The Autry Museum of the American West - Museum Admissions

Select exhibitions currently on display at the Autry:

Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents

Opening February 14, 2026 (opens for six weeks)

Marilyn and Calvin Gross Gallery

This exhibition honors Keith Renken and his many years as an Autry trustee and supporter of Western art exhibitions at the Autry.

Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents traces the parallel rise of Southern California and the Southwest as hubs of artistic innovation—and the lasting impact of these legacies on how we see and experience these places still. Around the turn of the twentieth century, artists seeking subject matter that felt at once recognizably American yet untainted by the industrial modernism of East Coast cities flocked to places like Laguna Beach in Southern California, or Taos and Santa Fe in Northern New Mexico. These different but complementary impulses became the basis for organizations such as the California Art Club (founded in 1909), the Taos Society of Artists (founded in 1915), and the Laguna Beach Art Association (founded in 1918), fostering a sense of shared artistic values based on regional character.

Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles

Opening May 30, 2026

Marilyn and Calvin Gross Gallery

Join us as we explore the meanings behind some of the most powerful words in the Declaration of Independence from the Autry’s signature perspective: “The View From Here.” Los Angeles from its beginnings has been a place of competing claims of life, liberty, and happiness. This exhibition shares the stories of diverse Angelenos and how their ideas of life, liberty and happiness inspired the city’s growth and amplified the opportunities and contradictions expressed in the nation’s founding principles. Historical and contemporary objects, media, and art combine with community collaborations to bring this history alive. Life, Liberty, and Los Angeles invites you to step into a conversation that has been shaping Los Angeles for over two hundred years and to see the United States, its past and its future, in a new way.

Creative Continuities: Family, Pride and Community in Native Art 

The creation of Native American works involves a deep understanding of cultural protocols, history and culture. Featuring selected works from the Autry’s Native American collections and the promised collection of Lora and Robert U. Sandroni, Creative Continuities explores the cultural meanings, histories and concepts embedded into three aspects of Native cultural items: “Knowing,” “Create,” and “Transference.” Three Native culture bearers and artists will each curate a section of the exhibition, framing works from the Autry’s collection that originated within their respective communities behind one of the three concepts at the heart of the exhibition. Through this unique combination of cultural items and stories about Native American art and culture told by contemporary Native artists and culture bearers, Creative Continuities aims to educate visitors on the diversity of Native American culture, history, and traditions that cross tribal boundaries, past and present.

ReVOlt 1680/2180: Sirens & Sikas (Autry Museum in Griffith Park)

In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt began. Decades before, Spanish colonizers had ravaged the landscape and decimated the Indigenous Pueblo population. Led by Po’pay, the members of this historic uprising were successful in expelling the colonizers from their homelands, and for twelve years after freeing themselves, the Pueblos of New Mexico lived free from Castilian rule and influence. In 1692, the Spanish returned with a vengeance and stole the lands again. In ReVOlt 1680/2180, a contemporary retelling of this history by visionary Cochiti Pueblo artist Virgil Ortiz, the 1680 rebels will have more resources and aid, and their territories will be secure once and for all.   

Stirs Up the Dust (Autry Museum in Griffith Park)

Wendy Red Star is known for photographing herself within elaborately constructed scenes, engaging the viewer directly and foregrounding her presence within narratives of her own design. In Stirs Up the Dust, from a series of celestial couture garments titled Thunder Up Above, Red Star reimagines the regalia associated with powwow, a circular dance celebration found throughout Indigenous Plains cultures including Red Star’s Crow Nation, in futuristic terms.  

Black Cowboys: An American Story

This exhibition offers a clearer picture of the Black West and a more diverse portrait of the American frontier. Historical and contemporary objects, photographs, and personal stories convey the work and spirit of Black cowboys and reveal how Black men and women turned their equestrian skills to popular performances in rodeo, Western film, and music. Videos created for this exhibition highlight individual Black cowfolk, past and present, who have kept these traditions alive.

Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology

Future Imaginaries explores the rise of Futurism in contemporary Indigenous art as a means of enduring colonial trauma, creating alternative futures and advocating for Indigenous technologies in a more inclusive present and sustainable future. Over 50 artworks are on display, some interspersed throughout the museum, creating unexpected encounters and dialogues between contemporary Indigenous creations and historic Autry works. Artists such as Andy Everson, Ryan Singer and Neal Ambrose Smith wittily upend pop-culture icons by Indigenizing sci-fi characters and storylines; Wendy Red Star places Indigenous people in surreal spacescapes wearing fantastical regalia; Virgil Ortiz brings his own space odyssey, ReVOlt 1680/2180, to life in a new, site-specific installation. By intermingling science fiction, self-determination, and Indigenous technologies across a diverse array of Native cultures, Future Imaginaries envisions sovereign futures while countering historical myths and the ongoing impact of colonization, including environmental degradation and toxic stereotypes.

Imagined West:

Imagined Wests travels through Western storytelling landscapes, through retellings of history, and through the craft of many “West makers” from tailors to actors. We also explore the “view from here,” a focus on Southern California’s role as a place for stories.

Waterways:

Join the Autry as we discover what and why are they important in our newest exhibition changeout, Waterways, in the permanent Human Nature exhibition.

Cowboy Gallery:

Following a months-long renovation, the Cowboy Gallery features new videos, infographics, and hands-on activity stations. Discover a full-size chuck wagon and explore the tools and tasks of the cowboy trade—all showcased alongside a 16-foot projection of stunning Western landscapes from Oklahoma to California.

Learn more about all of the Autry's current exhibitions by clicking here!