Timken Museum of Art facts for kids
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Entrance to the Timken Museum of Art
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| Established | October 1965 |
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| Location | 1500 El Prado San Diego, California, US |
| Type | Art museum |
| Founder | Timken family, Anne and Amy Putnam |
The Timken Museum of Art is a special place in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. It is an art museum that opened in 1965. Here you can see many beautiful and important works of fine art.
History of the Museum
The idea for the Timken Museum started in 1951. Two sisters, Amy and Anne Putnam, had a large collection of art. They created the Putnam Foundation to take care of their artworks. The sisters had moved to San Diego in the early 1900s. They also gave art to the San Diego Museum of Art.
Before the Timken Museum opened, the Putnam Foundation loaned its art to other famous museums. When the Timken Museum opened in 1965, the Putnam sisters' collection became its first artworks. Walter Ames was the museum's first director.
The museum building is quite modern. It was built where an older building, used for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, once stood. That old building was taken down in 1963. The new Timken Museum was designed by Frank L. Hope and Associates. The Timken family helped pay for its construction. The museum is a white building made of marble and bronze. It has five rooms where the art is displayed.
What You Can See at the Museum
The Timken Museum shows many different kinds of art. You can see old European paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. These artworks are displayed using natural light, which makes them look amazing. The museum also has American paintings and special Russian icons.
The museum started with about 40 artworks. Now it has grown to include 60 major pieces. These include works by famous artists from different countries:
- American artists: Copley, Johnson, West, Cole, and Bierstadt.
- Italian artists: Savoldo, Veronese, and Guercino. One famous Italian painting is Savoldo's The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
- Spanish artists: Murillo.
- French artists: Clouet, Claude, Boucher, Fragonard, David, and Corot.
- Flemish and Dutch artists: The museum has masterpieces by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Frans Hals.
In 2015, for its 50th birthday, the Timken Museum bought a painting by Zurbarán. It shows St. Francis in deep thought. The Timken Museum is also the only museum in San Diego that owns a painting by the famous artist Rembrandt.
The Putnam sisters, who helped start the museum, were related to two generals from the American Revolutionary War. One of the museum's important paintings is a portrait by John Singleton Copley of Margaret Kemble Gage. She was a woman who might have played a role in starting the Revolutionary War.
Selected Artworks
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Parable of the Sower by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1557
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The Return of the Prodigal Son by Guercino, 1654-1655
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A Girl Receiving a Letter by Gabriel Metsu, around 1658
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Jacob van Ruisdael, A View of Haarlem and Bleaching Fields, around 1665-1670
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Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil by Nicolas de Largillière, 1729
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Portrait of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil by Nicolas de Largillière, 1729
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Cho-looke, the Yosemite Fall by Albert Bierstadt, 1864
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The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket, by Eastman Johnson, 1880
See also
In Spanish: Museo de Arte Timken para niños
