Yale University Art Gallery Exhibitions

Jim Dine: “This Is Me”
Installation On View through June 8, 2025

For nearly 70 years, Jim Dine has been creating works of art in a wide variety of formats. Dine’s drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, poetry, and performance reveal a lifelong meditation on the self. His spare and often poetic compositions of solitary figures or objects speak intimately to viewers.
Framed drawings of a lone male or female face in close-up rendered on a light, beige background hang on three dark, gray walls in a gallery. Two works hang on the wall to the left and right and five on the wall in the back.

The selection of works showcases the avatars for the artist himself, ranging from paintbrushes to house and garden tools to character studies and crows. The extremely personal images—the creations of a self-described expressionist thinker—demonstrate the workings of Dine’s subconscious, constructing what he has called an “autobiography through objects.” He articulated his inclination toward self-portraiture in his poem “My Portrait”:

This is me / Running after my portrait / This is how I remember / This is the memory / This is me / Running after myself.

Photography and the Botanical World
Installation On View through June 8, 2025

This installation bridges the fields of art and science by highlighting photography’s deep-rooted relationship with the natural world. Given the medium’s unmatched ability to render fine details, flowers and plant life have been a perennial fascination for photographers.
Four framed botanical photographs hang on an off-white wall on the left and another wall in the background holds nine framed photos. A rectangular cushioned bench for visitors is in front of each wall.
Early Pioneers

The 19th-century British botanist Anna Atkins introduced photography to scientific study by placing algae and fern specimens directly onto photosensitive paper. During the same period, the groundbreaking inventor William Henry Fox Talbot experimented with contact prints of plant samples.

Artists of the early 1900s incorporated botanicals into works across a wide range of aesthetic styles. Karl Blossfeldt created sculptural surveys of leaves and seedlings, while Pictorialists like Edward Steichen and Edwin Hale Lincoln crafted poetic flower studies to elevate photography to the level of traditional art forms.
Five framed photographs of a single leaf or flower from a tree or plant hanging on an off-white.
Modern and Contemporary Interpretations

Works in vivid color by Audrey Flack and Jerome Liebling celebrate the vibrant palette of various flora. Tanya Marcuse and Mitch Epstein use plant imagery to comment on life’s passage from peak bloom to inevitable decay. Today, the natural world continues to provide fertile inspiration to a newer generation of artists, including Martine Gutierrez and Atong Atem, who weave botanicals into expressions of personal identity.

Animals and Literary Themes in Asian Art
Due to their sensitivity to light, Asian paintings and textiles in the permanent collection rotate every six months. The current rotation, on view until May 1, 2025, explores the role of animals in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese art, with a focus on the 12 animals of the zodiac. As symbols of steadfastness, power, and beauty, horses feature prominently in the display. They appear in an 18th- or 19th-century Japanese screen brushed by a member of the Kano school—the official artists of the Tokugawa shogunate—while a lone horse is the subject of a hanging scroll by the famed 20th-century Chinese painter Xu Beihong. These works are juxtaposed with a rare Korean vessel in the shape of a horse and rider, dating from the 7th or 8th century. Another example of ceramic sculpture, this one from 8th-century China, takes the form of a woman playing polo.
A gallery installation with three framed paintings on a platform at left, with a tapestry hanging on the wall behind it. Objects in covered display cases are presented on either side of the back wall that features three paintings.

Elegant paintings from India and Iran illustrate some of the most influential literary themes in West and South Asian culture. Among these are scenes from the life of the Hindu god Krishna as recounted in the epic Bhagavata Purana (Tale of the Lord), as well as the romantic tales of King Bahram Gur from the Haft Peykar (Seven Portraits) by the great 13th-century Iranian poet Rumi. Also included in this section of the galleries are metalwork, ceramic, and glass pieces, alongside a 17th-century Iranian tapestry depicting a hunting scene.

Opening February 21, 2025, David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive is a major traveling retrospective exhibition that spans the seven decades of the South African photographer’s career, from the 1950s through the 2010s, demonstrating Goldblatt’s commitment to showing the realities of daily life in his country.