The Museum of Modern Art

“Women have taught me that resistance isn’t always loud or in public,” artist Sheelasha Rajbhandari says. “At times it lives in care, rest, and the quiet journey of self-exploration.” In her series “Agony of the New Bed,” Rajbhandari both honors the unseen labor of those who quietly break taboos and examines the burdens of institutionalized marriage. To make each work, Rajbhandari screen-prints images on small cotton mattresses, which are then overlaid with texts drawn from testimonials of Nepali women about their marriage experiences—including the artist’s own family stories. The photo-textile portraits offer critical and sometimes satirical perspectives. 📸 See it now! “New Photography 2025: Lines of Belonging” is on view through January 17, 2026. 🎟️ Learn more and plan your visit → mo.ma/newphotography2025 — [1-4] All works by Sheelasha Rajbhandari. “Agony of the New Bed” (detail). 2023. MoMA. Fund for the Twenty-First Century. © 2025 Sheelasha Rajbhandari. [5] Installation view of “New Photography 2025: Lines of Belonging” on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from September 14, 2025, through January 17, 2026. Photos by Robert Gerhardt.

This was the first artwork by artist Jackson Pollock to enter a museum collection! In the early 1940s, Pollock, like many of his peers, explored primeval or mythological themes in his work. The wolf in this painting may allude to the animal that nurtured the twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, in the myth of the city’s birth. "’She-Wolf’ came into existence because I had to paint it. Any attempt on my part to say something about it, to attempt explanation of the inexplicable, could only destroy it,” he said. When Pollock painted “The She-Wolf,” he hadn’t yet developed his famous “drip” style. He began by covering the canvas with a layer of multicolored splatters, washes, and drips, and then superimposed the black outline of the wolf, facing leftward. Finally, he added thick, slashing white lines to highlight her shape, and dense patches of gray-blue at the edges to define and highlight the figure. 🐺 See this painting on view now in our fifth floor galleries. — 🖼️ Jackson Pollock. “The She-Wolf.” 1943. Purchase. © 2025 Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Happy birthday to artist Georgia O’Keeffe, who would have turned 138 years old today! 🎂 As a child, O’Keeffe decided she was going to be an artist when she grew up. Although she was unsure of what kind of art she would make, she later recalled, “I hadn’t a desire to make anything like the pictures I had seen.” In a November 1916 letter, O’Keeffe described watching an early morning train approach through the Texas landscape. “A train was coming way off—just a light with a trail of smoke—white—I walked toward it—The sun and the train got to me at the same time—It’s great to see that terrifically alive black thing coming at you in the big frosty stillness—and such wonderful smoke.” In charcoal, O’Keeffe conveyed the smoke by lifting away the sooty medium in plume-like swipes. In watercolor, she left blank paper to stand for the white trail, surrounding it with color that suggests the sunrise. — 🚂 Georgia O'Keeffe. “Train at Night in the Desert.” 1916. Acquired with matching funds from the Committee on Drawings and the National Endowment for the Arts. © 2025 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

“I knew I was running the risk of not being understood either by the man in the street or by the others,” Wifredo Lam once said, “but a true picture has the power to set the imagination to work, even if it takes time.” Born in Cuba at the start of the 20th century, Lam forged his political convictions and commitment to modern painting in war-torn Europe in the 1930s. His exile and return to the Caribbean after 18 years abroad drove him to radically reimagine his artistic project through the lens of Afro-Caribbean histories. ➡️ Swipe to learn more about the artist! 📣 “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” is now open! The first retrospective in the United States to feature the full trajectory of Lam’s remarkable vision includes over 130 rarely seen works. 🎟️ Learn more and plan your visit → mo.ma/lam

🎥 If you could watch one Sofia Coppola film for the rest of your life, which one would it be? Last night at MoMA’s Film Benefit, our annual event honoring an individual for their significant impact on the film industry, we celebrated the work of Academy Award–winning writer, director, and producer Sofia Coppola. Thank you to our partner CHANEL for making Film at MoMA possible.

Wifredo Lam’s identity and political convictions shaped an art that spoke to exile, colonialism, spirituality, and resilience. 📣 Now open! “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” is the first retrospective in the United States to feature the full trajectory of his remarkable vision. 📺 Watch a documentary about the Cuban artist who bridged continents, cultures, and movements → mo.ma/lamyoutube

Join us for an evening of film with artist Stephen Prina! At the next edition of Modern Mondays, MoMA’s home for moving-image experimentation and innovation, Prina will present a pair of films: 🎥 Vinyl II (2000), which captures the performance of a musical score by Prina that traces the slippage between spiritual and sexual imagery in two Baroque paintings 🎥 The Way He Always Wanted It, II (2008) focuses on the painter, composer, and architect Bruce Goff’s iconic Ford House ⏰ Mon, Nov 17, 7:00 p.m. 🎟️ Tickets are going fast! Reserve your seat today → mo.ma/3XtjiAR ➡️ This event accompanies the ongoing survey “Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise,” through December 13 — Stephen Prina. Still from Vinyl II. 2000. Commissioned by the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. © 2025 Stephen Prina. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York

It’s time to party! Join us for a one-night only celebration of artist Ruth Asawa and the exhibition “Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective.” Enjoy pop-up performances, art making, poetry reading, and live music to honor Asawa’s dedication to boundless experimentation. 🎟️ Get tickets → mo.ma/asawaartistparty 📅 November 22 🕰️ 7:00–10:00 p.m. ➡️ Free for MoMA Members — Installation views of “Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective” on view at The Museum of Modern Art from October 19, 2025, through February 7, 2026. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

On this day 90 years ago, the very first Vincent van Gogh exhibition opened at MoMA! 🎨 Over 123,000 people attended the exhibition, including first lady Eleanor Roosevelt who visited during the second day of the show’s run. The exhibition showcased over 90 works by the Dutch artist, most of which had never been seen in the U.S. at the time. Among the works shown was “The Olive Trees,” which entered MoMA’s collection in 1998. The painting depicts the blazing heat of a Mediterranean afternoon where the ground is dry and cracked, the olive trees seem to twist and turn in the heat, and the low hills of the Alpilles roll gently beneath a pale blue sky under mist-like clouds. After van Gogh voluntarily entered an asylum in the south of France in the spring of 1889, he wrote to his brother, Theo: "I did a landscape with olive trees and also a new study of a starry sky." 🌳 See “The Olive Trees” on view now in our fifth floor galleries. — 🖼️ [1] Vincent van Gogh. “The Olive Trees.” Saint Rémy, June-July 1889. Mrs. John Hay Whitney Bequest [2-5] Installation view of the exhibition "Vincent van Gogh.” November 4, 1935–January 5, 1936. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photograph by Beaumont Newhall

💻 Join us virtually for a symposium to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Meet Me at MoMA! Meet Me at MoMA provides a forum for dialogue through looking at art for visitors with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. On November 18 and 19, tune in to hear from practitioners developing initiatives to make art accessible for people with dementia and their care partners. The livestream portion of this event is free to the public, and we welcome practitioners with a wide range of experience, from those just beginning this work to those with established programming. Register now → mo.ma/3JhKgbi – Photo: Jason Lindberg