---
title: "Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination"
date: 2007-04-28T00:00:00-04:00
author: Caroline Herr
canonical_url: "https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/joseph-cornell-navigating-the-imagination"
section: Exhibitions
---
![Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/pem-org/general/exJosephCormell_3600_01.jpg)

 Past Exhibition

# Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination

 

On view April 28, 2007 to August 19, 2007

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Today's hours:

10 am–5 pm

 

 

 

Monday

10 am–5 pm

 

Tuesday

Closed

 

Wednesday

Closed

 

Thursday

10 am–5 pm

 

Friday

10 am–5 pm

 

Saturday

10 am–5 pm

 

Sunday

10 am–5 pm

 

 

 

 

 

## Joseph Cornell is one of America’s most innovative modern artists.

 

Known for his distinctive box sculptures, collages and experimental films that continue to influence many artists, writers, poets, filmmakers and designers.

Co-organized by PEM and The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and curated by PEM chief curator, Lynda Hartigan, the exhibition represents the first major retrospective of this American master in 26 years. It features 180 of Cornell’s artworks—making PEM the largest venue for this touring exhibition, including 30 pieces on public view for the first time. Works in *Navigating the Imagination* were borrowed from an international array of public and private collections.

*Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination* is co-organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, as part of "American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius," The Mnuchin Foundation, the Ridgestone Foundation and James Corcoran, Los Angeles, and with the cooperation of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

**Media Partner**  
Art New England

 

 

 

## Keep exploring

 

 

 

 

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Exhibition

Anila Quayyum Agha: All the Flowers Are for Me

 

Ongoing

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Past Exhibition

Man Ray \| Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism

 

June 11 to December 4, 2011

 [Learn more](https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/man-ray-lee-miller-partners-in-surrealism) 

 

 

 

 

 

 ![Eye Spy, Playing with Perception](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/pem-org/general/Ex_EyeSpy_1800_Share.jpg)

Past Exhibition

Eye Spy, Playing with Perception

 

June 19, 2010 to May 22, 2011

 [Learn more](https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/eye-spy-playing-with-perception) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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