The Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum, oldest publicly supported museum in the United States, with collections ranging from ancient to contemporary, located in St. Louis, Missouri. The museum was founded in 1879 as the City Art Museum and in 1907 moved to a Beaux Arts style building designed by American architect Cass Gilbert for the 1904 World's Fair. The current name was adopted in 1972.

Included in the museum's collections are Egyptian, Medieval, Renaissance, and impressionist (see Impressionism) art; an embalmed Egyptian corpse; works of such artists as Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Winslow Homer; art from Africa and Oceania; and Native American works. The collections of pre-Columbian art and German expressionist art (see Expressionism) are considered among the best in the world. Total exhibition area, 8885 sq m (95,634 sq ft).

Other features of the museum include educational programs, a resource center offering slides and interpretive material, a café and a shop. The museum's art library houses 53,000 volumes and is open to the public. More than 500,000 people visit the museum each year. Located in Forest Park, the museum is near the St. Louis Zoo, the History Museum, the Muny Opera, and the Science Center.

Reviewed by: St. Louis Art Museum