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

Virtually every part of the permanent collection has benefited from the generosity of devoted alumni, 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 Schongauer to Pablo Picasso, among many others. Works from across the Indigenous Americas are represented by Veracruz sculptures and Cuzco altarpieces, as well as recent work by Diego Romero and Jaime Okuma. Photographs by such canonical figures as Andreas Gursky, and Marilyn Minter will also be exhibited. 

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 in 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 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, the Alice Tully Endowment, and the Susan and Justin Driscoll Endowment. 

Image: Hippolyte Petijean (French, 1854–1929)

Notre Dame, 1895

Oil on canvas

21 3/4 x 28 in. (55.25 x 71.12 cm)

Bequest of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin

2024.008.025