Events

Join us in a riotous screening of the movie Night at the Museum at the Princeton University Art Museum! While we can't promise our mummy will come alive, we will be serving sandwiches and drinks at 7 p.m., with the movie beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m. After the film, join us for desserts in the galleries and spend your own night (at least until 10 p.m.) in the Museum with us. Visitors are invited to come for all or any part of the evening.

The evening is cosponsored by the Graduate School.

Presented by Caroline Harris, Curator of Education and Academic Programming

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, What Did They Eat? is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, related art projects, and story time offered by the Princeton Public Library.

Discover the puzzling history of two of François Boucher's finest works, Arion on the Dolphin and Vertumnus and Pomona. Commissioned in the mid-eighteenth century by Louis XV, these works symbolizing water and earth were originally intended as part of a series representing the Four Elements. Then why were the companion pieces of Fire and Air never executed? Why was the commission abandoned? Reunited for the first time in over twenty years, these works, in conjunction with several loans and other holdings from the Princeton University Art Museum's collection, give consideration to the mysteries surrounding one of France's most successful painters.

François Boucher, French, 1703–1770
Arion on the Dolphin, 1748
Oil on canvas, 86.0 x 135.5 cm
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
[y1980-2] (Photo: Bruce M. White)

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Caroline Harris, Curator of Education and Academic Programming

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

The Princeton University Art Museum is pleased to welcome back Patty Cronheim and her talented band of jazz musicians. Patty has opened for the late Ray Charles, performed her original music on the Jane Pauley Show, and played alongside Brazilian jazz great Guilherme Franco. She is a frequent guest soloist with the Princeton University Jazz Ensemble and performs throughout the northeast delighting audiences with her vivacious, soulful style and uncompromising vocals.

Join us for an evening of aural pleasures and artistic treasures. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum.

Presented by Katherine Marsengill, independent scholar

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, An Arch, A House, A Wall, A Dome: Architecture in Art is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, related art projects, and story time offered by the Princeton Public Library.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Enjoy a private viewing of the exhibition "Architecture as Icon: Perception and Representation in Byzantine Art" accompanied by a Princeton Symphony Orchestra performance featuring three twentieth-century compositions for string orchestra of distinctly different styles. Andrew Grams, one of America’s most promising young conductors, will conduct the Symphony in works by Schoenberg, Barber, and Tavener. This concert is sponsored by Wilmington Trust.

Pre-Concert Lecture at 3 p.m.
Concert at 4 p.m.

Presented by Katherine Marsengill, independent scholar, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Princeton University's oldest student improv comedy group Quipfire! will perform short and long form pieces inspired by the Museum's collection. Reception to follow.

Enjoy a docent-led tour of Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a visit to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to view Public Treasures / Private Visions: Hudson River School Masterworks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Private Collections.

Presented by J. Michael Padgett, Curator of Ancient Art

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, Artists are Magicians: Creating 3 Dimensions on a 2 Dimensional Surface is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, related art projects, and story time offered by the Princeton Public Library.

Avast ye landlubbers! It's time for Princyclopedia, Cotsen Children's Library's huge, annual event where we bring a book to life through a multitude of hands-on projects, activities, and demonstrations!

Stop by the Art Museum's table for a fun, hands-on art project!

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by J. Michael Padgett, Curator of Ancient Art

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Betsy J. Rosasco, Research Curator of European Painting and Sculpture

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, Let's Put on a Play is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Betsy J. Rosasco, Research Curator of European Painting and Sculpture

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Abigail Newman, graduate student, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Presented by Xiaojin Wu, Assistant Curator of Asian Art

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

The Princeton University Art Museum and the Princeton University Department of Music are pleased to present "Mistress of the Arts: Music and Dance in Madame de Pompadour's Versailles," featuring a selection of excerpts from the opera-ballet Les Elemens (The Elements) by André Cardinal Detouches and Michel Richard Lalande. The evening of music and dance is offered in conjunction with A Royal Commission: François Boucher’s Water and Earth Reunited and reconstructs the situation surrounding the original works of art—the two prominent paintings by Boucher in the exhibition are suspected to have been commissioned in conjunction with a similar performance of excerpts from Les Elemens (The Elements). Records show that they would have been performed between 1747–1749 in the Théâtres des Petits Cabinets at Versailles, supervised by and starring the King’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour.

