Current Exhibitions

Sandra Ramos (Cuban, b. 1969) Bajo el hechizo de la palma (Under the Spell of the Palm), 1993 Etching Framed: 28 x 32 x 2 inches The Rice Collection
Sandra Ramos (Cuban, b. 1969)
Bajo el hechizo de la palma (Under the Spell of the Palm), 1993
Etching
Framed: 28 x 32 x 2 inches
The Rice Collection

Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art

On view February 6, 2025, through July 6, 2025

Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art traces Susie and Mitchell Rice’s decade-long path of discovering the art and artists of Cuba. An extensive intergenerational exhibition of modern and contemporary Cuban art presents 79 paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, mixed media, art books, and sculptures by 53 artists selected and organized along six themes: The Language of Forms and the Forms of Language; The Prophet’s Dream; The Great Journey; Sensory Landscapes of Memory and Desire; The Musings of Narcissus; and The Spirit of the Real, the Reality of the Spirit.

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Cora Bowen, Layers of Identity, Mixed Media, Blake High School, Grade 11, Art Teacher: Linda Galgani

14th Congressional and Next Generation High School Art Competition 2025

On view February 1 through April 13, 2025

This annual high school art exhibition features exemplary work created by high school students throughout the 14th Congressional District and Hillsborough County. Students compete for two top prizes: the Museum Choice Award and the Congressional Choice Award. The artwork selected for the Congressional Choice Award will continue to represent the district in the National Congressional High School Art Competition, hanging in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol for one year.

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William James Stillman (American, 1828–1901) (attributed to), Acropolis, Athens, c. 1875 (detail). Albumen print. 8 × 10 ¼ inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. William Knight Zewadski, 1999.093
William James Stillman (American, 1828–1901) (attributed to), Acropolis, Athens, c. 1875 (detail). Albumen print. 8 × 10 ¼ inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. William Knight Zewadski, 1999.093

Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy

On view October 25, 2024, through May 18, 2025

The U.S. democratic constitution was in large part inspired by the popular government of Classical Athens, as well as the Roman Republic and the French Enlightenment. During the 2024 Presidential Elections, the Tampa Museum of Art will highlight the ancient Greek city-state Athens, as the birthplace of democracy. There, between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, male citizens gained power in a form of government based on the rule of law.

The exhibition is based on the Museum’s extensive collection of 19th century photography, paired with a dozen antiquities from the permanent collection as well as some significant loans. Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy illustrates archaeological site such as the Acropolis, the arts and culture of Classical Athens such as sculpture and ceramic vases, theater and athletics, as well as the gods and goddesses worshipped in the city. The exhibition allows the visitor to contemplate the ideals of the society that gave birth to democracy.

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Gravestone for Paul Depicting dove in temple architecture, inscribed in Greek Painted limestone relief, Egypt, early Christian, n.d. FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (99.03.1.1)
Gravestone for Paul
Depicting dove in temple architecture, inscribed in Greek
Painted limestone relief, Egypt, early Christian, n.d.
FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (99.03.1.1)

The Art of Coptic Egypt

From the Collection of Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi

On view September 13, 2024, through September 28, 2025

The word “Copt” refers to the native population of Egypt, many of whom converted to Christianity in the early centuries of the Roman period. Tradition maintains that the Holy Family sojourned in Egypt and that Saint Mark, the Evangelist, established the first Christian church in Egypt in Alexandria in the first century. The Copts shared a common material culture with their polytheistic neighbors. Imperial edicts established Christianity as the religion of the empire in the late 4th century, which allowed the Coptic community to flourish.

The Art of Coptic Egypt showcases over fifty artifacts from a local private collection dating from early centuries of the Roman Imperial to the Middle Ages, although special attention is given to objects specifically associated with the Coptic church. Today, there is still a thriving, vibrant Coptic community in Egypt and beyond, including in Tampa.

