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Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is your place to connect with amazing art. You will find us in the heart of Hartford, CT with our castle doors open.

Home to a collection of nearly 50,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years, the Wadsworth is the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the United States, founded by Daniel Wadsworth in 1842 and welcoming the public since 1844.

With over 50,000 square feet of gallery spaces and a collection that ranges from Greek and Roman antiquities, European and American decorative arts, world-renowned Baroque and Surrealist paintings, an unparalleled collection of Hudson River School landscapes, European and American Impressionist paintings, Modernist masterpieces, and Contemporary Art, the Wadsworth offers a visual experience for every taste.

Read about the museum's  exhibitions , or check out upcoming events .

The Wadsworth is currently open noon-5pm Thursdays-Sundays. The award-winning Museum Shop is open throughout regular museum hours. BMuse is   the on-site restaurant. Visit the museum's website for the most up to date visitor information including hours, admission,  parking  and to browse the events calendar for gallery talks, lectures and family-friendly events. 

Other amenities: Mobile tours, Group Tour reservations available, Dining Nearby 

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600 Main St. Hartford , CT 06103 United States

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Side of Culture

Historic Yet New: Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum

Seeing the interaction of old and new at the Wadsworth Atheneum in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, is as easy as walking through its main entrance. The original building of America’s oldest continuously operating art museum, opened in 1844, is a castle-like Gothic Revival structure complete with battlements. Inside, visitors enter soaring Gray Court, where the colorful, curving lines of two massive wall drawings from 1996 by Hartford-born artist Sol LeWitt animate the walls and overhead glass walkways.  The museum’s world-class collections, focused on American and European paintings and decorative arts, are in five interconnected historical buildings impressively renovated in 2015.

Starting with 87 paintings, the Wadsworth Atheneum has grown to a collection of over 50,000 works of art from over 5,000 years, with significant works of modern and contemporary art. Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848), heir to a fortune, founded the museum to promote culture to the community in a permanent building, an innovative idea for the time. (The word atheneum refers to an institution designed to encourage learning.) Hartford flourished as a wealthy industrial city in the 19th century and early 20th century, and other patrons donated significant collections and buildings. These included Elizabeth Colt (wife of firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt) and J. Pierpont Morgan, the Hartford-born financier, who commissioned the Renaissance Revival–style Morgan Memorial building (1915) as a tribute to his father. Samuel Putnam Avery III funded the Avery Memorial building (1934), the first American museum building with an International Style interior.   

The fortunes of Connecticut’s capital declined in the 1950s, and Hartford experienced significant population loss over the decades and a sharp rise in poverty. Today, a revitalized core downtown area includes the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Connecticut Science Center, and a convention center. After a period where it had trouble maintaining its buildings, the Wadsworth Atheneum underwent a five-year renovation, funded in part by the state, that has made the galleries shine.

Exploring the Galleries

The museum occupies a city block, and it’s easy to spend a day exploring its treasures. Open days are currently Friday through Sunday (admission is free through June), with a timed ticket required for entry. The website has information about shows and collections, a link to the mobile guide, and even virtual tours of some key galleries.

The Wadsworth building’s first floor has striking galleries with art created after 1945. Works by Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and others are on display. An influential program initiated in 1975, MATRIX in the Avery building presents changing shows of often challenging contemporary art. Artists such as Gerhard Richter and Carrie Mae Weems had their first solo U.S. museum show at MATRIX. The current show by Todd Gray looks at the impact of colonialism and slavery through photographic assemblages.

The dramatic, 24-foot-high Morgan Great Hall displays 95 American and European paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries, hung to the ceiling in salon style. Panels identify works by artists such as Rubens and John Singleton Copley.  Smaller galleries off the hall display antiquities from Asia as well as Greece and Rome, and medieval and Renaissance art. The Morgan building also has the 200-object Cabinet of Art and Curiosity , opened in 2015 as an interactive version of 16th-century cabinets that held rare items of natural, artistic, and scientific interest. Visitors explore objects by a mobile tour or a touch screen (not available due to COVID-19 restrictions).

American art and decorative arts fill galleries in the Avery building, including Early American paintings and excellent Hudson River School works. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture is an independent organization at the museum that explores the African American experience. It owns 7,000 objects, books, and art relating to Black culture and history in America, and presents exhibitions.

European art and decorative arts are strengths, particularly Italian Baroque painting including St. Francis of Assisi by Caravaggio, as well as French Impressionist works. The galleries display brilliant examples of the museum’s ceramics collection, such as exquisite Meissen porcelain.

The Wadsworth Atheneum’s diverse and dynamic changing exhibitions are another highlight. One upcoming show is Leonardo Drew: Two Projects , with an installation by this contemporary African American sculptor in the Main Street lobby and an outdoor, interactive installation on the front lawn. By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500–1800 will examine the work of painters including Gentileschi (the museum owns her Self-Portrait as a Lute Player ) who are less known to viewers.   

