North Carolina Museum of Art

The museum's origins trace back to 1924 with the formation of the North Carolina State Art Society to generate interest in a state museum. In 1928, the society acquired funds and approximately 75 paintings from the bequest of Robert F. Phifer. A pivotal moment occurred in 1947 when the state legislature appropriated $1 million to purchase art, a bill passed with the support of Robert Lee Humber and an anonymous challenge grant from Samuel H. Kress.

The Kress Foundation matched this with 71 works, primarily Italian Renaissance. The museum officially opened in April 1956 in the renovated State Highway Division Building on Morgan Street, dubbed "the Miracle on Morgan Street," with William Valentiner as its first director.

After outgrowing the Morgan Street location, a new site was chosen on Blue Ridge Road in 1967. The resulting building, designed by Edward Durell Stone and Associates with Holloway-Reeves Architects, opened in 1983 as the East Building. It utilized pure geometric forms based on a square unit.

In 2010, the museum expanded with a new 127,000-square-foot West Building designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners. The campus also features the 164-acre Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park, which includes site-specific art, trails, and gardens. The site itself has a complex history, formerly serving as a Civil War camp, Camp Polk Prison Farm, and the Polk Youth Center before becoming the museum campus.

The museum's strength lies in its European collection, which includes 123 of the 139 paintings originally purchased with the 1947 appropriation, augmented by the significant Kress gift of Italian paintings and sculptures. The collection features important British portraits, a robust selection of Italian paintings from the 16th through 18th centuries, and a select group of Northern Renaissance and 17th-century Dutch and Flemish works. The American art collection spans from the late colonial period to early modern art.

Additionally, the museum holds a notable African collection originating in the 1970s, a Judaic art gallery, and a comprehensive survey of North Carolina artists.

The North Carolina Museum of Art is recognized as one of the premier art museums in the United States, largely due to the magnitude and quality of the Kress Foundation's gift, which was the largest given to a regional museum at the time. Its unique integration of art and nature through the Museum Park, featuring permanent and temporary site-specific works, expands the traditional museum experience. The institution's history of legislative support and public accessibility, including free admission to its core collections, underscores its role as a public trust and a major cultural destination for the state and beyond.