Life Is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture

Saturday, June 15, 2019 - Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 | See Times Below

Tuesday-Wednesday | 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday-Friday | 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturday | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday | 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

The first large-scale domestic exhibition to provide a historical overview of this topic with an emphasis upon the Midwest, Life Is a Highway will bring together a diverse selection of artists to showcase the automobile’s reshaping of the 20^th-century American landscape and cultural attitudes of self-expression. Featuring more than 100 works from the Toledo Museum of Art’s own collection and both private and public loans, this exhibition will chart the rise of automobility as a visual icon of American identity. With works spanning from early depictions through the Pop Artists’ portrayal of the automobile’s impact upon consumer culture to the present, the car’s image as a symbol of newness, freedom and independence, mobility, and renewal will be explored. Organized through four themes that call attention to the social, aesthetic, environmental, and industrial dimensions of its legacy, this exhibition will include a range of visual media. 

This is a ticketed exhibition. Tickets are free for members; $12 for nonmembers; $10 for military, college students, and seniors; $7 for youth ages 5-17, free for children four years of age or younger.

Free Admission Thursday Evenings

Free admission to "Life Is a Highway" for all visitors will take place Thursday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. during the run of the exhibition. Visitors can claim their free ticket (one per person) at the information desk upon arrival. Thursday evening tickets will not be available in advance or online.