Erin L. Thompson, a curator of the exhibition, said the only paintings for sale were the ones whose artists had been cleared and released from Guantánamo.

“The idea of trying to dispirit someone by destroying what they’ve made, even if the subject is, on its surface, innocuous, is very common in warfare,” added Ms. Thompson, a professor of art crime at John Jay College. She said she would be distressed if United States officials destroyed art created by their prisoners.

At Guantánamo Bay, art classes have been available for nearly a decade. The detainees were allowed to give their creations to their lawyers, often as thank you gifts or for safekeeping.

One lawyer, Beth D. Jacob, said her client showed her his paintings when they first met. “I was impressed by it, and he told me that the art teacher there had complimented him,” she said. So last year, she reached out to Ms. Thompson about putting them on display. Several other Guantánamo detainees agreed to participate, and the exhibition was unveiled last month.

It includes a piece called “Vertigo at Guantánamo,” a series of colorful dots in concentric circles that call to mind a gaping hole. That one was by Abd al Aziz Ali, a citizen of Pakistan who also goes by Ammar al-Baluchi and was charged with helping to orchestrate the Sept. 11 attacks.

The exhibition also includes a painting of the Statue of Liberty in front of an electric-blue sea. That work is by Ms. Jacob’s client, Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah al Ansi, a Yemeni citizen. American officials suspected him of working as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, but he was cleared by a tribunal last year and transferred to Oman in January.