Welcome to one of the oldest and most acclaimed academic fine arts museums in the United States. Founded more than 120 years ago by the first President of Wellesley College, the Davis Museum and Cultural Center is characterized by collections that span global history from Ancient times to yesterday. With masterpieces from almost every continent, with collections installed in one of this country’s most significant examples of museum architecture, and with a rotating series of temporary exhibitions that challenge our understanding of history and the role of the arts in society, the museum provides an exciting environment to see, hear, experience and learn about the visual arts.

With ongoing series of lectures, symposia, concerts, tours, open class sessions, films, video, and site specific installations and with exhibitions drawn from the permanent collection that include works by those artists seminal to the history of art as well as emerging artists and those deserving greater attention, the museum presents our students, faculty, staff and visitors with an array of opportunities to engage the arts. All can take advantage of the magnificent landscape of Wellesley’s 500-plus acres on the shores of Lake Waban as well as the historical and contemporary sculpture seen throughout. In its diversity of programming, the Davis presents a program for all that emphasizes our role as a teaching museum devoted to a lifetime involvement in the arts.

This Web site is designed to provide you with access to the Davis Museum and Cultural Center’s collections, exhibitions and interpretive programs. Rarely will any two visits to either the museum or this site appear the same as programs, installations, exhibitions and ideas within the museum will change. We invite you to use this site to its fullest and to become an active participant in the museum and its array of activities for all audiences throughout the year.