The Phillips Collection

06/22/2026

Escape the summer heat in the galleries at our Phillips after 5: Summer Fiesta on July 2! Tickets available on our website. 🎟️

🪇 Groove to the music of Taisha Estrada.
🪅 Make your own piñatas and maracas.
💃 Learn salsa with Baila DC and participate in a lively social dance in the Hunter Courtyard.
🍀 Play Spanglish lotería to win prizes from the DC Public Library.
🌟 Fraternidad Alma Boliviana performs folkloric dances Caporales and Tinkus in the auditorium.
🎶 Enjoy tunes from DJ Alcatraz from Eaton DC in the galleries.
🖼️ Join a Spotlight Talk with a Phillips Educator.

🍍 Rufino Tamayo, Mandolins and Pineapples, 1930, Oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1930; Art © Tamayo Heirs/Mexico/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

06/20/2026

What's the story behind this photo by Clifford Prince King?

In 1986, poet, artist, and activist Essex Hemphill self-published the chapbook Conditions under his own imprint Be Bop Books. The cover image, shot by Sharon Farmer, captures the artist holding a knife and a peony, reflecting the juxtapositions Hemphill expresses in his poetry—love and hate, hope and despair, and desire and loathing. Here, photographer Clifford Prince King restages the photograph with the same composition, though the subject looks directly into the camera. Taken nearly 30 years after Farmer’s, King’s photograph points toward a lineage of Black image makers of both text and image.



🎨 Clifford Prince King, Conditions, 2018, Chromogenic print, The Dreier Fund for Acquisitions, 2025.

06/19/2026

In honor of , which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, we're reflecting on art and artists that explore Black history, including Joseph Holston.

Holston (b. 1944) is native of Washington, DC and has been a chronicler of Black life for more than 50 years. This etching, Charity, was based on a 1974 wash drawing that Holston sourced from a magazine image. When Holston’s mother saw the drawing, she said that it looked like Charity, a distant relative that she remembered from her childhood in Harriman, Tennessee. Holston’s family research has found that Charity was likely born enslaved around 1848, and by 1920, she is listed as a washerwoman. While The Phillips Collection’s etching is not a portrait of Charity, it is a site of memory for Holston’s family. Naming the portrait Charity imbues the figure with history and identity stemming from the artist’s own ancestry.

Holston’s approach to the seated elder is simple and elegant. Her face, lined with age and experience, peers at the viewer with a pleasant, knowing smile. Holston’s reduced palette highlights Charity’s emotional expression of warmth and dignity while leaving the clothing, chair, and other details as sketches. Holston’s Charity gazes directly at the artist, establishing a connection between the artist and, by extension, the viewer.

One of Holston's other works, The Elder, is currently on view at The Phillips Collection.

🎨 Joseph Holston, Charity, 1976, Etching, aqyiatint and embossing on paper, 11 3/4 x 8 5/8 in., The Phillips Collection, Gift of Joseph and Sharon Holston, 2014.

06/17/2026

Spend your Father's Day at the Phillips! Explore Miró and the United States, enjoy lunch at Bread Furst café, and find the perfect gift at the Museum Shop 🎁

🎨 Brett Weston, Portrait of Edward Weston (from the "Portraits of My Father" portfolio), 1938/printed 1977, Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in., The Phillips Collection, Gift of the Brett Weston Archive from the Christian K. Keesee Collection, 2006.

06/16/2026

We're so excited to announce that we've received the largest gift in the museum's history from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation! This momentous gift will help to preserve and enhance the Phillips's physical spaces, invest in staff, modernize our digital infrastructure, and deepen connections with DC communities. Read Gabriella Angeleti's article for The Art Newspaper ▶️ https://bit.ly/4eeBCXN

📸 Photo: Mariah Miranda Photography.

The Washington, DC institution has received a $15m gift from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the bulk of which will go to shoring up its finances, infrastructure, staffing, conservation and digital systems

06/15/2026

The Phillips Collection will be closed this Friday, June 19 in observance of Juneteenth. We'll reopen at 10 am on June 20!

📸 Photo: Mariah Miranda Photography.

06/13/2026

Take a behind-the-scenes look at Art-Play-Practice, our upcoming installation at Phillips@THEARC inspired by Sam Gilliam's Broad Cape!

Guided by the design team at To Be Done Studios, community members collaborated to fabricate draping fabrics for the installation. Stay tuned to see it in the space!

06/09/2026

On Wednesdays (and everyday) we visit Miró and the United States, open through July 5. It’ll be totally fetch.

Fundació Joan Miró

06/06/2026

Want to relive your visit to Miró and the United States? Check out our summer reading list based on your favorite part of the special exhibition (and come see it again before it closes on July 5, of course)! 📚

Fundació Joan Miró

06/05/2026

This weekend is Bank of America's Museums on Us weekend! Show your Bank of America debit or credit card and a photo ID to get free admission to the Phillips. Learn more ▶️ https://bit.ly/3BpbTLk

📸 Guest in the galleries with Bradley Walker Tomlin's No. 8. Photo: AK Blythe.