Philadelphia Museum of Art

thumb|Main building seen at night

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval. The Perelman Building, which opened in 2007, houses more than 150,000 prints, drawings and photographs, 30,000 costume and textile pieces, and over 1,000 modern and contemporary design objects including furniture, ceramics, and glasswork.

The museum also administers the historic colonial-era houses of Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove, both located in Fairmount Park. The main museum building and its annexes are owned by the City of Philadelphia and administered by a registered nonprofit corporation. The museum had 437,348 visitors in 2021. The current director is Daniel H. Weiss.

History

Early years (1877–1900)

Philadelphia celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with the Centennial Exposition in 1876. Memorial Hall, which contained the art gallery, was intended to outlast the Exposition and house a permanent museum. Following the example of London's South Kensington Museum, the new museum was to focus on applied art and science, and provide a school to train craftsmen in drawing, painting, modeling, and designing. Admission was charged until 1881, then was dropped until 1962. but it was not until 1907 that plans were first made to construct it on Fairmount, a rocky hill topped by the city's main reservoir. The Fairmount Parkway (renamed Benjamin Franklin Parkway), a grand boulevard that cut diagonally across the grid of city streets, was designed to terminate at the foot of the hill. But there were conflicting views about whether to erect a single museum building, or a number of buildings to house individual collections.

Horace Trumbauer and Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, both architectural firms, collaborated for more than a decade to resolve these issues. The final design is mostly credited to two architects in Trumbauer's firm: Howell Lewis Shay for the building's plan and massing, and Julian Abele for the detail work and perspective drawings. In 1902, Abele had become the first African-American student to be graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Architecture, which is presently known as Penn's School of Design. Abele adapted classical Greek temple columns for the design of the museum entrances, and was responsible for the colors of both the building stone and the figures added to one of the pediments.

Construction of the main building began in 1919, when Mayor Thomas B. Smith laid the cornerstone in a Masonic ceremony. Because of shortages caused by World War I and other delays, the new building was not completed until 1928. The wings were intentionally built first, to help assure the continued funding for the completion of the design. Once the building's exterior was completed, twenty second-floor galleries containing English and American art opened to the public on March 26, 1928, though a large amount of interior work was incomplete. The sculpture group was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Architectural League of New York.

The building is also adorned by a collection of bronze griffins, which were later adopted as the symbol of the museum in the 1970s. Fiske Kimball was the museum director during the rapid growth of the mid- to late-1920s, which included one million visitors in 1928—the new building's first year. The museum enlarged its print collection in 1928 with about 5,000 Old Master prints and drawings from the gift of Charles M. Lea, including French, German, Italian, and Netherlandish engravings.

In the 1940s, the museum's major gifts and acquisitions included the collections of John D. McIlhenny (Oriental carpets), George Grey Barnard (sculpture), and Alfred Stieglitz (photography).

Early modern art dominated the growth of the collections in the 1950s, with acquisitions of the Louise and Walter Arensberg and the A.E. Gallatin collections. The gift of Philadelphian Grace Kelly's wedding dress is perhaps the best known gift of the 1950s.

Building expansion (2004–present)

thumb|The west entrance during construction in 2008

Due to high attendance and overflowing collections, the museum announced in October 2006 that Frank Gehry would design a building expansion. The gallery will be built entirely underground behind the east entrance stairs and will not alter any of the museum's existing Greek revival facade. The construction was initially projected to last a decade and cost $500 million. It will increase the museum's available display space by sixty percent and house mostly contemporary sculpture, Asian art, and special exhibitions.

Uncertainty was cast on the plans by the 2008 death of Anne d'Harnoncourt, but new director Timothy Rub, who had initiated a $350 million expansion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, will be carrying out the plans as scheduled. In 2010, Gehry attended the groundbreaking for the second phase of the expansion, due to be completed in 2012. In that phase, a new art handling facility was created on the south side of the building, enabling the museum to reclaim a street level entrance, closed since the mid-1970s, which leads to a -long vaulted walkway that extends across the museum and is original to the 1928 building. The north entrance will be reopened to the public as a part of the "core project", which is scheduled for completion in 2020. The core project also focuses on the interior of the current building and will add of public space, including of new gallery space for American art and contemporary art. In addition, a new space called the forum will be created, along with dining and retail spaces. Said Gehry: "When it's done, people coming to this museum will have an experience that's as big as Bilbao. It won't be apparent from the outside, but it will knock their socks off inside."

The most controversial part of the Gehry design remains a proposed window and amphitheater to be cut into the east entrance stairs. Others have criticized the design as too tame. The Gehry expansion is projected to be completed by 2028.

In March 2017, the museum announced a $525 million campaign.

In October 2025, the museum rebranded as the "Philadelphia Art Museum" after more than a year of planning. since the museum was colloquially known at the time as the Philadelphia Art Museum. The legal name of the museum remained the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and several museum affiliates did not change their names. In February 2026, the previous name of "Philadelphia Museum of Art" was restored.

