Yale University Art Gallery

Yale University Art Gallery Yale University Art Gallery is the oldest college art museum in America. FREE and open to the public. Free membership!
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The Yale University Art Gallery was founded in 1832 as an art museum for Yale and the community. Today it is one of the largest museums in the country, holding more than 300,000 objects and welcoming visitors from around the world. The museum’s encyclopedic collection can engage every interest. Galleries showcase artworks from ancient times to the present, including vessels from Tang-dynasty China

, early Italian paintings, textiles from Borneo, treasures of American art, masks from Western Africa, modern and contemporary art, ancient sculptures, masterworks by Degas, van Gogh, and Picasso, and more. Exhibitions present new scholarship and offer thematic perspectives on the collection. Spanning one and a half city blocks, the museum features more than 4,000 works on display, multiple classrooms, a rooftop terrace, a sculpture garden, and dramatic views of New Haven and the Yale campus. The entrance building, which was designed by renowned architect Louis Kahn and was completed in 1953, is a masterpiece of modern architecture. The Gallery’s mission is to encourage an understanding of art and its role in society through direct engagement with original works of art. Programs include exhibition tours, lectures, and performances, all free and open to the public. Learn about membership benefits and join online at: https://artgallery.yale.edu/support/membership

Painting conservators from the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art recently participated in ...
06/12/2026

Painting conservators from the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art recently participated in a 3-day workshop led by Dean Yoder, Lapis Senior Conservator of Paintings and Head of Paintings Conservation at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). Workshops like this one enable conservators to share treatment knowledge through hands-on demonstrations.

Yoder’s workshop focused on a specific technique: lining with conservation adhesive BEVA 371 Akron. Lining is a process during which a new canvas is attached to the back of a painting’s original canvas to give support to the painting. The newly-formulated BEVA 371 Akron was the result of research carried out by The Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (NYU) and The School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron (UA) through the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas initiative.

The Cleveland Museum of Art Yale Center for British Art
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Images 1, 2, and 3: Yale painting conservators working with Yoder to prepare lining canvas and line mock-up paintings with BEVA 371 Akron

Kick off summer at the Gallery! Enjoy wines, cheeses, snacks & sweets with music by DJ Shaki. Rain or shine—celebrate wi...
06/10/2026

Kick off summer at the Gallery! Enjoy wines, cheeses, snacks & sweets with music by DJ Shaki. Rain or shine—celebrate with fellow museum supporters. Register in advance at the link: https://ow.ly/El9K50Z7NA8

📍Yale University Art Gallery
🗓️ June 18
🕠 5:30-7:00 PM

We can’t wait to see you!
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Images from the 2025 Summer Members’ Celebration in the Margaret and Angus Wurtele Sculpture Garden

🐻 The 619 photographs by August Sander on view at the Gallery offer a remarkable record of German society from the 1890s...
06/09/2026

🐻 The 619 photographs by August Sander on view at the Gallery offer a remarkable record of German society from the 1890s to 1950s that spans political affiliations, class lines, and stages of life. But the exhibition “People of the Twentieth Century” also features more than just people – look closely, and you’ll notice there are sheep, cows, horses, dogs, a bird, and even a bear!

These animal companions were integral to the lives and livelihood of Sander’s human subjects. They appear across rural and urban settings, captured in the background as livestock or posed centrally alongside family members and individuals. Sharing the same space and often similar expressive qualities, the animals pictured offer us insight into the everyday cares and relationships of the people in Sander’s portraits.
-Post by Paulina Choh, Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow in Photography

Come see this exhibition before it closes on June 28!


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Image details:
1. August Sander, “Farm Children,” ca. 1913, printed ca. 1990–99. Gelatin silver print.
2. August Sander, “Small-Town Dweller,” 1925–30, printed ca. 1990–99. Gelatin silver print.
3. August Sander, “Horsewoman,” 1930, printed ca. 1990–99. Gelatin silver print.
4. August Sander, “Afternoon Break,” ca. 1930, printed ca. 1990–99. Gelatin silver print.
5. August Sander, “Showman with a Performing Bear in Cologne,” 1923, printed ca. 1990–99. Gelatin silver print.

Credit line: Societe Anonyme Acquisition Fund and Katharine Ordway Fund. © Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur—August Sander Archiv, Cologne/ARS, NY 2025

on June 6, 1756, John Trumbull (1756–1843) was a history painter and portraitist whose images of the American Revoluti...
06/06/2026

on June 6, 1756, John Trumbull (1756–1843) was a history painter and portraitist whose images of the American Revolution helped shape how a new nation pictured its founding. Trumbull’s ambition was not only to record events, but to craft a visual history—uniting likeness, narrative, and symbolism in works meant for public memory.

