The Nassau County Museum of Art, in Roslyn Harbor, on the Gold Coast of Long Island, New York, US, welcomes visitors this season with ‘Real, Surreal, Photoreal‘, a multidisciplinary exhibition of over 120 works of art, curated by Franklin Hill Perrell, NCMA’s Chief Curator, and Alex C. Maccaro, Associate Curator. The show plunges audiences into a world where reality is uncertain, dreams take shape, and the line between fact and imagination dissolves. Both inside the galleries and across the museum’s expansive 145-acre estate, visitors embark on a journey through shifting perceptions: artistic, natural, and historical.

On view through March 8, 2026, the exhibition surveys more than a century of innovation in representation, charting the evolution of Realism from its early dominance to its transformation alongside twentieth-century abstraction. Before abstraction reshaped the art world, Realism defined American artistic identity, and even as movements changed, Realism never vanished, it adapted. As Perrell notes, “These modes have enabled artists to engage the world, documenting the visual specifics of everyday life with unforgettable images.”

Real, Surreal, Photoreal follows this trajectory across styles such as Magic Realism, Dream Surrealism, Pop, Hyperrealism, and Fool-the-Eye painting. From the urban grit of The Eight and the Ashcan School to the uncanny visions of Surrealism and the precision of Photorealism, the works on view challenge perceptions and invite viewers to question what they see and what they believe. Executive Director Beth Horn observes that the show “invites visitors to look closely at the relationship between art and reality.”

The exhibition gathers exceptional works by both American and European artists, including portraits by John Currin and Fairfield Porter, rare Surrealist tapestries and works on paper by Salvador Dalí and Man Ray, vibrant canvases by Alex Katz, sculptures by Carole A. Feuerman, and paintings by John French Sloan and William James Glackens. Together, they reveal how artists across generations have reflected and reimagined the world around them.

But the NCMA experience extends far beyond the galleries. The museum sits on the former Frick Estate in Roslyn Harbor, a site whose landscape tells its own story. The Formal Gardens were designed in 1925 by Marian Cruger Coffin, one of the first and most distinguished female landscape architects in the United States. Commissioned by Frances Frick, a passionate horticulturist, Coffin created a structured, symmetrical garden rich in visual rhythm and long sightlines. She considered these gardens among her greatest achievements, and today they have been meticulously restored to reflect her original design.

Beyond the Formal Gardens, the property includes a Sculpture Park with 43 major works, a collection of rare specimen trees, a century-old pinetum, and miles of marked walking trails that weave through meadows and wooded areas. Together, the landscape extends the exhibition’s themes, inviting visitors to encounter multiple layers of reality in art and nature alike.

As part of the exhibition’s programming, NCMA will host A Talk with Artist: Eric Dever on Sunday, December 7 at 3 p.m. Dever, known for his vibrant, process-driven paintings, draws inspiration from Surrealist techniques such as decalcomania and grattage—methods pioneered by Max Ernst and Jean Dubuffet. His work merges chance with intention, revealing unexpected textures and forms that resonate with the exhibition’s spirit of exploration. The talk is free for members, with limited seating and advance registration recommended.

At NCMA this season, the real, the surreal, and the photoreal unfold not only within the galleries but also across one of Long Island’s most storied landscapes, inviting every visitor to see the world anew.