In November 2025, museum director Sasha Suda was dismissed from her role. She later filed a lawsuit against the museum alleging breach of contract and wrongful termination.

Collections

thumb|[[Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Annunciation, acquired in 1899]]

thumb|[[Pablo Picasso|Picasso's, Three Musicians from 1921 on display at the museum]]

The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses more than 240,000 objects, The museum's collections of Egyptian and Roman art, and Pre-Columbian works, were relocated to the Penn Museum after an exchange agreement was made whereby the museum houses the university's collection of Chinese porcelain.

Highlights of the Asian collections include paintings and sculpture from China, Japan, and India; furniture and decorative arts, including major collections of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ceramics; a large and distinguished group of Persian and Turkish carpets; and rare and authentic architectural assemblages such as a Chinese palace hall, a Japanese teahouse, and a 16th-century Indian temple hall.

On May 30, 2000, the museum and the State Art Collections in Dresden, Germany (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), announced an agreement for the return of five pieces of armor stolen from Dresden during World War II. In 1953, Von Kienbusch had unsuspectingly purchased the armor, which was part of his 1976 bequest. Von Kienbusch published catalogs of his collection, which eventually led Dresden authorities to bring the matter up with the museum.

Special exhibitions

The Philadelphia Museum of Art organizes several special exhibitions each year. Paul Cézanne in 2009, Auguste Renoir in 2010, Vincent van Gogh in 2012, Pablo Picasso in 2014, John James Audubon and Andy Warhol (et al.) in 2016, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent in 2017, and the Duchamp siblings—Marcel, Gaston, Raymond and Suzanne—in 2019. A Jasper Johns exhibition was planned for 2021.

In 2009, the museum organized Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, the official United States entry at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, more commonly known as the Venice Biennale, for which the artist Bruce Nauman was awarded the Golden Lion.

Administration

Directors

thumb|[[Fiske Kimball, the museum's director from 1925 to 1955]]

The directors of the museum since its inception are:

Daniel H. Weiss, 2025–Present

Timothy Rub, 2009–2022
Anne d'Harnoncourt, 1982–2008
Jean Sutherland Boggs, 1978–1982
Evan Hopkins Turner, 1964–1977
Arnold H. Jolles, 1977–1979 (acting)
Henri Gabriel Marceau, 1955–1964
Fiske Kimball, 1925–1955
Sr. Samuel W. Woodhouse, 1923–1925 (acting)
Langdon Warner, 1917–1923
Edwin Atlee Barber, 1907–1916
William Platt Pepper, 1899–1907
Dalton Dorr, 1892–1899
William W. Justice, 1879–1880
William Platt Pepper, 1877–1879

Board of trustees

Below is the list of chairs of the board of trustees of the museum since 1991.

Ellen T. Caplan 2023 – present
Leslie A. Miller 2016 – 2023
Constance H. Williams 2010–2016
Gerry Lenfest 2001–2009
Raymond Perlman 1991–2001

Looted art controversies

In December 2021, the heirs of Piet Mondrian filed a lawsuit against the museum for Composition with Blue, which the artist had consigned to Küppers-Lissitzky when it was seized by the Nazis. The same year, the museum announced that it would return an ancient 'Pageant Shield' looted by Nazis to the Czech Republic.

Gallery

File:Rogier van der Weyden, Netherlandish (active Tournai and Brussels) - The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning - Google Art Project.jpg|Rogier van der Weyden, Crucifixion Diptych,

File:Hieronymus Bosch or follower - Adoration of the Magi.jpg|Hieronymus Bosch, Epiphany,

File:Cloth of St. Veronica, Bernardino Zaganelli, c. 1500, oil on panel, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Bernardino Zaganelli, Cloth of Saint Veronica,

File:El Greco Pietà.jpg|El Greco, Pietà, 1571–1576

File:0 Prométhée supplicié - Rubens - Snyders - Philadelphia Museum of Art (W1950-3-1) - (1).JPG|Peter Paul Rubens, Prometheus Bound, 1611–12

File:Benjamin West, English (born America) - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky - Google Art Project.jpg|Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, by Benjamin West,

File:Joseph Mallord William Turner, English - The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834 - Google Art Project.jpg|J. M. W. Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834, 1834–35

File:Alfred-stevens-will-you-go-out-with-me-fido-1859.jpg|Alfred Stevens, Will you go out with me, Fido?, 1859

File:Édouard Manet-Kearsarge-Alabama2.jpg|Édouard Manet, The Battle of The Alabama and Kearsarge, 1864

File:Thomas Eakins, American - Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic) - Google Art Project.jpg|Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic, 1875

File:Thomas Eakins, American - William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River - Google Art Project.jpg|Thomas Eakins, William Rush Carving his Allegorical Figure of Schuylkill River, 1876–1877

File:Édouard Manet, 1880, Portrait of Émilie Ambre as Carmen, oil on canvas, 92.4 x 73.5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Édouard Manet, Portrait of Émilie Ambre as Carmen, 1880