Performers include an early music ensemble directed by violinist Nancy Wilson, with assistance from Princeton University undergraduate and graduate students and featuring French baroque dances by Caroline Copeland and Carlos Fittante. The project is directed by Wendy Heller, Professor of Music.

Free and open to all, Noble Knights and Lovely Ladies is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Xiaojin Wu, Assistant Curator of Asian Art

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Explore Manhattan from new angles as we travel the subway system to see works of art created for the MTA Arts for Transit Program and visit the city’s newest park, the High Line, a former elevated freight railroad, now transformed into a remarkable public space.

Presented by Leigh Lieberman, graduate student, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, A Hunt for Ancient Treasures is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Thousands of people from the campus and local community pack the streets of downtown Princeton and the University’s front campus for performances, food, games, and much more at the annual town-gown festival.

Stop by the Art Museum’s tables for art projects, refreshments, and goodies from the Museum Store.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tours, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Leigh Lieberman, graduate student, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Discover the Art Museum's premier collections spanning antiquity to contemporary in a Highlights Tour, offered free of charge. Tours meet at the entrance to the Museum.

Presented by Bridget Alsdorf, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, Heroes, Gods, and Other Over-Achievers is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Presented by Bridget Alsdorf, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, Picturing Stories in the Ancient World is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Spend the day learning about local artists and their processes when we visit the studios of several well-known artists living and working in the Quakertown area.

Presented by Caroline Fowler, graduate student, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Free and open to all, I Spy a Masterpiece is part of Art for Families, the Museum's Saturday programming featuring drop-in self-guided tours, scavenger hunts, activities, and related art projects.

Presented by Caroline Fowler, graduate student, Department of Art and Archaeology

Join us each week for talks highlighting works in the Museum’s collections, new acquisitions, and special exhibitions by curators, scholars, docents, faculty, and graduate students.

Celebrating the cultures of China, India, the Middle East, and Italy, Family Day offers hands-on activities, performances, scavenger hunts, and prizes all inspired by ancient trade routes across Asia and Europe.

Pizza and refreshements will be served. Free and open to all.

Inner Sanctum examines Nassau Hall's venerable Faculty Room as the symbolic center of the University, and explores the history and role of the room and its portraits in both reflecting and shaping Princeton's identity. The exhibition, to be held outside the Museum, in the Faculty Room itself, is accompanied by a publication, symposium, and seminar that focus on the ways in which art and spatial environment reinforce and otherwise influence each other in creating meaning.

After Sir Godfrey Kneller, British, 1646–1723
George II, King of England (1683–1760), ca. 1727–1732
Oil on canvas, 242.2 x 153 cm.
Gift of members of the Classes of 1894 and 1919
[PP2] (Photo: Bruce M. White)

Gauguin's Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints will be on view in the Art Museum from September 25, 2010 to January 2, 2011. The exhibition will focus on the ten revolutionary Noa Noa (Fragrance) woodcuts produced by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) in Paris during the winter and spring of 1893-94 following the artist's first Tahitian voyage.

Paul Gauguin, French, 1848–1903
Printed by Pola Gauguin
L'univers et créé (The Universe is Created), 1893–94, printed in 1921
Woodcut printed in black and light gray ink on light gray Japanese paper, 26.8 x 43.2 cm.
Museum purchase, Felton Gibbons Fund
[2009-106] (Photo Bruce M. White)

Over the last ten years, “land” and “space” have become pressing subjects for artistic investigation, so much so that we can now speak of a new generation of environmental artists. Nobody's Property will explore this development and probe the reasons for its appearance at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The exhibition features the work of seven artists and two artist-teams: Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Francis Alÿs, Yael Bartana, Andrea Geyer, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Emre Hüner, Matthew Day Jackson, Lucy Raven, and Santiago Sierra. Using media that range from video and photography to digital animation, performance, and assemblage, these artists parse the economic, geopolitical, and phantasmatic conditions of land and space.