the art on view in the gallery in which the performance occurs.
Step into an immersive soundscape as the viola takes center stage in a concert that transforms the gallery into a living exhibit. This program explores the instrument’s expressive range through a diverse selection of works—from Telemann’s baroque elegance and Britten’s poignant lyricism to contemporary voices like Aliayta Foon-Dancoes, Reena Esmail, and Darian Donovan Thomas. Each piece highlights a unique facet of the viola’s voice, brought to life by the acoustics of the space, inviting listeners to experience the music as both performance and installation.
This concert is made possible by support from the William O. and Gertrude Lewis Frohring Foundation.
Chamber Music in the Atrium: A Musical Prelude for the Holidays
Friday, December 12, 2025, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Ring in the holiday season with a dazzling evening of classical music and dance presented by MUSiC—Stars in the Classics. The program features a selection of vocal works, piano duets, and other musical delights celebrating the season. Included in the program are excerpts from The Nutcracker performed by Ohio Contemporary Ballet.
Chamber Music in the Galleries: QinYing Tan
Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
The Reinberger Gallery |Gallery 212
Free; No Ticket Required
We are thrilled to continue our popular Chamber Music in the Galleries concert series. The repertoire performed at each concert is inspired by the art on view in the gallery in which the performance occurs.
The series continues with an exploration of music for the harpsichord performed by QinYing Tan.
Chamber Music in the Atrium: Linking Legacies
Friday, December 19, 2025, 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
We are thrilled to continue our popular Chamber Music in the Atrium concert series featuring young artists and faculty from Case Western Reserve University’s historical performance program, from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and from the Music Settlement.
This evening’s performance features Linking Legacies, an ensemble comprising multiple generations of African American classical artists that honors classical works by African American composers with deep ties to Northeast Ohio.
This program highlights a rich tapestry of musical voices, from William Grant Still’s Lyrical Suite for Violin and Piano and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s soulful setting of “Keep Me from Sinking Down” to Amy Beach’s tender Romanze. The recital also features spirited showpieces such as William Kroll’s Banjo and Fiddle and Henryk Wieniawski’s Polonaise de Concert, concluding with the evocative Lotus Land by Cyril Scott. Together, these works celebrate expressive depth, cultural lineage, and virtuosic artistry.
This concert is made possible by support from the William O. and Gertrude Lewis Frohring Foundation.
New This Month
Silver, Gold, and Gems: A Spotlight on Jewelry Across Africa
Sunday, December 7, 2025–Sunday, December 6, 2026
Gallery 108C
Free; No Ticket Required
For the first time, view a permanent display of gold and silver jewelry from across the African continent on view in the collection galleries of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Admire a selection of glittering ornaments from the Akan states of West Africa, shimmering gemstones from the Maghreb region, hair accessories from ancient Egypt in Northern Africa, and the bold silver of five recently gifted Ethiopian necklaces from East Africa. Spanning thousands of years, these works testify to the depth of African creativity, the skill of jewelers on the continent, and the eternal human desire for adornment.
Highlights of Japanese Art
Sunday, December 7, 2025–Sunday, June 14, 2026
Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Japanese Art Galleries | Galleries 235A–B
Free; No Ticket Required
These galleries feature recent acquisitions in dialogue with treasures from the museum’s world-renowned collection of Japanese art. The impressive, large-scale Welcoming Descent of Amida with Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas from the mid-1300s is displayed alongside the important early 1300s handscroll The Illustrated Miraculous Origins of the Yūzū Nenbutsu School, which depicts Buddhists interacting with paintings of Amida in descent.
A diminutive sculpture from the 1100s of Gozu Tennō, the ox-headed plague deity, is on view with a large Buddhist sketch and an image of Zaō Gongen, the deity of Mount Kinpu, both also from the same period. Together, these works of art show how Buddhist iconography informed how other gods were represented.
Five small-scale Nabeshima dishes showcase the versatility of ceramists in northern Kyushu during the 1600s and early 1700s, while a complex pair of early 1600s screens depicts the arrival of European traders to the port city of Nagasaki.
Ann Hamilton: still and moving • the tactile image
Sunday, December 14, 2025–Sunday, April 19, 2026
Toby’s Gallery for Contemporary Art | Gallery 229C
Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries | Gallery 230
Free; No Ticket Required
Where am I? What is here? Who is here? These are the questions that internationally renowned artist Ann Hamilton asks herself at the beginning of every project in order to find the appropriate medium, form, and physical manifestation with which to respond to the site or occasion. Eight years in the making, Hamilton’s exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art focuses on a medium that has become increasingly important to her over the past decade—photography.
