Milwaukee Art Museum Announces Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery
As the only Midwest venue for this nationally touring exhibition—and the most comprehensive presentation of Abercrombie’s work ever organized—the Milwaukee Art Museum invites visitors to step into a world of mystery beginning March 27, 2026.
MILWAUKEE, WI—December 9. 2025—The Milwaukee Art Museum invites visitors to step into a world of mystery this spring with Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery, on view March 27 through July 19, 2026. As the only Midwest venue for this nationally touring exhibition, and the most comprehensive presentation of Abercrombie’s work ever organized, this landmark retrospective offers a rare opportunity to experience the visionary art of one of the country’s most fascinating and enigmatic artists.
Bringing together nearly 80 paintings from major museums and private collections, the exhibition celebrates Abercrombie’s singular vision. Known for her dreamlike imagery that includes moons, owls, cats, and solitary figures, and for her role as a fixture in Chicago’s bohemian and jazz scenes, Gertrude Abercrombie (1909–1977) crafted a visual world that was equal parts surreal and deeply personal.
A leading figure in Chicago’s Hyde Park arts scene in the mid-20th century, Abercrombie turned her Victorian home into a creative salon alive with conversation and music. Known as “Queen of Chicago” she hosted luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, who often performed at her gatherings. In her community of painters, poets, and musicians, Abercrombie found inspiration that shaped her art: quiet, offbeat, and full of mystery.
Critics across the country are praising Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery as one of the year’s must-see exhibitions. Vogue calls Abercrombie’s paintings “mysterious and precise as a well-composed jazz solo,” while The Wall Street Journal hails the show as a “long overdue celebration of one of America’s most enigmatic surrealists.” Hyperallergic describes her work as “haunting, hypnotic, and deeply personal,” and The Art Newspaper recognizes Abercrombie as a “master of visual minimalism.” Together, these voices affirm what visitors will quickly see for themselves: this is a once-in-a-generation exhibition that rediscovers an artist and a world unlike any other.
“Gertrude Abercrombie’s art captures the uncanny beauty of the everyday,” said Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, Abert Family Associate Curator of American Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Her world feels intimate and vast at once, rooted in the Midwest but speaking to the universal experience of introspection and creativity.”
“Abercrombie reminds us that the Midwest has long been a place of imagination and innovation,” said Kim Sajet, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “We are thrilled to bring her visionary world to Milwaukee; a city defined by creativity and curiosity. The Whole World Is a Mystery celebrates an artist whose work transforms the familiar into the fantastical, and it reflects the Museum’s ongoing commitment to presenting bold, thought-provoking exhibitions that spark dialogue and inspire discovery.”
This exhibition will be accompanied by a complementary presentation, Gertrude and Friends: Wisconsin Magic Realists, highlighting Abercrombie’s network of Wisconsin-based contemporaries including Karl Priebe and John Wilde to underscore her influence across the region.
In addition to the exhibition, visitors will enjoy a full season of programs inspired by Abercrombie’s life and work, from gallery talks and live jazz in Windhover Hall to family activities and creative prompts that invite visitors to “decode the mystery.”
To learn more, visit: https://mam.org/exhibitions/whole-world/
Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World is a Mystery will be on view March 27 – July 19, 2026, in the Baker/Rowland Galleries.
Gertrude and Friends: The Wisconsin Magic Realists will be on view December 12, 2025 – July 2026 in the American Wing.
Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery is co-organized by Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby College Museum of Art, and is curated by Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Director, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Vice President, Carnegie Museums, and Sarah Humphreville, Lunder Curator of American Art, Colby College Museum of Art, with Cynthia Stucki, curatorial assistant, Carnegie Museum of Art.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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