New Britain Museum of American Art

The museum traces its origins to 1903 and to a fund left for the purchase of American art, an unusual mandate for its day. Rather than chase European old masters, its founders committed to collecting the art of their own country, and that focus has given the museum an unusually coherent and complete story to tell.

The galleries move roughly in chronological order, opening with colonial and early American portraiture and the young nation's sense of itself, then moving into the 19th century's love of landscape, with luminous Hudson River School canvases of the American wilderness and, later, the softer light of the American Impressionists, many of whom worked in Connecticut's own art colonies.

From there the collection carries into the 20th and 21st centuries, with realist and Regionalist painting, modernism, illustration, and a growing body of contemporary art, so that a single visit spans more than three hundred years of how Americans have pictured themselves and their land.

The museum's signature work is The Arts of Life in America, a cycle of five murals painted by Thomas Hart Benton in the early 1930s. Benton, a leader of the Regionalist movement, filled the panels with vivid, restless scenes of everyday American life, music, dance, work, play, and the everyday people of the country's regions, rendered in his rippling, energetic style.

The murals were originally created for the library of the Whitney Museum in New York before coming to New Britain, where they are displayed together in their own gallery. Seeing them as a set, wrapping around the room, is one of the museum's defining experiences and a landmark encounter with American mural painting.

Benton's work here captures both the ambition and the tensions of its era, and the museum interprets the murals with attention to how they represent, and sometimes stereotype, the many peoples of America, prompting reflection as well as admiration.

New Britain was long a manufacturing city, nicknamed the Hardware City for its tools, locks, and hardware factories that drew waves of immigrant workers. The museum grew as a cultural anchor within that industrious community, beside the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Walnut Hill Park.

Over the decades the museum outgrew its original home and expanded with modern gallery wings, giving its growing collection room to breathe and space for major traveling exhibitions, while keeping its welcoming, human scale.

Its setting in central Connecticut places it within easy reach of the state's other art institutions, from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford to the university museums in New Haven, making it a natural stop on any tour of Connecticut art.

Spring pairs the galleries with the greening of neighboring Walnut Hill Park, a pleasant time for art indoors and a walk outdoors.

Summer brings major special exhibitions and a steady calendar of programs, a comfortable air-conditioned refuge on a hot afternoon.

Fall is a fine season to combine the museum with the surrounding park's autumn color and with wider leaf-season travel through central Connecticut.

Winter makes the museum an ideal cold-weather destination, with rotating shows and events offering a warm, unhurried few hours indoors.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

The New Britain Museum of American Art, in New Britain, Connecticut, is a distinguished museum devoted entirely to American art, one of the first museums in the country dedicated solely to art of the United States. The museum holds an outstanding and wide-ranging collection of American art spanning the colonial era to the present, including paintings, sculpture, illustration, and contemporary works by many celebrated American artists, all in a handsome setting. Its focus on American art and its excellent collection make it a rewarding cultural destination. A superb and focused art museum, it delights visitors. With its American art, the museum offers a compelling destination in Connecticut.

You can see an outstanding collection of American art spanning the colonial era to the present, including paintings, sculpture, illustration, and contemporary works by many celebrated American artists, along with changing special exhibitions. The wide-ranging American art, the works by celebrated artists, and the rotating exhibitions are the draws, offering a rich journey through the history of American art. Its focus and quality are highlights. With its collection, the museum offers a rewarding visit in New Britain, Connecticut.

As an indoor museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art is enjoyable year-round in any weather, making it a great stop in any season, with special exhibitions and events adding interest at various times. Because hours can vary, checking the current schedule before you go is wise. Because it is indoors, the New Britain Museum of American Art makes a rewarding stop any time of year in Connecticut.

The New Britain Museum of American Art is special as one of the first museums in the country dedicated solely to American art, giving it a distinctive focus and a deep, wide-ranging collection spanning the colonial era to the present. This singular devotion to art of the United States, and the quality of its holdings, set it apart. Its focus offers a rich, coherent journey through American art. This distinction makes the New Britain Museum of American Art a rewarding destination in Connecticut.

The New Britain Museum of American Art is in New Britain, Connecticut, within reach of Hartford with the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Mark Twain House to the north, the central Connecticut towns, and the routes across the state. That makes the New Britain Museum of American Art a compelling stop to combine with the attractions of the Hartford area on a visit to Connecticut.