Hamilton used a handheld scanner to bring to life objects in the museum’s collection that are rarely on display: small-scale figurative ceramics and crèche figures from the 1600s to the 1800s. Her floor-to-ceiling images of the diminutive sculptures fill the walls and surround the viewer in the museum’s photography gallery. The sculptures become characters joined in a story that is hinted at but never told.
A different photographic medium—video—dominates the second of the exhibition’s two galleries, where three videos circle the walls. They ask us to consider the act of making, to explore the concept of turning in space, and to ponder the relationship between touch and language.
Born in Lima, Ohio, and living in Columbus, Hamilton is among Ohio’s most influential and best-known artists. Among her many honors are the National Medal of the Arts, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Heinz Award, and the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.
Native North American Textiles
Friday, December 19, 2025–Sunday, December 13, 2026
Sarah P. and William R. Robertson Gallery | Gallery 231
Free; No Ticket Required
Newly on display from the permanent collection are two Diné (Navajo) textiles from the late 1800s. Both are rugs woven for the non-Native collectors’ market, modeled on the Diné shoulder blanket.
Ancient Andean Textiles
Friday, December 19, 2025–Sunday, December 13, 2026
Jon A. Lindseth and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Galleries of the Ancient Americas | Gallery 232
Free; No Ticket Required
Between about 3000 BCE and the early 1500s CE, ancient Andean weavers created one of the world’s most distinguished textile traditions in both artistic and technical terms. Within this time span, the most complex and well-preserved group of early textiles to survive was made by the Paracas people of Peru’s south coast.
Final Weeks
Native North American Textiles and Works on Paper
Through Sunday, December 14, 2025
Sarah P. and William R. Robertson Gallery | Gallery 231
Free; No Ticket Required
On display from the permanent collection are two Diné (Navajo) textiles from the late 1800s, as well as a watercolor from the 1930s made by Oqwa Pi, a member of the San Ildefonso Pueblo.
Ancient Andean Textiles
Through Sunday, December 14, 2025
Jon A. Lindseth and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Galleries of the Ancient Americas | Gallery 232
Ancient Andean weavers created one of the world’s most distinguished textile traditions. This installation features examples utilizing the tapestry technique, particularly esteemed in antiquity.
On-Site Activities
Lunchtime Lecture
Coloring Renaissance to Runway: Fashioning Red in Italian Fashion
Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Speaker: Darnell-Jamal Lisby, Associate Curator of Fashion
During the Italian early modern period, the color red was prominently adopted into style, becoming a symbol of luxury. Created using various dyestuffs, including those derived from insects such as the kermes and the cochineal, red was a symbol of power. Its essence has transcended time, conveying similar connotations in contemporary Italian fashion, which highlights the color’s connections to exuberant elegance and sensuality. Presented by the associate curator of fashion Darnell-Jamal Lisby, this lunchtime lecture explores how the color red helped define various narratives elicited by the Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses project. From Giorgio Armani to Gianfranco Ferré, from Versace to Alberta Ferretti, red represents a line from the past into the present and future modes of creativity.
Renaissance Influence in Armor and Textiles
Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Explore Renaissance-inspired armor and textiles to complement the exhibition Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses.
Filippino Lippi Curator Tour
Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 15, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 12, 2026, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Join us for an expert-led tour of the Focus Gallery exhibition Filippino Lippi and Rome. Curator Alexander J. Noelle, the exhibition curator, leads tours of the exhibition in December, January, and February.
Knights at the Museum
Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Armor Court | Gallery 210A
Free; No Ticket Required
Discover and engage with the artistry and technology of 16th-century Renaissance armor.
Renaissance to Runway Make and Sip: Fashion Sketchbooks
Wednesdays, December 10 and December 17, 2025, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Ticket Required
Instructor: Joanne Arnett
Join us for a creative evening of art making, drinks, and ambience. With fashion illustrator and instructor Joanne Arnett, learn to sketch your own look inspired by the fashion on view in the new exhibition Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses. Enjoy wine, beer, and light snacks as you sketch, sip, and get inspired by the centuries of Italian haute couture.
Each ticket includes a voucher for one beer, cocktail, or glass of wine. Any additional beverages or snacks are available for purchase.
This is a 21+ event.