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Raikol Valdes-Camejo, Donuts, Mixed Media, Davis Elementary, Grade 2, Art Teacher: Eileen Alaniz Verduzco

Young at Art K-8 Student Exhibition

On view January 13, 2025 through April 13, 2025

Each year the Tampa Museum of Art invites Hillsborough County art teachers to submit a student’s artwork for the Young at Art Student Exhibition. The Museum celebrates the creativity of this year’s submissions from students in kindergarten through eighth grade. We would also like to acknowledge the dedication and support of the visual arts by the educators, school staff and administration, and the families and friends of the artists.

Jennifer Steinkamp (American, b. 1958), Madame Curie, 2011-2023. Eight channel, synchronized projection. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London. 

Jennifer Steinkamp:
Madame Curie

On view August 8, 2024, through August 10, 2025

Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie, a multi-channel video installation, nods to the achievements and life of scientist and Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie. Eve Curie, Marie and Pierre Curie’s daughter, wrote the definitive biography on the scientist and noted her mother’s passion for gardening. Steinkamp, a pioneer in video art and animation, depicts in Madame Curie over 40 flowers and plants described in Curie’s biography. In this room-sized installation, entangled and intertwined flora appear to swirl and sway as the branches and flowers slowly move across the projection. Animations of apple blossoms, daisies, eucalyptus, passion flowers, periwinkle, and wisteria are amongst the flowers featured in Madame Curie. Originally commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in 2011, Madame Curie will be presented as a site-specific installation at the new Bronson Thayer Gallery at the Tampa Museum of Art.

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Suchitra Mattai (Guyanese, b. 1973), "Womb", 2023. Vintage saris, fabric, 3-d printed celestial figure sculptures. 90 x 74 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photographer: Heather Rasmussen
Suchitra Mattai (Guyanese, b. 1973), womb, 2023. Vintage saris, fabric, 3-d printed celestial figure sculptures. 90 x 74 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photographer: Heather Rasmussen

Suchitra Mattai:
Bodies and Souls

On view June 21, 2024, through April 20, 2025

The exhibition Suchitra Mattai: Bodies and Souls explores migration, matriarchy, and materiality. Mattai uses found objects, such as vintage saris, to create colorful monumental installations. She wraps, braids, stitches, and weaves fabrics together as allegories for historical and personal narratives. For her first museum exhibition in Florida and the Southeast, Mattai will premier new installations in conversation with recent works, highlighting the artist’s ongoing investigations of the past and present.

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Esterio Segura highlights the complexity of everyday life in Cuba in artworks exploring the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the island nation. Different manifestations of winged animals and machines, airplanes, and submarines appear in his art and represent themes of freedom, isolation, immigration, desire, and exile. Hybrid of a Chrysler, features Segura’s signature use of wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor. The car, like the classic autos used daily in Cuba, appears ready for flight. Hybrid of a Chrysler premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has traveled across the globe to Venice, Italy and Washington DC, to Gainesville, Florida, and has now returned to Tampa
Esterio Segura (Cuban, b. 1970)
Hybrid of a Chrysler, 2016
Vintage automobile and mixed media installation
Collection of Susie and Mitchell Rice

Esterio Segura: Hybrid of a Chrysler

On view now

Esterio Segura highlights the complexity of everyday life in Cuba in artworks exploring the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the island nation. Different manifestations of winged animals and machines, airplanes, and submarines appear in his art and represent themes of freedom, isolation, immigration, desire, and exile. Hybrid of a Chrysler, features Segura’s signature use of wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor. The car, like the classic autos used daily in Cuba, appears ready for flight. Hybrid of a Chrysler premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has traveled across the globe to Venice, Italy and Washington DC, to Gainesville, Florida, and has now returned to Tampa.

