Our exhibitions are always evolving, featuring fresh ideas, artists, and stories across multiple galleries. Explore upcoming exhibitions to see what’s coming soon.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Hieroglyphs to Hype: Tracing Ancient Egypt's Influence in Modern Culture
Bellarmine Hall Galleries
September 18 - December 19, 2026
This exhibition will explore the enduring fascination with ancient Egyptian art and culture (dubbed “Egyptomania” by 19th-century Europeans) through a selection of paintings, prints, photographs, and decorative art ranging from the early 19th century through the present day. These objects, from the humble to the refined, from the shamelessly commercial to the Afrofuturist, represent the range of artistic responses to – and misconceptions about – ancient Egyptian visual culture. Paradoxically, this enthusiasm for Egyptian symbols and motifs contributed to the erasure of the ancient Egyptian people themselves, as their beliefs and customs became exoticized in popular memory. The exhibition will examine how these objects reflect the phenomenon of “Egyptomania” during the last two centuries, and will position their over-simplified or stereotypical narratives in conversation with current archeological understanding about ancient Egyptian culture.
The exhibition is curated by Megan Paqua (adjunct instructor of ancient Egyptian archaeology and art history and Fairfield University Art Museum Registrar).
Image: Charles-Theodore Frère, Along the Nile, ca. 1870, oil on panel. Gift of Michael T. Vigario, ’08, 2023.11.01.
James Welling: Cento and Personae
Walsh Gallery
September 25 - December 19, 2026
This exhibition focuses on more than 40 recent works by contemporary photographer James Welling (American, born 1951). From the artist’s Cento and Personae series, these photographs of ancient sites in Italy and Greece, as well as antiquities found in museums around the world, were subjected to digital and painterly manipulation by the artist to achieve transformative effects. The photographs will be exhibited alongside a selection from the Museum’s extensive historic plaster cast collection of Greek and Roman sculpture.
As Welling explains, he is interested in “reanimating” the men and women of the ancient past through these works, and connecting them to our own time in a fresh way through his innovative combination of photography and painting. Visitors to the exhibition will feel their curiosity piqued by his elusive and often haunting evocations of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Image: James Welling, Portrait of Kore 679, 2021, oil on laser print. Courtesy of the artist. © James Welling.
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203) 254-4046
Plan Your Visit
Enjoy free admission every day—no reservations required.
Before you arrive, be sure to check current hours for the Bellarmine Hall and Walsh Galleries to make the most of your visit.
