The United States turns 250 this year, an anniversary that feels both joyous and mired in division. It also provides an occasion to survey artwork that has captured the country’s recent history—its people, cultures, landscapes, and events. “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it,” the brilliant James Baldwin stated. Drawing from its holdings, the Phillips Collection brings together works by Milton Avery, Philip Guston, Georgia O’Keeffe, Simone Leigh, Wayne Thiebaud, Kara Walker, and more—a testament to the beauty and bewilderment of the American experiment. —Elena Clavarino