Artist in the Atrium: Renaissance Arts
Saturday, December 13, 2025, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Stop by the Ames Family Atrium between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to get a firsthand look at the art-making process. Each session provides the opportunity to engage and interact with a different Northeast Ohio maker during pop-up demonstrations and activities. See their work unfold and learn how artists create. Explore a related selection of authentic objects from the CMA’s Education Art Collection in a pop-up Art Up Close session. See, think, and wonder.
Join the Society for Creative Anachronism in the Ames Family Atrium to celebrate Renaissance-era art-making processes. Learn about calligraphy, illumination, Renaissance-era clothing and music, and more in this fun themed event. Explore Renaissance artwork on view in multiple museum exhibitions: Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses; Filippino Lippi in Rome; In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth); and Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Digital Experience. Wear your best Renaissance-era costume and try your hand at historical art-making processes.
Play Day: Illuminate
Sunday, December 14, 2025, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Play Days at the CMA are free opportunities for families to be creative and curious and connect through art together. Events include music, storybook readings, games, and art making for the whole family. Each event has a theme that relates to an exhibition, artist, or artworks in the CMA’s collection.
Join us we embark on a captivating journey exploring the revealing beauty of light. Don’t miss a glowing display where light reveals the secrets of the past along with expert-led demonstrations of how art restoration brings forgotten masterpieces back to life with the CMA’s conservation team and the Education Art Collection!
Holiday Pop-Up! Open Studio
Saturday, December 27, 2025, and Sunday, December 28, 2025, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; No Ticket Required
Open Studio days provide free, drop-in art-making sessions designed for the whole family, encouraging creativity and bonding through hands-on activities.
Reflect on the year and dream of the future. Design a vessel for your memories and explore creative ways to document time.
Join us in the Ames Family Atrium for this special winter break studio!
Holiday Traditions Tours
Wednesdays, 5:45–6:45 p.m., Through December 28, 2025
Saturdays, 3:00–4:00 p.m., Through December 28, 2025
Sundays, 3:00–4:00 p.m., Through Sunday, December 28, 2025
Ames Family Atrium
Step into the spirit of the season with our Holiday Traditions Tour! Celebrate light, gifts, parties, and family gatherings while discovering how winter holidays have been marked across time and cultures. From ancient festivals of the solstice to modern celebrations, this tour highlights art and objects that tell stories of warmth, generosity, and togetherness during the darkest months of the year.
No tours on Wednesday, December 24—the museum closes at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
To schedule private tours for adult groups of 10 or more, please contact grouptours@clevelandart.org or call 216-707-2752.
Sensory-Friendly Saturday
Saturday, December 20, 2025, 9:00–10:00 a.m.
Free; No Ticket Required
Sensory-Friendly Saturday events offer adaptations to meet diverse sensory-processing needs every third Saturday of each month from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Guests on the autism spectrum, people experiencing dementia, and those of all ages who have intellectual or developmental disabilities are invited to participate in a calming museum experience with less stimulation in a section of the museum’s galleries before they open to the public—reducing crowds, noise, and distractions.
Guests can explore the galleries at their own pace and share this time and space with open-minded members of the community.
Things to Know While Planning Your Visit
- All guests must pass through metal detectors at the museum entrance.
- Attendees are encouraged to bring adaptive equipment, including wheelchairs, walkers, and noise-reducing headphones and technology. The Cleveland Museum of Art also offers a limited number of wheelchairs.
- The museum store and café open at 9:00 a.m. on these Saturdays.
- Sensory-Friendly Saturday events are free. Parking in the CMA garage is $14 for nonmembers and $7 for members.
- Once participants enter, they are welcome to stay for the day. The museum opens to the public at 10:00 a.m.
Art and Conversation Tours
Tuesdays, 10:15–10:45 a.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; Ticket Required
Join us for 30-minute close-looking sessions, from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesdays. This program offers a focused look at just a couple of artworks, versus the traditional 60-minute public tours of the museum’s collection.
Daily Guided Tours
Tuesday–Sunday
Ames Family Atrium
Free; Ticket Required
Public tours are offered daily at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, with additional tours at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. Art and Conversation Tours are offered at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesdays.
Date-Night Tours: Holiday Traditions
Fridays, 6:15–7:15 p.m.
Ames Family Atrium
Free; Ticket Required
Share a festive experience as you explore how couples, families, and communities have celebrated the season across time and cultures. From glowing solstice rituals to gift-giving traditions and joyful winter gatherings, discover artworks that reveal how people have found warmth, love, and togetherness in the darkest months of the year. This intimate tour invites you and your partner to spark conversation, savor shared moments, and create a new holiday tradition of your own.
