Seattle Art Museum, Art museum in downtown Seattle, US
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum in downtown Seattle, United States, housed in a white limestone building with a large suspended steel sculpture marking the entrance. Inside, around 25,000 works occupy multiple floors organized into galleries that group pieces by region and period.
Founded in 1933, the museum first occupied a building in a residential neighborhood before relocating to First Avenue in 1991 to gain much larger exhibition space. This move allowed the growing collection to spread across significantly more square footage.
The name ties directly to the city it serves, while inside the galleries visitors can see how Northwest Coast peoples shaped wood, stone, and fiber into ceremonial objects still honored today. The museum layout encourages walking between rooms where European canvases hang near African carvings and Asian scrolls.
The museum opens Wednesday through Sunday between 10 AM and 5 PM, with Thursday hours extending to 9 PM and free entry offered on the first Thursday of each month. Galleries are accessible by elevator and stairs, allowing visitors to move between floors.
The museum operates a separate sculpture park along Elliott Bay waterfront, where 21 large installations spread across nine acres (3.6 hectares) offer outdoor viewing. This extension allows visitors to experience art while walking beside the water.
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