The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys from November 22, 2025 through March 1, 2026. The exhibition brings more than 100 works from nearly 40 internationally recognized Black artists to Richmond, including pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kehinde Wiley, Amy Sherald, Nick Cave, Gordon Parks, Tschabalala Self, and Toyin Ojih Odutola.
A Nationally Touring Show
Organized in partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, Giants has already established itself as one of the most talked-about traveling exhibitions in the country. The show debuted in New York in early 2024, where it was described by The New York Times as a “rare look inside a personal collection that doubles as a statement of cultural power.” Reviewers noted the accessibility of the exhibition, pointing out that it felt less like a traditional museum show and more like being invited into a living, breathing cultural space shaped by the collectors themselves.
From Brooklyn, the exhibition moved south to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, where it resonated with audiences in a city that has long been considered a capital of Black culture. Attendance was so strong that the museum reported record-breaking visitor numbers during the run. Local critics highlighted how the show blended global names like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kehinde Wiley with younger artists whose work reflected Atlanta’s own communities and cultural movements.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art was the third stop, offering a different perspective in a city still deeply engaged in conversations about race, justice, and representation in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. There, the show was praised for the way it created a space of reflection and empowerment, particularly through installations like Ebony G. Patterson’s glittering but unsettling …they were just hanging out….
At every stop, Giants has drawn more than just art world insiders. Families, students, and first-time museumgoers have packed galleries to see a show that feels personal while carrying the weight of cultural history. The response has underscored what Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have often said about the collection: that it isn’t only about art on walls but about access, belonging, and representation.
Bringing the exhibition to Richmond places the city alongside some of the country’s leading art institutions, and gives local audiences a chance to engage with a show that has been both a critical and popular success everywhere it has traveled.
Who Are the Deans?
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz are widely recognized names in music, but in the art world, they’ve also become influential collectors and advocates. Keys is a 15-time Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, and producer, known for hits like Fallin’ and Empire State of Mind. Swizz Beatz (born Kasseem Dean) is a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and DMX, and is also an entrepreneur with longstanding ties to the art world.
Together, they began assembling what’s now known as the Dean Collection over a decade ago, focusing on supporting living Black artists across generations. Beyond simply buying works, the couple has positioned themselves as champions of equity in the art market, often pushing for fairer compensation and visibility for artists who have historically been overlooked.
Why Richmond?
For the VMFA, Giants is more than a high-profile loan. It reflects the museum’s stated mission to build one of the strongest African American art collections in the country. Hosting a show that has drawn national attention in New York, Atlanta, and Minneapolis signals Richmond’s growing role in that conversation.
“It’s significant and timely,” said VMFA director Alex Nyerges to the Richmond Times Dispatch. “Giants highlights exceptional works of art by contemporary Black artists, and we are delighted to share works from the Deans’ important collection with our community.”
Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver added that in an era when cultural institutions are under pressure to narrow their narratives, Giants does the opposite: “It underscores the significance of artists to tell their stories, celebrate life, and resist erasure.”
That message lands at a moment of heightened scrutiny for museums nationwide. In March, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Smithsonian Institution to overhaul its collections and emphasize what he called a “more celebratory view” of the country. On Truth Social this week, he went further, saying the Smithsonian museums were “out of control” for spotlighting what he described as “negative chapters,” such as the history of slavery.
The directive has alarmed curators and cultural leaders across the country, who warn that political interference risks flattening the complexity of America’s story. By contrast, Giants deliberately centers the work of Black artists, many of whom challenge sanitized narratives by confronting issues of identity, resilience, and systemic inequality.
For Richmond, the timing carries special resonance. The city has spent the past decade grappling with how it remembers its past, from the removal of Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue to ongoing debates about preservation, erasure, and public space. Hosting an exhibition that celebrates Black creativity and insists on the importance of telling fuller, more complicated stories places the VMFA at the heart of that national conversation.
In that sense, Giants is not only a traveling exhibition of world-class art, it is also a statement about what stories Richmond chooses to elevate at a time when others are trying to narrow them.
What to Expect
The exhibition blends monumental works by contemporary giants with deeply personal touches, creating a space that feels as much like a home as a gallery. Visitors will see Amy Sherald’s Deliverance, which reimagines traditional equestrian portraiture with Baltimore dirt bike riders caught mid-air, challenging who gets to be immortalized in oil on linen. They’ll encounter Gordon Parks’ candid photograph of Muhammad Ali, a reminder of Parks’ unparalleled ability to capture both intimacy and history in a single frame.
Beyond those headline works, the show stretches across mediums—large-scale installations, vibrant paintings, and sculptural pieces that demand viewers to move around them. Ebony G. Patterson’s immersive environment, …they were just hanging out…, at first appears playful, filled with glitter, beads, and toys. But on closer inspection, bullet holes pierce the scene, a sobering reminder of violence woven into everyday life. Tschabalala Self’s Father uses fabric and paint to construct a bold portrait that blurs the line between collage and painting, while Toyin Ojih Odutola’s meticulously layered drawings bring personal and imagined histories to life.
To anchor these giants of the art world, the Deans have chosen to weave in their own artifacts like Alicia Keys’ first piano, the instrument that shaped her career, and Swizz Beatz’s first drum machine, which powered his earliest beats. These objects ground the show in lived experience, underscoring the couple’s belief that art is not separate from life but grows out of it.
Sound and atmosphere are also deliberate choices. “When you walk into Giants, Marvin Gaye is playing,” Swizz Beatz explained. “We wanted people to feel like they were in a safe space… to relax their shoulders.” Rather than the hushed silence of a traditional gallery, the exhibition invites warmth and familiarity, an environment where audiences can both appreciate the scale of the work and feel connected to the culture it comes from.
The goal, according to the couple, is for visitors to leave feeling not like they attended an exhibition, but like they were welcomed into a community.
Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys opens November 22 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and runs through March 1, 2026. Ticket information is not available at this time.
Main image: Deliverance, 2022, Amy Sherald (American, born 1973), oil on linen. The Dean Collection, courtesy of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys © Amy Sherald, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
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