File:Winslow Homer - The Life Line.jpg|Winslow Homer, The Life Line, 1884

File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French - The Large Bathers - Google Art Project.jpg|Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Large Bathers, 1887

File:Van Gogh Twelve Sunflowers.jpg|Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, Arles, 1889

File:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French - At the Moulin Rouge- The Dance - Google Art Project.jpg|Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, The Dance, 1890

File:Claude Monet, French - Poplars - Google Art Project.jpg|Claude Monet, Poplars (Autumn), 1891

File:Thomas Eakins, American - The Concert Singer - Google Art Project.jpg|Thomas Eakins, The Concert Singer, 1890–1892

File:Claude Monet - Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge.jpg|Claude Monet, Japanese Bridge and Water Lilies,

File:Paul Cézanne, French - The Large Bathers - Google Art Project.jpg|Paul Cézanne, The Bathers, 1898–1905

File:Pablo Picasso, 1901, Old Woman (Woman with Gloves), oil on cardboard, 67 x 52.1 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Pablo Picasso, Old Woman (Woman with Gloves), 1901

File:Gino Severini, 1910-11, La Modiste (The Milliner), oil on canvas, 64.8 x 48.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Gino Severini, La Modiste (The Milliner), 1910–11

File:Marc Chagall, 1911, Trois heures et demie (Le poète), Half-Past Three (The Poet), oil on canvas, 195.9 x 144.8 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Marc Chagall, Trois heures et demie (Le poète), Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911

File:Marcel Duchamp, 1911, La sonate (Sonata), oil on canvas, 145.1 x 113.3 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Marcel Duchamp, La sonate (Sonata), 1911

File:Jean Metzinger, Le goûter, Tea Time, 1911, 75.9 x 70.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Jean Metzinger, Le goûter (Tea Time), 1911 – André Salmon dubbed this painting "The Mona Lisa of Cubism"

File:Duchamp - Nude Descending a Staircase.jpg|Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No.2, 1912

File:Albert Gleizes, l'Homme au Balcon, 1912, oil on canvas, 195.6 x 114.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Albert Gleizes, l'Homme au Balcon, Man on a Balcony (Portrait of Dr. Théo Morinaud), 1912

File:Francis Picabia, The Dance at the Spring, 1912, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Francis Picabia, The Dance at the Spring, 1912

File:Juan Gris - Chessboard, Glass, and Dish.jpg|Juan Gris, Chessboard, Glass, and Dish, 1917

File:Joan Miró, 1920, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, oil on canvas, 82.6 x 74.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg|Joan Miró, 1920, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower

</gallery>

In popular culture

thumb|The [[Live 8 concert in 2005 with Benjamin Franklin Parkway (in foreground) and the museum (in background)]]

Besides being known for its architecture and collections, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has in recent decades become known due to the role it played in the Rocky filmsRocky (1976) and seven of its eight sequels, II, III, V, Rocky Balboa, Creed, Creed II, and Creed III. Visitors to the museum are often seen mimicking Rocky Balboa's (portrayed by Sylvester Stallone) famous run up the east entrance stairs, informally nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Screen Junkies named the museum's stairs the second most famous movie location behind only Grand Central Terminal in New York.

An tall bronze statue of the Rocky Balboa character was commissioned in 1980 and placed at the top of the stairs in 1982 for the filming of Rocky III. After filming was complete, Stallone donated the statue to the city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Art Commission eventually decided to relocate the statue to the now-defunct Spectrum sports arena due to controversy over its prominent placement at the top of the museum's front stairs and questions about its artistic merit. The statue was placed briefly on top of the stairs again for the 1990 film Rocky V and then returned to the Spectrum. In 2006, the statue was relocated to a new display area on the north side of the base of the stairs.

The museum provides the backdrop for concerts and parades because of its location at the end of the Ben Franklin Parkway. The Museum's east entrance area played host to the American venue of the international Live 8 concert held on July 2, 2005, with musical artists including Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park and Maroon 5. The Philadelphia Freedom Concert, orchestrated and headlined by Elton John, was held two days later on the same outdoor stage from the Live 8 concert while a preceding ball was held inside the museum.

On September 26, 2015, the Festival of Families event, attended by Pope Francis, was held along the Ben Franklin Parkway with musical performances by various acts within Eakins Oval in front of the museum, as well as in Logan Square.

On April 27, 2017, the 2017 NFL draft was held at the museum through April 29 of that year.

On February 8, 2018, the victory parade for the Philadelphia Eagles' win in Super Bowl LII finished upon the museum steps, where players and team personnel gave speeches from a lectern to the large crowd gathered along Benjamin Franklin Parkway. On February 14, 2025, another victory parade finished on the museum steps to celebrate the Eagles victory in Super Bowl LIX.

It was featured on the finale of The Amazing Race 36.

References

External links

Listing at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, including more than 800 images, mostly of the main building's construction
"Philadelphia Museum of Art" at Google Arts & Culture