The Whatcom Museum is proud to announce a partnership with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., through the National Gallery’s “Across the Nation” program, which is bringing major works of art to 10 regional museums across the U.S. in 2025 and 2026. The Whatcom Museum is receiving three French masterworks on long-term loan that will be on view in a new exhibition called Verdant, opening February 14, 2025. The museum is also announcing a new, fully funded educational pilot program that will complement Verdant, thanks to the generosity of local donors.
The three paintings – by Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse – will be displayed in an intimate gallery space in the museum’s Lightcatcher building. These celebrated works revel in lush and emotive subjects that call to mind the verdancy treasured here in the Pacific Northwest.
“We are very excited to have been selected to participate in ‘Across the Nation,’” said museum Executive Director Patricia Leach. “It’s a privilege each time we’re entrusted with an artwork, either for exhibition or safekeeping within our collection, and that the National Gallery would partner with us to share these masterworks with Bellingham is a real honor.”
Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art, explained that “Across the Nation” advances their vision to be the nation’s art museum by giving local communities unprecedented access to masterworks. Through this program, works from the National Gallery’s collection will be on long-term loan at 10 partner museums, including the Whatcom Museum, in 2025 and 2026. “We are so thrilled to bring some of the most excellent and beloved works from the nation’s collection directly into communities across the country as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States,” Feldman said.
The artworks on loan introduce new artists and perspectives to regional museum exhibitions while complementing each museum’s own collections and programming.
“In the Pacific Northwest, it is a rare opportunity to experience movement-defining paintings such as these that shifted the paradigm in pictorial representation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” said Whatcom Museum Chief Curator Amy Chaloupka. “Radical in their day, Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse expanded the ways artists could envision the world, with ripple effects that extended across generations and to the artists well known in our region.”
Visitors to the Whatcom Museum who take docent or curator tours (included with admission) can also learn about the unique provenance of each piece.
For example, Matisse’s 1940 painting Still Life with Sleeping Woman, one of the three paintings on view in Verdant, was looted from noted art collector Paul Rosenberg during World War II after his escape to the United States. Rosenberg purchased this and other works directly from Matisse before it was stolen by the Third Reich. The painting was returned to Rosenberg after the war, thanks to diligent investigative work, which the National Gallery of Art has carefully documented.
“What we see on a canvas is only part of the story,” Chaloupka observed. “There are layers of paint, certainly, but also layers of history that make what might otherwise be a simple scene into something unexpectedly complex.”
To support Verdant, the Whatcom Museum is introducing a pilot program that will provide free admission for K-12 school field trip groups to see the masterworks. Each tour will last 1.5 hours and include an interactive viewing of Verdant and one additional art exhibition at the museum (such as Under the Inspiration Tree, El velo exquisito, or Not the Whole Picture), along with a related Verdant art-making activity. More details and ways for educators to reserve a K-12 tour are available online.
“Being able to provide field trips, free of charge, and achieve part of our vision to make art widely accessible is due entirely to our very generous donors,” said Leach. “They stepped up so quickly, without hesitation, to provide this opportunity, and we’re beyond grateful.”
The Whatcom Museum especially wishes to thank Jean Andresen, Polly Bonnell, Tim & Gail Bruce, IMCO Construction, Peoples Bank, Bing & Migs Wright, and Merion & Bagley Wright.
Still Life with Sleeping Woman (Matisse), Picking Flowers (Renoir), and The Battle of Love (Cézanne) will be on view at the Whatcom Museum through 2026.
Verdant opens Friday, February 14, 2025 at the Whatcom Museum. A press kit is available here. Hi-res images available upon request.
Upcoming Verdant Dates at the Whatcom Museum:
Member Preview Day
Thursday, February 13, 12 – 5 pm
Must be a Whatcom Museum member to attend. The Lightcatcher building will be closed to the public this day.
Member Appreciation Week
Wednesday, February 12 – Sunday, February 16
Special events and discounts for Whatcom Museum members.
Verdant Opens to the Public
Friday, February 14, 12 – 5 pm
Access for All Free First Friday
Friday, March 7, 12 – 9 pm
Celebrate the new exhibition on Free First Friday with all-ages activities inspired by these three French masterworks.
About the Whatcom Museum
The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA, is an American Alliance of Museums-accredited museum and a Smithsonian Affiliate. Notable projects have included the 2019 retrospective exhibition WANTED: Ed Bereal for Disturbing the Peace, featured in The New York Times; the co-curated exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2023; and the newest exhibition, Under the Inspiration Tree: Celebrating the Work of Thomas Wood, on view through March 2, 2025.
The Whatcom Museum spans three buildings in downtown Bellingham: the Lightcatcher, Old City Hall, and Old Fire Station No. 1. For more information about exhibitions and admission, visit whatcommuseum.org.
About the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Nearly four million people come through its doors each year—with millions more online—making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery's renowned collection includes nearly 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.
