Yale University Art Gallery


The Yale University Art Gallery, the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere, houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the gallery emphasizes early Italian painting, African sculpture, and modern art. The museum is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museums program.

History

The gallery was founded in 1832, when patriot-artist John Trumbull donated more than 100 paintings of the American Revolution to Yale College and designed the original Picture Gallery. This building, on the university's Old Campus, was razed in 1901.
A Tuscan romanesque building, designed by Egerton Swartwout, was built in 1928.
The gallery's main building was built from 1947-1953, and was among the first designed by Louis Kahn, who taught architecture at Yale. Although the Art Gallery with steel structure and reinforced concrete may seem simple to the eye, it was designed in a rigorous process. Kahn and Anne Tyng, the first licensed female architect in the state of Pennsylvania and an employee of Kahn's independent practice, "devised a slab that was to be poured into metal forms in the shape of three-sided pyramids. When the forms were removed, they left a thick mass of concrete imprinted with tetrahedral openings." The gallery ceiling was designed by Tyng, fascinated by geometry and Octet-truss construction.
In 1998, the gallery began a major renovation and expansion. A renovation of the 1953 building was completed in December 2006 by Polshek Partnership Architects, who returned many spaces to Kahn's original vision. The project was completed on December 12, 2012, at a cost of $135 million. The expanded space totals.
In December 2011 the museum announced an $11 million gift from alumnus Stephen Susman, to create new art exhibition galleries on the museum’s newly created fourth floor.
In July 2018, Stephanie Wiles became the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Trumbull Gallery built in 1832

Gallery

Collection

The Gallery's encyclopedic collections number more than 200,000 objects ranging in date from ancient times to the present day. The permanent collection includes:
In 2005, the museum announced that it had acquired 1,465 gelatin silver prints by the influential American landscape photographer Robert Adams. In 2009, the museum mounted an exhibition of its extensive collection of Picasso paintings and drawings, in collaboration with the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. For the first time, portions of the Yale University Library's Gertrude Stein writing archives were displayed next to relevant drawings from Picasso.

Programs

As an affiliate of Yale University, the gallery offers education programs for university students, New Haven schools, and the general public. One such program is the Gallery Guide program, founded in 1998, which trains undergraduate students to lead tours at the museum.

Management

The Yale Art Gallery charges no admission.