SLAM marks 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

‘Picturing Independence’ explores how artists have shaped ideas of American independence

ST. LOUIS, February 19, 2026—This summer, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present “Picturing Independence,” an exhibition of 33 works that examines how artists have both reflected on and shaped ideas of American independence since the nation’s founding.

The free exhibition marks the semiquincentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by bringing together paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, textiles, and decorative arts spanning the period 1770 to the 2010s, drawn from the Museum’s collection. Organized around four themes—”Revolution,” “Democracy,” “the Flag” and “Liberty”—the exhibition commemorates this important milestone in United States history and invites visitors to consider how the meanings of American independence are continually reinvented and questioned by each generation. “Picturing Independence” opens June 12 and will run through Jan. 24, 2027.

“As we mark this milestone anniversary, ‘Picturing Independence’ reminds us that art has always played a vital role in how Americans understand and debate the principles at the heart of our democracy,” said Min Jung Kim, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. “This exhibition tells a story that is both celebratory and critically engaged, recognizing that since the founding of the United States, ideas of civic engagement and improvement have been animating forces in our country’s ongoing development.”

The exhibition opens with works created in the lead-up to and in response to the American Revolution. For example, Benjamin West’s monumental painting “Daniel Interpreting to Belshazzar the Writing on the Wall” from 1775 reveals how the American-born artist—who served as an official painter to Britain’s King George III—embedded a political warning within a biblical subject, urging diplomacy rather than punishment toward the colonies. And Rembrandt Peale’s 1845 portrait of George Washington—painted decades after the first president’s death—speaks to how subsequent generations invoked the Revolution’s legacy and to the importance of the founding generation.

In the “Democracy” section, the exhibition explores themes such as voting and its role as a cornerstone of civic participation. The section features works commissioned by Lorillard, Inc. for its limited 1976 series, “Spirit of Independence: Kent Bicentennial Portfolio,” which includes Jacob Lawrence’s screenprint depicting African American men and women exercising their right to vote in 1920s Harlem and Marisol’s lithograph honoring suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Bethany Collins’s 2017 work “America: A Hymnal,” contains 100 different versions of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”; the artist has burned away the unifying music notes, leaving only the differing words, underscoring the idea that America is a place where disparate viewpoints are brought together.

The final two sections explore “the Flag” and “Liberty” through symbols that have evolved over 250 years. A beaded vest created by a Plains Indian artist around 1880-1900, features four U.S. flags and speaks to the complex, layered meanings the flag holds within Native nations during the early reservation era. Similarly, Gary Winogrand’s 1969 photograph titled “New York City,” shows a confrontational protest about the Vietnam War, in which both sides can be seen using the flag as a symbol. In the “Liberty” section, an 1817 silver tureen adorned with fierce eagles by Philadelphia silversmiths Fletcher and Gardiner—which was presented to Commodore John Rodgers for his defense of Fort McHenry in 1814—underscores these birds as symbols of American strength and freedom. Robert Indiana’s bold screenprint “Liberty ’76,” also from the “Spirit of Independence” portfolio, proudly celebrates the choice of freedom at the American bicentennial.