The Fralin Museum Of Art Unveils Fall 2026 Exhibitions
Exhibitions at the University of Virginia will feature works by Georges Adéagbo and Narcissa Chisholm Owen. Get all the top news & discounts for Central Virginia & beyond. The Fralin Museum of Art at The University of Virginia will present Legacies of Independence, a slate of four exhibitions exploring varied themes and perspectives around the legacies of Thomas Jefferson and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
On view from August 29, 2026, through January 3, 2027, the exhibitions take both historic and contemporary approaches to consider the ways Jefferson helped shape the United States in its infancy and promoted ideals we continue to deliberate to this day.
The exhibitions explore a variety of perspectives that range from a site-specific installation by internationally acclaimed artist Georges Adéagbo, to an examination of Jefferson's time in Southern France through eighteenth and early nineteenth-century prints, drawings, rare books, maps, and objects.
The Fralin will also showcase 19th century Native American artist Narcissa Chisholm Owen's painting Jefferson and His Descendents and Sky Hopinka's video installation Mnemonics of Shape and Reason, to further celebrate the museum's recognition of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The Fralin Museum of Art has invited internationally acclaimed artist Georges Adéagbo (b. 1942, Benin) to build upon his previous works about Abraham Lincoln. Adéagbo is creating a site-specific installation centered on Thomas Jefferson , his life at Monticello, and the changing meanings of independence over time.
Georges Adéagbo: Thomas Jefferson and the Legacies of Independence brings together archives, found objects, and newly created art objects to provide a global perspective and immersive experience exploring Jefferson, his peers, and the ongoing pursuit of the ideals of independence and equality.
In 2000, Adéagbo created the first of a series of presidential portraits of Lincoln for the exhibition Abraham-L'ami de Dieu at New York's Museum of Modern Art and wove together visual and textual narratives that weighed the concepts of sacrifice and freedom, linking the freeing of slaves in the United States with global liberation movements.
In 2023, he created a three-part exhibition, Create to Free Yourselves-Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America, that traveled from Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, DC to Chesterwood (the museum and former studio of Daniel Chester French) in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.
During this endeavor, the artist learned of Jefferson, the slave-owning architect of the Declaration of Independence. These contradictions-for whom Jefferson created space for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? -and what they mean today, have captivated Adéagbo's interest and are at the heart of this project.
Curated by Karen E. Milbourne, J. Sanford Miller Family Director, with Ariel Ankrah, Curatorial Assistant Bringing a new perspective to a familiar founding narrative, this interdisciplinary exhibition foregrounds the transatlantic connections that helped shape the United States in its earliest decades.
In early spring 1787, Thomas Jefferson set out on a three-month journey to the South of France. He sought information on valuable plants, labor strategies, and monumental architecture that he could translate into the American context. His observations of the terrain, peoples, and customs of the region are recorded in the form of detailed letters and diaries.
Influences from the rich cultural landscape of southern France that Jefferson encountered are evident throughout Virginia. Most notably, his designs for the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond were inspired by the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple in Nîmes.
Although Jefferson's encounter with southern France can be understood as …