Mise-en-scène of a boat carrying a raft of Native American people with military figures on the shore in the background
Image Credit

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Resurgence of the People, 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 132 × 264 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Purchase, Donald R. Sobey Foundation CAF Canada Project Gift, 2020.216b. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Kent Monkman

History is Painted by the Victors
Now On View

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Resurgence of the People, 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 132 × 264 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Purchase, Donald R. Sobey Foundation CAF Canada Project Gift, 2020.216b. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

This exhibition contains depictions of violence and nudity. Parents and guardians may want to preview.

Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors is the first major show in the US for celebrated artist Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation, born 1965). Based in New York City and Toronto, Canada, Monkman is known for his provocative interventions into Western European and American art history. Through his painting, Monkman pushes forward an understanding of the lived experiences of Indigenous people today while confronting colonial injustices.

Featuring 41 monumental works, History is Painted by the Victors draws from the DAM’s extensive collection of Monkman’s work alongside newly created works and loans from other institutions and private collections. These works explore Kent Monkman’s use of history painting as a contemporary genre to highlight relevant issues such as climate change and environmental protection, the impact of governmental policies on historically marginalized communities, generational trauma, and Two-Spirit and other queer identifying communities’ visibility and pride. History is Painted by the Victors explores several key moments in Monkman’s career, including the inception of Monkman’s provocateur alter ego—Miss Chief Eagle Testickle— whom he often places in his canonical landscape and genre paintings of 19th century North America as well as The Rendezvous series, which focuses on the "golden age" of settler/Indigenous relations.

This exhibition is co-organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

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Lakeside forest scene with naked people and Native American figures painting

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), History is Painted by the Victors, 2013. Acrylic paint on canvas; 72 x 113¼ x 1½ in. Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum, 2016.288. © Kent Monkman

Native Americans clinging to the side of a cliffside

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Deluge, 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 120 × 102 in. Private collection, Canada. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Tableau of priests and soldiers invading a community and kidnapping children

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Scream, 2017. Acrylic paint on canvas; 84 x 132 in. Denver Art Museum: Native Arts acquisition funds, purchased with funds from Loren G. Lipson, M.D, 2017.93. © Kent Monkman

Young boy reaching up to a bird in the windowsill

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Compositional Study for the Sparrow, 2022. Acrylic paint on canvas, 43 × 36 in. From the collection of Brian A. Tschumper. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman

Tableau of Native American men and women protesting brutal policemen

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Victory for the Water Protectors, 2018. Acrylic paint on canvas, 84 × 132 in. Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Native American man shrugging while atop a horse

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Great Mystery, 2022. Acrylic paint on canvas, 117 1/2 × 91 1/2 in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Miriam H. and S. Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund; 2023.18.1. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Chaotic scene of naked Native Americans embracing amidst white clothed settlers

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Saturnalia, 2017. Acrylic paint on canvas, 84 × 126 in. Collection of Alfredo and Moira Romano. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

A solider and a Native American intertwined and running from a rainstorm

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Storm, 2021. Acrylic paint on canvas, 116 × 72 in. Claridge Collection. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Woman dying in the streets in front of a church, comforted by a group of Native Americans

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Death of the Female, 2014. Acrylic paint on canvas, 84 × 126 in. Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Angels hovering over chaotic scene of naked captives in an enclosed outdoor prison area

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Madhouse, 2020. Acrylic paint on canvas, 84 × 132 in. Collection of Nicholas and Nicole Beale. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Group of Native Americans protecting plants and the forest from soldiers and a wildfire

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Protecting the Medicines, 2023. Acrylic paint on canvas, 84 × 132 in. Kent Monkman Studio. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

White people drowning and reaching for sanctuary from Native Americans on an island

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Welcoming the Newcomers, 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 132 × 264 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Purchase, Donald R. Sobey Foundation CAF Canada Project Gift, 2020.216a. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Soldiers presiding over nuns and children at gunpoint

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Intermediary Study for The Going Away Song, 2022. Acrylic paint on canvas, 60 × 90 in. Collection of the Sobey Art Foundation. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Mise-en-scène of a boat carrying a raft of Native American people with military figures on the shore in the background

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): Resurgence of the People, 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 132 × 264 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Purchase, Donald R. Sobey Foundation CAF Canada Project Gift, 2020.216b. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Front cover of the Kent Monkman exhibition catalog

Exhibition Catalog

The Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors catalog accompanies the artist’s first major exhibition in the United States. The volume gathers rich analysis of Monkman’s art from prominent scholars, expanding our understanding of his oeuvre and offering new insight via queer theory, historical and contemporary contexts, visual analysis, and lived experience.

The catalog and more items inspired by the exhibition are available to purchase from the museum's shops in-store or online.

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Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors is organized by the Denver Art Museum and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was developed with generous support from the D. R. Sobey Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support provided by the Birnbaum Social Discourse Project, The Christensen Fund, Walker Youngbird Foundation, Marilyn Carol and Robert Weaver, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.