The Armory Show, the first large modern-art exhibition in the United States, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City.

The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibitions that have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories.

Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation. Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency away from the narrative, which was characteristic of the traditional arts, toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art. More recent artistic production is often called contemporary art or Postmodern art.

The 69th Regiment Armory is a historic armory for the U.S. Army National Guard at 68 Lexington Avenue, between East 25th and 26th Streets, in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Completed in 1906, the armory was designed by the firm of Hunt & Hunt in the Beaux-Arts style. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.