The museum also offers daily guided tours and Art and Conversation tours. To schedule private tours for adult groups of 10 or more, please contact grouptours@clevelandart.org or call 216-707-2752.
Renaissance to Runway Tours
Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 12:00–1:00 p.m., Through February 1, 2026
Ames Family Atrium
Experience docent-guided tours of Renaissance to Runway, a dazzling special exhibition that brings together more than 100 couture outfits and accessories in dialogue with Italian fine, decorative, and textile arts from the 1400s to the early 1600s. Explore masterpieces of design, craftsmanship, and style with insights from our knowledgeable guides.
Tours meet their docent at the information desk in the Ames Family Atrium.
To schedule private tours for adult groups of 10 or more, please contact grouptours@clevelandart.org or call 216-707-2752.
Continuing Exhibitions
Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations
Through January 11, 2026
Gallery 242B
Free; No Ticket Required
When the 1500s began, the dominant style of Indian painting was flat and abstract with a limited, mainly primary color palette. By the 1520s, a new style emerged with greater narrative complexities and dramatic energy that was to be foundational for later developments. Concurrently, some artists began working in the pastel palette and with delicate motifs reinterpreted from Persian art.
Then, around 1560, with the exuberant patronage of the third Mughal emperor Akbar (born 1542, reigned 1556–1605), artists from different parts of the empire and trained in a variety of Indian styles came together in a new imperial painting workshop. The workshop was led by Persian masters brought from the imperial court in Iran. The formation of Mughal painting shaped by Akbar’s taste for drama and realism had a lasting impact on the cultural life of India. With its naturalism and vibrant compositions, the revolutionary new style was distinct from its predecessors, both Indian and Persian. The paintings in this gallery trace the dramatic changes that occurred during the 1500s alongside compositions that artists chose to retain and reinvent. Central to this story is a manuscript of the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot), an illustrated collection of fables made for Akbar around 1560–65 now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth)
Through Sunday, January 11, 2026
James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries | Galleries 101A–B
Free; No Ticket Required
For millennia, wine has played a significant role not only in the human diet but also in cultural myths, rituals, and festivities. As a result, wine—its ingredients, making, drinking, and effects on the human body and mind—has been a constant muse for artistic creation. The exhibition In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth), a phrase coined by the Roman polymath Pliny the Elder, celebrates the presence and meaning of wine in prints, drawings, textiles, and objects made in Europe between 1450 and 1800. Drawn from the museum’s collection, more than 70 works by artists from throughout Europe explore wine’s myths, symbols, and stories. These images reveal how diverse cultures and religions ascribed meaning and transformational properties to the so-called nectar of the gods.
The ancient Greeks believed that the god Dionysus (in Rome, Bacchus) lived within wine: to drink wine was to partake of the god’s power. Fascinated by ancient culture, Italian Renaissance artists, such as Andrea Mantegna and Raphael, imagined scenes of boisterous festivals, or bacchanalia, along with the exploits of Bacchus and his coterie of satyrs, nymphs, and fauns. In Northern Europe, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and later Jean-Honoré Fragonard, transformed bacchanalia into raucous peasant festivals and sensuous garden parties fueled by wine, at times tinged with moral judgment. Simultaneously, wine played a critical allegorical role in images made within the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Old Testament and Hebrew Bible traced wine’s invention to Noah. Numerous stories from these texts, portrayed by Lucas van Leyden and others, leveraged wine as an important plot element, with the ability to unify and enlighten, or to incapacitate and deceive. Many artists, such as Albrecht Dürer, used wine, grapes, and the vine to symbolize the Catholic rite of the Eucharist and its origin in Christ’s Last Supper. Throughout the exhibition, wine appears in scenes of devotion, harvest, celebration, music making, and transgression, signaling community cohesion as well as the pleasures—and hazards—of surrendering to one’s senses
Generous support is provided by the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund.
Eleanor Antin’s Nurse and Hijackers
Through Sunday, January 11, 2026
Gallery 224B
Free; No Ticket Required
In this video, Eleanor Antin draws on the form of popular disaster movies to explore history, contemporary culture, and identity from a feminist perspective. The narrative—a hijacking of a nurse’s plane on its way to Saint-Tropez, France—is enacted by paper dolls, whose voices and gestures are performed by the artist. This unfolds aboard a handcrafted set also made by the artist. Using recognizable styles from film and television of the time, Antin’s feature-length narrative invites viewers to consider the ways that contemporary international politics are represented in the media.
Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses
Through Sunday, February 1, 2026
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall
Fashion as a medium undeniably addresses ideas that transcend time from the past into the present. Through the majestic creations of more than 100 modern and contemporary Italian fashions and accessories in dialogue with Italian fine, decorative, and textile arts from the 1400s to the early 1600s, Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses examines the art historical inspirations that fuel recent creative Italian lexicon, expanding fantasies of the Renaissance, Mannerist, and early Baroque periods.
More than 500 years ago, families, or “houses,” who ruled the states across the Italian peninsula, such as the Medici of Florence and the Sforza of Milan, used fashion as a form of power and influence, from dictating fashionable styles that were immortalized through painted portraits to controlling textile production as a form of currency. Conversely, since the turn of the 1900s, rising Italian fashion companies, also called “houses,” have been founded by prolific individuals and families who dominate global style with unmatched design craftsmanship, quality fabrics, and enthralling aesthetics. From Versace and Valentino to Ferragamo and Capucci, these houses have interpreted Italian early modern–period aesthetics to develop fresh perspectives throughout the fashion landscape. This exhibition illustrates how fashion, in all of its change, is a continuous thread that uncovers history’s complexities as it materializes contemporary beauty.
Presented by the John P. Murphy Foundation
Major support is provided by Courtney and Michael Novak. Generous support is provided by Sandra and the late Richey Smith and the Carol Yellig Family Fund. Additional support is provided by Dr. Russell A. Trusso.
British Portrait Miniatures: Tokens of Love and Loss
Through Sunday, February 15, 2026
Ellen and Bruce Mavec Gallery | Gallery 203B
Free; No Ticket Required
Exchanged as personal mementos or as signs of political allegiance, portrait miniatures first appeared in the French and English courts of the 1520s. Evolved from the art of medieval illuminated manuscripts, miniatures provided a less expensive and more personal alternative to traditional full-scale portraiture. Portrait miniatures were portable luxury objects treasured by their owners both for the cherished portrait and the precious materials from which they were crafted. These might include gold, enamel, diamonds, and locks of human hair.
Their small scale and the fact that people often wore them as jewelry and carried them on their person conveys a different type of intimacy than larger scale portraits. Sitters are often depicted more informally and with the gaze of a particular loved one in mind. Miniatures remained popular for nearly three centuries. The advent of photography in 1839 offered a more cost-effective method of capturing a keepsake likeness, and the portrait miniature faded from fashion.
Filippino Lippi and Rome
Through Sunday, February 22, 2026
Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery | Gallery 010
Free; No Ticket Required
In the century following his death, Florentine painter Filippino Lippi (c. 1457–1504) was celebrated as “a painter of the most beautiful intelligence and the most lovely invention.” After training with his father—the luminary artist Fra Filippo Lippi—Filippino Lippi apprenticed and collaborated with Sandro Botticelli, in whose workshop he developed his own style. Filippino found great success as an independent painter in late quattrocento Florence and won the favor of patrician families as well as the patronage of Lorenzo “The Magnificent” de’ Medici, the city’s de facto ruler. Upon Lorenzo’s recommendation, Neapolitan cardinal Oliviero Carafa engaged Filippino to decorate his sizable chapel in Rome’s Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The resulting frescoes, painted between 1488 and 1493, are among the most celebrated of the Renaissance. Filippino found new inspiration in the fragments of ancient paintings, sculpture, and architecture across the Eternal City; the painter’s designs for the Carafa Chapel demonstrate a shift in both his style and iconography. After returning to Florence, Filippino continued to incorporate his Roman innovations in his paintings for the remainder of his life.
Filippino Lippi and Rome reconsiders the lasting impact of the painter’s time in the Eternal City, juxtaposing Filippino’s Roman artworks with their Florentine precursors and successors. The exhibition places 25 paintings, drawings, and antiquities in direct conversation with important loans from national and international lenders, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; His Majesty King Charles III; the National Gallery, London; the Galleria degli Uffizi; and the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, among others. For the first time, these related artworks are brought together, in some cases reuniting paintings with their studies. Each object has been carefully selected to elucidate the evolution of Filippino’s artistic practice before, during, and after his Roman period. The Cleveland Museum of Art’s seminal tondo by Filippino, The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret, is at the center of the exhibition. Commissioned by Carafa while Filippino was frescoing the cardinal’s chapel, this important painting is the only known independent work produced by the artist in Rome. Filippino Lippi and Rome traces the arc of Filippino’s career across time and media, constituting a unique opportunity for scholars and the public alike to discover the artistic processes and iconographic ingenuities of one of the most gifted and accomplished Renaissance painters.
