Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse

The Midwest has inspired artists for nearly two centuries.

The Nelson-Atkins houses the largest public collections of two of the region’s best-known painters: George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton.
Bingham to Benton included not only paintings by these native sons, but also prints and drawings by both artists, including a selection of Bingham’s drawings owned by the people of Missouri and exhibited for the first time in more than a decade. The installation also offered a sampling of paintings, watercolors and prints by other artists with Midwestern connections, including John Steuart Curry, Grant Wood and Birger Sandzen.