Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

09/01/2026

“¡Batey Boricua! Creamos Nuestro Espacio | We Create Our Space” is opening this Thursday, September 3! Join us in the theater after our First Thursdays celebrations for a screening of “Esta Isla” at 8pm, preceded by an onstage conversation with directors Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina, moderated by JOËL Cintrón at 7:45pm.

“Esta Isla” follows young lovers Bebo and Lola after a murder upends their lives, forcing them to flee into Puerto Rico’s rugged interior.

Free as part of First Thursdays. Registration encouraged via TheWadsworth.org.

Directed by Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina. 2025. Puerto Rico. Spanish with English subtitles. Conversation moderated by JOËL Cintrón. 1 hour, 54 minutes. Not Rated

09/01/2026

Join us this Thursday, September 3 from 5-8pm as we celebrate the opening of “¡Batey Boricua! Creamos Nuestro Espacio | We Create Our Space”, a contemporary exhibition highlighting Puerto Rican artists connected to Connecticut. Dance the night away with a salsa lesson from Joey Huertas, enjoy folk music from Armonía Isleña, and indulge in specialty coffee from Hasta Luego Friend.

Stay for a screening of “Esta Isla” at 8pm, and join directors Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina for an onstage conversation moderated by JOËL Cintrón at 7:45pm, immediately before the screening.

First Thursdays is generously funded by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All Program. Interpretive components sponsored by Zayas Law.

Exhibiting Artists: Imna Arroyo , Andres Chaparro , JOËL Cintrón , Tiana Correa, Luis Edgardo Cotto, Eland Malua Cruz Jones, Taína Cruz, Pablo Delano, Kwamé Azure Gomez, Jaryana Herrera, Miguel José Matos, Daniel Mena, Mercury, Victor Pacheco, Ricardo Rivas, G. Rosa-Rey, and Chris Roque.

Curated by: Jasmin Agosto.

Support for ¡Batey Boricua! is provided by Zayas Law, James Kirby, an Anonymous Donor, and CT Humanities as part of its America 250 | CT program.

08/27/2026

“Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing.” 🦋
—Dolly Parton, “Love Is Like a Butterfly” (1974)

Remembering Dolly Parton, whose artistry touched generations.

Images: Mark Dion (American, born 1961), “Butterfly - Arthropod”, 2015. C-print. Commissioned by MATRIX in Honor of Its 40th Anniversary with Funds from the Contemporary Coalition of The Wadsworth, 2015.23.1.23; Unidentified artist (German), “Still life”, second half of the 18th century. Oil on canvas. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1938.607

08/21/2026

“…in the storm of August 21st, the Charter Oak, the pride of the city and State, and the Mecca of Patriot pilgrims from every part of the country, fell with a crash which startled the sleepers in the neighborhood.

The hollow in the trunk of the old oak was so large that a fire company of twenty-seven full-grown men stood up in it together. […] Its branches, extending their protecting arms far in every direction, gave to the monarch of the forest a place among the largest of its race.”

—The Connecticut Common School Journal and Annals of Education, October 1856

Remnants of the Charter Oak were crafted into an endless array of objects, while large pieces of the tree trunk were presented to Samuel and Elizabeth C**t and are today preserved in The Wadsworth’s collection.

🪾See these pieces of the Charter Oak in “Framing American Democracy: Radical Roots” through September 27.

08/20/2026

"This is an exhibit that will feel different every time it is visited. It exists to draw communities together."

– Christopher Arnott from the Hartford Courant reviews “Ocean Vuong / MATRIX 199 / I’m Sorry I Love You” — on view at The Wadsworth through January 24.

The novelist and poet has also found expression in photography, which is on view in Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art’s MATRIX gallery through Jan. 24, 2027.

08/14/2026

A familiar toy takes on a more complicated meaning in David Levinthal’s “Untitled, from Barbie” (1998), now on view in “Framing American Democracy: Contemporary Artists Reflect”.

Levinthal transforms familiar toys into emotionally charged scenes, drawing on iconic images and events that have shaped postwar American culture.

In “Contemporary Artists Reflect”, artists explore protest, activism, and pivotal moments in American history—from the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War to the AIDS crisis—while others turn a critical eye toward consumerism, militarism, and other complexities of American culture.

Image: David Levinthal (American, born 1949), Untitled, from Barbie, 1998. Polacolor ER Land Film. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.18.7.

08/13/2026

Announcing “¡Batey Boricua! Creamos Nuestro Espacio | We Create Our Space”, curated by Jasmin Agosto.

The batey was the central gathering space for the Taíno, the indigenous peoples who lived freely in Puerto Rico before Spanish colonization. In the batey, the Taíno hosted sacred ceremonies, told stories, played games, and made space for dialogue. Contemporary communities on the island and in the diaspora have reimagined the batey as a place to convene for education, performance, and protest.

Through a wide range of creative mediums, Puerto Rican artists with a connection to Connecticut invite the public into their inner worlds through works that embody orishas, ancestors, memories, histories, myth-making, place mapping, and the future shaped by human hands.

Exhibiting Artists: Imna Arroyo, Andres Chaparro, JOËL Cintrón, Tiana Correa, Luis Edgardo Cotto, Eland Malua Cruz Jones, Taína Cruz, Pablo Delano, Kwamé Azure Gomez, Jaryana Herrera, Miguel José Matos, Daniel Mena, Mercury, Victor Pacheco, Ricardo Rivas, G. Rosa-Rey, and Chris Roque.
Curated by: Jasmin Agosto

“¡Batey Boricua! Creamos Nuestro Espacio | We Create Our Space” will be on view September 3 through February 7, 2027. Learn more at TheWadsworth.org, or visit the link in our bio.

Support for ¡Batey Boricua! is provided by Zayas Law, James Kirby, an Anonymous Donor, and CT Humanities as part of its America 250 | CT program.

Image: Luis Cotto, “Upper Left Levitate, Port Angeles, WA. Subjects: Steve Ginsburg and Luis Cotto”, 2021. Photograph.

08/11/2026

Hey members! 👋 Visit The Wadsworth’s award-winning shop for 20% off all purchases Wednesday, August 12–Sunday, August 16!

🛍️ Promotion is available at the Museum Shop during all regular museum hours, or anytime online via WadsworthShop.org (link in bio).

08/08/2026

Happy Birthday, Daniel Wadsworth! 🎉

“Daniel Wadsworth witnessed the American Revolution firsthand. In 1780, at age nine, he was present when George Washington, Henry Knox, Alexander Hamilton, Rochambeau, Ternay, and Lafayette met at his family’s Hartford home. In 1842, he founded The Wadsworth on that site to honor the Revolutionary generation and promote art and culture in the new United States”.

-Matthew Hargraves, Director

📍If you’d like to celebrate Daniel’s birthday, this Director’s Pick is on view in Morgan 1.

Charles Cromwell Ingham (American, 1796-1863), “Portrait of Daniel Wadsworth (1771-1848)”, 1830. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Alfred Smith, 1868.1

08/04/2026

Hey members! 👋 Join us Friday, August 14 at 11am for a Member Morning Curator Talk with Rodneyna Hart, Interim Executive Director of The Amistad Center for Art & Culture. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture

Rodneyna will examine the enduring legacy of resistance, self-liberation, and collective struggle among people of African descent in the United States, from the colonial era to the present.

Registration Required. Please keep an eye on your inbox for the registration links.

Not a member yet? Visit TheWadsworth.org/membership to explore the perks and join today.

Image: Pierre Augustin (Haitian, born 1953), “Entry of Toussaint L’Ouverture into Cap Haitien”, 1977-78. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice C. Thopmson Jr., 1981.52.