Community and Challenge

The Wadsworth Atheneum has shown its commitment to welcoming a broad section of the local community in ways that go beyond its presentation of diverse art. One major initiative has made museum entry free to Hartford residents. In the galleries, attendants with iPads offer information about the art and the museum.   Second Saturdays , currently virtual (like many other programs), invite families to learn about art and to make a project. Twice-monthly Eye on Art Family Tours are another family-friendly initiative. Although school programs and tours for kids of all ages are now virtual, the museum has theme tours and lesson plans that work with curriculum. Older students have the opportunity for internships . The museum is also a member of the Connecticut Art Trail , a partnership of more than 20 art museums and historical sites that sells a $25 passport allowing one entry to each member museum each year.

Like museums around the country, the Wadsworth Atheneum has been addressing issues of audience expansion and reexamining its commitment to the community. These subjects involve issues beyond the museum, including tourism to Hartford. Currently the museum is completing a new five-year strategic plan, as well as a diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion plan. During these discussions, Thomas Loughman, the museum’s director and CEO since 2016, resigned in April 2021, as did the president of the board of trustees. The Wadsworth Atheneum will be navigating further transitions, but as its history of excellence in collecting and programming has shown, it is an institution that can embrace change and thrive.

Seeing art works up an appetite, and the Front State location of local mini-chain’s Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ offers Kansas City–style wood-smoked meats in a casual, cafeteria-style setting. Diners choose from 10 meats (including an Impossible Meatloaf option) and have their meal over a salad, in a sandwich, or on a platter. Side dishes such as mac and cheese, BBQ beans, broccoli salad, and collard greens round out the menu.

Linda Cabasin is a travel editor and writer who covered the globe at Fodor’s before taking up the freelance life. She’s a contributing editor at  Fathom . Follow her on  Instagram  and  Twitter  at @lcabasin.

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Tickets & prices Wadsworth Atheneum

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Admission prices & discounts for tickets to Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford

The following overview lists the admission prices and various discounts and discount codes for a visit to Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford . All prices are displayed per age group or reduced rate group. You can also directly book your discounted online ticket for the Wadsworth Atheneum here, if available, or make a reservation to reserve a timeslot if applicable.

• #7 in Hartford
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Free admission 4-5pm Thursday–Sunday

Tours & tickets near Wadsworth Atheneum

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New Self-Guided Tours Connect Visitors To Hartford's Outdoor Art

Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum, the Old State House and the Hartford Public Library are offering a series of self-guided walking tours showcasing the art and history hiding in plain sight in the capital city.

“Sculpture in the City” aims to make people aware of the art and history all around them on Hartford’s Main Street and beyond. People can choose a self-guided walking tour, like the Old State House’s Revolutionary Hartford tour, which begins at the Old State House, then proceeds to the statue of Nathan Hale on the grounds of the Wadsworth Athenuem, the Ancient Burying Ground on Gold Street, and finishes at Bushnell Park and statues of Connecticut Revolutionary War heroes Israel Putnam and Colonel Thomas Knowlton, as well as the French aristocrat Marquis de Lafayette. Online resources provide information at each stop.

In addition, the Wadsworth has installed new placards near the iconic outdoor sculptures on or near the grounds of the Atheneum, like Alexander Calder’s massive Stegosaurus , giving details about the work. QR codes on the signs link the visitor to even more information online.

Thomas Loughman is the director and CEO of the Wadsworth Atheneum. He said the pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for the museum to celebrate Hartford and its cityscape.

“If downtown Hartford is known for anything, it’s for being a cultural core. It’s for being a place of great institutions and great energy,” said Loughman. “That we could find some way to do something positive, that we could channel our energies and say, 'Well OK, this is a tangible thing that we can really do.”

The works range from the Revolutionary War era to modern-day, and reflect many styles of sculpture. The museum has also added outdoor art talks and performances to the program.

The Wadsworth is currently closed to the public, but plans to reopen with limited hours starting Labor Day weekend.

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Art After Dark

Paper, Color, Line

European master drawings from the wadsworth atheneum, january 16–april 27, 2025.

The Wadsworth Atheneum’s rich collection of European drawings, watercolors, and pastels is little-known and rarely seen. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the museum has acquired by purchase and gift a diverse group of nearly 1,250 European drawings of impressive quality. Paper, Color, Line showcases about sixty to seventy highlights on view for the first time in decades. This long overdue exhibition provides a unique survey of artists engaging with the medium over a span of more than five hundred years.

The museum’s holdings are particularly strong in works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Renowned drawings by Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec will be included in this exhibition, as well as highlights by Egon Schiele, Paul Klee, and Joan Miró. The collection is additionally noted for its theatrical designs, particularly its material linked with the Ballets Russes, which encompasses sheets by Pablo Picasso, Léon Bakst, and Natalia Gontcharova. Significant drawings from the Renaissance to the Rococo by artists such as Giorgio Vasari, Carlo Maratti, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze emphasize the timeless appeal of the medium and will complement the overview.

Organized along thematic lines, Paper, Color, Line offers a rich overview of 500 years of draftsmanship in Europe. The variety of schools, techniques, and uses will make for a lively display. While the exhibition explores broader topics such as artistic education, technical innovation, and the art market, it is centered on arresting works that convey the universal appeal of drawings as one of the most revealing expressions of the creative process.

The first catalog devoted to European drawings at the Wadsworth Atheneum will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

Edgar Degas, Dancers with Fans , c. 1898. Pastel on paper. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1945.209