The 1913 Armory Show

The Armory Show was a stunning exhibition of nearly 1,400 objects that included both American and European works, but it is best known for introducing the American public to European avant-garde paintings and sculpture. One hundred years later, it is hard to imagine what it would have been like to see works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent Van Gogh, all together for the very first time.

The famed Armory Show took place from February 17 to March 15, 1913, at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Ave. and 25th St., and in just less than a month, it changed the way Americans thought about modern art. It has been called the most important exhibition ever held in the United States.