General Information

The Art Museum is open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.  It is located in the center of the University campus, next to Prospect Gardens. Picasso’s large sculpture Head of a Woman stands in front. A $3.00 donation is suggested.

Highlights tours of the Museum are offered every Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Museum also offers Gallery Talks during the spring and fall semesters on Friday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., as well as Children’s Talks on Saturdays at 11 a.m. These activities are offered free of charge, and no reservations are required.

Special tours of The Art Museum may be scheduled with the Docent Association by leaving a message at (609) 258-3043. A nominal fee is charged for adult groups.

Permanent Collections

The permanent collections of The Art Museum range from ancient to contemporary art, and concentrate, geographically, on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America. There is an outstanding collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, including ceramics, marbles, and bronzes, and Roman mosaics from Princeton University’s excavations in Antioch. Medieval Europe is represented by sculpture, metalwork, and stained glass. The collection of Western European paintings includes important examples from the early Renaissance through the nineteenth century, and there is a growing collection of twentieth-century and contemporary art. Significant loans amplify the collection in many areas.

Among the greatest strengths in the Museum are the collections of Chinese art, with important holdings in bronzes, tomb figures, painting, and calligraphy; and pre-Columbian art, with remarkable examples of the art of the Olmec and Maya. The Museum has important collections of old master prints and drawings and a comprehensive collection of original photographs. African art is represented as well as Northwest Coast Indian art, on loan to the Museum from the Department of Geology. Not housed in the Museum, but part of the University collection, the John B. Putnam, Jr., Memorial Collection of twentieth-century sculpture includes works by such modern masters as Alexander Calder, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, and located throughout the campus.

Museum Shop

The Museum Shop offers a wide selection of books, posters, postcards and notecards, jewelry, and other publications and merchandise relating to Museum exhibitions and its collections. Items may be ordered by calling (609) 258-5203, or e-mail mnicoll@princeton.edu. Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

Membership

Friends of The Art Museum receive invitations to preview openings of exhibitions, lectures, and day trips and tours with specially arranged visits to public and private collections; the Record of The Art Museum, the Museum's semi-annual journal; the Newsletter, published three times a year; discounts at the Museum Shop. For membership information, please call (609) 258-3788, or e-mail artmuseum@princeton.edu.

Accessibility

The Museum is architecturally accessible to mobility-impaired visitors. Wheelchairs are available on a first come, first serve basis.

Parking

Public parking is not available on the campus. Visitors may park in metered spaces or commercial parking lots in town. Special parking arrangements may be made in advance for handicapped persons.