The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has added 361 artworks and objects to its collection in 2025. The acquisitions are part of a strategic plan to grow its holdings, now numbering over 20,000 objects, ahead of the museum’s centennial next year.
“As we look ahead to our centennial in 2026, our curators have strategically acquired artworks that not only support where we’ve traditionally built strengths as an institution but that also signal where we’re heading in the next 100 years,” High Museum director Rand Suffolk said in a statement. “They bolster what’s uniquely special about our existing holdings and also bridge gaps in our collecting to foster audience growth and engagement.”
The highest-profile of these is Jacob Lawrence’s 1943 watercolor Night (And then they go to sleep) from the artist’s “Harlem” series. The early work was recently rediscovered and was only exhibited once, in 1943. For its European art department, the High also acquired its third painting by Henri Matisse, 1900’s Homme assis (Seated Man).
Several of the acquisitions are already on view at the museum, including Simone Leigh’s Cupboard (2024) in the modern and contemporary art galleries and Ngozi-Omeje Ezema’s Togetherness (2022) in the African art galleries.
Other acquisitions are drawn from the museum’s exhibition calendar. The High is currently host to “The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard” (through May 10), and around 30 of the more than 50 photographic prints it purchased are included in the exhibition. Also on view is Minnie Evans’s Temple by the Sea (1955) in the late artist’s current retrospective at the museum. The High also purchased a table and stool by Isamu Noguchi that will feature in the museum’s upcoming retrospective, scheduled to open in April.
“These acquisitions reflect key priorities for the High in seeking out excellence and distinctiveness that support curatorial initiatives in the development of an international slate of collections, exhibitions and new scholarship,” the museum’s chief curator Kevin W. Tucker said in a statement.
Below a look at these highlights from the museum’s 2025 acquisitions.
