Acquisition: Orlando Museum of Art

Installation view, Annunciation, David LaChapelle, Orlando Museum of Art, Courtesy of OMA

David LaChapelle’s Annunciation, Enters the Permanent Collection of the Orlando Museum of Art

Following the conclusion of David LaChapelle: As the World Turns, David LaChapelle has gifted his 2019 photograph The Annunciation, Hawaii to the Orlando Museum of Art, where the work has now entered the museum’s permanent collection.

The gift follows LaChapelle’s major exhibition As the World Turns, presented at OMA from January 31 through May 3, 2026. Spanning four decades of his practice, the exhibition brought together works exploring the intersection of art, popular culture and spirituality.

Created in Hawaii in 2019, The Annunciation reimagines the biblical moment in which the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to Christ. LaChapelle staged the photograph inside a small chapel he constructed in Hawaii, creating an intimate setting that brings the sacred narrative into a contemporary world. The luminous halos surrounding Mary and Gabriel were created photographically, using Christmas lights spun during a long exposure.

Orlando Museum of Art, Courtesy of OMA

The work continues LaChapelle’s longstanding engagement with faith and biblical imagery. Throughout his career, religious narratives and figures have provided a recurring language through which he has explored spirituality, compassion, suffering, redemption and transcendence.

The Annunciation, Hawaii was unveiled on June 18 as part of Represent: Contemporary Figuration and Portraiture from the Collection, an exhibition highlighting works from OMA’s collection. It is presented alongside the museum’s recent acquisition of Kandy G Lopez’s Hispaniola II — Mia (2024), winner of the 2025 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art People’s Choice vote.

David LaChapelle, Annunciation, 2019 ©David LaChapelle

OMA CEO Cathryn Mattson expressed the museum’s gratitude for LaChapelle’s gift, saying the additions reflect the institution’s commitment to artists whose work creates “conversation and connection.”

The acquisition gives The Annunciation, a permanent home in the museum’s collection and continues the relationship between LaChapelle and the Orlando Museum of Art following As the World Turns.