Art & Ideas

Art & Exhibitions

Art has always had a place in churches. The eye and imagination presenting and interpreting beauty is an act of devotion. Art exhibitions span centuries, celebrating the creativity of 17th century weavers to modern painters and everything in between.

Ongoing Exhibitions

  • Highlights of the Fabric

    Get to know the art, glass, stone, and bronze that make up the world’s largest Gothic cathedral.
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  • The James Parks Morton Interfaith Art Collection

    Throughout his career, the Very Reverend James Parks Morton, Dean of the Cathedral from 1972–1996 and a passionate proponent of interfaith dialogue, amassed a collection of over 300 pieces of religious art. Dean Morton and Pamela Taylor Morton have generously offered the collection to the Cathedral, selections from which are on rotating view.
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Currently on View

  • Treasures from the Crypt

    Ongoing
    The Treasury of the Cathedral is comprised of an array of ecclesiastical items given to the Cathedral over the past 125 years.

  • Icons: A Quartet

    Ongoing
    Religious icons and works of devotional art of many styles and sizes can be found throughout the Cathedral's extensive collection. Now on view in the Nave, visitors are invited to contemplate a grouping of four icons, depicting St. Michael, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Gabriel.
See everything on view

Past Exhibitions

  • Anne Patterson: Divine Pathways

    October 13, 2023 - June 30, 2024
    A stunning, site-specific textile installation created by artist Anne Patterson for the vaulted Nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

  • Aljoscha: The Miraculous Draught

    Spring 2020 - Summer 2021
    Inspired by the well known parable in the Gospel of John, Ukrainian-born artist Aljoscha assembles 153 compounded, almost weightless, self-contained sculptures in the form of a large biofuturistic organism, seemingly kept afloat from the ceiling of the Nave by an inner impulse.
See all past exhibitions