As a welcome, orientation, and invitation to Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection, the museum’s entry gallery presents works in response to a driving question: what brings us here?

Recognizing that a museum is a place to gather for art, conversations, ideas, and social interactions, this gallery foregrounds works that invite visitors to explore how art shapes perceptions, memories, and understandings of a shared place. Starting with the museum and radiating out to Pittsburgh, the region, the country, and beyond, the question of “here” prompts creative responses from artists and visitors alike. From an 18th-century history painting to a contemporary abstraction, from ceramics and fused glass to film, the revealing juxtapositions of works across time, geography, and medium in this gallery celebrate inquiry, expressions, and achievements of many kinds while providing multiple entry points into the museum’s expansive collection.

What Brings Us Here? is organized by Dr. Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire, Curator of European and American Art, Rachel Delphia, Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, Akemi May, associate curator of works on paper, Emily Mirales, curatorial assistant of fine arts, and Liz Park, Richard Armstrong Curator of Contemporary Art.