Trumbull’s story is also inseparable from the Yale University Art Gallery. The Gallery was founded in 1832, when Trumbull sold 28 paintings and 60 miniature portraits to the University—and he designed a Neoclassical building to exhibit them. When the Trumbull Gallery opened to the public on October 25, 1832, it became the first college art museum in the United States. While the Trumbull Gallery is no longer standing, today the Gallery’s collection is housed across three architecturally distinct historic structures on Chapel Street, and has also grown to include over 300,000 objects from nearly every region of the globe and across time.

On your next visit, look for Trumbull’s works on view in the 2nd floor American paintings and sculpture galleries: from incisive portrait studies and finely detailed miniatures to scenes drawn from Revolutionary history.


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Image 1: Gilbert Stuart, “Colonel John Trumbull,” 1818. Oil on wood panel. Bequest of Herbert L. Pratt
Image 2: Photograph of the Trumbull Gallery, 1865. Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University
Image 3: View of some of Trumbull's paintings in the American paintings and sculpture galleries

This Pride Month, we’re spotlighting American modernist Charles Demuth (1883–1935), an artist whose bold, graphic style ...
06/02/2026

This Pride Month, we’re spotlighting American modernist Charles Demuth (1883–1935), an artist whose bold, graphic style helped shape a new visual language in the early 20th century—and whose life as a gay man adds an important dimension to how we think about modernism’s histories and communities.

Demuth is widely known for his “Poster Portraits,” a series of inventive, symbol-rich tributes to friends and fellow artists and writers. Drawing inspiration from contemporary advertising art, he interwove objects and wordplay to allude to their lives, art, and shared experiences. In these works, names become design, and identities emerge through color and coded references—portraits that are evocative and built less from likeness.

The Gallery is fortunate to hold several Poster Portraits in our collection, including Demuth’s poster portraits of Georgia O’Keeffe and Arthur Dove, both currently on view in the 3rd Floor Modern and Contemporary Art and Design galleries. With geometric compositions and carefully chosen visual clues, these works evoke O’Keeffe’s and Dove’s artistic identities while reflecting Demuth’s distinctive approach to celebrating his circle of friends through painting.

Visit the Gallery to see them in person this month.


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Image 1: Charles Demuth, “Poster Portrait: O’Keeffe,” 1924. Poster paint on pressed-paper board. Transfer from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Gift of Georgia O'Keeffe to the Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O’Keeffe Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature\r\n

Image 2: Charles Demuth, "Poster Portrait: Dove," 1924. Post paint on pressed-paper board. Transfer from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Gift of Georgia O'Keeffe to the Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O'Keeffe Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature\r\n

Images 3 & 4: Views of Charles Demuth's "Poster Portraits" in the Modern and Contemporary Art and Design galleries

Hello, I’m Benjamin Hellings, the Jackson-Tomasko Associate Curator of Numismatics. I came to Yale from the University o...
06/01/2026

Hello,
I’m Benjamin Hellings, the Jackson-Tomasko Associate Curator of Numismatics. I came to Yale from the University of Oxford, where I completed my doctorate in Ancient History, specializing in Roman Numismatics. While there, I worked at the Ashmolean Museum’s Department of Coins and Medals as a research assistant.

Since arriving at Yale in 2016, my primary objective has been to improve accessibility to the collection. To that end, I spend much of my time cataloging many of the over 200,000 objects we have – the largest numismatic collection at any North American university. I’m especially pleased that in 2022 we were able to design and open a permanent gallery dedicated to the full breadth of numismatics (the Bela Lyon Pratt Gallery of Numismatics), while I continue to seek new ways to facilitate engagement with our collection.

I’m eager to learn something new every day, which isn’t hard with such an extensive collection, with objects dating from 600 BC to the present day, and I thoroughly enjoy research. In 2025 I published my second book, Coin Finds and Monetization in the Roman Northwest, and my third book will be published later this year. Over the next few years, I look forward to adding unique and important pieces to the collection while I continue teaching and research.

To learn more about the Numismatics collection click here:
https://artgallery.yale.edu/research-and-learning/curatorial-areas/numismatics

⏳ Last chance — “John Coplans” is closing June 7!What does it mean to truly see yourself? British photographer John Copl...
05/31/2026

⏳ Last chance — “John Coplans” is closing June 7!

What does it mean to truly see yourself? British photographer John Coplans (1920–2003) didn't begin creating self-portraits until he was over sixty — and when he did, he made a radical choice: to never show his face.

Instead, Coplans turned his lens on his aging body — hands, feet, torso, skin — printed large and up close, often twisted into uncomfortable positions. Every wrinkle, every scar, every fold of loose skin is front and center. These are not images that apologize for getting older. They demand that you look. 👀

Coplan’s studies of the body express his belief that “farce and force combine to reveal the human comedy.”

Swipe through to experience these striking photographs for yourself — and then come see them in person before it's too late.

📍 “John Coplans” is on view on the Gallery's fourth floor through June 7.


