The holiday season will be festive at the Brandywine Museum of Art with the return of the Brandywine Railroad model train display, a new exhibition featuring a selection of miniature dollhouse displays and original artworks that were created as designs for holiday greeting cards. Both exhibitions will be on view daily through January 4, 2026. The museum’s atrium will also be decked out with towering trees adorned with Brandywine’s signature, handmade “Critter” ornaments. A variety of holiday events and programs for the whole family will be offered throughout the season. 

Since its debut in 1972, the Brandywine Railroad’s iconic O-gauge model train display has captivated generations of Museum visitors. The expansive display features trains running on 2,000 feet of track and includes more than 1,000 pieces, such as locomotives, passenger and freight trains, and trolleys that pass through a small village, a farm, factories, a drive-in movie theater and even a carnival. A dazzling array of both toy and scale model trains can be seen chugging through the varied scenery, including those made by Lionel, Williams, Atlas, Mike’s Train House, K-line and others. Interactive components are incorporated throughout the display, operated by buttons and foot pedals that allow for further visitor engagement. 

Home for the Holidays

New this year, visitors can also enjoy Home for the Holidays: Cards and Hearths from the Collection, a special exhibition featuring a selection of Brandywine’s dollhouses, including two rooms from a nine-foot dollhouse designed by Ann Wyeth McCoy and built by her husband, artist John McCoy. Filled with handmade furnishings and miniature paintings contributed by Wyeth McCoy’s famously artistic siblings and in-laws, these dollhouse rooms were a communal, family endeavor that paid tribute to the Wyeth’s close-knit holiday gatherings. These two rooms will be accompanied by the debut of the Peters-Herdeg dollhouse, a detailed replica of an eighteenth-century Brandywine Valley house and a recent addition to the museum's collection. Home for the Holidays will also feature original artworks that were created as designs for holiday cards by members of the Wyeth family of artists, as well as those by other prominent American illustrators, all drawn from the collections of the Brandywine Museum of Art and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

Holiday Critter Sale

Adding to the festivities, the Brandywine’s annual Holiday Critter Sale will return to the museum from Nov. 20 to 23, with a member preview sale on Nov. 19. Each year since 1971, these distinctive ornaments have been carefully handcrafted by a dedicated group of Brandywine volunteers using only natural materials such as teasel, pinecones, acorns, eggshells, flowers and seed pods. Thousands of “classic Critter” favorites and fanciful new creations will be available for purchase during the annual sale, including a new limited-edition series of Critters inspired by Philadelphia’s favorite sports teams. This year’s sale will be held in person in the museum’s Waterview Room on the second floor. Beginning Nov. 24, the remaining inventory of Critters will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop. All proceeds benefit the Museum’s Art Education & Public Programming. A smaller selection of Critter ornaments is also available for purchase online and can be shipped across the country by visiting www.brandywine.org/critters.

Special exhibitions on display

In addition to the holiday offerings, visitors to the Brandywine can also experience two other special exhibitions on view, including Jerrell Gibbs: No Solace in the Shade and Cropsey, Wyeth, and the American Landscape Tradition. On view through March 1, 2026, No Solace in the Shade surveys the first decade of contemporary Baltimore artist Jerrell Gibbs’ career and marks his first one-person museum exhibition. His dynamic, large-scale figurative paintings of family, friends, and community focus on everyday scenes of black life, transforming them into monumental moments the highlight the universal themes of identity, reflection and belonging. 

Cropsey, Wyeth, and the American Landscape Tradition, on view through May 31, 2026, features the world-wide museum debut of a rediscovered masterpiece not seen in the United States since it was painted over 150 years ago. The painting, Autumn in the Ramapo Valley, Erie Railway, is a monumental masterwork by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823–1900), one of the luminaries of the Hudson River School of artists. In addition to this work, the exhibition features a focused appraisal of the complex art of American landscape painting with works by a variety of artists from the museum's collection, including Alfred Thompson Bricher, Albert Bierstadt, William Trost Richards, and Martin Johnson Heade to George Bellows, N.C. Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth–including watercolors and temperas by Andrew Wyeth that have never been exhibited before.

Now through January 4, 2026, the museum will be open seven days a week throughout the holiday season, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30, the museum will be open later for extended holiday hours from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Other special holiday events and activities throughout the season include the following:

Sensory-friendly access hours: Brandywine Railroad

Nov. 20 and January 2, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

After-hours access to the Brandywine Railroad for individuals on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing disorder and their families.

Breakfast with the Trains

Nov. 23, Dec. 20, and Jan. 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Enjoy early access to the Brandywine Railroad before the museum opens, plus a continental breakfast in the Millstone Café.

Holiday Critter Sale

Nov. 20 to 23, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Browse and shop from thousands of unique, handcrafted ornaments made from all-natural materials by the Brandywine’s dedicated and talented volunteers.

The Polar Express Read-Aloud Pajama Night

December 3 and 19, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Children are invited to wear their pajamas as they delight in the tale of The Polar Express and enjoy hot chocolate, cookies, and exclusive access to the Brandywine Railroad.

Children's Holiday Party

December 10, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Visit with Santa and enjoy entertainment, costumed characters, model trains, trees adorned with Critters and tasty treats in the Museum's Millstone Cafe.

Additional events can be found at www.brandywine.org/events. Support for the Brandywine Railroad holiday train display is provided by The Davenport Family Foundation Fund for Exhibitions, Chase, Herr Foods, and bequest of Joe Bauer. The Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford. Current admission rates and hours of operation can be found at www.brandywine.org/hours. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit brandywine.org/museum.