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About Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was founded in 1842 by Hartford resident Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848), one of the first important American arts patrons. Its permanent collection of nearly 50,000 artworks spans 5,000 years and features the Morgan Collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and European decorative arts; world-renowned baroque and surrealist paintings; an unsurpassed collection of Hudson River School landscapes; European and American impressionist paintings; modernist masterpieces; the Serge Lifar Collection of Ballets Russes drawings and costumes; the George A. Gay Collection of prints; the Wallace Nutting Collection of American colonial furniture and decorative arts; the Samuel Colt Firearms Collection; costumes and textiles; African American art and artifacts; and contemporary art. The museum has undergone a major renovation since 2010 that is slated to be complete in fall 2015. The project has renewed the museum’s historic structures and has added 17 new galleries—nearly 16,000 square feet of exhibition space—to the building’s existing footprint for an improved visitor experience. The grand finale of the museum’s renewal project will be the public unveiling of the first complete reinstallation of the European Art Collection in over 20 years, showcasing over one thousand world-class works of European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. This will occur on Saturday, September 19, 2015.

Grade Levels

PK , K , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8

Art Forms

Visual Art

Curriculum Focuses

English Science Social Studies

Program Formats

Combo of In-School Workshop & Offsite Tour Combo Offsite Tour & Offsite Workshop Offsite Tour

Programs