Baltimore is about to open a brand-new chapter in modern art. On Saturday, November 14, 2026, the Baltimore Museum of Art debuts Speaking Across Languages: Global Modernisms in the 20th Century, the first exhibition in the museum’s newly opened Anne and Ben Cone Galleries.
The show traces how artists around the world answered a century of change by borrowing, translating and reinventing ideas across borders. As the BMA describes it, the exhibition highlights the movement of people, ideas and artistic influences from place to place, with a stunning array of artworks — many of them shown for the very first time.
The setting could not be more fitting. The Cone Galleries take their name from Baltimore sisters Claribel and Etta Cone, the legendary collectors whose passion for modern art built the BMA’s world-renowned Cone Collection, anchored by one of the largest groups of works by Henri Matisse anywhere. The sisters traveled, collected across countries and languages, and brought the world home to Baltimore — exactly the spirit this exhibition celebrates.
The debut coincides with the BMA Ball on November 14, an evening honoring artists and champions of creativity including Baltimore’s own Joyce J. Scott and the groundbreaking Julie Mehretu, whose vast, layered paintings capture the movement and interconnectedness of our world. Together, the gala and the exhibition mark what the museum calls a defining cultural moment for the city.
Best of all, the BMA is free. The museum, at 10 Art Museum Drive in Charles Village, welcomes everyone to wander from the new Cone Galleries to its sculpture gardens and its collections spanning 5,000 years of creativity. If you have ever wondered how a painting in Paris could change art in Baltimore, Speaking Across Languages is your invitation to find out.
Photo: Baltimore Museum of Art
