Yale University Art Gallery

The Yale University Art Gallery is an art museum at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, combining several campus buildings with stone arches and large windows. The main structure displays modernist architecture with tetrahedral openings that cut geometric patterns into the facade.

Artist John Trumbull founded the gallery in 1832 by donating over 100 paintings depicting scenes from the American Revolution to Yale College. Louis Kahn designed the modernist main building in 1953 with concrete slabs and pyramidal forms that create geometric patterns throughout the interior.

The name traces back to Welsh merchant Elihu Yale, who supported the university in the early 18th century. Visitors today regularly see students working in the exhibition rooms, sketching and studying in front of original works.

The museum opens Tuesday through Sunday without admission fees and welcomes visitors across several interconnected buildings on campus. The gallery offers educational programs for university students and local schools, with information available at the reception desk.

The permanent collection holds 185,000 artworks, ranging from Italian Renaissance paintings and African sculptures to European masterpieces and objects from ancient civilizations. The range of periods and cultures allows visitors to travel through millennia in a single visit.

Location: New Haven

Inception: 1832

Founders: John Trumbull

Official opening: 1832

Operator: Yale University

Part of: Yale University

Address: Chapel Street

Phone: +1(203)4320600

Website: https://artgallery.yale.edu

GPS coordinates: 41.30839,-72.93096

Latest update: December 13, 2025 23:59