Principal support is provided by the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund. Major support is provided by the Robert Lehman Foundation. Additional support is provided by Robert G. Simon.
Juxtaposition and Juncture in Korean Modern and Contemporary Art
Through April 1, 2026
Korea Foundation Gallery | Gallery 236
Free; No Ticket Required
The term “juxtaposition” here refers to the side-by-side placement of two or more artworks that are significantly different from one another. Featuring Korean modern and contemporary objects that the CMA has collected over the past 15 years, this thematic exhibition juxtaposes them to create an exciting juncture of connections through their visual and material contrasts.
While the selected works were created by Korean artists from diverse backgrounds and different generations, they make a poignant meeting place illustrating how objects from the past inspired contemporary artists to create new experiences and artistic expressions.
Adorning Ritual: Jewish Ceremonial Art from the Jewish Museum, New York
Through Sunday, May 10, 2026
Various Galleries
Free; No Ticket Required
The Cleveland Museum of Art houses an encyclopedic collection, giving visitors valuable insights and perspectives into the lives and cultures of people around the world and throughout time. To enhance its permanent collection and to more fully represent the stories and objects important to our communities, the museum is displaying art on loan from the Jewish Museum, New York, in six galleries.
Most of the works are ritual objects relating to Judaism or the lives of Jewish people, from silver Torah finials to an inlaid marble panel commemorating a marriage. The objects have been placed in context with other works of the same time or region, allowing a fuller narrative to unfold. As you encounter these objects in the galleries, we invite you to consider their relationships to the other works in these spaces.
In addition to the loans from the Jewish Museum, two examples of Jewish ceremonial art from local collections are on display in two additional galleries: an etrog box recently acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art and a miniature Torah ark on loan from the Mishkan Or Museum of Jewish Cultures in Beachwood, Ohio.
Principal support is provided by Rebecca and David Heller and Gail and Elliott Schlang. Additional support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, Richard A. Horvitz and Erica Hartman-Horvitz, Mr. and Mrs. David D. Kahan, Marjorie Moskovitz Kanfer and Joseph Kanfer, Dr. Linda M. Sandhaus and Dr. Roland S. Philip, and the Simon Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
A Myriad of Flowers and Birds in Chinese Art
Through Sunday, May 24, 2026
Clara T. Rankin Suite of Chinese Art Galleries | Gallery 240A
Free; No Ticket Required
For artists of historical China, the natural world was a major source of inspiration. Birds and flowers reflect nature’s beauty in an ideal way. Bird-and-flower paintings were not only appreciated for their decorative appeal and artistic merit, the motifs may also have symbolic connotation and sometimes form a rebus, a visual and auditory pun, to express good wishes to the recipient.
This display presents around 20 paintings, porcelain, and embroidery from the collections of the museum and a private collector, some of which have not been shown to the public before.
This display is dedicated to the memory of the late Clara T. Rankin, museum trustee and lover of birds and flowers.
Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Conservation Experience
Through Sunday, August 23, 2026
Gallery 115
Free; No Ticket Required
Through a digital immersive experience, step into the conservation studio and get a behind-the-scenes look at the materials and techniques conservators use to preserve paintings in the CMA collection.
For almost 50 years, Pintoricchio’s Virgin and Child (c. 1490–1500) was in storage at the CMA, its last original layers of blue paint hidden beneath a mask of restoration treatments undertaken in the 1900s. Although considered one of the most significant paintings within the early Italian collection, its complicated restoration history and physical state rendered it largely unexhibitable.
In the most recent conservation treatment, original paint layers were revealed, allowing unparalleled access to Pintoricchio’s original composition, freed from past interventions. This allowed conservators to embark on the rediscovery and reexamination of one of the more damaged paintings within the CMA collection and use cutting-edge technologies to better understand the materials and techniques used by the artist. Through a large digital display, visitors can traverse the layers of the painting and its conservation treatment, examining changing details as if magnified under a microscope.
This exhibition is made possible with support from Jared and Linda Buono Chaney and Carl M. Jenks.
All activities of the Eric T. and Jane Baker Nord Family Conservation Suite are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Conservation.
All digital innovation and technology initiatives at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Digital Innovation Fund.
American Printed Silks, 1927–1947
Through Sunday, November 8, 2026
Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Gallery | Gallery 234
Free; No Ticket Required
Between the late 1920s and late 1940s, the US was a leader in printed silks used in fashionable attire and interiors. This exhibition showcases printed silks in the CMA’s collection from four American companies—Stehli Silks Corporation, H. R. Mallinson and Company, Silks Beau Monde, and Onondaga Silk Company.
