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Bridging Time and Place: The 150th Anniversary of the University of Notre Dame Art Museum

Feb 17, 2026 - Jun 14, 2026 | Temporary Galleries

A Pointillist painting of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral, depicted in shades of gold and tan, rises above a line of trees. A multi-arched bridge spans a waterway in the foreground, with a crane and docked barge to the right. The artist's technique uses small dots of color to create the image, lending a textured, shimmering effect. The sky is a pale blue with hints of pink and yellow, suggesting a daytime scene.
Hippolyte Petitjean's Pointillist painting of Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral rises in the background beyond a bridge over the Seine. Small dots of color create the image, merging to form the architectural details of the cathedral, the flowing water, and the surrounding landscape. The painting is displayed in an ornate gold frame.
Hippolyte Petitjean (French, 1854–1929), Notre Dame, 1895, Oil on canvas, 21 3/4 x 28 in., 2024.008.025, Bequest of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin

With origins dating to 1875, the art collection at the University of Notre Dame is one of the oldest and most esteemed in the United States. To celebrate and share this landmark event, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art will host a major exhibition highlighting many of the recent gifts it has received to commemorate the 150th anniversary. The gifts range from single works of art to entire collections.

Virtually every part of the permanent collection has benefitted from the generosity of devoted alums, supporters, and friends from across the country and worldwide. Iconic paintings from Thomas Gainsborough to John Singer Sargent, Georges Rouault to Julie Mehretu are included, as are prints and drawings ranging from Martin Schoengauer to Pablo Picasso to Romare Bearden, among many. Works from across the Indigenous Americas are represented by Veracruz sculptures and Cuzco altarpieces, as well as recent work by Diego Romero and Jamie Okuma. Photographs by canonical figures such as Ansel Adams, Andreas Gursky, and Marilyn Minter, among others, are included.

This monumental exhibition, on view from February 17 to June 14, 2026, will be presented in the temporary exhibition galleries and sited in select permanent collection spaces across the Museum and the Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park. Bridging Time and Place is a highlight of a sesquicentennial celebration of exhibitions and events that will run from August 2025 through December 2026.

The Exhibition and Sesquicentennial Celebration are made possible by the Museum Advisory Council Sesquicentennial Fund and The Friends of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. Additional support comes from the Marilynn and James W. Alsdorf Endowment, the Ashbaugh Endowment, and the Alice Tully Endowment.