American Wing at Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art received an NEH Challenge grant for the renovation of the historic 1928 main building of the museum to increase gallery space to display the museum’s permanent collection of early American Art. The collection encompasses nearly 12,000 objects ranging in date from the colonial period through the mid-1800s. The renovation represents the first expansion of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s American art galleries since the U.S. bicentennial in 1976. 

The new wing, which opened in 2021, offers visitors a fresh take on the art of the Americas, spotlighting immigration, colonialism, trade, and underrepresented narratives, and grounding the museum’s exceptional collection of 18th and 19th century artwork within the context of Philadelphia’s status as one of the largest English-speaking cities outside the British Isles.