This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Children’s Armor from the Imperial Habsburg Armory in Vienna
Through Sunday, June 4, 2028
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Armor Court | Gallery 210A
Free; No Ticket Required
Four historically significant suits of armor from the Imperial Habsburg Armory in Vienna, Austria, are being displayed in the armor court for the next three years. The selection focuses on children’s armor and weapons to illustrate how a military education played an important role in training boys to become a knight. A few objects from the CMA’s own collection of children’s armor are being shown alongside these magnificent loans.
Principal support is provided by the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation.
New Acquisition: Giambologna’s Fata Morgana
Through Sunday, September 1, 2030
Gallery 117B
Free; No Ticket Required
The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired Fata Morgana, one of the greatest works by Giambologna (1529–1608), the preeminent sculptor of his generation, and the last known marble sculpture by his hand in a private collection. This rare and internationally renowned figure is being shown in a gallery evoking the Tuscan grotto in which it was originally placed.
Transformer Station
1460 W 29th St, Cleveland, OH 44113
New Work: FRONT Fellows Show
Through Saturday, December 27, 2025
Thursday–Saturday, 3:00–6:00 p.m.
*Closed on Christmas Day
Free; No Ticket Required
The CMA’s 2025 Transformer Station exhibition schedule includes the capstone exhibition of work by the FRONT Art Futures Fellows. The program allows fellows to develop their artistic practice, build their network, and gain exposure to the contemporary art world with substantial financial and professional support.
This exhibition culminates a three-year fellowship program that provides professional development opportunities for emerging artists in Northeast Ohio. The exhibition features work by Amanda D. King (opens in a new tab), Charmaine Spencer (opens in a new tab), Erykah Townsend (opens in a new tab), and Antwoine Washington (opens in a new tab). Launched in 2022, the FRONT Art Futures Fellows were chosen by a national advisory board of curators and artists. The fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend, travel, and financial support for full participation in the planned 2025 FRONT Triennial. The exhibition showcases the work of the four fellows from the years of the fellowship, an adaptation of the originally scheduled four-part program.
The fellows’ work represents a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installation. The exhibition explores themes of identity, place, and community.
CMA Community Arts Center On-Site Activities
2937 West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Free Parking in the Lot off Castle Avenue | Estacionamiento Gratis en la Avenida Castle
Family FUNday: Lantern Workshop
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Free; No Ticket Required | Gratis; No Se Requiere Reserva
Join us at the Community Arts Center (CAC) for a DIY lantern workshop! The Sears think[box] team is on hand to help you assemble your own glowing lantern while sharing the basics of circuitry. After completing the LED circuit, personalize your lantern by adding festive decorations and designs using the Open Press Project’s 3-D printed press and 3-D printed embossing plates created at Sears think[box].
This workshop is free and open to all ages. Materials are provided at the sign-in table during the workshop. Limit to one lantern per guest.
Learn more about Sears think[box] and all they have to offer on the Sears think[box] | Case Western Reserve University website. (opens in a new tab)
¡Únase a nosotros en el Centro de Artes Comunitarias (CAC) para un taller de linternas de bricolaje! El equipo de think[box] de Sears lo ayudará a armar su propia linterna brillante mientras comparte los conceptos básicos de los circuitos. Después de completar el circuito LED, personalice su linterna agregando decoraciones y diseños festivos utilizando la prensa impresa en 3-D del Open Press Project y las placas de relieve impresas en 3-D creadas en Sears think[box]. Este taller es gratuito y abierto a todas las edades. Materiales proporcionados en la mesa de registro durante el taller. Límite a uno linterna por invitado.
Obtenga más información sobre Sears think[box] y todo lo que tienen para ofrecer en Sears think[box] | Sitio web de la Universidad Case Western Reserve (opens in a new tab).
Solstice Studio
Sunday, December 21, 2025, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Free; No Ticket Required | Gratis; No Se Requiere Boleto
Join us at the Community Arts Center during the winter solstice to make your own celestial creation inspired by works in Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection. The winter solstice often represents the rebirth of light and the promise of renewal. Come reflect on what this seasonal shift represents in your life. This workshop is open to people of all ages and all artistic abilities.
All materials are provided, though young children require adult assistance and monitoring.
