Opened in October 1832, the Yale University Art Gallery was the first college art museum in the United States. 

The museum was originally called the Trumbull Gallery, after portrait artist John Trumbull. Trumbull, a Connecticut native, is best known for his massive paintings at the United States Capitol, including his famous depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1831, he found himself in financial difficulties and offered his private collection of artworks to Yale University for an annuity, thus initiating the tradition of American university museums. 

Approximately thirty years after the Trumbull Gallery opened, Yale University became the first college in the country to offer a fine arts program. Located along Chapel Street, the new fine arts school included plenty of exhibition space, causing a permanent relocation of the university’s collection and the museum’s name change. Now occupying one and a half blocks of Chapel Street, the Yale University Art Gallery features a diverse collection with eclectic architecture to match. The current museum complex was completed in 2012 after a four-year renovation project connected three buildings into one exhibition space. The buildings included the first modernist structure on Yale’s campus, a Beaux-Arts building fit with a tower, and the original neo-gothic fine arts school. By uniting these three very unique architecture styles, the Yale University Art Gallery facade shows passerbys a descent into history foreshadowing what they will witness inside. 

The primary reason the Yale University Art Gallery had to expand across three buildings was its collection. During Trumball’s time, the university’s collection was exclusively American and European fine art which could easily be maintained in one small structure. But as the Western world’s interest in the "exotic" increased, Yale University’s collection began to include global art, drastically increasing the number of works they obtained each year. There came a time where Yale had to either stop collecting or create a proper infrastructure to hold their hoarded art. Since old habits die hard, the university chose the latter and never looked back.

Today, the Yale University Art Gallery’s permanent collection totals over 250,000 works. Between 2018 and 2019 alone, the museum obtained over 4,000 new pieces of art including photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, an oil painting by Guido Reni, and an installation by Korean artist Do Ho Shu. These recent acquisitions add to an extensive list of impressive artworks in the museum’s collection. 

With a high-end and diverse collection, the Yale University Art Gallery reaches a greater student population, which is their mission as an Ivy League teaching museum. Much of the museum’s programming is targeted at Yale students and faculty, but the gallery is not just for the Yalies. The museum is free to the public and offers a variety of workshops and speaker events that anyone can attend. Ultimately, the art museum is an educational way to unite the “town and gown” communities and has become a hallmark of downtown New Haven.

As a New Haven native, I urge you to visit the Yale University Art Gallery and experience the beauty and prestige that comes with being the first college museum. But what to do next? My advice is to continue down Chapel Street to Atticus Bookstore and browse their shelves before walking one block further to Claire’s Corner Copia, the best bakery in town. Once you’re stuffed, cross the street to finish the day with a stroll through the historic New Haven Green. Afterwards, you can confidently say you had a true New Haven experience.