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History of the Cincinnati Art Museum

Founded in 1881, the Cincinnati Art Museum is committed to being a World Class Art Museum with its ever changing Art Collections and Permanent Exhibits totaling over 60,000 works of art. In the late nineteenth century, public art museums were still very much a new marvel, especially as far west as Cincinnati. Five years after its opening, a permanent art museum building opened to the public in May, 1886. This was the first Art Museum built west of the Allegheny Mountains and was heralded world-wide as “The Art Palace of the West.”

Gallery Highlights

One of the oldest art institutes in the United States, The Cincinnati Art Museum has a lavish collection of more than 60,000 works of art. This exceptional collection includes: Costumes & Textiles, Prints, Drawings, Photographs, Paintings, Sculptures and contemporary art.

The painting collections include:

-Works by European masters like Titian, Van Dyck, Hals, Rubens and Gainsborough.

-19th and 20th century works by Picasso, Renoir, Derain, Braque, Modigliani and Chagall.

-The American collection has works by Copely, Cole, Harnett, Wyeth, Wood Hopper, Diebenkorn and Rothko.

Museum Gift Shop

Pick up mementos, gorgeous Rococo accents for your home, notecards, prints, books and catalogs. Enjoy complimentary gift wrapping and gracious customer service. Once you return home, you can also shop on line from this Museum Gift Shop.

Special Needs

The Cincinnati Art Museum has elevators. There are also a limited number of wheelchairs available free of charge, which are located in the coatrooms near both entrances. Wheelchair accessible restrooms are available on 3 different floors.

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