Brooklyn Museum in New York, USA

The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum at 200 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. Its institutional history reaches back to 1823, while the first section of its present museum building opened in 1897. Its holdings cover art from many regions and periods, with dedicated collection areas for American art, the arts of Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Islamic world and the Pacific Islands, as well as European art, contemporary art, decorative arts and design, photography, feminist art, and Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern material.

From the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library to the Brooklyn Museum

The institution traces its beginning to August 7, 1823, when the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library was founded to provide educational materials for young people and apprentices in Brooklyn. It was an educational organization rather than an art museum in the modern sense.

In 1843, the library merged with the Brooklyn Lyceum to form the Brooklyn Institute. The organization expanded beyond books and periodicals, developing natural-history collections, presenting art and organizing lectures. It was reorganized as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1890.

A new museum building became part of this broader institutional project during the 1890s. The cornerstone was laid in 1895, and the first section of the building opened in 1897. The institution later became independent of the former Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences structure and adopted the Brooklyn Museum name.

The Eastern Parkway Building

The museum building was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. Its monumental exterior reflects the Beaux-Arts museum architecture associated with major American civic projects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The building did not remain unchanged. One of the most visible later additions opened in 2004, when the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Pavilion and Lobby introduced a glass-fronted entrance facing Eastern Parkway. The project was designed by Polshek Partnership and formed part of a series of renovations to public spaces and galleries.

What the Brooklyn Museum Collects

The Brooklyn Museum organizes its holdings across numerous curatorial areas rather than around one period or geographic region. Its current collection structure includes American Art, Arts of Africa, Arts of Asia, Arts of the Americas, Arts of the Islamic World, Arts of the Pacific Islands, Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts and Design, Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Art, European Art, Feminist Art, Photography, and Libraries and Archives.

The museum’s online collection records also make an important distinction for visitors: an object being part of the collection does not mean it is currently displayed. Works may be in storage, undergoing conservation, on loan or otherwise unavailable in the galleries. Individual object records can provide current gallery locations when an item is on view.

Egyptian and Ancient Mediterranean Art

Ancient Egyptian material has long been one of the museum’s best-known areas. It forms part of the broader Department of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Art, placing Egyptian works alongside objects connected with other ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures. The collection developed through purchases, gifts and archaeological activity carried out during earlier periods of the museum’s history.

Arts of the Americas

The Arts of the Americas collection began taking shape in the early twentieth century. Curator Stewart Culin, who served from 1903 to 1929, acquired thousands of Native American works through museum-sponsored expeditions. The department later expanded its scope across North, Central and South America and continues to collect both historical and contemporary material.

The history of these collections is also connected with changing museum practices. The Brooklyn Museum now conducts provenance research and publishes information about how objects entered its holdings, including the effects that colonial systems and unequal economic relationships had on collecting during earlier periods.

Arts of the Islamic World

The museum’s Islamic art holdings contain about 2,000 objects spanning roughly thirteen centuries. They represent regions extending from Spain and North Africa to Iran, India and Central Asia. Areas of particular depth include medieval Iranian ceramics and tilework, Ottoman carpets and textiles, manuscripts, and works associated with Safavid and Qajar Iran.

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

The Brooklyn Museum established the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in 2007. Located on the fourth floor, the center combines gallery space, exhibitions, educational activity and a collection focused on feminist art from the twentieth century onward.

Its best-known permanent installation is The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, created from 1974 to 1979. The triangular installation contains 39 place settings representing historical and mythological women. The names of another 999 women appear on the Heritage Floor, bringing the number of figures represented by the work to 1,038.

The Brooklyn Museum first presented The Dinner Party during its touring history in 1980-81. The work entered the museum’s collection in 2002 and became the central permanent installation of the feminist art center when the center opened in 2007.

Research Collections and Archives

The institution also maintains libraries and archival collections documenting both art and the museum’s own history. The Brooklyn Museum Archives preserve records dating from the institution’s nineteenth-century origins through the present, including correspondence, photographs, exhibition documentation, catalogues and administrative records.

These records document how the museum’s collections, departments, exhibitions and educational programs developed. They also preserve evidence of earlier collecting practices, making the archives useful for studying the history of the museum itself as well as the objects it holds.

Planning a Visit

The Brooklyn Museum is currently open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Monday and Tuesday. Holiday schedules and special programs can alter normal access, so the museum’s official website should be checked before a time-sensitive visit.

General museum admission operates on a suggested-admission basis. Visitors who purchase general admission in person can use the pay-what-you-can option. This policy does not automatically cover separately ticketed exhibitions or special events, which may have their own fixed admission charges.

The museum stands on Eastern Parkway near Prospect Park and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Because only part of the collection can be displayed at any one time, visitors looking for a particular artwork or collection should check the museum’s current gallery information or individual object record before visiting.