Whitney Museum Gala 2025 Raises $7.75 Million and Honors Amy Sherald
The star-studded evening saw record-breaking donations and a surprise TLC performance
On Tuesday, May 20, luminaries from New York’s creative cognoscenti turned out in style at the Whitney Museum of American Art for the 2025 Whitney Gala. A cornerstone of the city’s arts and philanthropy calendar, the glamorous event honored three prominent art-world figures: acclaimed painter Amy Sherald, whose solo exhibition “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” opened on April 9; longtime Whitney curator Barbara Haskell, who has worked at the museum since 1975; and philanthropist and Chairman of the Board Richard DeMartini.
The evening attracted a starry roster of attendees who showed up to support the museum’s mission to celebrate American art past and present. They included artists Glenn Ligon, Jeff Koons, Jesse Krimes, Teresita Fernández, Tom Sachs, and Lorna Simpson; actors Andie McDowell, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, and Claire Danes; designers Wes Gordon and Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti; curators Rujeko Hockley and Meg Onli; and former Whitney director Adam D. Weinberg.
The evening kicked off with cocktail hour on the ground-floor lobby, where guests sipped on margaritas made with LALO Tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liquor, and agave; in the museum’s large Richard Artschwager–designed elevator, guests enjoyed espresso martinis. Gala Co-Chair and Board President Fern Kaye Tessler welcomed attendees to the seventh floor as they sat down for dinner, which served up a special menu of burrata with cherry tomatoes and cucumber, pickled seasonal vegetables, truffled Marcona almonds, and filet of beef with morels, heirloom carrots, asparagus, and spring onion with an assortment of bite-size sweets for dessert.
During dinner, Whitney Museum director Scott Rothkopf gave remarks and introduced Bob Hurst, co-chair of the Executive Committee of the Board, to give a tribute to honoree DeMartini. Guests then enjoyed a tribute to honoree Sherald from curator and art historian Dr. Dorothy Moss. Best known for her portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sherald provided moving remarks and reflected on the challenges of her artistic journey.
“When I first began painting portraits, I wasn’t trying to make history,” said Sherald, whose poignant canvases document the contemporary African American experience in the United States. “I just wanted to offer images that looked like the world I came from—ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. Art has given me a way to process the world, to imagine new ones, and to leave something behind that speaks when I’m not in the room.” Rothkopf then paid tribute to honoree Haskell, thanking her for her dedication to the Museum and highlighting her illustrious career.
Led by a group of dedicated Trustees and Dinner Committee, the Whitney raised a record-shattering $6 million in support of the museum’s mission of presenting groundbreaking exhibitions and award-winning education programs with some of the most innovative artists of our time. An additional $750,000 was raised for the Barbara Haskell American Fellows Legacy Fund in honor of Haskell. During the event, museum director Scott Rothkopf also announced a surprise additional gift of $1 million from Whitney Trustee and songwriter Judy Hart Angelo in support of the museum’s free admissions program for visitors aged 25 years and under. The initiative, which launched thanks to a gift by artist Julie Mehretu, has resulted in 400,000 free visits since December.
It was also an evening of milestones for the institution, which is celebrating 10 years since relocating downtown to a Meatpacking District building designed by Renzo Piano Design Workshop. The occasion also marked a decade since Max Mara—a leading sponsor of the soirée—debuted its iconic Whitney bag. The Italian house also sponsored the museum’s permanent collection from 2019 to 2025 and will also support the upcoming permanent collection exhibition opening this summer.
After dinner, Trustee and incoming Board President Anne-Cecile Engell Speyer surprised attendees by introducing the Grammy Award–winning group TLC, who treated the crowd to a live performance of their 1994 hit single “Creep.”
Scroll below for more highlights from the evening.
