untitled: 20 Years of Collecting Contemporary Art

A new exhibition of more than 100 works, “untitled: 20 Years of Collecting Contemporary Art” brings together McNay acquisitions from the past two decades grouped by line, shape, color, form, texture, value and space along with the design principle of pattern. On view March 27-Sept. 6, 2026, the presentation places traditional art in direct conversation with experimental works, highlighting materiality and encouraging visitors to compare both physical features and artistic processes.

The exhibition also functions as a portrait of curatorial impact. Over a 20-year tenure, René Paul Barilleaux oversaw more than 200 acquisitions that shaped the McNay’s contemporary identity. “untitled” brackets his curatorial arc, with the opening gallery presenting his first acquisition, Susan Rosmarin’s optical abstraction “Blue (#267)” opposite of his final acquisition, Margaret Evangeline’s bullet-punctured metal plate in “Other Voices 3.”