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"Joseph V. Noble with His Prized Possession" Portrait by Yousuf Karsh (Armenian-Canadian, 1908-2002) Black-figure Attic pseudo-Panathenaic amphora, Athens, ca. 540 bce. Tampa Museum of Art, Joseph Veach Collection, Museum Purchase, 1986.024
Joseph V. Noble with His Prized Possession
Portrait by Yousuf Karsh (Armenian-Canadian, 1908-2002). Black-figure Attic pseudo-Panathenaic amphora, Athens, ca. 540 BCE. Tampa Museum of Art, Joseph Veach Collection, Museum Purchase, 1986.024

Joseph Veach Noble: Through the Eye of a Collector

On view April 18, 2024, through February 19, 2026

In 1986, the Tampa Museum of Art acquired some 175 ancient objects from the eminent collection of Joseph Veach Noble (1920-2007). This acquisition became the cornerstone of the museum’s burgeoning permanent collection of antiquities that has since grown to about 875 objects (and counting). After nearly four decades, it is high time to place the Noble collection in the spotlight once more.

The superb Noble collection of Greek and Italian vases is of international renown for its breadth of themes and styles, forms and techniques. The Noble vases are therefore of superior educational value to illuminate aspects of ancient Greek myth and religion, warfare and athletics, wine culture and cosmetics, daily life and entertainment. Many vases of Noble’s collection have been on display in the past decades, but no dedicated presentation of the collection has been on view since the inaugural exhibition at the TMA in 1986. The two-year exhibition Through the Eye of a Collector will also showcase fascinating curiosities and beautiful sculptures in the TMA’s Noble Collection.

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Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), "Manifestations", 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami
Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), Manifestations, 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami

Vaughn Spann: Allegories

On view now

Abstraction and figuration converge in Vaughn Spann’s monumental paintings. Marked Men, an ongoing series, features a prominent X at the center of the canvas. Rendered in vibrant paint swaths—from sapphire to sky blue, crimson red and marigold yellow, to blush pink and emerald green—the X creates grids of kaleidoscopic colors. A stand-in for the body, unknown, or the anonymous, Spann’s X signifies both individual and collective experiences. The suite of four large-scale paintings on view demonstrates Spann’s exploration of personal, political, and art historical narratives. 

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Artist Unknown, "Erzulie Danthor", c. 1980s. Chromolithograph, sequins, and beads on cloth. 36 1/2 x 33 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Ed and Ann Gessen, 2019.030.
Artist Unknown, Erzulie Danthor, c. 1980s. Chromolithograph, sequins, and beads on cloth. 36 1/2 x 33 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Ed and Ann Gessen, 2019.030.

Sequin Arts: The Flagmakers of Haiti

On view now

The second presentation of the Tampa Museum of Art’s Haitian flag collection highlights Erzulie, one of the most powerful and beloved Lwas or gods of the Vodou pantheon. Erzulie represents a family of goddesses who are also referred to as Ezili or Ézili. Erzulie Freida and Erzulie Dantor symbolize the two most recognizable forms of Erzulie. Considered sisters and rivals, Erzulie Freida and Erzulie Dantor both embody love but show it in different ways. Erzulie Freida exudes love through passion and sensuality, whereas Erzulie Danthor guards and defends the people she loves. Both manifestations of Erzulie are represented by hearts pierced with daggers. As demonstrated by the fifteen flags on view, Erzulie continues to captivate and inspire the artists of Haiti. 

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C. Paul Jennewein (German-American, 1890-1978), "Akroterion", 1927. Bronze. H. 22 1/2 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Bequest of C. Paul Jennewein, 1983.300.018.
C. Paul Jennewein (German-American, 1890-1978), Akroterion, 1927. Bronze. H. 22 1/2 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Bequest of C. Paul Jennewein, 1983.300.018.

C. Paul Jennewein

On view now

C. Paul Jennewein’s (German-American, 1890-1978) artwork reveals the inspiration of the ancient world while also engaging with the new sculptural styles of his time, merging Art Deco with the neo-classical tradition. In 1978, the Tampa Bay Art Center, predecessor of the Tampa Museum of Art, received a bequest of 2,600 objects including finished artworks, as well as preparatory drawings, plaster casts, and molds for the numerous commissions Jennewein received during his prolific career. Starting in Fall 2022, the Museum will present Jennewein’s early sculptures for an extended two-year display. 

