Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum is America's Oldest Public Art Museum

In the early to mid-1800s, when fine art was mostly confined to the private homes of America's wealthiest citizens, Daniel Wadsworth established a museum in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut and made paintings, fine arts and ancient artifacts available to the general public for the first time.

Wadsworth's Atheneum, named for the Greek goddess of wisdom, was initially filled with objects from his own collection. The scion of the richest family in Hartford, Wadsworth had been exposed to great European architecture and art in Europe by his father, a highly successful merchant, banker and insurer. Wadsworth was married to the niece of famed painter John Trumbull, whose paintings of the Revolutionary period in American history - including his iconic painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence - are well known.

As the popularity of the museum grew, other wealthy local art patrons added to its collection - including donations from J. Pierpont Morgan and Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, the wife of gun manufacturer Samuel Colt.

Through the decades, the Wadsworth Atheneum continued to mark impressive "firsts" in the development of the arts in America. It was the first museum in this country to acquire and display works by the likes of Dali, Caravaggio, Mondrian, Miró and more. In the 1930s, Hartford residents were treated to the first Picasso retrospective in America and the first Surrealism exhibition organized here. But the Atheneum was also devoted to breaking new ground in the performing arts, hosting the first performances in America by the Balanchine ballet company.

Today, the Wadsworth Atheneum is perhaps best known for its collection of landscapes from the Hudson River School of American artists. In part, this is a result of Daniel Wadsworth's patronage of Thomas Cole, perhaps the country's best known landscapist. His "Last of the Mohicans" is among the museum's holdings. But the Atheneum also was the first museum in America to display the works of Frederic Edwin Church, whose "Coast Scene, Mount Desert (Sunrise off the Maine Coast)" can be seen there today.

But the museum is also home to an impressive collection of European art. In addition to its Baroque paintings such as Caravaggio's exquisite "Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy," the 5000-piece European collection includes selections from 19^th-century icons such as Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Cézanne, Manet and Renoir.

For over 150 years, Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum has been expanding the horizons of Connecticut residents, particularly students. It is located at 600 Main Street in downtown Hartford. It is open Wednesdays through Sundays, and guided tours are available on Wednesdays and weekends.