Museum

Oil painting titled Garden Before Nancy’s House by Rose Naftulin

PAFA Celebrates 75 Years of Leadership and Legacy: Honoring the Women’s Committee at the 2025 Diamond Jubilee

PHILADELPHIA, PA — September 2, 2025 — The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) proudly announces the Diamond Jubilee Celebration honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Women’s Committee, held on September 28, 2025. Since its founding in 1950 the Women’s Committee has played a transformative…

Press Release
Jasper Johns' "Flag" (1960–66), an encaustic and printed collage on paper laid down on canvas, from the Middleton Family Collection.

A Nation of Artists

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Historic Landmark Building
Tour guide
Special Tours

What is American Art? An Insider’s Tour

Oil painting titled El Bolero by Rafael Ferrer, created in 1983–84. The canvas measures 60 by 72 inches and features expressive, abstract forms in rich colors. © Rafael Ferrer, courtesy of the artist.

Bodies and Souls: Kohler Collection

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Fisher Brooks Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
Oil painting titled Garden Before Nancy’s House by Rose Naftulin
Special Events

Diamond Jubilee: 75th Anniversary of PAFA’s Women’s Committee

Thomas Crawford’s sculpture “Peri at the Gates of Paradise” covered in protective plastic sheeting during construction at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The Philadelphia Inquirer | A last look at PAFA before all is zipped and spiffed up

"Some say that the greatest piece of art in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the building itself — PAFA’s lavish Victorian structure at Broad and Cherry Streets.

These days, much of its interior is unrecognizable.

PAFA’s grand staircase inside the 1876 building remains…

In the News
Harry Philbrick standing between two people at the Willaim Villalongo Opening Reception

PAFA’s Interim Director Harry Philbrick Accepts New Role at Newport Art Museum

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)’s Interim Museum Director, Harry Philbrick, has accepted the position of Director at the Newport Art Museum, effective September 2025. This new opportunity will allow Mr. Philbrick to return full-time to Rhode Island, where he grew up and currently…

Press Release
Leah Triplett giving a tour of Villalongo to a group of people
Special Tours

LAST Curator-Led Tour of William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

Wawa Welcome America’s Free Museum Day graphic
Free & Reduced Admission Days

Wawa Welcome America’s Free Museum Day at PAFA

Acrylic painting by Amy Lincoln featuring stylized sun rays in yellow, violet, and black, radiating in a symmetrical pattern.

New Horizons: Recent Contemporary Acquisitions

Frances M. Maguire Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
John Middleton standing inside the Philadelphia Museum of Art beside Thomas Cole's 1840 painting Schroon Lake, a work on loan from the Middleton Family Collection.

The Philadelphia Inquirer | John Middleton’s secret art collection is coming out of the shadows in a blockbuster two-museum show

“In Philadelphia, John Middleton is known as the baseball guy with some very baseball ambitions. The managing partner of the Phillies has boldly declared his intention to make the team one of the winningest ever.

In another realm, though, Middleton has already achieved a distinction — as one of the…

In the News
People standing in an art gallery talking.
Free & Reduced Admission Days

Pay-What-You-Wish Day at PAFA Museum

Family Art Day
Family Art Day

Family Art Day

family art day
Family Art Day

Family Art Day

HLB
Special Tours

PAFA Outside/Inside Tour: Uncover the Art & Architecture of America's First Art School and Museum

A textured mixed media artwork by William Villalongo depicting a silhouetted Black figure surrounded by intricate cutouts and symbolic elements in acrylic, velvet flocking, and paper on wood panel.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) Presents William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations is on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) from May 15 to August 31, 2025. This mid-career survey highlights over 20 years of Villalongo’s work exploring themes of Black presence, identity, and cultural memory through richly layered…
Press Release
A mixed-media sculpture measuring 96 by 24 by 24 inches, featuring velvet flocking, gold chains, drinking gourds, Sicilian Testa di Moro heads, artificial basil, and natural elements like obsidian, quartz, hematite, seashells, starfish, and coral arranged in a vertical, totemic composition.
William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

F L O C K

View of ALOFT bar
PAFA Friends & Family Days

Happy Hour + 20% off Museum Store Gifts

View of ALOFT bar
PAFA Friends & Family Days

Happy Hour + 20% off Museum Store Gifts

Abstract landscape by Arthur Dove, ca. 1941–1946, featuring organic shapes and muted tones suggestive of nature.

“I look at nature, I see myself”: The Abstract Vision of Arthur Dove

Of all the American artists inspired by nature, perhaps Arthur Dove provides us with the most intimate, visceral and modern translation of the elements of the environment around him. While the world Dove inhabited early in his career was increasingly industrialized, Dove consistently turned toward…

Perspectives
William Villalongo, The Thirsty Laborer (If You Build It), 2012. Medium Acrylic, velvet flocking and paper on wood panel. Accession #2017.16. Photo credit: Susan Inglett Gallery. Copyright © William Villalongo. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Archives, Philadelphia. 
Exhibition Reception

Opening Reception | William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

A group of people watching a bronze pour
Member Program
Sold Out

From Clay to Metal: Sculpture Talk & Bronze Pour

Mixed-media installation by David Lynch featuring six distorted heads and a looping projection of vomiting figures, evoking discomfort and repetition.

Six Men Getting Sick

Anne Bryan Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
YellowPlums

Brushstrokes of Belonging: How PAFA Nurtured Nancy Bea Miller’s Creative Path

Nancy Bea Miller (Cert '91, MFA '14)

Art has always been a part of Nancy Bea Miller’s life. Growing up in a home filled with creativity, she was surrounded by inspiration. Her father, an advertising art director, and her mother, a nurse who studied art at the Art Students League, bonded over their…

Perspectives

 

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If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at visitorservices@pafa.org — we’d love to help!

 

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