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"Amazons Fighting Heracles" In his Ninth Labor, Heracles was ordered to retrieve the girdle of the Amazonian princess Hippolyta. Ceramic wine vessel (black-figure neck amphora with added white; attributed to the Leagros Group); Attica, Greece; late Archaic period, ca. 520-500 BCE. Museum Purchase, 1982.011
Amazons Fighting Heracles
In his Ninth Labor, Heracles was ordered to retrieve the girdle of the Amazonian princess Hippolyta.
Ceramic wine vessel (black-figure neck amphora with added white; attributed to the Leagros Group); Attica, Greece; late Archaic period, ca. 520-500 BCE. Museum Purchase, 1982.011

Identity in the Ancient World

On view now through March 23, 2025

This two-year presentation centers around the theme of identity in the ancient world. Across the ancient Mediterranean, people will have felt some sense of group identity such as belonging to a tribe, race, culture or civilization. They will have recognized differences between men and women, and will have experienced desires and moral constraints. Feelings of identity could also be expressed in opposition to other groups, such as Greeks vs. Persians or Scythians, Romans vs. Gauls or Germans, men vs. women. In our modern society, many more expressions of identity are recognized that may invoke a sense of belonging or form exclusive alliances. In the ancient world, expressions of identity could not always be articulated explicitly because the terminology for voicing thoughts about personal, cultural and national frames of identity did not exist. Identity in the Ancient World will illustrate some of these aspects based predominantly on the Museum’s own Antiquities Collection, supplemented with some prominent long-term loans from other museums and private collections.

Identity in the Ancient World is one of several new exhibitions dedicated to the Museum’s permanent collection that will be on view for long-term displays over the next five years.

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Esterio Segura (Cuban, b. 1970), "Goodbye My Love", 2013. Set of three original works. Fiberglass and automobile paint, approximately 165 x 47 x 23 1/2 inches each with slight variation. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Daniel Pappalardo and Susan Bellin, 2022.132-134. Photography by Paige Boscia
Esterio Segura (Cuban, b. 1970), Goodbye My Love, 2013. Set of three original works. Fiberglass and automobile paint, approximately 165 x 47 x 23 1/2 inches each with slight variation. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Daniel Pappalardo and Susan Bellin, 2022.132-134. Photography by Paige Boscia

Esterio Segura: Goodbye My Love

On view now

A new acquisition to the Museum’s permanent collection, Goodbye My Love represents Esterio Segura’s (Cuban, b. 1970) ongoing exploration of the meaning of airplanes and flight. Produced in multiple editions at different scales, this version is nearly the largest. In describing the series, Segura explained,  “In this work, the reference to the airplane hybridizes with a reference to another well-known universal symbol: a simplified image of the heart…With this work, I reference the experience of uprooting, nostalgia, memory, loss—how we experience the breakdown of everything we love.”

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"Divine Twins in Tomb Shrine" attended by four figures on grave. Monumental funerary vessel (red-figure volute krater with added red and white); Apulia, Italy; early Hellenistic period, ca. 330 320 BCE. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Knight Zewadski, 1986.225.
Divine Twins in Tomb Shrine
attended by four figures on grave.

Monumental funerary vessel (red-figure volute krater with added red and white); Apulia, Italy; early Hellenistic period, ca. 330 320 BCE. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Knight Zewadski, 1986.225.

Life & Death in the Ancient World
Introduction to the Antiquities Collection

On view now

The Tampa Museum of Art purchased its first ancient artwork in 1981, a black-figure column krater, perhaps depicting the wedding procession of Peleus and Thetis. Five years later, the Museum’s antiquities collection quadrupled in size with the single acquisition of the prominent collection of Joseph Veach Noble. The permanent collection currently holds about 575 ancient artifacts, in addition to over 100 long-term loans from private collections. More than three-quarters of the Museum’s antiquities are representative of ancient Greece and Italy, particularly Athens and Rome. The ancient world encompassed a much wider diversity of traditions, however, of which some can be encountered in this introduction to the Museum’s Antiquities Collection. The gallery display will highlight aspects of daily life and death, as well as human and animal figures, beauty ideals and eroticism, athletics and theater, wine consumption and vase production, religion and mythology, trade and politics.