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1. John Coplans, “Feet Frontal,” 1984. Gelatin silver print. Promised gift from Robinson A. Grover, B.A. 1958, M.S.L. 1975, and Nancy D. Grover. © The John Coplans Trust
2. John Coplans, “Back with Arms Above,” 1984. Gelatin silver print. Promised gift from Robinson A. Grover, B.A. 1958, M.S.L. 1975, and Nancy D. Grover. © The John Coplans Trust
3. View of Coplans’s “Self Portrait (Interlocking Fingers, No. 5),” (1999) in the exhibition “John Coplans.”
4. View of the exhibition “John Coplans.”

Come meet the friends of Handsome Dan, featured in the Prints and Drawings and Photography collection at the Yale Univer...
05/28/2026

Come meet the friends of Handsome Dan, featured in the Prints and Drawings and Photography collection at the Yale University Art Gallery!

In celebration of Yale College Reunions, this May 29th we will spend Open Friday looking at how artists from Dürer to Picasso have depicted man's best friend. 🐶

Date: Tomorrow, Friday May 29, 2026
Time: 3-4 pm (drop in anytime!)


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Image details:
1. Handsome Dan looking at Mark Rothko's painting in the Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Gallery at Yale University Art Gallery.
2. Handsome Dan in front of Albert Bierstadt's "Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point Trail" in the American Art Gallery at Yale University Art Gallery.
3. Albrecht Dürer, "Saint Eustace" (detail), ca. 1500-01. Engraving. Yale University Art Gallery, Fritz Achelis Memorial Collection, Gift of Frederic George Achelis, B.A. 1907.

Considered the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day calls upon us to honor the men and women who made the ultimate s...
05/25/2026

Considered the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day calls upon us to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. It's also a day for reflection, remembrance, unity, and peace.

In the early years of the Civil War members of the Hudson and Gartley families of Philadelphia came together to create an extraordinary quilt, which is now featured in the exhibition “Keeping Alive the Remembrance: Commemorating America's Founding, 1776–1876.” At the center of the quilt is an antique handkerchief from the 1820s depicting the Declaration of Independence within a chain of states. When the handkerchief was first made, a commentator praised its potential for "exciting patriotic feelings, and keeping alive the remembrance of such events."

A generation later, the quilters encircled the handkerchief with squares inscribed with the names of their shared relatives. The composition of family names surrounding states names brings together the genealogy of the family and the nation. The Hudsons and Gartleys were Quaker pacifists and the quilt's emphasis on unity may have been a political statement against the upheaval of the Civil War. One person included on the quilt–Thomas Hudson–would enlist in the Union Army and die in battle.

The quilt is both a celebration and a memorial; a way for the family to keep alive their faith in the nation and the memory of their loved ones.

“Keeping Alive the Remembrance” invites you to explore how remembrance is made through art and the stories we carry forward.


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📷: Visitors in the installation "Keeping Alive the Remembrance: Commemorating America's Founding, 1776–1876"
📷: View of the installation "Keeping Alive the Remembrance: Commemorating America's Founding, 1776–1876"
📷: "Quilt", probably made in Philadelphia, ca. 1870. Red, white, blue, beige, printed on solid calico and white cotton. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of the Joel E. and Carole Bernstein Family Collection

Celebrating Mary Cassatt today 💡✨In “The Lamp,” Mary Cassatt invites us into a quiet interior: a young woman seated in a...
05/22/2026

Celebrating Mary Cassatt today 💡✨

In “The Lamp,” Mary Cassatt invites us into a quiet interior: a young woman seated in a comfortable armchair, her back turned as she adjusts her hair, gently fanning herself. An avid printmaker, Cassatt created over two hundred works across three decades, often combining etching, drypoint, and aquatint in a single composition. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints she encountered in Paris in 1890–91, she began experimenting with different techniques to achieve similar effects of color and flattened space.

Areas of the sheet remain without color and reveal this impression as an early—and possibly unique—state, discovered only in the 2000s. The preparatory drawing shown beside the print helps illuminate her process: by tracing the contours of the drawing over a soft-ground-coated plate, Cassatt could transfer the image through pressure. Her sketch and her print combined offers a rare glimpse into the careful, labor-intensive steps behind the finished work.

In honor of her birthday, visit Cassatt’s work among others in “American Impressionism,” on view through June 14 in the James E. Duffy Gallery for Prints and Drawings on the 4th floor. For more on Cassatt, see “Mary Cassatt: An American in Paris” on view through August 30 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

National Gallery of Art
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Image 1: Mary Cassatt, “The Lamp,” 1890–91. Drypoint, soft-ground etching, and aquatint on paper, from two plates. Gift of Jan and Warren Adelson, Mr. and Mrs. N. Lee Griggs, Jr., B.A. 1951, Anthony M. Schulte, B.A. 1951, Mark Rudkin, B.A. 1951, and purchased with the Everett V. Meeks, B.A. 1901, and the Walter H. and Margaret Dwyer Clemens, B.A. 1951, Funds.

Image 2: Mary Cassatt, "Woman and Lamp," 1890-91. Black chalk and graphite. Bequest of Edith Malvina K. Wetmore

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