North Carolina Museum of Art

The North Carolina Museum of Art opened in 1956 as the first significant museum collection in America to be formed by state legislation and funding.

Today, it encompasses a collection that spans more than 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present.

The Museum features over 40 galleries as well as the nation’s largest museum park with 164-acres (0.66 km2).

The museum’s collection includes European paintings, Egyptian art, sculpture and vase painting from ancient Greece and Rome, American art, and international contemporary art.

The collection also includes African, ancient American, pre-Columbian, Oceanic Art, and Jewish ceremonial objects.

The Museum Park features over a dozen works of art and two miles (3 km) of trails. The museum’s amphitheater is a monumental work of art designed by architects and landscape artists.

The Cliff, Étretat, Sunset by Claude Monet, 1883

Highlights of the North Carolina Museum of Art

African Art – historical material from the 19th and 20th centuries, including important items from the Benin Kingdom
American Art – paintings and sculptures from the late colonial period to the advent of modern art in the early 20th century
Ancient American Art – features art from three distinct areas: Mesoamerica, Central America, and the Andes
Egyptian Art – artifacts from the Predynastic (Nagada I, 4000–3500 BCE) to the Roman (30 BCE – 642 CE) periods
European Art – European paintings and sculptures, including more than 30 bronzes by Auguste Rodin
British, Spanish, and French Art – including works by Anthony van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, Boudin, Millet, Pissarro, and Monet
Italian Art – includes altarpieces and devotional works from the 16th through 18th centuries, paintings, and 17th-century baroque art
Northern European Art – Northern Renaissance paintings and sculptures, and a collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings
Modern Art to 1960 – including German modern artists, American modernists, Cubist and surrealist pieces as well as other Modern masters
Judaic Art – celebrates the spiritual life and ceremonies of the Jewish people through ritual objects including Torah scrolls
Contemporary Art – with cultural and regional representations including a comprehensive survey of North Carolina artists, plus contemporary photography