Life & Death in the Ancient World is one of several new exhibitions dedicated to the Museum’s permanent collection that will be on view for long-term displays over the next five years.

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Installation view of "Purvis Young: Redux" at the Tampa Museum of Art. Photographer: Paige Boscia.
Installation view of Purvis Young: Redux at the Tampa Museum of Art. Photographer: Paige Boscia.

Purvis Young: Redux

On view now through June 29, 2025

Inspired by the success of the exhibition Purvis Young: 91 in 2019, the Tampa Museum of Art will remount its Purvis Young collection as one of the first of several long-term displays of the permanent collection. In 2004, the Rubell Family Foundation gifted 91 artworks to the Tampa Museum of Art by Young (American, 1943-2010). Based in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida, Young’s paintings reflect his observations of daily life and the fight for social justice, hope for his community, immigration and otherness, as well as the fragile balance between life and death. He rendered his work from found objects—items he discovered in his neighborhood. Discarded wood, windows, furniture fragments, cabinets, doors, carpet, fabric, string, and cables. Although his means were limited, Young was recognized throughout Miami, and now across the globe, for his remarkable painting practice and his contributions to the cultural landscape of South Florida.

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Jacob Hashimoto (American, b. 1973), "This Particle of Dust", 2022. Resin, bamboo, screenprints, paper, acrylic, and Dacron. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Paige Boscia
Jacob Hashimoto (American, b. 1973), This Particle of Dust, 2022. Resin, bamboo, screenprints, paper, acrylic, and Dacron. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Paige Boscia

Jacob Hashimoto: This Particle of Dust

On view now through 2025

The Tampa Museum of Art’s atrium is transformed by Jacob Hashimoto’s site-specific installation This Particle of Dust. Hundreds of white and navy blue kite-like disks is suspended from the Museum’s ceiling. Installed at various heights, viewers will experience Hashimoto’s sculptural installation at different vantage points from the lobby to the 2nd floor galleries.

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Jake Troyli (American, b. 1990), Stalemate, 2023. Oil on canvas. 48 x 36 inches.
Tampa Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 2023.240.
Jake Troyli (American, b. 1990), Stalemate, 2023. Oil on canvas. 48 x 36 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 2023.240.

Prelude: An Introduction to the Permanent Collection

On view now

Prelude: An Introduction to the Permanent Collection presents the Tampa Museum of Art’s main collecting areas in ancient, modern, and contemporary art. The exhibition features artworks exploring themes of site, power, and the body in ancient vessels, tools, and jewelry, as well as sculptures, painting, and photography. Viewed together in dialogue with each other, the objects speak to shared experiences across time and place. An ongoing exhibition, Prelude includes both familiar works and recent additions to the permanent collection.

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Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) Laura with Bun, 2014. 23 ft tall, Cast iron. Tampa Museum of Art, Museum Purchase with funds contributed by Anonymous, Celia & Jim Ferman, The Williams Family, Penny & Jeff Vinik, Mark Anderson & Keith Bucklew, Maureen & Douglas Cohn, Stephen & Marsha Dickey, Sara Golding Scher & David Scher, Allison, Robby, Dallas, & Adelaide Adams, Carlton Fields, Blake & Tate Casper, PNC Bank, Susie & Mitchell Rice in honor of Michael Tomor, Jeff Tucker & Len Kizner, FRIENDS of the Museum, and the Friends of Laura, 2020.002
© Jaume Plensa. Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York.

Laura with Bun

On view now

Jaume Plensa is an internationally acclaimed artist who has exhibited his sculptures in museums all over the world.  In locations as diverse as Seoul, Paris, Chicago, Bordeaux and London, Plensa’s monumental sculptures have reaffirmed the power of art to transform a public space into a community.

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