Breaking the Mold focuses on paintings from a pivotal time, one of transition from postwar abstract expressionism to new artistic developments. It includes works on paper, paintings, and sculpture by fifty artists including Josef Albers, Richard Diebenkorn, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, and Marcel Duchamp.

The Washington Gallery of Modern Art (WGMA) was founded in Washington, DC, on October 28, 1961, to increase the national and international attention given to contemporary art in the nation’s capital, with an expressed purpose to exhibit and collect contemporary works of art. In 1968, the museum’s collection was sold to the Oklahoma Art Center.

This historically important collection from the former Washington gallery played an important role in the collection and cultivation of contemporary American art movements from the 1950s and 1960s, including late abstract expressionism, color field painting, minimalism, and pop art.