Seattle Art Museum facts for kids
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Earlier entrance to the Seattle Art Museum (prior to its 2007 expansion)
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| Established | 1933 |
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| Location | 1300 First Avenue, Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Type | Art Museum |
| Collection size | 25,000 |
| Visitors | 750,000+ annually (all locations) |
| Public transit access |  Symphony station |
The Seattle Art Museum, often called SAM, is a cool place in Seattle, Washington, USA, where you can see amazing art. SAM has three main locations:
- Its biggest museum is in downtown Seattle.
- The Seattle Asian Art Museum is in Volunteer Park.
- The Olympic Sculpture Park is a big outdoor park right by the water, which opened in 2007.
Contents
The Story of SAM: How It Started and Grew
The Seattle Art Museum has a long and interesting history! It started with a small collection of 1,926 art pieces in 1933. Today, it has nearly 25,000 pieces! The first museum building was about 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) big. Now, all of SAM's buildings together are about 312,000 square feet (29,000 m2), plus a 9-acre (3.6 ha) outdoor park.
SAM's story began with two groups, the Seattle Fine Arts Society (started in 1905) and the Washington Arts Association (started in 1906). They joined together in 1917. In 1931, they changed their name to the Art Institute of Seattle.
A very important person in SAM's early days was Richard E. Fuller. He was the president of the Seattle Fine Arts Society. During the Great Depression, he and his mother, Margaret MacTavish Fuller, gave $250,000 to build an art museum. The city of Seattle provided the land in Volunteer Park. The museum building, designed by Carl F. Gould, opened on June 23, 1933. Richard Fuller was the museum's director for many years and never took a salary!
In 1991, SAM opened a new, much larger building downtown. This new building cost $62 million and was designed by Robert Venturi. Outside the museum, a giant sculpture called Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky was put up. It's a very tall sculpture of a person hammering. In 1994, the original museum building in Volunteer Park became the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Then, in 2007, the amazing Olympic Sculpture Park opened.
Working Together: SAM and Its Staff
In 2022, the security officers at SAM decided to form their own union. A union is a group of workers who join together to talk with their employer about things like pay, benefits, and working conditions. The museum has been working with the union to create their first agreement.
Amazing Art Shows and Exhibitions
SAM has hosted many exciting art shows over the years.
- In 1959, a show of paintings by Vincent van Gogh brought in 126,100 visitors!
- SAM also showed the work of Northwest School painter Mark Tobey.
- In 1974, there was a special show for Jacob Lawrence, a famous African American artist who lived in Seattle.
- In 1997, the "Leonardo Lives" exhibition featured the Codex Leicester, a rare notebook by the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci, which was owned by Bill Gates.
- In 2010, an exhibition called "Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris" was very popular, with over 405,000 visitors.
What You Can See: SAM's Collection
As of early 2023, SAM has about 25,000 pieces of art! Here are just a few examples of the cool things you can find:
- Eagle (1971) by Alexander Calder and Wake (2004) by Richard Serra, both at the Olympic Sculpture Park.
- Inopportune: Stage One (2004) by Cai Guo-Qiang, which is a sculpture made from cars and lights in the downtown museum lobby.
- The Judgment of Paris (around 1516–18) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
- Electric Night (1944) by Mark Tobey.
- Yéil X'eenh (Raven Screen) (around 1810), a beautiful screen by the Tlingit artist Kadyisdu.axch'.
- Some/One (2001) by Do-Ho Suh.
- A special coffin shaped like a Mercedes-Benz car (1991) by Kane Quaye.
Returning Art: A Story of Justice
SAM once returned a painting by Henri Matisse called Odalisque (1927 or 1928) to the family of Paul Rosenberg. This painting had been stolen by the Nazis during World War II. SAM worked with the family to make sure the painting went back to its rightful owners. This was an important step in returning art that was taken unfairly during the war.
SAM's Libraries: Places to Learn More
The Seattle Art Museum has two special libraries where you can learn even more about art:
- The Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library, started in 1991, has about 20,000 books. It focuses on art from Africa, modern art, and photography.
- The McCaw Foundation Library for Asian Art, started in 1933, has about 15,000 books. It specializes in art from Asia.
SAM's Locations: Where to Find the Art
Main Downtown Museum
The main Seattle Art Museum building moved to its current downtown spot in December 1991. This building is a large, rectangular shape with limestone and colorful tiles. It was designed by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.
In 2006, SAM started making its downtown building even bigger! The museum closed for a while for this expansion, from January 2006 to May 2007. The expanded building has 70 percent more space to show art, a bigger museum shop, and a new restaurant. Many new art pieces were given to the museum because of this expansion.
You can visit SAM's indoor museums for free on the first Thursday of every month. They also offer free admission on the first Saturday of the month. Even on other days, the normal admission price is "suggested," which means you can pay what you can afford to enjoy the museum.
Asian Art Museum
The Seattle Asian Art Museum opened in 1994. It's located in the original SAM building in Volunteer Park. This building has a cool Art Deco style and first opened in 1933. The Asian Art Museum closed for a big update in 2017 and reopened in February 2020. It shows art from China, Korea, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia.
Olympic Sculpture Park
The Olympic Sculpture Park is a huge, 9-acre (3.6 ha) outdoor park right on the Seattle waterfront. It's free and open to everyone! The park opened on January 20, 2007, and is a great place to see large sculptures and enjoy views of the water.
How SAM is Run
Leadership
Amada Cruz became the director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum in 2019. She helps lead the museum and make important decisions.
Funding and Support
The Seattle Art Museum gets most of its money from ticket sales and its members. Only a small part of its funding (about 4%) comes from the government. In 2009, the museum faced some financial challenges, but it received help from groups like JPMorgan Chase and the Gates Foundation.
Visitors to SAM
Many people visit SAM each year! In its first year (1933), 346,287 people visited. In 1978, a special traveling show called "Treasures of Tutankhamun" (about King Tut) brought in 1.3 million visitors in just four months! In 2007, SAM had 797,127 visitors. The "Picasso" exhibition in 2010 was also very popular, with over 405,000 visitors.