Community Arts Center Open Studios | Estudios Abiertos del Centro de Artes Comunitario
Weekly on Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Free; No Ticket Required | Gratis; No Se Requiere Boleto
Enjoy free, drop-in art making. A monthly theme connects community, art, and exploration. In the month of December, learn more about textile design and draw inspiration from the American Printed Silks, 1927–1947 exhibition.
Disfrute el arte con toda la familia. Gratis para participar. Cada mes presenta una temática conectando el arte, la comunidad y la exploración. Durante el mes de diciembre, aprende más sobre el diseño textil e inspírarte con la exposición American Printed Silks, 1927–1947.
Comic Club
Monthly on the first Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Free; All Ages; No Reservation | Gratis; Todas Edades; No Es Necesario Registrarse
Be inspired and venture into the world of storytelling with artist Kobe Saunders (opens in a new tab). Work in the company of others to develop your own style and collaborate!
Explore the long history of sequential art through various genres and cultures, including newspaper comic strips, American superhero comics and graphic novels, Japanese manga, and media adaptations (film and television) of these stories. Practice techniques to improve drawing and storytelling skills with a focus in character design, visual language, and panel structure.
Inspírate y aventúrate en el mundo de la narración de historias con el artista Kobe Saunders (opens in a new tab). ¡Trabaja en compañía de otros para desarrollar tu propio estilo y colaborar!
Explora la larga historia del arte secuencial a través de varios géneros y culturas, incluidas las tiras cómicas de periódicos, los cómics y novelas gráficas de superhéroes estadounidenses, el manga japonés y las adaptaciones de medios (cine y televisión) de estas historias. Practique técnicas para mejorar las habilidades de dibujo y narración con un enfoque en el diseño de personajes, el lenguaje visual y la estructura de paneles.
The Creative Table
Monthly on Each Second Friday, 5:00–7:00 p.m.
Free; No Ticket Required | Gratis; No Se Requiere Boleto
Join us on the second Friday of each month for a laid-back evening of conversation and creativity. Whether you’re a painter, poet, photographer, or just curious, come hang out and share what you’ve been working on!
All mediums are welcomed. The event is an open-discussion form.
Únase a nosotros el segundo viernes de cada mes para una noche relajada de conversación y creatividad. Ya sea que sea pintor, poeta, fotógrafo o simplemente curioso, venga a pasar el ratoy comparta en qué ha estado trabajando.
Todos los medios son bienvenidos. El evento tiene un formato de discusión abierta.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is pleased to present a variety of performing arts events. The views expressed by performers during these events are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The 2025–26 Performing Arts Series is sponsored by the Musart Society. This program is made possible in part by the Ernest L. and Louise M. Gartner Fund, the P. J. McMyler Musical Endowment Fund, and the Anton and Rose Zverina Music Fund.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Performances at Transformer Station are generously supported by the Cleveland Foundation.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.
Education programs, exhibitions, and performing arts programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen and Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Medical Mutual of Ohio, the Edwin D. Northrup II Fund, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous donor, Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Linda Harper, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Susan LaPine, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, the Pickering Foundation, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Suzanne Cushwa Rusnak and Jeff Rusnak, Ellen and Lowell Satre, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, Jack and Jeanette Walton, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
All activities of the Eric T. and Jane Baker Nord Family Conservation Suite are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Conservation. Principal annual support is provided by an anonymous donor and the Parker Hannifin Corporation. Major annual support is provided by Cathy Lincoln, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, and the Dawn M. Neff Endowed Fund for Conservation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous donor, Gini and Randy Barbato, , Brenda and Marshall Brown, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Linda Harper, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Albert Leonetti and Ruth Anna Carlson, Dr. and Mrs. John T. Lai, Albert Leonetti and Ruth Anna Carlson, June and Simon K. C. Li, William and Joyce Litzler, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, the Pickering Foundation, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Anya and John Rudd, Dr. Isobel Rutherford, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Paula and Eugene Stevens, Jack and Jeanette Walton, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
All digital innovation and technology initiatives at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the Digital Innovation Fund. Principal support is provided by two anonymous donors, the Bishop Parker Foundation, Walt and Kathy Fortney, Mr. William N. Hanson in loving memory of Susan H. Hanson, the late Dr. and Mrs. Gilles Klopman, the late Mr. Arthur S. Rundle, John and Leanne Sauerland, and Mrs. Meredith M. Seikel. Major support is provided by Mr. and Mrs. Tim Elek Jr. and the Trilling Family Foundation.
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About the Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovations. One of the foremost encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and is free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.
The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.