What makes for an extraordinary object with profound and lasting staying power? From the earliest expressions of human creativity, artists have attempted to provoke, through art, experiences that can be felt universally and profoundly, speaking directly to the most intimate layers of human understanding. As the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel proclaimed in his Lectures on Aesthetics, “The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite.”

Inspired by Steinway Hall and by extraordinary musical moments that provoke an immediate and enduring response, Striking A Chord is Bonhams’ inaugural exhibition celebrating a new chapter in New York at 111 W 57th Street.

Exploring the instances in which sound, sight, and emotion converge, the exhibition speaks to the experience induced by great works of art that have the power to resonate deeply. Bringing together works by artists including Francis Bacon, Roni Horn, Constantin Brancusi, and Lee Krasner, among others, Striking A Chord focuses on significant pieces of modern and contemporary art to consider how great works of art, like music, have the power to reverberate long after the encounter with them has passed.

Striking a Chord will be on view and open to the public between February 9 – March 6, 2026.